Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter

for December 2022

Program plans for December 20^th include a potluck dinner and Alaska fishing slideshow

Alaska Fishing Trip

In keeping with our usual Holiday tradition, our next membership meeting will feature a delicious Holiday ham donated by our loveable Past Chapter Secretary, Bob Johnston. So far, 21 people have signed up to attend and bring various yummy side dishes and desserts. All things considered, it should be a great dinner meeting. Plans for a program after dinner currently include a fishing slideshow tour of Coffman Cove, Alaska presented by Mike Ferris, our Salem Chapter Secretary. Several of our members have joined us on this trip in the past and here is a small sample of what you can expect to see:

Salem Chapter V.P. Rod Ratzlaff and members Larry Bond & Arden Corey showing off the results of their fishing adventures in Coffman Cove, Alaska on Prince of Wales Island

Embroidered ANWS Logo Patches are on the way!

The latest word from our Executive Director, Jason Wedemeyer, is that an order of embroidered patches bearing the Association of Northwest Steelheaders logo is on its way. Patches will be available for purchase at a price of $8.00 to any interested members. Please stay tuned for further developments.

Our Next Board of Directors Meeting is Scheduled for January 4th

As usual, our Board of Directors welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend our Board Meetings held at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 6:30 PM.

Reminder Notice for Membership Dues

If you need to pay your annual membership dues, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience. Please return your completed form and dues payment to:

Linda Chezem – Treasurer

663 Rockwood St. SE

Salem, OR. 97306

Submitted by Mike Ferris

Salem Chapter Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for November 2022

Program Speaker for November 15^th

The latest word is that we will have a representative from the Garmin Company as the program speaker for our November 15^th meeting. As of “press time,” no further details were available.

So just how bad has the Salmon fishing been this Fall?…

The short answer is, it’s so bad we’ve decided to go crabbing instead! To stave off the boredom which normally goes with fishing and not catching anything, Salem Chapter member Nigel Hearne decided to try something new this year.

Salem Chapter Members Nigel Hearne and Mike Ferris on a crabbing trip to Nestucca Bay

Since he had never been crabbing before, he consulted with Club Secretary, Mike Ferris in October about how to catch Dungeness crabs. After a well-oiled Happy Hour discussion on the finer points of rigging and baiting crab traps they planned a trip to the Oregon Coast on November 3rd to test the waters of Nestucca Bay near Pacific City.

They arrived at the boat launch about one hour before slack high tide and soon had their traps baited up and soaking in a few strategically selected spots. After less than two hours of pulling pots, each landed their limit of twelve “keeper sized” male Dungeness crabs and were back at the boat ramp cleaning and cooking their catch before noon…Try that fishing for salmon or steelhead! Anyway, a good time was had by all, and Nigel and Mike are now in discussions with the Salem Chapter Board of Directors, about ways to provide a similar experience for some of the rest of our members.

The goal of this idea would be to match up our members who own towing vehicles and boats with members who don’t. A thirsty pick-up truck can suck up most of a $100 bill on a round trip to the Oregon Coast but, if you have a generous crabbing partner with some cash come along, everybody can win when the final expenses are totaled and split. At a minimum, watching one of your fellow Steelheaders jumping around in the boat with an angry Dungeness crab hanging onto various parts of their anatomy can be a great source of entertainment!

For future consideration, here are a few good crabbing tides at the Oregon Coast over the next couple of months: November 21^st through 27^th and December 5^th through 13^th

Our Next Board of Directors Meeting is Scheduled for December 7th

As usual, our Board of Directors welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend our Board Meetings held at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 6:30 PM.

Reminder Notice for Membership Dues

If you need to pay your annual membership dues, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience. Please return your completed form and dues payment to:

Linda Chezem – Treasurer

663 Rockwood St. SE

Salem, OR. 97306

Submitted by Mike Ferris

Salem Chapter Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for October 2022

Program Speaker for October 18^th is Jason Wedemeyer – ANWS Executive Director

The program for our October 18^th membership meeting will feature a visit from our new Director of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders. Jason Wedemeyer will let us know what’s going on with our parent organization and be available to take our questions and suggestions about its future direction. Please plan to attend and bring your questions and recommendations.

