December 2017
Well, it looks like our warm Fall is about to abruptly turn cold. My last day of fishing was Wednesday, November 29. I fished Point Mountain and managed to catch and release only two small rainbows. I will say the water was really cold but I never took the time to check with my stream thermometer. That may have contributed to my limited catch. At least that's what Bruce Turner of Orvis Princeton said when he asked me how I did that day. You can always rely on a friend to try to boost your spirits.
The Chapter tied flies and cast the new Helios 3 rods at Orvis on November 12. We also tied flies at L.L. Bean at Freehold Raceway Mall on November 25. Both events were enjoyable. It's is always fun meeting new people at these events. This is one way we actively recruit new members. At L.L. Bean, Bart Lombardo brought his younger son, Daniel, since he is presently learning how to tie. 
Now you can't get a better teacher than Bart. It was fun watching him pass on his passion for tying to the little guy. Daniel had Bart and I laughing to the point where each of us almost lost our breath. Bart spent about an hour teaching him how to tie a wooly bugger. Once he learned the tie, he then proceeded to start teaching anyone who wanted to learn. As I was tying, the young Lombardo turned to me and asked if I wanted to learn how to tie a wooly bugger despite my years of tying. When Bart and I heard his offer, we both started to laugh uncontrollably for a couple of minutes. Undaunted, he then offered his new-found ability to teach Laure Palatini of L.L. Bean the art of tying. I think the appropriate words to describe Daniel is precocious and enthusiastic. Trout Unlimited's future will go on because of young people like these.
Please keep in mind that both the Garden State Outdoor Sportsmen's Show and The Fly Fishing Show go on this January. We always need help working these shows. Please consider helping us out for a morning or afternoon at one of these two shows. There is a lot of camaraderie that goes on behind the tables at our booths. Join us and get into some of that fun with us. We're always trying to get people more active in our Chapter.
Learning fly tying in this day and age has changed. The first time I picked up a bobbin spooled with waxed tread was thirty-four years ago at CJTU's Fly Tying Class and Dick Turse was the instructor. It was there that I learned the art of tying. Today most of our beginners sit at their computer screens and google whichever fly that want to learn to tie. My friend Art Port and I met a younger fellow on the East Branch of the Croton this October. He was only fly fishing and fly tying for a couple of months but he was already catching fish. He told us all his instruction came from the web. I won't hide the fact that I have done the same thing in the last several years to learn some new patterns. Now, I will tell you that my most used fly for nymphing is a heavily weighted Walt's Worm. I was introduced to that fly a few years ago at a CJTU meeting. The guide who presented the program gave us his detailed manner of tying that pattern. I COULD NOT GET THAT ON THE WEB! With that last capitalized sentence in mind, five of our best fly tiers/instructors have gotten together to offer new personalized instruction. Please read about the first offering of this instruction at our December 12 meeting. They are making a strong attempt to make face to face instruction relevant in this You Tube age. As President of CJTU I applaud their efforts! I think they're on to something.
Now the December 12 meeting will be a blast, I guarantee it! Besides new approaches in fly tying instruction, pizza and soda to start the night at 7:30, the big guy himself, Santa, will arrive at 9:00 that evening. You never know what Santa has planned for us. If I were reading this letter, I would make it my business not to miss this meeting.
In closing, I wish all of you a "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukkah" and a New Year filled with the biggest and most trout you have ever caught!
Tight lines,
George
You can contact George at
November 2017
The Point Mountain Stream Walk last Saturday, Nov. 4 was a great time. The weather and stream flow were perfect for a day of learning and then fishing. We had three CJTU members turn out to learn "the ropes" about that stretch. They included Sonia Reynes, Stephen Burley, and Charlie Winkle. Charlie and I stopped along the walk when I noticed one of my favorite pools free of other fishermen (Please excuse me Sonia, fisherpeople!). Ed Cordyla and Fred Simonson took Sonia and Stephen further upstream to finish the walk. Charlie and I fished, and finally I hooked up and landed a nice rainbow. Before long Stephen arrived where we were fishing and told us he had already caught a rainbow upstream. Shortly afterward, Sonia came down to see what we were doing. She took some pictures, which you can see below. She went back upstream and phoned Stephen to tell him she landed a fifteen-inch rainbow. Stephen, Charlie and I then headed upstream. We found Sonia fishing in my other favorite run where she caught the large rainbow. Oh well! I thought I would show Charlie and Stephen another good spot but Fred and Ed made sure they pointed it out earlier on the walk. The best fishing news of the day was what Fred had caught. Fishing a distance downstream after he and Ed finished the walk, he got four fish. What was so special about his catch was what he caught. He got a smaller rainbow but the other three fish were small wild browns, all about eight or nine inches.
All of our efforts as TU members are to protect, restore, and enhance trout habitat. It appears our work over the years, with the final effort of the actual stream improvement with heavy equipment, has paid off at Point Mountain. Nothing is as rewarding as catching wild trout! A few years from now we may be rewarded by wild trout flourishing in the stretch of the Musky we're now working on. We refer locally to that stretch the "A-Frame Stretch". I'm sure that will happen!
You will receive this issue of Mainstream before this Sunday, November 12. On Sunday we will be tying flies at Orvis/Princeton from 11:00 to 3:00. Along with fly tying, Orvis has invited us to test cast their new Helios 3 rods. The H3 is advertised as a super accurate casting rod. Come join us in Princeton to see for yourselves by casting the new H3. Please make sure to show your TU membership card at the store and sign up for their mailing list. You don't want to miss any of their future promotions.
This coming December our fly tying meeting will be different with a holiday flare. First of all, anyone wishing to tie flies that evening is welcome. Just bring your tools and materials. The holiday aspect of the evening is an appearance by Santa! Santa will bring his bag of goodies, and you'll have to attend to see what Santa is up to. It should be a welcome change to make it more of a holiday gathering, along with fly tying.
This month we welcome Ben Turpin to our meeting. We will learn more fishing secrets about Pennsylvania from an expert. As has been the case the last few months, the meeting will begin with pizza and soda at 7:30 followed by a brief business meeting. We'll have another super raffle as well as a gift certificate for a door prize. We also hand out an envelope of worthwhile fishing items for people attending their first meeting with us. For those of you who have never attended a meeting, please join us on November 14. You just may enjoy the evening!
Tight lines,
George
You can contact George at
October 2017
Fall has begun and the temps are cooling. After two warm summer-like weeks, we are now experiencing seasonal weather. New Jersey's fall stocking begins on October 10, and our main trout streams will receive fish two years old with a number of brood stock fish thrown in. These fish will bend your rod more and test your leaders. This year"s weather in the northeast has been somewhat like a roller-coaster. We started the year with drought conditions, experienced too much rain in the spring and now there is no significant rain in the forecast. Low water fishing this fall will require a stealth approach to your quarry. Good luck next week chasing those lunker rainbows.
Congratulations are in order for Fred Simonson, CJTU Conservation Chair. Through his hard work along with two other TU members, the Embrace-a-Stream proposal they submitted was awarded an $8000.00 grant. These additional funds will allow the project to be started and finished next Summer. Congrats Fred!
Fortunately for the Chapter, John Wester and Bart Lombardo have decided to take over coordinator responsibilities for Trout in the Classroom (TIC) for this year. We are still in need of a permanent replacement for Ozzie Ozefovich. The person taking on this job will begin next September. If you choose to learn the ropes, you can get involved with TIC now by helping out. Ozzie has agreed to take the person volunteering for TIC coordinator under his wing this year. Many thanks go out to John and Bart for stepping up for now until the close of school next June. Please give this job some serious consideration. TIC is one of the cornerstones of TU. Please write me if you’re interested (grhryvniak@yahoo.com).
On Saturday morning, November 4, at 9:00am, we're having a stream walk of the Point Mountain stretch of the Musky for those of you who haven't fished it. We will meet at the parking lot on the left just beyond the bridge over the river coming in from Route 57. The lot is identified by the large green with white letter sign for the Point Mountain area. Rich Post, Ed Kordyla, Fred Simonson and I will lead a couple of groups up and down the stretch. We'll show you the pools and runs along the stretch. We will discuss rod length/weight we prefer and suggest fly patterns to use on this stretch. We'll all don our waders to do some fishing. Point Mountain is good holdover water and with the recent stocking, a number of us will have "tight lines" that day.
We will be tying flies with the Schwiebert Chapter of TU at Orvis Princeton on Sunday, November 12, from 11:00 to 3:00. In addition to fly tying, Orvis Princeton will have several demo Helios 3 rods available for all the TU members of both our Chapters in attendance to test cast. The Helios 3 rods are being promoted for their superior casting ability. We'll have the opportunity to test them for ourselves that Sunday. It should be a super day for both Chapters of TU. If you're experienced fly tier and want to tie that day, please contact me
A committee headed by Marsha Benovengo has been formed to make plans for a gala banquet sometime next year. After one meeting, the committee is thinking that the banquet will be held next fall (October 2018?). This is an affair which will bring the chapter together. They're hoping that perhaps fifty to sixty couples will make it a night out with for a great dinner and chances on some prizes for both men and women. Plans are such that the committee is thinking it will be a night out for you and your spouse. As plans progress, Marsha will keep you filled in at our monthly meetings.
Lastly, starting with the meeting this coming Tuesday, a gift certificate will be given away as a door prize. This will be done at all future meetings. We will also have another exciting raffle with some new prizes never raffled off before. Don't forget, please join us at 7:30 for pizza and soda.
I'll see you this coming Tuesday at 7:30,
Fish On,
George
September 2017
Well, the summer is over except for the calendar date. The stream temperatures will now begin to cool, and we can get back to our New Jersey streams to wet a line. Hopefully, those wet lines will tighten with fish at the end.
To escape the warm stream temperatures the last couple of months, my buddy and I fished two tailwater streams over the summer. We fished the Farmington in Connecticut in late June. We had minor success on that trip! We then fished the Swift River in Massachusetts in late August. That trip was a total success! We caught a lot of brookies and we each caught a couple of large rainbows. Alongside this paragraph is a picture of the first fish I caught on the trip. The Swift is known for its significant population of brookies. As a matter of fact, our guide told us it contains the largest number of brookies per mile of any other New England stream.
We're headed back late next month in pursuit of the large brook trout that congregate in the Swift's upper reaches to spawn. While people head up to Salmon River in the fall for salmon and steelhead runs, we'll head up to the Swift for the brook trout run.
We have some super programs coming up this fall. This month Bart Lombardo will present his program on Euro or Czech Nymphing. Bart is deadly using this technique. One day last March I had the opportunity to fish with him one afternoon. While I landed four trout, he caught fifteen! That was a lesson in humility! Don't miss this program on September 12. In October we have Dave Rothrock and then Ben Turpin in November. This December things will be a little different. We are having a special Holiday Meeting with our usual fly tying gathering and also a special appearance by none other than Santa. You don't want to miss this one!!!
We do know that many new people who attend one of our meetings are always looking for places to fish and how to fish them. Thirty-five years ago, this month, I was drawn to my first CJTU meeting with that in mind. A few of us have set aside November 4 to guide people on the Point Mountain stretch of the Musky. Fred Simonson, myself and a couple of other members will share with you what we've learned fishing that stretch. You'll learn the pools, runs, flies and different techniques used to be successful there. If you aren't familiar with Point Mountain, please mark your calendar for November 4 and join us.
We're also making plans to schedule a fishing trip for the Chapter this Spring. As plans unfold, we'll keep you informed. We would like to ask you of these three destinations, which would interest you: the West Branch of the Delaware, the Farmington River in Connecticut, or the Connetquot River on Long Island? Please let me know your preference by writing me at By letting me know which stream has the greatest interest among you will determine where we'll fish.
