January 2025 Newsletter Hello SD Rod and Reel Members - your newly elected President welcomes you! I first want to thank the board and the general membership for choosing me for this position. The largest thank you goes to our outgoing President, Gary Mouritzen, who led our club’s recovery after the pandemic, and saw our membership grow to what it is today. I hope to carry on Gary’s great work, and hope to make this club a strong advocate for kids’ fishing. SD Rod and Reel will continue to be a positive influence in our fishing community. Here are a few ideas I would like to pursue in the next year. I’ve noticed that the number of members with boats has dropped from the time I became involved with Rod and Reel in 2018. Our tournaments have a limited amount of participation due to the small number of boats and spots available. The cost of our largest tournament of the year and the limited number of spaces hurt the club’s participation, and consequently the revenues generated. We had two charter club tournaments this year, and I’d like to consider this option. The cost to individual anglers is potentially less, and we can hold a raffle onboard. There’s been talk of using a landing to procure multiple boats, and compete like CCA’s Charter Challenge used to. Since joining Rod and Reel, I’ve also wanted to hold a kid’s fishing event on Shelter Island Pier. Capt. Dan Walsh has a contact who runs the concession there, and maybe we can work out something to feed the kids and adults hotdogs and burgers. Possibly we could do that ourselves. The kids would also enjoy fishing at a local lake. As in the past, we’ll do kids’ half-day trips. Of course, we need to raise the funds to take kids fishing. I welcome involvement in our existing events, from tournaments to the raffle, plus any new ways to help our club make things happen. I will do my best effort to carry on the message and goals of our club.

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