Looking for a Good Deal on a Downrigger?

Thanks to a generous donation by one of our Salem Chapter members, our club will have two manual Cannon downriggers available for sale at the October 18^th meeting. Kokanee season will be here again before you know it so plan to be ready when it arrives. The “asking price” is $40.00 each which is a small fraction of what you might expect to pay for a new one. Please see Chapter Treasurer, Linda Chezem for more details.

Outriggers

Our Next Board of Directors Meeting is Scheduled for November 2nd

As usual, our Board of Directors welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend our Board Meetings held at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 6:30 PM.

Reminder Notice for Membership Dues

If you have not yet paid your annual membership dues, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience. Please return your completed form and dues payment to:

Linda Chezem – Treasurer

663 Rockwood St. SE

Salem, OR. 97306

Submitted by Mike Ferris

Salem Chapter Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter

for September 2022

                               

Membership Meeting on September 20th is “Pizza Night”  

Given that the last regular membership meeting prior to our summer break was held on June 21st, we don’t have a program speaker lined up for this month. That being the case, the best we can do is serve up some pizza and ask everyone to bring a good “fish story” to the meeting.  Also, please let us know what topics and program speakers you might like to see at our futuremeetings.  Please bring your fish stories, program ideas and a big appetite to the meeting.  So that we can order enough pizza, please RSVP to Mike Ferris – Club Secretary by September 18th at: [email protected] or call or text Mike at:  971-273-3422.  We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Our Next Board of Directors Meeting is Scheduled for October 5th

As usual, our Board of Directors welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend our Board Meetings held at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 6:30 PM.

Reminder Notice for 2022 Membership Dues

If you have not yet paid your annual membership dues for 2022, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience.  Please return your completed form and dues payment to:

​

Linda Chezem – Treasurer

​663 Rockwood St. SE

​Salem, OR.  97306

Submitted by Mike Ferris – Salem Chapter Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for June 2022

Guest Speaker for June 21^st Meeting is Jenny Ammon – Environmental Education Coordinator for the City of Keizer

Over the past few years, Jenny Ammon has worked as an Angler Education Coordinator at the ODFW and then as a Natural Resource Educator at the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District. In her new role with the City of Keizer, Jenny plans to present a brief program on “water law history and how the city operates stormwater outreach and education based upon those laws and permits.”

Picnic Plans for July / No Membership Meetings Scheduled for July and August

In the past, our club normally organized a picnic in place of a July Membership Meeting.

That wasn’t been possible in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic and we will decide at our July 21st meeting if we will hold a picnic this year. Please plan to attend and help finalize our plans.

Next Board of Directors Meeting is Scheduled for August 17th

As usual, our Board of Directors welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend our Board Meetings held at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 6:30 PM.

A “Near Miss” Story from the Buell Miller Park Boat Ramp

On Sunday, May 5^th, after a beak in torrential downpours the week prior, I took two fishing clients down the North Santiam from Stayton to Buell Miller Park. When we arrived at the Stayton Boat Ramp, the river was clear and appeared to be both navigable and fishable. The day started off well enough with a nice break in the weather and we were able to fish along the sides of the main current where the anchor would hold. It didn’t rain a drop while we were on the water, but the fishing was very slow with only one good bite all day.

The excitement started at the very end of our drift as we approached the takeout and the fast flowing current managed to shoot our boat right past the big swirling back eddy in front of the Buell Miller Boat Ramp. By the time I was able to slow the boat down enough to get near the left bank, we were already about 100 feet past the ramp and still headed downstream toward a reported impassible logjam about four miles downriver. At that point, I rowed as hard as I could and drove the bow of the boat into the left riverbank, dropped the anchor and we all grabbed onto the branches of some small trees lining the bank to hold the boat in place. What followed next was nothing short of a “miracle of teamwork” with my father and son passengers. The son jumped out the front of the boat and stood in the near waist deep water while his dad, climbed out onto the bank. From there, we all held the now much lighter boat in place and were able to pull the boat upstream far enough to get it into the eddy which flows back up toward the boat ramp. With disaster averted, I was then able to row the boat back up the eddy and onto the boat ramp. This whole experience is not one that I would recommend repeating and would caution everyone to stay off the North Santiam whenever the flow is running above five feet at Mehama.

