Tidelines Fall 2017

A Message from MSSA President FRANK HOLDEN

As fall 2017 arrives so should some really great fishing. What started as a dismal spring really has turned into a pretty good year. Livelining was a good as it gets with consistent catches all over the bay. My apologies to the lower bay guys but the upper bay was red hot again this year. We never know when the tables will turn again and the fish come back south in the summer. Chumming and trolling were the keys to success. Bottom fishing has been consistent with White Perch and Catfish at about every lump and hump north of the bay bridge. We can only hope this fall has the same great fishing as we have had all summer long. Speaking of fall the MSSA Fall Tournament is right around the corner on November 17-19. Now is a great time to get your crews together and make plans to fish this final gem of the MSSA Tournament Series. It’s a 3 day tournament when you can fish two days so if your vacation days are getting scarce you can still have the same chance as anyone else who can fish on Friday. Again this year there are two different divisions for amateurs and pros so you won’t need to compete against the pros. We hope to see you at the weigh stations. I’ll be weighmaster at Chesapeake Beach so stop by and let me weigh your winner. The 2016 winner took home $35,000 so come out and try your luck. Many thanks to everyone who helped make the Summer Classic just a big success-especially the members who fished that day. We had 61 boats in this first annual event. The weather that day was probably the best I’ve ever seen on the bay in late summer and yielded some surprisingly large fish. I hope by now many of you have received a letter sent to your homes detailing some financial challenges MSSA is now facing. The very last thing we ever wanted to do was to ask for financial help but 2017 has proven to be a tough for MSSA financially. Our spring tournament was down about $40,000

in profit and we have been working hard to overcome that obstacle. The recent Summer Classic was a big help as was suspending chapter membership rebates. We decided to put this edition of Tidelines on line like the summer edition. These three items has erased almost half of that loss. So how about pulling out that letter and sending a few dollars our way? With over 4,000 letters sent out just $20 a piece would yield huge results! I don't expect everyone to contribute but how about helping us out? Anything helps and many of your fellow members have already answered the call and decided to help out. How about you? Don't forget-$20 is just a start. No donation is ever too BIG! If you’d really like to cement your commitment to MSSA why not consider becoming a life member into MSSA. This is a one-time $500 membership that can be paid in quarterly installments? It’s a great way to help out in a big way. MSSA sends out bi-weekly e-mail blasts packed full of information about what’s happening in the next few weeks throughout MSSA. These are a great way for us to communicate with all our members in a bi-weekly basis. It’s free and very easy to register for these notifications. Just go to https://www.votervoice.net/MSSA/Register and fill out the registration information. Not only does this hook you up with the e-mail blasts but when the legislature meets in the winter it’s a quick easy way for you to contact your legislators and asked them to support recreational fisherman and our interests. Got a small business-there are very affordable advertising options on these e-mail blasts too! In closing I’d like to thank everyone for what they do every single day to make MSSA strong. Many of you attend chapter meetings and may be involved in chapter activities. Strong chapters are the lifeblood of MSSA and your hard work makes MSSA the great organization. Keep up the good work everyone and I hope to see you on the bay.

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