Some Fishing Club History

HISTORY

Bear Canyon Senior Center Fishing Club YEAR 2020

At the end of year 2019, the club had 31 members on the roster.

Two officers conducted the meetings; President/Vice president (Ken Nau) and Secretary/Treasurer (Steve Miller). 

Previous history of the club was not well documented. The club met every other week on Mondays and scheduled fishing trips on the following Tuesdays. 

Twice a year, spring and fall, the club would schedule overnight fishing trips to Eagle Nest and stay at the Econolodge. Fishing would occur at Eagle Nest Lake, the Gravel Pit Pond, and on the way home would stop at Red River Pond, Fern Lake, and Eagle Rock Lake.

January would be a luncheon month.

During the summer, June or July, the club would have a picnic. Club members would contribute money toward the purchase of food.

New leadership officers were elected in December 2019 effective January 2020.

President (Bernie Urbassik), Vice President (Dennis Milligan), Secretary/Treasurer (Mildred Griffee).

New By-Laws were drafted and approved by the members.

Fishing Club ad was place in the BCSC Newsletter to solicit new members.

To start the year, meetings were held every other Mondays with fishing trip on following Tuesdays.

March:  Disaster struck the nation – Covid-19 pandemic occurred.

Mayor Tim Keller closed all senior centers. 

We continued to hold club meeting outside in the park adjacent to BCSC. We didn’t have access to a van. However, we had some fishing activity for the balance of the year with carpooling.

In October 2020, we went on an overnight fishing trip to Ruidoso. It was a successful fishing trip. Over 80 fish were caught.

History 

Bear Canyon Senior Center Fishing Club Year 2021

April 2021, we had our first meeting at BCSC since the closure.

Officers elected in 2020 (Bernie, Dennis, Mildred) remained in office.

We started to have meetings every Monday with fishing trips scheduled every Tuesday. On some occasions, we would have access to the van on Thursdays for fishing since it was available because other functions of the center were not up and running like we were.

Membership was picking up during the year 2021.

We started scheduling four overnight fishing trips with three-night fishing trips to Las Vegas and Ruidoso. These fishing trips were very successful with attendance and number of fish caught.

Because of the pandemic, we were able to get good rates for lodging on our overnight fishing trips.

We placed fishing club ads in the BCSC Monthly Newsletter. At the end of the year, we had 30 members in the club.

History

Bear Canyon Senior Center Fishing Club Year 2022

Beginning 2022, the officers elected in 2020 (Bernie, Dennis, Mildred) remained in office.

At the start of the year, the fishing club implemented the Biggest Trout caught Trophy.

Overnight fishing trips were scheduled for two nights since the tree nights were too much for some people. Again, we scheduled four overnight fishing trips during the year.

The biggest Trout caught trophy went to Steve Nowaczek this year. He caught a 20” Rainbow Trout at Hopewell Lake.

Occasionally during the year, we placed our fishing club ad in the monthly Bear Canyon Senior Center Newsletter. This had much success, by the end of the year we had 31 members.

History

Bear Canyon Senior Center Fishing Club Year 2023

Beginning 2023, The officers elected in 2020 (Bernie, Dennis, Mildred) remained in office. Since the by-laws require a maximum three-year term, approval by the membership was obtained to keep these people in office for another year. This approval was granted since all the Senior Centers were closed for one year due to the Covid pandemic.

Four overnight fishing trips were again scheduled this year. One of the overnight trips is to Silver City which is over a five-hour drive. This trip was approved by the membership for three nights due to the distance. The other three trips remain at two nights each.

On February 13, Dennis Milligan announced his resignation from the fishing club. No explanation was given other than personal reasons. Bernie Urbassik assumed the duties of the Vice President until the beginning of April when Debra Cox was elected to the VP position.

So far this year, the biggest trout caught is 19.5” Rainbow caught by Harold Ortiz at Eagle Nest Lake.

Election of club officers was held in December. The new officers, beginning January 1, 2024 are as follow:

President:  Steve McDonald

Vice President:  Debra Cox

Sectary/Treasurer: Jim Varney 

Membership in the club continued to grow. By the end of the year we had 38 members including Susan Miller who joined late in the year and was not listed in the club roster.

This year, the largest Trout Caught Trophy goes to Harold Ortiz.