We are in dire need of members willing to join and assist the Board of Directors of the Chapter. The Board is looking for new and diverse blood who will bring new ideas for us to consider and then implement. Please consider stepping up! If you want to discuss this, please reach out to me. You'll find me easy to talk with. You can phone me if you choose at 732-841-6335. And yes, for the younger crowd out there, I do text.
On a final note, remember to save your appetite for the meetings. Each meeting will now start off, as we have since last Spring, with pizza and soda at 7:30. It has proven to be a great time to chat, renew friendships, or make new friends before the business meeting starts at 8:00.
I'll see you this coming Tuesday at 7:30,
Fish On,
George
You can contact George at
June 2017
Well, it's June already and New Jersey trout streams are still fishable because of the rains and cool weather. The New Jersey Department of Fish & Wildlife tells us all streams have plenty of trout. As the season progresses beyond Memorial Day, the number of fisherman on the streams wanes. With that in mind, get out there and wet a line. You now have less competition for your favorite stretch of stream. My close friend, Art Port, and I are still hoping to get our West Branch trip in this year. We've already rescheduled twice because of extremely high water. If I'm at CJTU's annual picnic next Tuesday, June 13, you'll realize we've rescheduled it a third time. We're hoping the water drops by Monday so we can finally take our trip.
On June 3 & 4 CJTU manned a booth at the Pequest Open House at the Pequest Hatchery. Attendance was better in years past because of the weather. We had showers before the opening on Saturday and intermittent drizzle from noon on Sunday. Nevertheless, we did very well raising funds for the Chapter's work. 
The highlight of the event was the drawing of our year-long conservation raffle. You may remember it was a complete Orvis outfit of rod, reel, and line. The Chapter raised over seventeen hundred dollars for conservation from the raffle. The winner of the raffle was Bryant Atanasio from Port Matilda, Pennsylvania. Much to our surprise, Bryant, like our Chapter member Andrew Dang, is part of TU National Youth Leadership Council. He attended last Summer's TU Teen Summit in Montana along with Andrew. Both his parents wrote me to tell me that Bryant was thrilled to have won the raffle. Andrew even told me that Bryant bought his ticket at our booth during the Fly Fishing Show this past January in Somerset. Considering his activities in TU, I'm sure the rod will be used often. Bryant, I like to hear what it was like to hook a trout over fourteen inches on that glass rod? Congratulations Bryant!!
Picnic! I did mention the Annual CJTU picnic is this coming Tuesday in the grove behind the American Legion Hall in Dunellen. Please consider joining us for some good food and some friendly conservations. Any woman reading this will be welcomed by Marsha Benovengo in hopes of getting more woman to participate in the Chapter. Additionally, younger teen members will get to talk with two very active youth members, Andrew Dang and Chris Prozor. These two know their fishing, and I'm sure they'll share some fish stories if you bring your son or daughter. Your children no longer need to sit with or listen to older adults. Younger people are the TU leaders of tomorrow. Also, Marsha is also quite the fisherperson, she has already out fished me once. And let me tell you, she reminds me of that often!
Well it's June, and September is only two and a half months away. We are still in need for someone who is willing to take over our Trout in the Classroom(TIC) program. As I mentioned before, Ozzie Ozefovich has stepped down as the leader of our TIC program. I'm hoping we can have someone volunteer to take over the program before September. I have had two general members who have already stepped up to assist with the program. If you want a rewarding experience, please consider taking it over.
Good fishing!
