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Wisconsin TroutApril 2011

Wisconsin Council of Trout Unlimited4514 Elgar Ln.Madison, WI 53704(608) 698-3867www.WisconsinTU.org

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 1MADISON, WI

News and Views from WI Trout Unlimited

In this issue...TU presents options to land trust community . . . . . .p. 4Science findings offered at Driftless Area event. . . . .p. 5State Council honors 10 at annual banquet . . . . . . .p. 6WITU’s Trout Management Principles. . . . . . . . . . .p. 9Chapter president profiles: two gals in charge . . . . p. 16Friends program grants $36,000+ in 2010 . . . . . p. 20

DNR on-line survey open through AprilYou can complete the same survey taken at the trout meet-ings by going on-line. A link to the survey can be found at http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/trout/. The survey will be available through the end of April.

WDNR meetings getting input on trout fishery and regsThe WDNR is wrapping up a se-

ries of meetings across the statewhere the agency is getting input onhow anglers view trout fishing andthe current regulatory framework.

The meetings are part of Wiscon-sin’s review of inland trout fishing.

DNR adopted its current catego-ry system of regulation 20 years ago.At that time the agency said it wouldreview the trout regulations everyfive to 10 years. Those were internalreviews, and they led to some chang-es, like eliminating one of the origi-

nal five categories of regulationestablished in 1990.

“Trout fishing in Wisconsin haschanged a lot in recent times, andwe want to hear from anglers ifthey’ve changed their trout fishinghabits, preferences, and hopes forthe future,” says Scot Stewart, thesouthern Wisconsin fisheries super-visor who is helping lead the effort.

“This time around, our troutteam was putting together someideas for possible changes for our2010 review when we decided weneeded to take a step back,” saysMarty Engel, a veteran fisheries bi-ologist for Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, andSt. Croix counties.

“We realize that the trout worldhas changed significantly since wemoved to the category system andlast asked anglers what they wantedfrom their trout fishery,” he says.

“We think it’s crucial to understandmore about those changes beforewe go any further with our review.”

Meeting participants have beentelling DNR fish biologists whatthey like about trout fishing nowand what they think could be im-proved. Participants are filling out asurvey to give more specific feed-back on everything from where andhow often they fish to how often do

State budget’s changes to the Stewardship Fund may hurt TU habitat work

By Kim McCarthyWith all of the political turmoil

currently taking place in Wisconsin,many sportsmen and women havenot had time to look at how Gover-nor Walker’s proposed budgetwould impact recreation in Wiscon-sin. This article deals with proposedchanges to the very popular Stew-ardship Program.

The proposedbudget threatenskey provisions of theStewardship Pro-gram that would

very likely negatively impact TU’sefforts to get public access for fish-ing and habitat work.

One key proposal in the budgetof concern to TU would limit fishingeasement acquisitions along troutstreams to small parcels less thanfive acres. One explanation for theproposed five-acre limit is thatstream fishing easements are nar-row strips of land (generally 66 feetwide) which do not generally allowhunting or trapping. Many of themrun through pastured areas wherehunting and trapping would not beappropriate, and where insistenceon hunting and trapping wouldmake land owners unwilling to con-sider an easement. But GovernorWalker’s staff appears to be unsup-portive of spending money on anylands — even fishing easements —where hunting or trapping are notallowed.

TU projects have generally beendone only on lands that providepublic access, so removing fundingfor stream easements would have aserious impact on TU’s ability toperform habitat work.

Another consideration againstthis particular budget proposal is

that the five-acre limit means thestrip of land can cover less than4,000 feet of stream thread. Mean-der patterns mean a 4,000-footpiece of stream often travels lessthan a 40 acre land parcel. To have asignificant impact on stream health,projects often take up two to seventimes that length of stream.

The Walker budget would alsocut out a cornerstone of the Stew-ardship Program called “paymentsin lieu of taxes” (PILT). PILT pay-ments replace property taxes whichwould have been paid by privateowners had the land remained inprivate hands. Over the last two de-cades, PILT payments have led towidespread support of the Steward-ship Program by municipalities.

Another change proposed by theWalker budget would be to requirelocal municipalities to pass a resolu-tion supporting or not supportingeach Stewardship acquisition intheir community. While this wouldnot allow municipalities to blackballa purchase, it would be a factor tobe considered by DNR when decid-ing to recommend a purchase. With-out PILT payments, it is likely thatlocal community support for publicland purchases would decline.

Another proposed change wouldgive the Legislative Joint FinanceCommittee more authority overStewardship purchases. In the past,approval by the Joint Finance Com-mittee was required only if purchas-es exceeded $750,000. Under thenew proposal, Joint Finance Com-mittee approval would be requiredfor any purchase exceeding$250,000.

Last month DNR SecretaryCathy Stepp announced that for theremaining five months of fiscal year

Chair’sAnalysis

TU’S CHRIS WOOD ATTENDS WITU BANQUETTU’s National President Chris Wood said Wisconsin TU is a model for state councils across the nation during his address at the State Council Banquet in Stevens Point Feb. 5. He also entertained us with the rollicking story of how he revealed the engagement ring to his future wife.

Stan

Str

elka

Continued on p. 5

Continued on p. 4

UW-SP study finds trout populations up statewide

Wisconsin brook and brown trout populations statewide have general-ly increased over the last 60 years, according to a new UW-Stevens Point analysis of the state’s archive of trout surveys.

“We see a general, overall increase in the catch per stream mile of trout, and in trout in all the size ranges examined in fisheries surveys con-ducted since 1950,” says Nancy Nate, Ph.D., the principal investigator and a scientist at the UW-SP Fisheries Analysis Center.

Nate and fellow researchers Andy Fayram and Joanna Griffin, fisheries analysts at the WDNR, dug into DNR databases for results from thou-sands of electrofishing surveys the DNR conducted between 1950 and 2010. The electrofishing catch per stream mile has long been used as an indicator of trout abundance in streams.Continued on p. 4

July 2006Page 2 April 2011

WISCONSIN TROUTVol. 23, No. 2 — April 2011

Wisconsin Trout is the official publication of the Wisconsin Council of Trout Unlimited and is distributed to the members of Wisconsin’s 21 TU chapters. Nonmember subscriptions are $12.50/year. Publication and distribution dates are the first weeks of January, April, July, and October. Deadlines for articles and advertisements are the 10th of December, March, June, and September. Contact the editor for a cur-rent advertising rate sheet.

Contributions and letters to the editor are welcomed. Submit articles and returnable photos (color or b&w) to the editorial office:

Todd Hanson, editor4514 Elgar Ln.Madison, WI 53704(608) [email protected]

Wisconsin TU Chapters, Presidents, and Websites

Contact TU National when you change addresses or chapter leadersTU National manages WITU’s mailing list, so members should contact TU National at 1-800-834-2419 to change addresses. Address changes can also be done on-line by going to www.tu.org and signing in with your member number, which is found on your wallet card or TROUT magazine label.

If you are moving to a different city and wish to be affiliated with the TU chapter in your new area, note the new chapter number (see the text next to the map above for the numbers of our chapters).

Visit WITU online at:www.WisconsinTU.org

Aldo Leopold (#375): Mike Barniskis, 805 S. Center St., Beaver Dam, WI 53916 (920) 356-0081; [email protected]

Antigo (#313): Scott Henricks, 213 Mary St., Antigo, WI 54409-2536 (715) 623-3867; [email protected]

Blackhawk (#390): Vick Potocki, (262) 473-1824; [email protected]; www.BlackhawkTU.org

Central Wisconsin (#117): Linn Beck, 160 West 19th Ave., Oshkosh, WI 54903 (920) 233-5496; [email protected], www.cwtu.org

Coulee Region (#278): Eric Rauch, [email protected], www.CouleeRegionTU.org

Fox Valley (#193): Mark Peerenboom, 1509 S. Outagamie St., Appleton, WI 54914 (920) 738-0228; [email protected];www.FoxValleyTU.org

Frank Hornberg (#624): Wyatt Bohm, 4367 Kubisiak Dr., Amherst, WI 54406 (715) 340-2977; [email protected]

Green Bay (#083): Paul Kruse, 500 Saint Jude St., Green Bay, WI 54303 (920) 494-4220; [email protected]; www.GreenBayTU.com

Harry & Laura Nohr (#257): Pete Esser, 1245 Westhill Ave., Platteville, WI 53818 (608) 348-9074; [email protected];www.NohrTU.org

Kiap-TU-Wish (#168): Kyle Amundson; 249 Red Pine Circle, Hudson, WI 54016 (715) 549-5326; [email protected];www.kiaptuwish.org

Lakeshore (#423): Wayne Trupke, 10723 English Lake Rd., Manito-woc, WI 54220 (920) 758-2357; [email protected];www.WisconsinTU.org/Lakeshore

Marinette (#422): Steve Wilke, 2526 Shore Dr., Marinette, WI 54143 (715) 732-4911 (H) (715) 923-0650 (C); [email protected]

Northwoods (#256): Hannah Hansen, R678 Mount View Ln.,Athens, WI 54411 (715) 297-1569; [email protected]

Oconto River (#385): Bob Obma, 12870 West Shore Dr., Mountain, WI 54149 (715) 276-1170; [email protected]; www.WisconsinTU.org/OcontoRiver

Shaw-Paca (#381): Dave Ehrenberg, 324 East Fourth St., Manawa, WI 54949 (920) 596-3089; [email protected]; www.WisconsinTU.org/ShawPaca

Southeastern Wisconsin (#078): Henry Koltz, 2300 North Mayfair Road, Suite 1175, Milwaukee, WI 53226 (414) 258-4300; [email protected]; www.SEWTU.org

Southern Wisconsin (#061): Frank Kosmach, 1143 Bluebird Trail,Waunakee, WI 53597 (608) 849-8907 (H) (608) 410-8033 (W);[email protected]; www.swtu.org

Wild Rivers (#415): Dick Berge, 67725 E. Deep Lake Dr., Iron River, WI 54847 (715) 372-5228 (H); [email protected]

Wisconsin Clear Waters (#255): Tim Meyer, PO Box 822, Eau Claire, WI 54702-0822 (715) 579-6795; [email protected];www.WisconsinTU.org/ClearWaters

Wisconsin River Valley (#395): Linda Lehman, [email protected]; www.wrvtu.org

Wolf River (#050): Andy Killoren, N1493 Hwy. 45, Fremont, WI 54940; [email protected].

Kim McCarthy, Chair736 Meadowbrook Ct.Green Bay, WI 54313

Todd Hanson, Secretary 4514 Elgar Ln.Madison, WI 53704

John Meachen, Vice Chair1111 Marquardt Rd.Wausau, WI 54403

Gary Stoychoff, Treasurer1326 14th Ave.Green Bay, WI 54304

Douglas Bayfield

AshlandIron

Vilas

Forest

Florence

Marinette

Oconto

Langlade

Shawano

Lincoln

Marathon

Taylor

PriceSawyer

Rusk

WashburnBurnett

Polk

Barron

St. CroixDunn

Chippewa

Wood

PortageWaupaca

Outagamie

Waushara WinnebagoCalumet

Manitowoc

Kewaunee

Door

Fond du LacSheboygan

Ozaukee

Washington

Dodge

MilwaukeeWaukeshaJefferson

Racine

Kenosha

WalworthRockGreenLafayette

GrantIowa

Dane

ColumbiaSauk

Green Lake

Marquette

AdamsJuneau

Richland

Crawford

Vernon

MonroeLa Crosse

Jackson

Trempealeau

Buffalo

Pepin

ClarkEau ClairePierce

Oneida

Brown

Menominee

WILD RIVERS

NORTHWOODS

FOXVALLEY

LAKESHORE

FRANK HORNBERG

WISCONSINRIVER VALLEY

SHAW-PACA

MARINETTE

GREEN BAYANTIGO

OCONTORIVER

SOUTHEASTERNWISCONSIN

BLACKHAWK

SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

HARRY &LAURA NOHR

COULEEREGION

CENTRALWISCONSIN

ALDO LEOPOLD

WI CLEARWATERS

KIAP-TU-WISH

WOLFRIVER

Wisconsin Trout

Wisconsin TU StateCouncil Leadership

State Chair: Kim McCarthy, 736 Meadowbrook Ct., Green Bay, WI 54313 (920) [email protected]

Vice Chair: John Meachen, 1111 Marquardt Rd., Wausau, WI 54403(715) 675-4920 (H); [email protected]

Secretary: Todd Hanson, 4514 Elgar Ln., Madison, WI 53704(608) 698-3867 (H); [email protected]

Treasurer: Gary Stoychoff, 1326 14th Ave., Green Bay, WI 54304 [email protected]

Past State Chair: Bill Heart, 29450 Verners Rd., Ashland, WI 54806 (715) 682-4703 (H), (715) 209-0431 (C); [email protected]

Vice Chair, Central Region: Bob Haase, W7949 Treptow Ln., Eldorado, WI 54932 (920) 922-8003 (H); [email protected]

Vice Chair, Northeast Region: Paul Kruse, 500 Saint Jude St., Green Bay, WI 54303 (920) 494-4220 (H); [email protected]

Vice Chair, Southern Region: Henry Koltz, 18225 Hoffman Ave., Brook-field, WI 53045 (414) 331-5679 (C); [email protected]

Vice Chair, Western Region: Bill Heart (see above)

Awards: Todd Hanson (see above)

Education: Bob Haase (see above)

Friends of WITU and Watershed Access Fund: Doug Brown, R4800 Timber Ln., Ringle, WI 54471 (715) 574-4706; [email protected]

Legal Counsel: Winston Ostrow, 335 Traders Point Ln., Green Bay, WI 54302 (920) 432-9300 (W); [email protected]

Legislative Committee: Jeff Smith, 7330 Old Sauk Rd., Madison, WI 53717 (608) 836-5974 (H);[email protected]

Membership: John T. “Jack” Bode, W312 N6434 Beaver Lake Rd., Hartland, WI 53029 (262) 367-5300 (H); (262) 951-7136 (W); [email protected]

National Leadership Council Representative: Bill Heart (see above)

Publications: Todd Hanson (see above)

Resource Management: John Meachen, (see above)

Water Resources: Bob Obma, 12870 West Shore Drive, Mountain, WI 54149 (715) 276-1170 (H)[email protected]

Webmaster: Jim Hlaban,[email protected]

April 2011 Wisconsin Trout

Some thoughts on TU’s impact across Wisconsin

By Kim McCarthyWITU State Council Chair

It has been a long winter. As Iwrite this, my home area is waitingfor another couple inches of snow.We will take all of the water we canget here in the Northeast part of thestate, but I would love to be thinkingmore about the early season andless about if I have enough gas formy snow blower.

Although long, the winter hasbeen anything but dull. Some good,some to be determined, but therehas been a lot going on with troutand the coldwater resource.

First up would be the raging suc-cess of our annual State Councilmeeting and banquet. The membersof the banquetcommittee put ahuge amount ofenergy into makingour 40th anniversa-ry celebration asuccess. And a suc-cess it was. All 21chapters were rep-resented at the an-nual meeting. Over200 members andfriends attendedthe annual banquet, and we realizeda net profit of $17,100 for the cold-water resources of the state. Mythanks go out to all who worked onthe banquet and to all who attend-ed. It was a great event.

At the banquet I reported somecomposite numbers for Trout Un-limited in Wisconsin in 2010. Iwould like to repeat some of thosenumbers here so that more mem-bers get a feel for the enormousamounts of conservation work beingaccomplished by Trout Unlimitedchapters around the state.

In the area of fund raising, all ofthe chapters and the State Councilcombined last year raised a total of$968,000! Jeff Hastings’ work withthe DARE program added an addi-tional $600,000. Those funds helpedfinance 86 different conservationprojects in 2010.

We know that Trout Unlimitedmembers donate large amounts oftime to the resource. How much? In2010 total volunteer hours added upto 43,000. Those hours carry a valueof another $860,000. Tremendous!

Education has been a majorgrowth area for TU in Wisconsin.Last year chapters were involved in98 different education activities. Wedon’t currently keep track of howmany people are taking part in all ofthose activities, but it is a statistic weshould begin to track because myguess is that the number is very im-pressive.

Our chapters should be veryproud of the great amount of workthat was accomplished in 2010. Weknow that TU is a real leader in con-servation in Wisconsin, and thenumbers give us a very good idea ofhow much we are accomplishing.

Next, let’s talk about the regula-tions review that DNR is undertak-ing in 2011. This is the year DNR is

beginning a reviewof trout regulationsin Wisconsin. Aspart of that pro-cess, trout meet-ings are beingconducted aroundthe state. Troutfishers are beingsurveyed aboutwhat they like ordislike about thecurrent regulation

structure and about methods andharvest practices used by anglers.

By the time you read this, mostof those trout meetings will be com-pleted, but that does not mean thatyou don’t have the time or thechance to comment. The DNR has awebsite offering an online surveyabout angling methods and regula-tions. The website can be accessedat http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/trout.

If you have not commented or at-tended a meeting, please take thetime to visit the website and makeyour opinions known. It is importantthat TU members let the depart-ment know how they feel about thetrout fishery in Wisconsin.

