President's Message
by Stephen Shechtel
 

Spring is just around the corner. By the time you read this message, the Shakedown Cruise will be about four weeks away. Two weeks later Rockfish season opens. Two weeks later is the Spring Tournament. Two weeks later is our Flounder Tournament. Two weeks later is the Hatteras Trip. What a great schedule! Like most, I am busy preparing my boat, tackle, and wife for the start of fishing season.

Remember that our next meeting will be the last meeting to register for our Spring Tournament at the reduced entry fee of $50.00. Registration will also take place for the Spring Shakedown Cruise ($5.00) and Flounder Tournament ($50.00). This year, the Board voted to open the Spring Shakedown Cruise to members of Project Second Chance, an organization to honor Veterans injured in the Iraq war. If you have room onboard to accommodate a Veteran (or two), please let Dave Griffin know. The Chapter will pay for the Veteran's lunch, so there will be no extra cost to you to invite a Veteran on board.

As most of you know, each year I am excited to attend the Miami Boat Show. It's the show where the marine industry debuts their newest gadgets and doodads. Some of the more interesting were: XM -Weather (radio) where for a monthly fee you can have delivered to your boat High Resolution NEXRAD, Buoy Data, Sea Surface Temperatures, Surface Analysis Weather Maps, Sea Conditions and much more. The data can be received on Garmin Chart plotters (no others at this time) or on XM supplied hardware; A miniature cam-corder that attaches to your fishing line so you can actually see what's going on at the hook; Evinrude's new E-Tec motors that are reportedly (a lot) more fuel efficient, weigh and cost less, and are just as quiet than a comparable 4 stroke; fishing lines that let you know when they need replacing; boat engines (including all outboards) that will interface with a chart plotter and can also be monitored (and controlled) via a link to a laptop, and night vision infrared cameras.

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Next Meeting

March 8 2006:

Food Service: starts at 6:00 pm
Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, dessert & drink will be served. All for $6
Bowl of Steamed Shrimp - $3
Coffee will also be available

Meeting: starts at 7:00 pm

Speaker:
Our guest speaker for the March 8th meeting will will be Captain Randy Dean, of the Charter boat Reel Attitude in Chesapeake Beach. Randy hails from nearby Eldersburg, MD and will be doing a complete presentation on rock fishing. He will start from the moment he steps on the boat to how he ends his day. This should be a great presentation from one of Rod & Reel's top charter boats. He is also the 2006 Tournament Chairman for Rod and Reel Rockfish Tournament. Speaking of the boat he runs a 42" Glass Marine and can carry up to 28 passengers. You can check him out
on the web at reelattitude.com or call him at 301-536-1805.

Vendor:
Georgie Klein of Tylers Tackle will have all of your rock fishing supplies at show prices. He will have the usual assortment of shad, umbrellas, line, reels and of course his signature parachutes. You can check the store out at tylerstackle.com. If you have a special request or want to make
sure Georgie brings that special something for you call him at
443-624-1787 or 410-257-6610.

Football Pool:
No news.

New Fund Raiser:
As soon as tickets are printed, the Frederick Chapter will begin ticket
sales for a drawing to be held at the August Meeting (August 9th, 2006) for a five (5) day Carnival Cruise. Tickets will be sold for $10.00 each. The winner will be presented with a Carnival Cruise Certificate valid year round (except the last two weeks of December) for a 5 day cruise on any Carnival Cruise (except NY sailings). All Government taxes, fees and shipboard gratuities are included in the Certificate. Gordon Jernigan will Chair this event with Co-Chair Bob Pellicot.

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Newsletter Items: for April are due March 22, 2006
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Upcoming Events

Shakedown Cruise:
Our 2006 Shakedown Cruise is scheduled for April 8 and we already have 7 boats signed up. For you new members, every year we have this cruise, which for most of us is the first opportunity to get our boats in the water, totake our families & friends for a nice day on the water, check out our boat systems, have a nice lunch and return. There is a $5 per boat fee and once we're seated for lunch we will draw cards with the winner receiving the $5 pot. As we have the past few years, we will meet at Sandy Point State Park at 10:00 am on Saturday the 8th and give everyone 45 minutes to get their boats over & ready to go and plan on pulling out at 190:45. WE'll have
lunch at Fisherman's Inn at Kent Narrows and, depending on the weather, will take the northern route around Love Point or the southern route around Bloody Point to the restaurant, just on the south side of the Kent Narrows Bridge and on the east side of the narrows. There is plenty of docking space and the food is very good there. We usually have about 10 boats - let''s shoot for 15 this year. You can sign up at the March meeting. If you have any questions, call Dave Griffin at 304-676-3256. This year, the Board voted to open the Spring Shakedown Cruise to members of Project Second Chance, an organization to honor and help Veterans injured in the Iraq war. If you have room onboard to accommodate a Veteran (or two), please let Dave Griffin know. The Chapter will pay for the Veteran's lunch, so there will be no extra cost to you to invite a Veteran on board.

Spring Tournament:
Spring Rockfish Tournament both the Chapter and the Main MSSA - May 5-7 You still have time to register for the chapter tournament which is $50 per boat through the next meeting. We have plenty of rooms reserved at the Comfort Inn in Solomons, just call 410-326-6306 to book and mention Frederick Chapter to get the discounted rate. We will take care of your slips when you register and all we need is a credit card # to hold the slip. This helps them keep us close together. The chapter will host a dinner at the Solomons Firehouse on Friday night at 6:30pm. Register on the tournament application and it's only $3 per member in advance for a all you can eat feast.

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