Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited

Samantha is one of our youth members. Read about her experience in the Wildlife Leadership Academy below:

https://wildlifeleadershipacademy.org/20k-in-20-days-samanthas-transformative-experience/

Great job Samantha!

In celebration of Wildlife Leadership Academy’s 20th Anniversary, they are running a $20K in 20 Days scholarship campaign, an opportunity to kickstart fundraising for the 2026 field school season. Please consider to contribute to help create more great youth leaders like Samantha!

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Fly Tying Classes in Punxsutawney

An introductory series of fly tying classes will be held in Punxsutawney at 123 East Mahoning Street.  Classes will be held each Monday beginning February 9 and ending on March 9, 2026.  There will be five classes.  Classes begin at 6 PM and end at 7:30 PM.  Students will learn the basics of fly tying.  Cost for all 5 classes is $25 to cover materials and hooks via check made payable to AMCTU at the first class, Feb. 9.  The classes are open to adults and young people.  Minimum age is 12 years old and a parent must accompany students under 18 years of age.  Fly tying hooks and materials will be provided.  However, students must provide their own fly tying vice and tools.  If you have questions or want to register for the class, text or call Rich Ferrara 814-952-4769 or Dave London 814-590-2273.  You must register for the class in advance.  Class size is limited to 10 students and at least 5 students are required to offer the class.

Fly Tying Round Tables

AMCTU will hold fly tying roundtables every Thursday night beginning January 8 through March 26.  Sessions are held at the Christ The King Social Hall, 2 Cottage Lane, DuBois, PA 15801 from 6 to 8 PM. The sessions are open to anyone who enjoys tying flys and talking fishing.  All ability levels are welcome. A parent must accompany students under 18 years of age  There is no cost to attend.  Bring your vice, tools and materials and join us for fly tying.

Membership Meetings and Programs

AMCTU will hold three membership meetings this Spring.  Membership meetings include a program related to TU or the outdoors.  Meetings begin at 7 PM and are held on fly tying round table Thursday nights.

January 15th Meet Clearfield County WCO Zach Christi

February 19th Mike Komara Program on Spring Fishing

March 19th Eric Null from PA State TU.  

Annual Fundraising Banquet

AMTU will celebrate 60 years as a Trout Unlimited Chapter!  Come join us celebrate at our annual banquet on Saturday, April 11, 2026 at 5:30 PM.  The banquet will be held at the DuBois VFW Club, 114 Fuller St., DuBois, PA 15801.  
Anyone interested in being a sponsor or attending the banquet can visit amctu.org for details.

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We received the following letter from a youth member who has attended several youth camps describing her experience. Note that the chapter will cover the cost of attendance for any youth selected in our area (you don’t need to be a member of the chapter) to attend the Rivers Conservation Flyfishing Camp or the Wildlife Leadership Brookies camp. See the links below for the information on how to apply to a youth camp.

Hi, My name is Samantha.

I’ve been a member with Trout Unlimited for about 3 years now. During that time, I’ve helped with different projects such as trash clean up, conservation project, and helped out with the women’s fly-fishing event, which I enjoyed all as it has helped me learn so much more about my passion for outdoors.

I was selected last winter to attend the Rivers Conservation and Fly-Fishing Camp at Messiah College sponsored by Trout Unlimited. There I learned more about fly fishing, fly tying and the importance of habitat and cold clean water.

I also attended Field Schools at the Wildlife Leadership Academy. They have many different schools. Last year I attended Brookies school where we studied macro invertebrates, did a habitat project on the stream at the camp, studied fish pathology, and photographed nature and wrote about what we saw. I enjoyed the time here so much I worked hard to become a student mentor at Bass school this year. I also applied to and was accepted to the Turkey camp as a student. There I learned a lot about wild turkey and how they were brought back from being a rare occurrence to being a regular sight in our forest. I even won for best wildlife photo. I also had the opportunity to attend two of the Wildlife Leadership Academies special school weekends: Forest stewardship and Steppingstones, an introduction to fly fishing and fly tying. I appreciate all the Allegheny Mountain Chapter financial support and letting me know these opportunities exist and make these events all possible.

Some of the highlights of what I have learned and goals

(1) How stocked trout shouldn’t be stocked in streams with wild trout. We need to come up with as many ideas as we all can to stop them from stocking the class A streams. The sooner the better as the wild trout will not survive if they continue to stock Class a streams. So, I’m trying to get the word out to save the streams.

(2) I’ve also learned what it takes to protect the environment from all the bad things that impact water.

(3) My plan is after I graduate High School I would like to go onto college in the wildlife field.

(4) If anyone would like to know more about these or other schools or needs help in trying to protect our wild trout I will be happy to help.

Thank You Samantha S.

For additional information:

Rivers Conservation Flyfishing Camp:

http://www.riverscamp.com

Wildlife Leadership Academy:

https://wildlifeleadershipacademy.org

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A big thanks to everyone who came out to help with the annual Earth Day clean-up at the Tannery Dam!

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The Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be holding our monthly meeting on Thursday January 18, 2024 at 7 pm. We will have PA Fish and Boat Commissioner Bill Brock. He will update everyone with changes to the upcoming trout season as well as answering questions.

We will meet at Penn State DuBois DEF Building Room 202.

It’s been some time since we were able to have someone from the commission come and speak to our group and would hope for a good turnout. As always please bring along a friend or two. If you have questions please call 814-371-9290.

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Kelly Williams of the Clearfield County Conservation District received the 2023 PA Wilds Champion Award for Conservation Stewardship. In addition to stream work and protecting wetlands, Williams was involved in the effort to improve water quality in the Deer Creek Watershed, which was impaired by Acid Mine Drainage and had not been able to support any aquatic life for over 70 years. Wild trout can now be supported in this beautiful area of the PA Wilds, thanks to efforts of Williams and her colleagues at Clearfield County Conservation District. 

Williams is a past recipient of the Golden Reel Award from the Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The PA Wilds Champion Award was presented by Matt Marusiak, PA Wilds Center Board Member.

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The Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, represented by Youth Chair George Kutskel, received the 2023 PA Wilds Champion Award for Inspiring Youth Champion Award (Organization) for its efforts to support youth education related to angling and outdoorsmanship. The Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited sponsors DuBois Middle School Environmental day at camp mountain and teaches youth fishing, identification of macroinvertebrates, electro shocking and identification of invasive species; teaches Punxsutawney Elementary fishing skills and invasive species; and sponsors Trout in the Classroom in Brockway, DuBois Area and DuBois Catholic schools. The Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited is having a regional impact by engaging youth in the sport of fishing, a heritage pastime in the PA Wilds region.

The award was presented by Meredith Hill, the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Acting Deputy Secretary, Conservation and Technical Services.

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