Puget Sound Anglers – Gig Harbor & Tacoma

We had a fantastic February meeting. It was our annual Crab Dinner and Awards Ceremony. Meeting started at 6:00 PM to accommodate the dinner and we held the general meeting at its regular time of 7:00 PM.   A special thanks to Roger Chapman for organizing the dinner and a big thanks to everyone else who also helped out. It was a fun time and the crab was good.

During the general meeting we announced the recipients of our “2014 Largest Fish Awards” and the “Angler of the Year” for 2014. There were fewer submissions this year so we only gave out 2 awards. The club member that caught the Largest Halibut was Terry Olsen. His fish weighed 62lbs and was caught on May 24^th, 2014. Our Lady Reeler Award, for the largest fish caught by a Lady, went to Maryellen Ward for her fish that weighed 35.5lbs and was caught on June 17^th, 2014. Her fish was also a halibut. This is our 2^nd year for the Angler of the Year award, which goes to the club member who earns the most points by fishing in our various club outings and by volunteering. The 2014 award winner is Pete Pitman. Congratulations everyone! Each received a nice plaque and a $100 check. We had our monthly membership drawing that is sponsored by Southworth Marine and we had a winner of the $260. That means the pot starts back at $150 for the March meeting. Speaking of Southworth Marine, John Hager, who is the owner and a longtime member of our chapter, recently had some medical procedures performed. We wish him the best and a very speedy recovery.

Our guest speaker for the night was Eric Linde of Linde’s Sport Fishing (http://lindesportfishing.com). He gave a great talk Columbia River Springer fishing. Eric is a very good speaker and you really missed out if you missed him. We appreciate him taking time from his busy schedule… I know he had just finished speaking 5 times at the Portland Sportsman Show the previous weekend. Thanks Eric, the presentation was great!

Just so you can plan ahead, our speaker for March will be Todd Girtz. He will be talking about fishing our coastal waters. In April, we will have Bill Herzog coming to discuss Kokanee fishing. This is perfect timing for our May club outing, which will be Kokanee fishing on American Lake. For more specifics on upcoming speakers and club outings, checkout our website.

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…

Happy New Year!  With the start of a new year I’m inclined to set some new year’s resolutions.  For example, I resolve to fish at all of our PSA club outings in 2015 (work schedule permitting).  I resolve to sit down with my fishing buddy and plan out our annual fishing calendar… too many missed opportunities when we don’t plan.  I also resolve to fish a new marine area or river.  Finally, I resolve to get someone new interested in fishing.  Have you set any resolutions for 2015?  If not why not take some time to think about some 2015 bucket list items and go out and do them!

Our January meeting was the first meeting with our newly elected board members and I look forward to working with each of them in 2015.  We look forward to a really fun and informative year.  John Hagar of Southworth Marine could not speak at our January meeting as originally announced so Pete Chadwick from Riverbend Jigs and Bait came and spoke at our meeting.  Pete is the owner or should I say former owner of Riverbend Jigs and Bait.  He introduced Cody Hayes as the new owner.  Both spoke on river fishing for Coho and Steelhead using twitching jigs and jigs under a float.  It was very informative session.  I actually got to try my hand twitching jigs with Pete and fishing buddy and caught my first Satsop River Steelhead on the Thursday following our meeting.  Twitching works and it’s a lot of fun…  Resolve to give it a try.  There were not a lot of member fishing reports for January.  It did sound like razor clamming was excellent.  We had 2 new members join our club, welcome Ted and John.  We did have our monthly membership drawing and unfortunately the name drawn was not present.  That means that our February meeting will be $260.  A big thanks to Sourthworth Marine for sponsoring our membership drawing.  We concluded our meeting with our regular raffle drawing.  Oh and before I forget, now is the time to renew your membership.  Cost is a $30.00 donation and covers your entire family.

On January 17^th we held our first club outing on Lake Washington and fished for Cutthroat Trout.  It was a fun outing and the weather wasn’t bad.  It was the typical northwest drizzle but not very cold.  There were 3 fish caught.  This is a great fishery and doesn’t seem to get much fishing pressure.  Not sure who caught the largest fish, this will be announced at our February 10^th general meeting.  Our next club specific outing will be on May 21st.  We will be fishing for Kokanee on American Lake.

