Puget Sound Anglers – Gig Harbor & Tacoma

Our July meeting was hot!  Attendance was a little down but the meeting was still well attended.  Hopefully with the nice weather and longer days, people are getting plenty of outdoor time, including fishing.  The fishing reports were hot too… especially if you were one of the many members from our club that have been targeting the ocean fisheries.  Also during our fishing reports it sounded like area 11 crabbing was good.  We had our monthly membership drawing and for the 3^rd consecutive month the member was not present.  That means for our August meeting our membership drawing will be up to $480.00.  Thank you Sourthworth Marine for sponsoring this monthly club activity.  Our speaker for July was Bruce Warren of “Fishing for Fun Guide Service.  He gave a very good presentation on Buoy 10 techniques and tactics.  Safety first, as this area can be unforgiving.  If you are inexperienced or fishing it for the first time, go with someone that can teach you the ropes.  The Columbia is anticipating record breaking salmon runs this year.  I did hear back from Bruce a day after our meeting.  He started fishing at 5:00 AM and had the boat limit of 6 fish by 6:30 AM.  I would say fishing was smoking hot!  Thanks again Bruce.

Because of our 19^th Annual Salmon Derby, we will hold our August General Meeting prior to the derby.  Therefore, our August general meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 5^th at 7:00 PM.  Our speaker for August is club member Captain John Keizer (of Salt Patrol).  When it comes down to speakers, it doesn’t get much better!  Come learn how to catch derby winning fish!  Our club will hold its 19^th Annual Salmon Derby on August 9^th.  Adult derby tickets cost $30.00 and Youth 14 and under are free (everyone in the boat must have a ticket).  Tickets are available at Ace Hardware (Judson and Pt. Fosdick), Auburn Sports and Marine, Narrows Bait and Tackle, Outdoor Emporium, Pt. Defiance Boat House, Sportco and Sportsman’s Warehouse (Puyallup and Federal Way), or online at our website (https://gigharborpsa.org).  There is also an Adult and Youth 17 and under team event.  The team event will win a trip for 2 to the Canadian Princess Resort in Canada.  One last thing about our derby.  We are one of the few derbies around where the price of your ticket gets you a free hot dog, chips and a drink at our BBQ and Awards Ceremony.  In addition, we give away a lot of raffle prizes.  Last year, everyone who attended our Awards Ceremony walked away with a raffle prize and this year’s top raffle prize is and HDS Lowrance Fish Finder.  You don’t need to fish to win, you just need a ticket and be present during the drawings. 

 Our September 8^th meeting will feature Justin Wolff from Anglers West TV.  This is a meeting you will not want to miss.  Also in September is our annual club picnic on September 13^th.  This year we will hold the picnic at Owens Beach Picnic Area (Pt. Defiance).  It is a potluck so we will send out information on what to bring in the near future.  This is a family event so please plan to bring them.  Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding 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).   Guests are always welcome.  Better yet, come and join our club and be part of a great group of fishing enthusiasts who love to fish.  Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing!

June is when we held our first semi-annual garage sale for the year.  The doors opened at 5:00 PM and there was about a dozen club members that brought stuff in to sell.  If you missed out, the next garage sale be held on October 14th.  We held our general meeting at 7:00 PM.  Our membership continues to grow as we added another new member and had several renewals.  This was another well attended meeting.  We have been having great attendance in 2014.  With the recent openers in Marine Area 11 for salmon, Marine Area 13 for crabbing, and ocean fishing opening early, there were plenty of opportunities to get out on the water.  With some of the early season fishing reports from our members, it sounded like fishing was a little “hit and miss.”  It has also been challenging for crabbers to get their limits.  From some of the feedback given, crabbing deep was the way to go.  We had our monthly membership drawing and the name drawn was not in attendance. That means the pot grows to $370.00 for July.  As always, a special thanks to John Hager at Southworth Marine Services for continuing to sponsor our monthly membership drawing.  The club outing for May was our annual Kokanee outing on American Lake.  There were a decent number of fish caught this year.  The largest fish was caught by Donald Auman and he owns bragging rights until next year.  Our originally scheduled speakers were unable to attend our meeting due to a last minute work conflict, so club member Frank Bidwell batted DH and gave a great presentation on Area 13 fishing tactics.  Frank did a great job and shared some of the secrets to his success.  You missed out if you missed his presentation.  Thanks Frank for filling in on short notice.   We concluded our meeting with our raffle prize drawings. 

For our July 8^th general meeting, Bruce Warren of Fishing for Fun Guide Service will be speaking about Buoy 10 opportunities and tactics.  Our August meeting has a revised meeting date.  Because of our 19^th Annual Salmon Derby, we will hold our August General Meeting prior to the derby.  Therefore, our August general meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 5^th.  Our speaker for August is club member Captain John Keizer (of Salt Patrol).  When it comes down to speakers, it doesn’t get much better!  You definitely will be missing out if you are not at the July or August meeting.

