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President's Message
by Art Hawkins |
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Here I sit staring at a blank screen, wondering where to begin, what to write. In fact, doing a monthly message will probably be the hardest part of being President, at least for me. First, I want to thank the membership for your vote of confidence and the opportunity to serve the Club as your President.
Now, how did I get into this situation? I retired in 1999 and found that while I had time to pursue my hobbies, fly fishing and woodworking, all my friends were still working and I had no one to fish with during the week. I remembered seeing GBF’s Fly Tying booth at the Salmon Festival and in January 2002, I decided it was time to attend a meeting and find out if this would provide me with an opportunity to find others who were in the same predicament. I have to admit, I had a preconceived notion that I’d enter the clubhouse and find a small, cliquish group huddled together telling fish stories and totally ignoring a stranger in their midst. Wow, was I wrong. First a member greeted me in the parking lot and accompanied me to the clubhouse. Once inside he introduced me to Denny Welch, then President. When I looked around there weren’t 20 people in the room, more like 70 or 80. And they weren’t a bunch of “old fishermen”; there were young and old alike, men, women and kids. I really felt welcome when Denny called for all first time visitors to stand up and introduce themselves. But when I stated I was retired Denny piped up saying “That’s all we need, another member that can fish anytime while the rest of us work”. I soon realized he was just kidding and indeed I would find others to fish with and a whole lot more.
While I’ve only been in the Club 3˝ years, I have gotten a whole lot more out of it besides a monthly meeting and finding someone to fish with. In February I teamed up with Michael Kaul and we started our Net Building Clinics. We just completed our fourth year of clinics and there are 80 members that are truly proud of their laminated wood nets. In May I volunteered to run for Treasurer. Then I found myself having a ball working with kids at the Salmon Festival and I’ve served on the Annual Dinner Committee the past 3 years. Besides volunteering, I took advantage of the great clinics offered by the Club; casting, fly tying, bass fly tying and short-line nymphing, just to name a few that have really helped improve my fly fishing prowess. It has been said by many before me, “the more involved you get, the more you get out of being a member”. This is especially true in GBF. There is no better way to make friends and really get something out of being a member than by volunteering. The success of this club is a direct result of lots of members contributing, not just the same core group doing everything. Having said that, we have had several positions open up because members have done their “tour of duty” and this provides an opportunity for additional members to make a contribution. Positions that are currently in need of a volunteer are Raffle Coordinator, Librarian, New Members Coordinator and Logo Merchandise Sales. None of these are overwhelming jobs, but they need to be filled for the Club to continue to be successful and provide benefits to the membership. In fact, it would be great to have two or three members form a team approach with one person as the primary coordinator. This way there is a backup if one has an “excused absence” (gone fishing) or the team could alternate meetings.
Every year since I joined the Club it has grown in membership and increased the number of clinics and fishouts. Denny set a goal of 200 members during his second term and he succeeded. Since that time membership renewals have been very high and with a steady stream of new members our ranks have swelled to 235. If you count the family memberships as two members we have well over 300 members. During the two years that Gary Flanagan was President he really focused on improving communications with the membership so that everyone would be informed and could avail themselves of the Club’s many offerings. He recruited Paul Meyers and Kent Ripley to take on enhancing the website and developing a message board. Jeff Burkholder volunteered to become the editor of The Leader and has turned it into a top notch publication. Now our website and The Leader showcase GBF as the outstanding organization it is. Gary also implemented his “Email Blasts” to remind members of upcoming activities, last minute changes and anything else of importance.
Given where we are in our maturity as a club, my goal for the coming year is to get more members involved in participating in Club events and hopefully volunteering at least once, be it leading a fishout, assisting in a clinic or event, or taking on a coordinator position that opens up. With a club this big we need more volunteers to insure that there are plenty of activities and that we don’t “burn out” volunteers through over utilization. As a new member to the Club there is no better way to feel like you really belong than to volunteer and get to know other members. Already this year we’re off to a great start. There are seven new members on the Board, Larry Goodell volunteered to head up the Golden Trout Program, Mike Powers and Frank Massey are organizing the games at the Past Presidents’ Picnic and Jim Forshey is reactivating our Youth Program. After two years of providing us with delectable goodies to snack on, Karen Flanagan is stepping down, but we won’t go hungry because Roger and Phyllis Mattson have volunteered to keep the munchies coming. There is nothing like having new volunteers that can bring in fresh ideas and keep the Club vibrant and dynamic. Thanks to all the outgoing volunteers for jobs well done!
In closing, I’d like to give proper recognition to Mike Laing. Somehow part of the text in Gary’s President’s Message last month didn’t make it in the final copy. And just for clarification we have a Mike Laing and a Mike Lang. The latter is tall (big Mike) and was elected to the Board in June. What should have been in last month’s Leader about the other Mike follows:
Also recognized at the Annual Dinner was Mike Laing, who was the recipient of this year’s Jim Coleman Conservation Award. Bill Hagopian, VP Conservation, presented Mike with the plaque recognizing him as the most significant contributor to the Club’s conservation programs during the past year. Mike has been the Conservation Committee’s primary liaison with the FFF (Federation of Fly Fishers – where he is a very active member) and has spearheaded a number of the Committee’s important activities. His dedication to the Club (and the conservation cornerstone on which it was founded) sets an incredible example for all Club members.
Now, go fish and when the opportunity presents itself, volunteer – you won’t regret it.
Tight lines…. Art Hawkins President Granite Bay Flycasters
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