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Dean Meckes wins ABA Division 124
At Henderson Harbor on 2 Aug

The day started with light wind and water temperatures were in the low 70ss. The forecast called for early afternoon thundershowers, but the rain held off until the event was over. We saw partly sunny to sunny skies and the water warmed to 77 degrees by the 2 p.m. weigh-in. Winds remained light at 8-10 mph from the S/SW.

Dean Meckes brought in the winning limit of smallmouth that weighed 15.46 lbs. Meckes also had the big bass of the event, that weighed 3.84 lbs. Meckes concentrated his efforts on main lake points that dropped off to 19-20 ft. He says his Ranger boat from Hanafin Marine provided the maneuverability that enabled him to successfully make those long runs out and back across Lake Ontario to reach his fish.

Burnie Haney scored a second place finish with a five bass limit of largemouth that pulled the scales to 12.39 lbs. Haney reports using his Secret Weapon Buzzbait in baby bass color and the Lucky Craft Sammie in Aurora Gold color to catch the majority of his fish early in the event. Haney felt a key to getting quality strikes on the Sammie was letting it sit for 15-20 seconds between pulls. When his top water bite slowed Haney switched a t-rigged Berkley Chigger Craw in Green Pumpkin on 20 lb. test Hi-Seas line to cull out his two smallest fish and reach his final weight.

Third place went to Chris Brown with a weight of 12.23 lbs. Brown reports using his drop shot rod to present soft plastics in 15-25ft of water. Brown focused his efforts on secondary main lake points and open water humps.

The National sponsors for the ABA American Fishing Tour are, Ardent Reels, Triton Boats, Mercury Motors, Motor Guide, Lowrance Electronics, Angler's Advantage Insurance, Royal Purple, Gander Mountain, Rejuvenade, Hi-Seas Fishing Line, Re-Action Systems, IronClad Baits, Keep Alive, Ocean Waves Sunglasses, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Early Times Whiskey, PROBASS Networks, Bio Edge Fishing Products, Leer Truck Caps and Hot Spots Fishing Maps.

Division 124 local sponsors are: McLears Campground on Black Lake, PEMCO Contracting and American Traditions Motorsports of Philadelphia, NY. To find out more about fishing Division 124 tournaments call Director Burnie Haney at (315) 786-8897.

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The Elite Series makes its last stop of 2008 and everything's on the line. Bassmaster Elite Series will bring its 11th tournament of the season  the Champion's Choice presented by Ramada Worldwide  to Oneida Lake out of Syracuse, N.Y., as the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series season comes to a close.

As part of the celebration of crowning the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year, BASS' outdoors expo Saturday and Sunday at the season finale will include performances by national recording artist Heartland and local musical group The Custom Taylor Band. At the conclusion of the final weigh-in Sunday night, BASS will host a fireworks display at Oneida Shores, set for approximately 8:40 p.m ET.

Along with the Angler of the Year, the Advance Auto Parts Rookie of the Year and the Junior Bassmaster World Championship winners will be crowned. In the race to qualify for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, set for Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La., anglers will be looking for valuable point on Oneida to give themselves one last chance to move up in the points standings. The top 36 in the AOY standings qualify for the Classic. The top 84 in the AOY standings receive berths into the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series.

Fishing fans can watch the on-the-water action from the Aug. 7-10 Champion's Choice on The Bassmasters, which airs Saturday, Aug. 16, at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN2. Additionally, fans can check into Bassmaster.com for live, streaming video of the weigh-ins, real-time leaderboards, analysis, photo galleries and more.

While the pros angle for the first-place prize of $100,000 at the Champion's Choice, the climactic Trail to the Trophy will come to a conclusion on Oneida Lake. Heading into the Champion's Choice, Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas is leading the 2008 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race. Others among the top pros in the heated race for the title and the $250,000 top prize include Kevin VanDam, Mike McClelland and 2007 Angler of the Year Skeet Reese.

Launches Thursday-Saturday for the Champion's Choice begin at 8 a.m. ET and weigh-ins at 5 p.m. at Oneida Shores County Park, 9400 Bartell Road, Brewerton, N.Y. Sunday's final-day launch begins at 10 a.m. and the final weigh-in begins at 7:30 p.m.

Known as the "thumb" of New York's Finger Lakes, Oneida is 21 miles long and 5 miles wide, with shelves and shoals formed by glaciers. The natural body of water features plenty of shoreline vegetation and an abundance of rocky offshore structure.

Elite pro Dave Wolak of Wake Forest, N.C., has been consistent at Oneida Lake, finishing in the top five among the pros in the last two BASS tournaments there. The 2005 Advance Auto Parts Rookie of the Year finished 41st in the 2003 Northern Open, his first professional BASS tournament on Oneida, but he eventually figured out the fishery, tying for fourth in the 2006 Bassmaster Elite Series Empire Chase and finishing fifth in the 2007 Bassmaster Memorial.

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DEC operates 12 fish hatcheries and one fish pathology laboratory. Numerous fish species are reared for stocking into more than 1,200 public waters across the State. Annual production averages 900,000-1 million pounds of fish. All hatcheries are open to the public from spring through fall, and several are open year-round.

