Salem Chapter, Salem, Oregon, 10 January 2018
Ladies, gentlemen, and fishermen of all ages—this is your chapter newsletter update. On behalf of our Vice President, Rod Ratzlaff, and the members of the board of directors, we wish you a very Happy New Year.
We want to thank all the members who attended and provided such scrumptious food for our December meeting and dinner. If you missed it, you missed another good one. Bob Rees, the Executive Director of the Steelheaders Association, was a very informative and entertaining speaker.
How to make Rags was one of the subjects Bob Rees talked about and he demonstrated how to make a bait rag. Dave Hopfer looked in his files and found an article that was published in the first Salem Chapter Newsletter [Sept.2000] describing how to make the rag. I will have some print outs for you at the next meeting and Dave S. will put it on our chapter web page: https://salemnwsteelheaders.org/2018/01/how-to-make-steelhead-rags/
Note: Upholstery needles have bigger eyes for threading the yarn making it easier to see.
Past President Brian Winn is home, recovering well, and we hope he will be able to be an active member again soon.
Membership Renewal reward gift card program was reviewed at the last board meeting and some changes have been made. The chapter has been entering the names of members who have renewed into a $25.00 gift card quarterly drawing as an encouragement to renew your membership and attend the chapter meetings. You must be present to win. Names will be entered in the quarterly drawing when the association posts the payment. {Sometimes they are a little slow].
Have you checked our chapter web page lately? https://salemnwsteelheaders.org/ Dave S. has put a lot of work into making it informative, gives links to fishing guides, fishing news, activities, photos, and more. We hope to have “open seat” availability on the board soon. If there is something you want to see on the board or have something to contribute, i.e. a story or photos, please let us know.
At our meetings we have an open seat board with a listing of people who want to go fishing and people who have an open seat in the boat to hook up. Check it out; you may meet a new fishing buddy, or someone to help you manage/ballast your boat.
We have some new members who want to learn to fish for steelhead and want to fish with you. If you see a new face, please introduce yourself and see what they are interested in or ask us to help you find someone.
We have the association raffle tickets for a 16’ Old School High Side Drift Boat, $6.00 each or 2 for $10.00 to sell. We sold all the Alaska Trip tickets. Thank you to the members who have helped. This program is a fund raiser for our chapter and the association. We will be selling tickets at the general meetings, and hopefully, if we can get some volunteers, teams of three people works best, at the Sportsman’s Warehouse on south Lancaster in Salem. I have reserved the following Saturdays: 20 January, 3 February, and 17 February 2018. I have blocks of tickets if you would like to check them out and sell them at work, school, church, health club, Tupperware parties and such. Sure would help. Please contact me at e-mail [email protected], PH; 503-507-1424 if you can help, PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE if I do not answer or see me at the meetings.
Are you getting your Association magazine, The Northwest Steelheader, information from the association, and chapter e-mails? If you are not, please contact me. If you are getting this letter in the mail and have an e-mail address PLEASE let us use it to save us money on paper, ink, stamps, and my time and provide us with that information.
We are still looking for someone to step up and take the office of Chapter President. Rod is doing an outstanding job as Vice President, but his day job limits the time he can give to us. A Salem resident would be most helpful.
Be part of the 100,000 Spring Chinook Returning to the Willamette River. The association will convene a public meeting on January 9th at Camp Withycombe to discuss 2018 priorities as it relates to its Quest for 100k Campaign. The Quest for 100K’s objective is to get 100,000 spring Chinook back to the Willamette River each and every year for the benefit of sport anglers, food banks and general overall ecology of the region. Sea lions are currently the major bottleneck for the recovery of upper Willamette Basin salmon and steelhead stocks. Come join us at 6:30 p.m. at the camp and help us craft a plan to accomplish this goal. More information and RSVP at the association web page: https://nwsteelheaders.org and our web page: https://salemnwsteelheaders.org/ soon.
January Meeting: Our guest speaker is guide and fisherman, owner of Dinger Jigs, Sam Wurdinger. Sam will give us formation about the fishing gear used in the local area, and other fisheries. NOTE: Sam is an interesting speaker so let’s turn out and show our appreciation for him taking his time and traveling to talk with us. http://dingerjigs.com
“Growing up and fishing with my dad was always fun and exciting. However, the addiction didn’t truly take hold until I started going on my own. From this point on it was the anticipation of what might be that kept me coming back. Once I got home each day I would sit down to tie up what I thought would work for the next trip. This passion has kept me tying jigs for over ten years. In this time I have learned the hard way that quality materials such as Owner hooks and tying materials from places like Hareline Dubbin are the only way to be able to have confidence that you are fishing a quality product that isn’t going to fail in the moment of truth.” 
If you have suggestions for speakers or programs you would like to hear, please tell us.
We hope to see you at our January meeting, bring a friend and who knows, you may win a prize.
Bob Johnston, Chapter Sec.
