Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited

President’s Corner
Mike Bryant (mjbryant1954@hotmail.com)

Newsletter

“How’d you do?” “Any luck?”
“Caught one decent sea trout and a couple of snappers.”
“See any red’s?
“Nope, and I haven’t a clue where the snook are”

This was a fairly typical conversation on the docks at Chokoloskee Island this year. In a word, the fishing down in the Everglades / 10,000 Island region has been awful the past few months. Even the bait fishermen who have fished these waters for most of their lives say the fishing has been some of the worst they have seen in years. So I don’t have much of a chance trying to catch snook and redfish with my fly rod. But I love fly fishing in saltwater. Red’s, snook and tarpon are all great gamefish that will test your skills and patience. I’m still a novice when  comes to fishing down in this area. Learning to fish here is like learning to catch wild trout in the Park. There’s definitely a learning curve.

To make it even more interesting, I bought a small flats boat to increase my range and comfort. So on top of trying to find fish in endless miles of mangrove islands, oyster beds and flats, I now had the challenge of handling a boat, thinking about tides, changing winds and a constantly worry about running onto an oyster bar. All that while attempting to make pinpoint accurate casts underneath mangroves can drive one over the edge. But I love it. All the frustrations and worries  disappear when that snook jumps completely out of the water while trying to annihilate your fly. I get that same great feeling when I’m up in the Park chasing trout.
What’s not to like!

Now that we’re back home, I’m ready to start chasing trout up in the Park. This time of the year brings warmer water, active bugs and happy trout. I hope you’ll find the time to get outdoors and fish. Our natural resources are a gift that we need to protect and take every opportunity to enjoy.

Our next Chapter meeting is Thursday, March 24. Guide David Perry will be talking about his experiences and observations on tailwaters. This will be your chance to learn more about tailwaters. I don’t know about you, but this is one area I need all
the help I can get.

I hope you can make the meeting and I’ll see you out on the water!
-Mike

TESTIFY

Is a visual poem adapted from the essay “Testament of a Fisherman” published in 1964 by Michigan author John Voelker.

“Over 50 years later it was  filmed on and around the author’s home waters of Marquette County on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula because we believe the pure trout waters and relaxed pace of life of this region haven’t changed much.”

http://www.travelmarquettemichigan.com

John Voelker was a Michigan Supreme Court Justice who wrote several books, two of which was Trout Madness (1960) and Trout Magic (1974).  “Testament of a Fisherman” was a short story included in the picture book Anatomy of a Fisherman (1964)

You can download to text from the video here (link)

Good fishing   <((((<

Joe

P r e s i d e n t ’ s C o r n e r
Mike Bryant (mjbryant1954@hotmail.com)

Newsletter

2016 GSMNP Fisheries Volunteer Sampling Schedule

Recently I had the opportunity to attend fly tying classes with Kelly Galloup and Mike Schmidt, two very talented designers of flies. I love tying flies and have attended many tying classes with great local, regional and nationally known tyers. The tying classes with Mike and Kelly focused on streamer patterns. These flies were not your average Wooly Bugger. All but one of the patterns were articulated flies. Both Mike and Kelly shared their thoughts on effective fly designs and how they expected their designs to work in order to trigger a strike. Most of you have heard of Kelly, the author of books and DVD’s and the owner of Slide Inn on the Madison River, Montana. Mike has been tying since his teenage years and is the owner of Angler’s Choice Flies (www.anglerschoiceflies.com).

I find fly tying is a lot like fly fishing. It’s a great way to escape the current worries and distractions of life. There’s always something to learn and I have found that I really enjoy teaching others what I’ve learned. And it’s a great way to meet folks who are just as passionate about our sport and conservation. In another event, I entered the Ironman Fly Tying Contest sponsored by the Great Smoky Mountain TU Chapter in January. What a great time! The tyers were challenged to create a fly with materials placed in front of them (no advanced knowledge or prep time). During one of the tying sessions we were blindfolded. I managed to win a sweet 10ft., 3 wt. fly rod donated by Syndicate Fly Fishing (http://syndicateff.com), a company headquartered here in Knoxville. It’s a great looking rod and I can’t wait to fish with it this spring.

Many thanks to all the sponsors. And a special thanks to John Reinhardt for creating and organizing a cool event.  Last month, Matt Kulp provided another great program on the State of the Park and outlined upcoming efforts including some new restoration efforts. The need for our continued support through our time, talents and dollars continues to be as strong as ever. Check out Charlie’s article on volunteer efforts.

We’ve added our eighth school to our Trout in the Classroom program. We have big plans and ideas for TIC, but we can’t hope to continue growing without our volunteers. Without exception, every one of our volunteerstalks about how helping with TIC and interacting with the kids has been a great experience. So we need your help. Check out Joyce Frey’s article in the Newsletter.

Well, time to get back to my tying bench and work on those articulate streamers.I hope you can make it to the February meeting. Be safe!

-Mike