BROOKIE NEWS Next Issue: Western Trout Fishing on a Budget ... NEWSjuly14.pdf · Bridge Park, owned...
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BROOKIE NEWS
<<< Illustration “One Last Look -
Brook Trout” courtesy of Bob White
of Whitefish Studio
Newsletter of The Central
Wisconsin Chapter of
Trout Unlimited (CWTU)
July 2014
Prez Sez
We had an excellent turnout (40) for
the July 8 Board meeting at John &
Laura’s home on the Pine River. I
guess the word got out about Laura’s
cooking! We had a short agenda and
took plenty of time eating and talking.
The main topic for the evening was a
presentation by R. J. Wickham,
Wautoma Forestry Team Leader.
After hearing about a proposed timber
sale from the land near the Mecan
Springs, I invited RJ to give us a
presentation assuring us that the
headwater springs would not be
damaged by the timber removal
process. I was satisfied, as I believe
Next Issue: Western
Trout Fishing on a
Budget,
Yellowstone Edition
were most of our members at the
meeting, that the DNR Forestry
planning was very thorough and that
our main concerns had been
considered. There will be Oak
removal and regeneration, Pine
thinning, and Locust eradication.
There will be a barrier of trees left
between the springs and the logging
areas, and no logging on the banks.
There will also be a large uncut area
surrounding the Eagles nest. RJ
explained that Oak in our sand
country survives less than 100 years
and that the trees in the selected areas
are a maturity. Surely most of us are
saddened by the removal of beautiful
forest. The regeneration of Oak forest
takes decades. But done properly, the
environmental impact should be
positive in the long term. Mr.
Wickham gave an excellent
presentation and we thank him for his
efforts.
We spent a short amount of time
discussing our chapter objectives and
then moved on to some old
business/new business topics. Dan
Harmon has finally received approval
from the DNR for the placement of
three (3) memorial benches on state
property. Two will be on the White
River and one on the Mecan River. A
fourth bench had previously been
installed on the Pine River at Covered
Bridge Park, owned by the Village of
Springwater. I believe this whole
process has taken about 3 years, I
commend Dan for never giving up.
Tom Poullette announced that he has
sold his home and is in the process of
deciding where to live. He feels it is
time to retire from his post as a
faithful Watch Dog. Well served
Tom! Our only remaining Watch Dog
is Elward Engle, so we are looking for
someone to fill Tom’s position.
Watch Dogs are ever on the alert for
potential threats to our cold water
streams. John Tucker
CWTU Board Meeting, July 8, 2014
At the Home of John and Laura
Tucker, Saxeville, WI
1. Meeting was called to order by
President Tucker at 6:45 p.m.
with @ 40 in attendance.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting were approved as
published.
3. The Treasurer’s Report was approved as distributed.
Treasurer Schaefers reported an
excellent return from the annual
Trout Schoo.l He explained
several of the highlights from
the past three months and for
the fiscal year to date. While
we hold a large cash balance, a
considerable portion of it is
restricted to specific projects
and purposes.
4. Wautoma Forestry Team
Leader, R.J.Wickham, with the
assistance of Forester/Ranger
Roderick Glaman, presented
the DNR’s plans for logging in
the Mecan Springs area. He
provided a clear and well-
structured account of the plans
and objectives and responded to
numerous good questions from
the membership, receiving a
generally positive response. It
appears that the watershed will
be well-protected during the
logging operations. His team
would be willing to show
interested members around the
site.
5. The draft of Chapter Objectives
circulated by President Tucker
was discussed. Mr. Haase
distributed a revised version
which had the virtue of
grouping the 11 original
objectives into six broader
groups which might provide
form and substance to a revised
committee structure for the
Chapter. Mr. SanDretto noted
that this version did not give a
clear sense of priorities for the
objectives. After some
discussion, the matter was laid
over for further consideration at
the next meeting. One matter
requiring special consideration
is the appointment of an official
chapter historian. Mr. Tucker
invited volunteers.
6. Old Business: Mr. Poulette will
be ending his extensive and
productive service as a
Watchdog. Mr. Tucker
requested that one or more
members willing to join Mr.
Engle on the Watchdogs
Committee should contact him
as soon as possible. The
Chapter expressed its thanks to
Mr. Poulette for his service.
Mr. Harmon reported that
contracts have been signed for
the placement of the remaining
memorial benches and they
should all be in place this
summer. The Chapter
expressed its thanks to Mr.
Harmon for his long and
dedicated efforts on this
project.
Ms. Laura Tucker noted that
the Annual Conservation
Banquet will be held on the
first Saturday in October at the
same Wautoma venue, and
asked members to consider
donations for prizes. A kayak
has been secured again as a
major raffle prize.
