Issue 110.0July 2015

Voice of the Fox Valley Chapterof Trout Unlimited

Member MusingsSummer has officially arrived, so we hope that you have beenable to get out and enjoy some fishing. If you have not beenout yet, time to make those plans and get moving. The Hexfishing is about over but there will be plenty of action forsome time, especially as water temperatures have warmedup. Evening fishing has been good as we are at the maximumnumber of daylight hours during the year.

In June we lost one of our long-time members andsupporters of Fox Valley TU when Dr. Dick Ward passedaway. Many of you knew Dick but for those who didn’t wewished that you could have, since he set a model to live by,both in fishing and in life. Both he and his wife, Marty, havebeen generous contributors to the Chapter, especially ourannual “Cabin Fever Day” and the “Annual Fishing Day forPeople with Disabilities” for many years. In addition to beingan avid fly fisherman, Dick was also a very skilled fly tier andhad contributed patterns to “Trout Talk.” With Dick’s passinghe and Marty requested that memorial donations could bedirected to Fox Valley TU for the “Annual Fishing Day forPeople with Disabilities.” To both Dick and Marty, we trulythank you for all of the years of support to the Chapter. Weknow that Dick is now fishing whenever and wherever helikes, where the mosquitoes don’t bite and the hatch isalways on.

While we don’t have Chapter Meetings in the summer,members are still active. Habitat work is obviously a focalpoint in the summer and the Davies Restoration andPreservation Endeavor (DRAPE) has taken center stage forthe Chapter. On June 23rd, we were assisted by the boysfrom Rawhide and the DNR crews to bush and additional600 feet of stream, bringing the total to 2,650 lineal feet ofstream bank that has been brushed. Work is progressingupstream from County Road K in Waushara County up to21st Avenue, which is where we have normally staged work.The Rawhide boys bring a high level of energy to the projectand help us to make a lot of progress. Thanks to Joe Bach fororganizing, Jim Hlaban for his culinary skills, and for theChapter members who could assist. The next day on the

Davies with the Rawhide crew is scheduled for Thursday July23rd and all are welcome. Please contact Joe Bach for moreinformation.

Additional Habitat work has been progressing on the ChaffeeCreek, which is also in the Central Sands area of WausharaCounty. This project is in conjunction with the CentralChapter. The next Habitat day scheduled is Saturday July18th. More details are on the web site, or in an email that youreceived if we have your current email address.

Along with Habitat Improvement, outreach and education isalso a major function of the Chapter. To this end, we havesome members who have been busy. Chapter member SaraHans is a teacher at Greenville Elementary/Middle Schooland put together a fly tying and entomology program at theSchool. Joe Bach was there to help Sara teach a fly tying class.On June 6th it was the Free Fishing Day at Jefferson Park inMenasha. Tom Lager, Al Johnson, and Joe Bach helped todemonstrate and teach fly tying. Our next master tier couldbe coming out of this group. You will also see photos onFacebook of Tom Lager teaching entomology and streamconservation at the “Stream Girls” program held in StevensPoint in conjunction with the Girl Scouts and organized byHeidi Oberstadt from the State Council Thank you to all ofour volunteers for helping share their knowledge andeducation with the next generation.

As we are in the prime part of the fishing season, we hopethat you get the chance to get out and enjoy the streams andlakes. It is a time to relax, share the experience with oldfriends, or make some new ones in the journey. In any caseget out there and enjoy and come back with some stories toshare.

Jim JenkinEditor

Let’s Talk BugsTom Lager

Sometimes I wonder if I am peculiar or maybe like manyfishers we permit ourselves to see the world from a differentangle. I thought about this as I peered over the gunnel of my canoe after napping the other evening.I had slouched down at the bottom ofmy canoe comfortably cushioned by life vests to wait for the evening’shatch. There was no breeze, nomosquitoes and no other fishers; justthe slow motion of water slippingunder the canoe in the warmth ofevening sun – all was at rest as ifnothing was expected. It was beingpresent to quietness and letting go . . .closed eyes and lapsed consciousnesswas inevitable.

