September 2018

General Meeting

September 11, 2018

Jeff Skelding

Keeping the Upper Delaware River Cold, Wet and Wild

Jeff’s presentation will focus on the protection and restoration of the unique cold water ecosystem of the Upper Delaware River and it’s nationally recognized wild trout fishery. The primary focus will be the complex political drivers that determine the health of the ecosystem including the management of the NYC Delaware basin reservoirs that play an enormous role in the health of this magnificent tailwater fishery.

Jeff Skelding is the Executive Director of Friends of the Upper Delaware River (FUDR), a community based watershed protection organization located in Hancock, NY. FUDR works to protect the Upper Delaware River for the benefit of people, communities, and wildlife. Prior to this position, Mr. Skelding was the National Campaign Director for the National Wildlife Federation's "Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition" in Washington, DC. Mr. Skelding's professional career includes 25 years of conservation non-profit management, grassroots organizing, policy work, coalition building, and lobbying.

October 9, 2018

Ozzie Ozefovich

The Underwater World of Trout
A Video Presentation
Streams and Rivers I've Fished and Filmed

The Connetquot River -- Long Island, NY
Boiling Springs -- PA
Big Spring -- PA
South Branch of the Raritan -- Claremont Stretch

Ozzie has spent considerable time volunteering with the Central Jersey Trout Unlimited chapter where he serves on the Board of Directors and is the coordinator for the Trout in the Classroom program. Over the years he has worked with the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife by being involved in K-12 education programs, stream restoration projects and stream surveys.

In the late 90’s Ozzie combined his love of trout with a lifelong interest in movie making. He has produced a series of underwater videos exploring how trout feed, spawn and behave in streams and rivers. Dvd trailers can be seen on www.underwateroz.com

He presents his many video programs at the Fly Fishing Shows, Trout Unlimited Chapters, and other venues throughout the states.

November 13, 2018

Bob Romano

"Rangeley Lakes Region - Maine"

Bob Romano and his wife, Trish, have owned a camp in the Rangeley Lakes Region of Western Maine for more than thirty years. This is a region of the country rich in sporting tradition and known for its native brook trout and wild landlocked salmon. Bob’s program includes 100 photos of the lakes, rivers and streams that remain as they were when Carrie Stevens tied her Gray Ghost streamer. Bob has updated his commentary to address not only when and where to fish, but also as what flies to use.

The tenth-anniversary edition of Shadows in the Stream, Bob’s book of essays about fly fishing, is often used by anglers as a guide to fishing the Rangeley Lakes Region. His latest book, THE RIVER KING – A FLY-FISHING NOVEL will also be available for sale.

Bob is also the author of the Rangeley Lakes series of novels that include North of Easie, which won second place in the 2010 Outdoor Writer’s Best Book Contest. Romano’s essays and short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Christmas in the Wild, Fresh Fiction for Fresh Water Fishing, and Wildbranch: An Anthology of Nature, Environmental, and Place-Based Writing.

He writes articles for various magazines and newspapers and does his best to keep up with his blog: forgottentrout.wordpress.com and his website: www.forgottentrout.com

December 11, 2018

Annual Holiday Gathering with Fly Tying

Our Meeting on December 11th will feature some of the old and some of the new. We will start the meeting at 7:30 pm with pizza and soda available. As for the old, as in past December meetings, we invite our Chapter fly tiers to demonstrate their patterns, techniques and general prowess to other attendees. So if you are one of these tiers, bring you materials and tools and be prepared to show off.

Due to last year's success we will continue three new twists. First, we want to encourage those who have never tied a fly to get started. So please invite any friends , neighbors, spouses, family members, significant others or whatever that fit this category to the meeting or come yourself and one of our excellent instructors will provide guidance in tying a first fly. Tools and materials will be provided.

Second, for existing tiers who have questions about a particular pattern or technique, bring the relevant hook and materials and your own vice and tools and our instructors will guide you in answering your questions. Could it be that none can help? We doubt it. But maybe you can wipe the smug confidence off their faces to the delight of all attendees. Finally, for those who never have or never will tie flies, we invite you to share social interactions with other Chapter Members and witness the appearance of Santa Claus at about 9:00 pm. Santa will have special gifts to those who have been good during the last year. Even if you haven’t been good Santa keeps poor records and will most likely still give you something.