Our February 10^th meeting is our annual Crab Dinner and Awards Ceremony.  We need everyone who wants to join us for the crab dinner to RSVP by no later than February 3^rd.  We will be announcing the winners of our annual largest fish awards and our anger of the year award.   The dinner will begin at 6:00 PM followed by our general meeting at 7:00 PM.  Our speaker for February will be Eric Linde.  This will be my first time hearing Eric.  I have heard that he is a fantastic speaker and am really looking forward to hearing him.  Our March 10^th Speaker will be Todd Girtz from Todd’s Extreme Fishing.  He will be talking to us about his new business and coastal fishing opportunities.  It should be another great meeting.

In 2014 we had 163 active members in the Gig Harbor Chapter.  Our goal is to raise our membership to 200 in 2015.  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…

Merry Christmas!  We had a phenomenal turnout for our December Christmas Party on December 9th.  I’d estimate that we had at least 150 in attendance from ages 1 to 89.  Santa Clause was also in attendance and all of the children were eager to tell him what they wanted for Christmas.  Christina S. was an 89-years young guest had never had her picture taken with Santa.  Santa was happy to accommodate!  As is our custom, all the children received a gift.  We had a special ladies raffle along with our regular membership raffle.  There were lots of great prizes won.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and there was plenty of good eats.  I’d like to express my sincere thanks to everyone who volunteered and assisted with the cooking of turkeys and hams, kitchen crew, setup and cleanup crew!  

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone.  I hope everyone took advantage to get out and enjoy the many opportunities to fish and enjoy the great outdoors.  We are really fortunate to live where we do and have access to the fisheries we have!  Speaking of opportunities, the first meeting of the year will be on January 13^th.  We hope to see all of our members in attendance.  Our speaker for the January meeting will be John Hager of Southworth Marine.  John is a club member from our chapter and will be talking about boat winterization and proper maintenance.  I have heard John speak on several occasions and I always get good information on how to better care for my boat.  Our first club outing is on January 17^th.  We will be fishing Lake Washington for Cutthroat.  Specific details about this outing are posted on our website (https://www.gigharborpsa.org).  Our club will be working the Puget Sound Anglers booth at both the Puyallup Sportsman Show on January 24^th and the Seattle Boat Show on January 30^th.  If you want to find out more about the PSA Gig Harbor Chapter stop by the booth and we would be happy to answer any questions.  

In 2014 we had 163 active members in the Gig Harbor Chapter.  Now’s a great time to renew your membership or become a new member.  Membership is a $30 donation and covers your family.  You can do this at one of our upcoming meetings or sign-up/renew online at our website. 

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…

Our November meeting was held on November 11^th.  Turnout was decent considering that a good number of our club members attend the annual Mexico trip to Van Wormer’s resort and the fact that weather was not very accommodating.  With that said, those who were in attendance had a great meeting.  We held our monthly membership drawing and Bill Brengman won the $260 that is generously donated by Southworth Marine Services.  That means we will start the membership drawing in January at $150 (there will be no drawing at our Christmas party in December).  We didn’t have many fishing reports this month so hopefully the members who were in Mexico picked up the slack.  Our speaker for the night was Jim Owens.   Jim is the founder of the CAST for Kids Program.  They have fantastic program that serves children (especially special needs children) and parents from various communities around our nation.   The talk was very informative and hopefully gave a unique perspective about the mission and goals of the CAST for Kids organization.  I know that our chapter is actively involved in some of the events that take place locally and we look forward to assisting in the future.  To find out more about the CAST for Kids programs checkout their website at http://www.castforkids.org.    Our meeting concluded with our regular raffle drawing. 

We have one final outdoor activity for 2014.  December 6^th will be our Annual Dick Smythe Memorial Derby, which is open to club members only.  We will be fishing area 11 from dawn until noon with noon being the official weigh-in time at The Tides Tavern Dock.   Biggest fish gets $100.00 and also buys the first round of beverages at The Tides Tavern.  Speaking of club membership, now is the time to renew your membership for 2015.  Cost is a $30.00 donation and covers your family.  In 2014 we had 163 active members in our Gig Harbor Chapter.  Now’s a great time to renew your membership or become a new member.  Our goal is to grow our club in 2015 so come check us out.  We have great speakers each month and we have a variety of club activities throughout the year.  If you like to fish or want to learn about fishing, what are you waiting for?  On December 9^th, we will hold our Annual Christmas Party.  Dinner will be served at 6:00 PM.  This is a family event.  If you have children that will be attending, we ask that you RSVP to 253-255-8168.  We need the age and gender of your kids so Santa knows what age appropriate gift to deliver.  For the potluck, we ask that you bring the following items:

Last Name Begins With:
A – I = Desert

J – R = Side Dish

S – Z = Salad

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).   We have one of the best fishing clubs around!  Stop waiting and come check us out.  Guests are always welcome.  Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing…