Puget Sound Anglers – Gig Harbor & Tacoma

We had another well attended meeting in April.  I lost count at about 80+ members.  We also had another new member join the club and a few visitors from neighboring PSA clubs!  Welcome everyone!  It is great to see both the new and the old faces as we all continue to learn and talk about our favorite pastime…fishing!  If you’ve been on the fence about attending a meeting, stop waiting and come check us out.  We have a fantastic PSA Chapter.

Just to change things up a bit, we started off our meeting with fishing reports.  Fishing opportunities are heating up as we had a lot more fishing reports from our members this month.  The board members gave their monthly updates and we also heard from Larry Bucklin and Art Tachell about government affairs and North of Falcon activities.  We held our monthly membership drawing and we had a winner.  The winner and member in good standing was Ed Chandler.  For those of you who don’t know Ed, he is one of original founding chapter members, member # 4.  Thank you John Hager, owner of Southworth Marine, for sponsoring our monthly membership drawing.   Our speaker for April was Pete Chadwick from River Bend Jigs and Baits.    If you have fished the rivers, then you know that River Bend Jigs makes top-of-the line salmon and steelhead jigs.  What you may not know is they also have a complete line of baits as well.  Pete gave a phenomenal presentation on how to brine herring with their River Bend Bait Brine.  I’ve always used the traditional brine solution with rock salt, powdered milk and Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing… The River Bend Bait Brine is amazing and it greatly simplifies the entire process.  I’m sold!  Besides firming up the herring like nothing I’ve ever seen, you are able to re-use the solution multiple times by storing it in the freezer to prevent bacteria growth and it allows you to keep your brined herring for months in the refrigerator without spoiling.  This solution combined with Pro-Cure Bad Azz Bait Dye’s looks like a winning combination.  Check out http://www.riverbendjigs.com for detailed info.  Thank you Pete for speaking at our club meeting.  We concluded our meeting with our raffle prize drawings. 

The club outing for April was the All PSA Derby in Port Townsend.  The Sno-King Chapter did a fantastic job sponsoring this derby.  Thanks for your hospitality!  Our club had 5 participants, next year we hope to see a lot more representing our chapter.  This was a really fun event and great time to meet and greet fellow PSA chapter members.  The fishing was pretty good as well.  I think there were about 62 fish caught during the derby.  Our next club outing will be May 17^th.  It is our annual Kokanee outing on American Lake.  For additional details checkout the events section on our website (https://gigharborpsa.org/event-calendar). I’d like to make one correction.  The Cast for Kids event will be held on July 19^th and not July 26^th as originally advertised last month. 

Our next meeting is on May 13^th and will include our Annual Spaghetti Dinner (and possibly Clams and Oysters).  The dinner will begin at 6:00 PM and cost $5.00 at the door.  Our guest speaker will be Pat Neal, fishing guide and renowned author.   Pat has a humorous way of taking about fishing…this is a meeting you will not want to miss.  If you cannot attend the dinner portion of the meeting, the regular meeting will begin at approximately 7:00 PM. 

For our June 10^th meeting, we will be holding a club-only garage sale.  So start cleaning out your garages, sheds and boats for that stuff that is just taking up space and needs a new home.  All items should be related to fishing or boating.  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.  Please plan now to join us.  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. 

 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!

March Madness is upon us… best of luck surviving your bracket selections and the near record rainfalls!  The March general meeting was well attended and we had 8 new members join our club.  That’s about 15 new members since January.  Our goal is to increase our membership by about 25% in 2014 and we are well on our way.  We had Salt Patrol and some of the Lowrance guru’s onsite during our meeting and they upgraded the software on 25 units along with providing configuration recommendations.  Thanks guys, we appreciate your support!  We had the usual updates from the board members.  Larry Bucklin provided an update on government affairs and Art Tachell provided very detailed update from the North of Falcon meetings.  Chris Tremblay, our activities director, reviewed the schedule of club outing for the remainder of the year.  We will post our outings on our website and Facebook page.  There weren’t a lot of individual fishing reports.  However, it did sound like those who have been out razor clamming or smelting had great success.  We held our monthly membership drawing and unfortunately Richard W. was not present, so there was no winner.  The pot will grow to $260 for our April meeting.  Thanks again to Southworth Marine for their continued sponsorship of our monthly membership drawings.   Our speaker for March was Mike Jamboretz from Jambo’s Sportsfishing (http://www.jambossportfishing.com).  He gave an outstanding presentation on fishing Neah Bay.  Looks like a phenomenal fishery… Sign me up!  Mike is a very knowledgeable and accomplished charter captain and he gave everyone a lot of great fishing tips and techniques that can be used anywhere.  I know I learned some new things that I’m going to try the next time I’m out fishing.  Thank you Mike and Shirley!  We concluded our meeting with our raffle prize drawings.