Perhaps it was Eastern Kingbirds that first sensed change orthe redwings that perched as alert sentinels that saw theemergence begin. Their calling announced change, the view over the gunnel showed the sun had set and several dunsdrifted on a mirror smooth surface of the river. The beginningwas quiet, Hexagenia larvae had come to the surface freeingthemselves into the evening air with silent unfolding ofwings, a swift body flex revealing long graceful tails and withconfidence stepped on water oblivious to perils from beneathand above. In moments they flutter into flight toward theshelter of bank vegetation only to be plucked from the air. Ina short time other duns ready for flight will abruptlydisappear as the water surface bulges upward and opens,swirling them down against the gill rakers of brown trout.The evening is no longer serene, the quiet is replaced byurgency and the importance of numbers, as duns materializeand take flight along the stream edges. By the tens ofhundreds they exceed the capacity of birds and trout to takethem; they alight in shrubs and trees awaiting transformationinto spinners.

Perhaps it is the wanting to be a part of the event that drawsfishers into the game. With resolve we cast flies chosen tomimic a place in the fray; we use our best emerger, dun orspinner patterns. We measure ourselves on how well weplaced, sometimes it is the number netted. At other times it isjust being able to say we played the game, like recently when

Lough Conn, northwest of Foxford,was rolling in white caps and whitefoam lines streaked down-wind. TheMayfly, as it is known locally in the UK,(see picture of wind batteredEphemera danicia, similar our BrownDrake) was coming off in a consistentmanner amid 35 km/hr winds, rainsqualls and 52 F air temperatures.Ghillie, Gary Binley, positioned theCorrib Lough Boat perfectlyperpendicular to the wind and rolledwith the waves over shoals toward

splashes from browns chasing Mayflies, which emergedduring mid-day, despite conditions. Again birds, swallowsand gulls, played their role of highlighting where the Mayflieswere emerging as they plucked Mayflies from the surface ofrising and falling waves. We fished a cast of three, a larvaepattern at point, an emerger in the middle and at top asurfacing adult form. Using the only practical means ofpresentation we casted in a downwind fashion with enoughretrieve creating a rising effect. Takes on the upper twopatterns were visible and splashy, whereas the larval patternwas a self-setting or a nipping miss affair. The count for theboat could easily be tallied on the right hand of a near-sitedsawyer. The previous day on the Callow Loughs amid squallwinds, strong enough to blow out the Kelly Kettle fire, weretrieved a long dozen of beautiful brown trout from thehome range.

What fun we had; there was no napping on the loughs, thatcame later while drooping in a soft chair sipping Irishwhiskey in front of a warm turf fire. Bugs have a way ofenticing us or tempting trout that entice us out intosurroundings and conditions that we treasure as one of God’sgreatest gifts.

I never go to the rivers to kill hecatombs of trout or, actually, any trout; I go to unkill parts of myselfthat otherwise might die. With rivers as with good friends, you always feel better for a few hours in

their presence; you always want to review your dialogue, years later, with a particular pool or riffle orbend, and to live back through the layers of experience. The life of the chase, whether of fish or

game, and the wilder shores where our quarry lives require of us a rhythm, a consciousness, a concen-tration of energies so removed from our everyday lives as to suggest we are different people in theoutdoors, though we are not. What we call recreation gives us a fuller not different life, bringing us

parts of ourselves too often neglected or forgotten, recreating the whole person we were born to be.Fly fishing seems not to work at all at first, and I resisted it. But that gorgeous, speckled creature—somysterious and shy—more and more seemed made for fly fishing. It ate flies, which appeared myste-rious on the water and had a secret life beneath the surface; its rise was delicate and haunting. I feltso proud of that first trout I caught on a fly that I wanted more, right away—as much as I could get.

Nick Lyons

Office: 920.832.24092901 E. Enterprise Ave., Suite 500

Appleton, WI 54913www.wipfli.com

Stuffed Baked Potatoes4 baking potatoes3/4 cup lowfat yogurt3/4 cup lowfat cottage cheese1 small onion, finely chopped1 Tbsp. dried parsley1/4 tsp. garlic powderpepperpaprika

Bake potatoes until soft. Mix the remaining ingredients, except paprika with electric mixer. Cut potatoes in halflengthwise, scrape most of potato from shell and add to the mixture. Beat thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into thepotato shells and sprinkle liberally with paprika. Place in baking pan in single layer and heat in a 350 degree oven forabout 20 minutes.

