BROOKIE NEWS

<<< Illustration “One Last Look -Brook Trout” courtesy of Bob White

of Whitefish Studio

Newsletter of The CentralWisconsin Chapter of

Trout Unlimited (CWTU)

April 2014

Prez Sez

This note was prepared in Cancunwhere I celebrate my birthday eachyear and pray that Wisconsintransitions directly from winter tosummer while I am gone.The Mecan River program presentedafter the April 8 Board meetingbrought in the biggest crowd that Ican remember for an after Boardmeeting program. Over 80 peoplewere there! I trust that this got manypeople excited about getting back in

the streams. The idea for this type of“rivers” program came from ScottGrady. Thank you Scott and all thosewho work to present these excellentprograms that make our chapter oneof the best in the state.Dan Harmon III says there are still afew openings in our annual FlyFishing School the first weekend inJune. This is an excellent school andwell worth the small fee. Three of myfamily and I have attended. Pleasecontact Dan for registration forms andspread the word to friends and family.Dan has also worked diligently forseveral years to get DNR approval toplace memorial benches at keylocations on area stream banks.Approval has finally been received!The benches contain plaques honoringdeceased members. Thanks Dan andthose who worked on this project.Several of us have been trying to keepup with dam removal or replacementsituations. There are three in our area.The Amherst dam requires anexpensive increase in spillwaycapacity or must be removed. TheLittle Hope dam is open and musteither be replaced at considerableexpense or completely removed. TheWautoma dam was opened a coupleof years ago to drain the pond prior tomaking repairs to the sewer system.The current plan is to refill the pondin 2015. We know with somecertainty that the trout habit improves

when the streams flow freely. Thewater is cooler and faster. The fish arebetter able to migrate and the fishcount increases. Property ownersaround the mill ponds want to keepthe ponds, many of which were builtpre Civil War, and that isunderstandable. If they can get themoney for repairs, I suppose the damswill be replaced or repaired. Of coursewe would prefer that the dams beremoved.Our first river work day is comingsoon, May 17 at Chaffee Creek.Check the website for directions. Ihope to see you there.

John Tucker

CWTU Board of Directors Meeting,April 8, 2014

Fin ‘n Feather, Winneconne

1. Meeting called to order byPresident John Tucker at 6:15p.m.

2. Minutes of the previousmeeting were approved asdistributed.

3. The Treasurer’s report wasapproved as distributed by Mr.Schaeffers. The Chapterreceived the $2500 match forthe Chaffee Creek grant work.The Trout School enrollment iscurrently at 16 with spaceremaining for an additional fouror so. The Chapter receivednearly $700 in rebates from TUNational for new memberenrollments.

4. River Keepers kick-off meetingwill be April 22, at the Fin ‘nFeather with former graduategrant recipient Mike Schuprytas the featured speaker. Mr.Gremmer stated that we nowhave ten years of monitoringdata and can mine the data fortrends.

5. Mr. Gremmer noted the BobJozwowski has joined theChapter Website Team. Hecalled for volunteers to be the“food wranglers” for the May13 Casting and Kayak FishingClinic at Marble Park. Picnicat 5:00 pm and programbeginning at 6:00 pm. Mr.Haase asked for folks to sendfly tying patterns andinstructions for the website andthe Brookie. Suggestions forfuture “River Runs Through It”programs on our Central regionstreams are requested.

6. Mr. Tucker reported on damremoval prospects for theWautoma, Little Hope, andAmherst Dams. The Amhersttown fathers have 10 years todecide on removal orreplacement. There will be anadvisory referendum in August.The Little Hope Dam must bereplaced or removed; severalhome owners are fightingremoval in court. There seemslittle appetite for permanentopening of the Wautoma Dam

among Wautoma citizens andtown fathers.

7. Mr. Tucker raised the ongoingissue of committees, leadership,and mentoring in the Chapter.Mr. Beck reported that there isencouragement from the StateCouncil to model frameworksfor Board membership andleadership development. Mr.Tucker and Mr. SanDretto willbring the matter back before theChapter with some ideas formoving forward.

8. Old Business: Mr. Harmon IIIreported that we now have usepermits approved for siting theremaining memorial benches.Mr. Haase indicated that we arestill waiting for approvals onthe Bob Hunt memorial project.Several members receivedresponses from their Statelegislators regarding oursuccessful license plate effort;the bill awaits signature fromthe governor.Mr. Haase reported thatalthough the Beaver DamOutdoor Expo has beencancelled, there will be asmaller version at theMcKenzie Center in Poynetteon the original dates of May15-16. Volunteers to help withkids fly tying are requested;contact Mr. Haase.Mr. Haase reported that theinitial meeting of the newFisheries Advisory Council

took place, with representationfrom all advocacy groups, andwill meet again on September27. All members areencouraged to attend theConservation Congressmeetings in their counties onMonday, April 14.

