For our February general meeting Chester Allen will be speaking.

Chester Allen was the fishing and outdoors columnist for The Olympian newspaper from 2002 through January 4, 2010. He spent more than 14 years at The Olympian, and much of that time involved rushing off to Puget Sound beaches to fish for sea-run cutthroat trout. What started as a way to while away the time between trips to the Yakima or Deschutes rivers became a full-blown, happy addiction.

Chester started fly angling at the age of 8, which is when his mother said: “Chester, you can’t fish every day.” Chester has spent the past 42 years proving that he can indeed fish more than most people. Chester’s first book, “Fly Fishing for Sea-Run Cutthroat” was published by Stackpole in January. The book, like his columns, isn’t just about fishing, but it’s mostly about fishing.

Chester, a graduate of the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, now splits his time between Portland, OR and Hood River, OR, but he still manages to pester Puget Sound sea-run cutts. Chester’s day job — the one that supports his fishing, surfing and traveling addictions — is as executive editor of Sports Car Market and American Car Collector, which cover the nutso world of buying, selling and collecting old, valuable cars. Chester drives a Subaru Outback.

Chester also has a blog at www.watermagic.typepad.com