Enjoy, BoB Kinderman

THE TESTAMENT OF A FISHERMANRobert Traver 1964, (Judge John Voelker 1903-91)

I fish because I love to;Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful,

and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly;

Because of all the television commercials, cocktail parties,and assorted social posturing I thus escape;

Because, in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion;

Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed or impressed by power,but respond only to quietude and humility and endless patience;

Because I suspect that men are going along this way for the last time,and I for one don’t want to waste the trip;

because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters;

Because only in the woods can I find solitude without loneliness;

Because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there;

Because maybe one day I will catch a mermaid;

And, finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly importantbut because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men

are equally unimportant – and not nearly so much fun.

10 of the Best Fly Fishing Books

1. The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing: Thomas McGuaneThirty-three essays take us from the tarpon of Florida tothe salmon of Iceland.

2. Habit of Rivers: Reflections on Trout Streams and FlyFishing: Ted LeesonTed tells of his greatest passions: rivers, trout and flyfishing.

3. True Love and the Woolly Bugger: Dave AmesCarpenter, fly fishing guide, and back-slid geologist, DaveAmes views life through a different lens - one colored byhis time with a rod in hand.

4. Standing in a River Waving a Stick: John GierachJohn Gierach once again celebrates the fly-fishing life andnotes its benefits as a sport, philosophical pursuit, eventherapy.

5. Trout Madness: Robert TraverJohn D. Voelker (aka Robert Traver) imagery captures theart and feel of trout fishing and the humble experience onefeels when in, near, or about the water.

6. The Compleat Angler: Izaak WaltonThe Compleat Angler is as fresh and relevant today as it

was two and a half centuries ago. It continues to be a“must” read for every new generation of fishermen (andfisher women!) who have ever picked up a pole, line andlure to set forth on one of the oldest pastimes - fishing.

7. The Complete Book of Fly Fishing: Tom McNallyWith nearly fifty years of fly fishing to look back on, TomMcNally knows how it’s done, from angling for tiny brooktrout in mountain streams to fly casting for giant marlin inthe open ocean - and everything in between.

8. Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die: Chris SantellaFor both armchair travelers and avid outdoorsmen whomay have already started a checklist of their own, FiftyPlaces to Fly Fish Before You Die maps out the meccas of thefly-fishing world.

9. The Earth is Enough: Harry Middleton1965, a year rife with change in the world - and in the lifeof a boy whose tragic loss of innocence leads him to thehealing landscape of the Ozarks. Amidst the rhythm of anancient cadence, Harry discovers his home: a farm, amountain stream, and the eye of a trout rising.

10. Backcast: Lou UreneckThe Alaska fishing trip tested not just his survival skills,but the survival of his frayed relationship with his son.

Two guys go on a fly fishing trip. They rent all the equipment: the reels, the rods, the wading suits, the

rowboat, the car, and even a cabin in the woods. They spend a fortune. The first day they go fishing, but they

don’t catch anything. The same thing happens on the second day, and on the third day. It goes on like this

until finally, on the last day of their vacation, one of the men catches a fish.

As they're driving home they’re really depressed. One guy turns to the other and says, “Do you realize that

this one lousy fish we caught cost us fifteen hundred dollars?”

The other guy says, “Wow! It’s a good thing we didn’t catch more!”

F o xV a l l e y

TROUTTROUT UNLIMITED2000 W. Spencer St.Appleton, WI 54914

Mark Your Calendars!

July 23Habitat Day on the

Davies

Join us!

Check the website for details!

Get out and fish!

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Permit No. 211

Chapter Board MembersPresident Tom Lager 540-9194Vice President OpenSecretary Dick Stielow 722-2121Treasurer Al Johnson 450-2013Board 1 Keith Bassage 757-5247Board 2 Duane Velie 450-0862Board 3 Norm Christnacht 419-3303Board 4 Jen EricksonBoard 5 Tony Garvey 585-1540Board 6 Steve Heuser 470-0836Board 7 Roger Genske 729-9916Board 8 Todd YaekelBoard 9 Don Clouthier 851-0597Board 10 Jim Jenkin 734-6344Board 11 Rich Erickson 982-9080Board 12 Rick Schinler 735-0681Past President Joe Bach 570-2632

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