Recent Posts
Rock Run Water Tests - January 2026
“Niether rain nor snow…” the saying goes. Snow covered roads and 20 degree temperatures did not deter the FTTU Citizen Scientists from their duties at the mouth of Rock Run.
The results:
Air Temperature: 21° F
Water Temperature: 33° F
pH: 6.8
Alkalinity: 5.1
Linn Run Gauge: 1.94′
Linn Run Discharge: 13.8 ft³/sec
Rivers Camp Sign-Ups
The 2026 Rivers Conservation Youth Camp will run from June 14 to the 19th at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. The camp is open to boys and girls ages 14 to 17 and the deadline for applications is February 28th.
FTTU will consider sponsoring at least one Westmoreland County youth to attend the camp. Contact us at info@forbestrailtu.org if you know of an interested student.
For more information on the camp, download the brochure using the link below, or visit the camp website – riverscamp.com
Beginner Fly Tying Classes Start January 8
Beginner fly tying classes held at the PA Fly Co classroom.
166 Three Mile Hill, Mt. Pleasant, PA 15666-1346
Registration is open now (space is limited)
Includes hooks and materials for flies being tied.
$250.00 for classes (cash only)
Needs to be paid in full by December 31, 2025.
Classes starting January 8, 2026.
Scheduled every other Thursday at 6 pm.
Classes include fly tying, knot tying and fly casting.
(tools and equipment available to use at no charge during class).
Along with special guest speakers and fly tying instructors.
Last class in April will be fly casting lessons at a private lake stocked with large trout.
This is FREE to all who participate in the class.
For more information call (724) 322-0037
Thank You Larry Myers!
FTTU would like to offer our sincere thanks to outgoing President Larry Myers. Larry has gone above and beyond by serving as President for seven years!
During that time FTTU has been a very busy chapter expanding our education outreach, celebrated our 50th anniversary with a very successful banquet, continued to improve our veterans fishing outing which Larry spearheaded, and conducted a thorough cold water conservation plan for the Linn Run Watershed.
Under Larry’s leadership we have acquired several grants including a PA Fish and Boat Commission R3 Grant to equip our education efforts and a Coldwater Heritage grant to do work on Linn Run in 2026.
We presented Larry with a gift of a bamboo fly rod hand-built by Ligonier’s Gig D’Orio and an Hardy reel.
“As I’ve said many times, it has been a pleasure serving all of you and very rewarding. I congratulate our newly elected president Rick, our new Vice President Lee, our newly elected Director Rick and our re-elected Director Brian. With all of you who continue to serve on EXCOM, we have a well-structured and highly skilled governance. Our Chapter is positioned to be a strong leader for TU! I wish all of you well!”
-Larry Myers
Raffle Winners
Here are the winning numbers from tonight’s raffle drawing.
1361
3654
4926
3509
1511
0980
3123
2729
3242
We sold 872 tickets and drew 9 prize winners. The winners have their choice of a $250.00 gift certificate to Werry’s Provisions, or $250 in cash.
If you have one of the winning numbers, you should have already been contacted. If you have a voice mail from us, call us back and we can arrange to send you your prize.
Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all who participated making this another successful fund raiser!
Raffle Update
You did it again! Thanks to our members and friends, we have reached our goal for our 2025 fundraising campaign.
We are currently at 816 tickets sold with more to come in. That means we will be drawing for at least 8 prizes on Wednesday evening and we will be sharing 10% of our profits with the Westmoreland Food Bank just in time for Thanksgiving.
The prize drawing will be held at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, November 19th. The drawing can be seen live on our Facebook page.
Thank you to all who bought and/or sold tickets and good luck in the drawing.
Officers and Directors For 2025-2026
Here are the results of the elections held at our annual meeting on October 1st 2025.
President: Rick Yaksic of Irwin
Vice President: Lee Demosky of Greensburg
Directors:
Brian Zimmerman, Derry, Reelected to a new three-year term
Rick Lynch, Jeannette, elected to a three-year term
Rick Yaksic replaces Larry Myers who served as President for 7 years.
Lee Demosky replaces Rick Yaksic as Vice President.
The other officers have another year left of their 2-year terms.
Scott Minster remains Secretary and Ron Rodgers stays on as Treasurer.
The other Directors are:
Barb Hauger and Dan Ferguson – 2-year terms
Milt Claney and Bill Somogyi – 1-year terms
A huge Thank you to Larry Myers for his seven years at the helm of FTTU!
FTTU Honors Long-Time Leaders
Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to two of its most esteemed and long serving members at its recent monthly meeting at the Nimick Family Education Center in Ligonier. Trout Unlimited is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to conserve, protect and restore coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.
Forbes Trail is one of forty-nine chapters in Pennsylvania and its four hundred plus members represent Westmoreland County. Each fall the Chapter presents various awards to volunteer members and local businesses who have demonstrated exemplary performance and commitment supporting TU’s mission. Activities include conducting education and outreach services to local schools and community groups, providing leadership and direction on Chapter programs and events, as well as managing trout stream research and remediation projects.