Recent studies out of UW-Ste-vens Point have shown that currentmiles of trout streams, numbers oftrout, and sizes of trout are betterthan ever in Wisconsin. Sound regu-lations are important to keep thequality fishery protected into the fu-ture. As conservation-minded citi-zens, we cannot sit on the sidelinesand leave the commenting to others.Make your voice heard.

STATE COUNCIL CHAIR KIM McCARTHY ON TIMBER COULEE CREEKKim caught his share of trout on Timber Coulee Cr. during a recent trip to southwest Wisconsin.

Of blue skies, green grass, and the rule of only so many spinning reels

By Todd HansonI was on State Street in Madison a few days ago and counted more

than a dozen stores with signs in their front windows denouncing Gov. Walker’s elimination of collective bargaining rights for some public employees. What was surprising, though, was how many signs there were supporting Walker’s recall. When Tommy Thompson was Governor, he also had a bullying streak. Thompson often took positions that basically said, “Sue me if you don’t like it.” People didn’t like it, they did sue, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted unanimously against Thompson about a half dozen times. Still, there wasn’t any effort to recall Thompson like there is with Walker.

I think I have an example our trout fishing readers will understand as to why Gov. Walker is moving from someone people disagree with to someone people increasingly distrust and are having serious second

thoughts about. The example involves a wetland. Wetland protection is of prime importance to TU. If it weren’t for wetlands to resupply groundwater, trout streams would dry up. Do you remember the flap over a proposed Bass Pro Shop store in Green Bay last January? Gov. Walker wanted to help Neenah auto dealer John Bergstrom develop a prime piece of property of his at the corner of Lombardi Av. and U.S. 41. Prime, that is, if it weren’t for the fact that the land is a wetland and is off limits to uncontested development. Enter Scott Walker, who inserted a special provision in a bill declaring the site exempt from WDNR wetland review. Gov. Walker said the wetland exemption was needed to create jobs. In these times, that argument sounds awfully good to a lot of people on its face...but only if you ignore The Rule of Only So Many Spinning Reels.

Let’s look at those potential Bass Pro Shop jobs. Can you think of one thing in a Bass Pro Shop that you couldn’t buy at some other store? When people need a new spinning reel, they don’t buy two reels. They buy just one. And if people buy that reel at a Bass Pro Shop, that means they didn’t buy it someplace else. A new Bass Pro Shop will steal sales from a Cabela’s which earlier took sales away from a Gander Mountain which earlier swiped sales from a Fleet Farm which earlier took sales from Ma’s Bait and Tackle. If businesses lose sales, they reduce employee hours, eliminate jobs altogether, or, in the worst case, go out of business. There are only so many spinning reels to sell, and there are only so many jobs required to make those spinning reel sales.

Gov. Walker is smart enough to understand The Rule of Only So Many Spinning Reels, yet his reason for destroying that wetland to make way for the Bass Pro Shop store was jobs, jobs, jobs. It’s as if he thinks if he says it enough, he’ll get those Bass Pro Shop jobs and the existing sporting goods jobs won’t be reduced. I think a lot of people are seeing Gov. Walker’s arguments for a lot of unsavory things coming down the pike as being equally flawed and unsatisfying.

When I was in college, I was on the debate team. I remember one particular school always seemed to offer plans whose premises and conclusions were presented like this — the sky is blue; the grass is green; therefore we must abandon our recently adopted phosphorus reduction standards. What? How can you argue against the sky is blue (i.e., we need jobs)? How can you disagree that the grass is green (i.e., we need to give people the tools they need to make decisions)? It’s the linkage between premises and conclusions that always seemed to be lacking in this teams’ arguments. And it’s this same absence of thoughtful, considered linkage that is missing in many of Gov. Walker’s proposals. After all, if a bunch of trout fishers can understand The Rule of Only So Many Spinning Reels, shouldn’t Gov. Walker?

But at least this Governor makes a case for something and sticks with it. There’s honor in that. He would never put some policy change in a budget bill and argue it’s necessary because it will help achieve a needed fiscal purpose only to reverse course 180 degrees and say that the policy wasn’t really a fiscal matter after all in order to get it passed. Oops. So much for that.

When Trout Unlimited was formed in Wisconsin a little over 40 years ago, people were damming up trout streams for various developments. It strikes me that this is the kind of Governor who could suggest we return to such practices. He would propose it with a straight face and the promise of, yes, jobs. What’s a little wetland? What’s one little trout stream? Would this Governor change the trout regs on a whim saying it will create jobs? We’ll keep an eye out.

As it turned out in Green Bay, Bass Pro Shops decided against putting their store on the Bergstrom wetland. A company spokesman was quoted in the Post Crescent saying, “We were unaware of any wetland issue and have not and will not be in favor of doing anything to harm wetlands wherever they might be.” Good for them. That is exactly what Gov. Walker should have said. That he didn’t tells us something important about how he may operate throughout his term.

Editorial

We know that Trout Unlimited members

donate large amounts of time to the resource.

How much? In 2010 total volunteer hours added

up to 43,000.

April 2011Wisconsin Trout

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Land trusts hear TU leaders on partnership opportunitiesWisconsin TU has several oppor-

tunities for state land trusts to workas partners on projects and acquisi-tions, TU leaders told land trustleaders at a recent Gathering Wa-ters land trust conference.

Gathering Waters is the umbrellaorganization for Wisconsin’s ap-proximately 50 local land trusts.Where land trusts are consideringacquisition or protection of natural

places, and where those sites in-clude coldwater resources, tantaliz-ing opportunities can be presented.

State Council Chair Kim McCar-thy and TUDARE’s Duke Weltertalked with land trust leaders aboutthe State Council’s Watershed Ac-cess Fund (WAF) and project plan-ning opportunities. WAF canprovide up to $8,000 in combinedState Council and local chapter

matching funds if two chapters areinvolved.

Through the project planningand funding resources availablethrough TUDARE, TU chaptersand other partners have alreadyjoined with land trusts on significantprojects in Dane and Pierce coun-ties. As a result, several troutstreams have been preserved andrestored.

Land trusts are facing possiblereductions in funding at both thestate and federal levels. Because ofthis, they showed great interest inworking with TU.

For information on land trusts inyour part of the state, or for infor-mation on land trust that specializein preserving certain types of prop-erties, go to www.gatheringwa-ters.org.

SURVEY: DNR getting feedback on trout fishingContinued from p. 1how often they fish to how often dothey harvest fish to what streamsthey consider good.

Feedback and survey answerswill be used to help fine tune a state-wide mail survey of randomly select-ed trout anglers scheduled for fall.

“Our trout team also will be re-viewing the feedback, along with themail survey results, as part of Wis-consin’s trout review. We’ll bring theresults back out to you next year atthis time, and then ask you to helpus set management goals.”

The good news, Engel says, isWisconsin is starting from a verystrong foundation. DNR staff pastand present, conservation clubmembers, and individual anglershave worked hard to improve fish-ing in Wisconsin.

For more information, contactScot Stewart at in Madison at (608)273-5967.

Volunteers needed for May’s Wisconsin Outdoor Expo event in Beaver Dam

By Bob HaaseThis year’s Wisconsin Outdoor

Expo will be held May 19-20 at theDodge County Fairgrounds outsideof Beaver Dam.

The program runs from around9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. each day.Last year we had around 930 stu-dents tie a fly, and a lot of them alsotried their hand at fly casting.

We normally have over 3,000 kidsand their chaperones attend theWisconsin Outdoor Expo, and ittakes a lot of volunteers to coverboth the fly tying and fly casting.Last year we did not have enoughvolunteers to help with the fly cast-ing, and we could really use somemore volunteers in that area. Wecould use 6-8 volunteers each dayfor fly casting and 12-18 volunteerseach day for fly tying.

The fly rods are furnished by theDNR, so all you need to bring isyourself to help with the fly casting.If you would like to help with the flytying, just bring your vise and tyingtools, including your scissors, halfhitch tool or whip finisher, and abobbin. All the materials for tying,including the thread, is furnished.

When we listen to all the thingsthat are going on today that couldnegatively affect our natural re-sources, we realize how important itis to get kids involved in hunting,fishing, and other outdoor activities.

This is a chance for us to get kids in-terested in fishing by teaching themhow to tie a fly and cast a rod. May-be someday one or more of themmight be representing us in the As-

sembly or Senate, or even as Gover-nor or Secretary of the DNR. Thatfly you helped them tie might helpthem develop an interest in the out-doors which could affect their voteon important environmental issues.

We could also do a lot of otherthings at the Expo if we had the vol-unteers, such as teaching aboutaquatic insects, water monitoring,invasive species, stream restorationefforts, knot tying, or a variety ofother things.

I would like to thank all the vol-unteers who have helped in the past,and I encourage your help again thisyear. You must know other chaptermembers or friends who might beable to help. If you can help, pleasecall Bob Haase at (920) 922-8003 ore-mail me at [email protected].

STUDY: trout numbers in all sizes are up across the stateContinued from p. 1indicator of trout abundance in streams. Fayram says it’s the most com-prehensive look ever at what’s happening in Wisconsin’s trout streams statewide. The DNR contracted with Nate to conduct the analysis to help provide information as part of its 10-year review of the trout program.

What Nate and her fellow researchers found was higher numbers per stream mile of trout statewide overall, and increased numbers per stream mile in each of the size ranges examined: brook trout over 7, 8, and 9 inches and brown trout over 7, 9, and 12 inches.Role of regulations unclear

Not as clear, however, are the reasons why trout numbers increased, including the role regulations played, one of the original questions she hoped to answer.

“At the very least we can say that trout populations have continued to improve under Wisconsin’s current regulatory structure,” Nate says.

Veteran state fish biologists say the factors fueling trout number vary somewhat by region, but that changing land use and improved land man-agement are factors. Habitat improvement work done by DNR, TU, and other partners, anglers’ embrace of catch-and-release fishing, and DNR’s shift to stocking more trout spawned from wild fish also are factors. Other factors are regulations, the acquisition of sensitive lands along streams, and beaver control in northern Wisconsin.

Nate also was interested in determining, to the extent possible, the ef-fect of different trout angling regulations on trout populations as Wiscon-sin reviews its trout program and readies for a public participation process to learn how trout anglers’ fishing habits and preferences have changed over the past two decades.

Before the current category system of regulation took effect in 1991, an angler could keep 10 trout over 6 inches from most streams. The cur-rent system placed all trout streams into one of five categories (now re-duced to four) and applied base regulations to each category.

Among the “special regulation” streams (about three percent of Wis-consin trout water) there were 36 different regulation types that restricted gear, bag limits, seasons, and size limits in various combinations.

Nate found that this diversity of regulations, combined with the lack of contrast to streams with no regulations to serve as controls, made it hard to determine how a given regulation category performed compared to others.

In general, however, she found that streams with a daily bag limit of three and an 8-inch minimum for brook trout had the highest total density and density of fish greater than 9 inches among the four regulation cate-gories.

Conversely, streams that had one of the “special regulations” had high densities of total brown trout and of brown trout greater than 12 inches, though the densities were only statistically higher than densities in streams with a daily bag limit of 5 and a 7-inch minimum.

Trout stamp exhibit looking for old prints

Darrell Toliver of Sokol As-sociates in Plover, WI is lookingfor some of the more recenttrout stamp prints for a plannedexhibit on Wisconsin’s troutstamp program.

The exhibit hopes to featureall of the trout stamp prints andstamps produced since the pro-gram’s inception in 1978.

The prints the exhibitors arein need of are:• 2000 inland trout print,• 2005 inland trout print,• 2006 inland trout print,• 2007 inland trout print, and• 2008 inland trout print.

If you have one of theseprints, you can reach DarrellToliver at (651) 269-8804 or bye-mail at [email protected].

We realize howimportant it is to get

kids involved in hunting, fishing, and

other outdoor activities.


2010/11 ContributorsAndrews, Duke MinocquaAntigo TU ChapterBarnes, Edwin MiddletonBartynski, Jeff Eau ClaireBenedict, Mark MadisonBerg, Ron & Jolene Chippewa FallsBhatia, Ashok Whitefish BayBorn, Stephen MadisonBristol, Jerry Ellsworth

Byrnes, Clint Beaver DamCook, Andrew Sister BayCraig, Grant Green BayDahlke, Dale KnappDanou, Chris TrempealeauDavidson, Bruce WauwatosaDuplessie, Richard Eau ClaireEmerson, James GliddenFlorine, Craig Washburn

MAIL TO: TU Watershed Access Fund% Doug BrownR4800 Timber Ln.

Here is my contribution of $100

Ringle, WI 54471

Thanks to our Watershed Access Fund contributors!

Since taking over this funding program last fall, I continue to be im-pressed with the level of financial support our members are willing to of-fer. Since our fund appeal letter went out last October, we have receivedover $6,000 from over 60 contributors.

Our Watershed Access Fund is not very old. It’s only in its second yearof existence, but every financial award the program makes will providepermanent fishing opportunities for you and other trout fishers. Theseacquisitions also secure access that allows TU and others to make habitatimprovements on these properties.

None of this is possible without your support. Please consider a gen-erous contribution to the Watershed Access Fund. The need for access iscritical for anglers to continue their passion for trout fishing. Access is al-so critical for TU to continue its successful stream improvement work.All contributions will be used solely for Wisconsin acquisitions.

Name

Address

City, State, Zip

Phone

or more to the Watershed Access Fund(Make your check payable to“Wisconsin Trout Unlimited”)

Fox, Jerome Two RiversGeurkink, Terry BellevilleGitter, James Stevens PointGrade, Donald MosineeGranum, James Fountain CityGreen Bay TU ChapterHalbrehder, John SpartaHarkins, Paul HarshawHawk, John New HolsteinHeart, Bill AshlandHeifner, Mark AppletonHeil, Walter DePereHerman,Gilbert StoughtonHill, James OregonHinde, David Roscoe, ILHoffman, Mike OnalaskaHyer, Greg Cross PlainsKendall, Alden Duluth, MNKiap TU Wish TU ChapterKing, Gordon MerrillKing, Gordon (WPS Matching Grant)Koivisto, Jack Green BayLindroth, Rick MadisonMartin, Dean BlairMcCarthy, Kim Green BayMcGrath, Randy JanesvilleMille, Mark MilwaukeeMorrow, Jerome Baraboo

Neitzel, Richard TomahNovak, Gene Random LakeOechler, Herb WauwatosaO’Leary, John Ringwood, ILPielsticker, Bill LodiPresser, Dennis MadisonPrine, Dick Ashland Rake, Randal DePereRobertson, Steve VeronaRogers, William Elkhart LakeRyan, Rosemary WauwatosaSandretto, Michael NeenahShaw-Paca ChapterSmith, Jeff MadisonSoutheastern WI TU ChapterSpittler, Mike MinneapolisSteudel, Charles Mineral PointStockman, Wayne Spring ValleySwanson, Greg AppletonThurber, Noah StratfordVanden Elzen, Bill AppletonVan Ness, Peter LodiVollrath, Larry Green BayWachowski, Richard Eau ClaireWadsworth, Leslie MadisonWelhouse, Don KaukaunaWiemerslage, Paul HudsonWild Rivers ChapterWisconsin Clear Waters TU Chapter

Kiap founder Roger Fairbanks diesRoger Fairbanks of Hudson, WI, a founder of the Kiap-TU-Wish

Chapter, died on Feb. 23 at age 88.Fairbanks was named Trout Conservationist of the Year by TU Na-

tional in 1979. TU National Director Ron Koshoshek said at the time, “There is no

one in my acquaintance more deserving of TU’s top award.... While ma-ny TUers are vigorous for a time and return after the original exuber-ance and with exhaustion to family and profession, both of which must be compromised to perform at Roger’s level, he remains on the front lines. While others of us may, after a moment of accomplishment, be tempted by the notoriety that accrues to state or national offices, Roger has always refused such invitations in order to remain at the interface of conservationist and resource — where the real action is.”

ROGER FAIRBANKS HONORED IN 1979Roger Fairbanks (left) received TU’s Trout Conservationist of the Year Award at TU’s national meeting in Seattle, WA, in 1979. Standing next to Fairbanks is TU National Director Phil Bracewell (center) and WITU State Council Chair Tom Sopkovich (right).

Driftless Area science event presents latest findings

By John WelterStreambank sedimentation caus-

es three times more soil loss thanrow crop agriculture does, accord-ing to recent research on SW Wis-consin Driftless Area streams.

Managed intensive grazing cankeep farms in business and keep soilon the land, but it’s often a big stepfor farmers to switch from feedlotagriculture to rotational grazing.

Cows or sheep can help controlunwanted species such as wild pars-nip, nettles, tree seedlings, and reedcanary grass when they graze nearstreams, but this has to be done atthe rights times and in the rightamount.

Speakers made these points toover 100 attendees of TUDARE’s“Science in the Driftless” sympo-sium in La Crosse March 15-16.

Topics discussed included thosenoted above, as well as the impactsof hundreds of poorly functioningculverts and bridges, various scien-tific topics, and concerns underpin-

ning Wisconsin’s current tieredtrout regulation system.

Sediment is a major limiting fac-tor in most area streams, but theproblem can often be addressed bypicking the right 15-20 per cent of awatershed for remediation, accord-ing to Winona State Prof. Toby Dog-wiler. His studies in the Root Riverwatershed southeast of Rochester,MN are leading him to focus on keyslope areas and shapes on which toinstall conservation practices.

Genetic studies are suggestingthat presettlement brook troutstrains may still have remnants insome Minnesota streams, accordingto Dr. Loren Miller, who has beendoing genetics research with MD-NR for over 20 years.

Other work is being done onWisconsin brook trout by other re-searchers who hope to learn wheth-er some strains here are unmixedwith strains brought in from hatch-eries in the northeastern UnitedStates for over a century.

BUDGET: changes may affect TU’s stream restoration workContinued from p. 1remaining five months of fiscal year2010-11 Stewardship acquisitionswould be reduced by about 60%.Figures for target spending for fiscalyears 2011-13 have not been an-nounced.

The Stewardship Program haslong had widespread support fromthe sporting community. As thepopulation of Wisconsin increases,

quality lands will need to be protect-ed to preserve Wisconsin’s strongtradition of quality public recre-ation.

Changes to the Stewardship Pro-gram that result in the inability toprotect lands that become availablewill make it more difficult to main-tain that tradition. TU membersshould be very concerned about theproposed changes outlined above.


Council honors 10 at State Council BanquetTen individuals and groups were

honored at the State Council’s an-nual meeting and banquet at theHoliday Inn Conference Center inStevens Point Feb. 5.Resource Award of Merit — John “Duke” Welter

This year’s recipient of the StateCouncil’s top honor, the Award ofMerit, is someone who has helpedour State Council, our chapters, andTU’s national organization speakout on key issues for almost 20 years— John “Duke” Welter.

Here in Wisconsin, Duke hasfought to protect our streams from

impacts of mining, outdated smalldams, uncontrolled water bottling,wetland losses, misguided develop-ment, and poor land uses.

He was one of the leaders of theeffort to develop one of TU’s mostinnovative and volunteer-drivenprojects — the Driftless Area Res-toration Effort (TUDARE). As thisprogram has grown, it has strength-ened chapters and reminded com-munities of the marvelous springcreek resources in their back yards.

During Duke’s four-year stint asState Council chair, he worked hardto improve the DNR’s Inland Trout

Stamp program. He has been in-volved in trout regulation improve-ments and recently helped usrevamp our state easement pro-gram.

At the national level, Duke ledour grassroots National LeadershipCouncil for three years and servedon TU’s Board of Trustees for sevenyears. In the process, he helped TUdevelop and implement its StreamAccess policy, which has served avaluable purpose across the nation.

Our recipient has not restrictedhis advocacy just to Trout Unlimit-ed. For 10 years Duke served on theTrout Study Committee of the Wis-consin Conservation Congress, andfor the past seven years he hasserved on the Wisconsin NaturalResources Board. In those roles, hehas been a strong voice for trout andhealthy streams.

In addition, he has been involvedin leadership of the state’s Steward-ship program and an advocate forpublic access to lands for recre-ational opportunities. When hisNRB term expires this May, Dukehopes to move on to other resource-related opportunities. And, per-haps, to fish a little bit. Joan & Lee Wulff Conservation Award — Topf Wells

As Lee Wulff once said, a trout istoo valuable to be caught just once.In that spirit, our annual Lee andJoan Wulff Conservation Award will

spend just the next year in the pos-session of this year’s recipient, TopfWells.

Topf has been a champion forconservation throughout a long ca-reer in government. He began hispublic life as the Director of theWisconsin Conservation Corps,then worked at the WDNR, andmost recently he has been Chief ofStaff for Dane County ExecutiveKathleen Falk.

Dane County has one of the mostprogressive, far-reaching local gov-ernment conservation programs inthe country, and Topf Wells has hada lot to do with that. Topf spear-headed Falk’s effort to dramaticallyincrease the county’s ConservationFund from less than $1 million peryear to $3 million per year. Topfworked to direct a good share ofthose Conservation Fund dollars topurchase streambank easementsand to fund stream restoration proj-ects.

In the past dozen years, DaneCounty has gotten easements onand restored over 50 miles of troutstreams. Four years ago, Topfworked with Falk to establish a Per-manent Streambank Easement Pro-gram to pay landowners to switchfrom limited-term to permanenteasements.

With self-effacing charm, wit,and grit, he has worked tirelessly toguide, encourage, prod, and protectthe county’s conservation and envi-ronmental programs, even during

2011 TROUT CHAMPIONS HONORED IN STEVENS POINT ON FEB. 5State Council award winners included (left to right) Michele Maxson representing Fairmount Minerals Co., Rick Kyte, John Tucker representing the

Central WI TU, Topf Wells, Tim Landwehr, John Welter, Alistair Stewart, Linn Beck representing CWTU, Henry Quinlan, George Boronow, and Bob Haase.

AWARD OF MERIT, LEE & JOAN WULFF AWARD, AND GOLD TROUT AWARD WINNERSThe 2011 WITU State Council awards were presented by Chair Kim McCarthy Feb. 5 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Stevens Point. The Resource Award of Merit was presented to John “Duke” Welter from the WI Clear Waters

Chapter (top). The Lee & Joan Wulff Conservation Award was given to Topf Wells of the Southern WI Chapter (left). The Gold Trout Award went to Bob Haase from the Central WI Chapter.

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tough financial times. Topf hasworked with Falk to buy and restorewetlands, to better regulate manurespreading, to fund farm manure di-gesters, and to expand the county’swildlife and hunting lands.

Much of his work is behind thescenes, and he invariably gives cred-it to others, especially his boss,Kathleen Falk. But Falk would bethe first to say that Topf Wells hasleft his indelible mark on conserva-tion efforts in Dane County. He hasbeen a true public servant and is ful-ly deserving of our Joan and LeeWulff Award.Silver Trout Award — Central WI Chapter

Our chapter of the year award —the Silver Trout — goes to the Cen-tral Wisconsin Chapter. CWTU haslong been one of Wisconsin TU’s“overachievers.” They seem to do itall, from education to training toconservation.

The chapter is being recognizedthis year for really stepping up theirstream restoration efforts. CWTU’srecent improvement efforts have fo-cused on the Mecan River inWaushara County. They did thiswork with a grant from the Troutand Salmon Foundation and match-ing grants from Central and the El-liott Donnelley Chapter fromIllinois. Led by stream workdayChair Line Beck and WDNR Super-visor Shawn Sullivan, the chapterimproved 1,800 feet of the Mecan in2010. The chapter also worked onLawrence Creek in MarquetteCounty and Cedar Springs Creek.

Last November CWTU got asecond grant from the Trout andSalmon Foundation. With thematches from CWTU and EDTU,they have $22,000 in the bank for fu-ture work on the Mecan. Thesefunds will support improvements onabout a mile of water over the nextcouple years. CWTU hopes that thebeautiful work completed in 2010will increase the interest in the Cen-tral Sand Hills Ecoregion Resto-ration Initiative recently proposedby Alistair Stewart and Bob Hunt.

Another CWTU success storyhas been their River Keepers initia-tive. In recent years, the chapter’swater monitoring program has beenin decline, going from 12 activeteams to just 5 in 2009. Fortunately,John Gremmer and Jim Murphyjumped to the challenge of recon-structing the program. One of thefirst things they did was rename it toRiver Keepers, signifying an activegroup doing more than just moni-toring. The leadership team has ex-panded from two to six activeleaders. One of the new leaders,Rick Fahrenkrug, successfully ap-plied for a $5,000 grant that is beingused to purchase needed equip-ment. More people were recruited,and training was provided in thespring. There are now 14 activeteams testing 20 stream sites in a six-county area.

For these and many other rea-sons, Central Wisconsin TU is ourchapter of the year.Gold Trout Award — Bob Haase

Our Gold Trout award winnerthis year is Bob Haase. Bob’s lead-ership within TU began as editor ofthe Central Wisconsin Chapter’snewsletter. Later he served as chap-ter vice president, followed by atwo-year stint as chapter president.He’s also co-chair of Central’s watermonitoring program. And he’s al-ways there when a fly tying programfor kids, senior citizens, or handi-capped people is held.

Because of his love of fly tyingand education, it seemed a perfectfit that Bob would volunteer to be

the State Council’s EducationChair. In this position, Bob haslined up dozens of volunteers toteach fly tying and casting to thethousands of elementary school stu-dents who attend the annual Wis-consin Outdoor Expo. Every yearthe Outdoor Expo serves about3,000 kids, and about 1,000 of themstop by the TU tent to tie their firstfly or cast a fly rod. A couple yearsago Bob volunteered to be the StateCouncil’s Central Region ViceChair.

In between all this, Bob has beenExecutive Director of the MuskyClubs Alliance for 12 years. Heworks with 25 musky clubs on vari-ous research, education, and muskymanagement projects. A lot of theseactivities are brought to the atten-tion of the general public in a week-ly 20-minute radio program Bobproduces for KFIZ radio in Fond duLac. Bob’s “Outdoor Thursdays”program is one of the most popularshows on KFIZ.

Would it surprise you if we saidthat we’re leaving a lot of Bob’s out-door education and conservation ac-tivities out of this summary? Withall he does, we’re happy that TroutUnlimited gets so much of Bob’stime. Gold Net Award — Rick Kyte

Our Gold Net Award winner isRick Kyte of the Coulee RegionChapter. Rick volunteered as theCoulee Region TU chapter presi-dent from 2007-2010 and was an ac-tive member in the chapter longbefore that. Rick’s nomination forthe Gold Net Award stemmed froman e-mail he sent to fellow memberEric Rauch asking a simple question— “Eric, what’s up with TU?”

In recent years, the CouleeChapter went through some chang-es and had slipped into a state oflimbo. The chapter had only one ortwo meetings a year, and sometimesonly three people showed up. Even-tually the chapter stopped meetingaltogether.

Rick volunteered to be presidentand took the bull by the horns. To-

day the Coulee Chapter is securelyfooted again. The chapter continuesto grow and has again become an

active group. The chapter has com-pleted several habitat improvement

GOLD NET AWARD, CORPORATE SPONSOR OF THE YEAR AWARD, AND CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERSThe State Council’s Gold Net Award was presented to Rick Kyte of the Coulee Region Chapter (top). Tim Landwehr of Tight Lines Fly Fishing Co. in De Pere (middle) was given the council’s first-ever Corporate Sponsor of the Year Award. The Silver Trout Award for the top Wisconsin TU chapter was presented to the Central WI Chapter. Accepting on behalf of CWTU were (l to r) President John Tucker, incoming President Linn Beck, and John Gremmer.

Continued on p. 8


AWARDS: State Council honors 10 at Stevens Point eventContinued from p. 7projects and has taken part in manypublic youth activities.

Rick is also very involved withother community and environmen-tal groups. He is the Director ofEthics and Leadership at ViterboUniversity in La Crosse. He is activein the Mississippi Valley Conservan-cy, the La Crosse Rotary, and the LaCrosse County Conservation Alli-ance.

We thank Rick for all of his dedi-cation to the environment and toconservation. Without him, todaythere might not be a Coulee RegionTU.Corporate Sponsor of the Year — Tight Lines Fly Fishing Co.

We have a brand new award thisyear. We want to recognize the busi-nesses that have been supportive ofthe State Council. Our first winnerin this category is Tight Lines FlyFishing Co. in De Pere and its own-er, Tim Landwehr.

Tight Lines has been a generoussupplier of high-quality items forthe State Council banquet for thepast 10 years. Former banquet chairDan Holland says he didn’t evenhave to ask Tim for a contributionmost years. Tim simply asked,“What do you need for the ban-quet?”

In addition to helping with StateCouncil banquets, Tim organizedand sponsored a movie night in DePere. The proceeds of this movienight were used to fund a part-timeDNR person to work on troutstreams in central Wisconsin. Thiswas truly beyond any expectations,and it demonstrated the magnitude

of Tim’s commitment to Wisconsin’scoldwater resources. For these andother reasons, Tight Lines Fly Fish-ing Company is our first CorporateSponsor of the Year. Resource Professional Award — George Boronow

We have given two ResourceProfessional Awards this year. Thefirst goes to George Boronow.George recently retired as the Fish-eries Supervisor for the DNR’sNortheast Region. The TU chaptersin George’s area wanted to do moretrout habitat work in central andnortheastern Wisconsin. An ideadeveloped to hire seasonal employ-ees to work as limited-term DNRemployees focusing on trout habitatwork. Most of the pay for these em-ployees would come from northeastregion TU chapters.

George supported the idea andbecame the force behind the imple-mentation of the concept. His ef-forts and support are the mainreason the program became a reali-ty.

This summer the program entersits third year. Already several milesof trout water have been improved.George is very deserving of recogni-tion for his efforts to join with TroutUnlimited in this unique partner-ship.Resource Professional Award — Henry Quinlan

Our second Resource Profes-sional Award goes to Henry Quin-lan. Henry has been a fisheriesbiologist with the U.S. Fish & Wild-life Service in Ashland since 1996.As a “fed,” Henry doesn’t have themanagement authority of his statecounterparts. So to conserve, pro-

tect, and enhance depleted coasterbrook trout populations, Henry hasworked for over 15 years to fostercooperation between the various re-source parties involved. Henry hasworked with state, federal, tribal,academic, and non-governmentalpartners to accomplish the follow-ing: • He established a coaster brood

stock management plan andstarted two coaster brook troutbrood lines.

• He spearheaded the stocking ofcoasters at four locations in Wis-consin, Minnesota, and Michi-gan.

• He developed the innovative, so-lar-powered, PIT-tag technologybeing used on Whittlesey Creekto better understanding coastermovement between tributariesand Lake Superior.

• He has authored or co-authoredmany papers and reports thathave expanded our understand-ing of coaster brook trout.Henry will say that he doesn’t

have all the answers for what it willtake to ensure coaster brook troutrebound for future generations. ButHenry’s dedication, commitment,and professionalism will surely helpothers figure out the answers.

Special Appreciation Award — Alistair Stewart

We have a Special AppreciationAward this year for Alistair Stewart.Although Alistair lives in Chicago,his heart is in the Central Sands ar-ea. As a member of the Central Wis-consin Chapter, Alistair is beingrecognized for his recent efforts toraise funds and generate enthusiasm

for habitat work on the Mecan Riv-er.

Alistair got two significant grantsfor CWTU recently from the Trout& Salmon Foundation. One grantwas for $5,000 and the other for$6,000. These grants went even fur-ther because they were matched byCentral Wisconsin TU and Illinois’Elliott Donnelley Chapter. Alistairhas also gotten contributions fromthe Chicago Anglers Club.

Alistair is a CWTU board mem-ber, and he works actively on streamwork projects. He also volunteers atCWTU’s fly fishing school andTroutFest. And keep your ears openfor a possible long-term restorationeffort Alistair is working on withother CWTU members called theCentral Sand Hills Restoration Ini-tiative. If that proposal takes off,Central Wisconsin streams will getsome major habitat improvementattention in coming years. Special Appreciation Award — Fairmount Minerals Co.

We have a final appreciationaward today for a company that hasbecome an extraordinary partner ona major restoration effort on PineCreek in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.It all began when Al Nelson of theWisconsin Sand Division of Fair-mount Minerals contacted AndyLamberson in 2007. Fairmount op-erates a silica sand mine just a cou-ple miles away from the Pine Creekproject. Al was looking for a way forhis employees to fulfill their corpo-rate objective of 40 hours of paidvolunteer time per employee peryear. The Pine Creek project was li-

RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL AND APPRECIATION AWARD WINNERSResource Professional Awards were given to George Boronow of the WDNR (bottom left) and to Henry Quinlan of the US Fish & Wildlife Service (top left).

Receiving Appreciation Awards were Michele Maxson representing Fairmount Minerals Co. (top right) and Alistair Stewart of CWTU (bottom right).

