Woodland Creek Community Center 6729 Pacific Avenue SE, Lacey, WA 98503
Club News and Current Events
South Sound Chapter – August 2022
Martin F Chen - President
In June we had a club members fishing day at Riffe Lake. Club members also put on a fishing clinic for kids at the Gwinnwood Day Camp on Hick’s Lake. Our annual Garage sale on July 16-17 was a huge success in more ways than one – members unloaded stuff, members and the public upgraded their stuff, especially fishing tackle and boating equipment, and finally we made a record $6000 for kid’s fishing events. Thanks and congratulations to all those to donated and helped, and especially the Silvers for hosting this event every year at their place. Jim Tuggle gave a rousing talk for our members at the July general meeting.
Four events are coming up: July 23 club members will put on a fishing clinic for 40 cub scouts at Long’s Pond in Lacey. Saturday August 6 the club will have the portable trout pond set up bayside at the Westport Tuna Classic put on by Mission Outdoors. Volunteers are needed to setup the pond Friday morning and operate the pond on Saturday. The club’s annual Salmon Derby is coming Saturday August 20. Tickets are $30 per angler and will be available at the August meeting and afterwards from Dee Glenn. Prizes for the top three legal salmon will be $500, 300 and 200.
We are working on a rideshare list for folks with boats who want to share and folks who would like to join them. More details at the general meeting Thursday August 4, 7 pm at the Lacey Community Center.
Club members: New variants of the Covid-19 virus have made inroads into our area, I personally know 6 friends or family members that got it in the last 5 weeks. From my study into what hospitals are reporting: what increases your chance of a Covid infection leading to hospitalization is; 1. not being vaccinated, 2. having a pre-existing condition and 3. Being over 65 and vaccinated but not boosted. So if you fall into any of those categories, please take action now and don't lose any fishing time!
General Meeting Agenda July 7, 2022
Budget Report – Dee
Events: Outings
1. Garage Sale – Mike Silvers- when setup starts
2. Annual Salmon Derby – Mike Silvers – is there a tie-in with Terry this year?
3. Board meeting 7/20
4. Kids fishing events – Boy Scouts
5. Westport event – Steve Cummings
Fishing Reports: 1. Club outing to Riffe Lake, Martin, Mike, Jason
2. Ocean salmon – Mike
3. Miscellaneous – crab, shrimp etc. – any members volunteering info.
Intermission and Book Signings
Featured speaker – Jim Tuggle
Raffle and Drawing.
Next meeting August 4.
President’s message from Martin Chen for July 2022.
Our June chapter meeting feature our own members as speakers: John Ignac and Jason Anderson did a great presentation on their TRN sponsored trip to Baja, with several other chapter members. Stay tuned for announcements about next year. We had a good turnout of members and families with kids at the Cabela’s fishing pond June 11-12. Club members set up and operated the kid’s fishing pond at the Rods and Reels in Need Expo June 18. Seven members helped about 250 kids catch a trout. Our board has gotten requests from 3 other organizations to hold kid’s fishing events for this summer, so there’s a lot of community interest out there. Coming up very soon are two events: A June 25 club outing to Riffe Lake to catch landlocked coho and triploid rainbows and the annual Garage Sale July 16. Bring in that fishing/boating gear now that you’ve upgraded and other unneeded things. We will need some volunteers to setup and price items on July 15 – contact Mike Silvers. Our speaker at the general meeting July 7 will be none other than Jim “Tug” Tuggle to talk about salmon recovery. I suspect he might bring some copies of his books to sign too! The board meeting will be Wednesday July 20 and members are welcome to attend. The Annual Club member’s fishing derby is on Saturday August 20.
SSCPSA President's Monthly Newsletter June 2022
The speakers at our June meeting will be John Ignac, Jason Anderson, Mike Silvers, Steve Andrews and Allen Morrow. The topic will be our recent trip to Baja California.
South Sound Chapter News for June 2022
Martin F Chen, President
We have one events coming up in May and two in June. Saturday May 21 was the butter/geoduck/any other bivalve dig at Hope Island State Park. See the pictures of this trip on the Home tab. Steamer clams, butter clams, horse clams and oysters were harvested by the participants. Friday morning, June 17 we are going to setup the kids fishing pond for the first annual Rods and Reels in Need Expo, volunteers needed (contact Mike Silvers). The event will be Saturday June 18 at the Thurston County Fairgrounds from 10-5. There will be marine industry reps (Verle’s), book signings (Jim Tuggle) and many other attractions. Saturday June 25 we will have a club fish-in at Riffe Lake. Watch for a signup sheet, fishing methods and details at the June 2 meeting. Riffe is a good producer of landlocked coho, triploid trout and the occasional chinook and the methods are the same as salmon fishing. We are looking forward to our June 2 meeting 7 pm at the Lacey Community Center – a full report on our member’s Baja Trip is anticipated. The Board meeting is Wednesday June 15. The weather will turn and summer will be here!
