With
the state’s ever-popular Fish Ohio program now at middle-age, a few
creaks and groans are only natural to the maturation process.
As
a result, several thousand anglers are going to have to wait a while
longer before receiving their Fish Ohio pins. The artist in charge of
designing the pin’s motif and working with the approved
manufacturing vendor has been swamped with other projects, says Vicki
Farus, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s Fish Ohio program’s
administrator.
“We
are in the process of having the pins made and we hope to have them
ready to send out by mid-August,” Farus told “Ohio Outdoor News”
in a recent telephone interview.
Such
a delay would mean that the pins are about two months behind from
when they typically begin being sent out in batches.
“But
we usually don’t see a lot of Fish Ohio applications entered on
line early in the year anyway,” Farus said.
To
date, Farus notes,
the Wildlife Division has recorded via electronic means the
submission of 4,711 Fish Ohio applications. Last year at the same
point the agency had
recorded on-line some 5,144 Fish Ohio applications. The
drop is
being associated
with
the
poor weather that struck the entire state throughout the spring and
into the first weeks of summer, and consequently, reduced angling
activity.
Regarding
the program itself, this year’s Fish Ohio pin will depict a
pumpkinseed sunfish. While the bluegill sunfish has appeared on a few
previous Fish Ohio pin renditions – most recently in 2009
– its more colorful cousin, the pumpkinseed sunfish, has never
appeared.
The
Fish Ohio program does predate by a year or two the issuance of pins
but that latter give-away has
helped
spark interest in the Wildlife
Division’s agenda in promoting
the state’s recreational fishing opportunities.
The
first Fish
Ohio pin
was a small oval model made of pewter and featured a smallmouth bass.
This pin was issued in 1980. Thus, 2020 will mark the 40th
anniversary of the Fish Ohio program’s pin distribution.
Such
an occasion may justify the Wildlife Division designing and issuing a
commemorative
pin marking the program’s unique anniversary
mile
post, just as the Wildlife Division did with its 20th
anniversary pin in 2000, Farus says
and
who
has been with the
program for 18 years.
“Oh,
my gosh, eighteen years,” Farus said with a startled chuckle.
Farus
said the pins have undergone various modifications over their 39 year
span but the basics have largely remained the same: a soft, struck
brass body, enamel paint, and a clear epoxy coat. And
a design that represents one of the program’s various recognized
species, which has ebbed and flowed in numbers and species over the
ears.
While
each pin costs 37 cents to produce they do cost about $3 each to
send. This is necessitated by the requirement to use a blister-style
envelope that protects the cargo. And which explains why applicants
receive a pin for just their first entry only.
That
is, unless they enter a fish from at least four qualifying species,
in which case they become eligible to eventually
receive
a stepped-up
Fish Ohio Master Angler pin plus a certificate.
In
all, the Wildlife Division produces enough pins to ensure that one
goes to each
eligible
entrant with
enough lapel-hat
medals left
over for to
present as give-away
tokens
at agency youth fishing events, Farus said.
“The
kids love them,” Farus said.
So
do adults with all
entrants submitting
their
applications via
the Wildlife Division’s web site and its fishing section
portal.
From here the entries are recorded electronically.
At
the same time an
entrant can print
out on a home printer a colorful certificate of the trophy
fish catch,
including using either Wildlife
Division supplied
artwork of
the submitted species or
else the
person attaching
a photographic image of the actual fish being submitted.
“I’m
not aware of any other state that has a trophy fish awards program
quite like our Fish Ohio program that includes a collectible pin that
changes its design every year,” Farus said.
- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net
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