Puget Sound Anglers – Gig Harbor & Tacoma

Some might refer to this time of year as the “dog days of summer.” If your hobby or passion is fishing, then I would say this is prime time as we patiently await the return of the Kings, Silvers and Pinks. Things might be off to a little slower than desired start in Marine Areas 11 and 13, but there are plenty of other fishing opportunities throughout our region. The coastal fishing seems to be the current hot ticket as reported by many of our club members that are fishing Westport and Neah Bay. I’m always amazed each month as we pass the microphone to hear the variety of fishing reports by our chapter members and guests.

We had another great meeting on July 14^th. Our guest speaker was Terry Wiest (Steelhead University). He gave a phenomenal presentation on fishing for Pinks. It is estimated that there will be about 6.5 million pinks returning to our area during the next couple of months. I always love to hear Terry speak and he always does a fantastic job. Thanks Terry! If you are interested in finding out more about fishing for Pinks, checkout Steelhead University (http://steelheaduniversity.com/) and navigate to the “How to Articles” section on the website. There is a good article by Terry on this subject.

On Saturday July 18^th, we helped with a Cast for Kids event, which was held on the Thea Foss Waterway. This is a great volunteer opportunity to take a special needs kid fishing. This event is always one of the highlight activities for our club and if you talk to those who participate, there is a great deal of satisfaction by being able to give back to our community. If you get a chance, get involved, you will be blessed for your efforts. Thank you to everyone who volunteered and participated. Our club is fortunate to be able to participate and we look forward to next year.

It’s Derby Time! We have 3 opportunities to fish our local Salmon Derbies. South King County PSA will be held on August 1^st, Gig Harbor PSA will be held on August 8^th and South Sound PSA will be held on August 15^th. For our Gig Harbor Chapter, this will be our 20^th Annual Salmon Derby. This will be our biggest and best derby to date. We have increased our top cash prizes this year to $3500 – First Place, $2000 – Second Place and $1000 Third Place. Places 4^th – 20^th get their choice of the remaining prizes. We also give away cash prizes for a Youth Division, Largest fish caught by a lady and our mystery fish prize. We always have a large selection of merchandise given away as raffle prizes. The grand prize raffle drawing is a new Lowrance HDS Fish Finder. You don’t need to fish our derby to win a great prize but you must be present. During the past few years, most people who attend the BBQ and Awards ceremony take home a prize. In addition, you get a free hot dog, chips and drink with your purchase of a derby ticket. To find out more about our derby or to purchase tickets, checkout our website at https://www.gigharborpsa.org. To get everyone ready for derby fishing, come hear Captain John Keizer speak on Derby Winning Fishing Tactics. John always gives a great presentation and is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable speakers around. Our next meeting will be held on August 4^th. We traditionally move our August Meeting to the first Tuesday of the month so that it precedes our Derby on August 8^th.

Our September speaker will be Duane Englin (NW Wildcountry) and October speaker is John Hagar (Southwest Marine Service). You will not want to miss either speaker. To find out more about any of the things I have been discussing about our chapter, please visit our website at https://www.gigharborpsa.org. We meet the second Tuesday of every month (except in August) at the Tacoma Outboard Association (646 N Wilton Road, Tacoma, WA).   Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing…

During our June meeting, we held our first garage sale of the year. We will hold another one in October. There was lots of good stuff to be had. I know I ended up with a new G. Loomis rod and some Hotshot lures at a great price. Did you know that in US, 4.2 Million in revenue is generated by garage sales weekly? It again proves the saying that “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” The general meeting began at its normal time of 7:00. For those of you who have never attended one of our meetings, we hold the business portion of our chapter meeting from 7:00 to about 7:45. During this time we will have the reading of the minutes by our secretary, the financial report by our treasure, various updates by our VP, 2015 Derby update by our Derby Chairman followed by the president’s report. Also during this time our membership coordinator introduces any new members and guests and our activities director reviews our upcoming club outings. We held our monthly membership drawing for $150 and the winner was Andrew B. A double-congratulations to Andrew for winning the cash prize donated by Southworth Marine and for his upcoming marriage later this month. We also had a government’s affair report from Larry Bucklin and a final North of Falcon wrap-up report from Art Tachell. We conclude our business portion of the meeting with our fishing report, which is one of my favorite things about our meeting. It sounds like fishing opportunities are heating up just like the fantastic weather we have been having at the beginning of June.   We always have a variety reports… this time from Westport to Langara Island and various places in-between. This past meeting included reports on salmon, kokanee, halibut, bottom fish and crabbing… by the way, crabbing in area 13 has been decent but you have to be at least 150’ deep. After a brief break, we begin the last half of our meeting about 8:00 PM with our featured guest speaker and conclude with our monthly raffle drawing. Meetings are usually done by 9:00 PM and the bonus now is that it is still light outside.