Mr. Haase reported that the
Trout Camp has space for a few
more kids. He expressed his
thanks to the 36 members of
this and other chapters who
have volunteered to serve as
camp “counselors.” Mr.
Harmon moved that the
tuitions for the Chapter’s
sponsored campers be paid
from the Beck Education
Fund rather than general
operating funds. The motion
was seconded and carried
unanimously. 7. New Business: Mr. Haase will
be hosting the August picnic
and meeting with a fish fry at
his home in Eldorado. Mr.
SanDretto volunteered to assist
with the grilling. The Chapter
expressed its heart- (and
stomach-) felt thanks to Laura
Tucker for hosting and for
another great feeding
opportunity!
8. Meeting was adjourned at 8:25
p.m. Respectfully submitted,
David Seligman, Secretary
Thank You
Department
From Henry Koltz, State
Council Chairman, Re: Summer
Camp
Linn, Bob, and all: On behalf of Wisconsin TU, I want to thank you all for your work at the camp. From what I observed, it was fantastic, and the kids were engaged and having a great time. I am very glad that the camp was broad spectrum, and taught about all types of angling, and that the kids got to see everything good that happens when you take care of the resource. Thanks for making the camp great, and thanks especially to Linn and Bob for all of their work in putting it together and making it happen. - hek
From Jim Williams re: Troutfest From: James Williams Subject: Black Earth Angling Date: July 25, 2014 at 5:36:18 PM CDT
Hi John; I just got from a day of guided smallmouth bass fishing with Kyle Zempel, and I had a blast! The fish were many and willing to be caught. And the outing would not have happened if I had not gotten the lucky raffle ticket at this year's TroutFest. Thank you CWTU! All the best, Jim
RIVER KEEPERS NEWS
Fahrenkrug Secures CWTU River
Keeper Grant
Thanks to the work of Rick
Fahrenkrug, CWTU River Keepers
has been awarded a $5000 grant for
2015. The money will be used to help
our organization grow, buy
equipment, involve youth, and help
organize/coordinate a network of
clean water organizations in central
Wisconsin.
The people awarding this grant are
aware of the important work that the
CWTU River Keepers are doing
monitoring streams, involving citizens
in the monitoring process, and
educating young and old about the
importance of our rivers and lakes.
Thanks to all who are making this
program a success!
Anyone who would like to get
involved with the CWTU River
Keepers should contact me at 920-
582-7802. John Gremmer
More River Keepers News:
Gifts and Grants The Citizens Natural Resources
ASSN. has given the CWTU River
Keepers a $500 grant for chemicals
and equipment.
The CWTU River Keepers trained
two members of the Aldo Leopold
Chapter Trout Unlimited at our May
training session. They donated
$100.00 dollars to the CWTU River
Keepers.
Still More River Keepers News: CWTU River Keepers Train Students
and Teachers
In May, CWTU River Keepers helped
the Appleton Plamann Montessori
School set up a water monitoring
program on Apple Creek. Apple
Creek runs through Plamann Park
which is behind the school building.
Rick Fahrenkrug, Jim Murphy, Dick
Stielow, Norm Christnacht, Judy and
John Hartl, Andy Hudak, Ed Hudak,
Andrew Aslesen, and John Gremmer
participated in the training and
planning. The school will be
monitoring all Summer and their data
is being posted on the Water Action
volunteers website. Thanks go to
Rick Fahrenkrug for doing the bulk of
the organizing on this project.
From: "STRAND, SARAH"
Subject: Thank you, thank you,
thank you! Please pass on to all of
APM's water testing volunteers! Date: June 19, 2014 at 2:43:10 PM
CDT
Dear John G., John H., Dick, Jim, Andy, Rick, Andrew, Norm, Ed and Judy, Thank you so much for coming to our school and teaching our students about water conservation and testing. I’d like to acknowledge your generous gifts of time and patience as you led all of us through each water testing station. Your knowledge and experiences really got us excited about helping the environment and understanding the immediate world around us! As a teacher, I am absolutely ecstatic about this opportunity for our students. I could go on and on about all of the academic connections students will be making- math, science, writing, observing,
measuring, using scientific equipment, recording data, etc. But I am most excited about the realness that this experience has to offer our students. In our Montessori training, we learned that we should always “bring the real into our classrooms”. I think we are accomplishing that especially with the collection of data from their extended school campus and onto the website database for long term study. I am really pleased about being involved with all of the parts of this program. We just finished our 1st solo water testing this week, with a small group of summer school students. I was amazed at how much they remembered from your training- both in word and in action. In our training we also learned about how “practical life” exercises such as these, can bring out the best in students and raise them in other academic and social areas. This is often hard to measure in the traditional sense, but trust me, the time that you gave has already made a big impact with these students!!! I think we are well on our way to achieving some of our school’s goals for the year, including using the environment around us, developing partnerships within the community and developing leadership opportunities for our students. Thank you!!
