March 2024 Email Meeting
President Dennis Pratt sent agenda and reports to Officers and Directors.
Officers and Directors: Responding – Ed Chaplinski, Paul Helbach, Courtney Johnson, Ken Lundberg, Dennis Pratt, Mike Sierszen, Den Smet, Jeff Stollenwerk, Walt Swanson, Jim Waletzko, Dean Wellman, Mike Zicus and Ken Zivic.
Minutes of the February Meeting: The minutes as written in the March newsletter were approved following a motion by Dean Wellman, second by Ken Lundberg and unanimous Email approval.
Treasurer’s and Financial Secretary’s Reports: Treasurer Jeff Stollenwerk reported that February’s beginning balance was $11,826.66, and the ending balance was $9,232.99 with the following expenses: Dean Wellman (Fly Supplies for Expo) $34.38; Pro Print (1,000 Membership Cards) $173.85; Jeff Stollenwerk (Fly Book Printing DocuCopies) $449.11; Katie Thompson (February Newsletter) $200.00; MN Assoc RC&D (Display for Expo) $100.00; Trout Unlimited (Expo Booth) $475.00; Transfer to Savings (Officer Stipend Donations) $700.00; Transfer to Savings (January Donations) $1,100.00. The Treasurer’s report was approved following a motion by Mike Sierszen, second by Den Smet and unanimous Email approval. President Dennis Pratt reported for Financial Secretary Dean Wellman that there were $205.00 in total deposits into the general fund since the last meeting and that the Club had one new member and 19 renewals. The Financial Secretary’s report was approved following a motion by Paul Helbach, second by Ed Chaplinski and unanimous Email approval.
Committee Reports
Legislative: Lundberg – nothing to report.
Habitat: Pratt – Our first volunteer workday, planting tamarack/spruce at Beaupre project site, will be held on May 18th. No other habitat projects have been finalized yet.
Audit: Stollenwerk – Audit committee will meet before our April 22nd meeting and present this year’s audit report at that meeting.
Education: Smet – Smet and Pratt made presentations to all six 11th/12th grade Ecology and Conservation classes at Superior Senior High School. Trout were in excellent condition at the high school. A total of 123 students attended the High School classes. We presented to all four Northwestern 6th grade science classes on the 27th and 28th. The trout were all in excellent condition. A total of 100 students attended the 5th grade classes.
Scholarship: Sierszen – No valid applications have been received yet. One came from a high school girl who apparently didn’t read the application guidelines.
Membership: Waletzko / Chaplinski nothing to report.
Social media: Zicus/Pratt – April newsletter will feature the Seegar Swanson Wet-Dry Fly.
Other Business
Spring Cleanup Date: Smet – This year’s spring cleanup will be held on April 27th (backup date May 11th).
Fly of the Month: Wellman – April will feature the ‘Nuke Caddis’.
Spring Raffle Items: Sierszen – Raffle committee consisting of Sierszen, Wellman, Zicus, Smet and Stollenwerk. We applied for raffle license and when we receive it, we’ll be able to print tickets. The committee recommends the Norling fly rod as the Grand Prize, a box of flies and an accompanying fly pattern book as second prize, and one of the Weber filet knives as third prize. Opinions on whether it’s the 7″ or 9″ knife are welcome. We decided to print 300 raffle tickets upon receipt of the raffle license. They will be sold for $10 each. The date of the raffle will depend on how quickly we receive the license; we’d like to allow 3 or 4 months to sell the tickets. Last time we sold all 200 tickets in 2 months.
Fly of the Month Book: The fly book has been very popular. We’ve sold 19 thus far and have another 14 spoken for. So, we’ve sold well over half of the quantity that we had printed. We’ll advertise the Fly book in early April with a Constant Contact email to our entire e-membership.
Great Waters Expo Wrap up Report: Lundberg – The booth featured a new display board which has a Velcro finish and we displayed new pictures of habitat work, Brule scenes, and fish of the Brule. Pictures are easy to attach and adjust and more will be added as needed. Club merchandise was sold. This year, the new Fly of the Month Book featuring flies used on the Brule and materials used to tie them became available. It turned out to be very helpful when talking to people interested in fishing the Brule. I would like to thank the volunteer workers Matt Benson, Cynthia Bennett, Paul Gausman, Greg Lonke, Bretta Chaplinski, Ed Chaplinski, and Mike Sierszen who staffed the booth the three days. Paul Gausman tied flies and gave them to kids visiting the booth. My sons, Tim and Dave, and Paul Sandstrom helped with the booth set up and take down.
Wild Rivers Chapter Trout Unlimited Expo: Pratt will represent the Club at this year’s Expo to be held in Hayward on April 6th. We’re not allowed to sell any BRSC items at the event, but we’ll display what we have available in our Club store and provide booth visitors with a handout on how to purchase online.
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation District 1 Fund Raising Banquet: This year’s banquet is being held on April 18th. Lundberg is purchasing a table again this year and still has a few tickets available.
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation Annual Meeting: Lundberg is representing BRSC at this year’s meeting held in Wisconsin Rapids. He had written a recommendation for Paul Piszczek for the outstanding fish manager award which Paul received and will be accepting it for Paul who cannot attend. Paul Helbach made a motion to reimburse him for his hotel stay and a second by Ed Chaplinski, was followed by unanimous Email approval. He is covering mileage and meals.
Upcoming Events – Please check our calendar (https://bruleriversportsmensclub.com/category/club-calendar/) for the latest events.
Recorded by Walt Swanson