From the President:Dear Members and Friends –
On March 7, 2009, the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association held its 9th Annual “Save a Fish” Banquet & Auction. This year’s event drew close to 90 of the area’s supporters of the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia’s Coastal Marine Environment.
The evening was highlighted with auctioneer Clark Carr conducting the exciting Live Auction. Everyone in attendance agreed that this event was not only fun, but also for a great cause as well! In fact, we raised approximately $20,000.00 towards Conserving, Protecting, and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia’s Coastal Marine Environment! A truly amazing amount considering the current state of our economy – but nevertheless it shows that we have a very strong group that cares about our mission enough to support it.
This event could not have been a success without the support of our generous donors. We were very fortunate to be able to offer 13 Charter/Guided Fishing trips at the auction – these Captains will be hosting our Chapter trips throughout the year. We also were able to offer top notch equipment and gear – plus numerous other fantastic Prizes – LL Bean donated the Super Raffle Grand Prize - and an LL Bean Angler Kayak Package.
The Super Raffle Kayak winner this year was one of our members – Boyd Post of Vienna VA – He seemed very happy to have his ticket drawn and I am sure will put the kayak to good use.
I would also like to take a moment to thank the Banquet committee members and their families – they put in countless hours in making this a great event – Carl Onesty, Tom Welch, Rich & Vivian Redler, Ernie Rojas, John Bello, and George Lenard.
Again, thank you for all of your support, and we look forward to putting the funds to good use in running our chapter events, and providing support for our State-wide conservation efforts.
Please keep a look out for notice from our CCA VA Infonet – as it will keep you up to date on all state-wide fisheries issues - and a new program that has been announced to increase membership in Virginia – It is called “Reel- em in” and there will be more information available on the state website –
Look forward to seeing you at our next Chapter meeting on April 15th with Guest speaker – Captain Tom Hughes –
Rob
March Banquet - Photos:
Check out the photos...I think they capture the fun evening we all had. Good food, raffles, finger food, drinks, and the bidding was a lot of fun, with some very happy winners! I don’t have captions, but I think the pictures speak for themselves. You can stop the slide show by moving your cursor over the picture and clicking on the pause button. You can stop the show to download pictures, speed it up etc. Enjoy!!
Great Story From the Banquet: After John Bellow’s wife Margie Bello won a nice rod and reel combo in the bucket raffle, a youngster named Ray Rhatican, who was enjoying the banquet with his family, asked Margie Bellos if he could buy it from her. He really wanted it, and had put all his raffle tickets in that bucket, and was disappointed that he hadn’t won.
Happy Ending Margie gave him the rod and reel, saying that she had plenty of them at home!! See attached pictures…Ray is the one with the mile wide smile. We have some really nice folks at CCA.
The photos are the courtesy of Erika Redler, the editor’s daughter, a graduate student at Christopher Newport University, and a part time professional photographer. Visit her website and see some of her recent work. (www.whatevertheweatherphotography.blogspot.com/)
Monthly Meetings:
Our chapter meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month at the Grace Presbyterian Church in Vienna from 7:00 to 9:00. Our thanks to CCA member Mark Stempler, a member of the congregation for providing the meeting place; it really works great for us.
Directions: From Gallows Road, turn west onto Cedar Lane, go .3 miles, the church will be on your left. Park in the rear, enter the rear door.
Meeting Dates: April 15; May 13; June 10; Sept. 9; Oct. 14.
Report on the February Meeting with Francis Zell.
Francis did a great job of describing his fishing calendar for the first 5 months of the year, beginning with eeling for big stripers out of Kiptopeke in December and January, followed by jigging the CBBT in February, The Calvert Cliffs Power Plant and The Power Plant at the 301 Bridge in Feb/March and Susquehanna Flats in April. Francis, who is a psychology major and a phys ed teacher started his Power Point presentation with a humorous explanation of why we are addicted to fishing. Using charts and graphs from a psychology experiment he showed how we catch just enough fish to keep us fishing for the next one, but with no guarantees. He brought plenty of gear to show us how he does light tackle jigging with bass assassins and Bass Kandy Delights; (soft plastic baits). He also explained how he trolls with as many as 20 rods using light tackle and planer boards from his restored 21 ft Boston Whaler. Francis has agreed to do a presentation on the second half of the year for one of our meetings. I’m sure the 30 fisherman in attendance at Februarys’ meeting will want to be there.
