Susquehanna Chapter of Trout Unlimited

The fly tying class originally scheduled for Tuesday March 25, 2014 has been rescheduled until Tuesday April 1, 2014.  This change was made due to scheduling conflicts and will begin at 7 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of Williamsport.  This will be the final class.

PATU is working on getting the Youth Committee re-energized and would like to hold a meeting on Sunday, April 13^th at 11:00 AM in Pleasant Gap.

Anyone with an interest in helping with the Youth Committee is welcome to attend.  We would really like to aim to have at least a member of each chapter be on this committee to help us come up with new ideas and suggestions going forward.  If anyone has specific ideas they would like to see included on the agenda for this meeting, please send them to me.

Let me know if you or someone else from your chapter will be attending!

Sandy Sausser, Outreach Coordinator
Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited
PO Box 5148
Bellefonte, PA 16823
Office: 814-359-5114

www.patrout.org

Our chapter now has new 50th Anniversary hats.  They are embroidered, and feature a brook trout with the copy “50 years Susquehanna Chapter Trout Unlimited”.  The color is medium tan with dark green visors (both sides, of course) , and have velcro adjustment straps. They will be available at Chapter meetings and events. Price – only $15.00.  We have only 6 dozen, so get yours soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our fly tying class is another success.  We have over 20 individuals (and we are thankful of their interest in dedication) taking the class and they are learning everything from basic tying techniques to tying advanced flies.   The class continues to be free of charge for anyone who wants to take it and this  has been made possible because of the generous donations (fly tying materials and equipment) that we have had over the last year.  Everyone seems to be having a great time and learning something new.  There are lots of stories being told and new friends being made.  There are 5 kids taking the class and it is great to see this because they are the future of not only this organization, but also in speaking up and in protecting the waterways and fish populations.  This class would not be possible without the dedication, commitment and skills of the instructors, and we would like to thank them for giving their time and sharing their craft with everyone:  Burrows Boston, David Craig, Don Daughenbaugh, Jim Latini, Walt Nicholson, Bill O’Connor,  and Joe Radley.

Fish On

Plans have been made for the 50th Anniversary Celebration and dinner.  We will be celebrating on Saturday April 5, 2014 from 6 pm – 10 pm.  Please come to the website and click the tab for 50th Anniversary Dinner to get all the information.

The March issue of the Susquehanna Ripples will be going out in the next few days and all the information is included in that as well.

Please mark you calendar and plan on attending this celebration!!!

The public and local Watershed Associations are invited to attend the monthly meeting of Susquehanna Chapter Trout Unlimited on Wednesday, March 12 at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall at E. Third and Mulberry Streets, Williamsport.  Bob Weber of the PA Fish & Boat Commission and Renae Hodorowicz of the Western PA Conservancy will give a presentation on a public participation program for assisting with the identification of unassessed streams in our area. They will discuss results of the program and how citizens can report information on high quality streams which may be candidates for monitoring and assessment by the PF&BC staff and partnering colleges.  The Unassessed Waters Initiative has been successful in identifying cold water streams which are home to naturally reproducing populations of brook trout and qualify these streams for increased protection from degradation. Over 50% of the streams surveyed so far under the program have been found to support brook trout.  This could be a great opportunity to help with protecting some of your favorite fishing spots.  For more information, visit the PF&BC website at http://fishandboat.com/unassessedwaters.htm.

While preparing the mailing labels for the February issue of the Susquehanna Ripples, I found several mistakes on them: wrong address’s for members, incomplete address’s, and members being listed who were no longer part of our Chapter.  In running some of the reports that are available to Chapter leaders, I was not getting accurate or up to date information either.  I contacted Trout Unlimited about this and exchanged emails with Beverly Smith, Director of Volunteer Operations.  She had indicated they were aware of some problems with their system / website and that these problems occurred when they switched to the new site and member database in September.  We are not sure why the problems have only surfaced now but they assured me they were working on the problems to correct them.

In reviewing our membership list again recently in preparation for the March mailing, I see that the problems haven not yet been corrected.  I have corrected some of the errors that I have found and hope that I have not missed any.  If you have not received a Susquehanna Ripples for February, please let me know and I will get one to you.  The March issue will be mailed out hopefully by the end of this week or the beginning of next week at the latest.

I will continue to be in touch with National TU until these issues have been resolved.  As always, if you are having any problems or not getting any mailings from the Chapter or National TU, please let me know and I will work to find out the reason.                                                                                                                                                               ***Bob Baker

The Brodhead Chapter of TU is having a fly tying contest.  The contest is open to anyone and offers the chance to win some great prizes.  The contest is part of their fundraising efforts to support the restoration and management projects they are currently working on.  Click on the following link to see the official contest announcement Fly Tying Contest two page flyer

Please consider submitting your flies to the Brodhead Chapter to assist them in their efforts.

    

The first fly tying class was held on February 18, 2014 and what a great turnout.  There were 19 students enrolled and  6 instructors.  The students were broken up into groups according to their tying level and experience. For the intermediate and advanced tiers, they will be able to work with their instructor to pick what flies they want to tie and work on more advanced techniques.

     Those who are new to tying or have limited experience, last night was spent reviewing the tools, material and techniques while tying some basic flies and getting comfortable with technique while tying the green weenie and inch worm.

     It is great to see so many people taking this class and many new faces over previous years.    There were a lot of stories told and everyone learned something and many new friends were made.  We hope to meet the needs of each student and will do whatever we can to meet those needs.

We want to thank Burrows Boston, Joe Radley, Bill O’Connor, Jim Latini, Walt Nicholson, and David Craig for sharing their knowledge.  The knowledge and experience these men have is tremendous and we are very fortunate to have them available to help teach this art to others.  More instructors will be available in future class’s but due to scheduling conflicts, some were not able to make it last night.

All the materials and tools for this course have been donated to the Chapter through our fishing equipment recycling program and this makes it possible to offer this class free of charge.  If you have your own tools and materials, you are welcome to bring them and many of the participants did.

We will be posting pictures from the class in the future and hope to see you in future class’s.

 

The Susquehanna Chapter of Trout Unlimited will hold fly tying classes for six weeks on Tuesday evenings starting on February 18 to March 25 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the social hall of the First Presbyterian Church, 102 E. 3rd Street in Williamsport.  There will be no cost for the course, which is open to the public. This year we are planning both introductory and more advanced classes with many of those sessions accommodating particular interests of the participants. Instructors will include experienced tiers from our area.  Youth 10 years and older are welcomed (under 15 yrs should be accompanied by an adult).
Anyone interested may register by sending an email to the Chapter at  susquehannatu@gmail.com, or calling Walt Nicholson at (570) 447-3600.