In addition to our general meetings, the second Tuesday of each month, we also have a monthly club outing.  We encourage club members to get involved in our outings.  They are a lot of fun and it’s a great time to put into practice all the good info we have been gleaning from our guest speakers!  Here’s a list of some of our upcoming outings:

April 5, 2014                        All PSA Derby, Port Townsend

May 17, 2014                      American Lake Kokanee Outing

June 21, 2014                     Past President’s Outing, Area 11

July 26, 2014                       CAST for Kids –Thea Foss Waterway

August 9, 2014                   Gig Harbor PSA Salmon Derby

September 13, 2014        Gig Harbor PSA Picnic, Owens Beach, Point Defiance

On April 8th, our guest speaker will be Pete Chadwick from Riverbend Jigs.  One of the topics he will be discussing is bait curing and where the process is going.  It should be another fantastic meeting to learn about fishing.  On May 13^th, we will hold our annual Spaghetti Dinner at 6:00 PM.  Cost is $5.00 per person and you can pay at the door.  Our speaker will be Pat Neal.  If you have never heard Pat, he has a humorous way of storytelling and talking about fishing.  You will not want to miss either meeting so mark your calendar now!

If you haven’t been attending, you’ve been missing out.   We have had 3 fantastic meetings thus far in 2014 and the speakers have been world class!  For those of you who are regulars, help spread the word about our club.  Our regular meetings start at 7:00 PM, but come a bit early and grab a hot dog and a drink.  Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding meetings 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.  As always, we hope to see all of our members in attendance at both our general meetings and club outings!

Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing!

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FROM JEFF ZUNIGA

We had a lot on the agenda for our February meeting.  It started with our annual crab dinner.  We had about 75 members show up for the dinner.  A big thanks to all those who donated their time and talents to make this another great event.  The dinner was followed by our regular meeting.  We presented our annual 2013 fishing awards.  Each recipient was awarded an individual plaque and $100 cash prize.  Below is a listing of our 2013 award winners:

• Largest Trout Award – Avery Ng
• Largest Salmon Washington State Award – Susan Leahy
• Largest Salmon International Award – Robert Yoshioka
• Largest Steelhead Award – Susan Leahy
• Largest Halibut Award – Robert Yoshioka
• Lady Reelers Award – Maryellen Ward
• Gold Carp Award – Thom Names

In 2013, we also kicked off our first “Angler of the Year” award.  This award goes to the member who earned the most points fishing in our club events as well as earning points by volunteering at club functions.  And the winner is… Roger Chapman.  He also received an individual plaque and a Lowrance hand-held GPS, which was donated by Salt Patrol.  Congratulations to all of the winners!

Our monthly membership drawing was up to $370 and we finally had a winner.  The member in good standing was Steve Ng.  A huge thanks to John Hager at Southworth Marine for sponsoring our monthly membership drawing.  We had a knot tying demonstration at our fish-talk-table.  There was a large group gathered around the table, in addition to learning about knots, we pulled out the knot strength tester… not sure who tied the strongest knot, but it looked like everyone was having fun.  Our speaker for the meeting was Gary Miralles from Shasta Tackle.  It was another fantastic presentation.  The presentation was mostly geared towards kokanee fishing, good info for our upcoming May kokanee outing on American Lake.  There were lots of tips and tactics that work for salmon as well.  Thank you Gary for sharing your knowledge.  We concluded our meeting with our raffle prize drawings.

This is the final reminder to renew your annual memberships.  Cost is $30 for a family membership, and this can be done at our March meeting or online at our website (https://gigharborpsa.org).  You can also send a check to PO Box 91, Gig Harbor, WA  98335.  Remember you must be a member in good standing to participate in many of our club activities, or to win the monthly membership drawing.

In March, our guest speaker will be Mike from Jambo’s Sportsfishing.  It should be another fantastic meeting.  In addition, the Lowrance Pro Staff will be onsite and have offered to upgrade your Lowrance units to the latest software version.  So bring in your units and have them upgraded during the meeting.  If you haven’t been attending, you’ve been missing out.   Our regular meeting will start at about 7:00 PM, but come a bit early and grab a hot dog and a drink.  Our club membership is on the rise and meetings have been well attended.  Our April speaker will be Pete Chadwick from Riverbend Jigs.  You will not want to miss either meeting.

 Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates regarding meetings 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.  As always, we hope to see all of our members in attendance!

Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing!

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FROM JEFF ZUNIGA

We had a great meeting on January 14^th to kickoff the first meeting of 2014.  The meeting was very well attended and we had a large number of first time guests.  We held our annual elections for our 2014 officers.  The following officers were elected:

President – Jeff Zuniga

Vice President/Derby Chairman – Michael Brazeau

Secretary – Bob Watts

Treasurer – Robert Christian

We had our monthly membership drawing and there was no winner for January.  That means the February drawing will be up to $370, which is generously sponsored by Southworth Marine.  Club member Michael Brazeau shared his expertise on Cutthroat fishing at the fish-talk-table.  Our featured speakers for January were State PSA President, Ron Garner, and Sports-fishing Lobbyist, Carl Burke.  WOW!  What a very informative presentation by both gentlemen.  There was a lot of information shared about what has been happening and what is currently happening with some of the political issues facing our state fisheries.  I know that I certainly learned a lot – it was very thought provoking and hopefully “WE” will be able to help make a significant difference both now and in the future.  We concluded our meeting with our raffle prize drawings.  There were lots of great prizes, including a couple of very nice trout/Kokanee rod and reel combos – just in time for our Lake Washington Cutthroat outing which will be held on January 18^th.

