The last several years have not been smooth ones for the Central Illinois Muskie Hunters (CIMH) - highlighted in 2003 by dire financial straits and in 2004 by decreasing participation in our meetings. Thanks to your strong support of the Fundraising Banquet in March of 2004 our financial woes for the year were alleviated. The chapter entered into the Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail (IMTT) schedule in 2004 sponsoring two events that provided us with welcome financial support for our activities.

The chapter’s meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month excepting July, August, and December at the VFW post in Bloomington. Bloomington seems to be a central point of a geographically diverse membership. Meetings frequently highlighted speakers from outside the area. They came at a price and the financial burden became excessive. Additionally, at one meeting we scheduled a nationally recognized speaker, at considerable expense, and only six members attended. As a result, we began turning internally for programs and, although it has been extremely informative for those attending, participation has continued to decline.

Several years ago the Executive Committee circulated a questionnaire to the membership eliciting their thoughts on how to improve the meetings and attendance. The number of responses was disappointing both in numbers and content. It does not seem that another questionnaire would yield more fruitful results.

We have increased the number of activities that take place outside of regular meeting times. This includes more active participation in the Illinois Muskie Tournament Trail (IMTT) and participation in a Challunge from the Lake Shelbyville Muskie Club that we won on their home lake. These are not only opportunities for learning more about muskie fishing, but also are times of considerable camaraderie. The Illinois Muskie Alliance (IMA) has awarded a trophy for the largest muskie release in Illinois each year for the past three years – to date it has been in the exclusive possession of the CIMH. It appears as though it will remain with us for another year.

Our meeting place, speakers, activities etc. apparently are not the cause of declining participation, but a fundamental problem does exist. Any reading of the financial pages in newspapers or newsmagazines inevitably contain articles on how one or another company is renewing itself in order to stay viable. There are many studies on the business cycle of a company from start up, to strong growth phase, to steady state phase, and to decline. Companies typically act at the steady state phase to prevent decline by making acquisitions, merging, selling part of their business, or expanding into new markets.

The Central Illinois Muskie Hunters is in the late steady state phase of the business cycle and we need to decide what to do about it. We are in this position because we have a limited market (members) and two major goals: supporting the fishery and educating our members.

Our support of the fishery has been growing. We have supported the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) budget, programs, staff, particularly in fisheries, and participated in the formation of Regulations. Our support was behind the scenes and in a non-lobbying fashion. We have financially supported fisheries through our participation in the Illinois Muskie Alliance (IMA) The IMA has supported the purchase of nets, aeration equipment, netting for rearing ponds, surveys etc. This year, CIMH continues to support Project Green Gene (and was a major influence in getting the project initiated); provided major support for the erection of a fish barrier in the Evergreen Lake spillway; and will provide matching support for a DNR revegetation experiment in Evergreen Lake. DNR has provided opportunities for our members to participate in some of their activities such as fin clipping and muskie rescues.

We have four tools for communicating with members and others. The News & Notes column in Muskie is primarily for communicating with members of other Muskies, Inc., chapters. The Newsletter is the prime method of communicating our chapter members. It is difficult to get members to submit material and this has sometimes affected timeliness. Our web site (www.tcimh.org) contains useful information, but we have had difficulties in keeping it current. In the case of both the web site and the Newsletter we will continue to address questions of content and timeliness. In addition to these communication tools, we would like to develop as complete a list of member e-mail addresses as possible so that near real-time communication would be possible.

One of the major reasons for the existence of CIMH is to educate our members and it appears we may have done too thorough a job. We lose members in two ways, those that leave Muskies, Inc., and those who maintain their membership, but no longer participate in chapter affairs. Both kinds of losses are for the usual reasons: moving; new jobs and increased working pressure; loss of interest; changing family demands; etc. We may have lost others because they have learned enough that they believe that they can function independently.

This long preamble was necessary to frame the important questions i.e., what do we do now to break out of the steady state? How do we restore vitality to the chapter? Like successful businesses we must reinvent ourselves. We can only tinker with the edges of our enterprise because the core commitments of supporting the fishery and education remain constant. What we can and must do is recruit new members so that the “educational cycle” begins anew. We need to identify individuals that are keen to learn for they will bring renewed vitality to the organization. In turn, this will lead to the ongoing development of new leadership that is so necessary for any group. With this in mind, the Executive Committee will be examining ways to effectively recruit new members. Any thoughts on this or any other subject would be most welcome.

Lorin Nevling, President