Damn! Ass Hooked Whitey beat me to this one; the price I pay for taking on too much work and trying to get out of town.
AHW shot a big harpoon into Donny Beaver of the Spring Ridge Club for comments he made in the club’s January newsletter.
More on that farther down the post. First, I’ve been meaning to comment on a monster puff interview in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper where Donnie Beaver maintains that he’s a conservationist, and that he’s baffled by the hostility towards him.
While I won’t nauseate you with the whole interview, Beaver uncorks a doozie halfway through that left me speechless:
“To this date, we have never shut off a single inch of water that was publicly accessible,” Beaver said.
Huh? Unlawfully attempting to keep anglers from floating down the navigable Little Juniata in order to keep the unwashed masses from fishing his heavily stocked part of the river isn’t “shutting off a single inch of water?”
Sadly, the reporter didn’t challenge this or any of Donnie’s other assertions, suggesting a Pulitzer is not in the offing.
Rather than create a laundry list of the items where Donnie’s words don’t agree with is actions, we return to the Spring Ridge Club’s January newsletter (originally published in a public directory on the club’s site), where Donny Beaver reveals his “Trojan Horse” marketing plan for attending shows.
As all of you may already know, there remains a lot of controversy about private property rights as they relate to fly-fishing. In particular, there has been some animosity directed toward the Club and to me personally over the years.
We have found that the best tradeshow protocol is the “Trojan Horse†approach . . . in other words, have the Club blend into someone else’s booth. In the past we have done in this in two ways:
During the first two years of the Club, we also owned an outfitting business called “Angling Fantasies.†AF offered day trips and guide services to private waters, and the general fly-fishing public seemed to LOVE the idea that they could gain access to hallowed†private waters.
It was very successful. At the trade shows, we would keep Club materials under the table in case someone fit the “club profile.†However, the outfitting business was out front.
For a couple of shows, we also became a sub-set of the Frontiers Travel booth, which worked the same way.
OK. Kinda jerky perspective on the public (and I wonder how many of my readers fit the “club profile”) but as someone with 21+ years in marketing, I’ve been in a few of these discussions.
Hardly a fit with the wholesome conservationist persona he’s pushing these days, but if you want to know how Donny really feels about you, read this little gem from the same newsletter:
Three years ago, we dropped the “outfitting angle†and decided that people had to join the Club or not fish with us. Well, that really brought out the worst in the “public.†They’d say, “You’re the greedy SOBs who charge $80,000 to join and keep us poor working slobs off the water.â€
Actually, Donny, we’d say “you’re the greedy SOB who tried to unlawfully prevent public float access to the Little Juniata to keep us poor working slobs off your stocked water.”
I’m not going to rail against private ownership of good fishing water, but I am going to suggest that Donny Beaver’s attempts to wrap himself in the flag of conservation pretty much peg the smell-o-meter.
In simplest terms, his attitude towards the general public pretty much sucks.
Kudos to Ass Hooked Whitey for getting out first on this one.
[tags]donny beaver, spring ridge club, little juniata, fly fishing[/tags]
Funny how stocking easy to catch river chickens over wild, self sustaining yet tough to catch trout qualifies anyone as a conservationist.
Ian(Quote)
Interestingly, the Spring Ridge Club buys all its stockers from a hatchery run by Beaver’s son. Cozy.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
Very Cozy indeed…perhaps someone ought to toss a few ‘whirlers’ in the pond and see how long that little hatchery keeps runnin?!
C4CRaine(Quote)
The conservation angle is brilliant marketing, but largely hollow in my estimation.
It’s not so easy to explain away the attempts to close the Little Juniata to boats in the name of conservation…
Tom Chandler(Quote)
I imagine that it’s your sort of public that generally closes down private areas.
franky(Quote)
Imagine all you want Franky, but I don’t poach, trespass or litter (though I carry plenty out).
Nor do I string cables across a public waterway, or post “No Trespassing” signs on property I don’t own.
Donny Beaver can’t say the same.
Tom Chandler(Quote)
well it looks like the beavers took over another wonderful pa resource the head waters of yellow creek along rt 36 near loydsburg.ive been fishing this water for over 30 years. all native wild browns in a prestine limestone meadow.i was told by a landowner i was unable to fish their anylonger because he and other landowners have fallen prey to the beavers . they have a contract with the spring ridge organization, and only clients from that club could fish these waters.he said he could not pass up the price. what is the world coming to. this is a gift from god that all fisherman of pa should have access to. the fish commision has the power through legislation to stop this now . the question is do they have the balls, or is someone on the payroll ,maybe donny beaver would like to explain to my 14 year old boy why we couldnt fish the meadows on yellow creek anymore.” dad this was my favorite place to fish on the planet” its a shame in this world that everything must have a price, even natural resources that god created. i was told the fish are fed regularly with dog food to keep them from moving to different locations, and without a doubt the natives are doomed. if you are a true flyfisherman and you are going to pursue a fish that is fed dog food daily.you could throw a piece of dog shit in that water and catch those fish. so if you are a true flyfisherman and belong to this organization, you need to to do some serious soul searching. because you are being viewed by true pa fisherman as joke to the passion of the sport. so do your self a favor and keep it a secret. because among true pa flyfisherman thats exactly what you are a joke. a true flyfisherman fishes on a level playing field,and relys on his knowledge and skill level to catch fish casting his own fly patterns to fool a trout. his rewards are worthy and true. so if you catch a large fish thats been eating dog food all year, on some fly pattern you dont even know. save your self a lot of money and go to the fish market you will get alot more fish for your money. please contact your state representives to stop this nonsense. asap. i sure will be. and if your a member of this so called spring ridge,your in a league of your own. the minor league, what a joke you are to the sport of flyfishing. sam pa trout fisherman
sam johncola(Quote)
I take it that’s a “no” vote on Donnie Beaver?
The story’s all too common. We can rail against privatization while realizing there’s precious little to be done about it. That said, our beef with Beaver has always been his attempts to illegally turn public water private – and his all-too-frequent attempts to don the robe of “conservationist.”
Tom Chandler(Quote)