You are reminded that the September meeting of the Susquehanna Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be held Wednesday September 9 from 2pm until dark at the Greenwood Hunting Lodge.  After sending out the announcement in the September issue of the Susquehanna Ripples and posting on the website, we learned that John Arway, Executive Director, and Eric Hussar, District 5 Commissioner of the Pa. Fish & Boat Commission, will be attending the picnic.  This will be a great opportunity for us to meet with them and hear about coming activities

The Greenwood Hunting Lodge property contains two lakes and holds a variety of fish  Fishing will be all-tackle.  A gas grill will be available for cooking, and the Chapter will have hot dogs, rolls, and drinks.  Bring your own meat if you wish, and a dish to share if you can.

Our program will be a presentation from John Arway and Eric Hussar and then we will discuss how we might market the large inventory of fly tying materials which we now have.  You are welcome to arrive anytime after 2 P.M.  We will adjourn at dark. Plan to eat about 6 P.M.

    Directions to Greenwood Hunting Club are as follows:  Take Rt. 14 north.  1 mile north of Marsh Hill Meat Market, turn left on Frozen Run Road (dirt road) – proceed 4 miles up to the Greenwood Hunting Lodge.  We hope to see you all there.

A lone fisherman on Pine Creek on this Labor Day.  I watched him for a little while and did not see him catch anything but it was a great day to be on the water.  A little further down the stream was another fly fisherman trying his luck near the Slate Run Bridge.

We hope to see you at our September meeting.

click the picture to enlarge.

The following information has been taken from the PA Council of Trout Unlimited Website

A new stocked trout program will be introduced by PFBC in 2016 in which approximately 10 percent of the larger 2- to 3-year-old-trout in the PFBC hatchery system that are stocked each year will be allocated to eight waters currently managed under Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only regulations. These fish, which will measure from 14” to more than 20” in length, will be stocked at a rate of up to 250 trout per mile, which is comparable to the numbers of fish of this size in Pennsylvania’s best wild trout waters. By contrast, the current stocking rate for 2- to 3-year-old-trout statewide in the catchable trout program is about 5-10 per mile.

The eight streams yet to be named will be distributed broadly across the state so that at least one water is located within a reasonable distance of all of Pennsylvania’s anglers.

Currently this program is unnamed, and PFBC is seeking the public’s help in naming the program. There are a number of names that have been considered by staff, but you may have other better ideas. The names proposed thus far are: Premium Stocked Trout, Trophy Stocked Trout, Lunker Stocked Trout and Blue Ribbon Trout. You can vote for one of these titles or write in your own nomination at  Big Trout Program.

PFBC staff will review all of the proposals and a name will be selected prior to the next  Commission meeting on September 28 and 29, 2015. Both the program name and the names of the selected waters will be released at the September meeting.

     The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission continues to add new streams to both the Wild Trout Stream list and the Class A Wild Trout Stream list. In July, an additional 28 streams were added to the Class A list and 54 streams to the Wild Trout Stream list. TU is very encouraged by this year’s listing of streams and the continued proposals for additional listings from the 600 streams that are now awaiting designation. At the upcoming September meeting, the Commissioners will consider 102 streams for Wild Trout Stream designation and  40 stream sections for Class A Wild Trout designation.

     The comments that have made in the past six months have made a difference in getting protections for these streams. Please remember that this comment period is unique to this new list of streams; the comments received earlier do not pertain to the September list. If you have commented in the past — thank you! — but you will need to comment during this current time period for the September meeting. Please take a moment before August 17 to submit comments in support of the listings.

      You may comment on the Class A streams with the form found here. Comments for the Wild Trout Streams may be made through the form found  here. Letters may also be sent to John Arway, Executive Director, Fish and Boat Commission, P. O. Box 67000, Harrisburg, PA 17106-7000

     Protecting Pennsylvania’s trout streams with appropriate biological designations helps to ensure that a stream’s water quality will be maintained to support fishing opportunities for today’s anglers and for future generations. ·    Please urge the PFBC to continue to move streams from the list of “recently surveyed” to formal wild trout stream listing at each PFBC meeting.   Please consider sharing this information with your local watershed partners and fellow sportsmen clubs, and urging them to write letters/submit comments in support of the listings. .

