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Fall Newsletter Now Availbable
The Fall 2022 edition can now be viewed by clicking The Trails logo link below.
FTTU is a very busy chapter and this issue is jam packed with six pages of our activities over the past several months.
Larry Myers Honored with Don Robb Memorial Award.
FTTU President Larry Myers was presented with the Don Robb Memorial Award for long-term service to the chapter at our May meeting at the PA Fly Co fly shop in Acme, PA.
Larry has served the chapter as President for two terms. During his tenure he initiated Forbes Trail’s highly successful Disabled Veteran’s Fishing Day, and the Linn Run Watershed Conservation Plan. By securing grants and through several successful fundraising campaigns, he strengthened the chapter’s financial standing and with his public realtions skills he raised the profile of FTTU attracting volunteers and new members. Our membership roster increased by at least 100 during his time in office.
Larry has spent countless hours coordinating with partner organizations, volunteers and schools to make FTTU projects and events happen.
For all of his efforts, the membership presented Larry with the chapter’s highest honor, the Don Robb Memorial Award along with a beautiful wood carving – “Linn Run Brookie” hand crafted by Rod Cross. This work of art incorporates actual driftwood from the Linn Run stream.
The membership, officers and directors would like to thank Larry for all of his tireless efforts making FTTU what we feel is the premier TU chapter in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Museum Banquet
Mark your calendars, November 5th, 2022. The museum will hold its annual fundraising banquet on that date. It will be held at the Masonic Lodge, 1236 Holly Pike, Carlisle, Pa. The theme of the banquet will be a tribute to the late Ed Shenk, master of the Letort. Also, that night the museum will induct Pennsylvanians Al Caucci who created the Comparadun pattern dry fly, and Chuck Furimsky who since the 1990s has orchestrated fly fishing shows and symposiums at Seven Springs, Somerset, NJ and Lancaster, Pa.
Registration for the banquet will begin in June and you can register at the museum’s website www.paflyfishing.org.
FTTU Earth Day Litter Clean-Up
Forbes Trail Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) celebrated Earth Day by cleaning litter and junk from the banks of the Loyalhanna Creek in Latrobe and Ligonier on Wednesday, April 20, 2022. TU Director, Angie Schultheis, organized a crew to clean nine bags of trash from the Mission Road parking area in Latrobe along the creek. What’s most disturbing is, this is the third year in a row they’ve cleaned this same section.
The crew in Ligonier collected thirteen bags plus a grill and miscellaneous items along the delayed harvest section of the stream. The good news is very little litter was found adjacent to the stream indicating anglers are doing a much better job of carrying their trash back out with them. Kudos to the fishers!
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same about motorists. 99.9% of the litter collected was thrown out car windows, or deliberately dumped over the banks along the roadways. There is a very small percentage, a fraction of 1%, of the population, like the litterbugs who dumped a gas grill over the bank along Nicely Road, who still don’t get it. It not only creates an unsightly insult to our natural resources, it attracts others to do the same, just like the broken window syndrome in urban areas.
Trout Unlimited encourages fishers to pack out all their self-generated litter like candy wrappers, lure packaging, fishing line and bottled drinks. And we ask that they carry a bag to collect litter others have carelessly left behind. Litter attracts more litter. Hopefully pristine streams and stream banks will cause litterbugs to think twice.
We have world-class streams, parks, forests and trails in western Pennsylvania. Trout Unlimited asks all outdoor enthusiasts to do their part to help protect our natural resources and to keep them free of litter and illegal dumps. If you witness someone illegally dumping trash, you can report it as part of the Keep PA Beautiful, Illegal Dump Free PA Program at https://illegaldumpfreepa.org/report-it/. Don’t ignore it…report it!