George
You can contact George at
May 2017
I don't profess to be a good fly fisherman; I'm average at best. With that in mind, I'll give you a good laugh at my expense. On Sunday, April 30, I fished the Musky for four hours. That’s the most I can endure at 68 years old. So after catching seven fish, I wanted "just one more". Well, I hooked a fourteen-inch rainbow and a five minute fight ensued. I needed to play the fish since I had a 6X tippet on with a size #20 Rainbow Warrior. As the fight came to a close, I slid the tired bow into my net. Great, I had him!!! At that very moment, I slipped and landed on my backside in two feet of water. As a passionate TU'er, my first thought was "Keep'em wet!". With that, while sitting there, I unhooked the bow, revived him and then set him free. Afterwards, I then thought, how am I going to get up since my wading staff was under me. It was a wet ride home to Marlboro only to find that I put a eraser size hole in the seat of my waders when I unpacked. Now, how can I describe and explain the actions in the order I took them? You decide, am I a bit "over the top" or am I a "catch & release superhero"????
After ten years of heading up CJTU's "Trout in the Classroom", Ozzie Ozefovich is stepping down. I don't know how I can adequately thank Ozzie for all his work. With that in mind, the Board of Directors is looking for someone like you. Someone who gets to see the joy and smiles of the children who will care for next year’s supply of eggs and raise the trout until their release. Please give this some consideration if you want to get involved with an important part of TU's efforts. Please write me at grhryvniak@yahoo.com or phone me at 732-841-6335 if you want to know more. Ozzie has agreed to take whomever wants to head the TIC program through it step by step.
Please make sure to read Bart Lombardo's write-up in this issue of Mainstream about the sale of our long time and charter member, Dick Turse’s fishing items. Bart is selling off Dick's collection and will provide the proceeds to the Turse family. This is your chance to pick up some very nice items at very low prices.
On June 3rd and 4th, CJTU will be at the Pequest Open House. This is a great place to take the family for the day. Please bring to the meeting any fishing items you want to donate to the Chapter to be sold at the Pequest. We'll have members teaching fly casting and then some "catching" to the youngsters at the Pequest Education Pond. A lot of hungry trout reside in that pond!
Also, on June 13 CJTU will have their annual picnic in the grove behind The American Legion Hall. Please come out and enjoy hotdogs, hamburgers, sausage, and more. Again, more of the details will be found in this issue of Mainstream.
We will again be serving pizza and soda starting at 7:30 before our 8:00 meeting. It has been great to watch all the comradery that goes on while enjoying the food. Please bring your appetite! Bart Lombardo will take over for me at this meeting. While you're enjoying your pizza, I hope to catch the Hendrickson spinner fall on the West Branch of the Delaware in Deposit, N.Y. I can only hope!
Until I see you at the picnic, I wish you:
Tight lines!
George
You can contact George at
April 2017
April has arrived and so have "April Showers". We are now approaching a point where our drought may finally be over. The ground is saturated from the recent rains and the streams are running high. Unlike last year this is looking like the regular start to spring. My concern is what degree of success did trout's natural predators like blue heron, mink, raccoons, and etc. achieve during last year’s extremely low water. We will see the results, if any, by those of us chasing wild trout in the next several months. Anyway, it's the time of year where we will see our winter dreams about fishing success come to fruition, or so we hope. A month from now I'll be on the West Branch in Deposit hoping for another awesome Hendrickson hatch. I've been thinking about that since the day I left there last May.
Our first event this month is our annual Musky clean-up of the Point Mountain stretch. We will gather at the Point Mountain Road bridge crossing the Musky at 9:00 a.m. on April 15. We will finish by noon that Saturday. Please come out and join us. It is always a good time. For those of you who are new to the Chapter, it's your chance to get acquainted with this beautiful section of the river. You may consider picking long-time members’ brains for pointers as to where to fish and what to use on this stretch.
On April 23, a number of us will again be tying flies at the Orvis Princeton Store. It's a good time to stop by and pick up any angling items you may need. Then on April 29 we will be at Rutgers Day in New Brunswick. You may consider buying your child or grandchild a stuffed rainbow trout. No! No! a stuffed toy like a Teddy Bear, not a mounted trout. We're selling them as an "Adopt a Trout Program" for the children. The cost is $10.00 and includes a certificate of adoption. With three grandchildren, it will cost me thirty dollars. Oh well, what grandparent doesn't spoil their grandchildren?