Reminder Notice for 2022 Membership Dues

If you have not yet paid your annual membership dues for 2022, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience. Please return your completed form and dues payment to:

Linda Chezem – Treasurer

663 Rockwood St. SE

Salem, OR. 97306

Submitted by Mike Ferris – Club Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for May 2022

Mid-Valley Chapter Holds Fishing Gear Sale in Albany

With the North Santiam running at flood stage in Mehama on Saturday, May 7th, the usual Learn the River Trip sponsored by the North Santiam River Guides Association had been cancelled and Past Salem Chapter Secretary, Bob Johnston and I had plenty of free time to attend a fishing gear sale and swap meet held by the ANWS Mid-Valley Chapter. This event was open to the public and George Larson – Club Treasurer said they had been attempting to conduct the event despite the pandemic since last June. George explained that “members provided fishing gear and tackle equipment at individual tables and purchasers came from both within and outside the group.”

Also participating in the event were four University of Oregon master’s degree students and their teacher, Melissa Graciosa. These students are studying community and regional planning, public policy, and management. They were there to share information on their estuary management planning project in Yaquina Bay and talk with our members about fishing experiences on the Yaquina River Estuary.

Mid-Valley Chapter Fishing Gear Sale at Bryant Park in Albany Jim Salee – Mid-Valley Chapter President at their sale and fundraising event

In addition to scoring a couple bargains on two vintage fishing reels, Bob and I were able to observe firsthand what another club is doing to raise funds and promote their Chapter. In addition to scoring a couple bargains on two vintage fishing reels, Bob and I were able to observe firsthand what another club is doing to raise funds and promote their Chapter.

May 17^th Program Speakers will be Wayne & Tyson Parker of Good Day Fishing, Inc.

Wayne Parker started Good Day Fishing, Inc. in 2006 after developing a line of anise scented hand wipes and rubber fish cleaning mats. In the sixteen years since then, he has added many more innovative products such as scent dispensing fishing lures, “blinkie lights,” flashers and customized spinners. More recently, Wayne’s Grandson, Tyson, has joined him in the operation of the business and their product line continues to grow. We look forward to their presentation on Tuesday to hear about their latest new products.

9007 River Rd NE

Salem, Oregon 97303

Phone: 503-428-8077

gooddayfishing.com

Next Board of Directors Meeting to be held on June 1st

As usual, our Board of Directors welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend our Board Meetings held at Sportsman’s Warehouse on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 PM.

Reminder Notice for 2022 Membership Dues

If you have not yet paid your annual membership dues for 2022, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience. Please return your completed form and dues payment to:

Linda Chezem – Treasurer

663 Rockwood St. SE

Salem, OR. 97306

Submitted by Mike Ferris – Club Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for April 2022

Another Successful Learn the River Trip – Stayton to Green’s Bridge

On Saturday, April 2^nd, a few of our Salem Chapter members participated in another successful Learn the River Trip organized by the North Santiam River Guides Association. The weather and river conditions were great for this month’s drift from Stayton to Green’s Bridge. Those participating gained valuable navigation knowledge about that stretch of the North Santiam River. A safe passage was enjoyed by all including the area of the much feared “braided channels” mid-way between Shelburn and Green’s Bridge. Many thanks to our past Club Secretary, Bob Johnston, for providing these great photos and much needed shuttle service for our long river drift.

Learn the River Trip participants gather for a quick safety meeting and prepare to shove off at the Stayton Boat Ramp

April 19^th Meeting: Program Speaker is Bart DeBow – Fish Count Specialist with ODFW

Have you ever wondered how many salmon and steelhead are in the North Santiam? If so, you’ll want to attend our next membership meeting on April 19^th . Plans for our meeting include a presentation by Bart DeBow of the ODFW. Bart is a Fish Count Specialist on the North Santiam River at Bennet Dam located just above Stayton. His primary duty is to provide fish video monitoring at both the upper and lower fish ladder facilities so that accurate fish counts can be recorded and tracked. Bart has been a valuable resource for me and my fishing buddies in the past when we’re trying to figure out if there are any salmon or steelhead running above Stayton and, if so, how many. Bart’s information will cover annual fish count statistics from 1997 through 2021. Please plan to attend and bring all your questions.