Our guest speaker during our June meeting was Mark Gavin from Pro-Troll and Brad’s Lures. He gave a very detailed presentation on fishing opportunities for Columbia River Up-River-Bright’s and also about some Sockeye opportunities. Great job Mark, we appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to share your knowledge and expertise with us. There were several techniques and tips that several of are going to try and see if they will help us catch more fish.  Now that you know what a typical meeting is like, what are you waiting for to come join us? What’s not to like when the subject is mostly about fishing? Guests are always welcome.

We have more fantastic speakers lined up for the next 3 months. Our July 14^th. Speaker will be Terry Wiest (Steelhead University) and he will be taking about fishing for Pinks. In my opinion, he gives one of the very best presentations on this subject. You will definitely learn to put more fish in the boat. At our August 4^th Meeting (note the date change due to our August 8^th Derby) Captain John Keizer will be speaking on Derby Winning Tactics and our September 8^th Speaker will be Duane Englin of NW Wild Country. A great lineup of speakers for our summer!

Calling all members with boats, we have a Cast for Kids event on July 18^th and we need at least 20 boats. Please sign-up at our next meeting to be a volunteer. As for other activities, we will hold our 20^th Annual Salmon Derby on August 8^th. Top prize is $3500 this year. Tickets are available online and will be in local stores by the time you read this. To find out more about any of the things I have been discussing about our chapter, please visit our website at https://www.gigharborpsa.org. We meet the second Tuesday of every month (except in August) at the Tacoma Outboard Association (646 N Wilton Road, Tacoma, WA).   Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing…

We held our annual spaghetti and clam feed (minus the clams due to red tide) at our May 12^th meeting. Andy Gakin, our VP, headed up the cooking crew and did a fantastic job. Thanks to everyone who helped out. Our regular meeting began at 7:00 PM. During the general meeting we gave away $260 for the membership drawing, which is sponsored by John Hagar at Southworth Marine. Duane Englin, our originally scheduled speaker, was not able to speak at our May meeting but we have rescheduled him for our upcoming September 8^th meeting. Our speaker for the night was Charley Emerson, a long time club member and former Commodore of the Tacoma Outboard Association. Charley was also a former professional fisherman. He shared his techniques for crabbing in the south sound, just in time for the June crab opener in area 13. Thanks Charley.   Fishing reports are starting to pickup. Sounded like club members were getting their share of shrimp and halibut. It also sounded like springer fishing on the Cowlitz and Columbia has been really good.

On May 16^th we held our annual Kokanee outing on American Lake. There weren’t very many participants this year… not sure if the weather scared people off. There weren’t very many Kokanee caught but there were plenty of trout and it was fun none-the-less. I’d like to encourage our club members to get involved in the club outings. We always have a good time.

For your future planning, we have some really good speakers coming up during the next 3 months. At our June meeting we will have Mark Gavin from Pro-Troll. He will be talking about fishing Columbia River Upper River Bright’s. In July we will have Terry Wiest speaking on Pinks Salmon and in August, we will have Captain John Keizer of Salt Patrol talking about derby fishing tactics. Also at our June meeting will be the first of our club-only garage sales. Doors will open up at 5:30 PM.

We have a great chapter who loves to fish and learn about fishing. If you want to become a better fisherman, come check us out! Guests are always welcome. Checkout our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding our meetings and our club activities. We meet the second Tuesday of every month (except in August) at the Tacoma Outboard Association (646 N Wilton Road, Tacoma, WA).   Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing…