KAMO – January, 2026 Newsletter – 3 pages
For comments related to this document, contact Mike

President?s message – This is KAMO President, Mark Walters with my monthly report and this is a big one.
Most important is the loss of our dear friend, KAMO Treasurer and Meadow Valley President, Jim Rydmark. Jim was the best of the best and was one of my closest get it done people to work with in KAMO. I visited with Jim the night before he passed away and I am still simply amazed that he is gone.
The Rydmark’s had most donations sent to KAMO address in La Crosse and delivered others to Mike Brown and Randy Hines in New Lisbon last Friday.
Randy Hines of the Coulee Chapter has agreed to work with Tom St Clair of Meadow Valley to fill the duties that Jim did as our Treasurer for the time being.
Meadow Valley will be holding a very important meeting on Wednesday, February 11th at New Lisbon’s “Opera House” at 7.00 pm. Let’s honor Jim and make things happen at this meeting.
I will also be attending the meeting for Baraboo River at Rivers Edge Resort in Wis Dells on February 9th at 7.00 pm. This is another very important meeting, please attend if you can and bring a friend.
State dues are due on March 1st or if you are going to the State meeting on March 28th, they can be delivered at that time.This year?s meeting is the most important one that I can remember in a very long time, please come to it.
The Presidents Award will be given on at the State meeting, please send your nominations asap.
Speaking of the President! As of yesterday, February 1st, I was supposed to be a mentor, not KAMO’s President. With the loss of Jim I could not just walk away, especially since we do not have someone willing to fill the position, “at least to the best of my knowledge”.
In all honesty, I think we all know that KAMO could use a fresh leader and I am more than willing to help that person and possibly be a member of the Board of Directors.
As always, thank you for all that you do for KAMO!

Mark

State Convention – The Schmeeklee Reserve meeting room (Stevens Point) has been reserved for our use on Saturday, March 28th. The meeting begins at 9. Potential topics of that day: State President replacement, Yellow River Chapter dissolution, Facebook progress, summer camp, President?s award, need for someone to periodically talk to our insurance agent, CWD testing – MacKenzie hunt, fund raising for 2026. If you wish to see a copy of the agenda, I can forward it to you electronically.Do you have anything to add?
No KAMO apparel will be brought in unless requested.Brad Allen has offered to bring in the two kayaks, 3 totes, a collection of ice fishing poles, and a box of t-shirts, all from Marshfield?s inventory. If your chapter is interested in these items, please contact Mike, so he can let Brad know to deliver the materials. A chapter wishing to take the kayaks would need to bring a trailer or pickup with an empty bed to the convention to haul the them to your area.

KAMO Directory – Each chapter should verify accuracy of their directory portion. Recently, someone asked me if I knew the last name of one of their chapter?s members. That person wasn?t in the directory, which was the place to find out. If I (Mike) don?t get updates from you, we lose touch of who is in our group.Those directory portions were sent out several weeks ago, and I have only heard from one chapter that they are going to review their portion of the directory at their February meeting.
If you need your chapter?s portion resent, let Mike know.

Tax Exempt Certificate – Our Tax Exempt number was changed to a 15 digit code in 2021. Each chapter should have a copy of the letter we received from the IRS, dated 2021. We recently applied for a copy with a current date. The exempt number will remain the same. I?ll bring some copies of this updatd document to the state convention. Dodge County needs the new copy sooner and will get it sent in the mail when it comes in.

StateTreasurer – As mentioned by Mark, on Friday, January 30th, Randy Hines and Mike Brown traveled to New Lisbon to meet Sherry Rydmark to get all the treasury records. They also met with an associate at
Royal Bank in New Lisbon, the institution that holds our state funds, to redo the account information. Afterwards, Randy found it easy to create a 2025 and 2026 spreadsheet using the well organized records Jim had kept.

What can you do to help?
We need to know who the treasurer for each chapter is (directory)
We need your chapter?s financial records for 2025. These can be sent to kamocoulee@gmail.com

Mentor Recruitment – One of the most effective strategies for getting new mentors/ volunteers is to have a spring campfire meeting. Mentors would invite friends and/ or acquaintances to this informal informational meeting in which food and drink can be served while discussing what KAMO does, how rewarding it is, and that there is a need for some new people.
Coulee did this in 2024 and it did attract new people. It is time to do it again. In 2024, a mentor, Tim Collins, had a campsite in a nearby campground and came up with the idea for an informational meeting.
A surprise element to that meeting was a woman who came as a representative from a scout troop, but coincidentally also had her two sons in KAMO in past years and was gushing with praise about the experience.

Tomah Warrens Sportsman’s Alliance Fishing Derby – Saturday, February 14th, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. Lake Tomah – Winnebago Park area.This is the lake that yielded the nice northerns last year at KAMO?s event.. The perch fishing has been good there at times this winter.

Chapter Reports
Baraboo – This chapter did not meet in January, but will meet in February and has some activities in mind.

Coulee – The Coulee chapter met on the evening of Monday, January 5th, at Tom Sawyers on French Island, largely to discuss a January 17th fishing event.
The week of the fishing event featured two days at 46 with rain and one at 36 degrees. This made some parents question the ice safety. Cold and a little snow returned late in the week and the ice was in great shape.
We had great volunteer support – about 17 mentors and helpers, and about 20 participants. Sloppy Joes and hot chocolate were served. Fishing was slow. Several kids frolicked in the snow.
We plan to meet at the Brice Prairie Conservation cabin on February 23rd for some members to get an introduction to the facility and grounds where we hope to stage some future events.

Dodge – DCC KAMO. held its monthly meeting Tuesday January 27th at Tower Lanes in Beaver Dam. The hidden key challenge is still ongoing and clues are posted on our Facebook page. We also participated in Cabinfever fest, Sledding,ice skating, ice fishing and Dutch oven cooking by the boy scouts.were just some of the things families got to enjoy. . Some KAMO kids helped out at Cabinfever fest bingo in Juneau,WI Hosted by The Dodgeland FFA and 4H. . Fun was had by all. We have an ice fishing day planned for February 21st and Hunter’s safety classes coming up as well. Snowshoeing and a bonfire at Marsh Haven on the 14th will also be KAMO sponsored. Check out our Facebook page for updates on our events.

Get a kid outside and see what happens.
Jim B

Lake Wisconsin – Lake Wisconsin reported in to say that they had an inactive January.

Meadow Valley ? This chapter has a meeting planned for February 11th.

Northwoods – Hello from the Northwoods!
We are headed into a busy month for us, Our winter fishing outing is on Feb 14 along with the 101 bar derby. All proceeds this year are going to KAMO which is awesome, lots of folks are donating to the raffle. We are also raffling an Eskimo 40 volt auger that day. The 7th annual Uphill truck drags are on the 28th. Several thousand people come to this event. We sell the 50/50 tickets for a $500 donation back and the last couple years they gave us $750 due to the success of our efforts. We are looking to schedule another event with the Propbuster club in June vs September this year. If any other chapters are interested in sponsor plaques please let me know, I can bring them to the state meeting.

Keep doing good things,

Johnny Johnson from Florence, Wi.