SSCPSA President's Monthly Newsletter May 2022
South Sound Chapter
PRESIDENT: Martin Chen (360)490-3383 – VICE PRESIDENT: Jason Anderson (360) 870-4112 SECRETARY/TREASURER: Dee Glenn (360) 491-0431
We had three events this month. The annual Seafood Banquet and Raffle was the April monthly meeting. Over 80 people came for the all-you-can-eat steelhead, whitefish, steamer clams, chowder, shrimp macaroni salad and green salad. We have some talented cooks in our group and thanks to Jason and Jay for heading this up.
Our big event is the Lacey Family Fish-in, which we couldn’t do in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. This is an event put on with City of Lacey Parks and Recreation at Long’s Pond right behind the Community Center. WDFW provided 2000 trout from Lakewood Hatchery plus John Pahutski and Colby Buell. We set out 400 feet of net and subdivided it into three separate enclosures. There was a surplus of fishing outfits built up from 2020 and 2021 (thank you Cabelas/Bass Pro) so this year each registered kid got to take an outfit home for free. Education is a big part of this event so there was a Boating Safety presentation, plankton viewing with Stream Team, casting Lessons and even some fish anatomy lessons at the fish cleaning table. About 20 volunteers were there, including some from Capitol Bass Club and Cabelas. A big thank you to everyone involved. We had 445 kids brave the wind, rain and even hail. Quite a few kept fishing in the open part of the pond after their time in the netted area was over.
Congratulations to Mike Silvers on organizing this event.
The third event was the annual members Boat Show and Safety Inspection at the Swantown Marina. This is a chance to get the inspection sticker on your boat before the summer starts, and to see someone else’s setup. Eight boats were declared ready for the salt.
The next General Meeting is May 5 at the Lacey Community Center. For a change of pace, we will have Chris White from the Bob Oke game farm talk about the westside pheasant release program. We will also talk about the midday Razor clam dig/surfperch at Twin Harbors May 7, and a geoduck/butter clam dig at Hope Island State Park May 21. Four beaching boats will be available to go to Hope Island and boat pools will be arranged from Boston Harbor and Arcadia. June 18 we will be running a kid’s fishing pond at the Rods and Reels in Need Expo at the Thurston County Fairgrounds. Start saving and sorting surplus fishing/boating/hunting gear for the annual Garage Sale July 16 (Set up on July 15). Do you really need all those flashers? If you haven’t paid your dues yet, bring them to the May meeting.
SSCPSA President's Monthly Newsletter April 2022
PRESIDENT: Martin Chen (360)490-3383 – VICE PRESIDENT: Jason Anderson (360) 870-4112 SECRETARY/TREASURER: Dee Glenn (360) 491-0431
CHAPTER MESSAGE BY PAST PRESIDENT ALLEN MORROW
There were two highlights to the March meeting. First was the election of officers for the next year. The new officers are President Martin Chen; Vice President Jason Anderson; Secretary/Treasurer Dee Glenn; and Board Members Jonathan Chamrad and Darwin Kumm. I want to extend my sincere thanks to these folks for their willingness to step forward and lead this chapter onward. The second highlight was an engaging and educational talk by Martin Chen on a disease that is prevalent in late release Chinook Salmon and his efforts to find a way to reduce its severity or eliminate it entirely. This condition which affects the kidneys of the juvenile salmon in some cases causes death to over 50% of the fingerlings before they can be released from the hatchery. We have a number of events on the calendar for the month of April. The annual Kids Fish-in in conjunction with Lacey Parks and Recreation will return on April 9. We expect to have 400 to 600 kids at the event each of which will go home with new rod and reel. We need volunteers to help put the rods/reels together on Monday April 4 at 5:00 PM at the White House and on Saturday April 9 at 6:30 AM to help the kids learn to use their new fishing tackle. If you want to help please let Mike Silvers know at (360) 951-5160 or setthehook55@gmail.com. Our April general meeting on Thursday April 7 is our annual seafood banquet at the Lacey Community Center. Social hour will be from 6:00-7:00, with dinner starting at 7:00. A large bucket raffle for men, women and kids stuff will follow the dinner. The cost is $15.00 (kid's 10 and younger are free). We will be serving salmon/steelhead, steamer clams, chowder, salads, and garlic bread. Hot dogs will also be served for those who don't want seafood. On Saturday April 16 we will have our annual Swantown Boat Show and Safety inspection in the upper parking lot from 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM. This in opportunity for you to show off your boat and more importantly get it inspected to ensure it meets all the Coast Guard safety requirements. A representative of the U. S. Power Squadron will conduct the surveys and will issue a decal to be placed on the boat verifying that it is safe. I have found that having the decal has allowed me to avoid safety inspections by the Coast Guard of local law enforcement officials. Finally, just a reminder that your 2022 dues are due if you haven’t already paid them. The can be paid at the April banquet or by sending a check to South Chapter Puget Sound Anglers, PO Box 1002, Olympia, WA 98507.
