Seneca Valley Trout Unlimited

April 24, 2013, SVTU Chapter meeting featuring John Mullican on “Flyfishing for smallmouth bass on the Monocacy and the Jig”

Flyfishing for smallmouth bass on the Monocacy and the Jig, by John Mullican, MD DNR Fisheries Manager.  Don’t want to go out on the big river?  Come hear John unveil some of our smaller waters that offer excellent opportunities for smallmouth and panfish. 

Come join us at Dicks Sporting Goods 3^rd floor meeting room at we gather at 7:00 and start the program at 7:30 pm.  It will be another excellent program. (Yes there is a third floor, look behind the climbing wall for the stairs.)

May 11, 2013, Project Healing Waters on Beaver Creek

SVTU will be assisting in a Project Healing Waters outing to Beaver Creek on Saturday May 11.  If you would like to assist, contact Noel Gollehon at ngollehon@comcast.net . 

June 5-7 OR June 7-9, 2013, SVTU Chapter fishing trip to the Savage

SVTU is planning a fishing trip to the Savage River area on either June 5-7 or June 7-9.  Depending on interest we will pick one date or the other and arrange lodging and set up a car pool for the trip.  There will be signup sheets at the April 24 meeting or contact Noel Gollehon atngollehon@comcast.net with your timing preference.  

 April 6, 2013, Stream Clean-up and First Saturday Fly Casting Clinic on Little Seneca

9:00 til ??, Meet at the Lodge on Little Seneca off of Clopper Road

14500-A Clopper Road
Boyds, MD 20841 (map)

Seneca Valley TU is once again hosting a stream clean-up and, in addition, a  fly casting clinic at the Lodge at Little Seneca and Clopper Road on Saturday, April 6.  Volunteers should arrive by 9am and plan on making a sweeps along Little Seneca upstream and downstream of Clopper Road.  After the initial clean-up we will break for fly-casting instruction on the lawn between 10:30 and 11:00.  Bring your gloves, rake, or grabber (if you have one), bring a rod and reel if you wish to work with our FFF certified casting instructor. Clothes and shoes may get dirty. Wear old clothing that is weather appropriate and bring extra layers.  Waterproof boots or waders will be helpful. Hot dogs will be served at the IWLA pond off Clopper Road at 12:30.

The stream clean-up is just one of many activities the Chapter has been dedicated to supporting over the years. In addition to providing a service to the community and improving our streams, it is an excellent opportunity to meet with members of the chapter, and other indviduals who join in the effort. You do not have to be a member of TU to help.

Casting Clinic with Dave Cleaves approx. 10:30 

In addition to suporting the Stream clanup you can join Dave to improve your casting skills! Dave is a long-time member of SVTU AND a Certified Fly Casting Instructor . He has provided excellent skill enhancement to many of our Chapter members, and others.

Please contact Chapter President Noel Gollehon @  ngollehon@comcast.net if you plan to help so we can get an estimate of “helpers”.

Call for Volunteers – Trout in the Classroom (TIC) Releases

This is a call for volunteers to help the 26 Montgomery and Howard County schools release into local streams the trout raised in classroom tanks since January. Montgomery and Howard releases will start in late April and continue through mid-June.

TIC Purpose and History
Most of you know that TIC is one of MAC’s more successful programs. By raising trout from eggs in pre-college classrooms TIC teaches youngsters the importance of clean cold water to trout survival. Through its activities, TIC paves the way for the next generation of recreational anglers and environmental stewards on whom the future of our waters and trout fishing depend.

From three Montgomery County elementary schools, Maryland TIC now has spread to 62 elementary, middle and high schools across the state and gets its financial support from the Mid-Atlantic Council of TU. Moreover, it’s one of the largest TIC programs in the country managed and coordinated entirely by unpaid volunteers. It’s also a successful example of government and non-profit collaboration. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources provides fertilized Kamloops rainbow trout eggs and necessary permits to raise and release the trout, while TIC provides oversight and technical support to the program.

