Rocky Mountain Flycasters and Trout Unlimited

Upcoming Events

Save the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

We made it! We made our goal and more. RMF will be sending donations plus $1000 to the Save the Yellowstone Cutthroat campaign. On May 3, we officially kicked off a campaign to raise money for equipment to assist the Save the Yellowstone Cutthroat. A week and a few days later, we've met the goal and surpassed it.

As of May 13—the closing of the time we set to match donations—we've gotten $1080 in donations. With the additional $1000 from RMF, that will be $2080. That will be enough for four hydroacoustic tags, or two depth-recording telemetry tags and a hydroacoutic tag, or one telemetry receiver and a hydroacoustic tag.

Yellowstone Lake Cutthroat trout are under siege by the introduction of non-native lake trout. The National Park Service and Fish and Game are working in close concert and cooperation with Trout Unlimited and private businesses to try and eradicate the lake trout so eventually a native cutthroat trout population can recover. As you might imagine this is a very expensive, but necessary effort and one that Rocky Mountain Flycasters is proud to support both morally and financially.

There is still much work to be done and we encourage additional contributions to this worthy project. Be part of the solution by making your contribution. See more about this problem on our Save the Yellowstone Cutthroat page and follow up by making a STYC donation.

Board of Trustees Slate for June 2013-May 2014 Program Year
Rocky Mountain Flycasters Chapter #010 of Trout Unlimited

The Nominations Committee met on March 28th and unanimously recommends the following members to the incumbent Board of Trustees for action in fulfillment of its responsibilities under Rocky Mountain Flycasters Bylaws Article V, Section 1.

• President: Dick Jefferies
• Vice President: Open
• Treasurer: Paul Wehr
• Secretary: Charles Plunkett
• Trustee-at-Large: Stephanie Mullins
• Trustee-at-Large: Sean Cronin
• Immediate Past President: Lee Evans (Automatic progression)

Elections will be held at the May meeting with only chapter members permitted to vote. Nominations from the floor will be accepted with consent of the nominee.

Respectfully submitted,
Dennis Cook, Chair
Lee Evans
Stephanie Mullins
Bob Streeter

Applications Now Open for Youth Fly Fishing Camp

RMF’s Youth Fly Fishing Day Camp has set the dates for the 2012 program. The camp will run six consecutive days July 30 through August 4. This is an excellent opportunity for youth (ages 14-18) to learn indepth fly fishing skills. See our 2012 Day Camp page for more details.
 
It is also an excellent opportunity to assist in helping to foster the next generation of fly fishers dedicated to helping conserve, protect and restore trout fisheries and their watersheds. Interested volunteers should see the Youth Camp Volunteers page. Volunteer as little as a few hours, a day, or all six days. You can also help by providing a few flies for the campers to use or download the flier for printing and sharing.

River Restoration Project

Rocky Mountain Flycasters-Trout Unlimited is partnering with Wildland Restoration Volunteers (WRV) to conduct a substantial stream improvement project on several miles of the North Fork of the Poudre. The project has been conceived, planned, and will be managed by the fisheries staff of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grasslands (A-RNF & PNG). It is located in the Canyon Lakes District and along the course of the North Fork west of its confluence with Killpecker Creek and on the way to Deadman Hill. The project is scheduled for August 25th and 26th, 2012 when stream flows are conducive for in-stream work.

To become involved in this “rock-rolling” project, see our volunteer page, read the full article, and contact Conservation Chair Dave Piske.

Latest Additions

Keep these dates in mind

• May 16: Annual Meeting: Caleb VanWagner on Greenbacks, vote for next year’s officers, President’s Annual Report.
• June 9: Colorado Parks and Wildlife Poudre Rendezvous—volunteers needed
• June 10-15: Colorado Trout Unlimited Youth Camp
• June 23: TU National River Cleanup
• June 30: Trailgate Party at Gateway Natural Area
• July 22 (filled), August 12, September 16: Phantom Canyon-River Trail Stewardship
• July 30-August 4: RMF Fly Fishing Day Camp
• August 25-26: North Fork Stream Restoration Project with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers

April General Meeting with Dave Sweet and more...

If you missed the April meeting, you missed out on some very interesting information. We had several activities going on that were worth our attention.

Eric ties up articulated streamers First, we are reviving the time for a fly tier to demonstrate before the meeting—during the social 1/2 hour. This month, Eric Ishiwata was kind enough to come and demonstrate some of his articulated streamers. These are lovely, big flies that attract big trout. You know that trout don’t get big by eating a few tiny midges. They get big by eating lots of protein. That protein is often minnows, sculpin, and other fish. These articulated streamers appear to be that kind of food.
 
Eric was kind enough to donate a huge box of his flies to auction off in benefit of an orphanage for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. He also donated the flies he tied during the evening to our raffle table. Two people left with with some amazing, big-fish-catching flies.

Matt Fairchild Matt Fairchild from the National Forest Service was also at the meeting to make a short presentation about the restoration project on the North Fork of the Poudre. This is the project that we will be participating with the Wildland Restoration Volunteers in August. With his slide presentation, Matt gave us a clear idea of the damage that has been done and what we will be doing to help restore the areas in and adjacent to the North Fork. This project is the kind of “wet hands and feet, log-rolling” that can use lots of hands, so make some time to participate on August 25th and 26th. Be sure to also see the full article on the project and for a link on how to register to volunteer for this important work.

