October 23rd, 2023 Meeting

President Dennis Pratt called the meeting to order at 6:03 PM at Kro Bar.

Officers and Directors: Present – Ed Chaplinski, Paul Helbach, Glen Hill, Mick Killoren, Dennis Pratt, Mike Sierszen, Den Smet, Jeff Stollenwerk, Walt Swanson, Jim Waletzko and Mike Zicus.

Minutes of the September Meeting: The minutes as written in the October newsletter were approved following a motion by Ed Chaplinski, second by Paul Helbach and unanimous approval by voice vote.

Treasurer’s and Financial Secretary’s Reports: Treasurer Jeff Stollenwerk reported that September’s beginning balance was $20,302.85, and the ending balance was $24,388.30 with the following expenses: Pro Print (August Newsletter – $30.16); Transfer to Savings (August Donations – $200.00); Katie Thompson (September Newsletter – $200.00); Ken Lundberg (Fish books Family Fun Day – $292.00); Tom and Sue Johnson (Family Fun Day Supplies – $598.04). The Treasurer’s report was approved following a motion by Mike Zicus, second by Jim Waletzko and unanimous approval by voice vote. President Dennis Pratt reported for Financial Secretary Dean Wellman that there were $315.00 in total deposits into the general fund since the last meeting and that the Club had 3 new members. The Financial Secretary’s report was approved following a motion by Walt Swanson, second by Mike Zicus and unanimous approval by voice vote.

Committee Reports

Legislative: Ken Lundberg – Nothing to report.

Habitat:  Dennis Pratt – Collected drone videos of headwater beaver activities to assist APHIS trapper, Jerry Johnson. Checked on Stone Chimney/Wilson Creek culverts brook trout spawning activity, walked lower Beaupre Creek habitat project area (all’s well), checked on status of upper East Fork habitat project (looks great), visited Beaupre spring pond beaver dam site (beaver active once again).

Audit: Jeff Stollenwerk – Nothing at this time.

Education: Den Smet – Lori Danz (Superior Senior High) and Krieg Anderson (Northwestern Middle School) would like to do the egg hatching project. The aquarium should be set up the week before Thanksgiving. (Northwestern has the whole week off before the holiday.) Cary Edwards will have the eggs ready the week after Thanksgiving. This is the 23rd year of us doing this with a break over the Covid years.

Scholarship: Mike Sierszen/Paul Helbach – Suggestion was made that future awardees should accept the Scholarship at a Club meeting. This requirement will be added in the application.

Membership: Jim Waletzko/Ed Chaplinski – Ed and Jim has been distributing paper newsletters to prospective members whenever they can, including when attending other club meetings. A suggestion was made to send stickers to paid existing members and new members. The smaller stickers would cost $325.00 for 500. This was approved following a motion by Mike Zicus and a second by Mike Sierszen with unanimous approval by voice vote.

Social Media: Mike Zicus/Dennis Pratt – One inquiry on the website for producing PDF map. This was briefly discussed; however, it was dismissed.

Other Business

Call for Officer Nominations: All 5 officer positions are up for nomination this year. Call for nominations for President, Vice – President, Treasurer, Financial Secretary and Recording Secretary. Ken Lundberg has decided to step down as Vice President. Ed Chaplinski was nominated for the vacated Vice President position. President Dennis Pratt suggested that we appoint Ken Lundberg to Ed’s vacated board position.  This was approved following a motion by Walt Swanson followed by a second by Jeff Stollenwerk and unanimous approval by voice vote.

Club Store Items: Suggestion to increase lower river poster price. Poster mailing costs ($10.25) and August 2022 printing cost per poster ($21.00). An increase of $10.00 from $35.00 to $45.00 was suggested. This was approved following a motion by Mike Zicus and a second by Mike Sierszen followed by unanimous approval by voice vote. Discussion on having the Wild Rivers TU Berge book bought up questions. Mike Sierszen will discuss logistics with his Wild Rivers contact.

Fly of the Month: Resumes in March. Mike Zicus has compiled a Fly of the Month document covering the 4 years we been featuring flies. It’s 70 pages long now, but could probably be reduced in length if we used some kind of desktop publishing program rather than Word.

Establishment of a Club Email:  Mike Zicus/Walt Swanson – everything appears to be working and this topic is closed.

Nebagamon Creek Culvert Removal: Dennis Pratt – collected final 2023 drone photos and videos on October 15th. Feature article in October newsletter. Dennis will be writing an article for the Lake Superior Steelhead Association 2024 ‘Angler’ magazine. A motion was made to remove this topic from the monthly agenda by Dennis Pratt followed by a second by Walt Swanson and unanimous approval by voice vote. (This item was placed on our board agenda in July of 2016 and at the August meeting that year we decided to keep this item on the agenda until this threat was removed).

Spring Raffle Items: Will feature a Dave Norling 7 ½ 4wt fly rod. Other possible items include Ron Weber family donated knives, brook trout photos, box of Fly of the month flies. Jeff Stollenwerk will obtain a raffle license for 2024.

November, January and February meetings: A suggestion was made to hold these meetings via email.  This was approved following a motion by Mick Killoren, second by Ed Chaplinski and unanimous approval by voice vote.

Upcoming Events: – Posted at https://bruleriversportsmensclub.com/category/club-calendar/.

The business meeting adjourned at 7:22 PM.

Recorded by Walt Swanson