9. New Business: The StateCouncil Meeting will be held inViroqua on May 17. Messrs.Beck, Seligman, and Haase willbe attending. Others welcome.Mr. Bahn laid out the schedulefor upcoming workdays; firsttwo on the Chaffee, one on theWhite at the same location aslast year, and two more on theChaffee to follow. Check thewebsite for dates anddirections.

10.Meeting adjourned at 7:25 pm,followed by a Rivers programon the Mecan River presentedby Scott Grady and friends.

Many CWTU members get together toshare a meal at the Fin 'N Featherbefore our monthly meetings andprograms. This image was madebefore the April meetng/program.These people would love to have youjoin them.

CWTU’s Annual Casting andKayak Fishing Clinic

This year’s Annual CWTU CastingClinic will be held at the pavilion inMarble Park in Winneconne on May13. The program will start at 6:00p.m. and will include a kayak fishingdemonstration, Dan Harmon III’sdouble-haul casting demonstration, aspey and switch rod castingdemonstration, and beginning andintermediate casting instruction.The program is free to the public andCWTU members are encouraged tobring young and old potential flyfishers to the event. Participantsshould bring fly rods if they havethem( a few user rods will beavailable), safety glasses to protectthe eyes, and a piece of yarn for theend of the leader.CWTU has many experienced flyfishers willing to help others get intothe sport! Come and enjoy thecamaraderie of this event.In case of bad weather and thepossibility of cancelation––a messagewill be posted onthe www.cwtu.org website’shomepage.

For more information contact JohnGremmer at 920-582-7802 orjgremmer@charter.net/.

CWTU River Keepers To Kick Off10th Year on April 22

Our organizational meeting will beheld at the Fin ‘N Feather at 6:30 pmon Tuesday, April 22. Former CWTUscholarship recipient Mike Schuprytwho is now the DNR’s Streams &Rivers Monitoring Technical Lead,will present a short program on thevalue of water monitoring volunteers.During the one hour meeting newteams will be assembled, old teamsmay pick up some members, andequipment needs will be addressed.Join the River Keepers today!Anyone interested in becoming aRiver Keeper should contact meat 920-582-7802,or jgremmer@charter.net/, or RickFahrenkrug at920-725-0255,or rfahr07@gmail.com/.

A (Mecan) River Runs Through It

This month saw the first of what wehope to be an ongoing series ofprograms on the “home waters” of theCentral Wisconsin Chapter. The idea

for having a program based on a rivercame from the members of CWTU. Ifyou ask them when they join, “whydid you join TU?” they will often saybecause they want to learn HOW andWHERE to fish for trout.Over the years, we have done a verygood job of having programs on howto fish, not so much about where tofish.Scott Grady’s program, “A Mecan

River Runs Through it” attracted over80 participants to hear variousspeakers talk about the Mecan’sfeatures.CWTU and now the Riverkeepershave done a lot of work gathering dataand doing stream work on our rivers.So it made sense to get a programtogether incorporating theinformation available from theWDNR and our own experiencesScott Bahn led off with a report on thework that the workday crew has doneon the River. Shawn Sullivanfollowed that with information on thehistory, biology, and special featuresof the Mecan, which runs for 48 milesthrough our Chapter’s home waters.The program featured an interactivemap of the Mecan River and its accesspoints, provided by Scott Grady.,Chris Hamerla, Regional AquaticInvasive Species Coordinator, GreenLake and Marquette Counties, GoldenSands Resource Conservation &Development Council, Inc., presentedinformation on the invasive NewZealand Mud Snails, which couldstart showing up in our waters.

The program ended with an all-starpanel discussion on how to fish theMecan River. Russ Bouck, DavidSeligman, Jeff Wegand, and LinnBeck each shared their experience andopinions on how to connect with fishon the river.A extra added special feature were thehand-tied flies of Bob Haase that wereraffled off during the program. HisHex patterns were really beautiful andinnovative, and the raffle brought insome additional funding to supportthe Chapter’s stream work.

Jeff Wegand(standing left) tells the crowd atCWTU's April program, "A Mecan River RunsThrough It", about how he fishes the Mecan River.Jeff was part of a panel of four that includedRuss Bouck, David Seligman, and Linn Beck.Each panel member presented information onhow they fish the Mecan River.

Programs on other area rivers andstreams will be featured in the comingyears. Contact any of the Chapterofficers with suggestions for futureRiver programs.

Brookie News Articles and Features

Members and friends of CWTU areencouraged to submit articles, notices,and photos for publication in theBrookie News. Contact the editor atSeligmand@gmail.com.