The Pequest Open House was rescheduled for June 3 & 4 because of a late snowfall and soft grounds. It's another great day out. We will have a booth and will also be teaching fly casting during the two-day event. Late on Sunday we will pick the winner of our Orvis rod, reel, and line (a $613 value). Good luck to all of you who have purchased a ticket.
On June 13, instead of a meeting, we will be having our annual picnic in the grove behind the American Legion. It's $10.00 a ticket with hamburgers, hotdogs, Italian sausage and peppers. I urge you to consider attending. It's not a concern if you don’t know anyone there. I'll be there to greet you and introduce you to members attending the picnic.
During our April meeting, we will be passing an envelope around to finish collecting funds for our former President who passed away suddenly last June at 46 years old. It's our way to show his family our gratitude for all his years of service and hard work in CJTU. Whatever you can contribute will be appreciated.
I'm pleased to announce that Marsha Benovengo has joined CJTU and will assume the role of Women's Initiative & Diversity Coordinator. Marsha is an avid fly fisher and has spent years working with Casting for Recovery, Joan Wulff Fly Fishers, and others as well. We look forward to swelling our ranks with woman who have a passion for conservation and fishing. This is a goal of National TU and mine also. Welcome aboard Marsha!
Here's to Spring!
George
You can contact George at
March 2017
We've had the mildest February on record and many of us took advantage and got out on the water. I went out with Bart Lombardo two weeks ago and had a great time. I landed four fish including a rainbow that we estimated was about twenty inches. It's been about thirty years since I felt weak in the knees when I hooked into a larger fish. This rainbow, however, made me feel young again when he broke water the first time. It was a feeling I cherish. Now Bart on the other hand was a virtual vacuum on the stream. He landed over fifteen fish effortlessly. I guess I still have a thing or two to learn!
This meeting will start off a little differently. The meeting will begin at 7:30 instead of 8:00. Please come out early and enjoy some pizza and soda. Also, there will be a gentleman selling RIO fly lines and some tying materials at a significantly reduced rate. A short business meeting will then begin 8:00 followed by a presentation by Agust Gudmundsson. Agust has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to fishing for trout in New Jersey. If you want to learn of more places to fish in New Jersey for stocked or wild trout, don't miss this meeting!
As far a our coldwater conservation efforts, Fred Simonson who is the chair of our Conservation Committee, feels that if all things move accordingly, the stream improvement work on the A-Frame area of the Musky will begin and be completed next year. We are still working with our State Division of Fish & Wildlife to begin work on one of several brook trout streams this year.
We'll be at the Pequest Open House on April 1 & 2. If you're at the Open House please stop by our table and say hello. We'll also be tying flies at Orvis Princeton on March 12 from 11:00 until 3:00. If you visit Orvis on March 12, make sure to get one of their coupons to receive a 20% discount on fly tying materials and accessories. Bruce Turner from Orvis Princeton is making every effort that their shop is well stocked for fly tying.
By the way we will have a nice monthly raffle on March 14. We will have a bucket raffle which will include a Wild River Fly Shop mid arbor #3/4 reel and a fly tying lamp. Come on out on March 14 for some pizza, great raffle, and super inside fishing information from Agust.
Good fishing,
George
You can contact George at
February 2017
It's getting a few minutes lighter each day. When I see it light outside at 5:45 I start to think of spring. We're still a couple months away from spring, but I can't help but think of being on a stream in late March and fooling a few trout with my fly offerings. I'll be sixty eight in a few weeks, and it's the age that keeps me indoors in January and February. I recall one New Year's Eve thirty five years ago where I was standing waist high in the South Branch while it was fourteen degrees. Today I prefer for it to be in the high forties before I wet a line. I once asked an old time CJTU member, Lou Burnette to join me on the stream in the winter. Lou today resides in a place we call heaven, and I can see him smiling as I write this paragraph. You were right Lou, it's far too cold now most days!
