Posts tagged: spring ridge club

Donnie Beaver’s Spring Ridge Club Pops Up Again – with Lefty Kreh in Tow…

May 28, 2010, by 11 comments

I understand the concept of luxury establishments just fine, and even if I didn’t, I largely lack the class warrior gene. If the rich want to pay through the nose to catch pellet-fed trout, then more power to ‘em.

Still, when Donnie Beaver enters into the equation – the much-disliked “entrepreneur” who has repeatedly tried to illegally bar public access to public waters – then I’m also completely willing to howl at the moon a little.

It appears Beaver’s (Ward, I’m concerned about the Beaver) westward expansion has resulted in a the HomeWaters Club (Official Motto: Never Again Be Forced to Fly Fish With Common People).

This from the “Luxist” web site:

HomeWaters Club is a theme based private club, with multiple locations and reciprocal rights of use in each, similar to an equity-based destination club, but with a fly-fishing identity. It was formed in 2009 as an alliance between Spring Ridge Club of Pennsylvania and Alpine River Club of Colorado, to preserve, and offer members access to 35 miles of trout and steelhead waters across Pennsylvania and 40 miles of the streams and rivers in Colorado. At present, there are nearly 200 members, and the club is expanding to other areas of the US. But right now, the locations span from central, northeastern and Erie, Pennsylvania, to Vail and Steamboat Springs Colorado areas.

So far, it’s pretty standard marketing puffery, albeit for a company whose bylaws include a hoofprint signature from the cloven-hooved deceiver himself.

But in the next paragraph, note the appearance of a well-known fly fisherman’s name:

Recently, a new dimension was added to HomeWaters Club, and that is is HomeWaters University. This is a new program designed to offer a two-day fly-fishing immersion experience. With a staff of 20 fishing guides, HomeWaters University can teach beginners and experts, children and parents, from how to cast for the first time, all the way to learning new casting skills. Housed at the HomeWaters Club new River Village in Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania, the center-piece of HomeWaters University is the first-ever Lefty Kreh Challenge Course offering a range of dry-land, still-water and moving-water stations.

Ahh, Lefty – fly fishing’s Biggest Self-Promoter Most Recognized Name. Did you really have to do it?

Clearly, fly fishing isn’t a route to a lifetime of riches or early, yacht-based retirement.

That said, you risk being exposed for feet of clay when you mess with the folks drawing the attention of a lot of airborne rotting vegetables.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

Donny Beaver’s Back In the Crosshairs (or, How Much Fun Is He Having in The “No Luxuries” Economy?)

August 19, 2009, by 4 comments

Underground whipping boy Donny Beaver’s back in the news, though this time he’s only promising to privatize, post, and stock more waters with oversized pellethead trout before selling the experience to those with way more money than common sense.

The Alpine River Club – the Western version of Donny’s Spring Ridge Club (which has repeatedly tried to keep anglers from lawfully floating the Little Juniata and illegally strung barbed wire on property it it didn’t even own) – bought a high-end property on Colorado’s Yampa River, and now – only a couple years later – is trying to sell it (for a sizable profit).

I’d suggest the economy hasn’t exactly been kind to the luxury fly fishing membership market, and that a “liqudity event” is being sought by Donny and his investors.

The Steamboat newspaper’s story consists mostly of realtor spin, but some is worth repeating:

One of the best angling spots on the Yampa River is back on the market for $28 million — and just 22 months after it sold for $19.4 million.

That’s quite a price premium given that – in the intervening years – the economy has largely cratered.

The rest of the article – accompanied by a realtor-supplied hero shot of one of the realtors holding a sizable brown trout (is this journalism, or simply free advertising on the part of the Steamboat newspaper?) – is largely realtor boilerplate, though one statement stands out (chillingly):

Smith said the current owners think they can tie up more miles of trout stream on behalf of their members by selling Tailwaters Preserve and using the proceeds to acquire less expensive properties.

Oh goodie. We’ve got that to look forward to.

Then again, it’s probably just more spin.

The world spins constantly, and right now, it’s not rotating in the direction of high-dollar fly fishing members-only clubs, and those that invested heavily in that kind of property might just be realizing it.

via The Steamboat Pilot & Today: 514-acre prime angling spot lists for $28M.

Donny Beaver Beaten Like a Junkyard Dog in Court: Spring Ridge Club Can’t Close Off Little Juniata

February 8, 2008, by 4 comments

Some Happy Friday news from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Fishing preserve entrepreneur Donny Beaver has dropped his court case against state agencies, thus closing the book on a lengthy battle over the public’s right to fish the Little Juniata River, one of the state’s most coveted trout waters.

In a letter to Commonwealth Court dated Monday, Mr. Beaver’s attorneys indicated that he would drop his challenge to a ruling handed down a year ago by Huntingdon County Common Pleas Judge Stewart Kurtz, stating that the Little Juniata is navigable and open to the public.

Mr. Beaver had claimed that a section of the river was private and could be fished only by members of his club.

I’d love to seal this one with alliteration (because alliteration makes me happy, that’s why), but I’m afraid “Bye-bye Beaver” would be a little premature.

He’s firing up the same operation on Lake Erie, and is moving West to Colorado, where presumably he’ll continue stocking obese fish in waters that can’t really support them, playing havoc with fisheries above and below him.

This isn’t all good news: withdrawing the appeal also prevented this ruling from becoming a legal precedent across the entire state, though certainly related cases would use this as support for the protection of public waters.

Still, for now… (wait for it), Bye Bye, Beaver.

See you on the (public) river, Tom Chandler.

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