It’s Derby time!  Lots of great derbies coming up.  Of course, we think we have one of the best around and part of the Northwest Salmon Derby Series!  Our club will hold its 19^th Annual Salmon Derby on August 9^th.  Michael Brazeau is this year’s derby chairman and he and his team of helpers are doing a fantastic job of getting things ready for this year’s event.  Last I heard, they have collected more than $20,000 in cash and merchandise for prizes.  Largest fish will net the winner $3000 plus you have many other opportunities to increase your winnings if you happen to have a Mercury Motor, drive a Ford or Toyota vehicle.  We have a lot a sponsors that have generously donated to our derby, too many to mention in this update, so please check out our Facebook Page or Website (https://gigharborpsa.org).  I did want to recognize and publically thank our key sponsors for 2014 – Ace Line Hauler, Alaska Charters and Adventures, Blade-Tech, Cabela’s, Defiance Boats Group, Lowrance, Oak Bay Marine Group, Rough & Ready, The OfficeZone,  Alaskan Sourdough Lodge, Salt Patrol, Southworth Marine Service, Titus-Will (Ford, Toyota, and Scion in Tacoma @38^th St.) and Van Wormer Resorts.  When you do business with any of these sponsors, be sure to thank them for supporting our club!

Adult derby tickets cost $30.00 and Youth 14 and under are free (everyone in the boat must have a ticket).  Tickets are available at Ace Hardware (Judson and Pt. Fosdick), Auburn Sports and Marine, Narrows Bait and Tackle, Outdoor Emporium, Pt. Defiance Boat House, Sportco, Sportsman’s Warehouse (Puyallup and Federal Way), or online at our website (https://gigharborpsa.org).  There is also an Adult and Youth 17 and under team event.  The team event will win a trip for 2 to the Canadian Princess Resort in Canada.  One last thing about our derby.  We are one of the few derbies around where the price of your ticket gets you a free hot dog, chips and a drink at our BBQ and Awards Ceremony.  In addition, we give away a lot of raffle prizes.  Last year, everyone who attended our Awards Ceremony walked away with a raffle prize and this year’s top raffle prize is and HDS Lowrance Fish Finder.  You don’t need to fish to win, you just need a ticket and be present during the drawings. 

 Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding 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).   Guests are always welcome.  Better yet, come and join our club and be part of a great group of fishing enthusiasts who love to fish.  Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing!

For May we held our Annual Spaghetti and Clam Dinner followed by our general meeting.  I was not able to attend due to a conflicting business trip, but from the reports I received, everyone who attended had a great time.  A great big thanks to Jim Chaffey for harvesting and donating the clams.  I’d also like to thank the volunteers who came early and stayed late to help cook and cleanup for the dinner.  Thank you!

We had several guests and some additional new members attend our meeting.  Our club keeps on growing, which is fantastic.  A special thanks to Michael Brazeau, our VP and Derby Chairman, for running the meeting in my absence.  It’s great practice for next year Michael.  It sounds like a lot more of our club members are getting out and enjoying the fishing opportunities that the month of May offers.  There were a variety of fishing reports for Lings, Shrimp and Halibut.  I know that I was able to get out get my shrimp limits a couple times in Area 11 prior to my business trip.  In anticipation of our May 17^th Kokanee outing, Tony Dobson presented at the fish-talk-table.  Tony is one of our active military members and has recently returned from deployment.  Welcome back Tony and thanks for staffing the table.  We drew Jim Chaffey’s name for the monthly membership drawing, which is sponsored by Sourthworth Marine.  Jim unfortunately was not present so there was no winner this month.  That means the pot grows to $260 for June.  Our guest speaker for our meeting was Pat Neal, Olympic Peninsula Guide and Author of the “WildLife” books.  Pat has a great sense of humor and can tell a fish story like no other.  He also had a nice slide show presentation that showed the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula area. He had great fish pictures and heartfelt comments on the on the conservation of the Olympic Peninsula fisheries.  Thank you Pat for speaking at our meeting.  To learn more about Pat Neal or book a trip, checkout his website at http://patnealwildlife.net.  We concluded our meeting with our raffle prize drawings. 

The club outing on May 17th was our annual Kokanee outing on American Lake.  Hopefully there were a lot of fish caught.  Top prize for the biggest fish is a new Kokanee rod and reel.  Our outing for June 21^st is our Past President’s Derby.  For more info, see the events section on our website (https://gigharborpsa.org/event-calendar).

For our June 10^th meeting, we will be holding a club-only garage sale.  The garage sale will begin at 5:00 PM.  For the general meeting, Mike Perusse and Kiley Brehm from Shimano/GLoomis/Power-Pro will be our featured guest speakers. The June general meeting starts at 7:00 PM, but come a bit early for the garage sale or and grab a hot dog and a drink.  For our July 8^th general meeting, Bruce Warren of Fishing for Fun Guide Service will be speaking about Buoy 10 opportunities and tactics.  I also want to make sure that everyone is planning for our August meeting.  August 9th is our 19^th Annual Salmon Derby.  We will hold the board meeting and regular meeting on the first Tuesday of August, which is August 4^th.  We have traditionally done this so that we have our meeting prior to the derby.  The board meeting will begin at 6:00 PM and the general meeting will be held at 7:00 PM.  Our speaker for August is club member Captain John Keizer (of Salt Patrol).  He always has a great presentation on catching derby fish.  You will not want to miss any of these meetings.

 Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding meetings and our club activities.  We meet the second Tuesday of every month at the Tacoma Outboard Association (646 N Wilton Road, Tacoma, WA).   Guests are always welcome.  Better yet, come and join our club and be part of a great group of fishing enthusiasts who love to fish.  Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing!

May flyer