Adirondack Hatchery is located about 12 miles from the Village of Saranac Lake in Franklin County. This facility specializes in rearing landlocked Atlantic salmon for statewide distribution. Annual production averages 30,000 pounds of salmon, with most fish stocked as yearling smolts (six inches long) or as small fingerlings in the spring.

Bath Hatchery is located one mile from the Village of Bath in Steuben County. The hatchery rears lake trout, brown trout and rainbow trout. All of the lake trout and many of the rainbow trout reared here are obtained from fish collected from Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake. Annual production of all species is about 86,000 pounds.

Caledonia Hatchery, located in Livingston County in the Village of Caledonia, is the oldest hatchery in New York State and the Western Hemisphere. Caledonia Hatchery rears brown trout and chinook salmon. Virtually all of the two-year-old brown trout used in DEC's stocking program for 13-15 inch trout are produced at Caledonia Hatchery. Annual production is approximately 170,000 pounds.

Catskill Hatchery is located in Sullivan County near the Village of Livingston Manor, and near two of New York State's fabled trout streams, the Beaver Kill and Willowemoc Creek. This facility specializes in rearing brown trout and it maintains a brood stock capable of producing two million eggs. About 115,000 pounds of brown trout are produced annually.

Chateaugay Hatchery is located near the Village of Chateaugay in northern Franklin County. This facility has a very diverse rearing program which includes Raquette Lake strain lake, trout, brown trout, rainbow trout and brook trout, including the Temiscamiex domestic hybrid used extensively in Adirondack Mountain lakes and ponds. Annual production is approximately 90,000 pounds.

Chautauqua Hatchery is located near the Village of Mayville in Chautauqua County. This is the only DEC hatchery currently raising pure strain muskellunge, which are obtained from netting and egg collection on Chautauqua Lake and in some years from Waneta Lake. Pond-reared walleye fingerlings are also grown at this hatchery. Total production is 3,300 pounds annually.

Oneida Hatchery is located in the Village of Constantia in Oswego County, on the north shore of Oneida Lake. The hatchery was reconstructed, with work completed in 1992. The rearing program is focused on walleye, and includes egg collections from Oneida Lake (200-300 million eggs/year), and stocking of millions of walleye fry and about 220,000 advanced walleye fingerlings (four to six inches). Experimental culture of rare or threatened fishes, such as lake sturgeon and paddlefish, also occurs here. Annual fish production is about 6,000 pounds.

Randolph Hatchery is located in the Village of Randolph in Cattaraugus County. This is a major brood stock facility which annually handles five-six million brook, brown and rainbow trout eggs. Annual production totals 100,000 pounds of fish.

Rome Hatchery is located in Oneida County about four miles north of the City of Rome. The hatchery is one of DEC's largest, with annual production totaling nearly 160,000 pounds of brook and brown trout and, when available, kokanee salmon. Hatchery staff play a major role in providing fish for airplane and helicopter stocking of remote waters.

Rome Fish Disease Control Center also known as Rome Lab is located on Rome Hatchery property. Staff maintain brood stock of disease-resistant strains of brook and brown trout, and maintain a laboratory where research activities and disease diagnosis can be conducted. Staff are heavily involved in testing numerous stocks of cultured and wild fish for the presence of the organism causing whirling disease.

Salmon River Hatchery, located in the Village of Altmar in Oswego County, is the mainstay of DEC's stocking program for Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The hatchery attracts more than 500,000 visitors annually, many of whom come to watch egg collections from steelhead, coho salmon and chinook salmon returning to the hatchery. Annual fish production totals 120,000 pounds.

South Otselic Hatchery is located in Chenango County in the Village of South Otselic. The hatchery rears the entire statewide supply of tiger muskellunge, and produces pond-reared walleye fingerlings, overwinters rainbow trout, and rears small lots of wild, heritage-strain brook trout. Annual production is 15,000 pounds of fish.

VanHornesville Hatchery is located in southern Herkimer County in the Village of VanHornesville. The hatchery raises rainbow trout, with production totaling about 30,000 pounds.

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FishNY.com is offering you a chance to call in fishing updates regarding your daily catch or adventures on New York's fishing water's. This service is free to use and can be accessed easily from any phone. The toll free number is 315.381.5013 and can be accessed at any time day or night.

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New York has an astonishing wealth of land and water resources. The state has hundreds of miles of coastline, with estuaries and ocean beaches providing excellent shore casting opportunities. New York also boasts 70,000 miles of rivers and streams, 4,000 lakes and ponds and 2.4 million acres of wetlands. From Montauk to Lake Erie, freshwater to saltwater, no other State can match the diversity of New York State. Such diversity includes catching a muskie on the St. Lawrence River, hooking up with a king salmon in Lake Ontario, fishing for trout in the Adirondacks, fly fishing in the famous Delaware River, chasing strippers on the Hudson, trolling for lake trout in Lake George, catching giant bass in Lake Champlain, and fishing for walleyes in Lake Erie to just name a few. Please take the time to appreciate everything New York State has to offer for anglers of all types.

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