SSCPSA President's Monthly Newsletter March 2022
I want to thank everyone who contacted their legislative representatives regarding attempts in the legislature to change the leadership structure of WDFW. These bills which would have rolled the WDFW into the Department of Natural Resources or in other ways severely reduced the authority of the WDFW Commission all died early in the Legislative session. This happened because many of us took the time to express our opinion about the proposed action. For example, in the case of the bill moving control of WDFW from the current commission to the Department of Natural Resources out of 47 people who signed in to speak at the hearing 44 opposed the bill. There were also 261 written comments regarding the bill with only 2 in support. Legislators do listen and heed the views of their constituents if enough let them know what they think. Now it is up to all of us to put pressure on the Commission and the Governor to ensure it follows the mandate to enhance fishing opportunities for all Washington citizens. We have a number of upcoming events on the calendar. I am attaching a copy of the current prospective calendar. If you have any suggestions for additional outings or other activities please let me know. I would like to emphasize a couple of upcoming events. The first is the annual Kids Fish-in at Longs Pond on Saturday, April 9. We are working with the Lacey Parks and Recreation to ensure that this event happens. We will need volunteers on the day of the event and to help us put together the rods that will be given to each participant on Monday, April 4. Put those dates on your calendar and help us introduce up to 600 kids to the joy of fishing. Also, in April we will have our annual Seafood banquet on Thursday, April 7. We hope to have the traditional salmon and steamer clam menu. If you have any salmon or steelhead you would like to donate for the dinner, please let Jay Evans or Jason Anderson who have agreed to chair this activity know. I have always wondered where salmon and steelhead go when they leave the rivers they were hatched in. I am attaching an article Martin Chen found that partially answers that question and also addresses the effect of ocean conditions on the survivability of the various species of anadromous fish we like and want to catch.
We had our pond out for a kid’s fishing event for the first time in over 2 years on February 19. The activity was in conjunction with WDFW at Vance Pond 2 in Elma. What made the event different than previous outings is that it was stocked with 12 Steelhead and 25 brood stock trout averaging around 3 pounds. Just imagine trying to catch a steelhead with a trout rod in a 10’ by 20’ pond. Tangles were common but there were many happy kids at the end of the day. I would like to thank everyone who turned out to make this a success.
We are back to having in person meetings on the first Thursday of the month. The meetings will continue to be at the Lacey Community Center starting at 7:00 PM. Masks are still required for entry into the Community Center as I am drafting this message, but hopefully that restriction will be eliminated soon. Martin Chen will be the speaker at the March meeting. Martin is a retired fish pathologist who will speak on preventing a chronic fish disease in hatcheries that threatens the viability of salmon smolts being released into the wild.
Joe Morrow and Forrest Gill both missed chances to go home with $50 and $100 respectively by missing the January and February meetings. Don’t miss your opportunity to take home $150 by missing the March meeting.
SSCPSA President's Monthly Newsletter February 2022
The first month of 2022 has come and it appears to be a repeat of 2021. We are still facing the effects of the COVID pandemic, Mother Nature has sent us first terrible weather and then the threat of a tsunami and finally the state legislature is considering changes to WDFW. There are three bills under consideration that will change the current leadership of the WDFW as established by the residents of this great state some years ago. Although many of us disagree with many of the decisions made by the current leadership of the department these bills are really a power grab by several groups that want to substitute their false view of the science behind the current management of our fish hatcheries and other wildlife resources for established science being used by WDFW today. If they pass, I firmly believe hatchery product will be further reduced and we will have less opportunity to fish in the future. It is imperative for all of us let our representatives know that we oppose each and every one of them.
I am concerned about the future leadership of our chapter. Our annual election of new officers will be at the March meeting. As I write these comments we are seeking candidates for these offices, President, Secretary/Treasurer, and 2 board positions. Under the club’s bylaws which limit the president to a two year term I will be no longer eligible to hold the office after that meeting. Someone has to step up and agree take on the duties of the position. We have the same problem with the two board positions. Thankfully, the position does not apply to the Secretary/Treasurer however, Dee Glenn the incumbent, who has held the position for over 20 years, would appreciate an opportunity to train her eventual replacement.
