February 2013

News & Events

General Meeting - Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Presented by Bart Lombardo & Dick Turse

Several members from Central Jersey Trout Unlimited recently journeyed to Maine's Grand Lake Stream.  This month's presentation will take you along on the trip.  We will explore the fishery and help you plan your own trip to this beautiful area.  This outstanding landlocked salmon and smallmouth bass fishery should definitely be on your bucket list.  

Pre Meeting Capsule Classroom

As a new feature in our meetings, we have be holding short focused sessions right before our meetings (and repeated immediately after our meetings and maybe during the break depending upon circumstances). Each session features a presentation and demo by one of our Chapter members or Guest on a topic that will improve your skills in tackle management, fly tying, or casting. So show up at 7:30 to enjoy this pre-meeting feature.

The Classroom session this month will feature a demonstration by Lou DiGena on how to make Spool Hands (also called spool caddies).  These are the elastic bands with feedthough beads that you slip over spools of wire, monofilament, or other spooled material that keep the material from unwinding yet allow easy removal of lengths of the material.  They make your fishing vest or fly tying kit much neater.

American Legion Hall
137 New Market Road
Dunellen, NJ

Meeting starts at 8 PM - Non Members are always welcome!

2013 Fly Tying School

Now in Session! Remember that you can still take individual workshop classes.

Download the 2013 Fly Tying School brochure

Download the 2013 Workshop info

Fly Tying at the January Meeting

Show Report

Dick Turse

As we have done for many years, CJTU participated in two sportsman’s shows during the month of January, 2013. The first show of the season was the Garden State Outdoors Sportsman’s show which ran from Jan. 9-13. This year we finally downsized our booth area and the amount of equipment and materials we needed for the show. Gone was the fish tank, carpeting, wooden tables, and two of the booths. We still maintained the areas for kid’s fly tying as well as our flies section. In place of the carpet we laid down squares of rubber that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. It made a very comfortable foundation for our tired feet. Our location was similar to last year and Bart had a great time reuniting with his monkey friends from last year’s show. Bart says they know him personally and who can argue when we see them go crazy as he approaches their cages. The first day of the show, Thursday, was very disappointing with a small turnout of customers and we spent most of the time talking fishing among ourselves and watching Bart hobnob with the monkeys. But, the weekend was mobbed and at the end we had a successful result. And the icing on the cake was the fact that we no longer need a truck to move our “stuff” and we took down and left in about ½ hour instead of the usual 2-2 ½ hours.

The CJTU booth at the Garden State Show. More picture from the show can be seen here

The next show was the Fly-Fishing Show during the weekend of Jan. 25-27. As in the past we had only one booth located in the lobby with all of the other non-profit organizations. This show was jam-packed from one hour before it even opened until closing. We managed to have the booth manned during the whole time of the show even though everyone wanted to spend their time ”inside”. Altogether we had a successful show here also.

I would like to thank all of those members who participated but won’t attach names for fear of missing someone. However, I do want to especially thank a few guys. Finally I have a member who has volunteered to help me organize and keep the shows running smoothly in the future. That man is our Barry Russo proteget, Sal Lauro. Speaking of Barry, once again he and his team of fly salesmen did another wonderful job at the Outdoors Show. In addition, I’d like to tip my hat to our top donation getters, Paul Erdo and Joe Hughes. Joe was a magician with the public and he mesmerized them into donating. I just got blank stares as I tried to emulate him. All-in-all it was a good start for 2013.

President’s Letter

February 2013

It looks like winter has finally arrived. Although there has not been much snow, there has been plenty of cold. My favorite stream started icing up during the last cold snap but it did not stay frozen for long. This morning, as I type this, freezing rain is beginning to pelt my windows.  A big storm is inbound for the North East today that could bring this year’s first big snow. Though many despise the snow I enjoy it, the fish do too.  A good snow pack on the ground slowly recharges our aquifers, allowing the water to be absorbed into the ground instead of running over it.  A heavy snow year goes a long way in recharging our rivers and keeping them running at good levels.

January was a pretty busy month for us here at CJTU. Our members participated in two area shows last month, the New Jersey Outdoor Show and the Fly Fishing Show. Both events raised some money for our chapter. I want to thank everyone that volunteered their time helping run the booths and setting up and taking down our displays.  I want to especially thank those that helped sell our raffle tickets.  Though everyone helped out and sold a few tickets, two members really did an outstanding job!  Thank you Joe and Paul!