Lastly, I’d like to thank you for your flexibility with the weather and schedules. Hats off to Rick for his extra assistance with coordinating all of this and to John G. for his leadership within this program. Thank you to Ed and Rebecca for bringing this into my vision- I remain very excited and grateful!
So happy to be participating! Thanks again, Sarah Strand
From Greenville Middle School Joe Bach, FVTU, Mike San Dretto,
CWTU VP, and I each spent a
morning teaching Greenville Middle
School students about fly fishing in
late June.
The teacher, Sara Hans, learned about
CWTU at TroutFest '14 and requested
some help in teacher her classes on fly
fishing. The students had been
tying wooly buggers and learning how
to tie the knots. They were also
getting quite good at mastering the
casting stroke. Maybe one of them
will be a chapter president or state
chair someday. See Sara Hans' letter
below. In the image I was showing
the kids what kind of flies I use for
different fish. John Gremmer
Dear John, Thank you so much for visiting my summer school classes today. The students, Monica, and I enjoyed seeing all of your flies, your telescopicfly rod, and learning the
four basic steps to casting. Your instructionwas valuable and will be practiced each day. Thank you for the cards and for the wonderful flies. The boys looked forward to sharing them withtheir family members. Attached are some neat photos of you instructing my students today. Enjoy! John, I sincerely appreciate your support. I know the boys are finding thejoy in fly fishing and hope this will become a lifelong sport for them. Warm regards, Sara
Mike SanDretto gives casting lessons
John Gremmer and Students with Flies
Joe Bach at the tying table with students
John Gremmer at the tying table with
students
Joe Bach shows students varieties of flies
Update on the CAFO Fight in the
Central Sands From: Bob Clarke
Subject: Update on our CAFO fight in the
Central Sands Date: July 9, 2014 at 11:19:44 PM CDT
As I return to the normal work week
after the beautiful July 4th weekend I
can’t help but reminisce about the
time “before”. Beforethe CAFO was
announced in our back
yard, Before we learned how our
water was at risk, Before our nearby
friends showed us how their lake is
almost gone, Before we were taught
about how our prized streams may not
support trout habitat...Before we took
legal action to protect our water.
July 4th … We celebrate our
independence! And for many this
holiday represents the half way mark
for summer. I watched many
families enjoying skiing and tubing
and wave runners. My wife and I
watched the sailboats and paddle
boards and kayaks and canoes. We
laughed at the fun that people were
having swimming, floating, splashing
and snorkeling. We listened to our
neighbor’s excitement when the
eagles were spotted. We saw people
fishing and hiking and biking and we
saw tents. Lots of tents and tarps and
campfires. The weather was perfect
and we enjoyed sleeping with our
windows open while others slept on
porches or under the stars. It was
beautiful weather to enjoy our
wonderful outdoor world.
But we couldn’t help but think about
how all of these activities will be
negatively impacted. What would it
be like to experience the sights and
smells of manure on the fields, spilled
on the roads and pooling in ditches?
What would it be like to sleep with
windows closed tight against the
stench of liquid manure or hazardous
air pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide
and ammonia?
For us the 4th represents other things
as well. Over the 4th of July
weekend in 2011, we were preparing
for a public hearing on the then-
proposed Richfield Dairy high-
capacity well permit. Over three
years, two permits, two court
victories, and three weeks of
contested case hearings later, we still
don’t have a decision on whether the
DNR was within its rights to issue the
high-capacity well permit without
considering the impacts of other
wells.
But we are getting close, despite a
recent effort by the DNR to delay a
decision again.
Hearings challenging the Richfield
Dairy high-capacity well permit
concluded in December 2013, and the
attorneys submitted final post-hearing
briefs in early May 2014. In early
June, the DNR asked the
administrative law judge to stay a
decision and reopen proceedings so it
could re-do its analysis yet again.
This analysis still would not have led
to any changes in the well permit.
But we prevailed...Last week, the
judge denied that request. What’s more, the judge stated he
would make every effort to issue
a decision in 60 days.
Our legal actions are still going strong
as we enter our 4th year and we are
making a big difference! Our costs
now hover near $300,000 and we
need your help.
