e-Newsletter March 2005

This newsletter was emailed to those people who updated their email account on the TU national website.  These newsletters will be sent from time to time via email and posted here on the website.  If you want to receive it directly by email, please update your TU account on www.tu.org or send an email to Jim Augustyn at augustyn.james@epa.gov.

MARCH MEMBER MEETING

Tuesday, March 8^th, 2005   at Cleveland Athletic Club

You should have or will soon receive a green card reminding you of our March meeting featuring speaker Brian Flechsig.   TU’s mission is conservation and that is what I want us to concentrate on, but we need to have some fun along the way too!   Brian will talk to us about fly fishing for Carp! 

APRIL MEETING 2005

Date TBD

We are working on a weekend trip to Clear Fork, similar to the one we took two years ago.  I don’t have dates, etc. yet but that is coming soon.

 MAY MEETINGS

Monday, May 9^th and Monday, May 16th

We have reserved two dates for fishing at SunnyBrook Trout Club near Castalia , Ohio .  More details to follow, but dates are Monday, May 9^th and Monday, May 16^th.  Sunnybrook owner, Doug Lamb, has made this opportunity possible with an added bonus.  Doug has been a great supporter of our chapter for many years and for these outings he has offered to donate money back to our chapter from funds collected from these days. 

Fishing will be from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm with lunch included.   Flies and other bar refreshments must be paid directly to Sunnybrook by cash or check (NO CREDIT CARDS).

There will be 15 slots available on each day.  I will email out more information when signups are available and also post information on website after our next member meeting on March 8^th. 

COMING OPPORTUNITIES

 Brook Trout

I have made several inquiries lately looking for ways for TU to become more active in local conservation.  The one I am most excited about is getting involved with the Geauga Park District and other organizations to expand and support the Native Brook Trout in Geauga County .   The state’s program for stocking of these wild and native trout has ended.  But there is a Brook Trout Advisory Council made up of several organizations.   I’ve spoken with two of the representatives on that committee and there may be opportunities for TU to help with stream studies for expanded stocking by the Geauga Park District.

For those of you not familiar with these fish, there is no finer example in our area of what TU’s mission is about.  These are WILD and NATIVE fish.  They have been genetically identified as unique to our area – they were not planted here.  These fish are protected (cannot be fished for).   They live right in the heart of a suburban area in Geauga County just west of Chardon.  

Many of you may not realize that TU’s mission concentrates on those two words I mentioned above: “WILD and NATIVE”.  That is why there is no involvement by TU National regarding our area’s steelhead population.  Yes, steelhead are wonderful fish and their habitat deserves our protection.   The steelhead will never be “native”, but who knows, maybe someday they can be “wild”.  That is a tall order that will require years of work.  But, today we have this fine example of amazing trout in our backyard.  This is a project that our TU chapter needs to capitalize on.   We’ve already donated over $29,000 to the preservation of these fish.  I hope we can do more than give money, that we can be part of a grass roots effort (hands on) to continue preserving these fish.

Kids Education

For anyone who enjoys passing knowledge onto our next generation and have fun while doing it need to signup for our kid’s education committee.  Three pound trout on dry flies is a sight to see!

Other Opportunities

We have had some other ideas for social or conservation events.  I’ll share more as these ideas develop into more specifics

PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS  

As many of you may know, this is my first year as chapter president.  It’s a role I am still getting used to.   I have not been involved in fishing very long compared to many of you so I am still learning, a lot.   The main reason I chose to be involved in TU was NOT because I wanted to learn to tie flies better or cast farther.   I did it because I wanted to be involved in an organization that supported conservation.   As you can probably tell, the Brook Trout in Geauga County are a special thing for me.  Maybe it is because I drive past their streams every day here in Munson.  I could have joined FFF or any of the other great fishing organizations here in NE Ohio .  I know many of you are members of those clubs too.  That’s great!  Please realize that this chapter cannot try to compete for members with these other organizations based on teaching you how to tie flies or cast farther.   TU’s mission is conservation.  But, there is a second reason I joined TU – socializing with like-minded people.   So how do we create a balance between these two aspects?  I think you will see this balance grow by several methods: by an increase in hands-on projects like the stream evaluations for the brookies, by increasing the interaction of our membership, and by focusing our fund raising on things that involve our members and are related to specific projects.  This chapter was started by a few people who took on a BIG job.  And they did an amazing job with the resources they had – themselves.   Now that we have more people on the board, it is time to build on their foundation and grow our ACTIONS and INTERACTIONS.   Our board is open to anyone who wants to become involved.  You joined TU national and were assigned to this chapter.   National has almost nothing to do with us except to give us back a few bucks per head each year.   Ohio , are there native and wild trout in Ohio ?   Yes!  There are trout in Ohio , but none of national’s efforts are in our area.  As I mentioned before – our steelhead are neither wild nor native so TU national has a challenge because many of you joined TU due to your interest in the steelhead.  There are now 800 TU members in our area (40 new ones in the last month).  Some of you joined to protect the areas out west, in PA and other areas that you travel to fish and may not be interested in being involved with the local chapter you were assigned.  But, how do we serve the interests of our members who are primarily interested in local steelhead?   The answer is . . . I’m not exactly sure yet, but I do know that the projects I listed earlier should be just the start of our ACTIONS.  With a long term view I think we can contribute towards a healthy watershed that may support reproduction.   Now that’s at least ½ of what TU is about – wild trout – and that should be good enough to stir up our membership, don’t you think?   Let me know your thoughts on anything related to TU.   Should you bring an idea forward, please be prepared to back it up with your willingness to take action to see it happen.