Puget Sound Anglers – Gig Harbor & Tacoma

We had our meeting, as usual, on the 2nd Tuesday of September.  We have 1 new member and we had no winner for our monthly membership drawing which is sponsored by Southworth Marine. We have the final tally and there were 347 participants in our 20^th annual Salmon Derby. The big winner was Doug Dixon II, one of our club members. Congratulations!   Crab season is now closed so turn in your summer catch cards, online or by mail.

Elections for board positions are upon us once again this year and we need to replace our President, Vice President, and Secretary. This year’s Treasurer, Thom Names, was re-nominated for a second term and had agreed to stay on. We are also in need of a Membership Chairman, Raffle Guy and Activities Director.  Jeff Stockman has said he will remain as the beverage guy. This is your opportunity to get involved in your club!  Anyone wishing to volunteer can reach out to one of the current officers for more details.  Remember, there are some perks that come with each office so get ‘em while you can. Our regularly scheduled speaker was unable to attend so Mark Abetz, one of our club members, took the podium instead.  He gave a talk on “Crossing the Bar,”   Mark is well versed in this topic and proceeded to scare the pants off most of us. Todd Girtz was kind enough to help elaborate. Both were very entertaining and quite helpful as well as adding a good measure of caution.

Our next meeting is on October 13^th.  This will also be the last club-only garage sale of the year. Doors will open at 5:30. As usual there will be hotdogs, chips and beverages. The speaker for our October meeting will be John Hagar from Southworth marine.  John always does a nice job talking about boat and trailer maintenance.  Very timely for those who like to winterize your boat.

Our November 10th meeting will feature Larry Phillips from the WDFW.  This should be a very lively discussion and we learn about the Salmon fisheries for areas 11 and 13.  Our final meeting for the year will be on December 8^th.  This will be our annual Christmas Potluck as we conclude another fantastic year.  Our last outing for the year will also be in December, our Dick Smythe Blackmouth Derby.  Check out our website for the exact date of this derby.  Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding our sponsors, 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!

Subbing for our working leader…

Thom Names Treasurer

August was derby time for our Club! We hosted our 20^th Annual Salmon Derby on August 8^th. To prepare for the event, we held our general meeting a week earlier than normal. Hopefully nobody forgot and showed up a week too late.  Fishing reports remain strong for ocean fishing and there are reports of fish being caught locally. It’s all about putting in the time. Our monthly membership drawing was up to $260 and we had a winner! Thanks to Southworth Marine for sponsoring this activity. That means that next month the pot starts back at $150.00. Our speaker for the meeting was Captain John Keizer of SaltPatrol. He gave another phenomenal talk on derby fishing tactics and how to set some of the basic settings for Lowrance units. John always does an excellent job presenting. Thanks John for speaking and sharing your wealth of knowledge!

As mentioned above, August 8th^h was our 20^th Annual Salmon Derby and we are part of the Northwest Salmon Derby Series. We target Marine Fishing Areas 11 and 13. Not sure of the exact number of anglers we had until we collect the ticket sales info, but there were 61 fish weighed in between 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM on derby day. Below is a listing of the derby winners by category:

Youth Boys         Name                                  Weight                                Prize

1st                         Colton Pringle                   8.85                                     $100

2nd                       Tanner Riley                       8.77                                     $75

3rd                        Ashton Herdman               6.51                                     $50

4th                        Ryan Carr                           2.99                                     $25

Adult Division    Name                                  Weight                                Prize

1st                         Douglas Dixon II                21.39                                   $3,500

2nd                       Bill Thackeray                    19.97                                   $2000 + $2000 for Mercury Motor

3rd                        Tom Sullivan                      18.61                                   $1,000

Ladies Division   Name                                  Weight                                Prize

1st                         Rebekka Holt                     14.42                                   $250

Team Division    Name                                  Weight                                Prize

1st                         Ashton Herdman

& Erin Brinkerhoff            18.69                                   Oak Bay Marine Trip for 2

I’d also like to express my sincere thanks to our derby sponsors who donated all of the cash and prizes, and to all our volunteers who worked many hours to prepare and host this event. Checkout our website for a full listing of our sponsors (https://www.gigharborpsa.org). The next time you visit one of their establishments, tell them thanks for supporting our club! A special thanks Gene Anderson and the crew at Pt. Defiance. They really do a great job hosting our BBQ and Awards Ceremony and it is always a pleasure to work with them. Lastly, thanks to everyone who purchased a derby ticket to help support our club. Hopefully you had a good time! We are looking forward to seeing all of you next year.

Our September 8^th meeting will feature Duane Englin, co-host of Northwest Wild Country Radio Program. He will be speaking on “Bank Fishing for Fall Chinook.” This is a meeting you will not want to miss. For the October 13^th meeting we will have John Hagar from Southworth Marine speaking about winterizing your boat and other maintenance related issues. This is a timely topic and I always learn something new from John’s presentations. Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding our sponsors, 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!

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…