President's Message
Well it’s been over a year now since everything went south but the good news is that things are finally looking up. With the pandemic somewhat in control and folks (at least in the developed countries) getting vaccinated, life is starting to return to “normal”. Restaurants and other businesses have recently been welcoming back customers and governors around the country are beginning to relax restrictions.
Our membership roster has continued to grow and some Chapter activities have taken place throughout the past year (See the Madmen Chapter’s Accomplishments Report on our website).
The first of six stream water quality monitoring sessions was scheduled in early May, but was subsequently cancelled due to high water levels. Look for the future sessions to be scheduled as they were in years previous to 2020. There have been reliable reports of big black stoneflies on the Mad. This isn’t something that’s been very common in years past so it will be interesting to see what the monitoring sessions turn up.
Our Adopt-A-Bridge clean-up campaign has been somewhat successful. Most of the access points seem to have a lot less litter. The Route 55 access has been particularly troublesome, but our assistance to ODNR’s purchase of the property at State Routes 29/296 appears to have worked out well. That access point has seen drastic improvement. We are still seeking a few more volunteers to “adopt” an access point or two. If you’re so inclined, please contact Tom Allen to see which points need your assistance. List/Map of access points
We’re thinking that if things continue on their present course, we will be able to have an in-person quarterly Chapter meeting this Fall, so stay tuned. We may also be able to finally have the Annual Meeting/Mad River Gala, probably in the Spring to coincide with our fiscal calendar.
In the meantime, get out there and fish. The Mad has fished well at times over the past month or so. Except for the occasional heavy rainfall event, the water levels have been good and safe for wading, and those black stones have had the browns looking up.
Tight lines everybody!
Rick
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Benjamin Logan High School's Trout in the Classroom (TIC) trout release went off with out a hitch. 80 rainbows at 2-3 inches from 100 eggs was an outstanding survival percentage. Unfortunately, the controllers went out on both the Middle School's and Elementary School's tanks and all but 2 brown trout were lost. The trout were released in Onion Run, a tributary of the Mad River in West Liberty. A reporter from the Bellefontaine Examiner was present and the story was covered in the May 20th edition. You may need a subscription to read it: https://www.examiner.org/trout-release-celebration/. A big shout out for Spencer Reames who has run an outstanding TIC program since 2010.
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One of the greatest aspects of fly-fishing is the simple joy of casting. Not only is it great fun, but practice with the fly rod builds your comfort and muscle memory so that when you are out on the water and the fish are rising you can put the fly where it needs to be and get the most out of your fishing time. A basic understanding of common casting faults to look out for and how to remedy them will help you focus on improvement during your practice sessions and, over time, develop good casting skills, which can lead to more fish.
Come join Ohio Women on the Fly (OWOTF) and Fly Fishers International Women Connect (FFIWC) as we co-host (3) casting events in Ohio for Women’s Fly Fishing month. June 12th in Cincinnati/Dayton and June 19th in Columbus, we will be offering Casting and Casting Improvement events. We will have both FFI and fly club instructors helping at both events.
Spey Casting is not just for Steelhead nor does it require a 2-hand rod. On June 26th, Jeff Liskay shows us what this type of casting is and how you too can use it, with or without a 2-hand rod. This introduction to Spey casting will be an on-the-water event at a local park near Cleveland.
Sign-up for all events will be through the OWOTF website, www.ohiowomenonthefly.com/events, opening about May 1st. Registration for Cincinnati and Columbus events will be limited to 10 women at each. The Spey casting event will have an open limit.
FFIWC is an outreach program of FFI designed to bring in and connect women fly-fishers through education, women’s trips and events as well as encourage participation with their local fly-fishing clubs. Like FFIWC, OWOTF is bringing women in Ohio's fly-fishing community together and inspiring more women to get on the water with trips and events.
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Conservation Corner
Take care of the stream and the fishing will take care of itself
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This Spring, the Honeysuckle Removal Crusade spent five days removing and treating nearly 1500 feet of honeysuckle along the path and streamside on the southern bank downstream of the Pimtown Road bridge in West Liberty, Ohio.
We will continue to do what we can. Between now and this Fall we plan to do trail clearing and some honeysuckle removal downstream of State Route 29 on the East bank, and downstream of US 36 on the West bank. Another instream habitat improvement project at Pimtown Road downstream of Phases 1and 2 is in the planning stage. Please contact Tom Allen if you have questions or are interested in volunteering for the work on Mad River.
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For the future of the watershed, sustaining the existing riparian zones and restoring the impacted areas on the mainstem and tributaries is an especially important issue to address. It is going to take a long term, coordinated effort and it begins by working with the landowners; as a part of building collaboration and cooperation, there must be respect and understanding of their needs with a variety of options to encourage them to protect and restore these areas. Also, we will need to have cooperation and collaboration among federal, state, and local agencies, groups and organizations, elected officials, community and local business leaders. Tracy Bleim, Champaign Land Preservation contributed the following article about its efforts to protect the Mad River through land preservation:
The Champaign Land Preservation (CLP) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) conservation organization. It is a land trust that works to preserve farmland, open space, and wildlife habitat. CLP sponsors programs about land preservation, conservation, local foods, climate change, and natural history. CLP is one of over 1300 land trusts in the United States.