We've hit several bumps in the road this year with the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program. Despite all the best efforts of both teachers and students, most of the trout have not survived. This is not only a disappointment to us but especially to the young students caring for the fish. On the positive side, once our State biologists received the reports of the problems, they are now actively looking into what caused the young trout to die. As President of the chapter, I sympathize with Ozzie Ozefovich who spends countless hours running TIC for CJTU. Here's hoping that TIC runs much more smoothly next year. For all our members who assist Ozzie, I want to say thank you!
CJTU has just concluded our show appearances for the year. I had the opportunity to speak with many people at both shows. If you spoke with me at one of the shows and you then attend one of our meetings, please come up to me and say hello. We always hope that some of the people we meet at shows either join TU or attend one of our meetings. We also did quite well financially at both shows with our raffles and sales of flies. This will allow us to make a monetary commitment to start our stream improvement projects this year.
After mentioning our stream improvement projects during my last two President's Letters, I can now disclose where we will spend our time, money, and labor. We have decided to invest our efforts on the "A Frame Stretch" of the Musky. It is just upstream from the Warren Rod & Gun Club stretch of stream and is also referred to as "Between the Wires". This will be a major undertaking similar to our work at Point Mountain. We are hoping that a few other New Jersey chapters of TU join us in this endeavor. Additionally, we are working with our State biologists of the Division of Fish & Game to restore one or two native brook trout streams. These streams will only hold brook trout of the original indigenous genetic strain found in New Jersey. We're hoping to reclaim what we had prior to our colonization of the State. When completed it will be a 'step back in time' so to speak. To be honest, I find this restoration one of the most exciting aspects of my involvement with TU.
P.S. For more frequent CJTU news, follow us on Facebook at "Central Jersey Trout Unlimited".
Good fishing,
George
You can contact George at
January 2017
Well first of all, I would like to wish you a "Happy New Year!" This will indeed be a happy new year for me and you alike if we catch and release a good number of trout in 2017. The water levels of the South Branch and Musky have risen to a slightly higher level with the rains during the last month. Those members who have fished recently have done fairly well for winter fishing. I have heard that there remain a considerable number of large trout in the South Branch and Musky. If we're blessed with a couple of warm days in the high 40's this month I may get a chance to fish. We'll see!
Show Time has arrived again. We will have a booth at both The Garden State Outdoor Show and The Fly Fishing Show. You will see the dates of the shows listed in this issue of Mainstream. If you're at the show and see our booth, please stop by and say hello.
I'm always interested in meeting members of our Chapter that I haven't met. Don't forget to take a chance at our raffle prizes. We're raffling a spinning rod & reel outfit at "The Garden State Outdoor Show". We're also raffling off the Orvis glass rod and reel outfit at both shows. The Orvis outfit is the perfect outfit for dry fly fishing. It would make a nine inch trout feel like a decent fish yet it will subdue a large trout with time and effort.
As I mentioned last month, we're embarking on another major stream improvement effort. We are meeting with one of our state biologists this week to discuss our areas of interest. By the February general meeting we will have decided on where we will spend some of our conservation funds. This effort is what TU is truly about. Also the expenditure of money will explain CJTU’s need for constant funding.
We have created several different committees on our board of directors. The committee chairs will speak briefly at our February meeting, all in the hope of including people from our general membership on their committees. There are those of you who will feel great satisfaction at being more involved in the working efforts of our chapter. Please keep in mind that I'm one of those people. Despite the presidency requiring a lot of my time, it makes me feel as though I'm personally making a greater difference in our New Jersey trout waters. I enjoy fishing the Point Mountain TCA area on the Musky. I owe thanks to the people before me who took on the effort to improve that water. Because of their work I have an excellent stretch of the stream to fish. For that I'm grateful!
Tight Lines
George Hryvniak