Board of Directors Meeting Held on April 6th

Our Board of Directors Meeting was held at Sportsman’s Warehouse at 6: 30 PM on April 6th. In addition to our usual business, we were pleased to have one of our newer members, Nigel Hearne, join us and discuss some possible strategies for improving our club’s membership numbers. Ever since the COVID pandemic began in 2019, our membership has dropped significantly and our regular meetings have either been cancelled or poorly attended. While the reasons for this trend are obvious and have been beyond our control, we did discuss a few ideas which may help to grow our chapter membership in the future.

Here are a few of the ideas we brainstormed at our meeting:

Re-activate the Northwest Steelheaders Association Raffle Drawing

Prior to the pandemic, our Salem Chapter participated in the ANWS annual raffle. Our members regularly volunteered to sell raffle tickets at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Salem and, in the process, we met many prospective new members who later attended our meetings and became members. This event proved to be an effective means of public outreach and membership growth until COVID restrictions made it impossible to continue. Perhaps we could start this effort back up again when public health conditions permit.

Re-initiate Fishing and Outdoor Skills Classes witAnother Successful Learn the River Trip – Stayton to Green’s Bridgeh ODFW

Here again, prior to the pandemic, our Salem Chapter was actively involved in organizing and teaching Outdoor Skills classes with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. In the past, this popular class has attracted prospective new members to Salem all the way from Portland and Eugene.

Sponsor More Youth Fishing Events and Training Classes

Old age and COVID has taken a toll on the number ofAnother Successful Learn the River Trip – Stayton to Green’s Bridge our active members over the past year and it makes good sense to focus our volunteer efforts on young people. That being the case, it’s a good idea to help interest kids in fishing any way we can. Offering youth fishing classes and events like “Hooked on Family Fishing Day” would be a great way to accomplish that.

These were a few of the ideas we discussed at our Board Meeting and it would be great if more of our members could join us to share additional ideas in the future. Please remember… you are all invited and welcome to attend. Our next Board Meeting is scheduled for May 4^th.

Submitted by Mike Ferris – Club Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for March 2022

Memorial Service for Dave Hopfer

On Friday, February 25^th, a memorial service was held for our longtime member Dave Hopfer at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Salem. Several Salem Chapter members were able to attend and pay their respects to our former Special Projects Coordinator.

After the service, we learned that Dave’s wife, Judy, and her family had generously donated some of Dave’s fishing gear to our club as well as a photo album and large collection of videos recorded and produced by Dave. The video collection contains over 134 DVDs and plans are in the works to catalog them for future use in our fundraising efforts and as historical reference information. During his many years with our Salem Chapter, Dave contributed countless hours of his time and videography skills to record our guest speaker programs and many club events and volunteer activities. It seems very appropriate now that his gift to our club will live on by providing a valuable source of information and visual history for our members. Below is a sampling of club photos from Dave’s old album which date from 1986.

“Learn the River Trip” Attended by Salem Steelheaders

On Saturday, March 5^th, four members of our Salem Chapter joined with the North Santiam River Guides Association for their first “Learn the River Trip” of the 2022 Season. The trip included a total of eight drift boats with sixteen participants drifting from Greens Bridge on the North Santiam to the Interstate 5 Rest Area Boat Ramp on the main stem of the Santiam River. Those in attendance from our club were Rod Ratzlaff, Arne Dahl, Bob Johnston, and Mike Ferris. We experienced good weather with pleasant water conditions and sharpened our navigation skills on the new river channel recently formed by the North Santiam between Greens Bridge and the confluence with the South Santiam River. We learned a lot about the new channel and were pleased to see that most of the large obstacles and hazards formerly present on that stretch had been cleared by high-water events which took place earlier this Winter. A good time was had by all, and a well-earned lunch break provided a unique opportunity to socialize and practice our “log sitting” skills.