A land trust is organized to help achieve individual and community land use and land preservation goals, often using conservation easements.
A conservation easement is an important land preservation tool that permanently limits some uses of the land.
CLP works with landowners to create easement language that protects the conservation values of the owner's property. Conservation values may include productive agricultural land, stream corridors, or woodlands. Once these easements are recorded, they remain in place from owner to owner and protect the conservation values of the property in perpetuity. Owners continue to own their land. The owners can use their land, sell it, or pass it on to their heirs, subject to the easement.
You can support the Champaign Land Preservation (CLP) by becoming a member or volunteering with our organization. You can also support the CLP by considering to donate a conservation easement as part of your financial/estate plan.
The Champaign Land Preservation Annual Meeting will be on Tuesday, July 20 at 7 pm at the Urbana City Park at the Melvin Miller Bandstand Stage. This event is free and open to the public. CLP will have local comedian, Michael Kent, providing his comedy skit for the event and will have a silent auction during this July 20 event, also.
For more information about the Champaign Land Preservation, please visit www.champaignlandpreservation.org |
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NOTE:
As you may remember, the federal government repealed provisions of the Clean Water Act in 2020. Luckily, in Ohio we still had laws to protect Ohio’s waters. Now, Ohio legislators are trying to make similar changes to Ohio’s water laws; the activity you love is dependent on good water quality and these proposed changes put that at risk.
Below are links to Trout Unlimited’s position when changes were proposed at the federal level and Ohio EPA’s testimony about the proposed changes to state law.
https://www.tu.org/press-releases/epa-and-the-army-corps-of-engineers-aim-to-cut-protections-for-millions-of-stream-miles-across-the-united-states/
https://epa.ohio.gov/Portals/33/documents/HB175-5192021.pdf
The House Agriculture and Conservation Committee held its 4th and last hearing on HB 175 on May 25, 2021. Here is a link to the committee’s web site that includes the list of members and other information about the bill, including proponent and opponent testimony.
https://ohiohouse.gov/committees/agriculture-and-conservation
https://ohiohouse.gov/committees/agriculture-and-conservation/bills/hb175
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The Mayfly Project
According to the Mayfly Project’s (TMP) website, their mission is to use “fly fishing as a catalyst to mentor children in foster care. Our mission is to support children in foster care through fly fishing and introduce them to their local water ecosystems, with a hope that connecting them to a rewarding hobby will provide an opportunity for foster children to have fun, feel supported, and develop a meaningful connection with the outdoors."
The goal in action is to have 5 sessions in a 6 month period, with each session teaching various aspects of the sport while providing opportunities to build relationships and share the joy of connecting to the outdoors and the water while also catching some fish. Each session has a specific focus on different aspects of fly fishing such as casting techniques, conservation, fly patterns and tying, handling of fish, etc. The final session is set up to be a special trip to a unique opportunity where each kid who has attended each session is given their very own setup with a rod, reel, line, flies, waders, boots, and bags. The goal is to give these kids everything they will need including the equipment, skills, knowledge, and confidence to get back out on the water whenever they can to continue developing their passion for the sport. We have several Chapter members who are volunteering as mentors with the Central Ohio and Cincinnati Projects. If you want to get involved, feel free to contact the lead mentors directly.
Cincinnati Project -- Lead Mentor, Erin Schwartz
My name is Erin Schwartz and I’m the lead mentor for the first Ohio chapter of The Mayfly Project in Cincinnati. This whole process began approximately 3 years ago when I contacted TMP and inquired if there was a project in my area. The response was “No, but we’d love for you to start one!!!!" That wasn't what I wanted to hear! But after much thought, I decided to jump in. I planned to develop the program through 2019 and launch in 2020. I travelled to Arkansas and Colorado to participate in their projects in order to get a better grasp how things work. I spoke at my local fishing club, BUFF, to get the word out and recruit volunteers. Things were looking good for a spring 2020 launch and then BAM! Covid hit! We decided it was safest to wait until 2021 for our launch.
We were able to recruit 8 participants through a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) program and through a local group home. We have had the boys out once so far and it was a very successful day! They were eager to learn about the sport and approximately half the boys caught fish the first time using a fly rod! We are planning to continue to work on developing their skills as well as their understanding of conservation, entomology, etc. I am very proud to be a part of the Mayfly Project community. . . it’s a great organization making a difference in the lives of foster kids.
Central Ohio Project -- Lead Mentor, Andy Scott
In the spring of 2020, as the world was shutting down, a door opened to explore a new opportunity to serve the Central Ohio foster community. I ran across an article about the Mayfly Project in an email from Trout Unlimited that intrigued me. I had recently had my interest in fly fishing renewed after getting an old broken rod replaced and our family had been serving as a foster family here in central Ohio for almost 5 years at the time. It seemed like a perfect blend of interests that could meet a desire to serve this specific community by teaching these kids how to value time outside on and around water with a rod in their hands.
