President's Message
by Rick Thompson
 

Thanks to everyone that came to our Feb meeting. We had a good turnout after having to postpone it for one week due to our ice storm. Our speaker was Mr. Martin Gary from DNR. He did a great job telling us some of the problems & programs dealing with those problems in the bay. We have real issue's & no good answers. They need our help in doing our part in the Rockfish survey so we can have a fighting chance increasing the 30,000 fish limit for our spring season. There will be information at the next meeting about what we can do. I handed out a survey Chuck Mullaney put together for us asking for your suggestions, opinions of how things are done & what you would like to see changed. After reading them over I found that most all members like where & when we meet speakers we have & subjects we talk about and the food.

The fire hall has taken over serving the food & doing a super job. We had roast beef & gravy with all the extras for only $6.00, it was delicious.

The one thing everyone wanted to add from the survey was 1 or 2 headboat trips to the bay & or ocean. We need some help in putting together more information on these trips, so if you have any interest please get involved & help us make this club even better. We now have a suggestion box, thanks to Walt Shaw. It will be at every meeting for your comments & grips about anything you want to change or ideas of improvements.

Our next meeting will feature Mid Shore Electronics talking about fish finders- I know we all need help in that field, hope to see all of you there.

P.S. Crabby John just had surgery on his ankle & is doing well. Stop by & see him or give him a call, he is always ready to talk about fishing. .

Chapter Raffle:
This is our only fundraiser of the year. We need your help. We will be giving away a Premium Carnival 5 Night Cruise for 2. For every 10 tickets you sell you will get 1 free ticket for yourself. You'll receive your ticket when you turn your sold ones in. They will be available at the meetings or stop by & see Bob Pellicot at Shockley Honda. The drawing will be August 8th at our meeting. The cost is $10 each. We would like to thank Gordon Jernigan for donating the printing costs of the tickets.

MSSA JACKETS:
We will be taking orders for the new & improved jackets at the meeting. They feature a new embroidered MSSA logo on the front & you also get 1 line of text on the other (Name, Boat Name, etc). You can add additional lines for a nominal fee & you can also opt for a full size rockfish embroidered on the back. The jackets come in 3 different weights & range from $40-$50. All jackets must be paid in full at the time of the order & we will have order forms at the meeting. I would recommend the medium & heavyweight jackets.

Next Meeting

March 14, 2007

Food Service: starts at 6:00 pm

Menu:
Fish sandwich, mac & cheese, baked beans, dessert, coffee & iced-T, price $6.

Meeting: starts at 7:00 pm

Speaker:
Midshore Electronics will provide an informative demonstration and talk on maximizing the use of your fish finder.

Frank Darringer, the owner and Adam Morris are experts on boat electronics so feel free to ask them any questions. It may sound strange, but they are the people to talk to when looking for a new or used boat. The reason is they are the one's that crawl around in the bilges, drill holes in fiberglass & hull for transducers, & see the boat wiring. They can give you some insights at least on the boat's internals & maybe help you narrow your search down. A great laid out boat is worthless if you are constantly having wiring issues etc.

Vendor:
Tyler's Tackle will be at the meeting with all your rockfish needs.

Last Month's Raffle Winners:
Last Month's Raffle Winners:
Dave Griffin: Hand held VHF
Ken Caudill: $50 Alltackle Gift
Certificate
Bill Johnson: Fisherman Mag.
Subscription
John Sivinski: Hand Held Spotlight
Rob Pellicot: Binocular Holder

50/50: Ralph Cope $60

Newsletter & Notices Online The MSSA Frederick Chapter Newsletter is available online at: http://www.mssafrederick.com Hard copys are available by special request. To get on the "mail to only list", contact the MSSA Secretary.
Sign up to receive newsletters, notices & updates by email.

Newsletter Items: for April are due March 22, 2007
Send to:

Up Coming Events

Mar 17-18:
Essex Middle River Flea Market-yes it will be 2 days this year & flyers are at the meeting.
Mar 24-25:
Southern MD Fishing Fair at Solomans Firehouse. Last show of the season
Apr 7:
Frederick Shakedown Cruise & lunch at Sandy Point State Park

Tournaments:
May 4-6:
MSSA Annual Spring Tourney

Kids and Fishing:
Have you taken a child fishing lately? Did you know that every Frederick Chapter Tournament has a child's division? Did you know that there are special prizes reserved for children? If you took a child fishing, take a picture of the trophy & get a copy to us for publication. Ed Sousa is working on a children's fishing classic. Please see Ed if you have any ideas for the event.

RENEW YOUR FISHING
LICENSES

2007 NMFS Migratory Species Permit: OFFSHORE:
All migratory species permits expire in May. Remember to purchase your 2007 permit. The "permit shop" can be found at:
www.hmspermits.gov or
www.nmfspermits.com
Permits for 2007 cost $22.00.

State of Maryland:
All DNR Maryland permits expired on December 31. You may purchase online at wildlifelicense.com/md/
Resident License: $9.00 allows a Maryland resident to fish in the Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries from January 1 through December 31. Consolidated Bay Sport Boat License is $40.00 and allows everyone on board your boat to fish.