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• New fishing rules stir up Pierce County anglers
• Durand native to head up UM-Duluth women's BBall program
• Flood Run will use both sides of river this weekend

By Sean Scallon RiverTown Staff

ELLSWORTH - Local fisheries rule changes aroused the ire of many attending Monday evening's Department of Natural Resources Spring Fish and Wildlife Rules Hearings and Conservation Congress at Ellsworth High School.

In past spring hearings, local questions tended to be skipped over. It simply took too long to count votes on each question.

But with the new electronic ballots, such questions are read aloud and discussion arises. The broad theme was attacking the amount of specialized regulations for different lakes and streams around the state as the meeting slogged through each local question.

"I feel sorry for you," Conservation Congress representative Ken Snow told Pierce County game warden Kevin Peterson.

"To have to enforce all these rules. It seems to me like the DNR is trying to create these designer lakes or use 'biomanipulation' to create these perfect fisheries that in five years it seems we have to come back and rewrite the rules again," Snow said.

Ralph Schommer of Salem Township was more critical of the process.

"When I was on the Conservation Congress, my philosophy was to keep the rules simple so you could carry them around a pocket guide," Schommer said. "Now they're printing out whole manuals of this stuff. We're turning off people to fishing by approving all these rules."

Schommer urged votes against each of the regulations.

Harold Clements of Prescott said he gave up fishing in Montana because all of its restrictions. He fears the same thing is happening in Wisconsin.

"It's getting to the point where you don't know what rules apply to where you are on the water," Clements said.

Peterson said that many of the rules changes are proposed by sport fishing groups and lake associations wishing to have lakes that produce trophy fish to attract anglers.

"There's two sides to this story and these rules are coming from the public to regulate their specific waters," Peterson said.

Also criticized was the way the questions themselves were presented.

"We went to several different places, including the DNR Service Center, and could not find a copy of the guide for this year's hearing," Kathleen Schommer said. "If you don't have the Internet, you are basically at a disadvantage in studying these complex questions and it's not doing any good to simply just read through them if we don't understand what we're voting on."

The hearing dealt with two particular local questions:

* A rule that would cut the daily total of panfish taken from St. Croix County lakes from 25 to 10.

* A Pierce County regulation that would change trout size regulations on the upper and lower ponds of River Falls.

Pierce County Conservation Congress Chairman Arby Linder said he supported the new regulation for Pierce County, but did not support the way it was inserted into the agenda.

"They completely bypassed the Trout Committee that I serve on and had this approved by the Executive Council directly," Linder said.

The panfish regulation also bypassed the process.

"What's the Conservation Congress for if some executive member along with a DNR manager gets their little rules change without having to go through committee?" Snow asked.

Other issues included

* The reduction of turkey management zones from 46 to seven.

* The closure of areas on the Mississippi River from Cochrane to Prairie du Chien for duck hunting.

* The licensing of hunting guides.

* Electing Tom Buckner and Chuck Foley as Pierce County representatives to the congress.

By Wheeler News Service

A Durand-native is the new women's basketball coach at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Tanya Nash, 32, spent the last four years as an assistant at Santa Clara in California. She replaces Dave Stromme who was the Bulldogs' interim coach last season after his sister Karen was promoted to administrative post at Duluth.

A star at UW-Eau Claire, Nash left as the Blugolds' 12th-leading career scorer with 1,022 points and still ranks among the top-15 in school history in points, assists and rebounds.

Nash also holds single-season and career records for three-point-shooting and she played on the UW-Eau Claire team that took second in the NCAA Division 3 tournament in 1997.

By Ruth Nerhaugen, RiverTown Staff

Thousands of motorcyclists from throughout the region will be making the annual Spring Flood Run around Lake Pepin on Saturday. The 42nd annual event is a benefit for Gillette Children's Hospital in the Twin Cities.

Spring and fall runs in 2006 brought $39,000 to help children with disabilities.

The Flood Run started in 1965 to help people and towns along the river by sand bagging the riverbanks. In appreciation, the towns invited everyone back for food and drinks. The visit became an annual event, and more and more bikers showed up every year.

Organizers decided to use the Flood Run as an opportunity to raise money for a good cause. Gillette Children's Hospital has been the beneficiary since the mid-1990s. Brian Denny and Bob "Bopper" Brown took charge in 2001. The Flood Run incorporated the following year and was trademarked in 2004 to make sure all the proceeds from sale of Flood Run merchandise goes to the chosen charity.

Participants purchase a wristband for $10 at participating businesses. A variety of other merchandise also is available, including shirts, pins and head wraps.

Over the years, the run focused more on Highway 35 on the Wisconsin side of the river than Minnesota because of the traffic on Highway 61 in Hastings and Red Wing.

But the massive number of motorcycles and the congestion going into the towns prompted the organizers to restore the original "nostalgia run" down the Minnesota side, organizers said.

The Wisconsin run begins in Prescott and makes the following stops: in Diamond Bluff at Gem Bar, in Hager City at Border Lounge, in Maiden Rock at the Fire Department, in Stockholm at Gelly's Pub, in Pepin at This Old Bike Shop, in Nelson at Nelson General Store, Top Hat and Enter the Backwaters Restaurant, and in Fountain City at Golden Frog Saloon. Gelly's will have music by Midlife Chryslers from noon to 4 p.m.

On the Minnesota side, stops are in Hastings at The Point, in Red Wing at the St. James Hotel, in Frontenac are B Wells Bar and Grill, in Lake City at Old Bank Bar, Bronk's and For Pete's Sake Bar, in Wabasha at Slippery's Bar and Grill, in Minneiska and Minnesota City and in Winona at the Harley Davidson store.

For more information, including a map, go online to www.floodrun.org.