$60,000 boat awarded to Hoodsport angler following Northwest Salmon Derby Series finale

Randy Aden, the luckiest angler in Hoodsport, Wash. is walking away with keys to a new 22-foot River Hawk fishing boat valued at nearly $60,000 after his name was randomly drawn from more than 7,000 anglers following the conclusion of the 2011 Northwest Salmon Derby Series at the Everett Coho Salmon Derby last Sunday.

The Derby Series, produced by the Northwest Marine Trade Association (NMTA), partners with existing fishing tournaments to help promote their events to a larger audience and increase participation at each event. The grand prize giveaway is the hook for many fishermen and women. It began in 2004, partnering with six tournaments that year and has grown to include 16 events in 2011. In every year since then, the Derby Series has awarded fishing boat packages in raffle drawings among all of the anglers registered in any of the participating derbies. In its eight-year existence, the Northwest Salmon Derby Series has awarded 10 boat packages.

Aden participated in the Hood Canal Salmon Derby in August.

“This job, of giving away big time fishing boat packages is the ultimate Santa Claus job,” said Tony Floor, NMTA’s Director of Fishing Affairs and lead organizer of the Derby Series. “Randy Aden, and his wife Kathy are perfect winners as they have been fishing the derbies in friends’ boats. The Derby Series, through this grand prize boat package is doing exactly what it was intended to do, getting people excited about going boating and salmon fishing in the Pacific Northwest.”

The giveaway boat is a 22-foot aluminum fishing machine, built by River Hawk in Medford, Ore. It is powered by a 225 horse 4-stroke Suzuki motor resting on a Karavan galvanized tandem axel trailer. It is outfitted with radar, GPS/depth sounder and vhf, courtesy of Lowrance, along with Scotty electric downriggers and a Dual stereo system.

To help draw more anglers to the derbies, each entrant receives one raffle ticket per derby for the grand prize drawing held in Everett.

Three derby events occur later in 2011, beginning with the four-day Einar Nielsen-Becky Barr Fishing Classic in Roche Harbor beginning on September 29. Any anglers participating in the three remaining 2011 Derby Series events will be entered to win the 2012 fishing boat package.

Last year, Gary Curtis of Edmonds was named the winner of the 2010 Derby Series boat prize in front of almost 2,000 anglers in Everett.

The Northwest Salmon Derby Series is presented by Allstate Boat Insurance and Northwest GMC dealers. For more information about the Derby Series, visit www.NorthwestSalmonDerbySeries.com.

Governor Gregoire calls for a special session

Governor Gregoire announced last week that she will call the legislature into special session on November 28, after the next revenue forecast in mid-November, to deal with the state’s looming budget problems.

At an appearance at the annual meeting of the Association of Washington Busines, Governor Gregoire told the audience she has been told by the state’s chief economist and revenue forecaster to expect a further reduction in tax revenues in the mid-November forecast. If so, the budget hole for the state’s $32.0 billion budget could reach $2.0 billion.

This link will take you to a Seattle Times story on the special session:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016279434_session22m.html

(If they are looking for a way to capture more sales tax, I would humbly suggest that they look at expanding the cruising permit to out-0f-state entity-owned vessels. The uptick this would bring is staggering:

241 cruising permits were issued in 2010. All were out-of-state residents who owned their boats individually. The assumption for the following numbers is that 241 cruising permits would be issued to out-of-state entity-owned boats.

$17 M: That’s the amount that these entity-owned boats from out-of-state would spend

29.8 M: That’s the amount of the direct ($17 M), indirect ($4.5 M) and induced ($8.2 M) that would be generated w this expansion.

313: That’s the total employment impact of changing this legislation. That’s $12 M in total labor income impact.)

George Harris is named to Governor Gregoire’s committee on tourism

NMTA’s President/CEO was tapped by Governor Gregoire’s office this week to serve on an advisory committee to advocate for tourism in the western states. Governor Gregoire, who is the chair of the Western Governors Association for this year, has launched the Get Out West! initiative to promote recreational opportunities, especially as they relate to youth and rural communities. George is the only member of this 30-person committee that has a recreational boating focus.

The goals of this shared priority are three-fold:
-Highlight the importance of the recreational and tourism sectors of the Western economy

-Support efforts to boost recreation, conservation, healthy communities and tourism in the Western states by partnering with and putting a spotlight on existing successful efforts

-Improve public policies that facilitate tourism, recreation and conservation in the West.

Golf Tournament Re-cap

Yesterday was NMTA's 42nd Annual Golf Tournament and we were pleased this year to have Capital Benefit Services as our presenting sponsor. Capital Benefit Services works with us to provide affordable health insurance to our members.

The weather was great, the course at Mill Creek was in tremendous shape and the overall amount raised to support our political action committee was over $10,000. Thank you to our hole sponsors, our golfers and presenting sponsor.

See you at next year's event.

NMTA Grow Boating launches promotion at University of Washington

NMTA Grow Boating is launching a new promotion this fall at the University of Washington aimed at attracting more boaters to attend Husky football games via boat.

There are only two college venues in America where fans can attend by boat – the University of Washington, and the University of Tennessee. In 1962, a group of Tennessee fans boating to games at Neyland Stadium created the Tennessee Volunteer Navy to celebrate the on-water tailgating experience of attending games by boat. For decades, Washington Husky fans have done the same but without a formal club, name or identity. Beginning this fall, fans attending games by boat at Husky Stadium will be called the Washington Captains Club.

When fans enter the stadium from the Waterfront Activities Center from their boats, they will be greeted by NMTA staff and volunteers promoting the new Washington Captains Club brand. After the game, as fans return to their boats, they will be given a flag to hang on their boats displaying the Washington Captains Club logo.

“Husky fans are a passionate bunch. And boaters are a passionate bunch,” said John Thorburn, NMTA’s vice president of communications and marketing. “We’re excited to step in this fall to help build a brand that fans and boaters can rally behind.”

The goal of NMTA’s involvement in creating the Washington Captains Club is to build excitement and awareness about attending games by boat, and ultimately grow participation from more fans and boaters. In addition to promoting going to games at Husky Stadium by boat, Captains Club members will be invited to other Club events throughout the year, earn boating discounts around the region, and receive a complimentary pass to the 2012 Seattle Boat Show. The flags and other materials distributed during the campaign will feature the tagline, “Powered by the Seattle Boat Show.”

“The Seattle Boat Show is a well-respected, year-round brand for many boaters in the region,” said Thorburn. “It goes well beyond the 10 days of the January show, and is the brand we use to promote the fun lifestyle of boating every day of the year. We are excited to be associated with this longtime tradition of boating to Husky Stadium.”

The Washington Captains Club will have a formal display at four games at Husky Stadium this fall, plus the Apple Cup game at CenturyLink Field in November. Full details on the club are online at www.WashingtonCaptainsClub.com and www.Facebook.com/WashingtonCaptainsClub.

This article appeared in the September edition of the NMTA newsletter - Waterlife. Click here to view the full newsletter.