Read About SVTU Past Events

Annual Beaver Creek Workday
Saturday, November 18

On November 18, SVTU members cleaned up a section of the trails along Beaver Creek. We worked all day in the area below Black Rock Creek and above the bridge on Beaver Creek Church Road. We removed dead limbs from the August storm, widened the trail, and removed some of the nastiest multi-floral rose thickets in this section. We rented a chipper (thanks to Rentals Unlimited for the discount!) and reduced a huge pile of “debris” to a soil conditioner. Thanks to SVTU members John Smith, Bob Hickey, Tom Hebert, Tim Schuler, Doug Hutzell, and Noel Golllehon, along with a hard-working student from the St. James school, Jordan Hughes. Together we made a big improvement in the trails.

Beaver Creek Workday on DNR Property
Saturday, November 4

On November 4, SVTU members were among a group that removed and picked-up tree tubes on a tract owned by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) just upstream of the Albert Powell Fish Hatchery on Beaver Creek. DNR acquired the property and is converting it into woodlands to protect and filter the water flowing into Beaver Creek.

The trees that survived have grown and were splitting the protective tree tubes. Where the trees did not survive the tubes were on the ground. The crew picked up and pulled out a pickup load of old tree tubes but came nowhere close to finishing the task. The clean-up crew were members of Seneca Valley TU, Beaver Creek Watershed Association, Antietam-Conococheague Watershed Alliance, the Sierra Club and interested individuals. There will likely be another workday in December, so look for a notice via SVTU e-mail.

Fly Fishing 101—An Introduction to Fly Fishing
Saturday, October 21

Seneca Valley Trout Unlimited partnered with Izaak Walton League of Rockville to host a “Fly Fishing 101: Introduction to Fly Fishing". In the class, 21 students were exposed to all segments of fly fishing with an Introduction and Overview of fly fishing in the morning. That was followed by a BBQ sandwich lunch with all the sides and pumpkin pie for dessert.

Then the students broke into two groups to acquire hands-on experience with three critical elements of fly fishing

1. How to cast a fly rod
2. How to rig a fly rod
3. How to tie the correct knot depending on the need

Finally, students moved over to Great Seneca Creek for a demonstration of stream fishing, casting, and line management in moving water with three different types of fly fishing techniques.

• Nymph fishing where the goal is to “dead drift” a fly under water
• Dry fly fishing where the floating fly imitates an insect on the water
• And, streamer fishing where the fly imitates a small bait fish

It was a great day at the lake. The students all learned a great deal. Lunch was excellent. And a good time was had by all!

Bass Fishing Outing on the Monocacy
September 10, 2023

SVTU sponsored an outing on Sunday September 10 to do a little fishing. Due to the low water conditions and warm temperatures, we decided to try some local bass action rather than a long drive for stressed trout. Six members and friends met at Buckeystown Park where Fingerboard Road crosses the Monocacy to see what we could catch. In the few hours we fished, only a few fish were seen, and one of the group even managed to catch a few. But we had fun getting out and for most of us trying a new fishing spot. It might be worth another try, but higher water levels would make better conditions.

SVTU participates in a Beaver Creek Community Event
September 9, 2023

The community around Beaver Creek hosted an open house on September 9 at the Beaver Creek School Pavilion. It was advertised as an opportunity for the residents and business of Beaver Creek to get together and just enjoy. Washington County Commissioner, John Barr, was the main organizer of the event, and he furnished the hotdogs! SVTU was pleased to participate and talk with residents about conservation opportunities to improve the cold-water habitat of Beaver Creek.

Annual Beaver Creek Workday
Saturday, November 5, 2022

Once again, on the first Saturday in November, volunteers were mustered to Beaver Creek, to conduct streamside maintenance. With great weather, the nine members from Seneca Valley TU Chapter and Beaver Creek Watershed Association along with 18 students from St. James High School were ready to tackle the day’s tasks. Tree guards were removed, and trees along the stream trail pruned. Wire around some trees was removed. Wire cages were installed around shrubs to try and prevent deer damage and around some trees due to the discovery of recent beaver damage. Old livestock fencing was removed, trash picked-up along Black Rock & Beaver Creeks, and recently installed benches secured. The benches were part of an Engle Scout project built by Jesse Mangalapati. Lunch was a highlight of the day with sub sandwiches, homemade chili and apple crisp.

Enthusiasm continued in the afternoon to complete the remaining work. A few diehard volunteers stayed afterwards for a nice cold beverage and to critique the day’s work. All and all it was a great day and SVTU and the Beaver Creek Watershed Association would like to thank everyone who attended, for a job well done.