It’s time to renew your annual memberships.  Cost is $30 for a family membership, and this can be done at our February meeting or online at our website (https://gigharborpsa.org).  You can also send a check to PO Box 91, Gig Harbor, WA  98335.  Remember you must be a member in good standing to participate in many of our club activities, or to win the monthly membership drawing.

In February, we will be holding our annual Crab Feed and Awards Ceremony.  The dinner will start at 6:00 PM and costs $20.00 per person.  If you plan on attending the dinner, you will need to RSVP.  To RSVP, please email gigharborpsa1@gmail.com or call 253-841-8088.  Our regular meeting will start at about 7:00 PM and we will recognize the Largest Fish Awards for 2013, and also find out who won our inaugural “Fisherman of the Year” award.  The speaker for February will be Gary Mirales from Shasta Tackle.  It should be a great meeting.  Our February outing will be the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, Discovery Bay, February 15^th – 17^th.

The speaker for our March meeting will be Mike from Jambo’s Sportsfishing.  We are actively working to finalize our remaining guest speakers and club outings for 2014.  Please check out our website or Facebook page for the latest updates.  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.  As always, we hope to see all of our members in attendance!

Wear your lifejacket, be safe on the water, and good luck fishing!

Annual Gig Harbor PSA Cutthroat Trout Outing

Location: Lake Washington, Renton WA. 

Date: Saturday 18th January

Time: 7:00AM-1PM.  

Rules: Must follow all WDFW rules. Largest cutthroat by weight wins. Only active Gig Harbor PSA club members in good standing may fish this event. Limit is 5 Cutthroat per angler.   

Weigh in: Fish can be weighed at Gene Coulon Park at 12:30 PM-1PM. We will take your fish weigh it and return it to you.

We will not tell you the weight of your fish at the dock.  The weight will be recorded and the winner will be announced at the Gig Harbor PSA meeting in February. Only cutthroat will be weighed in no rainbow trout, kokanee, steelhead, salmon or bass. All decisions by the derby committee are binding and final.

Lunch at Ivars for those wanting to attend at 1 PM. It’s located at the boat ramp. There is lots of moorage available next to Ivars.

Prize: Winner will receive a cash prize

Entry fee: $10.00 per angler entry fee paid at the boat ramp to outing director

Radio: VHF CH 68

Weather: Bad weather (High Winds) I will send out a cancellation e-mail on Friday afternoon 17th January. Watch your e-mail for updates.  

Boat Ramp: Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park

Directions: From the South Take I-405 northbound to Exit 5 and head west on NE Park Drive. Proceed to the bottom of the hill and turn right on Lake Washington Blvd, proceeding north. The park entrance is approximately 1/4 mile on the left. Users of the boat launch will see an automated pay box system for parking and launch fees. Launch fee is $10.00. The ramp has 8 lanes.

Recommended Tackle:

Let’s talk about the basics for the Lake Washington trout fishery. This is a troll fishery that requires nothing more than a downrigger and a good light action trout rod. My rod of choice is Kokanee rod with a reel spooled with 10lb Line.

Herring is my bait of choice for these winter trout. Sockeye smolts are present in the lake from winter to spring and these trout gorge themselves on them. I like to run orange label herring in a basic salt brine. To make the brine, I use kosher salt and distilled water and then add the frozen herring to the brine eight hours prior to fishing. I put two buckets in the bait cooler, both with the salt water brine. In one bucket I will sometimes throw in some green bait dye to color up the herring. On a tough day of fishing the addition of color to your bait can often put more fish in the net.

The set up for these trout could not be more simple. Run the herring on a solid mooching rig with hooks to match the bait size 1/0.  From your main line tie on a ball bearing swivel then tie on your leader. Add the herring and your off and trolling. Shasta Tackle Wiggle Hoochie’s behind a Swing Blades also work quite well.

These trout seem to be real boat shy so let your gear out 100′ and then attach it to your downrigger clip. As far as the downrigger clips go be sure to switch over to the small trout size clips because the trout can’t pull the line from the big salmon size clips.

With the lake temperature dropping the fish will begin to slow and not want to use much energy to find a meal, so you need to put the bait right in the path of the fish. Watch your electronics close and keep working your gear to stay in the money zone. I like to start out fishing at about 1.4 to 1.9 mph and adjust accordingly. If you’re marking fish and not getting bit, switch something up. Speed up or slow down, switch out your bait or add some new scent. You need to keep working to keep catching.

Lake Map:

Best fishing red stars, ramp green triangle

Questions????

Contact Chris Tremblay

Chris@nventure.com

253-370-2230