OPTU Board Meeting
6/29/09
El Charro Restaurant
Swan and Speedway

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by President Clay Hernandez.

Attending
Whitey Kuebler
Clay Hernandez
Steve Reiter
Roger McKee
Joe Fagan w/ Nurse Mary
Stan Vanagunas
Mike Mehrer

I- OPTU Work Week (7-11 thru 7-19-09)
1- Board Members are requested to participate and are asked to advise Mike Mehrer by email <Mehrog2 @gainbroadband.com> dates of attendance by 7-6-09.
Mike will forward the list to the board on 7/7/09. The following is the list of board
member commitments known (?) at this date
- Joe Fagan: 7-10 thru 7-20
- Jeff Collins: 7-11 thru 7-20?
- John Singley: 7-16 thru 7-20
- Clay Hernandez: 7-14 thru 7-20
- Roger McKee: 7-11 thru 7-19?
- Stan Vanagunas: TBD

2- Tasks

Participants will capture Crayfish, Crawdads and Mudbugs, after a leisurely breakfast, from approximately 8:00AM until 1:00PM. Some will record data from stream
temperature monitors. The rest of the day will be free.

3- Equipment and bait

Traps, nets and bait will be provided by Joe Fagan and Clay Hernandez. Members who have nets are asked to bring them. Square nets are best for critter capture. Since raw chicken parts are the preferred bait, anyone bringing chicken to cook for meals is asked to contribute to the bait pot. Whitey and Joe will bring buckets for crawdad collection. All participants are invited to bring 5 gal buckets.

4- Location:

Jeff and Clay will coordinate on the delivery of the Porta Potties. (The PPs may not arrive until Sunday) Joe will do his best to identify a group camping location with OPTU
and AZF&G signage when he arrives on the 10th.

5-Meals:

OPTU will provide lunch fix’ins everyday. Any member/participant who would like to host a dinner is asked to advise Mike by email. Whitey noted that Springerville is close by which allows presumptive dinner hosts to drop by the town to pick-up fried chicken and/
or other delicacies thereby bypassing the need to cook-out. Jeff Collins has volunteered to do a crayfish/pasta meal Sunday night. Joe Fagan has NOT volunteered to eat a live mudbug this year to entertain the troops because he said they taste bad. The OPTU Grill will be available for OPTU participants. Breakfasts and dinners and beverages not otherwise provided will be the responsibility of individual participants.

II- The Halloween Day Fishing Party
This is a "First Annual" event. Ed Engle, well known author, speaker and Colorado Fishing Guide will be the be our guest. He will provide a small-fly tying demo or a one hour demo of fly fishing casts and at 1:00PM will make a presentation. Among possible topics are

-Fly Fishing Western Tailwaters
-Nymphing: The Art Science and Mythology of Catching Trout Under the Water Surface.
-A Fly Fisher’s Life
-Catching Difficult Trout
-Fishing Rocky Mountain Small Streams

Location: Scott Koktavy Inc world headquarters
Time: 10:00AM to 4:30PM
Activities: (tentative)
Casting demo and instruction
Knots: demo and instruction
Fly Tying: demo and instruction
Spin fishing for kids
Rod Building: demo and instruction
Fish identification

Food:
OPTU will provide hot dogs, hamburgers, and soft drinks.

Planning and Coordination:
The organizing committee for the event will be Mike Mehrer, Whitey Kuebler, Roger
McKee and Stan Vanagunas.

III- Old Business
John Singley sent a report that he is working on the new OPTU shirts. One new possiblility is an insect resistant fabric.

IV- New Business
-Whitey reported that he has been contacted by the owner of several bass stocked ponds in the St. David area who is interested in making them available to the Healing waters project. The owner will want a release form for the purpose. Clay, our legal eagle will look into this.
-Joe reported that the AZF&G Cluff Ranch location, with ponds, cabins and camping facilities would be available for OPTU events. One possibility would be the 2010 family outing.

With no other business to conduct Clay Hernandez adjourned the meeting at 7:10PM
Respectfully submitted by Mike Mehrer, Secretary