Fishing 101—Intro to Spin & Fly Fishing
Saturday, September 10, 2022

IWLA-R and Seneca Valley TU (SVTU) organized and conducted a Fishing 101 class on Saturday, September 10. The class had 20 students that were exposed to a wide range of topics addressing fishing with artificial lures and flies, including: 1) fishing access in Maryland, 2) fishing ethics and resource protection, 3) what fish eat, 4) rigging and knots and 5) learning how to cast both a spinning rod and a fly rod. Instructors for the course were IWLA-R and SVTU volunteers. Students were provided with a free lunch of grilled burgers and all the condiments.

A resource sheet with more information on all the topics covered in the class was provided as a handout and can be found at https://senecavalleytu.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Fishing101_Resource-List.pdf.

SVTU furnished a spin fishing rod and reel combo and a fly rod and reel combo as prizes in a drawing for the students of the course. Ethan Lee had the winning ticket for the spinning combo and Ping Jiang won the fly rig combo. 

Spring Beaver Creek Workday
Saturday April 9, 2022

SVTU received permission from DNR to remove a couple of trees across Beaver Creek, just upstream of the area where the Chapter assists with tree plantings and maintenance. While wood in the water often improves fish habitat, that was not the case with these trees that spanned the creek just above the water level. If a person wading was caught under these trees the outcome could be catastrophic. For safety reasons it was decided to remove them.

A group of six from SVTU and Antietam Fly Anglers met on the stream on April 9 to remove the trees. This was HEAVY work. First, we safely used chain saws to cut the trees into sections. Next, we floated (pulled and pushed) the logs to calm water near a bank. Finally, we used chains and a come-along and boards for a temporary ramp to pull the logs out of the stream onto the bank. We got it done with what we had, but it was hard work. It was also very satisfying to see that wading hazard removed and the job accomplished with no injury except a few sore muscles.

Fly Fishing 101—April 25, 2021

On April 25, 2021, SVTU offered their in-person Fly Fishing 101 "Fly Fishing Basics" course. This course—which is typically oriented to the beginner fly-caster, had 21 students who registered, and who all showed up.

Of course we had our awesome FFI-certified casting instructors on-hand to help. 

In this half-day course, we offered sessions on fly casting, rigging the fly rod, as well as stream fishing techniques to show students different techniques using both dry flies as well as nymphs. Feedback was positive, and a good time was had by everyone. We will continue in 2022.

Fly Fishing 102—Intermediate Fly Fishing
October 21, 2021

On October 21, 2021, SVTU, in lieu of a Chapter meeting in October, SVTU continued its annual Fly Fishing educational sessions. SVTU hosted the program in partnership with IWLA Rockville Chapter at the Jim Berrier Memorial Lake. This half-day instructional course offered participants the opportunity to choose the element of fly fishing they wanted more instruction on.

Participants worked one-on-one with experts on casting problems and methods; stream fishing techniques; lake fishing techniques as well as rigging, i.e., examples of where to place lead shot on your nymph rig. We had experts to help whether you wanted to learn how to throw a curve cast to put your fly behind a rock, or when and how to mend to extend
your drift, or the best stripping technique for still water fishing.

There was a fly-casting challenge course that several participants participated in after learning more about casting and passed the Bronze level. It was a beautiful day; all enjoyed the apples from Kingsbury Orchard.

Everyone left with more knowledge and had a great time. If you have an element of fly fishing that you want to improve, look for Fly Fishing 102 in 2022.

Fall Workday on Beaver Creek
November 6, 2021

Seneca Valley TU (SVTU) sponsored a workday on Beaver Creek on Saturday, November 6, 2021. We had a glorious day with a fantastic turnout that combined for a very productive day. We had crews working on:

• Trash patrol, covering 2.5 miles of stream on Black Rock and Beaver Creek and collecting 10 bags of trash
• Pruning overgrown fishing and walking trails
• Tree maintenance (pruning limbs, removing and installing protection from beavers and deer), and
• Maintaining recently planted shrubs and trees near the parking lot by clearing away the grass, mulching and fertilizing.

The reason we were able to accomplish so much was the enthusiastic support from students at Saint James School in Hagerstown. This Episcopal boarding school participated with over 30 students who worked very hard and enabled much to be accomplished to help maintain Beaver Creek. Those students were assisted by 15 volunteers from SVTU, Beaver Creek Watershed Association, Antietam-Conococheague Watershed Alliance, and Antietam Fly Anglers, who both guided the students, staffed the work crews and worked on cleaning up invasives, pruning trees and checking tree guards.

Lunch was provided by the Beaver Creek Watershed Association and SVTU, with a real boost from the big pot of chili provided by Anna Hutzell. It was a fantastic effort and much was accomplished! The trail by Beaver Creek is now walkable because of the hard work of everyone.