After about a year of planning, research, and outreach, the central Ohio Mayfly Project had our first official session at the end of April. We had a group of 5 mentors and 2 kids who met at one of our local parks with a nice pavilion to set up for instruction and teaching with plenty of space to practice casting and then onto the pond there for fishing. It was an amazing start for the project. Both of our kids picked up the basics of casting quickly and both also caught their first fish on the fly. We held our 2nd session at the end of May and continued to work on casting as well as learning about some basic principles of conservation and fly patterns that are commonly used.
We are planning to continue with our final 3 sessions throughout the summer, and hope to wrap up our first season in late July or early August. Moving forward, we would love to find a few more mentors who are interested in serving with us. We also will need to continue outreach into the foster community to find new kids who would be well served in this program. Another aspect moving into year two will be fundraising. It costs about $750/kid to provide the program materials and final session gear. The national organization raises enough money each year to try and offset the costs for each new program so they can focus on getting going. However, we will be expected to help raise funds to help support our project as we move forward. Anyone who is interested in getting involved or helping out in any way can reach out to Andy Scott at theandyescott@gmail.com for more info.
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If you were to plan a fly-fishing trip to Idaho, some highly regarded streams like Henry’s Fork or Silver Creek might come to mind. There are a daunting number of options in the Gem State which is home to wild trout, steelhead, and salmon. Kelly Creek is one I find myself drawn back to time and time again.
As a young college student at the University of Idaho, I fell in love with the Clearwater River drainage. Several years later, my brother started fly fishing and asked me to plan a trip. Only one place would do, I thought, Kelly Creek.
Despite being relatively well known, Kelly Creek has been referred to as Idaho’s “best kept secret.” An even better kept secret is the number of wild trout streams in the area, including the North Fork of the Clearwater itself.
Depending on weather, one can even spend a few days fishing steelhead on the Clearwater River near Orofino, ID in the Fall. Then, make a drive over the mountain from Pierce to fish the October caddis hatch.
It was mid-June when my brother and I set out. This is the time of year when big bugs entice big trout. We headed straight to the upper North Fork and Kelly Creek in hopes that we had timed it right for the salmonfly hatch. These large stoneflies make for amazing dry fly fishing.
Our first day on the water was spent traveling along the North Fork of the Clearwater as we made our way to the cabin. While Kelly Creek is known to harbor 20+ inch cutthroat, the North Fork is a spectacular stream that should not be passed by. We gave it the attention that was due and were rewarded with some healthy west-slope cutthroat eagerly feeding on the large salmonflies.
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As a seasonal employee of Idaho Fish and Game, I was able to use a rustic ranger cabin near the confluence of Kelly Creek and the North Fork. A welcome step up from a tent, the cabin came equipped with gas lamps and a five-gallon bucket to fetch water from the creek for flushing the toilet! After a long, productive day of fishing we finally made it to our cabin. Both of us were too excited about the location of our base camp on Kelly Creek to worry about any shortcomings of our home for the next two days.
On the second day, we fished the lower reaches of Kelly Creek along with a couple other nearby tributaries to the North Fork. Early morning brought lower insect activity and a little tougher fishing. We landed a few trout on streamers but were impatiently waiting for rising fish.
One of my favorite attractor dry flies is the rather unassuming “renegade.” This easy-to-tie pattern comprised of peacock herl and hackle could imitate a midge cluster and possibly other insects, but nothing very distinct. Most importantly, it flat out catches trout! The old faithful renegade kept us on fish through the early morning. Before we knew it, the salmonflies were out and we started offering big deer hair bugs with great results.
Seeking a little more adventure and solitude, a hike into the upper reaches of Kelly Creek was our mission for day three. After some amazing views from the hillside, and a couple miles of solid hiking, the Idaho Centennial Trail descends back down to Kelly Creek. You are welcomed with a gorgeous stretch of water that sees far fewer visitors.
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Hike even further and you will come to the confluence of Kelly Creek and Cayuse Creek, another tributary worth exploring. The trout kept getting prettier the further off the beaten path we went.
Kelly Creek Trailhead can be accessed by several different routes. No matter where you start, a beautiful drive through the mountains is required. You will want to pay attention to winter weather conditions even in Spring and Fall. A National Forest Service map or quality atlas is recommended.
One of the more direct options is a 2.5-hour drive from Missoula International Airport via I-90W to FR 250 which heads south into Idaho. Dispersed camping is allowed in the National Forest and many primitive campsites can be found on a first come, first serve basis. Seek out a Forest Service office for the latest information including weather or hazards.
The Clearwater’s North Fork and Kelly Creek make an exceptional destination for wild, native trout fishing. My brother and I still take annual fishing trips and most of them take us somewhere we have never fished before. Kelly Creek is the exception. It is one of those majestic places that keeps us coming back.
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Hook: size 14-18 dry fly hook
Thread: 8/0 Black
Body: Peacock herl
Front Hackle: White rooster
Rear Hackle: Brown rooster
Tag (optional): flat mylar gold tinsel
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NOTHING SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME
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Articles Needed!! I could use your help with future newsletters. If you've been on a fishing trip, or have something else you'd like to share, like a fly recipe, we'd love to hear about it. Write an article and send pictures to me at pamallen@tumadmen.org; it's that easy :) |
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