February 2019 Newsletter

Salem Chapter Newsletter 14 February 2019

Ladies, gentlemen, and fishermen of all ages–this is your chapter newsletter for February 2019. On behalf of our President, Mike Tucker, and the members of the board of directors, we wish you a Very Happy Valentine ’s Day.

Meeting Date is 19th. We are back on schedule. The meeting will be on the 19th of February 2019 at the Keizer City Hall at 7:00 pm. The March meeting will be held on the 19th of March.

Speaker February Meeting: Our guest speaker for February will be Mr. Robert W. Bradley. Robert is the Fisheries Biologist of the North Coast of Oregon. He is located out of the Tillamook office of ODF&W. His geographic area runs from the Nestucca northward to the northern Oregon border. He will be sharing his expertise on the steelhead and salmon in his district and how some programs now in place are working for the future of the resource. Let’s have a big turn out and show him our appreciation for coming all the way over to spend some time with us.

“C.R.D.”=Courtesy, Respect, Decorum: Members are requested to show the speakers and other members the Courtesy of listening, Respect for what the speaker is talking about, and maintain Decorum during the presentations so other members can hear what is being presented.

Speaker Openings: The board of directors makes this offer to the membership: we will schedule you as a speaker and you can present your knowledge and experiences to the membership. If you know of someone who you think would provide an informative program on any subject related to fishing, please make it known to a board member.

Keeping Fish Hatcheries Operating: We hope you saw and read the article in the Statesman’s Journal on the 31st of January; Fishing groups fight plan to eliminate hatchery steelhead from North Santiam River by Zach Urness. We know that there has been lots of discussion on this Issue. [Missed it, see Bob J.] It is important that your views be heard. WE strongly recommend you contact your state legislators and make your views known. The Legislature can fund ODFW to continue the program one year or until the federal issue is resolved. Need a “go by?” See Bob Johnston at the meeting or request a copy at [email protected]. Our federal legislators have signed a letter to the Corps of Engineers requesting them to honor their commitment and continue with the summer steelhead program as required by law. Your comments to our federal representives may help us resolve this Issue.

Open Fish-A-Long: The Sandy River Chapter has an open Fish-A-Long on the Sandy River coming up on Sunday, Feb. 17. They usually meet at Oxbow Park about 7a.m.; split up and hit the river. Bank fish-alongs are ½ day events where chapter members meet up and fish from the bank. Jim C. leads these and some of the more experienced anglers from the Sandy chapter are available to help those new to steelhead fishing and techniques. Recommend check the weather and you contact Jim Cathcart at [email protected] or 503-238-4775 Ext 106., and

Association raffle tickets: Thank You to the members who bought tickets at the last meeting. Please bring an extra few bucks; we will sell you some trip or boat tickets.

Fundraiser NOTE: The nice folks at Sportsman’s Warehouse have scheduled the scouts to sell on the same dates we were hoping for. We do have Wednesdays scheduled 23rd February and 9th and 23rd of March. All we ask for is just three hours of your time: 9:00 a.m.-noon, or noon-3:00 p.m. at the Sportsman’s Warehouse on south Lancaster in Salem. I will have a signup sheet coming around, or give Bob J. a call at the number listed below. The raffle tickets are for a three day Alaskan Guided fishing trip, $1.00 each or 25 for $20.00 and a Clacka Craft 16’ Old School High Side Drift Boat, $6.00 each or 2 for $10.00 ready to sell. This program is a fund raiser for our chapter and the association. We will be selling tickets at the general meetings. I may 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 email [email protected], PH; 503-507-1424 if you can help, PLEASE LEAVE A MESSAGE if I do not answer or at the meetings.

Replacement for the Secretary: At the last board meeting Bob J. announced that he will be retiring from the chapter secretary job that he has had on and off since 2004. We need someone to fill that office. If you are interested please talk with the President Mike Tucker or Bob J.

Classes at Chemeketa C.C. : President Mike Tucker has made contact with the authorities at our Salem Chemeketa Community College. They are working on a project to present classes on Salmon and Steelhead fishing. The program is exploratory now, but we hope with your support, it will be part of the curriculum. We may have to start as an adult education class and work up to a class for credit. The goal is to bring the N.W. Steelheaders message and expertise to the younger members of the community; hopefully they will join our chapter.

Have you checked our chapter web page for Fish Pictures? If you have any recent pictures of fish you have caught or places you have fished, send the pictures to our website at: [email protected] with a short description of who is in the picture and what you have caught. Our chapter also has a Facebook page with lots of pictures and current info. Just search for “Salem NW Steelheaders” on Facebook and “like” our page. You can also see current info and pictures at our website: https://salemnwsteelheaders.org/ .

Snail Mail: 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. Not getting correspondence: If you are not receiving your membership information from the Association please see the secretary, Bob Johnston. We found one member who was listed in another chapter. A lot of the phone numbers we have in the listing are not correct.

Membership renewals: We have some members with expired memberships. We are trying to keep our membership renewals current so please check your membership card to see if you may have missed your notification. If you need more information please contact Bob J. at a meeting or give him a call at 503-507- 1424. No answers please leave a message.

At our meetings we have an “open seat board”: The board has 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.

Hope to see you at the February meeting; we will start at 7:00 p.m. on 19th Feb. 2019 Bob Johnston, Chapter Sec., Mike Tucker President