Continued on p. 14


COUNTY MEETING LOCATIONS2011 DNR Spring Hearings

and Wisconsin Conservation CongressMonday, April 11

7:00 p.m. at All Locations

Adams Adams County Courthouse, County Board Room A230, 402 Main Street, Friendship, WI

Ashland Ashland Senior High School, 1900 Beaser, Ashland, WI Barron Old Barron County Courthouse, Lower Level Auditorium, 330 E. La-

Salle Ave., Barron, WI Bayfield Drummond High School Auditorium, 52440 Eastern Ave., Drum-

mond, WI Brown Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (SC132), 2740 W. Mason St.,

Green Bay, WI Buffalo Alma High School Gymnasium, S1618 STH 35, Alma, WI Burnett Burnett County Government Center, Room 165, 7410 County Road K,

Siren, WI Calumet Calumet County Courthouse, Rm. B025, 206 Court Street, ChiltonChippewa Chippewa Falls Middle School Auditorium, 750 Tropicana Blvd.,

Chippewa Falls, WI Clark Greenwood High School Cafeteria, 306 W. Central Ave., Greenwood,

WI Columbia Wayne E. Bartels Middle School, 2505 New Pinery Rd., Portage, WI Crawford Crawford Co. Courthouse, Room 200, 220 N. Beaumont Rd., Prairie

du Chien, WI Dane Schwan Performing Arts Center, Monona Grove High School, 4400

Monona Dr., Monona, WI Dodge Horicon City Hall, 404 E. Lake St., Horicon, WI Door Sturgeon Bay High School Auditorium, 1230 Michigan St., Sturgeon Bay,

WI Douglas Solon Springs High School, 8993 E. Baldwin Ave., Solon Springs, WI Dunn Dunn County Fish and Game Club, 1900 Pioneer Ave., Menomonie, WI Eau Claire South Middle School Auditorium, 2115 Mitscher Ave., Eau Claire,

WI Florence Florence Natural Resource Center, 5631 Forestry Dr., Florence, WI Fond du Lac Theisen Middle School, 525 E Pioneer Rd., Fond du Lac, Wiscon-

sin Forest Crandon High School Auditorium, 9750 US HWY 8 West, Crandon, WI Grant Lancaster High School, Hillary Auditorium, 806 East Elm St., Lancaster,

WI Green Monroe Middle School, 1510 13th Avenue, Monroe, WI Green Lake Green Lake High School, Small Gym, 612 Mill St., Green Lake,

WI Iowa Dodgeville High School Gymnasium, 912 Chapel Street, Dodgeville, WI Iron Iron County Courthouse, 300 Taconite Street, Hurley, WI Jackson Black River Falls Middle School, LGI Room, 1202 Pierce Street, Black

River Falls, WI Jefferson Jefferson County Fair Park Activity Center, 503 N. Jackson, Jeffer-

son, WI Juneau Olson Middle School Auditorium, 508 Grayside Avenue, Mauston, WI Kenosha Bristol Elementary School, 20121 83rd Street, Bristol, WI Kewaunee Kewaunee High School Auditorium, 911 Third Street, Kewaunee,

WI La Crosse Onalaska High School, 700 Hilltopper Place, Onalaska, WI Lafayette Darlington High School Auditorium, 11838 Center Hill Road, Dar-

lington, WI Langlade Antigo High School, Volm Theater, 1900 10th Ave., Antigo, WI Lincoln Tomahawk Elementary School, 1048 East King Road, Tomahawk, WI Manitowoc UW-Manitowoc Theatre/Auditorium, 705 Viebahn Street, Manito-

woc, WI Marathon D.C. Everest Middle School Auditorium, 9302 Schofield Avenue,

Schofield, WI Marinette Crivitz High School Auditorium, 400 South Avenue, Crivitz, WI Marquette Montello High School Community Room, 222 Forest Lane, Montel-

lo, WI Menominee Menominee County Courthouse Basement, Courthouse Lane,

Keshena, WI Milwaukee Nathan Hale High School, 11601 W. Lincoln Ave., West Allis, WI Monroe Tomah Senior High School, Cafeteria, 901 Lincoln Ave., Tomah, WI Oconto Suring High School, Cafeteria, 411 E Algoma St., Suring, WI Oneida James Williams Middle School, Auditorium, 915 Acacia Lane, Rhine-

lander, WI Outagamie Riverview Middle School Auditorium, 101 Oak St., Kaukauna, WI Ozaukee Webster Middle School Commons, W75 N624 Wauwatosa Road, Ce-

darburg, WI Pepin Pepin County Government Center, County Board Room, 740 7th Ave.

West, Durand, WI Pierce Ellsworth Senior High School Auditorium, 323 Hillcrest, Ellsworth, WI Polk Unity High School, 1908 150th St. Hwy 46, Balsam Lake, WI Portage Ben Franklin Junior High School Auditorium, 2000 Polk St., Stevens

Point, WI Price Price County Courthouse Board Room, 126 Cherry St., Phillips, WI Racine Union Grove High School Performance Center, 3433 S. Colony Ave.,

Union Grove, WI Richland Richland County Courthouse, Courtroom, 181 West Seminary, Rich-

land Center, WI Rock Pontiac Convention Center, 2809 N Pontiac Dr., Janesville, WI Rusk Ladysmith High School Auditorium, 1700 E. Edgewood Ave., Ladysmith,

WI Saint Croix St Croix Central High School Commons, 1751 Broadway St., Ham-

mond, WI Sauk UW Baraboo Sauk County, Lecture Hall A4, 1006 Connie Road, Bara-

boo, WI Sawyer Hayward High School Auditorium, 10320 Greenwood Lane, HaywardShawano Shawano Middle School, LGI Room, 1050 S. Union St., Shawano, WI Sheboygan Sheboygan Falls High School Auditorium, 220 Amherst Ave., She-

boygan Falls, WI Taylor Fair Grounds, Multi purpose building, Hwy 64/ Hwy 13, Medford, WI Trempealeau Whitehall City Center, 36245 Park St., Whitehall, WI Vernon Viroqua High School Commons, 100 Blackhawk Drive, Viroqua, WI Vilas St. Germain Elementary School, 8234 Hwy 70 West, Saint Germain, WI Walworth Delavan-Darien High School, 150 Cummings St., Delavan, WI Washburn Spooner Agricultural Research Station, W6646 Hwy 70, SpoonerWashington Washington County Fair Park, 3000 Cty Hwy PV, West Bend, WI Waukesha Waukesha Co. Tech. College, Richard Anderson Ed. Center, 800

Main Street, Pewaukee, WI Waupaca Waupaca High School Auditorium, E 2325 King Rd., Waupaca, WI Waushara Waushara County Court House, 2nd Floor Old Court Rm., 209 S. St.

Marie St., Wautoma, WI Winnebago Webster Stanley Middle School Auditorium, 915 Hazel Street, Osh-

kosh, WI Wood Pittsville High School Auditorium, 5459 Elementary Avenue, Pittsville,

WI

No major trout-related itemsat ‘11 Spring Hearings

There are no major trout-related items up for a vote at the annual WD-NR Spring Hearings and Conservation Congress meetings to be held April11 at locations across the state.

TU members attending the Spring Hearings may want to bring a copy ofthe recently developed Resource Management Guiding Principles (see be-low) to accurately present Wisconsin Trout Unlimited’s position on troutmanagement. These principles were approved at the Feb. 5 State Council an-nual meeting. They were developed by the council’s Resource ManagementCommittee to summarize Wisconsin TU’s position on trout managementand regulations in advance of the WDNR’s 10-year review of the state’s troutregulations.

(Note that the principles do not advocate catch-and-release fishing, acommon misconception about TU).

Trout Resource ManagementGuiding Principles

Wisconsin State Council of Trout UnlimitedAdopted February 5, 2011

Trout Unlimited is a national organization of conservationists and trout anglers dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. The Wis-consin Council of Trout Unlimited supports this mission at local and state levels through dedicated volunteers with a network of 21 chap-ters and over 4,300 members. The Wisconsin State Council of Trout Unlimited is concerned about the future of the coldwater resources of the state. Wisconsin Coldwater ResourcesWisconsin is blessed with an abundance and variety of coldwater re-sources influenced by the diverse geology and a climate that chang-es from south to north, and east to west. There are smaller, more fertile farmland streams in the south, while the north has less fertile forested streams and rivers that support trout. The coldwater re-source includes 2,900 trout streams, hundreds of spring ponds (the highest concentration in the world), many inland lakes, and two Great Lakes that support trout fishing. There are over 10,000 miles of trout streams found in 68 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, with 35 of these counties each having over 100 miles within their borders. Fif-teen counties located along Lakes Michigan and Superior provide for coldwater angling opportunities on their numerous tributaries. Because of this diversity, one uniform fishing regulation or manage-ment action would not be effective across the entire state.Users and Their Economic ImpactTrout fishing in Wisconsin has a multi-billion dollar impact to the economy of the state and supports thousands of small business jobs at gas stations, convenience stores, motels, restaurants, sport shops, and clothing and souvenir stores. Wisconsin is the second most popular fishing destination in the country, trailing only Florida in non-resident fishing license sales. A 2009 study of trout anglers revealed that trout anglers travel from all 50 states to fish trout in the Driftless Area, which includes much of southwest Wisconsin. The annual economic impact from these anglers is 1.1 billion dollars (“Economic Impact of Recreational Trout Angling in the Driftless Ar-ea” http://www.tu.org/driftless). Statewide, approximately 194,000 inland and 175,000 Great Lakes trout anglers annually purchase stamps which generate 3.6 million dollars ear-marked for specific management actions of Wisconsin’s coldwater resources. In addi-tion to trout stamps, anglers support the entire coldwater program through user fees such as fishing licenses and a sporting goods tax, not by general tax payer funds.We Want Good Fishing Made Even Better Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources’ trout management program has been a national leader for over 50 years, and the Wis-consin Council of Trout Unlimited is committed to see that Wisconsin continues to build upon that heritage by following these guiding principles:

• Continue to manage first for native and wild trout.• Continue the practice of science-based trout management. • Support opportunities to harvest trout by a variety of fishing

methods which are well-matched to the potential size and car-rying capacity of individual coldwater resources.

• Support a variety of opportunities to fish over populations of trout whose size potential is not adversely affected by harvest.

• Support the simplification of trout regulations when reasonable and consistent with these principles.

• Support educational opportunities concerning trout regula-tions and management.

April 2011

Chapter News

Wisconsin Trout

Aldo Leopold Chapter

At our January chapter electionsthere were two changes to theboard. First, after years of service,Cody Doucette stepped down fromthe board. Many thanks to Cody forall of his help and efforts over theyears. The other change is that TimHood has joined the board. Thank

you, Tim, for stepping forward tohelp the chapter. The other boardmembers and officers remain thesame.

We just finished our fly tyingclass at the Beaver Dam CommunityLibrary. A great group of studentshelped make the class a success, and

instructors Todd Franklin, JerryGorman, and I did a great job lead-ing the students through the fine artof winding hackle and dubbing bod-ies. I am already looking forward tonext year’s classes.

On January 18 we held a meetingin Baraboo to discuss our BearCreek habitat improvement project.We brought together all the variousparties to the project — the land-owner, the DNR, Sauk County LandConservation Department, SaukCounty Zoning Department, NRCS,UW Extension, and our contractor,Holtz Lime and Gravel. The pur-pose was to review all facets of theproject, determine potential road-blocks and how to remove them, dis-cuss funding and work scheduling,and any other issues that mightarise. The meeting was a great suc-cess, with many questions answeredand issues resolved. The coopera-tion we are receiving from all ofthese entities and people is phe-nomenal, and we really couldn’t suc-ceed without all the help we arereceiving.

We received big funding news onour Bear Creek project in February.After a very competitive review pro-cess, our project received $8,000from the Trout Unlimited Embrace-a-Stream program! Grant writerTom Gawle penned a truly award-winning application, and our BearCreek project team did a great jobcritiquing and refining the applica-tion. It is truly gratifying to receivethis vote of support from TU Na-tional.

In early March we received addi-tional big news on Bear Creek. OurWHIP contract proposal was fullyfunded at just over $48,000! TonyPillow of NRCS in Baraboo wentthe extra two miles writing up thecontract proposal, really digging forevery point possible in the scoringcriteria. It paid off. Thank you, To-ny!

Brent Bergstrom of Sauk CountyLand Conservation Department se-cured $10,000 in county funds forthe project, and Dan Fuller fromDNR secured $16,000 in trout stampmoney. All told, including chapterfunds, we now have about $103,000of the $131,000 we need to completethe project. We hope to fill the re-maining fund gap in the next fewmonths.

Our first Bear Creek lunker-building day will be June 11. We willbe partnering with SEWTU onbuilding the 44 lunkers needed forthe project.

We are also having a workdayApril 22 on Dell Creek in SaukCounty. If you are interested in join-ing us, contact Todd Franklin, work-day chair, at (608) 516-3647.

Our chapter fund-raising picnicwill be held June 22 at 5 p.m. atHabermann Park in Lodi. Many re-ally great prizes await those who at-tend. The grand prize is a Sage VT24wt rod with reel and line worthover $600. Join us for great food andgreat company.—Mike Barniskis

Antigo Chapter

Well, here we go. It’s March andthe forecast is for more snow. In NEWisconsin we can still use the water,but we’re looking forward to spring.A couple of Antigo TU membersand I had the pleasure of attendingthe State Council banquet in Febru-ary. A great time was had by all, andit sounds like the event was a bigsuccess.

Like other TU chapters, we arein the mist of getting ready for ourannual banquet. Our banquet willbe held on Sat., March 26 at theKnights of Columbus Hall in Anti-go. We’re looking forward to a greatbanquet this year. Of interest, wewill be raffling a three-animal SouthAfrica hunting trip to the lucky win-ner.

We hope to have a great banquetto help fund the $7,400 in pledges

for the coming summer projects.These projects include funding forbeaver control in the Nicolet Na-tional Forest, fuel cost for the DNRdredge that will be working on Car-bone Springs this summer, our por-tion of the two-man summer workcrew in NE Wisconsin, and somenew equipment for our area DNRpersonnel.

We are also looking at the firstSaturday in June to hold our KidsFishing Day. It’s always a fun dayfor us and the kids. I’ll let you knowif a special dream comes true for thedid’s day.

Finally we’re also looking at aproject on the outlet stream at TroutSprings in southern LangladeCounty.—Scott Henricks

Central Wisconsin Chapter

CWTU approved a chapter con-centrated animal feeding operation(CAFO) position at the Januaryboard meeting. This position paperwas distributed for feedback at theFebruary 5 State Council meeting.

Project Healing Waters fly tyingclasses resumed in January aftertaking a break for the holidaymonths. Contact John Tucker fordetails.

Once again, Ira Giese organizedand led the Master Fly Tying classesfor five sessions in January and Feb-ruary. Each evening a guest expertpresented his favorite flies. As usu-al, the classes were filled to capacity.

Programs Chair Bob Smaglik ar-ranged a program about caddis fliesthat was presented immediately fol-lowing the January board meeting.As with last year’s Night of the Hexpresentation, the attendance wasvery good despite bad weather.

The chapter donated $500 worthof books and DVDs about fly fishingto the Winnefox Library System.This is the second year that we havedone this under the leadership ofJohn Gremmer.

The chapter was well represent-ed at the State Council Banquetwhere we were awarded the SilverTrout Award for best chapter. BobHaase received the Gold TroutAward, and Alistair Stewart re-ceived a Special AppreciationAward. David Seligman was the MCand auctioneer. Scott Gradybrought our very nice chapter dis-play that he built for the occasion.

TroutFest ‘11 was February 26 atthe Fin ‘N Feather restaurant inWinneconne. There were 10 semi-nars, 20 fly tying demonstrators,youth fly tying, raffles, rummagesales, and numerous displays. Onceagain it was a very successful all-day

ALDO LEOPOLD FLY TYINGInstructor Jerry Gorman (left) shows Curt Deboer a few tricks during a recent Aldo Leopold fly tying event at the Beaver Dam Community Library.

April 2011

Chapter News

Wisconsin Trout

event. Contact Bob Smaglik formore information about this annualevent.

The March 21 board meeting atthe Fin ‘N Feather was followed by apresentation about invasive species.Laura McFarland of the River Alli-ance was the presenter.

Here are some upcoming eventsOur annual Casting Clinic will

be April 18 at Marble Park in Win-neconne. This is an excellent oppor-tunity to learn casting or improveyour techniques. Casting Clinic Di-rector is Russ Bouck.

This year’s first River Keepersorganization meeting will be April19 at the Fin ‘N Feather in Winne-

conne. Contact John Gremmer orJim Murphy for more details.

Following the May 17 boardmeeting will be a program about ourstream workday plans. Linn Beck isstream workdays chair.

The CWTU’s 35th Annual FlyFishing School will be June 3-5 atCamp LuWiSoMo near Wild Rose.Dan Harmon III is the school direc-tor.

We invite everyone to visit ourwebsite at www.cwtu.org for infor-mation about all our activities, flypatterns, and personal contact infor-mation.—John Tucker

Coulee Region Chapter

Things are beginning to thaw inthe Coulee Region, and by the timethis update reaches you, we will beknee deep in the early trout season.Now is the time to start planning toattend the first annual Coon CreekTrout Fest set for July 23 in CoonValley! Things are heating up for theevent, with national sponsors suchas Winston and Simms and newbooths from the Custom RodsBuilders Guild and Broken LineArt. Of course, there is always therumor of a few hungry fish in the ar-ea! After a day of trout, fly fishing,food, and fun, pull up a chair, grab abeverage, and listen to the sounds oflive music into the night!

We are currently contacting com-panies and individuals who may beinterested in joining as a sponsor,having booth space, or helping outat the event. We recently receivedword that the WI Department ofTourism has awarded us a grant forevent advertising, allowing us to ex-pand the reach of our campaign andcapture additional interest. This willbe an incredible event to promoteboth TU and environmental- andoutdoor-focused companies.

If you are interested in partici-pating in this new event, have ideas,or would like to volunteer at theevent, please see our website atcooncreektroutfest.com and con-tact me directly via e-mail [email protected].

Our chapter has been quite busyduring these months away from thewater, too. In January we teamed upwith Viterbo University to screenthe film Red Gold which explores thebattle over a proposed gigantic pitmine in the Bristol Bay region ofAlaska. Jeff Skrede and Curt Olsonare both residents of the Bristol Bayarea and were also in attendance togive a first-had account of what thismine could do to harm the rich bio-logical resources found there.