FTTU Participates in “Super Science Saturday”
The Women’s and Diversity Initiatives of the Forbes Trail and Penn’s Woods West Trout Unlimited chapters partnered at the March 19th Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s (CMNH) Super Science Saturday to connect the CMNH’s Monster Fish exhibit to conservation and fishing in PA. Based on the National Geographic program with the same name, Monster Fish highlights ancient fish and the importance of their habitat. Eighteen volunteers from across the two chapters, along with CMNH’s Climate and Rural Systems Partnership, connected the exhibit to our local rivers and streams by inviting participants to learn about relationships between trout, insect life cycles, fishing and environmental change.
How do we make that connection? What can trout teach us about climate change? As we know, fish such as trout and the macroinvertebrates that they feed upon are great indicators of the health of our streams and environment. Trout provide food, a connection to the land and an asset to the local economy but depend on us to be responsible stewards of the land and protect the health and integrity of the forests and waters they call home.
The activities the two chapters facilitated included fly-tying demonstrations, trout and macroinvertebrate coloring sheets, measuring kids and comparing their height to the largest fish caught in Pennsylvania, and just generally engaging people in conversations about trout, fishing, and conservation. Kids and adults alike enjoyed comparing preserved macros to the imitations created by the TU volunteers. Volunteers explained how they recreate the anatomy, physiology, and behavior of the insects. The tables were stationed right outside of the Monster Fish exhibit, so the activities made great local connections as visitors were entering or exiting the exhibit.
This is just the latest example of how these two chapters are working together to reach out to women and families. Forbes Trail hosted a beginner’s fly tying event for women this winter, and together the chapters are supporting an outdoor club for high school students with fly fishing outings and field days. The two also are partnering to bring Stream Girls back to Western PA this summer! More information can be found on our activities at forbestrailtu.org and https://pwwtu.org/
Everyone involved enjoyed the opportunity and we are happy to back to interacting with our community in person! We are looking forward to future partnerships that are in the works with the museum and Trout Unlimited.
Annual Fundraiser Raffle Underway!
It’s been a little over a week since our raffle tickets arrived in members mailboxes and the early response has been fantastic! Members are really coming through by buying/selling 392 tickets as of Monday November 1st.
Last year, we sold 512 tickets and we are well underway to eclipse that mark. If you are not a member, you can still participate by requesting tickets via email at info@forbestrailtu.org or tickets can be purchased at Bardine’s Smokehouse in Crabtree, PA. Tickets are $10 each.
We will draw for one $250.00 Bardine’s gift certificate prize for each 100 tickets sold. We’re nearly up to 4 prizes already.
The deadline for submitting tickets is Friday, November 12, so send your tickets in today.
Altoona “Brookies”
As a tribute to Pennsylvania’s state fish, the brook trout, the Altoona Curve Double A baseball club will be playing their June 25-27 games against the Harrisburg Senators as The Altoona Brookies. The players will wear caps sporting a leaping brook trout and jerseys adorned with the brook trout’s natural colors and markings.
Local conservation organizations will be at the ballpark including Tout Unlimited, the Blair County Conservation District, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, PA Fish & Boat Commission and the Little Juniata River Association.
FTTU on YouTube
The Forbes Trail Chapter has a presence on YouTube thanks to Doug Yocabet who has established a channel for us. Check it out HERE.
You’ll find some videos of FTTUers explaining how they keep their gear on the stream. There’s videos on the chest pack, vest, and Richardson chest fly box.
You can also listen to a radio interview on the WCNS radio outdoors show from several years ago with then FTTU president Monty Murty. Monty Discusses FTTU activities such as youth education, Trout in the Classroom and conservation issues.
There is also a short video with Monty Murty describing one of Pennsylvania’s Special Places – The Laurel Highlands. You can view that HERE.
Free TU Membership for First Responders and Military
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.
Rock Run Water Tests March 2020
Recent rains have brought the flow up high and fast but, as always, clear. Here’s the results of our water quality testing done March 4, 2020.
Air Temperature: 48 degrees F
Water Temperature: 41.5 degrees F
Linn Run Gauge: 2.31
Linn Run Discharge: 48.8
Alkalinity: 3.0
pH: 6.8
