April 2018 Newsletter

Salem Chapter Newsletter 13 April 2018

OOPs. The days are passing too fast and I’m a little slow in getting this out, and its Friday the 13th.
Ladies, gentlemen, and fishermen of all ages—this is your chapter newsletter update.

This Saturday Salem Chapter of Steelheaders is scheduled with the River Guides to clean up the trails and campgrounds of the Santiam State Park. {RT,22,East of Salem close to mile post 26, before Fisherman’s Bend Park.}  As a reward for our efforts, we get to use the gazebo for our annual cookouts free of charge. We will start at 9:00 am. You should bring some wet weather gear, gloves, and some tools. The park has wheelbarrows and some tools.  The trails and brush will be wet due to all the rain. Weather for Saturday should be good.
We are planning a light lunch around noon; please bring something for yourself and a wee bit more to share with other members. We will have beverages, plates etc. Questions: please call River Guides President Bob Lusk 1-503-559-5576 or me 503-507-1424, No answer please leave message.
Best E-mail me at [email protected].  [that way I will hopefully remember].

Our next chapter meeting will be next week on Tuesday the 17th at 7:00pm at the Keizer Community Center Keizer, Oregon. Our guest speaker will be Wayne Parker of Good Day Fishing. Wayne is always interesting, informative and has some new products to show and tell us about. If you do not have one of his fish cleaning mats this will be a good time to get one. His Anises Handy Wipes are a value for every fisherman. Please see attached flyer.

NW Steelheaders Event at the State Capitol: V.P. Mat Tucker advises us that the Association will be installing a fishing pond at the state capitol on 26 May at 9:00 am. until sometime in the afternoon. Mat and Bob Rees are asking for 5 or 6 of our chapter members to volunteer to help with the fishing poles and such. For more information contact Mat T. at <[email protected]>.

NW Steelheaders Asso. Salmon Quest Tournament: The renowned Salmon Quest will be here in exactly 31 days — can you believe it? This event is one of our largest of the year and it truly takes an all hands on deck effort to ensure success. Registration is still open and they can register online here. Proceeds from the event will benefit our Quest for 100K Campaign. 
We do desperately need volunteers at the banquet! Set-up (Arranging tables and chairs, carrying supplies, adding the final touches to the event space, troubleshooting event logistics) Registration tables (guide and angler), Silent and dutch auction, parking, check-out (running credit cards, taking money, ensuring accuracy), Check-out runner (picking up auction items for people when they’re ready to check out), kitchen crew, tear down/clean up, sell raffle tickets. Event volunteers will need to be at Camp Withycombe by noon on May 12th. (Camp Withycombe is just east of Clackamas and Rts. 205 & 225). If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the office at [email protected] or by calling 503-653-4176. The sooner, the better for our planning purposes.  Lastly, we are always looking for auction items. If you have special connections with folks that you can leverage for the event, we’d surely appreciate it! Attached is a donation form that you could provide to individuals or organizations looking to donate toward the cause. Proceeds from the tournament are used to improve sport fisheries by investing in our Quest for 100k Campaign. Please see the association web page www.nwsteelheaders.org.

NW Steelheaders Mid-Valley Chapter Invitation: The Albany chapter has extended an invitation for Salem members to attend a chapter meeting in Albany on 2 May from 7-9 pm. at the Albany Senior Canter, 489 Water Ave., Albany, OR. The guest speaker is Dave Calhoon, co-host of Outdoor GPS and owner of N.W. Rods. Three of Dave’s custom rods will be raffled off. Sportsman’s Warehouse will be providing a cold water low profile casting reel to the first winner.

Mark your calendar for events the chapter and Association has planned, update.

April 14th 9:00am: Santiam State Park [Rt.22 east of Salem mp#26.] Clean-up and pot luck. Bring your rain gear and small tools. Something to eat and share with others, we will have drinks.
April 21st 10:00am: Learn the river trip that was re-scheduled, Stayton to Greens Bridge.
May 2nd 7:00 pm: Albany Chapter Meeting
May 5th, 9:00am: Minto Park [Rt. 22 east of Salem just past the rest stop.] Clean-up: bring power tools for cleaning brush. Lunch will be served so bring pot luck. Sign up needed for meal planning.
May 12th, NWSH Asso. Salmon Quest fishing tournament and banquet. See above and Asso. Web page.
May 19th; 9:00am: Summer Steelhead Clinic starts, 9:00am till about 3:00pm. Lunch will be served to all attendees.
May 26th 9:00am: NWSH Asso. Fishing tank at State Capitol.
June 2-3, 9:00 am: Free Fishing weekend and our group of volunteers are usually helping the kids catch monster fish at the Roaring River Hatchery from about 9:00am till 2:00pm and lunch is served for the volunteers.
June 9, 7:00am: Youth Outdoor Day, fishing for kids at a local pond. This is the crazy one with 200 fishing poles and 700 kids; you do the math. We do get fed and the kids are a real delight. Our time for arrival is about 7:00 a.m. to set up all the poles and be ready for the young fishermen.
June 23rd 9:00am: Fly Fishing, this clinic is for newbie’s and we get a good response every time we put it on.
July 14th [time tba]: Chapter Picnic. We may be at Santiam State Park or Keizer Rapids. We need your input for us to increase attendance.
August 18th 9:00 am: Advanced Fly Fishing, a little dual purpose rods and some Spey rods and any kind of special help you may need. Santiam State Park.
Sept. 15th 9:00am: Winter Steelhead Clinic. If you are ready to learn, get signed up at the ODFW Calendar website and tell your friends that would like to learn.
We in the Salem Chapter love to fish and hunt and we love our forests and rivers, keeping our fish alive so we can enjoy catching them are our priority, and should be the priority of all our members. Stand by your chapter and keep volunteering as we need your help. If you are a member you can reach me anytime 623-363-7387 cell. Thanks, Brian Winn Pres. Salem Chapter.

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. 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.

Have you checked our chapter web page lately? https://salemnwsteelheaders.org/ Dave S. has put a lot of work into making it informative; giving links to fishing guides, fishing news, activities, photos, and more. 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. We have the “how to make rags with photos” on the page. We would like to put photos of fish you catch on the page.

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.

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.

Be part of the 100,000 Spring Chinook Returning to the Willamette River.. 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 to accomplish this goal. More information at the association web page: https://nwsteelheaders.org and our web page: https://salemnwsteelheaders.org/ Soon I will have information and action pages at the meeting. Email me if you want some more information.

Membership renewals: We are trying to keep our membership renewals current so please check your membership card to see if you may have missed your notification. We do not want to lose someone who missed renewing. If you need more information please contact Bob J. at a meeting or give him a call at 503-507-1424.

See you soon, Bob Johnston, Sec.