Our chapter’s annual banquetwas held February 25, and we had abig turnout, delicious food, fabulousprizes, and lots of talk about the up-coming season. Former CRTU Pres-ident Rick Kyte was our keynotespeaker, and he told some great sto-ries about fishing, camaraderie, andfamily. —Eric Rauch

Fox Valley Chapter

The winter months have been abusy time for the Fox Valley Chap-ter.

Our January chapter meeting inrecent years has been a presentationby one of the instructor chefs andseveral students in the CulinaryArts program at Fox Valley Techni-cal College. This year the studentsin Chef John’s Apprentice Chef Pro-gram presented a very informativeprogram detailing the preparationof Southern Fried Trout, SmokedTrout Chowder, and a great CajunTartar Sauce. All of that was toppedoff with an Apple Cherry Crisp. Ev-eryone in attendance was again im-pressed with the thoroughpresentations and the ability of thestudents to answer our questions.We are now planning for the thirdThursday of January in 2012 for an-other program at FVTC.

Our February meeting was theannual “Funnite” event that washeld at Sabre Lanes. The main pur-pose of the evening event is to intro-duce people, in particularyoungsters, to the activity of fishingand to TU. John Nebel and LynnAnn Sauby organize fly tyers fordemonstrations and another groupof tyers to work with kids in a “TyingCorral.” The children had an oppor-tunity to tie their own fly, learn a bitabout the environment, and just hada good time with mom and dad on awinter evening. One young man,Noah Krueger, won the Scientific

Angler rod/reel combination thatwas donated by John Nebel.

Our chapter fundraiser, CabinFever Day, was held on March 19 atWaverly Beach on Lake Winneba-go. The guest presenters for the dayincluded Charlie Chlysta, Bill Sher-er, Tim Landwehr, Jim Oates, JerryDarkes, and Tom Young. The bucketraffles, silent auctions, fly tyers,DNR booths, tackle reps, guides,and suppliers made the event a suc-cessful fundraiser for our chapter.In the evening we had a supperevent that included a presentationby Bob White. Scott Grady built anddonated a beautiful cane rod thatwe were able to use as the mainfundraiser for the day. The cane rodraffle was very successful, and theprofits will be used for many of thechapter programs.

Our chapter has a number ofstream work projects planned start-ing in April and running throughnext fall. Jim Hlaban has arrangedfor additional opportunities for ourchapter to work with a group ofyoung people from Rawhide’sAbout Face Program again this year.We will also try a couple of mid-week Habitat Evenings this sum-mer in an attempt to have chaptermembers who cannot meet onweekends take part in the streamprojects. Please check our website atwww.foxvalleytu.org for informationdealing with times and locations.Please consider joining us on these

Habitat Days and at monthly pro-grams.

This winter has been a long one,and many of us are looking forwardto some early season fishing, plan-ning for the regular season, and pos-sibly organizing trips to other parts

of the country. Enjoy the beauty ofGod’s streams, creeks, and lakes,and as our late chapter presidentTony Treml would close his columns,“We’ll see you on a trout stream.”—Rich Erickson

Frank Hornberg Chapter

The Frank Hornberg Chapterhad three very successful generalmeetings during the winter season.

On January 13 Daniel Boggsspoke on fly fishing in Argentina.Dan gave an attractive presentationof what a prospective fly fisher canexpect in Argentine waters.

Tim Landwehr, owner of TightLines Fly Fishing Company in DePere, spoke on Feb. 10. His topicwas fly fishing for trophy small-mouth bass. Members of the audi-ence were impressed with the basspictures and videos, especially theunderwater video of a bass catchinga crayfish.

Brian Porter had the main pre-sentation at the final general meet-ing on March 10. Brian is fromMusky Country Outfitters, a com-pany known for their fully outfittedfly fishing float trips for musky,smallmouth bass, northern pike,trout, and walleye in and aroundHayward.

At this final meeting the chapteralso had a raffle in which the grandprize was a Musky Country Outfit-ters guided trip. Our thanks to allthree of our speakers — Dan, Timand Brian — for entertaining us andexpanding our knowledge of fly fish-ing. All three are fishing guidesright here in Wisconsin, and wehighly recommend their services.

The chapter also had three fly ty-ing workshops. All of them werewell attended by people tying and

people watching. We thank, in par-ticular, chapter members BrianClancey of the Stone Lion in Custerand Gene Schulfer of Shooters Sup-per Club in Plover for making theirfacilities available for the two eve-ning workshops in January andMarch. The Portage County PublicLibrary in Stevens Point was the lo-cation for the daytime family work-shop in February.

Our first work event of the yearwas on Saturday, March 5. Twentychapter members and students fromthe Fisheries Society at UW-StevensPoint assembled in-stream struc-tures. The event was organized byWDNR fisheries technician JasonSpaeth. The structures will beplaced in the Tomorrow River aspart of a USDA/WDNR rehabilita-tion project bordering the ChuckEgle property downstream of Am-herst. An assembly line made thework go faster, and all participantsenjoyed a lunch of hamburgers,beans, potato chips, and soft drinks.

The Hornberg Chapter’s 2011Fly Fishing School will be on theweekend of May 20-22. This popu-lar weekend event includes person-alized instruction, food, andlodging, all for a very reasonableprice. Information and an applica-tion blank are available on our web-site at www.hornbergtu.org. Clickon “Fly Fishing Workshop.” —John Vollrath

Green Bay Chapter

The Green Bay Chapter, havingplanned and executed another verysuccessful fund-raising banquet, isnow planning the most effective us-es for these funds on behalf of ourcoldwater resources.

Toward this end, we have com-mitted money for the US Forest Ser-vice for beaver control and habitat

restoration. We have also designat-ed funds to go to the DNR for habi-tat improvement and the hiring ofLTEs to perform in-stream work.Additionally, Work Project ChairLee Meyers is planning an ambitioussummer work project schedule.

Continued on p. 12

IT WON’T BITE ME, WILL IT?Youngster Harrison Boggs holds a fly made by Wyatt Bohm during the Frank Hornberg family fly tying workshop at the Portage County Public Library in Stevens Point on Feb. 19.

John

Vol

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April 2011

Chapter News

Wisconsin Trout

Continued from p. 11We are planning more work on oureducational trout stream project atthe Brown County ReforestationCamp and streams such as the 1stSouth Branch of the Oconto andRound Creek.

We will also join the US ForestService for a day’s work on a streamin the Laona district. We will be

partnering with the Oconto Riverand Marinette chapters in workingon these streams.

Finally, we are funding sponsor-ships for students to attend conser-vation camps, teaching fly casting tovarious groups, and staging our pop-ular Kid’s Fishing Day at the IzaakWalton League Pond in Green Bay. —Gary Stoychoff

Harry & Laura Nohr Chapter

This year’s annual meeting wasMarch 27 at the Stonefield Apart-ments in Dodgeville. Special guestsat the meeting will be UW-Platte-ville interns who will be presentingan update on the progress of theirwork. This meeting is always an en-joyable time to catch up with oldfriends and meet new ones.

Our 2011 annual banquet is Fri-day, May 6 at the Dodger Bowl inDodgeville. Doors opens at 6 anddinner will be at 7. Our grand raffleprize is a $500 Cabela’s gift certifi-cate. Expect lots of family-oriented

prizes, raffles, and fun. Dinner tick-ets are $30 for adults and $15 forthose under 18. Contact GordonGrieshaber at (608) 987-2190 fortickets or questions.

Our planned 2011 stream proj-ects include about 1.3 miles of SixMile Branch and possibly somework on Big Spring. Six MileBranch runs into the Blue River. BigSpring runs into Six Mile Branch.Both streams are a few miles WNWof Highland.—Brian Larson

Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter

It is on a sad note that I reportone of our founding members, Rog-er Fairbanks, passed away on Feb-ruary 23. Roger held the Kiapexecutive secretary position and wasrecognized by TU National for hisconservation efforts. He was also avery active community member inHudson for many years. The com-munity will surely miss him.

The chapter spent a day burningbrush on Parker Creek with theDNR as we get set to do somestream work on Parker. Tom Hen-derson provided a wonderful lunchof chili, hot dogs, and hot cider.

We are also gearing up to finalizeour Pine Creek project, which hasyielded tremendous results in troutpopulations due to the habitat im-

provement. The in-depth analyticalstream work done by board memberKent Johnson was vital to this work,and it is a real testament to his sci-entific prowess. Kent will be leavingthe board this month, and I want tothank him personally for his involve-ment. I know of no one who has do-ne more work in the field for Kiap-TU-Wish than him. Thanks, Kent.

The Tom Helgeson Midwest Fly-fishing Expo will be held April 1-3in Blaine, MN at the NationalSports Center. I hope TUers fromaround the state can make it up tothe Twin Cities.

The chapter is looking to possi-bly perform work on a semi-urbantributary to the Kinnickinnic Rivercalled Rocky Branch. The feedercreek is very overgrown and runsmostly through a city park ravine.There is currently a decent troutpopulation which would only im-

prove with the stream work.Chapter members Tom Hender-

son, Greg Meyer, and Kyle Amund-son were slated to attendTUDARE’s Stream RestorationWorkshop in Westby. I am trulylooking forward to this, and I hopeto meet many new faces there.

Our strategic planning commit-tee, led by Duke Welter, has drafteda plan that Kiap hopes to ultimatelymodel its goals after. The outlinewas very detailed and comprehen-sive. Great job!

Our Rush River Cleanup will beheld April 23. It will once again willbe coordinated by Sarah Sanford.This year will certainly be a chal-lenge after the deluge we receivedat the end of last summer. Sarah haswarned us to expect anything andeverything in the river this year. —Kyle Amundson

Marinette County Chapter

The Marinette County Chapterconcluded its annual four-weektrout fishing educational programon March 8. The classes were con-ducted by Dale Lange with helpfrom Doug Erdmann and otherchapter members. Basic trout habi-tat and feeding information wasprovided, along with a session onbasic fly tying. The final session in-volved basic fly casting at the Mari-nette Civic Center tennis dome.Attendance averaged 25 people.

At the February meeting, our re-vised chapter bylaws were approvedand plans for the upcoming fund-raising banquet were discussed.

Our annual banquet will be April25 at Schussler’s in Peshtigo. Infor-mation and tickets may be obtainedfrom Dale Lange at [email protected] or (715) 582-1135.

Following our February meeting,member Doug Erdmann presenteda program on the Driftless Area inWisconsin.

The March meeting featuredChef Bernie Meintz of Schussler’swho discussed proper cleaning,preparation, and cooking of variousfishes. —Steve Wilke

Northwoods Chapter

Our 37th Annual Banquet willbe April 16 at Rhinelander’s Holi-day Acres Resort. Call Brian Heggefor tickets at (715) 482-2898 or visitMel’s Trading Post in Rhinelander.

Thank you Paul Tornow and LeeKuepper from Alaska’s Angling Ad-diction for coming to speak afterour February meeting. It was greatfun!—Hannah Hansen

Oconto River Chapter

The Oconto River Chapter con-tinues working on trout habitat,classroom teaching, and our magnif-icent obsession with larger brooktrout. Our banquets have recoveredto the reasonable range from thedecline of recent years.

We do collaborative stream proj-ects with several chapters:

the First South Branch of theOconto, Main South Br. Oconto,and McCaslin Brook with GreenBay TU,

the Evergreen and Nine MileCreek with Wolf River TU, and

Sparta Creek with Fox ValleyTU.

We got into this way of doingthings when habitat projects andpermits were scarce because ofshifting government oversight per-sonnel, and it has worked well forus. We get more done working withbigger crews, get exposed to morestreams, and enjoy the company.

We have working arrangementswith the Oconto, Oconto Falls, Anti-go, Lena, and Gillett schools. We

provide chilled aquariums and fer-tile trout eggs for their biology class-es to raise. We do classroom talkson:• he nature of a trout stream,• trout spring ponds, and• searching for bigger brook trout.

If you can use a PowerPoint witha note sheet, let us know.

We had a biologist from Shawa-no, Chip Long from the PeshtigoDNR, and Tom Moris of the LaonaFish and Wildlife office of the Nico-let National Forest pay us a visit.They discussed their experiencesand suggested areas where we mightwant to help their work. We recentlysecured the first stream easementfor Shawano County, where ease-ments have been hard to get.

We will be recruiting volunteersto do a creel census the openingweekend and later on at McGeeLake in Langlade County this May.We will be on the net with otherchapters on this.—Bob Obma

Shaw-Paca Chapter

The only trout fishing going onup here as of early March will be icefishing. At this time we are prepar-ing for our annual banquet at theNorthwinds Hall in Marion onApril 7. Tickets are available. Send

me a check for $30 to PO Box 446,Marion, WI 54950 if you want to at-tend.

We are sponsoring a ColdwaterResearch Grant for two UW-Ste-vens Point students — Ben Kissing-

251 State StreetMadison, WI(608) 257-5043(800) 257-7666www.FontanaSports.com

Visit our web site for our fishing report:www.FontanaSports.com

Summer

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Spring is here. Bluewing Olives are hatching and steelhead are running.

Time to see us, gear up, and go fishing!

Visit our west side fly fishing department:231 Junction RoadMadison, WI(608) 833-9191“Next to Target”

April 2011

Chapter News

Wisconsin Trout

er of Mosinee and Mitchell Olds ofKimberly. Ben is majoring in fisher-ies and Mitchell is studying water-shed management.

We have finished our annual flytying class under the direction ofchapter member and master tyerJerry Weatherwax. Attendanceranged from 10-15 students weekly.We are offering sponsorships for

two high school students to the Cen-tral Wisconsin Environmental Sta-tion for the Careers in NaturalResources or Becoming an OutdoorLeader camps.

We are also going to offer asponsorship to the Timbertop Campat Glacier Hollow for students withlearning disabilities. —Lee Kersten

Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter

SEWTU’s February meeting fea-tured Erik Helm, fishing supervisorfrom Milwaukee’s Orvis Store. Hetalked about Milwaukee-areastreams’ migratory fish runs, notablyfor steelhead, salmon, and browntrout. Given our chapter’s location,this talk was very well received, andit appears that a few more anglerswill be out on the water this springarmed with superior knowledgeabout how to catch chromers. SEW-TU’s January all-chapter meetingfeatured Jim Pippel who spokeabout constructing bamboo rods.He gave a great PowerPoint pro-gram covering everything from bam-boo culm selection to guidewrapping. We thank Jim for drivingup from Illinois to speak to us.

Our March meeting had TimLandwehr of Tight Lines Fly Shopin De Pere present tips for catchingmonster smallmouth bass. OurMarch meeting also featured ourraffle prize drawing from SEWTU’sbooth at this year’s Milwaukee Jour-nal Sentinel Sports Show.

Our April 26 meeting will featureMat Wagner of the Driftless AnglerFly Shop in Viroqua. Mat has be-come something of a regular springspeaker for SEWTU. This year he’sdiscussing going big, going deep,and going heavy for big trout. Thispromises to be a great presentation,full of information you won’t wantto miss.

Also in April, SEWTU will haveits bi-annual elections, with a newslate of officers being elected. If youwould like to be a part of decidingwho leads SEWTU heading for-ward, this is a very important meet-ing to attend.

Finally, in our last meeting be-fore our summer send-off, SEW-TU’s May 24 meeting will featuremember travelogues. This was oneof our best-received meetings lastyear and featured 10-minute Power-Point presentations from our mem-bers’ fishing adventures. Last yearwe covered the UP, Milwaukee’stributaries, Utah, and northernMilwaukee tributaries. Some ofwhat was presented was even some-what true! If you would like to give apresentation, contact Henry Koltzto reserve your slot [email protected].

On our workday front, the twoworkdays planned over the winterwere both cancelled due to inclem-ent weather. The work planned onAllenton and Scuppernong creekswill be rescheduled. Wisconsinweather — gotta’ love it.

We’ll host our annual MilwaukeeRiver Cleanup headed by chapterstalwart John Knitter on Saturday,April 16. This workday will be onthe Menomonee River as part of ourcommitment to the MenomoneeRiver concrete removal project thatis now funded and slated to com-mence this summer. We will meetnear Miller Park. For more details,visit www.sewtu.org. As always, we’llwork from 9 a.m. to about Noon.

On May 21 SEWTU will head

back to the Southern District of theKettle Moraine where we’ll workwith the DNR installing biologs atScuppernong Creek. As most know,this is a great continuing projectwhich has created nearly half a mileof newly fishable brook trout water.Stop on out and be a part of thisgreat project.

On June 11 SEWTU will lend aidto the Aldo Leopold Chapter andhelp build a significant number oflunker structures for use at theirnew Bear Creek project. We’ll sur-round this workday with a fishingouting, so if you’d like to get out into the Driftless Area, help completea large-scale restoration project,and in general have a great time,mark this date down! As always,we’ll work from 9 to Noon.

SEWTU also anticipates havingworkdays on July 16 and Aug. 20.The locations of these workdays isstill being firmed up.

On Sept.17 SEWTU will returnto Van Slyke Creek in Fontana foranother workday. Van Slyke Creekis the subject of long-running work-day between SEWTU and theBlackhawk Chapter.

On our education front, we haverecently completed our regularyearly community fly tying series atCabela’s. This year’s classes ranfrom January 19 to February 23 atthe Richfield store location. Someclasses featured upwards of 20 par-ticipants, and SEWTU thanks all ofour members who volunteered withthe classes.