Releasing The Trout
The release program is one of if not the most important events of the TIC year. It validates students’ success in maintaining a healthy environment for trout growth and is the final stage in the linkage between student caregivers, their fingerlings and their local watershed. It celebrates students’ time and effort in raising the fish and enables them to make connections between classroom conditions and what they observe taking place in the natural world around them. It’s a treatment for what Richard Louv, the noted environmentalist, calls Nature Deficit Disorder.

And for volunteers it’s always an enjoyable event because the students are so involved, excited and committed to giving their trout a good send-off into the wild.

TU volunteers always have an important part to play in release programs. Their main roles are:
1. transport fingerlings from the school to the release site (TIC can provide coolers and portable aerators to keep the fingerlings oxygenated in transit)
2. demonstrate fly-tying (a table and chair can be available on-site)
3. familiarize students with fly-casting through demonstrations and
  elementary lessons (student fly rods and reels can be made
   available)

Volunteers also can help with stream surveys of macroinvertibrates (kick seines, magnifying insect viewers and identification cards can be made available) and other aspects of release programs.

The release site for Montgomery County schools is Little Seneca Creek at The Lodge at Boyds, on Clopper Road (Route 117), a ten-minute drive from Exit 10 off I-270.  The main release site for Howard County schools is the Middle Patuxent River at the end of Eden Brook in Columbia. Some schools have arranged their releases at the riverside park just below Brighton Dam. A number of schools also have teamed up for joint releases.

Release dates and schools so far confirmed are:
HOWARD COUNTY
Wednesday, April 24 – Oakland Mills Middle School
Wednesday, May 1 – West Friendship/Swansfield elementary joint release
Thursday, May 16 – Burleigh Manor Middle School
Wednesday, May 22 - Hammond Elementary
Friday, May 24 – Murray Hill Middle School (4 PM)

MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Thursday, April 25- Westbrook Elementary School (0900 on)
Friday, April 26–Tilden Middle School
Thursday, May 2 – Holy Cross (0815-noon)
Tuesday, May 7 – Sligo/Wood Middle schools
Tuesday, May 14 - M.L.King Jr Middle School (probably AM)
Tuesday, May 21 – Benjamin Banneker Middle School (9:30 AM-1:30 PM)
Tuesday, May 28 and Wednesday, May 29 – Briggs Chaney Middle School – Patuxent below Brighton Dam
Thursday, May 30 – Gaithersburg/Cabin John Middle Schools (9:30 AM-1
                  PM)
Friday, May 31 – Westland Middle/Sherwood High School/Sandy Spring
                Friends School
Wednesday, June 12 – North Chevy Chase Elementary School (10 AM-noon)

If you can make time available to help with any of these releases, you’ll find it both stimulating and enjoyable. The most your participation will require is a half day, and a number of employers now have charitable service programs which give employees time off to volunteer for non-profit organizations such as Trout Unlimited.

To sign up or for further information about Howard or Montgomery County TIC releases, please get in touch with Jim Greene at
301-652-3848 or jgreene@waterwisp.com and with Jim Robinson at 240-396-3922 or jrobinson@fm.umd.edu concerning Howard County releases.

BEAVER CREEK WORK DAY – SATURDAY MARCH 23rd

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!  We need your help to make this event happen!

There is a work day planned on Beaver Creek, Saturday March 23, 8:30 - 2:00. There will be three meeting places; Beaver Creek Fly Shop and both fly fishing parking lots. We will conduct general stream cleanup and removing tree tubes to replace them with wire cages. Also, Project Healing Waters will be planting trees and shrubs on the mill property where the PHW events are held. They will need help too. Also, there will be a film crew from Field & Stream magazine filming the event and interviewing people about the Beaver Creek project.

Bring gloves, small sledge hammer, wire cutters, pruners and hip boots or waders.

