President's Message
by Rick Thompson
 

Thanks to everyone for the great meeting we had last month. Frank from Mid Shore did a supper job as always telling us about fishfinders. I know we all still have a lot to learn about our electronics, its hard to remember when you don't get to use them often enough. I know its one of my biggest problems, wish it was the only one. Lets hope we can change this problem real soon and get back on the water and start catching again instead of just thinking about it. We had a really good turn out. It was good to see some faces we hadn't seen of a while. I hope this is a trend that will continue. Hi to all the new members that came, we all hope to see you at all the meetings. There's always something new to learn from our speakers and we always pick up new tricks and techniques from each other, I feel this is one of the best things about our chapter and its members. We all keep teaching each other how to be better fisherman and become better friends because of our willingness to share our little secrets and lies (fish stories). Rob has another great speaker for us in April. Captain Greg Buckner of Miss Susie Charters from Solomons Island will tell us how he catches Big Rockfish, beings you can only keep one it might as well be a real big one. Greg is also going to be our vendor with his tackle called Shore to Shore Tackle. This should give us a good refresher course and I'm sure some new and better ways of catching that elusive 50 pounder we all want to catch. We will have a good supply of Rockfish survey forms for you to use. This is very important for all of us to keep track of our catches if we want to able to raise our outdated allotment of Rockfish. They think we catch a lot more than we do! The only way to change this is with facts, and we need to provide these facts. I hope everyone has a chance to get out fishing this month and came to the meeting and tell us about the one that didn't get away.

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.

Next Meeting

April 11, 2007

Food Service: starts at 6:00 pm

Menu:
Cheese or hamburger, soup, macaroni salad, dessert, coffee & iced-T, price $6.

Meeting: starts at 7:00 pm

Speaker:
Captain Greg Buckner of Miss Susie Charters in Solomons Island Maryland will be speaking on Trophy Rock fishing. His website is:
http://www.misssusiecharters.com

Greg is one of the youngest Captains on the bay but has his roots in St. Mary's County Maryland & has been on the bay his entire life. In case you were not aware he has landed some huge fish including one's over 50 lbs last fall.

Vendor:
Shore to Shore Tackle.
Greg also owns Shore to Shore Tackle
and his parachutes are top notch with excellent paint jobs check them out at: http://www.shoretoshoretackle.com
He also has shads, umbrellas etc. along with rigging supplies.

Last Month's Raffle Winners:
Ken Caudill: Stainless steel
hardware kit
Lee Fritz: Fighting belt
Bach Vu: Corrosion Guard
Name not recorded: 330 GTI reel

50/50: Name not recorded $90

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 May are due April 22, 2007
Send to:

Up Coming Events

Apr 7: Frederick Shakedown Cruise & lunch-Sandy Point State Park.
Apr 21: Opening Day for Rockfish

Tournaments:
May 4-6: MSSA Annual Spring
Tourney & Frederick
May 4-6: Flounder Tournament
June 22-24: Offshore Tournament

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.