Negotiating some shallow waters and practicing the art of “log sitting” during the lunch break

Membership Meeting on March 15^th

Plans for our next membership meeting on March 15 will include Amanda Boyles and Karen Hans from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as our featured guest speakers. Amanda is an Angler Education Coordinator and Karen is a STEP (Salmon Trout Enhancement Program) Biologist for the ODFW.

Invitation from our Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors regularly welcomes all Salem Chapter members to attend the Board of Directors meetings held on the first Wednesday of every month at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Salem at 6:30 PM. If you’re interested, please mark your calendar and plan to attend. The next meeting will be held on April 6^th.

Reminder Notice for 2022 Membership Dues

If you have not yet paid your annual membership dues for 2022, attached is a Membership Form for your convenience. The completed form and your dues payment can be returned to: Linda Chezem – Treasurer, 663 Rockwood St. SE, Salem, OR. 97306

Submitted by

Mike Ferris
Salem Chapter Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders Newsletter for February 2022

The news for our Salem Chapter began on a somber note this month and it is with great sadness that we report the death of Dave Hopfer, a dedicated and longtime member of the Salem Steelheaders. In his retirement years, Dave was a professional videographer and served as “Special Projects Coordinator” for our Salem Chapter. Dave regularly attended our meetings and, for many years, generously provided his videography services by recording the programs and presentations given by our guest speakers. He also recorded many of our club’s outings and special events and was often a participant on the North Santiam River Guides “Learn the River Trips.” Last month, we learned that Dave had tested positive for COVID-19 on January 8^th and became a casualty of the pandemic on January 26th. Dave leaves behind a huge void in our membership and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him.

On a lighter note, we are looking forward to our monthly membership meeting on February 15^th with a great program presented by Jeremy Jahn, the “Kokanee Kid.” Jeremy has been a guest speaker for us in the past and has a wealth of information including many valuable Kokanee fishing tips. Jeremy will also offer a wide selection of Kokanee fishing gear available for purchase at the meeting and, if you’re like most of us, you could greatly benefit from his advice and fishing tackle recommendations. I have personally used some of his Kokanee lures in the past and they greatly improved my success ratio in fishing for Kokanee Trout.

I hope you can attend the meeting and look forward to seeing you there.

Submitted by

Mike Ferris

Secretary

Salem Chapter Northwest Steelheaders

Newsletter for January 2022

The Salem Chapter wishes you a happy and prosperous New Year and has couple of big changes to share with you since our last meeting in December.

First off, our Board of Directors reluctantly accepted a letter of resignation from our longtime and loyal Club Secretary, Bob Johnston.  Bob has unselfishly served as our secretary for a total of eighteen years and has earned a well-deserved break from the years of hard work he has contributed in that role.  That being the case, the Board recently recruited and “voted in” a new Secretary at the January 5^th Board meeting.  His name is Mike Ferris, a regular member of our Salem Chapter for the past five years and he’s the guy now writing this newsletter!

The second big change also came at the January Board meeting when Rod Ratzlaff shared his desire to resume his role as Vice President and recommended that the Club consider one of our newer members, Jay Wylie, as “Interim President” of the Salem Chapter.  After a motion was made, seconded and voted on, Jay became our new Interim President.  Please join your Salem Chapter Board of Directors in welcoming these two new officers into their positions.

Also, please plan on joining us at our next regular meeting on January 18^th when Bernie Hoene, the owner and operator of Bait-N-Wait Fishing Charters will be our featured Guest Speaker.  Bernie is a member of our Salem Chapter and is also the coordinator of “Take a Veteran Fishing at Odell Lake.”  His charter service regularly offers fishing trips on Detroit Lake and Green Peter Reservoir and he plans to speak about fishing at Detroit Lake.

Bernie’s website address and phone number are:
baitnwaitfishingcharters.com  /  503-509-3507   

The meeting will convene on January 18th at 7:00 PM at Keizer City Hall.

Hope to see you at the meeting!

Submitted

Mike Ferris

Secretary