May / June 2018 Newsletter
In This Edition
|
|
|
Club Board Members
|
Committee Chairs
|
Club Photographer
Open Joe's Coffee Joe Wolf Christmas Party Rick Boettcher Tournaments Khris Bradley |
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Unless otherwise noted, Club meetings are held at 7 pm, the 1st Friday of each month at the Moneta Community Center - in the back-side, lower-level of the Pharmacy building on Rucker Rd, just off VA-122. Visitors and New Members are always welcome.
May Club Meeting - 5/4 - We'll be discussing a number of topics related to late Spring / early Summer fishing in a round-table setting. Come and learn, but also share!
Lake Clean-Up Day - 5/5 - The SMSC will be staffing the Indian Point location for Lake Clean-up Day - come out and assist your fellow Club members in offloading boats with debris to help take care of the lake we enjoy!
Striper Club Member / Guest Tournament - 5/19 - We are in the planning stages for a Club Member / Guest tournament on 5/19 - look for more details at the Club meeting, in the newsletter & on Facebook.
June Club Meeting - 6/4 - Topic TBD
In-Water Boat Show - June xx - watch for more details
July Club Meeting - 7/6 - Topic TBD
May Club Meeting - 5/4 - We'll be discussing a number of topics related to late Spring / early Summer fishing in a round-table setting. Come and learn, but also share!
Lake Clean-Up Day - 5/5 - The SMSC will be staffing the Indian Point location for Lake Clean-up Day - come out and assist your fellow Club members in offloading boats with debris to help take care of the lake we enjoy!
Striper Club Member / Guest Tournament - 5/19 - We are in the planning stages for a Club Member / Guest tournament on 5/19 - look for more details at the Club meeting, in the newsletter & on Facebook.
June Club Meeting - 6/4 - Topic TBD
In-Water Boat Show - June xx - watch for more details
July Club Meeting - 7/6 - Topic TBD
President's Corner
1st, I'd like to give a big WELCOME to Craig Miller who has recently accepted a seat on the SMSC Board of Directors for the remainder of 2018. Craig is filling the spot vacated by Tony Bolt, who had to step down due to relocation of his wife's job. We appreciate Craig, who is fairly new to the Club, but not all that new to striper fishing, jumping in with both feet.
Spring finally arrived after what seemed like a never ending Winter. I've personally not had a chance to get out on SML this year except for back in mid-January, so I cannot report much on the fishing, but I hope you have been able to. Summer will be here before long, and for me that means cutting WAY back on my striper fishing (though thinking about out, can I cut back any more than so far this year???). As you know the Club adopted a "best practice" related to warm-water fishing of "catch 2 and quit" if you are going to fish. While we preach Catch-Photo-Release in cool water months, we need to be pragmatic about the fish's survival rates in warm water. You'll be seeing & hearing a lot from the Club on this topic leading into, and during this Summer.
We have some good activities planed for the coming months - we will once again be staffing the Lake Clean Up location at Indian point on Saturday, May 5th, we have a Club Member/Guest "fun" tournament with a cook-out afterwards on Saturday May 19th, and then we'll be doing a In-water Boat Show as we have in past years at Bridgewater, most likely in June (stay tuned for more details on this). We hope you can join us for one or more of these activities - they are great ways to get to know other members in the Club as well as have some fun.
As mentioned previously - I am looking for someone to take over the newsletter, or at least help share the load. If you have any interest or talents in this area, please reach out to me.
Fish On! - Mike Ward
Spring finally arrived after what seemed like a never ending Winter. I've personally not had a chance to get out on SML this year except for back in mid-January, so I cannot report much on the fishing, but I hope you have been able to. Summer will be here before long, and for me that means cutting WAY back on my striper fishing (though thinking about out, can I cut back any more than so far this year???). As you know the Club adopted a "best practice" related to warm-water fishing of "catch 2 and quit" if you are going to fish. While we preach Catch-Photo-Release in cool water months, we need to be pragmatic about the fish's survival rates in warm water. You'll be seeing & hearing a lot from the Club on this topic leading into, and during this Summer.
We have some good activities planed for the coming months - we will once again be staffing the Lake Clean Up location at Indian point on Saturday, May 5th, we have a Club Member/Guest "fun" tournament with a cook-out afterwards on Saturday May 19th, and then we'll be doing a In-water Boat Show as we have in past years at Bridgewater, most likely in June (stay tuned for more details on this). We hope you can join us for one or more of these activities - they are great ways to get to know other members in the Club as well as have some fun.
As mentioned previously - I am looking for someone to take over the newsletter, or at least help share the load. If you have any interest or talents in this area, please reach out to me.
Fish On! - Mike Ward
"Fun in the Sun" Member Guest Tourney
Saturday, May 19th we will hold a "Fun in the Sun" Member/Guest tournament, with a cook-out following at Crazy Horse Marina.
This is a Catch-photo-release format with team submitting pictures of up to two fish - and the winner decided by the longest total length of two fish. We will have an Adult & Youth (15 and under) category, where the youth may submit one of the fish from the team's entry.
Entry is $25 per adult, with kids 15 & under being free. Payout will be 100% of the entry fees, with the # of places paid being determined by the # of participants. There will be dedicated prizes for the youth.
There will be a Captain's Meeting held on Friday evening before the tournament to collect your measuring device (which must be returned) and confirm last minute logistics of the tournament. Currently Lines' In is 6:45am with the tournament ending at 3pm.
Please come out, bring a guest and have some fun competition with your fellow Club members along with some socializing afterwards. Entries must be made buy Friday, 5/5 - or make arrangements with Khris & Jim.