April 15 Chapter Meeting:
Captain Tom Hughes will be our guest speaker in April with a power point presentation on 'Catching Striped Bass on the Upper & Middle Chesapeake Bay'. Tom was recently a guest speaker at the Timonium Fairgrounds Expo, and has presented to CCA Virginia and Maryland Chapters on many occasions. Tom will discuss both spinning and fly-fishing from Hart-Miller Island in the upper Bay south to the Gas Docks. He is a full time Charter Captain, and an Orvis endorsed Fly Fishing Guide. Tom lives near Baltimore where he keeps his "mother ship"; a 22' TwinVee catamaran, a very fast and stable fishing platform, that he trailers to where the fish are. His season begins on the Susquehanna flats and moves south in the Bay when the Rockfish season opens, and finishes the season in Virginia Beach at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This will be a lively, hands-on presentation, with a question and answer session to follow; bring along a notebook and pencil. If you have a non-member fishing buddy, bring e'm along, they'll enjoy it. For more information go to http://www.capttomhughes.com/
May 13 Chapter Meeting: Speaker to be announced.
June 10 Chapter Meeting:
Sonney Forrest will talk about light tackle fishing the the middle bay, near Solomons’ Island where he is located. Sonny is one of the best known charter captains on the bay, fishing from the Fin Finder, a large charter boat that specialized in trolling for Rockfish out of Solomons. Starting after the spring season Sonney will begin chartering as Reel Relief Charters in a new way “Light tackle, smaller boat, and lots more fun!”. We are very pleased to have Sonney visit with us; he is a very entertaining speaker and a great fisherman. Don’t miss it! You can visit his web site at www.Captainsonney.com and see his new boat.Chapter Fishing Trips – Watch for Updates
George Lenard (george@specialized baits.com) has done a great job of organizing charter fishing trips for our chapter members and friends for the past few years, and will have a great program again this year. Here’s a message from George:
During 2007 and 2008 your CCA – NoVa Chapter sponsored seventeen Chapter fishing trips . We fished from Mid-Bay to Virginia Beach and lots of places in between, including the Potomac River just minutes from home, and even Lake Anna. We believe that we offered something for everyone, including light tackle for school size stripers to trolling for TROPHY STRIPERS. We even went live-lining for MONSTER CATS and chunking for COBIA “the man in the brown suit”. We kept active from April through November and a total of 90 anglers participated in the action.
You do not need to be a Chapter member to join us on a trip, but you do need to be on the chapter e-mail list to get in on the action. All trips are first-come-first-served based on an e-mail announcement and response. Last season the cost of the trips ranged between $69.00 and $165.00 per angler. The cost is dependent on the type of trip and the number of anglers per trip. We strive for a quality experience for all participants, which means not overloading the boat just to keep the cost down.
If you are not receiving e-mail trip announcements, and would like to, contact Rob Allen at rob.allen@princetoninformation.com and Rob will get your e-mail address on our list. Our first trip of the 2009 season is just around the corner.
Highlights from 2007/2008: (Pictures are from the “Fish Finder” Trip - click on any picture to view it larger.)
Mid Bay Trophy Stripers – Solomons’ on the Fish Finder
Cobia Fishing at the CBBT
Flounder Fishing at the CBBT
Mid Bay Light Tackle – St Jerome’s Creek, (near Point Lookout)
Mid Bay Live Lining for Stripers & Blues out of Deale
Mid Bay Light Tackle and Fly Fishing out of Chesapeake Beach
Mid Bay Light Tackle – Solomon’s
Lake Anna – Bass Trip
Potomac River Trophy Catfish – Potomac River
Helpful Information:
2009 Virginia Fishing Regulations:
http://www.mrc.virginia.gov/regulations/swrecfishingrules.shtm
2009 Maryland Fishing Regulations:
http://www.dnr.md.gov/fisheries/pdfs/2009MSFG.pdf
wait 30 seconds for download, go to page 32 for Saltwater Regulations.
See you at the April Meeting for Tom Hughes information Rich Redler - Editor (RichRedler@verizon.net)
