The Outdoors Swap Meet/Flea Market Sale scheduled for October 7 at the Annual Meeting has been postponed for a later date.
Check back for a revised date for the sale probably sometime in 2021.

FTTU’s Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 6:00 pm at the Bear Rocks Community Club, 161 Big Springs Road, Acme, PA. Note that the location has been changed from the Nimick Center in Ligonier as listed in the Trails newsletter. We realized we would need a larger room to allow for more distancing. Attendees are asked to wear a face covering.

At this meeting we will elect a new slate of officers and directors, review a budget for the next year, and discuss possible projects for 2021.

Click HERE for directions.

Those wishing to learn how to tie flies or learn techniques and new patterns will want to check out live fly tying sessions on FTTU’s Facebook page. Doug Yacobet along with a panel of guest tiers will tie two patterns each Sunday evening at 8:00 pm. One pattern will be for beginners and the other will be for advanced tiers.

Here’s the link FTTU Facebook Fly Tying

You can ask questions or comment live during the session.

Check it out Sundays at 8 pm.

Due to limits on groups at our usual meeting place, the Nimick Center in Ligonier, we have decided to move the October meeting to the Bear Rocks Community Club located at 161 Big Springs Road, Acme, PA 15610. Take Route 31 east from Mount Pleasant and turn right on to Bear Rocks Road, make another right to stay on Bear Rocks Road, another right on to Big Springs Road. The club is a short distance on the right. The club is only about a mile off of Route 31. Click HERE for the map.

The date is Wednesday, October 7, 2020 and the starting time is 6:00 pm. This is the chapter’s annual meeting and members are encouraged to attend. According to state guidance, attendees should wear a mask.  At this meeting, will elect officers and directors for the next term.

Also, the outdoors flea market originally scheduled for this meeting has been postponed for another date.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Since 2009, September 11 is recognized as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. On this day Americans across the country volunteer in tribute to those lost and injured in the September 11, 2001 attacks, first responders, and the many who have since risen in service.

In honor of this year’s National Day of Service and Remembrance, TU is offering a free 1-year membership to our local first responders and members of the military community to introduce them to Trout Unlimited through the TU Service Partnership. Every community across America has service-oriented leaders who can benefit from our approach – and through whom Trout Unlimited can better protect, reconnect, restore, and sustain healthy waterways throughout America.

Each year, Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited honors our military veterans with a fishing outing for disabled vets (See the Community Service Page).

Membership includes a full year of TROUT Magazine, local chapter activities like fly-fishing lessons, discounts on travel and fishing gear, opportunities to win trips, prizes and more!

If you are a first responder or an active member of the military, or know someone who is, you are encouraged to take advantage of this offer.

To sign-up on-line, click HERE.

During the September meeting at Mammoth Park, FTTU presented the chapter’s Russ Mowry Memorial Silver Trout Award to Denny Hess. Denny has been active with the chapter since 2009 and has served as Vice President since 2016. He has worked closely with Ralph Koscianski and Linn Run Park staff on the Rock Run project and has put in volunteer hours on the Mill Creek stream improvement project as well. Denny makes the trip out from Irwin to conduct water testing on Rock Run each month. He has also served as a mentor at our disabled veterans outings.
Congratulations and thanks, Denny!

Much needed rain has brought up the flow and a breath of fresh “air” for the trout.

Air Temperature: 68 degrees F
Water Temperature: 65 degrees F
Linn Run Discharge: 2.5
Linn Run Gauge: 2.04
pH: 7.0
Alkalinity: 6.7

The Linn Run gauge remained around 1.4, well below average, for most of the month of August until the rain of August 28th brought levels above 2.0.

Some rain would be nice.

The gauge reading on Linn Run was the lowest recorded since we started taking these reading in October 2017. The alklinity test was the highest of 2020.
The discharge for Linn Run, measured in cubic feet per second, was unavailable on the USGS website because, it appears, the flow was below the minimum measurement of 2.0. The median flow for this time of year is 2.5 cubic ft/sec.
In the photo at left, Rock Run appears to be dried up, but there is indeed a flow in at least two of three channels.

Air Temperature: 72 degrees F
Water Temperature: 67 degrees F
pH: 6.6
Alkalinity: 11.4
Linn Run Gauge: 1.36

Flow goes down, alkalinity goes up, here’s the results of water testing for July.

Air Temperature: 70 Degrees F
Water Temperature: 63 Degrees F
Linn Run Gauge: 1.42
Linn Run Discharge: 5.9
pH: 6.7
Alkalinity: 8.0
Turbidity: Low & Clear

Lowest flow of 2020. Rain Please!

On Saturday, May 30, FTTU volunteers Denny Hess, Monty Murty, Ron Miller and Scott Minster conducted a detailed water quality survey on the lower section of Rock Run, a Linn Run tributary in the state park.

In addition to our normal pH and alkalinity readings, dissolved oxygen and total dissolved solids tests were also done. We also conducted a macroinvertebrate study with leaf packs that had been soaking in the stream since December 2019.

Leaf packs are an alternative method of collecting stream dwelling organisms which is usually done with a kick net. With leaf packs, leaves from the banks of the stream are placed in mesh bags which are then anchored to the stream bed. In time, organisms take up residence among the leaves in the bag. The bags are retrieved, cut open and the contents inspected for macroinvertebrates. The macros are sorted by scientific order, counted and the results are compiled into an EPT Index.

The EPT Index stands for: Ephemeroptera (mayflies); Plecoptera (stoneflies) and Trichoptera (caddis flies). An abundance of these orders of insects is an excellent indicator of good water quality since they are pollution intolerant.

Within the Rock Run leaf packs, we found stoneflies, mayflies, hellgrammites, crayfish, cranefly larva and both cased and net spinning caddis flies. The results are scored on the basis of how pollution tolerant the samples are. An EPT score of 20 or less is ranked as “Poor”; 20-40 as “Fair”; and above 40 as “Good”. Rock Run scored 41.2, just enough to gain a “Good” designation.

Stoneflies are by far the most abundant macroinvertebrate inhabiting Rock Run, with the prehistoric looking roachlike variety making up the majority of the stoneflies. According to McCafferty’s book Aquatic Entomology, “(roachlike stonefly) Larvae are herbivoredetritivores (feeds on dead organic plant matter) and occur primarily in springs and streams of mountains, commonly in leaf packs.” There were also a lot of small thin stoneflies found possibly a variety known as Slender Winter Stoneflies. The next most abundant organism were sowbugs.

Here’s the numbers on the water tests:
Air Temperature: 59 degrees F
Water Temperature: 57.5 degrees F
pH: 6.7
Alkalinity: 4.4
Linn Run Gauge Height: 1.75
Linn Run Discharge: 9.33
Total dissolved solids was low (good)
Dissolved oxygen was high (also good)

All looks good on Rock Run except we would like to see alkalinity of 10 or more, which we are trying to help by placing limestone sand in the headwaters. Also a little better diversity in the macros would give us a better EPT score. We suspect a kick net survey may turn up more mayflies and caddis since rocks and gravel are the type of habitat they prefer.

The charts for Rock Run water tests for 2020 can be viewed here Rock Run 2020.