www.cjtu.org

January 2020

General Meeting

Tuesday, January 14, 2019

Tom Gilmore Presents
“ New Jersey Fly Fishing Dream Season”

New Jersey has 158 streams and almost 1,000 miles of trout production water, 41 are managed as Wild Trout Streams. Lake trout reproduce in two of our reservoirs and landlocked salmon are stocked in five of our coldwater lakes. North Woods species like walleye, northern pike and muskies are available in numerous lakes and reservoirs. Our lakes continue to produce trophy size bass and pickerel. Our shad fishery is the best on the east coast. Our beaches and bays provide excellent fishing for stripers and blues. Our inshore small tuna fishery is back in full force. Our offshore boats continue to produce record numbers of white marlin, bluefin and yellowfin tuna. Tom will look at all of these species and the “hot spots” to target them with a fly rod.

In addition to being an accomplished environmentalist, Tom is an avid fly fisherman. He has fly fished around the world for over 50 years. Tom has recorded the details of landing over 12,000 game fish on a fly rod. He is an accomplished author having written numerous articles and recent completed his sixth fly fishing book, Flyfisher’s Guide to New Jersey Coldwater, Warmwarter and Saltwater. His first book, False Albacore, was published in 2002, his second book entitled, Tuna On The Fly, was published in the Fall of 2006 both by Countryman Press. Tom’s third book a Flyfisher’s Guide to the Big Apple was published in 2011. Tom’s fourth book Flyfisher’s Eastern Trophy Tailwaters was published in late 2014, which was followed by Flyfisher’s Guide to Pennsylvania was published in the fall of 2016. His most recent work, Flyfisher’s Guide to New Jersey’s

All four of his trout guides were published by Wilderness Adventures Press. Tom is a well know fly fishing celebrity haven giving over 150 programs on fishing for almost all of our North American Game Fish.

Pre-Meeting Fly Tying Program

As a broadening of our Chapter’s educational offerings we are continuing the new pre-meeting program aimed at those in our Chapter who have interest in the pattern or techniques mentioned in the Fly of the Month.

So come at 7pm this coming Tuesday if you are interested. Bill Ninke will be demoing the tying of “Nelson’s Red Midge Larva” featured as the January Fly of the Month. As an added feature Bill will show how another effective pattern, a Chimarra caddis larva, can be tied with the same materials, just thread and tubing.

Feb. 11, 2020

Anita Coulton
Contact Nymphing

Contact Nymphing has caught on considerably in the last few years. In fact, quite a few folks have seen or possibly tried the technique. Anita has won the NJ Flyfisher of the Year competition and her presentations are in high demand. She will cover equipment, leaders and discuss what it is that makes this technique so effective. Time permitting with the size of the group, Anita will also have everyone actually tie their own euro style leader.

Mar. 10, 2020

Tim Flagler
Secrets of the Ken Lockwood Gorge

Ken Lockwood Gorge on the South Branch of the Raritan River in Hunterdon County is one of New Jersey’s premier trout fishing locales, with both wild and stocked fish, and is open to anglers year round. As a result, there are often crowds and the fish get pressured. Fortunately, there are some tips, techniques and things to look for that’ll help you to catch more fish in these difficult conditions. The presentation will include video of the gorge, it’s water, the bug life and the flies we use to imitate it.

Apr. 14, 2020

Erik Barton
Fishing for Salmon in Norway & Sweden

Erik is part of the Tight Lines guides team and is an expert spey caster. He’s got the video to show and prove it. Erik specializes in all kinds of salmon and steelhead flies, ranging from big, weighted intruders for winter steelhead to small spey flies for Atlantic Salmon. One you don’t want to miss.

May 12, 2020

Bart Lombardo
The Warm-Water Fly Box – Flies for Warm Water Fish and How to Fish Them

Bart is CJTU president who is also a rep for Tenkara USA, Regal vices, along with running the very popular Panfish on the Fly blog. He is also an expert fly tyer and will guide you in making the most of the warmer months of the year when trout and other coldwater species should get a break.

June 9, 2020

Annual Bar-B-Que & Picnic

A meeting outside by the grill. Share good food, good company and a fish story or two. This one starts at 5:00 pm! All meetings other than the June General Meetings start at 7:30 pm at the American Legion Hall, 137 New Market Road in Dunellen, NJ.

American Legion Hall
137 New Market Road
Dunellen, NJ

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

President’s Letter

Another year is in the books. Let me start by wishing everyone a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year! January is by far the busiest month of the year for Central Jersey Trout Unlimited. We start the new year off with a bang! We will be attending the Garden State Sports Show in Edison, New Jersey, this week. The show runs Thursday, January 9th through Sunday, January 12th, and takes place at the New Jersey Convention & Expo Center. You should have received an Action Alert Email asking for help to staff this event. Please consider helping out. Send an email to volunteer@cjtu.org with your name and the time you can help, and I will give your name to the front desk so you can get a free pass into the show.

