Salem Chapter Newsletter 15 March 2019
Ladies, gentlemen, and fishermen of all ages–this is your chapter newsletter for March 2019. On behalf of our President, Mike Tucker, and the members of the board of directors, we wish you a Very Happy St. Patrick’s day. “As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters [or fish hooks] never point in the wrong direction!”, an old Irish Blessing, almost.
Meeting Date is March 19th. We are back on schedule. The meeting will be on the 19th of March 2019 at the Keizer City Hall at 7:00 pm. The next general meeting will be held on the 16th of April.
Speaker March Meeting: Our guest speaker for March will be the association new Vice President Mr. Ryan Meek. He will speak to us on the new direction that the association is taking, changes in the leadership, new goals and more. The legislature is in session and there are some bills that effect our fishing, hatcheries, salmon and steelhead runs. Mr. Bob Olson, the association lobbyist, will be here to give us an update. Let’s have a big turn out and show them our appreciation for coming 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: On the 13th of March, Wednesday, there was an ODFW budget hearing held at the state capitol, “Using Columbia River Basin Endorsement” funds to:
1. Keep the Leaburg Hatchery open and producing fish to stock in our local streams.
2. Using funds to deal with the sea lions in the rivers of the Pacific Northwest.
3. Changing the rules and fees to the Columbia River Basin Endorsement, making it a permanent permit [tax?] to fish for salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon within designated areas of the Northwest, Willamette, Central, Northeast, Southeast, Snake River and Columbia zones. The current agreement has a 5 year sunset clause in it.
4. Change the current agreement to allow the gill netters back in the main stream of the Columbia River and is championed by two members of ODFW Commission whose terms expire in June 2019.
Your chapter was represented by a few Salem members, and several association members. The “CCA” and folks from Leabrug were well represented.
House Bill 3016: This bill was introduced by Representative Sprenger and Senator Girod:
Appropriates money to State Department of Fish and Wildlife for activities related to summer steelhead hatchery production for Santiam River. Declares emergency, effective on passage.
You can view the bill at: https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/HB3016
click on “3016” in the upper left hand corner.
We and other fishing clubs will continue to advocate for increased hatchery funding and production on a statewide basis. Recent losses of fish at major hatcheries clearly demonstrate the need for additional hatchery maintenance and operations funding. We are tracking specific budgetary needs for the Willamette basin that are vital for fish mitigation and sport fishing opportunity:
Leaburg Hatchery: $1,885,594 to produce 459,000 trout, 108,000 summer steelhead and 260,000 spring Chinook smolts for release in Willamette basin waters each year.
Santiam Hatchery: $400,000 to produce 114,000 summer steelhead each year. This hatchery is frequently overlooked.
If you support our passion, and can be at the Capitol Building not later than 8:00 a.m. in meeting room “E” wearing your N.W. Steelheaders gear, and help fill the room, it will make an impression and gain support. You may sign up to speak, but you only get two minutes and that goes fast. Then drop by your Representative and Senators offices and let them know you took time to attend, ask for their support orally or in writing.
You are in: Membership in the Association of N.W. Steelheaders has it perks. Columbia Sportswear Co. is offering an opportunity for you to shop at the Science Park Dr. Store in Portland, OR. There is a copy of the flyer in the attachment, print it out, read the small print on the bottom, find your membership card, and save some money. Last day is 24 March.
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.
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 Wednesday 23rd of March and Saturdays 20 and 27 April. 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 ClackaCraft 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 e-mail [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 Matt Tucker or Bob J. We have one person interested are You?
Youth Outdoor Day: A program sponsored by ODFW and other organizations where several programs are offered to youngsters of all ages at E.E. Wilson Reserve. We help getting the kids to catch a fish in the ponds. We will need some volunteers to coordinate activities, prepare the fishing poles, reels, fishing gear, and attend the event to help the kids. This event will be held on Saturday June 8, 2019. More information to follow. If you want to help, let us know—signup sheet will be provided later.
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 March meeting; we will start at 7:00 p.m. on 19th March 2019.
Bob Johnston, Chapter Sec. Mike Tucker President