You may have noticed that there wasn’t a January newsletter. We are in the process of reexamining the format of the newsletter. One of the suggestions is to change it from an emailed monthly document to an interactive facebook page. If you have thoughts regarding staying with the current format or going to an online version please let me or any board member know. I am sure this will be a topic of discussion at the February meeting.
Finally, your 2022 dues are due. You can send them to South Sound Chapter PSA, PO Box 1002, Olympia, WA 98507-1002 or bring them to our February 3rd meeting. I hope to see you all at that meeting.
SSCPSA President's Monthly Newsletter January 2022
We ended a very unusual and somewhat trying year, due the ongoing COVID pandemic, with a very successful holiday banquet. Over 75 members, their families and guests enjoyed a delicious turkey and ham dinner. It was great to see everyone again. I want to thank those who volunteered to make this happen. It my sincere hope that this will be the start on our return to normality. Hopefully everyone will continue to practice safe and effective practices so that we can defeat COVID.
We were only able to hold two regular meetings in 2021, but we did have two successful banquets, our annual member derby and several outings. In addition, many of us enjoyed successful fishing trips to Westport and Hood Canal especially in August and early September. Unfortunately, for many of us fishing in Area 13 was not as productive. Hopefully that is not a forewarning of the future in our local area.
It is now time to look forward to 2022. We plan to have clam dig and possibly surf perch outings in January and February, a trout fishing outing to Lake Lawrence in conjunction with the Nisqually Valley VFW Derby in March, the Kids Fish-In in April and an outing to Mayfield Lake in May. More information regarding these activities will be sent out prior to each event.
The Board of Directors is seeking input from all of our members regarding topics they want addressed at our monthly meetings and what other activities should be on our agenda. If you have any issues, topics or suggestions for outings please contact any board member. We also are seeking nominations for the offices of President, Vice President and two Board Members. If you are interested in running for one of these positions or want to nominate someone please contact any current officer or board member.
Our next meeting will be on January 6 at the Lacey Community Center beginning at 7:00 PM. the speaker will be Clay Anderson. Clay will give us insight into bass fishing in local lakes and the potholes of Eastern Washington. In light of recent WDFW decisions to close the Chehalis system to winter fishing, Area 13 to crabbing and to first close and then provide restricted opportunities to fish for Chum it is becoming more likely that if we want to fish we will need to learn about other possibilities in our local area such as bass.
In closing, it is time to renew your membership by paying your 2022 dues. You can accomplish this by sending a check in the amount of $35.00 payable to South Sound Chapter PSA to PO Box 1002, Olympia, WA 98507-1002.
Outings, Events and Announcements
Happy thanksgiving everyone.
A couple of us are planning a fishing expedition to Mayfield Lake for trout on Black Friday (November 27). So far we have 2 boats committed and are looking for those without boats who would like to fish or those who want to join us with their boat. If you are interested please let me or Mike Silvers know by Thanksgiving day. You can reach me at ramorrow@pacifier.com and Mike at setthehook55@gmail.com.
Details will be finalized and announced once we have an idea of the number people interested in this outing.
Allen Morrow, President
South South Chapter Puget Sound Anglers
AT THIS TIME WE WILL BE HAVING LIMITED OUTINGS. PLEASE STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY AND CHECK BACK LATER FOR ANY UPDATES TO OUR EVENTS. Thank you!
Who wants to go Razor Clam Digging?
We are digging Twin Harbors this Saturday. We will have a bon fire at our normal location behind Grayland Beach State Park. Instead of taking Cranberry Road to gain access to the beach we will be using Grayland Beach Road then turning South about 1 1/2 miles. Drive until you find fresh water running onto the beach. We will be parked there. Cranberry Road was a little soft last dig.
We will be leaving Mud Bay Park & Ride at 4:30 PM. Hot Dogs will be furnished. The Hot Dog sticks ate 3 1/2' long so we should be able to keep our distances.
I don't think I'll be fishing for Surf Perch this time. The surf is 3.5' and the wind is supposed to die down. If you do go fishing, don't go by yourself, make sure there is someone with you. Let me know if you are going and I will try to hook you up with someone else.
Let me know if you are coming and there will be hot dogs waiting for you. If you want to car pool from Mud Bay let me know. If nobody wants to car pool I will probably go down a little earlier.
I'll see you there.
--
Mike Silvers
Puget Sound Anglers South Sound Chapter
setthehook55@gmail.com
cell/text (360)951-5160