Right on the heels of this show, we will be attending the Fly Fishing Show at the same location on January 24-26. We also need help at that show, so please consider giving us a few hours of your time. If you are attending the show anyway, why not stop by our table and lend a hand for an hour or two? If you can help at that show, please send an email to volunteer@cjtu.org and gives us an idea of when you would be available to assist us.

Volunteering at shows is a fun and enjoyable activity. We encourage you to come out and lend a hand even if you have never done it before. We need help selling flies, promoting our 2020 fundraising campaign, helping kids tie flies, and just spreading the word about our organization.

For this year's primary fundraiser, we are giving away an awesome Euro Nymphing Set up. The complete outfit will include an Orvis Recon 10' 3wt fly rod, the new Hydros II reel, an Orvis Tactical Nymph Rod, and a selection of Euro Nymphs tied by CJTU's expert fly tiers. A $5.00 donation will get you in the drawing. Tickets will be available at all events we are attending this winter/spring. The drawing will be held at our annual picnic this June.

We are getting ready to kick off this year's fly tying classes. They will be held in the same hall where we hold our meetings. The class dates are February 12, 19 & 26 & March 4, 11 & 18, 2020. The class will run from 7:30 to 9:30 pm. There are still spots available in our beginner's class, and the intermediate/advanced class is filling up. The classes this year are FREE! Beginners don't even need a vise, tools, or materials as everything will be provided (you are encouraged to bring your vise and tools if you have them). Send an email to cjtutying@cjtu.org to reserve your spot today!

We have a great speaker lined up this month! Tom Gilmore is an avid fly fisherman. He has fly fished around the world for over 50 years. Tom has recorded the details of landing over 12,000 game fish on a fly rod. He is an accomplished author having written numerous articles and recently completed his sixth fly fishing book, Flyfisher's Guide to New Jersey Coldwater, Warmwarter, and Saltwater. There are many fishing opportunities and different types of fish available to New Jersey anglers. Tom will look at all of these species and the "hot spots" to target them with a fly rod.

We encourage you to bring a guest to our general meetings and introduce them to CJTU. If you do, both you and your guest will receive a free ticket to our meeting bucket raffle!

Tight Lines
Bart Lombardo

News & Events

2020 CJTU Fly Tying School

Free to all Students

Beginner and Intermediate Classes

Dates: February 12, 19 & 26 & March 4, 11 & 18, 2020

Time: 7:30 to 9:30 PM

More Info

Garden State Outdoor Sports Show

January 9 through 12

The New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center
Edison, NJ

The Fly Fishing Show

January 24 through 26

The New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center
Edison, NJ

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CJTU is now part of the Amazon Smile program. By clicking through to Amazon with the above link, CJTU will receive a small percentage based on your purchase.

Fly of the Month

Nelson ’s Larva

Tied by Bill Ninke

Did you buy and use some micro tubing to tie the Little Green Machine nymph described in November and are wondering how else might you use that tubing? This month’s fly, Tucker Nelson’s Red Midge Larva, provides an answer.

Tucker was born, grew up and currently lives and guides right on the Nelson’s Spring Creek Ranch, home of the world famous Nelson’s Spring Creek. I first fished this Creek in the early 90s when Tucker’s grandmother, Helen, managed the fishing reservations and his grandfather, Edwin, managed the cattle business. After Helen’s and Edwin’s passing, their son Roger and wife Mary continued the cattle and fishing businesses. Roger still runs the cattle business and Mary still deals with Creek reservations.

Tucker is Roger and Mary’s son and he and his wife Jacquie, also a superb guide, currently run the fishing and guiding operations. They now reside a few hundred yards from the Creek in the house where Helen would always greet me. I mention all the family geneology because the cattle and fishing operations are truly a multi-generational labor of love. The family is devoted to the land and abundant resident wildlife. My personal favorites are the ospreys and the sand hill cranes. If you’ve never fished Nelson’s or the other Spring Creeks, Armstong’s and DePuy’s, located just south of Livinston MT, you should definitely put them on your bucket list.

As you might expect from his growing up on the Creek, Tucker is truly dialed in to the needed flies and techniques. But as a hard working guide, he’s tired at the end of the day and cranking out complicated patterns for use by clients the next day isn’t in the cards. So his patterns are true “Guide Flies”, very effective for clients yet simple and quick to tie. His larva requires only a hook, thread and tubing.

While this pattern originated in Montana, it is quite effective in local waters. At this time of year trout are hugging the bottom and this midge larva fished as a dropper off a heavier nymph should get you a few tugs.

Many spring creeks and tail waters have resident small aquatic earthworms called Annelids. If you use the same tying steps with a size 16 or 18 hook instead of a 22 and Wapsi Stretch tubing in size Micro instead of the Hareline tubing you’ll have an effective pattern for these worms. This larger “Worm” variation is very popular on the San Juan River in New Mexico.

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