Over the weekend of March 12,SEWTU, manned its annual out-reach and membership booth at theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel SportsShow. Under the leadership ofChuck Beeler, SEWTU reached outto over 100,000 attendees at thisevent, spreading TU’s mission ofconserving, protecting, and restor-ing coldwater resources.

We also ran our annual raffle atthis event. All funds raised, as withall of our fundraising efforts, will goright back in to our chapter’s activi-ties and projects.

SEWTU’s next education eventis our regular Youth Fishing Dayevent at Sandy Knoll CommunityPark in West Bend on April 16.SEWTU will co-lead this event,which regularly sees hundreds ofchildren and parents get exposed tofishing and the outdoors. This is avery important event for us. Anyoneinterested in doing something trulygood should mark down this dateand contact either Chris Weber orHenry Koltz for more details.

On our Project Healing Watersfront, Coordinator Mike Kuhr isjoined by Al Dalfanso, Joe Valcoun,Herb Oechler, Jim Wierzba, JohnKnitter, Zoan Kulinski, and othersteaching fly tying classes as the Mil-waukee Veterans Administration.

Recently, our PHW crew hasshelved fly tying lessons and begunproviding rod building instructionsas part of a national competition.

With respect to our ongoing

Project Healing Waters program,Mike and his band of volunteershave now completed multiple fish-ing outings with VA Project HealingWater attendees, one at LakeshoreState Park and others local fishingponds. If you have rods, vices, or ty-ing equipment that you’d be willingto donate for use at this or our otheryouth-related events, please contactHenry Koltz.

On our membership front, SEW-TU held a special membershipevent at Pat Ehler’s The Fly Fishersin Greenfield on St. Patty’s Day. Theevent featured raffles, fly tyingdemonstrations, and a donation toSEWTU for every sale made.

Also on the membership front,SEWTU was named Cooperator ofthe Year for 2011 by the WDNR forall of the work our members havedone supporting the DNR and itsprojects at multiple locations acrosssouthern Wisconsin. The award pre-sentation was made on March 2 inWisconsin Dells as part of the WD-NR’s annual fisheries meeting.

On our fund-raising front, SEW-TU volunteers ran this year’s StateCouncil Banquet. The event wasvery successful, raising over $17,000for the State Council. As the guywho pressed most of our membersinto service on this and ensured

them they would not have to domore at the event other than runtheir select component of the event,I want to say THANK YOU to all.You’ve always done more thanasked, it’s incredible of you, and theState Council is now better off fi-nancially as a result. You’ve left alasting mark, and my words won’t dojustice to the effort you put in.Thank you again.

This April I’ll be done as theleader of this ragtag, motley crew. Iwant to say thanks to all of SEWTUand WITU’s members for a greatride. The metrics are easy to recite.Over the past several years we’vewon everything from WisconsinChapter of the Year (the SilverTrout) to TU National’s Chapter ofthe Year Award. Our chapter hasbeen named as Heroes of Conserva-tion by Field & Stream magazine,and now we’ve been named as Co-operator of the Year by the WDNR.

Our members have put in tens ofthousands of volunteer hours atworkdays, education events, fund-raising events, and membershipevents. It’s been a complete honorto serve as your leader. You deserveevery accolade you’ve received, andyour actions are inspiring. Keep itup.—Henry Koltz

Southern Wisconsin Chapter

SWTU hit the new year runningwith our fantastically enjoyable (andsuccessful!) Icebreaker event. Ourguest speakers, Jerry Hubka andRick Takahashi, co-authored Mod-ern Midges: Tying and Fishing theWorld’s Most Effective Patterns. Theyshowcased great fishing advice andinnovative fly tying techniques withskill and humor.

We were also very pleased tohave Mat Wagner of the DriftlessAngler speak on “Drag is Not Evil.”Everybody left with some new tech-niques or flies to tie! The event itselfraised nearly $8,000 for our coldwa-ter restoration and education ef-forts.

We also held our annual NashWilliams Banquet, a lovely eveningof great food and warm camarade-rie. At the banquet, our chapter pre-

sented awards to several verydeserving individuals:• Jim Kanvik — Service Volun-

teer,• Jim Gentry — Education Lead-

ership,• Topf Wells — Conservation, and• Henry Haugley — Award of

Merit.We are so very pleased and

proud to have these fine conserva-tionists making a difference in ourchapter and the region.

Looking ahead, we are very ex-cited about our workday party onSaturday, April 30. Dennis Presser,workday chair, is coordinating withother organizations on a large, coor-dinated workday to make a differ-ence on a number of local streams.

Continued on p. 14

SEWTU RECEIVES EXTERNAL PARTNER AWARD FROM WDNRWisconsin’s SEWTU Chapter and Illinois’ Gary Borger Chapter were awarded WDNR External Partner Awards for their work on recent restoration projects on Paradise Springs, the Scuppernong River, and Genesee Cr. in Waukesha County. Henry Koltz of SEWTU (at podium) thanked the WDNR for the award.

April 2011

Chapter News

Wisconsin Trout

Continued from p. 13This will be a major event, and weare looking for assistance from any-one, anywhere. Please visit swtu.organd check the latest newsletter orour chapter calendar for more infor-mation on what is happening andwho you can contact for more infor-mation. We can use you!

Be sure to check out our onlinechapter calendar at www.swtu.org.

There you’ll find all of our activitiesand events, including details of our and events, including details of ourAnnual Casting Clinic set for April16 at Salmo Pond located just offHwy. 14 west of Cross Plains. Thisevent is free and everyone is invitedto come learn about casting, bugs,gear, reading the water, and more! —Drew Kasel

Wild Rivers Chapter

The news from Wild Riverscountry includes election results. Ina landslide, Dick Berge took thechapter presidency. Rolland Kiel isvice president, Jim Emerson is trea-surer, and Dan Bloomquist is secre-tary. New board members includeGary Burkhardt, Donovan Dums,and Dan Bloomquist.

Most of the headlines here inWild Rivers country have to do withthe progress, or lack thereof, of thetwo projects that seek to bring de-velopment and a threat to area troutstreams. Bill Heart briefed the StateCouncil on the iron mining develop-ment proposed for the Penokee andGogebic ranges in Ashland and Ironcounties. The Bad River WatershedAssociation is working to keep in-terested groups involved and in-formed. The regulatory process,once begun, is expected to take 5-7years. However, some membersthink that in the current political cli-mate, this process may be accelerat-ed.

While the chapter has not takenaction on the issue, the fly-in resi-dential development known as Way-point has been a major concern.The proposal includes a 3,000-footrunway, 20 hangers, and 20-100homes, all sited in the headwatersarea of Pikes Creek in northernBayfield County. Pikes Creek is aclass I trout stream with lots of pub-lic land. It is the site of the Les Voi-ght hatchery and one of the fewremaining quality estuaries on LakeSuperior. On February 24, the Bay-field County Board of Adjustmentoverturned a conditional use permit

for the project. Thanks to ShariEggleson and the group of area resi-dents who have fought this projectsince 2008. The protection of thewetlands and the potential harm tothe water quality were importantreasons for overturning the earlierdecisions. While the fight to protectthe Pikes Creek watershed is expect-ed to continue, many residents andother Pikes Creek fans are savoringthis victory.

Our annual Fishing Expo & Auc-tion will be held at the NorthernGreat Lakes Visitor Center in Ash-land on April 9. The first auctionwas held way back in 2003. The in-spiration for this event came fromthe Southern Wisconsin Chapter.The program will include presenta-tions by Damian Wilmot of the Flyby Night Guide Service and RogerLaPenter. Damian is a member andhas many years of experience guid-ing on the Brule River. He willspeak on guiding and fishing thenorth country.

Roger has supported chapter ac-tivities throughout our history. Heplans to speak on fishing Chequa-megon Bay. Roger suggested thatthe chapter return to serving chilimade with quality ingredients. DukeWelter has served as MC and auc-tioneer for most of the events, butwill not be available this year. Hisservices will be missed, and we arediligently searching for a replace-ment. Thanks to Henry Haugley andMark Maffitt for their annual tripnorth to help Wild Rivers with thisevent. —Chuck Campbell

Wisconsin Clear Waters

We had hint of spring and thencruel Father Winter just slammed usback down under another foot ofsnow! By the time you read this I ex-pect that many members of WITUwill have officially made a fishingtrip as part of the 2011 early troutseason. I know that mousies are notlegal in the early season, but I’m notsure about tip-ups.

Our own John “Duke” Welter re-ceived the WITU Resource Award ofMerit at this year’s Annual Banquetin Stevens Point. Congratulations,Duke!

We have a group of chaptermembers heading out to the Big-horn River soon.

We will have members at Cotton-wood Camp from about March 27till April 2. Let us know if any otherWITUers are making the trip Westaround that time.

A Driftless Area camping/fish-ing trip is scheduled for May 20-22.

We recently submitted a grantproposal through the USFWSwhich, if successful, could go a longways toward funding a number oflocal projects for the next two years.

Instructors Jeff Bartynski andTom Morgan wrapped up their an-nual beginners fly tying class onMarch 3. This was a six-week classheld at Gander Mountain in EauClaire.

Our fly fishing course at UW-EauClaire is scheduled for April 4 andApril 6 this year.

Finally, our chapter’s annualFund-raising Banquet will be April14. Sponsor Chair Steve Josephsonis mailing out the sponsorship letterthis week.—Tim Meyer

Wisconsin River Valley Chapter

Another long, snowy winter ishopefully coming to an end. With it,the early C&R trout season hasopened, and the regular season justover a month away. But Februarywas a busy month for our chapter.

Our February meeting featured apresentation by Lee Kuepper andPaul Tornow from Alaska’s AnglingAddiction. You can visit their web-site at www.alaskasanglingaddic-tion.com. They gave a veryinformative talk on the fishing inAlaska, particularly within the Ke-nai Peninsula. Besides the famoussalmon and rainbow trout fishing,they showed photos of gigantic slob-bering northern pike, which wasquite a surprise. They also provideda solid understanding of the PebbleMine issue that is so critical to notjust those who live in Alaska, but toall those who could be affected bythis type of mining.

On Feb. 18-20 we had a booth atthe first-ever Central WisconsinSport Show held at the Patriot Cen-ter in Cedar Creek between Wausauand Mosinee. The event was well at-tended, and we let the public knowwhat exactly TU is and what ourchapter does. We also helped nu-

merous kids tie their first fly. A bigthanks to Linda Lehman, JohnMeachen, Bob Pills, Mike Pierce,Gene Koshak, Doug Brown, and An-nika Brown (my eight-year-olddaughter) for participating at thebooth.

February 27 found us at an icefishing contest to support Cross-ways Camp. This event was held onMission Lake in SE MarathonCounty. The event helped raisemoney for the facility. Thanks toLinda Lehman, Henry Kanemoto,and John Meachen for helping atthe event. Abut 50 people attendedthe event.

We are putting the final toucheson our 2011 Annual Banquet, whichwill be held at Memories Ballroomin Marathon on Sat., April 9. Tick-ets are available by contacting BrianMarnholz at [email protected].

Our monthly meetings are heldthe second Monday of each monthat Gander Mountain in Mosinee.The business meetings start at 6p.m.

I hope you all had a good winter,and good luck on the fishing seasonahead. Tight lines!—Doug Brown

Wolf River Chapter

Wolf River Vice President JimWaters died January 8 after a year-long battle with cancer. Jim’s lead-ership was instrumental in the re-or-ganization of the Wolf RiverChapter. He also was a force in de-veloping our five-year-old NinemileCreek Restoration Initiative.Whether it was trapping beavers, re-moving dams, planting trees, or sell-

ing brats to raise money for thechapter, Jim was there every day.He loved the Wolf River and re-fused to acknowledge the percep-tion of its decline as a sustainabletrout fishery. We will miss himgreatly, but his enthusiasm and de-termination will never be forgotten.—Tim Waters

NEW WILD RIVERS OFFICERSNew Wild Rivers Chapter President Dick Berge (center) poses with chapter Secretary Dan Bloomquist (left) and new board member Donovan Dums.

AWARDS: council honors 10 at eventContinued from p. 8erally in their back yard!

According to Kiap-TU-WishChapter President Greg Dietl,“Fairmount made a huge contribu-tion toward reaching our projectgoals. We would not have complet-ed nearly the amount of bank resto-ration, seeding, and mulchingwithout them. In addition to hun-dreds of employee work hours, Fair-mount also provided much-neededheavy equipment, water pumps, andother tools.”

Since becoming involved on PineCreek, Fairmount employees havelogged nearly 550 man-hours on theproject. In addition. the companyrecently donated $26,000 for thepurchase of rock to be used as rip-rap in the final phase of the pro-gram in 2011. This donation will beleveraged with donations from theKiap-TU-Wish, Twin Cities TU, andothers. So join us now in recogniz-ing Fairmount Minerals and theirmany, many employees for adoptingthe Pine Creek project as their own.

1. Don’t play fish to exhaustion. Instead, use a landing net to bring fish under control before they’re played out.2. Handle fish in the net. Grasp them across the back and head for firm but gentle control. Use the net fabric as your “glove.”3. Turn fish belly up while removing hooks. This disorients fish mo-mentarily for easier, quicker handling.4. Don’t remove swallowed hooks. Just cut the line...doing so saves two-thirds of deeply hooked trout.5. Don’t keep fish out of the water more than 10-15 seconds. Fragile gills are damaged after that...especially in cold weather.

Consider Proper Release


WITU Looking Back

From the April 1971 WITU Newsletter...

From the April 2001 Wisconsin Trout...

From the April 1981 WITU Quarterly Report...


Council creates new award honoring late Jeff Carlson

By John WelterWisconsin Trout Unlimited hon-

ored the late Jeff Carlson, presidentof the Wild Rivers Chapter and adedicated trout conservationist, atthe WITU’s annual meeting in Osh-kosh February 3.

Carlson, 39, died at his parents’Ashland home January 4, 2001,within a week after being diagnosedwith cancer. Coaster brook trout advocate

Carlson spearheaded WisconsinTU’s coaster brook trout restorationinitiative through a half-dozen yearsof tireless work and led citizen ef-forts to create the Whittlesey CreekNational Wildlife Refuge near Ash-land.

Whittlesey Creek, located at thewestern end of Chequamegon Bay,is seen as a prime spawning site forrestored coaster populations inLake Superior and its tributarystreams.

Carlson worked tirelessly to pro-tect the Whittlesey Creek area froma golf course and other develop-ment, writing letters to newspapersand lawmakers and pushing forfunds to create the refuge.

b h f

well as a full roster of officers andboard members. The chapter re-mains committed to coaster brooktrout restoration efforts and habitatwork in other areas. Memorial award established

A Jeffrey Carlson VolunteerAward has been created by the StateCouncil, to be awarded to a Wiscon-sin TU volunteer who, followingJeff ’s example, has worked in aleadership role on a major habitator resource restoration project overmore than one year.

A plaque recognizing Jeff’s con-tributions will be placed at Jeff ’shome on the White River near Ma-son and dedicated the last week inJune, 2001. Dates are tentative.

Funding in Jeff ’s name in theamount of $2,000 was also pledgedby the council to the purchase of akey piece of coaster brook troutspawning habitat at the mouth ofthe Gratiot River in the KewauneePeninsula in Upper Michigan. Oth-er contributions are expected to bemade toward habitat improvementand other work on Wiscons instreams where coasters can be re-stored.

Several hundred people turned

TU trying to plug gap from court’s wetland ruling

By Jeff Smith with Stu GrimstadOn January 9th, the US Supreme Court ruled that

the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) does not havepermitting authority over wetlands that are not connect-ed to navigable waters.

This means that isolated wetlands nationwide arecurrently unprotected. This, in turn, means that 30% ofWisconsin’s wetlands (over 1,500,000 acres) can current-ly be filled in and developed, completely unchecked.

These types of wetlands feed groundwater and serveas habitat to a variety of wildlife.

In response, the State Senate passed SB 37, whichgives Wisconsin’s DNR the same authority the Corpspreviously had. The State Council’s Legislative Commit-tee supports this bill (known as the “status quo bill”)and testified on its behalf before the Senate Environ-mental Resources Committee.

The bill is not doing as well in the State Assembly.Political insiders have indicated that developers are ask-ing members of the Assembly to vote against or delaypassage of the bill, thus allowing the development ofpreviously protected wetlands.

DNR Director feels outdated dams are harmful to Wisconsin



Linda Lehman is WI River Valley’s new face for the future

By Doug BrownPlease meet Linda Lehman,

WRVTU’s newest president and on-ly the third president in the chapter’shistory. Although this is an accom-plishment in itself, the fact that Lin-da has only been involved with TUsince 2006 clearly reflects her dedi-cation to our trout resources.

Linda was born and raised in An-tigo. One of eight children, she wasintroduced to fishing at age nine byher grandmother. She fished onSpring Brook and Phlox Pond with acane pole. Linda and her two young-er brothers (and sometimes herMom) raised money as kids by hunt-ing and selling night crawlers in thesummer. Who knew those initialsteps would bring her to leading aTrout Unlimited chapter?

Linda married her husband, Jim,in 1986, and they have one son, Der-ek. Linda also has a stepson, Ian,who is 30 and lives in Minneapolis.She works for Eastbay Corporationin Inventory Control.