OtterCares G3 participants (L to R: Choia Mattix,
Justin Cross, and Mike Berg) present a check to
Flycasters VP Dick Jefferies. OtterBox employees are encouraged to participate in the community with their "Get it, Grow it, Give it" Challenge. The results are then distributed by the OtterCares Foundation. Four employees of OtterBox (Choia Mattix, Michael Berg, Simon Lawler, and Justin Cross) chose Rocky Mountain Flycasters for their community donation. Choia, Mike, and Justin were able to come to the meeting to make the presentation. Mike told us that they were all fishers and very interested in local conservation and restoration projects involving our local waters.
 
Thank you, gentlemen for your contribution. We will put it to good use for things that we cannot obtain by the volunteer hours we all contribute. It is also exciting to know that OtterBox is encouraging employees to take part in community charitable and non-profit organizations.

Dave Sweet of the East Yellowstone TU Chapter Our featured speaker for the evening was Dave Sweet of the East Yellowstone Trout Unlimited Chapter. Among his many qualifications, Dave is now involved in a major project on the Yellowstone Lake, working to help restore the native Yellowstone Cutthroat trout population.
 
Due to the introduction of non-native lake trout some 20 or 30 years ago, the lake trout have been preying on the cutthroat and have reduced their population and range significantly. The cutthroat now occupy less than one-half of their historic range and the population is estimated to be 10% or less of its former level. Several members in the audience who had fished the Yellowstone twenty years ago and in recent years agreed with Dave that the changes have been catastrophic.
 
Fortunately, the East Yellowstone chapter of TU has started work on eliminating the lake trout. The numbers, the science, and the processes are staggering. Over 800,000 lake trout have been removed and yet it is estimated that 3-400,000 adult lake trout remain.
 
In addition to more traditional gill netting and fence trapping, experiments are in process to eliminate eggs in lake trout spawning beds. The process is expensive and funds are needed for a number of tools in working on a solution. To see a video of this presentation made at the Dubois, WY chapter of TU, visit the Save the Yellowstone Cutthoat page, view the presentation, and consider what you can contribute to this very worthy cause.

Fishing Line Collection

Fishing line receptacle Fishing line can be a life threatening problem for wildlife. Animals can easily become entangled and trapped in discarded fishing line and hooks, making it impossible for them to feed or escape predators. With this in mind, Fort Collins government has installed line and hook collection containers in at least seven Natural Park Areas along the Poudre River. These depositories are located at Arapaho Bend, Kingfisher Point, McMurry, North Shields Pond, Prospect Ponds, Riverbend Ponds, and Gateway Park natural areas.

Contents of line collection container Rocky Mountain Flycasters has partnered with the City to provide collection assistance for the containers. Collected line is then sent to a recycling center where the plastic is recycled into underwater fish structures, park tables and benches. On August 6, 2011, Bruce Rosenthal, RMF member, emptied the collection container at Gateway Park. He removed yards and yards of line, along with hooks, lures, bobbers, containers, and lead sinkers. Even though the collection container specifies that no generic trash is to be put in the containers, more than half the volume was empty water and soda bottles, food wrappers, and other things without description.

Bruce says that it takes about two hours a month to make the rounds and make the collections. If you would like to provide Bruce some vacation time or help spread the work load, contact to work out arrangements.

For information from Fort Collins about the program, please see http://www.fcgov.com/news/?id=3683.

Trail maintenance party along the overlook trail Aug 6

Are we having another ****gate?

In our case, we did! It a party at Gateway, as in Gateway Natural Area. This year Rocky Mountain Flycasters committed to work with the city of Fort Collins in helping to maintain trails overlooking the Poudre River at the Gateway Natural Area. The August TrailGate Party was a good time. The next party was September 10 and there was again be ample time to look for fish in the area. See more information.
 
On June 30, 2012, we will have the first of this year’s TrailGate parties. See the calendar for information on how to sign up.

Are you a Sustaining Donor? Sustaining Donors are members of Trout Unlimited (TU), non-members, and businesses who recognize that without this kind of community support our Chapter can not adequately protect, conserve, and restore Colorado’s cold-water fisheries and their watersheds. Sustaining Donors are recognized at various levels. Contributions are greatly appreciated and we acknowledge sustaining donors in multiple ways. Find out more.

The Flypaper newsletter

What else? Want to find out more about what Rocky Mountain Flycasters does in our area? Take a look at the About Us page and download the brochure we prepared.

More on our Current Calendar

Behnke-RMF Research Fellowship

Rocky Mountain Flycasters continues to support the Robert J. Behnke-RMF Research Fellowship. We need to raise money through donations for each year's fellowship and we are seeking additional donations. Read more about the fellowship and you can use this Donation Form to make a contribution. This fellowship helps a Colorado State graduate student with research and honors the continuing contributions being made by Dr. Behnke.

Rocky Mountain Flycasters’ Exclusives

Stop cross-water contamination!

Whirling disease. Dydimo. New Zealand Mud Snails. Chytrid fungus. These are very real threats to our waters. If you follow some very simple, inexpensive procedures, you can help curb the spread of these diseases. See Common Sense Disinfection Procedure by Phil Wright.

Inexpensive Wading staff

Are you as "sure footed" as you would like to be? Are you ready for the spring run-off? The raging spring torrents can quicky take your feet from under you. It could be that you might need a wading stick. Here's how to build one out of inexpensive/used materials. Phil Wright put together this helpful HOW-TO (pdf 412 KB) so you can have your own hand-crafted wading stick.