Contact Khris Bradley (540-529-7889) or Jim Perry (540-871-2196) with any questions.
This is a Catch-photo-release format with team submitting pictures of up to two fish - and the winner decided by the longest total length of two fish. We will have an Adult & Youth (15 and under) category, where the youth may submit one of the fish from the team's entry.
Entry is $25 per adult, with kids 15 & under being free. Payout will be 100% of the entry fees, with the # of places paid being determined by the # of participants. There will be dedicated prizes for the youth.
There will be a Captain's Meeting held on Friday evening before the tournament to collect your measuring device (which must be returned) and confirm last minute logistics of the tournament. Currently Lines' In is 6:45am with the tournament ending at 3pm.
Please come out, bring a guest and have some fun competition with your fellow Club members along with some socializing afterwards. Entries must be made buy Friday, 5/5 - or make arrangements with Khris & Jim.
Contact Khris Bradley (540-529-7889) or Jim Perry (540-871-2196) with any questions.
Member Fishing Partner Roster
At the October club meeting, we discussed ways of improving membership, participation and meeting member interests. One topic discussed was publishing a directory to enable members to contact each other more readily and hook-up (20th Century definition) with new partners to fish, learn and make new acquaintances. Dick Justice has agreed to take this project on. Dick is maintaining the roster containing info on member's desire to share their fishing interests, methods and willingness to be contacted by other club members. This is a voluntary activity and our plan is to distribute the list in hard copy at club meetings. We do not intend to post the file to a website but Dick will have copies at the Club meetings. We encourage each member to consider adding their name and associated info to the list and also offer suggestions for how we could make this more effective.
Member Catches
SMSC Members have been getting it done this Spring! It's great to be able to share and enjoy these images of others catching fish - please submit yours - you can post them to the Club Facebook page, or send them to [email protected].
Striper Mafia Tournament Series Wraps up with SMSC Members in strong position
Member Jason Lawrence and his team, consisting of his sons, and dad, took top honors to wrap up the Striper Mafia tournament series. They took 1st place in the April event, but also took Big Fish of the Series honors as well as Team of the Year honors. Team Lawrence was tied with member Early Cox in the Team of the year points competition, with total length of fish caught edging Team Lawrence out.
Renee Kissella won the Ladies Big Fish honors as well - we had a lot of SMSC members represent strongly in this tournament series and put up a good face for the Club in this Catch-Photo-Release format tournament series.
Renee Kissella won the Ladies Big Fish honors as well - we had a lot of SMSC members represent strongly in this tournament series and put up a good face for the Club in this Catch-Photo-Release format tournament series.
Lake Clean Up
On Saturday, May 5th the SMSC will be staffing the Lake Clean-up location at Indian Point. We will be helping to off-load debris into dumpsters as well as running a ponton to collect debris around the near-by lake. We'll staff the location from 9-3 - feel free to come join us - we'll have food & drinks - contact Jim Perry (540-871-2196) if you can join us.
2018 Fish Ladder
We reset the fish ladder after our Christmas Party so it's time to turn in those great catches.. Keep the catches coming! If you have one not listed below, send us the pic on a measuring board and we'll get it recorded... probably some SMSC members with pics from recent tourneys that qualify!
|
Fishing Outlook for May & June
Late Spring / Transition fishing will be the name of the game. In May a lot of the fish will have the "spawn" on their mind, and you may find it tough fishing at times - though when they are "done" they will be hungry. Lower end of the lake is typically a go-to spot and if you're lucky, schooling fish breaking on top will be something to chase. Keep a top-water plug at the ready, but fishing live-bait with light-lines, free-lines and downlines will all be productive.
As we move into June the fish will generally transition back towards the middle portions of the lake - mouths of major creeks first thing in the morning can be good targets. As the water temps warm, light-lines and then eventually down-lines will be more productive than free-lined baits.
As we get to the end of June, be mindful of the water temperatures and the fact that Striper have an increasingly lower survival rate when releasing as the temperature increases - as a Club we recommend if you are going to fish in the Summer that you either target other species (white perch are are great option), or catch two and quit for the trip.
As we move into June the fish will generally transition back towards the middle portions of the lake - mouths of major creeks first thing in the morning can be good targets. As the water temps warm, light-lines and then eventually down-lines will be more productive than free-lined baits.
As we get to the end of June, be mindful of the water temperatures and the fact that Striper have an increasingly lower survival rate when releasing as the temperature increases - as a Club we recommend if you are going to fish in the Summer that you either target other species (white perch are are great option), or catch two and quit for the trip.
If you have not already renewed your membership for 2018, please do so today! You can send your membership dues in via check in the mail, or via PayPal but sending a payment to [email protected]
Also, consider dropping off a copy of this newsletter with a friend that may be interested in the Club - and invite them to Join!
Also, consider dropping off a copy of this newsletter with a friend that may be interested in the Club - and invite them to Join!
Please Support our Club Sponsors & Advertisers
Our Club Sponsors and Advertisers provide a valuable support to the Smith Mountain Striper Club and our membership. When in need of goods or services, please give our sponsors consideration and also let them know that you appreciate their support of the Club.
Smith Mountain Striper Club members receive a 10% Discount
Call or e-mail for details. [email protected] / (304) 928-7653 www.rockcreekplaners.com/planer-boards/ |
Check us out on the net at www.castnets.com or call us at (800) 332-6387 ext. 100 and tell them you a member of the Smith Mountain Striper Club to order your nets and receive a 50% discount of list prices.
|