Besides fishing, Linda enjoys gar-dening and crocheting. You mayhave seen one of her handmade af-ghans at either our local banquet orthe State Council banquet. Her sew-ing room has now also become herTU office.

Although Jim doesn’t fish, he isan avid bicyclist, and this providesfor interesting trips where Jim bikesthe countryside while Linda ex-plores the local streams.

Trout fishing didn’t come to Lin-da till she was 37. As with any begin-ner’s luck, her first trout was a hugesalmon on the Manitowoc River.She was fishing with a friend who flyfished, and he told her to try it. Soona monster king salmon was on theline (see picture). With that, Lindawas proverbially hooked on fly fish-ing. She recalls the pure adrenalinerush from hearing the reel screech.

The next year Linda attended afly fishing school offered by theCentral WI Chapter. She alsobought her first fly rod from TightLine Fly Shop in De Pere. With hernew zest for fly fishing for trout,Linda contacted Herb Hintze, thefounding president of WRVTU forsome information on local streamsand to find some other women tofish with. She met Herb and, withgazetteer in hand, ended up spend-ing the entire day tying flies withHerb.

Linda joined our chapter in 2006by becoming a board member. Andnow she is president.

“I feel like catching up on every-thing TU has done. I want to tap in-to the wealth of knowledge andpassion about what TU does.”

Linda is also passionate about in-troducing kids to fishing. She hasbeen helping at the Outdoor Educa-tion Expo in Beaver Dam since2006. She truly feels getting as manykids into fishing as possible will beour hope for managing and takingcare of our streams and natural re-sources in the future. Getting to thekids and teaching them at an im-pressionable age is important.

In terms of stream projects forthe chapter, the Plover River is do-ne, and the Prairie River is nearlycomplete. She thinks the chapterneeds to look at another watershed.There has been some talk of takingon the Rib River which spans threeof the chapter’s counties.

She also wants to look at the ini-tial work done on the Plover andPrairie. Many of those initial ease-ments are coming to a close, andmaintenance of the initial streamwork should be done.

Linda’s passion for Trout Unlim-ited is hard to hide. Her positive at-titude and outlook for whereWRVTU is heading is contagious.Another positive thing members en-

joy at our monthly meeting is herhomemade cookies, which are trulya delight. Anyone who can makecookies as good as that clearly hasthe ability to lead the WRVTU

chapter in the future.(Doug Brown is a member of the

WI River Valley Chapter. He alsoleads WITU’s Friends and WatershedAccess programs. -Ed.)

Northwoods TU’s Hannah Hansen got hooked on TU at the age of 14

By Laura McFarlandIn 2010 the Northwoods Chapter

elected a new president, HannahHansen.

Hannah has been active with theclub since she was 14 years old whenshe attended the chapter’s YouthConclave event in 2004. That dayshe was the lucky winner of a St.Croix rod — and she was hooked.

Once Hannah became oldenough to drive, she became a regu-lar fixture at Northwoods TUevents. She has served on the boardfor several years prior to steppingup to serve as president.

Hannah brings a youthful enthu-siasm to the organization. Althoughshe does not get out to fish nearly asmuch as she would like because sheis often too busy tending her horses,that hasn’t stopped her from step-ping up and taking a leadership rolein the chapter.

Hannah says that if there is onething that she hopes to achieve aspresident, it is an increase in mem-bers. During his speech at the WI-TU State Council banquet this year,Chris Wood, CEO of Trout Unlimit-ed, recognized the NorthwoodsChapter for hosting their 17th An-nual Youth Conclave in 2010. Han-

nah’s involvement is a testament tothe importance such events have onthe recruitment of new leaders forthe future of Trout Unlimited. Youjust never know when you will meetyour next chapter president…is itthat eight-year-old you taught tocast last year?

(Laura McFarland is a member ofthe Northwoods Chapter and is Inva-sive Species Project Coordinator atthe River Alliance of WI. -Ed.)

Chapter president profiles

Two energetic gals take the reins of chapters

LINDA LEHMAN AT HOME AND ON THE WATERLinda Lehman relaxes with her son, Derek, and husband, Jim (top). A friend was on hand to record her first salmon on a fly caught on the Manitowoc R.

HANNAH HANSEN WITH FRIEND DUSTYHannah holds a concho signifying she was logged 1,000 miles on the trails with her quarter horse, Dusty.

Split Bamboo Rods new & repairs

Bamboo Rodmaking Classes makes a great Xmas gift!

Call or email Scott for details at

920/687-0987 or [email protected]

Scott W. Grady Rodmaker

Consider Proper Release“The future of trout fishing is in your hands.”


WI stream access laws summarized in wallet card

Are you unclear on what theWisconsin laws are regardingstream access? Wisconsin’s streamaccess laws have changed twicesince 2001, so Wisconsin Trout pe-riodically prints this wallet card tosummarize the current laws.

The card is two-sided. The sidebelow gives a concise summary ofyour current rights and responsi-bilities regarding stream access,while the facing side has relevantexcerpts from the current statestatutes.

The WITU State Councilhopes this card will come in

handy to settle any dis-putes you may have

with landown-ers who feelyou are

trespass-ing.

No reg changes since ‘03Anglers and other stream users

may remember that Wisconsin lawwas changed in 2001 to allow peo-ple to walk the exposed banks ofrivers up to the “normal high-wa-ter mark.”

However, that expansion ofrights was reversed just two yearslater, and anglers have ever sincebeen required to follow the old“keep your feet wet” rule whilefishing.

Of note in the current law is aprovision that anglers can legallywalk on private property to getaround an “obstruction.” TheWDNR interprets an obstructionto include “deep water.”

This obstruction provision isnot yet widely known, so this wal-let card will help fishers and landowners understand the currentlaw.

WI State Councilof Trout Unlimited

2011 WI StreamAccess Wallet Card

Keep this handy stream access wallet card with you when you fish. Itdescribes your rights and responsibilities when accessing public wa-ters that flow through private property in Wisconsin.

Can I fish streams that flow through private lands?Yes, all trout streams are considered “navigable” and, therefore, are

public property. Streams are public even though the land on both sidesof them may be private. Without permission, you may not cross privatelands to enter or leave a stream. Enter the water at bridge crossings,public lands, or private lands under public easement.

Do I have to stay in the water?Yes, but there is one exception. Wisconsin law was amended in 2001

to say you may exit the water “to bypass an obstruction.” (See statute texton other side.) Re-enter the water after the obstruction has been passed.

What counts as an obstruction?According to the WDNR, “Obstructions could consist of trees or

rocks, shallow water for boaters, or deep water for wading trout fishers.The bypass can involve areas up to the ordinary high water mark andshould be by the shortest route possible.”

Can I walk on the exposed shoreline up to the “ordinary high water mark”?

No, that provision in the statutes was only in effect for two years.Anglers must now follow the previous “keep your feet wet” rule. Butyou may still leave the water legally to bypass obstructions.

What if I come upon a fence across a stream?Land owners may not obstruct navigable waters in a way that

“impairs the free navigation thereof.” If you can pass under or over asingle strand of barbed wire, the stream remains navigable. However, ifseveral strands of wire or some other intentional obstruction preventspassage, the land owner is in violation of the law. Do not cut the wire.Instead, contact the WDNR to investigate the illegal obstruction.

How does the “no interference” with hunting, fishing, or trapping statute apply to my fishing?

Animal right activists have generally preferred to harass hunters andtrappers instead of anglers. Nevertheless, fishing is included in a 1989WI statute that makes it illegal for someone to “interfere or attempt tointerfere with lawful hunting, fishing or trapping with the intent to pre-vent the taking of a wild animal....”

This statute not only protects you from physical interference, but itprotects the animals as well — someone cannot interfere with your fish-ing by “harassing a wild animal.” For fishers, this may be interpreted tomean that someone cannot interfere with your fishing by throwing rocksinto water you are about to fish. Land owners blocking your legal accessor preventing you from navigating around obstructions may also be vio-lating this statute.

See WI statute text on other side

CLIP AND CARRY

Snowshoeing with DaleBy Mark Peerenboom

“And you never realize,when you are in the day, howi t s memory wi l l r esonatethrough the years or how youwill come to think of it assomething rare and beautifuland fleeting.” — Ed Culhane,Jan. 20, 2010, in his eulogyfor Ryan Hagen

Today I am 4,300 miles from thewoods where Dale Druckrey and Iwould walk in winter. Here belowValencia on the coast of Spain, thesky is blue, and in the sun it feelslike 60 degrees. I am sitting on a ter-race on the side a hill which over-looks the Mediterranean. It is filledwith green plants, bushes, and treesof various shapes and sizes. Someproduce soft edges and others bearspikes, thorns, and needles.

My wife and I have rented aguest house from a couple, a manfrom England and a man fromHong Kong. Their main house is onanother terrace below. Tomorrowthey will fly to Sri Lanka for vaca-tion.

This is not Dale Druckrey’sworld, although Dale told stories oftraveling in northern Europe in the1950s while he was on leave fromthe army. In winter Dale stayedclose to his wood-burning kitchenstove, listened to public radio, tend-ing his fence line, feeding his dogs,and splitting wood for his fire.

This was the time of year I wouldpick Dale up at his house northeastof Bonduel for a snowshoe hike.The unpainted house welcomed thebrush and undergrowth right up toits siding. Any other arrangementwould require Dale taking timeaway from more important things.

That day we turned off onto aforest service road that runs througha large tract of undeveloped land anhour and a quarter north of Bondu-el. After driving several miles, Daletold me to stop. Shod in snowshoes,we broke trail off a steep ridge. Thisrequired moving diagonally downand across its steep, tree-facedbank. The pitch was sharp and thesnow deep. Our footing sometimes

gave way, and we’d slide even as wemoved at a slightly downward angle.It became impossible footing for mydog. I stopped often and waited forhim, resting myself. I’d sometimesdig out and strap back on my buriedsnowshoes. Dale would be ahead.

And then, below us and to theright, was the headwaters of thetrout stream we came to explore.The stream was flat and wide, me-andering through a frozen bogwhich, in summer, protects it fromeasy fishing access. Dale turnedback, smiling and pointing to elevat-ed ridges beyond the river bottomand on the distant horizon. The hillswere similar to the ridge we wereon. Our northern country terraindoesn’t often offer such expansive“big country” views. Dale waspleased.

At the bottom of the ridge andaround the corner was the springpond which helps feed the troutstream. Dale delivered the pond aspromised. We paused briefly to sur-vey the pond and pledged to eachother to be in a canoe pursuing itsbrook trout some summer day.

Rather then backtrack, we usedDale’s sense of direction and hismemory and take grown-over, aban-doned logging roads. Dale knew justwhen to get off one road and walkcross-country to another. The roadsoften split, but Dale took the correctfork each time. I followed Dale aswe looped back to the car.

So now, sitting on a sunny terraceon the coast of Spain, I am remem-bering this trip with Dale, as well asother trips. Their memories bringsadness now mixed with the joy. Iwill no longer be stopping at thatunpainted farmhouse northeast ofBonduel. The man who took me toremote spring ponds, guided me tothe tops of unexpected rock out-crops, and paddled me up scenic riv-ers looking for the cold water thatholds trout, is no longer there.

I miss you, Dale Druckrey.Thank you for taking me to the plac-es that you did. I was just hoping fora few more.

(Mark Peerenboom is a member ofthe Fox Valley Chapter. -Ed.)

WLCV names new conservation lobby fund after Dale Druckrey

The Wisconsin League of Con-servation Voters (WLCV) has creat-ed a new fund to support theirannual Conservation Lobby Dayand named it after longtime TUmember Dale Druckrey.

Dale died in a house fire in Bon-duel last November. The new fundwill help support WLCV’s annual

event in Madison where the conser-vationists across the state bring is-sues of concern to them before theirlegislators.

For more information about thefund or the annual ConservationLobby Day, contact WLCV Devel-opment Director Angela West at(608) 661-0845.

Free films showing in Mineral PointThe Harry and Laura Nohr Chapter of TU is working with other area

groups to host a free screening of two quality documentary films on Sat., April 9 at 6 p.m. at the Mineral Point Opera House.

Red Gold is a one-hour documentary on the proposed Pebble Mine told through the unique voices of the commercial, subsistence, and sport fishermen of Bristol Bay, Alaska, the headwaters of the two largest remaining sockeye salmon runs on the planet.

The second film, Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time, is the first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about the legendary conservationist and his environmental leg-acy. Green Fire surveys Leopold’s extraordinary career, explaining how he shaped conservation and environmental movement.

Afterward the audience can discuss the films facilitated by Profes-sor Vince Kavaloski and Aldo Leopold’s granddaughter, Madelyn Leopold. Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information contact Katie Abbott at (608) 935-2791 x134.


Relevant Wisconsin Statutes(Key portions underlined)

§30.134 Use of exposed shore areas along streams.(1) DEFINITIONS. In this section:(a) “Artificial ditch” means a ditch, channel, canal or other stream of water that has no prior history as a stream.(b) “Exposed shore area” means the area of the bed of a navigable body of water that is between the ordinary high-water mark and the water's edge.(c) “Highway” has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (22).(d) “Riparian” means the owner, lessee or occupant of land that abuts a nav-igable body of water.(2) AUTHORIZATION. Members of the public may use any exposed shore ar-ea of a stream without the permission of the riparian only if it is necessary to exit the body of water to bypass an obstruction.(3) RESTRICTIONS; MEMBERS OF PUBLIC. (a) In using an exposed shore area of a stream, as authorized under sub. (2), a member of the public may not enter the exposed shore area except from the water, from a point of pub-lic access on the stream, or with the permission of the riparian.(c) Use of an exposed shore area of a stream by members of the public does not grant an easement or other right to the exposed shore area that is greater than the right granted to the public under this section.(4) RESTRICTIONS; RIPARIANS; OTHERS. (a) No riparian may prohibit a member of the public from using, as autho-rized under this section, an exposed shore area of a stream.(b) No riparian may charge a fee for the use, as authorized under this sec-tion, of an exposed shore area of a stream.(c) No person may obstruct a highway with the intention to impede or prohib-it access by the public to an exposed shore area of a stream.(5) EXCEPTIONS. The right granted to the public under this section to use an exposed shore area of a stream does not apply to any of the following:(a) An exposed shore area of an impoundment on a stream.(b) Any artificial ditch.(c) Any location on a stream where there is no surface water flowing in the stream.

§30.15 Penalty for unlawful obstruction of navigable waters. (1) OBSTRUCTIONS PENALIZED. Any person who does any of the following shall forfeit not less than $10 nor more than $500 for each offense:(a) Unlawfully obstructs any navigable waters and thereby impairs the free navigation thereof.(b) Unlawfully places in navigable waters or in any tributary thereof any sub-stance that may float into and obstruct any such waters or impede their free navigation.(c) Constructs or maintains in navigable waters, or aids in the construction or maintenance therein, of any boom not authorized by law.(d) Constructs or places any structure or deposits any material in navigable waters in violation of s. 30.12 or 30.13. (3) EACH DAY A SEPARATE VIOLATION. Each day during whichan obstruction, deposit or structure exists in violation of sub. (1) is a separate offense.

§29.083 Interference with hunting, fishing or trapping. (1) DEFINITION. In this section, “activity associated with lawful hunting, fish-ing or trapping” means travel, camping or other acts that are preparatory to lawful hunting, fishing or trapping and that are done by a hunter, fisher or trapper or by a member of a hunting, fishing or trapping party.(2) PROHIBITIONS (a) No person may interfere or attempt to interfere with lawful hunting, fishing or trapping with the intent to prevent the taking of a wild animal by doing any of the following:1. Harassing a wild animal or engaging in an activity that tends to harass wild animals.2. Impeding or obstructing a person who is engaged in lawful hunting, fish-ing or trapping.3. Impeding or obstructing a person who is engaged in an activity associated with lawful hunting, fishing or trapping.4. Disturbing the personal property of a person engaged in lawful hunting, fishing or trapping. [Remaining portions of the statute deleted. -Ed.]

WI State Council of Trout Unlimited

Stream Access Wallet Card(See other side for a summary of your stream access rights)

Fly contest winners announcedBy Bob Haase

Winners were selected Feb. 5 inthe WITU fly pattern contest co-sponsored by Tight Lines Fly Fish-ing Co. in De Pere and Dutch’sTrading Post in Fond du Lac.

The purpose of the contest wasto come up with some new patternsfor youth and beginning fly tying.

Mike Kuhr from Milwaukee tookfirst place for his “Orange & GoldLil’ Gumdrop” (below on right).

Pam Van Erem from De Pere

took second place for her fly calledthe “Sandwich Fly” (below middle).

Mikayla Wehrle from New Lon-don took third place for her flycalled the Kayla Popper (below left).Kayla’s popper was interesting inthat she used a paper punch makeround pieces of foam to form themulti-colored popper head.

We would like to thank everyonewho submitted an entry to the con-test. These flies will be added tosome of the flies we tie during youthor beginning fly tying programs.

Bob’s Viagra Caddis Emerger: no doctor needed after four hoursBy Bob Haase

The finished fly shown below isfloating in a dish of water. I always

keep a dish of water near my tyingarea to test my flies to see how theyfloat and position themselves in thewater.

