Submitted by Stu Paterson –
Paterson Media for the Bruce Peninsula Sportsmen’s Association
“It was the sportsmen’s and
women’s Christmas party,
A time to celebrate hearty
Santa dropped by the club,
He caused quite a hubbub
The food was good, as was the mood
There was lots of cheer as we
celebrated another great year”
It’s an annual affair at the 200-member Bruce Peninsula Sportsmens’s Association (BPSA)clubhouse. The 2025 Christmas pot-luck social was a huge success. Before he started his Christmas deliveries around the world, Santa was in a merry mood as he stormed in wishing us good times, continuing success and good health.
The volunteer run conservation club members re-told fishing and hunting stories, and mulled over the banner year this has been for our group.
Members, young and old feasted on the pot luck buffet all the while sharing in conversations and laughter. There was Ray’s four fish chowder and dozens of other dishes, including some featuring wild game, taste tempting delights to please everyone.
The arrival of Santa gave way to the early bird membership draws with the help of ten year old Beau Weaver drawing the lucky names. The first name drawn was that of Sandra Elliott, winner of a 2026 Club Membership. Jill Curtis was the second winner and William McLeod the third. They each received $50 gift cards from Wiarton Home Hardware. The draws continued with the door prizes. Winners were Annette Musselman, Paul Maginnis and Frank Hutter.
BPSA President Carl Jones noted “Our club has had a banner year.” Jones noted “our club was praised by the Wiarton District Chamber of Commerce for excellence in engaging youngsters in the outdoors.” And he said we do that, because they are the ones who will carry on our conservation work in the future.
We encourage the young to get involved in all kinds of outdoors pursuits, fishing, our annual kids fishing derby, hunting, firearms safety training, archery, road and property cleanup and tree planting. We continue to have adult firearms and sports shooting programs including specialized safety training.
BPSA operates its modern hatchery on an annual budget of approximately $12,000. Half of this is provided by the Ontario Community Hatchery Program, which supports qualifying hatcheries across Ontario. Most of the work performed by the club is done by members who volunteer their time. During an average year 50 BPSA volunteers donate over 1,500 hours raising and stocking: 75,000 Rainbow Trout fingerlings, 25,000 Rainbow Trout yearlings and 25,000 Brown Trout. Since the sixties, BPSA has stocked more than 4,000,000 fish to boost our sports fishery. In one recent year this 200-member conservation club stocked over 2,100 pounds of fish in Grey-Bruce waters.
“We are assisting sustainable recreational and sports fishing,” said Hatchery Manager Al Sutter. We are proud of the work we do. “A lot of people come to this area to fish,” said Sutter. “Anybody who wants a hatchery tour can contact us.”
We are proud of the fact that we have the longest operating volunteer run community fish hatchery in Ontario.
In a year end message to members the BPSA Executive noted the extraordinary effort put forward by our members “We are grateful for the countless hours our members dedicate to keeping the BPSA an important part of the community. Thank you for helping to share our mission. Many lives have been touched by the various activities within this club and we can all be very proud.”
If you think you would be interested in joining Team BPSA, check out our annual BPSA Family Day Open House. This event allows us to show off all our programs including our youth archery and fish stocking. Family Day in 2026 falls on February 16. It’s a day designed to promote quality time with loved ones. See you then!
HAPPY NEW YEAR from the BPSA Executive!