Anyway, come on down and have a great time.

American Legion Hall
137 New Market Road
Dunellen, NJ

Meeting starts at 7:30 PM - Non Members are always welcome!

President’s Letter

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, my name is Bart Lombardo, and I am Central Jersey Trout Unlimited’s “new” president. The word new is in quotations because this will actually be my 4th term as CJTU’s President. So, I am not exactly new to many of you that have been involved with this chapter for a few years. Our past president, George Hryvniak had to resign suddenly due to a move to the Jersey Shore to be closer to his family. George will still be active in the chapter but felt he could no longer serve as president. We wish him all the best!

I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer. For those of you that have children, by the time you read this, the kids will be back in school, and things will slowly return to normal. Although we had our share of hot weather, we also had our share of rain, which means it has been a good summer for New Jersey trout. Our rivers are in great shape, with high water levels going into autumn. As the weather cools, you should find that plenty of trout survived the summer heat. During a recent outing, I observed water temps that remained in the sixties all day long on the South Branch in the area of Ken Lockwood Gorge. That is an excellent sign for this time of year; we should enjoy some stellar fall fishing!

CJTU’s Banquet is right around the corner. Our dinner committee has been working hard to put together a great evening out for CJTU members and their families and friends. Do you have a friend that you have trying to convince to join the chapter? Why not invite them to our banquet. It will be an evening of good food, good company and the opportunity to go home with some great prizes. The dinner will take place at The Grillestone Restaurant in Scotch Plains on Saturday, October 20th. Tickets will be available for purchase at our September general meeting. We will also be sending out an invitation via email in the days to come. Space is limited so be sure to reserve your spot ASAP, so you don’t miss out on this great event.

Our speaker this month will be Jeff Skelding. His presentation entitled Keeping the Delaware River Cold, Wet and Wild will focus on the protection and restoration of this incredible wild trout fishery. As usual, we will meet at 7:30 pm for some refreshments (pizza and soft drinks), and the business portion of the meeting will start at 8:00 pm.

Our Anderson Brook restoration is underway. The stream was electroshocked over the summer and the stretch of river surveyed produced acceptable numbers of wild trout. The next step in the process is a stream clean-up. We will be scheduling the clean up once the foliage dies down along the stream. That means we are looking at the November/December timeframe. We will be looking for volunteers once we lock down a date. If you are interested in helping out drop me a line at president@cjtu.org and I’ll add you to the contact list for this important project.

Our Musconetcong River restoration project at the A-Frame track was completed this past June. Unfortunately, several hundred feet of the project was not completed due to an issue with one of the landowners. However, the majority of the property involved was worked on, and the habitat on that stretch of river was significantly improved. I look forward to fishing it this fall to experience the change first hand!

To wrap things up, I want to mention we will be demonstrating fly tying at the Freehold LL Bean several times this fall as well as assisting them with a fly casting class. Our next fly tying demo is scheduled for Saturday, September 15 from 11 to 3. Please stop by and say hello.

That is about it for this month. Check out the rest of the newsletter for additional details on the items I discussed as well as the Fly of the Month and other things going on with the chapter. I hope to see everyone at our next meeting.

Tight Lines
Bart Lombardo

News & Events

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2018 Central Jersey Trout Unlimited Fall Banquet

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Tickets will be available at Tuesday nights meeting!

Central Jersey Trout Unlimited is excited to invite members and friends to attend our 2018 Fall Banquet! The 2018 CJTU Fall Banquet will be held on Saturday, October 20th at 6 pm at the Grillestone Restaurant, 2377 U.S. Highway 22, Scotch Plains, New Jersey. The Grillestone Restaurant is a lovely venue with a beautiful menu.

The Banquet will include a delicious four-course meal. It will be an opportunity for members to get reacquainted, for family and friends to meet our members and for all to share an evening of fun, good food and raffle prizes. Among the raffle prizes will be fishing trips including one trip for two to the private waters of the Henryville Flyfishers, rod outfits such as a 9’ 9wt, a 7’6” 4wt and a Tenkara outfit. Also among the prizes are a spa basket, women’s jewelry, a women’s leather handbag and all sorts of other goodies.

Cost: $45 per person, cash bar. We are accepting payments for the dinner at our September 11, 2018, general meeting and shortly online. Please respond on or before October 9, 2018. Space is limited.

If you have any questions or would like to help in any way, please feel free to contact Marsha Benovengo, Banquet Committee Chairperson at casabeno@msn.com or at (732) 780-7185.

The Banquet Committee is looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 20th at the 2018 CJTU Fall Banquet!

State Lands Restoration Project Update

The State Lands Restoration Project got underway on June 15th. At the 11th hour before the start of work, NJ DEP left TroutScapes a message at four PM Friday afternoon rescinding the permit they had already approved due to new issues (additional owner’s permissions, and soil conservation permitting) raised by a third party. Cole Baldino, our TU regional coordinator was able to fix the soil conservation issues and get the permission from one of the two land owners on the Warren side. However, a second land owner was unresponsive to all parties, including NJ DEP.

On Monday morning June 18th we were still in limbo on several issues. We decided we would string the turbidity barrier while others worked to knock down the remaining issues. The hearty volunteers, all the conservation committee members were front and center, Mike Underwood, Ed Kordyla, Rich Post, Fred Simonson, Marsha Bencivenga, as well as Lou DiGena, Cole Baldino and Jonathan Eng (from the Hacklebarney Chapter, despite the stifling temperatures and oppressive humidity went to work on positioning the turbidity barrier.

Tuesday morning things got significantly better and we began instream work and boulder moving to get the three truckloads of boulders in their approximate positions. We made a few on the fly design changes and the Cat went to work in a serious way. Attached are several photo’s that document the week’s progress. Bottom line, our project that started with some difficulty turned into a huge success and we were able to create over 800 yds of prime habitat, that not only looks beautiful, will fish well, and provide excellent holding water. A big thanks go out to all who turned out both physically and financially to assist in creating a tremendous trout habitat open to all.

NJ Chapter funding came from the following chapters, Fred Burroughs, East Jersey, Ken Lockwood, Hacklebarney, Ridge & Valley, Jersey Shore, Schwiebert, and Central Jersey. Additional project funding was forthcoming from Theodore Gordon Fly Fishers, and a significant Embrace A Stream Grant from TU National, as well as a grant from the William Penn Foundation.

We still have some work to do this fall in terms of planting and clearing points of access and of course we will be looking for volunteers to finish up the project once the fall weather arrives!

If you would like to volunteer and aid with the fall planting and clearing contact: Fred Simonson or Rich Post.

More photos of the restoration project can be found in the Gallery !

Fly Casting for Beginners

On Friday, June 29, 2018, Central Jersey Chapter of Trout Unlimited instructed eight individuals in fly casting and fishing.

Unlike other introductions to fly casting and fishing, we've run in the past this group was a weekday event, and everyone was from Verizon Wireless.

After the students purchased their fishing licenses, we instructed them in fly casting with a short introduction and lawn casting.

Once the instructors felt the students were ready, it was off to the pond to fine tune their casting and to learn how to fly fish.

The trout at the pond corporated and all hooked played and landed trout. For the majority, this was their first time fly fishing and for some their first time fishing. All had fun and enjoyed the experience.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Lou DiGena

Fly of the Month

“Lou's Stonefly Creeper”

Tied by Lou Digena

This stonefly pattern is my modern version of Jenning's Stonefly Creeper.

It is a deadly and straightforward pattern for trout and salmon. Stoneflies are in the river year-round with several year classes, and this is my go-to pattern anchor when Euro-nymphing or exploring new water.

Lou DiGena
Regal Endorsed Tier and Solarez Pro Staff

Central Jersey Trout Unlimited’s Supporters