I call this the Viagra CaddisEmerger because it stays up foreverand you can fish it for more thanfour hours without calling a doctor!I have placed this fly in water at 9:00a.m. only to find it still floating at10:00 the next morning. I know I willnever get a drift that long.

This fly started out as a bluegillfly for me, and a couple years ago Istarted modifying it for trout fishing.The olive pearl core and a few wrapsof fine wire cause the fly to hangdown like this once it becomes wet.Initially it will float on the surface.

I can look through the glass dishto see how the fish will see the flyfrom below and the CDC puffs at-tached as wings look like an adultemerging from the shuck. I alter thesize of the foam head and wraps offine wire to get it to float or sinkslowly like an emerger that couldnot break through the film. Practicewill help determine the correct sizeof the foam head and the number ofwraps of wire need to get the fly toperform as desired.

You can also just dub the headlike a Tabou Caddis instead of usingfoam, and it will sink rather thanfloat. I also tie this as a black caddisemerger using black Pearl Core andblack CDC puffs. Tie some of theseup and try them and you will not bedisappointed!

Start by wrapping the thread tothe hook bend. Tie in a piece of ol-

ive Pearl Core as shown. Burn or su-per glue the end so it doesn’t fray.

Wrap about 5 or 6 wraps of finewire next to the Pearl Core. Wrapthe thread over the wire and ad-vance it to about 1/8" before thehook eye. Dub from the front of thehook to just over the Pearl Corewith a the Green Ice Dubbing mix.

Next fasten a pheasant afterfeather or a similar after feather asshown. Tip the fly down if you havea rotary vise and twist the threadaround the feather to reinforce it.By tipping the fly down it brings thepoint of the hook up out of the way.

Wrap the after feather over thedubbing, leaving space to see thedubbing between wraps. Allowspace for a strip of packaging foam.

The foam strip should be around1/4" wide and a little less than 1/8"thick. If you do not have the appro-priate color, you can color it with apermanent marker. Tie in the foamsecurely, trim, and position thethread in front of the after feather.

Next fold the foam back and tiedown with thread to form the head.Make the foam head just largeenough to float the fly.

Trim the foam and make a fewmore wraps to secure it. You can al-so use white foam or color whitefoam with a chartreuse marker tobetter see the fly in the water.

Tie in a small CDC puff on eachside just behind the head. The puffsdo not float the fly, but rather repre-sent the emerging wings. Tie off andput a drop of head cement just be-hind the head.

Air bubbles form on the foam

head and feathers, and the PearlCore also works as an attractor tothe fly. Fish see this as an adult cad-dis just emerging from the shuckand know they must take it quicklybefore their meal is gone!

MATERIALS LISTViagra Caddis Emerger

Hook: Mustad C53S or TMC200 #14 & #16.Thread: Gray or Black 14/0 Gordon Griffith Sheer thread or equivalent (70 denier).Body: Squirrel & Caddis Green Ice Dub mix and wrapped pheasant after feather.Wing: CDC Puffs.Tail: Olive or Black Pearl Core.Head: Packaging foam (can be colored with permanent mark-ers)Weight: Fine copper wire or Hairline Quick Descent dubbing.


Bob’s Tying TipsAdvice fromthe bench ofBob Haase

Mike’sService

in Langlade

We have all thesports licenses

Stop and ask Mike what’s working. Or call ahead for infoon where and how to fish the famous Wolf River.

715-882-8901 • Hwy. 64 & 55, Langlade

We havewhat works!

EVEN MORE IN STOCK — We carry necks and saddles, hooks, and other fly tying supplies! Don’t get caught empty-handed. Most flies custom tied to order...must provide pattern.

More tips for tying flies when you’re ‘on location’

By Bob HaaseHere is part two of my tips for

tying “on location.”

Take a little of a lotWhen I tie on location at a fly

tying event or traveling out westfishing, I like to have a little ofeverything with me. I don’t needto have the same quantity of eachitem that I have at home, but I tryto “take a little of a lot ratherthan a lot of a little.”

When I am tying at an event, Itry to demonstrate many of mytying tips, or show a variety of flypatterns that I feel are a little dif-ferent. When I travel any dis-tance to fish, I like to have mytying stuff along and be able tospend some time at night tyingwhat I think the fish might likethe next day. I would rather beable to tie a large variety of pat-terns, rather that tie a lot of a fewpatterns. But when I plan on ty-ing a specific pattern at an eventsuch as “hex patterns,” I take ex-tra of just the materials I need forthose patterns.

Get organized with larger kit boxes

I have consolidated my porta-ble (on location) tying tools andmaterials into two boxes. One ofthe boxes contains all my tyingtools, vise, light, hooks, thread,marking pens, piece of shelf liner,and all the other specialty items.The other box contains most ofmy tying materials.

I have looked for a long timeto find the right kinds of boxesthat work best for me. The box onthe right was made by Stanley,but is no longer made. It has a

bottom section on wheels that isdetachable. I only use the bottomsection and fill it with just thematerials I need if I am tying onlocation and have a long distanceto get to the tying area. With thethings I carry in this box, I stillhave room for a limited amountof tying materials if I only plan ontying a couple of patterns.

The other box is a Plano Mod-el 781 that I got at Menards forunder $17. Its lift-out tray (tem-porarily placed in the lid in thispicture) holds long items such as

flashabou, pheasant tail feathers,strips of foam, and boxes of beadsand items placed in 2x3 plasticbags, dubbing boxes, extra headcement, solvent, super glue, andother miscellaneous items. Onthe bottom left is a container thatholds all my chenille, rubber legs,and a variety of other materials. Itry to put a small section (about1-2 feet of all the colors I normal-ly use) of the various materialssuch as chenille, poly or Antronyarn, scud back, rubber legs,floss, etc. in each bag.

On the right are expandablefile folder that have beentrimmed in height to fit and eachis labeled with the feathers, hair,or other materials it holds. Thefolders are trimmed in height toallow the lift out tray to fit intothe box.

Repackage items into ziplock bags

No matter which boxes youbuy, by putting small amounts ofeach color material into plasticbags, you can fit a lot more mate-

rials into your travel kit as com-pared to taking the materials onthe cards or container they cameon. By having uniform size bagsthat fit into another storage box,you can cram a lot of materialsinto a small space and still easilyfind them when needed.

I also make up dubbing con-tainers to hold the dubbing that Iuse most often. I have one extradubbing box that I put in extradubbing or specialty dubbingmixes that I make if I think Imight need them.

Use specialty boxesWapsi makes a box specifically

for holding 2 x 3 plastic bags (thesize that most beads and othersimilar items come in. My box hastungsten beads in the left com-partment, brass beads in the cen-ter, and glass beads, dumbbelleyes, and cone heads in the rightcompartment. I have another boxthat contains eyes, small foamcylinders, and specialty items.

I have another box like thisthat contains all my specialtyhooks that I don’t often use. Thisallows me to carry a lot of itemsin a small space. I use Craft Mateboxes that have lockable lids(found at JoAnn Fabrics) to holdall the hooks I use most often.

This is an example of one wayto organize your on-location ty-ing materials.

Depending on how often youtie on location and the varietyand kinds of flies you tie, you willarrange your on-location tying kitdifferently.

The initiation of a trout fisherman

By Zach Mohr I first got into trout fishing two years ago. What compelled me to start

was I saw it on TV. I knew of this creek near my house, Elk Creek, so I de-cided to fish it. At first I used a spinning rod, but I didn’t catch too much. After talking to Grandpa, I decided to try fly fishing. Grandpa “hooked me up” with a fly rod and line for an early birthday present.

Yes, it was tough at first. Every other cast I would catch a tree or some-thing. Eventually I got the hang of it and caught one. It was a 7” brown trout. After that first fish I just wanted to catch more. The more I fished, the more I lost flies — and for a dollar a piece! I was soon going broke. Then I asked for a fly tying kit for my birthday from Mom and Dad. Since my birthday is in November, I couldn’t use my flies right away.

After hearing this story you might ask yourself, “How did Zach become part of Trout Unlimited?” My hunter safety instructor, Don Dukerschein, got me Tim Meyer’s e-mail at the FLW Walleye tournament. After going to TU’s fly tying class, it all started from there.

I have had plenty of good times on the creek. Not all of them are about the fish. In the early season last year, I went out to fish after cutting wood and caught my biggest one so far. It was a 16” brown, the first fish of the year. He bit a yellow and black woolly bugger I tied that winter. He gave me a really good fight in the fast current with multiple jumps. After almost swamping my knee boots, I successfully landed him.

A really exciting thing was happening on the creek around that time al-so. There was a restoration project going on. I went to work nights on the creek and helped plant grass and mulched. It was kind of like waiting for Christmas when the creek was being worked on. I would fish the new spots after the crew was done with that section. When the restoration was complete, I was proud that I could make a difference in my fishing.

There were a lot of other fun times on the creek, too. One time I was fishing the south side when a fork buck jumped out of its bed eight feet away from me. He then crossed the creek and walked away. I saw plenty of more wildlife in the creek bottoms, including muskrats, woodchucks, opossums, herons, and a goose nest.

Another good time at the creek was when I went mouse fishing. I was still fishing for trout but using a mouse fly. I went on a full moon night in late August. I had an old head lamp, two back-up flashlights, batteries, and four mouse flies to bring along. The second hole I fished I actually caught one! It wasn’t as big as I hoped it would be, but it was still a fish. What happened was he missed the fly and somehow got caught up by the tail. When he hit it was controlled chaos. I heard a splash, turned my light on, tried to pick up line, and my knot broke when the fish came ashore. It was still a hoot.

Now that trout season is over, I am starting to tie flies for next year and making bluegill poppers to sell to Grandpa’s buddies. Dad and I are go-ing to Canada fishing next year in July. We might fish for some northern, and I am going to try to catch one on my fly rod. I had a good time fishing this year, and learned a lot. I look forward to learning more next year through TU and my own experiences.

(Author Zach Mohr is age 14. He is a middle school student in the Elk Mound School District, and he’s a member of WI Clear Waters TU. -Ed.)


Friends grants totaled over $36,000 in 2010By Doug Brown

Friends of WITU ChairWith winter coming to an end,

the early catch-and-release seasonopen, and the regular fishing seasonjust a month away, this is the time ofyear we request your support for theFriends of Wisconsin TU program.

The 2011 request will be arrivingat your door shortly. This year’s giftfor a donation of $100 or more is anifty little StreamWorks HatLightwhich can come in handy for those

evening outings. Don’t forget to re-turn it to your fishing vest, becauseyou may end up using it for tasks allaround the house.

Last year was a banner year forthe Friends program. We received130+ private donations, plus eightcontributions from our 21 localchapters. We raised over $14,000 forthe program.

But equally impressive was theamount of grant money awarded bythe program. By distributing somesurplus funds that had built up in re-

cent years, over $36,000 in grantswere issued last year! Numerouschapter requests and a couple ofDNR requests were funded, and therecipients are putting that money towork on a stream near you rightnow.

All of this starts with your gener-osity. When you receive your 2011Friends appeal letter, please consid-er donating, knowing that your fi-nancial commitment will benefitYOUR streams, and more impor-tantly, the trout fisheries in it.

Thanks

Dr. H. A. Anderson Madison WIDavid Arnold Minnitonka MNGary Balwierz Beldenville WIPaul Banas Madison WIEdwin Barnes Middleton WICharles Barnhill Madison WIJeff Bartynski Eau Claire WIJim Bayorgeon Appleton WIGeorge Bereza Marinette WIJohn & Susan Bleimehl Verona WIStephen Born Madison WIAllon Bostwick Fond du Lac WIDoug Brown Ringle WIGerald Campbell Madison WIR.G. Chamberlain Markesan WIRick Christopherson Norwalk WIJohn Clark Wisconsin Rapids WITerrence Clark Cottage Grove WILawrence Clowrey, MD Wauwatosa WIAnne Connor Fitchburg WITerry Cummings Rhinelander WIBruce Davidson Wauwatosa WIDale Druckrey Bonduel WIRichard Duplessie Eau Claire WIRichard Evans Mequon WIAlan Finesilver De Pere WIWilliam Flader, MD Madison WIDaniel Flaherty La Crosse WID. James Fruit Hartland WIMichael Funk La Crosse WIRichard Galling Hartland WIScott Geboy Fox Point WIDan Geddes Appleton WIDonald Grade Mosinee WIMike Griffith Madison WIDean Hagness Custer WIR. Chris Halla Appleton WIHenry Haugley Sun Prairie WIAshton Hawk Madison WIStephen Hawk Madison WIBill Heart Ashland WIRobert Heding Oshkosh WIBrian Hegge Rhinelander WIBob Hellyer Boulder Junction WIWalter Hellyer Fish Creek WIRobert & Lynette Hering Neenah WIGilbert Herman Stoughton WIPeter Hickey Brussels WICharles Hodulik Madison WITim Hood Lodi WIGreg Hyer Cross Plains WIJeff Jackson Oconto Falls WIJonathon Jacobs Hudson WI

Layton James Hudson WIDaniel & Sheree Kehoe Madison WIJohn Kenealy III Waukesha WIGordon King Merrill WIJordan Konisky Verona WIClifford Kremmer Sparta WIDon Larson Lansing IAJoe Lehner Sparta WIRichard Lindroth Madison WIDouglas MacFarland Dousman WIBrian Madsen Ellsworth WIMike Magers Fond Du Lac WIAnna Magnin Marshfield WIJim & Billie March La Crosse WIDean Martin Blair WIBob Martini Rhinelander WIKim McCarthy Green Bay WIDorothy Meicher Rio WIRonald Miller De Pere, WIDoris & Randall Montague Madison WIJeff & Lynette Moore La Crosse WILowell North Hillsboro WIHerb Oechler Wauwatosa WIRichard Pfiffner Amherst WIR Pierce Rockford ILDennis Presser Madison WIDick & Jodie Prine Ridgeland WIBob Ragotzkie Madison WIRandal Rake De Pere WIRon Rellatz Merton WIBob Retko Cedarburg WISteve Robertson Verona WIThomas Rogers Princeton WIJohn Saemann Union Grove WIMichael San Dretto Neenah WISteve Schieffer Amery WIJeff Schmoeger Deerfield WIJames School Kaukauna WIDelmar Schwaller Appleton WIJim Seder New Berlin WIRobert Selk Madison WI

John Serunian Fitchburg WIDale Sevig Lakeland FLJohn Shillinglaw Appleton WIThomas Siebert Elkhart Lake WIBrent Sittlow Hudson WIJeff Smith Madison WIRobert Stanley Ashland WICharles Steudel Mineral Point WIChip Stinger West Bend WIWinston Strow Green Bay WIMike Stupich Watertown WIBruce Sullivan Racine WIGreg Swanson Appleton WIGary Tielens Athelstane WIRoyden Tull Madison WIDennis Vanden Bloomen Eau Claire WIGretchen Vanden Bloomen Eau Claire WIGreg Vodak Stoughton WIDoug Wadsworth Madison WIDon Wagner Gillett WIJohn Wahlers Berlin WIRoger Wangen Nekoosa WIRichard & Martha Ward Appleton WIProf. William Weege, Jr. Arena WIDonald Welhouse Kaukauna WIPaul Wiemerslage Hudson WIStephen Wilke Marinette WIChristopher Willman Augusta WIRoland & Nancy Woodruff Oshkosh WINorb Wozniak Stevens Point WIFrederic Young Roscoe IL

SUPPORTING CHAPTERS:Aldo Leopold TUAntigo TU Green Bay TU Kiap-TU-Wish TU Lakeshore TUMarinette County TUWild Rivers TUWI Clear Waters TU

Name

Address

City, State Zip Phone #

MAIL TO: Friends of Wisconsin TU% Doug BrownR4800 Timber Lane

Yes, I want to join the “Friends” of Wisconsin TU.

Ringle, WI 54471

Thanks again to

Enclosed is my check for $100, $250, or more payable to Wisconsin Trout Unlimited.

Nearly $175,000 devoted to trout resources since 1991. The latest projects include...

$4,000 to Kiap-TU-Wish for ongoing Pine Cr. project in Pierce Co. (9-10)

$4,000 to Nohr for Sixmile Cr. and $2,000 for Blue R. in Grant Co. (7-10 & 3-10)

$4,000 to WDNR for a brushing crew in Lincoln and Langlade ctys. (1-10) and $4,000 for a crew in Shawano and Waupaca ctys. (1-10)

$4,000 to SEWTU for Scup-pernong R. in Waukesha Co. (7-10)

$4,000 to Aldo Leopold for Bear Cr. in Sauk Co. (9-10)

our 2010 Friends of

Friendsof Wis.TU

Wisconsin Trout Unlimited

Three Clear Waters projects: $3,000 Elk Cr. (Chippewa Co.), $2,000 Trout Cr. (Buffalo Co.) and $1,000 Traverse Valley Cr. (Trempealeau Co.) (all 7-10)

$2,500 to Green Bay for N. Br. Beaver Cr. in Marinette Co. (7-10)

$1,500 to Wolf River for Ninemile Cr. in Langlade Co. (5-10)

wisconsin council of trout unlimited news and …wicouncil.tu.org/sites/default/files/2011...

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