Our chapter fly tiers were also busy last month.  We had two tiers at Efingers Sporting Goods every Saturday during the month of January. Thanks go out to those folks who gave up part of their weekend to promote our chapter and introduce others to fly tying.

Our fly tying classes are in full swing now. If you did not sign up for lessons there are still opportunities to get involved.  During each class we also host fly tying workshops. These workshops are for folks that have some basic understanding of fly tying. Each workshop provides all the materials needed to tie that evening's selection of flies. All you need to to is show up with your tools. The cost is $10.00 which can be paid at the door. The workshops and lessons take place on the third and fourth Tuesday of this month.  They are held in the same locations as our meetings.

Speaking of fly tying, Trout Unlimited's New Jersey State Council is sponsoring a Fly Tying Madness event on Saturday, March 16 at the Crawford Community Center located at 220 Walnut Drive, in Cranford, NJ. This event is open to every one. You are invited to bring your tying kit out for a day of fly tying.  All of the flies tied on that day will be donated to groups involved in fly fishing education. We will provide more details next month. Put it on your calendar today!

We are still looking for donated sporting goods for the upcoming flea market at the Pequest Open House event coming up in March. If you have any old hunting, fishing or camping gear living around why not consider donating it to the chapter?  Last year we raised a lot of money for conservation through our member's generosity. We will have a table at this event selling merchandise and all money raised will go directly towards our conservation efforts. We will be excepting donations at our February and March meetings. We can also arrange for a pick up if you can't make the meeting.

If there is a woman in your life why not introduce her to fishing and Trout Unlimited. We have recently launched a women's initiative to get more females involved in our organization. The women's initiative is partnering with chapters throughout the state to connect with anglers through conservation projects and engage anglers with fishing outings and clinics to improve techniques. This is a great opportunity to introduce that special someone to fishing and conservation. As a added incentive Trout Unlimited is offering a free years membership to first time female members.  For more information visit www.tu.org or www.njtu.org.

Our chapter is looking for volunteers to help out with some shad and herring research on the Raritan River.  In the next week or so we will putting out an action alert with all the details.  Volunteers will be helping out netting, tagging and releasing fish.  There may also be some opportunities for specimen collecting through angling.  If you are interested in helping out all the information you need will be included in the action alert so keep an eye on you inbox.

We will be bringing back our video rental program. Like in the past the rentals are free but we are asking each member who wants to borrow a video to pick up a $5.00 video library card.  This small fee will help us maintain the library and pick up new videos.  The cards will be available at the general meetings.

This month yours truly and Dick Turse will be giving a presentation on Grand Lake Stream, Maine.  This wonderful fishery offers anglers opportunities to catch landlocked salmon as well as smallmouth bass and brook trout.  If you would like to learn more about this great angling destination come out to this Tuesday's meeting.

Tight Lines
Bart Lombardo

Fly of the Month

“Bubble Pupa”
by Lou Digena

The big caddis hatch everyone can't wait for is the Mothers Day Caddis or Brachycentrus.  The Brachycentrus is a cased caddis that lives in just about every stream.  This is a prolific hatch and trout engorge themselves on this abundant insects. This hatch in the east starts in May around Mothers Day and can go well in to June, making it an important hatch to fishers.

There are many outstanding patterns to imitate the pupa (it's most vulnerable stage).  The best well know is LaFontaine’s Sparkle Pupa. Again I'd like to point you in the direction of Matt Grobert's video Tying the LaFontaine Sparkle Emerger  produced by Tim Flagler aka Tightline Productions for instruction on tying this classic pattern. Another notable pattern is Barr’s Graphic Caddis.

My take on the Mothers Day Caddis is simple, like most of my patterns, mainly because I want to spend more time fishing than tying (the real reason is I'm lazy).  With most of the patterns I develop the golden rule is Keep it simple, Stupid.  For those who don't know the K.I.S.S. rule it's attributed to Kelly Johnson, lead engineer at the Lockheed Skunk Works think spy planes Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird.

This patterns is developed from observation. I always have a small seine net and will do a kick sample of the stream I fishing to see what bugs and numbers.

I must give inspirational credit to Davie McPhail videos where I pick-upped using Flashabou for the rib and tinting it with a permanent marker to create a darker but flashy rib.