The summer is half over but there is a lot of time left to enjoy our favorite outdoor events.  Many members have gone on great fishing vacations out west while others continue to enjoy fishing in North Central Pennsylvania.  Many opportunities remain and because of the rain we have had, many of the streams are higher than normal creating pockets of cool water for the trout.

Others are enjoying fishing for bluegills, panfish, and bass among other species.  No matter what kind of fishing you do and enjoy, keep doing it.  We are fortunate to have great year round fishing in our area and the fish always present a challenge to us.  It is also a great time to be outdoors and enjoying the beautiful weather (although it has been hot).

Please plan on attending the September meeting as we are planning a family picnic and fishing.  We are still working out details but we have been offered an area to use that has picnic facilities and a great pond.  This event is for the entire family and we hope that you will be able to come out and enjoy this great activity.  We will have people on hand to help out with fishing skills and casting instruction if needed and this would be a great place to try out those newly tied flies from the fly tying class’s if you haven’t already tried them. We will be giving more information on this in the very near future.

Project Healing Waters continues with great success.  Everyone involved is having a great time and tying many neat, and interesting flies.  Some of the participants are adding their own unique touches to the flies and trying new things.  There has been no set schedule of flies to tie and has been at the request of the participant or group consensus.  Everything from the green weenie, adams, bead head hairs nymph, many woolly buggers, and foam poppers have been tied so far..  This program has exceeded our expectations and we want to thank everyone who has, or is, taking the class and all of the instructors. Everyone involved has come away friends and with a new appreciation of this craft as well as hearing, and sharing, in great fishing stories.

Work continues on sorting the newly donated items from Ken Beane (E. Hille).  Words can not describe the amount and variety of material that Ken donated.   We are very appreciative of Ken and all of the individuals who have donated items to the Chapter.    We have been having discussions on how to market these items that would benefit the Chapter best and are hopeful there will be an Outdoor Expo in 2016.  There remains to be a great deal of work to do in sorting and inventorying everything that we have and if you can help, please call Dave Craig at 570-971-4744. We would all welcome and appreciate any help or ideas that you have.

Finally, now that fishing has been underway for a few months now, you may have found some broken items (rods, reels, lures, etc).  Please keep the Chapter in mind if you do have broken items..  We do not want you to throw these items away and would like them donated to the Chapter.  We hope to build an inventory of used parts, etc to be able to fix anything that we may find broken or offer these items to others to fix their broken gear. As an example, rods can be stripped and the guides kept as spares or the rods can be repurposed into ice fishing rods and jigging sticks.  There are many creative ways to use broken or damaged items; rod sections can be matched with others to make a complete rod.  You can contact Bob Baker at 570-337-1279 for more information.

In closing, thanks to everyone who has helped our Chapter.  Every little bit of help we get, no matter if a few minutes, to a few hours, or on a regular basis, helps.  This is your Chapter and we want it to be the best Chapter and the Chapter that gives you what you want.  We hope you continue to have a safe and enjoyable summer and please send us your pictures and stories to share.  You do have to submit your name but will keep your name anonymous when being published if you wish.

It is with great sadness that we have to report that a good friend and long time TU member, Gary McWilliams has passed away. Gary was on a fly fishing trip in New York when he was stricken.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Gary’s wife Clare, and to the rest of his family and to all his friends.  Gary’s obituary can be viewed under the In Memoriam tab of our website.

A fun Day for the kids and a great way to introduce a child to the great sport of fishing. After a look at the Lycoming Creek Anglers Club facebook page, they state that they have enough prizes for the derby.  Please visit their page and come out to the Sheshequin Campgrounds this coming Saturday and support them.  They are always in need of help and support for this derby and with their trout nursery.

      Today is the start of a 3 day weekend for many, the unofficial start of summer, a weekend of picnics, vacations, extended days off school, and the great Indianapolis 500.