Greetings fellow fly fishers! I hope your 2025 has started well. This year promises to be a big one for the Flyfishers’ Club of Oregon and I hope for you as well.
We have five great dinner meetings scheduled for 2025 (See the Member Matters page of this Flyline issue to see the meetings and speakers). We have added 15 new members to the Club in the last two months which bodes well for the Club to grow in 2025.
Membership renewals are going very well. Over one-half of members have renewed their membership in just two plus weeks and we expect a very high level of member renewals.
We will vote on a slate of Club officers for 2025 at the February 11 meeting, so please attend the meeting and cast your vote:
The slate for 2025 is officers is:
- President – Mike Radakovich
- Vice President – Ken Gustafson
- Treasurer – Kevin Quinn
- Secretary – Amy Bogran
- At Large – Mark Seligman
- At Large – Harold Weight
The Club’s website is about to undergo the next step of its upgrade to include a message board for members to use to seek advice, get intel on fishing locations sell or trade gear, find fishing partners, set up outings and more.
An expanded calendar of local events and fishing guide recommendations will also be added.
I encourage you to check the website regularly to see what’s new with the Club and what is new on the website www.flyfisherscluboregon.com.
Besides bringing quality dinner meetings, the Program Committee is working on other activities for 2025. Frank Rodriquez is organizing a series of “How to” workshops related to the fly fishing for both Club members and the public. Frank’s first offering – “Tying Essential Knots” will be offered for Club members and guests during the Wet Fly Hour at the February 11 dinner meeting (See Member Matters page for more details).
Frank is also organizing a series of “How to” workshops to be held in partnership with the Portland Fly Shop in March and early April (more information to come). More outreach is being planned for the balance of the year.
There’s a lot is going on, but much is in the planning stage. Standing between planning and action is having the people power to pull it all off.
Our Club is a volunteer organization – fueled by the willingness of members to give some of their time to plan and hold events and activities and keep the Club rolling. We have a hard-core group of members who have been working hard to solidify and grow our membership; bring great speakers to dinner meetings; plan and do additional events; and better communicate what is going with the Club and its members.
We need your help. You can fill a one-time role at an event; plan and carry out a new Club activity; help get useful information to Club members; do outreach to help grow the Club’s membership.
Listed below are some areas volunteers are currently needed. Please join others by volunteering to help make the Club stronger.
Communications Team:
- Volunteer to solicit and compile outing stories from members (including what worked and what didn’t) and PNW conservation efforts for the Flyline. (3 hours a month)
- Volunteer to learn how to enter content into the Website and Flyline template (5 hours a month)
- Volunteer to source literary submissions such as flyfishing stories or poems; reminiscent submissions about special rivers. (1 hour per month)
- Volunteers to track local fishing events to post on our website (i.e. Troutfest, International Fly Fishing movies, Trout Unlimited Conservation/Restoration outings, classes at local fly shops, etc.) (1 hour per month)
- Volunteer for Social Media postings – we need someone to establish and maintain a robust social media presence for the club on Facebook and Instagram. (Time, TBD)
To volunteer, email: communications@flyfisherscluboregon.com
Programs Team:
- Ad hoc event coordinators – volunteer to organize and host an event/outing for club members. Establish logistic details for publication on the Club website, host the event, report results and images for FCO newsletter and website (of course, this could be a team effort).
- Engagement volunteers – reach out to other organizations such as Healing Waters, Trout Unlimited, Association of NW Steelheaders to create joint events and engagements.
- Volunteer Swag Master – someone to reach out to local fly shops and/or suppliers to solicit donations to be used as door prizes at Club events.
To volunteer email: programs@flyfisherscluboregon.com
Membership Team:
- Volunteers to make 10 outbound calls to prospective and former members to solicit them to join/renew Club membership.
- Be an ambassador for new members. Meet and greet a new club member at a dinner meeting. Introduce a new member to others. Answer questions and make them feel comfortable.
- Help coordinate a membership campaign to be held in the Spring. Help coach other Club members in bring in new members.
To volunteer, email: membership@flyfisherscluboregon.com
To grow in size and activity, the Club needs more volunteer help. Whether you can give an hour once or a few hours a month, please volunteer!
See you on the 11th for our meeting at Ernesto’s Italian Restaurant and Jeff Perin’s presentation!
Warmly,
Mike Radakovich, FCO President