Forbes Trail created a new award this year to recognize members who have devoted years, if not decades, to serving in leadership roles, developing policy and direction for the Chapter, and managing projects and activities pursuant to its mission. The new award is titled the “Monty Murty Lifetime Achievement Award”, and was presented to both Monty Murty and Ralph Koscianski.
Monty is a Life Member of TU who served as president of the chapter for many years as well as financial reviewer. He continues to serve in various capacities at both the State Council and National level including currently assisting in developing direction and policy to address climate change and mitigate its adverse impact on trout streams. His expertise and devotion to education have led to new in-classroom and on-stream lesson plans and ecology studies. Monty is adept at working with elected officials, environmental regulatory agencies and advocacy groups to find viable solutions to technical and politically challenging environmental problems.
Ralph’s monumental contribution to serving the chapter and its mission began a couple decades ago to address the disastrous impact of acid rain on trout streams in the Laurel Highlands. While Penn State and other research groups focused on the national and regional impacts, Ralph lasered his attention on Linn Run and its tributaries. Ralph worked with academia and consultants to formulate a treatment process to remediate the water quality in Rock Run, a major tributary to Linn Run, that would allow macroinvertebrates and wild brook trout to survive. Because of low pH and alkalinity caused by decades of acid rain, trout were nonexistent in Rock Run, as well as the bugs they normally eat. By selecting crushed limestone with the appropriate chemical and physical composition, he and other volunteers began treating the stream in 2005. Today, Rock Run’s water quality has improved to the point that it supports natural reproduction of wild brook trout.
Forbes Trail applauds the award winners for their dedication to TU’s mission and for their generous donation of time and talent to make all of TU’s programs and activities successful!
Military Veterans and First Responders Relax with Day of Trout Fishing
Over 40 military veterans, first responders and guests spent Saturday, October 4th enjoying the mountain air and sunshine as they fished and reacquainted with old friends. This was the seventh, annual fishing event sponsored by Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) and hosted by their partner, Kingston Veterans Sportsmen Club.
Saturday’s weather was picture perfect for the anglers…but maybe too sunny for the trout. Still, anglers landed several trout, a few catfish and plenty of bluegills. “That’s my biggest fish of the day for me!” yelled veteran Taz Bey who has participated in several of the events. Actually, the catfish she caught was one of the largest fish for anyone on Saturday. “I’ll be back again next year. It’s just nice to be out here with my family and friends.”
National TU introduced the program of fly fishing to veterans many years ago to bring the therapeutic healing of fly fishing to our nation’s heroes. First responders were added a few years back and the program is now called the TU Service Partnership honoring those who have served their country and communities. TU is very grateful that Kingston Sportsmen agreed to partner with them again this year. Their manicured club grounds provide ADA access to their lake, pavilion and restroom facilities. Benjamin Gess from Troop 305 finished his Eagle Scout project at 9 PM the evening before. It’s an ADA access floating, fishing dock. “It’s been almost three years since I first came up with the design.” noted Benjamin. “I wanted it ready for the veterans and first responders today”.
The morning air was cool, which was perfect for fishing. With the leaves just starting to show some fall color, and the smell of a campfire in the background, everyone was in the mood to welcome in the new season. But within a couple hours the sun was high, the air and water were warming up, and the trout quit biting.
This event takes place annually, usually the first Saturday in October, at Kingston Veterans Sportsmen Club east of Latrobe. Registered veterans and first responders spread out around the lake and started catching fish immediately. Kingston had stocked trout just days before. The lake holds trout, catfish, bass and panfish which provided action for the anglers until early afternoon.
The other partners in this annual event were Scout Troops 465 and 305. They start the event posting colors then invite veterans to participate in retiring worn American flags. The U. S. flag code requires that when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning. The Scouts and veterans join in a solemn and dignified ceremony complete with patriotic music in the background. Everyone we spoke to expressed their appreciation for the event and how they enjoy seeing the Scouts in uniform learning at an early age about serving community and country. The Scouts prepared a grilled lunch for over 100 participants.
We thank our event sponsors…Westmoreland Case Management, Fish USA, Home Depot, Giant Eagle Supermarkets, Bent Rod Bait & Tackle, JTK Outdoors and TU members.
Rock Run Water Tests - September 2025
Desperately needed rain arrived on Thursday, September 25, 2025, but more is needed to bring up stream levels and recharge ground water.
Brook trout need good stream flow to move to spawning grounds.
Linn Run levels spiked up to 2.04 ft on Thursday afternoon but quickly dropped to 1.54 on Saturday morning when our sampling was conducted.
Water Temperature – 60.5° F
Air Temperature – 63°
Linn Run Gauge – 1.54
Linn Run Discharge – 2.04 ft³/sec
pH – 7.1
Alkalinity – 10.1