Please support these efforts to
protect why you enjoy making
family memories on holidays such
as the 4th!
http://www.friendsofcs.org/
www.Facebook.com/FriendsofCS
A Trip to the St. Mary’s River,
Canada By Jeff Treu
Salmo Salar of theSt Marys Known in some parts of the world as the king of fish, the Atlantic Salmon is a beautifully colored fish of sterling silver with iridescent hues of blue, violet and olive in the Spring. In the Fall with the arrival of the spawning season this same fish changes its look to that of rich gold, the males now growing large kypes and sporting round protruding snouts. This is a fish I’ve had an increasing fascination with over the last several years. A fish I have come to admire for its tradition, beauty and fighting qualities.
I have always admired the anadromous species of the Great Lakes, the Pacific Salmon, providing the first migration of the Fall season and early sport for the fisherman. The big powerful Fall Browns, the almost unequaled battlers of Fall and Spring the Steelhead, the big and rare Coasters (Brook Trout) of summer, and as of late the Atlantic’s.
I’ve always heard about them, these great fish of Europe and eastern Canada but they seemed mysterious and out of reach, both geographically and economically. Then about 15 yrs ago I began to hear bits and pieces about this fish thriving in the St Marys River just 6 hrs from home. This started me on a search to find out all I could about this fishery.
The first time I fished the Soo (Sault Sainte Marie) area both on the Canadian and U.S. side of the border was about 8 yrs ago, since then I have made several more trips. Wade fishing the famous St Marys Rapids is only accessible from the Canadian side of the border. You can access the river on the U.S. side by boat. The month of May is prime for Steelhead but the Atlantic’s don’t make their migration up the river from Lake Huron until about mid June, on a normal year. However they don’t enter the “Rapids” until about mid July or even later, at least in fishable numbers. It’s the warming of the slower waters of the lower river and the ever increasing spawning urge that inevitably drives these fish into the oxygen rich waters of the “Rapids”.
I just returned a few days ago from a trip to the Soo in search of Atlantic Salmon. This trip occurred the 2nd wk of July. A friend of mine, Dirk Denzin, invited me to join him on a 4 day trip he had booked with guide Brad Petzke to boat fish the river. It
took me about 1 second to accept his offer. At this time fishing out of a boat was our only choice not only did the time of year with our unseasonably cool weather dictate we do so because the fish would not be in the “Rapids” yet but also because the Army Corp of Engineers had opened more gates at the head of the “Rapids” making them to high and treacherous to wade. Hopefully this event will end by next year and fishing the “Rapids” will once again be a possibility. Dirk and I arrived at the boat landing to meet Brad, our guide, at 5am. I must warn you that fishing the St Marys out of a boat may not be what you envision when you think about the stories you’ve heard or read concerning Atlantic Salmon. You may picture a 20’ wooden freighter canoe on a rock strewn river flanked by majestic bluffs that are so common in eastern Canada. Maybe the volcanic landscape of Iceland or the northern forest terrain of Norway or maybe even the trimmed hedges and quaint villages of Ireland. Along with the scenery a person can expect a 1 or 2 fish week, if you’re lucky maybe more but possibly worse. Not so here in the Soo. No this is the river that houses the Soo Locks, some of the biggest and busiest in the world. Ocean going barges and other vessels are a common sight. That being said the river is frequently traveled by small fishing boats, the Atlantic Salmon are still Atlantic Salmon and there are good numbers of them available to the angler. Yes these fish migrate up the river from Lake Huron instead of the ocean but they are still the same big beautiful powerful fish that readily take a fly. Fish that will run you into your backing and take you down into the depths on one side of the boat and if you’re not careful come rocketing up out of the water 3’ or 4’ into the air on the other side of the boat. If you’re lucky, after a 15-20 minute battle or more you may get to hold and photograph a silver Atlantic Salmon of different iridescent hues weighing maybe 10 lbs or more. Our guide Brad Petzke showed us some innovative nymph and streamer techniques we used to catch these fish. For the record
if you’re interested in the numbers and I don’t usually quote numbers but I will in this case for the sake of a comparison to other Atlantic Salmon destinations around the world. Well Dirk and myself boated 24 Atlantic’s in 4 days of fishing 8 of which were in the 10 lb range. We also caught 14 Steelhead, the St Marys being one of the few places in the world where you can catch Steelhead and Atlantic’s out of the same water. For good measure you can also add 20 plus Whitefish and Lake Herring to the count. As long as I’m mentioning numbers I must admit that my friend Dirk did school me on both numbers and size of fish caught, that’s ok though because we truly enjoyed having the fishing time of our lives.
This trip truly ended up being a world class trip for us but not at world class prices. Jeff Treu For more info you can contact ; Captain Brad Petzke Riversnorth Guide Service www.riversnorth.net
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