SVTU offered its Fly Fishing 101: Fly Fishing Basics course on October 18, 2020 at the Rockville Izaak Walton League’s Jim Berrier Memorial Lake. This was SVTU’s first in-person event since the COVID-19 shutdown in February. Precautions were taken to enable us to hold this outdoor event and hand sanitizer was plentiful! We adjusted our course to make it a half-day event (no lunch), participation was capped (20 students maximum), masks were required, distancing enforced, and all participants and instructors had their temperature checked at the start of the event. Our outstanding fly casing instructors were able to maintain a safe distance and still provide excellent instruction. We were also able to maintain distance for the rigging and techniques portion of the course. At the end of the day both the instructors and student felt comfortable with the safety precautions.

The course included two hours of fly-casting instruction, with our certified FFI Fly Casting instructors. They had the tools and techniques to teach while maintaining appropriate distance from the students.

Since fly fishing is more than just casting, there was a session on how to “rig” a fly rod for different water conditions (stream or lake) and fly types (nymphs, emerging flies, or dry flies). Handouts were provided of different rigging options. There was a stream techniques demonstration where students watched an instructor show how to handle the “rigged” fly and presented stream fishing techniques for dry flies, nymphs and streamers. The feedback on the content was very positive, and everyone who attended said they learned a great deal. We cut off registration at 18 students and had 16 attendees. Everyone missed the excellent lunch that we normally serve, but we felt fortunate to be able to hold the event at all, due to COVID concerns.

We would like to thank our excellent instructors for their time; Dave Cleaves, Bill Ruland, Bob O’Donnell, Doug Hutzell, Dale Thatcher, and Greg Cwalina. All-in-all, it was a very good day!

Some photos from the day.

Fly Fishing 102

SVTU offered its Fly Fishing 102: Advanced Fly fish course on Sunday, October 20. We had twenty-two people signed up as students for the course, but due to the inclement weather about half were no-shows. Those who did come had a great time and were provided royal one-on-one casting, rigging, and knot tying assistance. If you wanted to learn how to fish in the rain, this was the day for you. The food was great. We thank BS Photography and Dave Cleaves for the photos.

SVTU Assists With Benthic Invertebrate Sampling in the Antietam Watershed

SVTU members assisted the Beaver Creek Watershed Association and the Antietam-Conococheague Watershed Alliance sample streams in the Antietam Watershed, including Beaver Creek, for the biological activity in the stream. Those that helped had the chance to spend some time in a stream really looking at the ecosystem.

Second Annual Casting Clinic, Sunday, October 21, 2018

We had another great casting clinic. If you wanted to know how to cast in the wind this was the day to do it. It was a chilly, partly-cloudy day and the wind never stopped. We had four casting instructors to help "newbies", as well as those who just wanted to fine-tune their cast. The chapter wants to thank everyone who came out for the event, and we would like to thank all of the instructors for volunteering their time and expertise to make this a worthwhile day.

Fly Fishing 101, Saturday, April 28, 2018

What a marvelous day for an event. The weather was perfect! We had another great turnout for the day. A big thank you to everyone who attended. A special thank you to Jay (IWLA) for cooking hamburgers for everyone. Below is a short video of the day. Thank you Steve Moulton for producing it.

SVTU Hosts our First Casting Clinic

On October 22, SVTU hosted a casting clinic and cookout at the IWLA Rockville lake. SVTU arranged to have four FFF-certified casting instructors available to work the approximately 25 attendees.

Instructors worked one-on-one with each attendee to diagnose and correct casting problems and, because of this attention, casting was much improved. The instructors also taugt different types of casts for different casting situations. The Chapter provided burgers that were grilled and and consumed with all the trimmings. The beer was cold, the burgers tasty, the apples were wonderful, and the instruction was excellent. The Chapter raised a few hundred dollars with the bucket raffles. It was a beautiful, educational and fun day.

One-on-one instruction with a certified FFF instructor, if arranged privately, would cost a hundred dollars or more. We plan on conducing another casting clinic in 2018. Keep your eye on our website and come and join us!

Beaver Creek Work Day

On October 21, 2017, Seneca Valley TU & Antietam Fly Anglers planted screening plants for the future parking lot on Beaver Creek in the new Charles Jackson Fish Management Area. The volunteers made sure tree protection was in place, and did general maintenance (cleaning up invasive plants) in past planting areas. Even though the weather was very warm for October, everyone had a fun day!

Fourth Annual Fly Fishing 101

On April 29, 2017 we held our fourth annual FF 101 event in partnership with the Rockville Chapter of IWLA. This year, about two dozen students participated.

The students went through a half-day class that included sessions on entomology and flies, rigging and knots, stream and lake techniques, and casting instruction with our two certified FFF fly casting instructors.

The session started with lunch of grilled burgers with all the fixings. All had a great time, both the instructors and students. SVTU has sponsored this event for the past several years to help introduce the sport of fly fishing to those that have interest but do not know where, or how, to start.

