Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited

I know that in the last newsletter I said the Matt Marusiak would be taking over as editor, but Matt has been very busy with his new job, so I will take one more stab at it.

Only one month until the Banquet!!!

It is March already and the banquet is on April 5. Do you have your tickets yet? The deadline is March 31 if you need to make a reservation, call Orwin Srock at 583-7624. The prizes are looking very good: Winston fly rod; Orvis reels, rods and gear; fly tying vices and material; flies; art; and much much more.

Fly Tying Classes

March 5 should be the last class. We had 11 students sign up this year. One of the biggest changes I seen was the number of (very) young people that learned to tie files. Over half the class were under 16. Big thanks to Terry at Jim’s Sports. Without his help we could never be able to keep the prices affordable. Also a big THANKS to Al Gretz, Ken Undercoffer, Les Wilson, Tim Ross, and Eric Wilson for helping teach all the students!

Fly Tying Demo

The Chapter had a fly tying demonstrations and ticket sales at the DuBois Mall on February 15 and 16. Thanks Orwin Srock, Ed London, Les Wilson, and George Kutskel. The chapter will also be a Jim’s at the end of March to tie flies as well.

March Membership Meeting

March’s meeting will be at 7:30 on the 12th at The First Christian Church. Nathan Welker from the Allegheny National Forest will be giving a talk on the WINs program. I met Nathan at the Cold Water Conference and this should be a very interesting program.

Delayed Harvest News

I have received reports that brook trout were caught near Lezzer Lumber in early December. We would like to document the presence of trout in the project so on March 8 at 1PM we along with student from Mansfield University will electro shock the creek. This will be as long as the creek is not too high from runoff. Meeting place will be on the walkway across from Lezzer’s New signs will also be put up that day. The project will be stocked on March 18.

Much progress has also been made on cleaning up the mine drainage at the mall. We have paid to survey the land to place the maelstrom oxidizer and settling pond next to the parking lot. We have not received word on our Embrace a Stream Grant to do habitat work this summer, but we will be working there with or without the grant. On April 16, Dave Kellar from the Fish and Boat Commission will be in town to walk the flood control and draw up plans for our project.

Trout in the Classroom

Trout Magazine just had a great article about this program. I hope everyone know that we have three schools involved now and plan several others. I have had the chance to go to DuBois Area and Jeff tech, and it is something to see how excited and how much the kids are learning through this program. I feel that this program more than any other is what TU is all about. In both schools they are learning about the environment and how it impacts trout. Remember, TU is not a fishing organization, but an environmental organization. I know that’s how I came to TU some 35+ years ago. We still need to go to the Brockway School and give a program, so let me know if anyone wants to tag along.

Yours truly, 
George Kutskel