October 05, 2022 meeting notes.
The October meeting was well attended - excellent member interactions on the agenda points and new business initiatives.
New member Matthew Pearson joined - welcome Matthew.
The various committee reports were given - George, the Bursar was absent, a modified report of the picnic finances was given by Harvey: On September 07, 60 members and spouses attended the Red Sail Park event, a great meal was served, we held a raffle of fishing rods, reels and tackle gear plus a 50/50. Everyone agreed it was well done and to consider doing something similar next year.
George will post the exact picnic accounting on the Club Website for any member to view.
John McClain gave a brief update on the task force to explore military and other charity initiatives the Club can consider: It seems the coordinator at Camp Lejeune who had been the contact to arrange the military servicemen and women to go fishing has changed - John is following up to establish contact with the appropriate person and will report at the next meeting. John will also contact the Head boats to check on next year's costs etc.
Art presented the drum fishing challenge results - Our Club came third or last in the 3 club tournament - again, failing to catch a quantity of fish compared to the other Clubs - the members discussed how and what we need to do to improve our drum fishing to better compete. Art will compile new strategy points to share with the Club.
The Club discussed the upcoming (16 November) Marine Fisheries Division (MFD) commissioners meeting to vote on reinstating the placement of commercial gill nets along the Neuse and Pamlico rivers - it was agreed, as the Club is concerned about any nets placed along the local rivers impacting our waters and fishery, we need a strategy to approach the MFD meeting that states our opposition to anything that has a massive over killing effect of the local fishery.
There is a strategy discussion meeting at Custom Marine Fabrication hosted by Don Willis the owner, who is an officer with Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) on Wednesday, October 24th at 6 pm at his shop on Hwy 70 east.
We will participate in that meeting to formulate how best to approach the MFD commissioners meeting in Emerald Isle on November 16. Members are encouraged to attend to show support for this initiative. We can’t lose our fishery without some action!
Steve Burton spoke on a charity initiative on behalf of the Bridgeton Women's Fellowship to provide basic fishing gear to needy recipients in Africa to help themselves catch fish to feed their families - any fishing hooks, sinkers, lures, etc. can be dropped at Steve's house - his address is in the directory.
There were two motions from the floor: one is to vote an increase of dues for 2023 to $20.00 a year effective January 2023 and, the second, to conduct an audit of the Club finances by year end - both motions were seconded, voted “aye” unanimously without opposition discussion. The motions will be implemented accordingly.
The new stewards sign-up roster for 2023 is almost complete - it takes 3 stewards to set up/take down the meeting room tables and chairs, check-in members, conduct the 50/50 draw and provide the refreshments and snacks. We have a really good record of volunteerism however, we still have a few more volunteers to fill in some meetings. We will pass the signup sheet around at the November meeting. Special thanks to Tim Welch and John Roy for the dedicated hard work this month - without the stewards the Club meetings would not work they are a really important part of the Club function. Thanks, lads!
For the November 2 meeting, the guest speaker will be The new Neuse Riverkeeper - Ms. Smantha Krop.