If attending contact Noel Gollehon, SVTU Conservation Chair, at ngollehon@comcast.net to enable an accurate count of volunteers for planning purposes.

CHAPTER MEETING – WEDNESDAY MARCH 27^TH –FLY FISHING FOR SHAD

Guest Speaker Rob Snowhite presents: “Fly fishing for shad on the Potomac River and other nearby waters.”

Washington DC is full of consultants. Rob just happens to be one who focuses on fly fishing, providing expert knowledge and advice to fly fisherman in Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., and beyond. He offers guided trips in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. Rob specializes in urban and suburban fly fishing for warm water species like bass (striped, largemouth, and smallmouth), northern snakehead, carp, catfish, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, gar, and walleye. He is the only guide who has federally issued permits for working along the tidal and non-tidal sections of the Potomac River between Great Falls and Mt. Vernon.

(see http://www.robsnowhite.com)

SHAKE OFF THE WINTER COLD……GET READY TO FISH, IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY, BY STOPPING BY THE SHOW.. 

 THE SENECA VALLEY CHAPTER WILL AGAIN HAVE A DISPLAY FOR FOLKS TO LEARN ABOUT OUR CHAPTER!

SAVE THE DATE!
2013 NATIONAL CAPITAL ANGLING SHOW
Sunday, March 10, 2013
10:00am — 5:30pm
Georgetown Preparatory School, North Bethesda, MD

Check out the link for details regarding the presenters, including Lefty Kreh, multiple vendors, silent auction, and raffles  …..http://www.ncc-tu.org/

Hope to see you all there! Bring a friend!

January 23, 2013 Chapter Meeting

NEW MEETING LOCATION:
Dick’s Sporting Goods @ the RIO Center
3rd Floor Conference Room
7:00-7:30 p.m. – Social Time
7:30-8:00 p.m. – Meeting & Elections
8:00-9:30 p.m. – Program: : Fly fishing the North Branch of the Potomac River to get your Maryland Grand Slam, with William Heresniak, Eastern Trophies Fly Fishing. You’ll think you are in the raft with William when he expounds on this fishing destination, while casting dries, streamers, or nymphs – your choice!

Check out the current issue of our newsletter - abbreoviated as it may be - for info on upcoming Chapter meetings and programs.

Also…..save the date…Wednesday January 23rd…..First Chapter meeting of 2013. See separate listing describing the Program for the evening. (Also noted in the newsletter).

It is an important meeting since is also is “election night” for Chapter officers. 

jan_2013_seneca_valley_angler_rev_0_011113.pdf

In conjunction with the December 1 SVTU meeting at the Beaver Creek Fly Shop there will be a work day on Beaver Creek.  We will gather at the parking lot on Beaver Creek Road at 9:00 am.  We need to do some storm cleanup, protect trees from beaver activity, replace some deer guards and replace some trees.  Bring gloves and tools if you have them (hammer, pliers, knife, shovel, and pruners.)  We will be finished by the noon SVTU meeting.  Lunch for the volunteers will be provided.  There will still be time after the meeting for some fishing.

See you there!

The next SVTU Chapter meeting will be held @ the BEAVER CREEK FLY SHOP , on the banks of the Beaver Creek.. 

Come join us for a great opportunity to mingle with fellow Chapter members, and learn about and fish a great local limestone trout stream.

WHEN: SATURDAY, DECEMEBR, 1 2012

MEETING START TIME: 12:00 NOON 

If you are interested in improving your casting abilty come to the clinic!

Dave Cleaves, a long standing member of our Chapter, is a certified Fly Casting Instructor and also instructs other instructors!

Many members have benfited from Dave’s clinics.

Current plan is to start at 9:00 AM Saturday @ the Lake.

Please contact Dave, or Noel Gollehon, Interim Chapter President, by Friday evening, if you plan to attend and for the exact time and location.

Contact Dave @ cleaves.david@comcast.net OR

Noel @ ngollehon@comcast.net