It is an intensive half-day session that covers the basics across a range of various subjects to successfully fish on your own. It will not make you an expert, but it will get you started. Look for our course next spring for you, your partner, or your kids or grandkids. I guarantee you will learn a lot and have a fun time as well!

Fishing Little Beaver Creek

On June 25, 2016, SVTU had exclusive access to a section of Little Beaver Creek where SVTU participated in a steam restoration project. It was fun to fish in the area where members planted trees, shrubs, and bank-side willows in November of 2015. It appears that most of the trees and shrubs were making it. Many of the live willow stakes have also sprouted and starting to take root.

As to the fishing, we all caught fish and everyone landed one 12-inches or better. We landed about an equal number of browns and rainbows, but most of the fish were actually caught in Beaver Creek, just at the confluence with Little Beaver Creek. Little Beaver was low and clear and the fish had moved to the deeper water of Beaver Creek.

If you missed this event, come to the monthly Chapter meetings as we plan future fishing outings.

Our third “Fly Fishing 101” afternoon was a success!

On April 23, 2016, SVTU partnered with the Rockville Chapter of Izaak Walton League to offer our third “Learn to Fly Fish” afternoon (or as we call it Fly Fishing 101) at the Rockville Chapter Lake. It was a day of pure enjoyment for all.

Ten instructors guided 29 students through a series of “classes” that covered basic elements of fly fishing, such as: casting, rigging, knots, macroinvertebrate entomology, flies, stream fishing techniques, and lake fishing techniques. The instructors were members or friends of Seneca Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, augmented with additional FFF casting instructors.

To ensure everyone had enough energy for the day’s tasks, the session started with registration and a nice lunch of grilled burgers, chips, salads and desserts. After lunch, the students were divided into two groups and each group rotated through each “class” in the curriculum. The instruction was professional quality—normally costing hundreds of dollars for such a class—but SVTU believes that such classes are essential to develop interest in fly fishing and passing on the importance of ecological conservation, so they offer the class for free. Anyone that is interested in learning about fly fishing should consider joining the Seneca Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Check the Seneca Valley TU website for more information.

SVTU‘s second Fly Fishing 101 event

The annual Lean to fly fish class was presented by Seneca Valley TU with the cooperation of the Isaak Walton League (IWLA), Rockville on October 4, 2015. We had 25 register for the event that featured a complete introduction to fly fishing.

The event began with a great lunch (burgers hot off the grill) and then the students divided up into three groups to work their way through the “stations” over the next four hours. Each fly fishing station was designed to provide instruction in needed techniques in the “art” of fly fishing.

Each student rotated through the five stations: Casting in the grass, casting on the lake, stream fishing techniques, entomology including a look at a broad assortment of flies tied to imitate the natural bugs, and rigging and knots. There was even time to tie on a fly and try for the sunfish in the lake at the end of the day. The casting was instructed by FFF-certified casting instructors.

At the entomology station a nationally known entomologist used insects taken from and returned to Seneca Creek to give students a real look at the invertebrate world. Instructors at other stations were experienced fly fisherman to give students the benefit of their years of experience. Reviews by the students were positive and all (instructors and students) felt it was a good day. Come and join us next year!

Project Healing Waters Fishing Day on Beaver Creek

On September 20, SVTU was a co-sponsor of the fall Project Healing Waters trip to Beaver Creek. SVTU members assisted veterans with fishing and helped set up the BBQ lunch that followed.

SVTU’s first “Fly Fishing 101” event

On October 25, 2014, SVTU partnered with Izaak Walton League of Rockville in hosting our first half-day “learn to fly fish” event with casting, stream and lake fishing techniques, knots, rigging, entomology, and the different types of flies.

It was a great day with about 25 students. The reports from the students was positive. Tom Perazella, one of the students posted the following on the IWLA e-mail list serve.

“I just got back from a great event at our lake. In conjunction with TU and other groups we had an introduction to all aspects of fly fishing conducted by a great bunch of folks. The best part was the complete approach that was used including basic knots you need for different situations, the different indicator flags used to tell you when you get a strike, different treatments for wet and dry flies, the etymology of the food chain with live specimens, a large display of the different flies with explanations of each, and of course casting.

About two years ago, Marie got me a fly rod and reel and like many others I proceeded to frustrate myself trying to get a cast over 5 feet. Books and videos were of no help. After about 5 minutes of hands-on instruction by one of the very capable and patient certified instructors I was getting casts in the 35 to 40 foot range. Unbelievable and very satisfying. A giant round of thanks to all those who made this a fantastic experience for me.”

November 8: Beaver Creek stream cleanup

SVTU sponsored a workday on Beaver Creek. Eight chapter members spent several hours on trash pickup, building cages to prevent beaver damage and tree maintenance.