ON THE WATER FOR APRIL

ON THE WATER FOR APRIL        (2007)

 

Hello Pard, pull up a chair….Would you like a cup of coffee ??  let’s have a Palaver !!  Yes, I know it’s raining again, but we have had a couple of really nice days too. That’s kind of the way MARCH has been…….We still need to keep Vern Charles Son…Tim on our Angle List & of course the DUCKS traveled down 40 Miles of Bad Road as well !!!  One thing they both have in common, is that they…GOT GAME !!!!

 

Of course, you remember some of the really Fun Stuff the Club did this month….The Beach Meister took us on a successful Beverly Beach Litter Patrol & He put in a lot of his own time on Big Creek. Ryan Miner did us right by sharing with us his “secret” Crabbing & Clamming Locations. The Schooner Creek & Siletz River Trap Operations remain on going. Then a bunch of us went to a, one day, ODFW Aquatic Angler Instructor Training Seminar. This seminar was intended to have us be qualified to go into a school setting & instruct young students on how to become Responsible Anglers….We learned just enough to be Dangerous !!! ( More on that later ) About this time, Big Fish Hill got hooked up with Casey Deckard & the next thing you know we were in the Steelhead Smolt Planting Business…..BIG TIME !!! You remember, the deal was to put 50,000 of these little buggers into 2 Beaver Ponds up on Palmer Creek. Then somebody had to Baby Sit them (24hrs a day) for about 5/6 days, release them from the ponds to go down the creek to the Siletz & on to the Sea. It is absolutely amazing…..A BAND OF EAGLES…..10 members of our Club stepped up to the plate, to actually make this happen……I am sure you read my Camp Reports & Commentary our Board Meeting IN THE WILD……..This is the Largest Project our Fishing Club has ever undertaken & It was a pleasure to work with our ODFW Friends……..As you are drinking you 2^nd cup of coffee with me, those 50,000 Smolt are working their way to the Sea…….Casey will be pleased if just 10% of these fish survive & return to Palmer Creek !!!  Keep an eye on THE WALL…..The First Lady did some great camera work on our Operations at Camp Palmer Creek. It was a little sad to Break Camp & think about what challenges those little fish will face over the next several years, but I guess that’s part of the Great Natural Metaphor of Life…..”People will little know, nor long remember what we did there”…..BUT…..We will & it was a GOOD THING……..SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE CAMP PALMER CREEK POSSIBLE !!!

 

Hang on to Waders…….APRIL looks like it’s going to be a “Hum Dinger” !!!!!  We start off the month with Bill Lackner (A Clamming Expert). Bill is going to give us a Post Graduate Education in “How to Do the Dig” for these critters…..General Hudson will work with him to organize A DIG on the 16^th of the month (stay tuned for more info.) On the 19th, back by popular demand, we will be doing another Commercial Fishing Boat Tour down on the Bay Front. All of this compliments of Good Old Dean Fleck & Mike Pettis….Thanks in advance Guys !!! On the 30^th, we will be doing our 1^st Combined Litter Patrol & Fish Along on Big Creek…..Yes; the Creek Meister & the General are combining forces to make this a fun & fishy morning “On the Creek.”

 

 Let’s take a step back to the issue, I mentioned earlier…….The RESPONSIBLE ANGLER PROGRAM……..General Hudson is our “Ram Rod” on this Newport Middle School Project. (He actually has a Certified Oregon Teaching Credential). The way this came about was that Mac Andrews told me about a Teacher (Malcolm Koch) who was trying to find an outlet for some of his students to learn about fishing. Well you see where this is going….Yep…the OLD HOOK talked with the Malcolm. Then, I approached the General & Big Fish about this Wiz Bang Idea to put our ODFW Instructor Training into practice…….Well, instead of these to fine men “Running Me Off Down the Road”……..They thought the idea had merit…….Now what to do ???  The General knew exactly “WHAT TO DO” !!!!  He has compiled a complete set of 1 hour Lesson Plans that cover 3 Sessions in April…..3 Sessions in May…& 1in June (This is Responsible Angler Graduation Day for these Young Anglers). Talk about another 1^st for our Club……believe it or not 6 Club members have agreed to go into the classroom with the General to drive this RAP endeavor to a successful conclusion. We have met with the students twice in March & they are “Really Stoked” (see, you have to learn these new terms) about what the next 3 RAP Months will entail……..We are a “Little Stoked” ourselves……Some of us have never done anything like this, but we have complete confidence, that the GENERAL will keep “Our Ox Out of the Ditch.” !!!!!  Stay Tuned for RAP Reports as we Go Down the Rapids of Newport Middle School !!!!! 

 

IN CLOSING……What your Fishing Club has been able to accomplish, thus far, is the direct result of some of the finest people it has ever been my pleasure to be associated with. What makes them unique is that they are very generous about investing their time & treasure in the future of their fellow Human Beings & their Natural Surroundings.

 

Let me leave you with this thought…..”Remember, that when you leave this earth, you can take nothing you have received…but…only what you have given.”   (St. Francis)

 

Well…That’s the top of the News as it looks from here…Hope to see You on the Water !!!!                       THE HOOK