President’s Home Pool

Tom Battista

February, 2012

While I’m writing this column, it’s a balmy forty-five degrees outside and you could fish using nymphs. If you worked the bottom slowly and got your drift just right, into the holding position of a trout, you could be successful. Normally at this time of year, it is much colder and ice fishing would be the norm. The ice on any pond or lake is not thick enough to be safe to go out on, and the Tobyhanna Conservation Association has postponed their ice harvest until Saturday, February 18, to insure a safe thickness.

Brodhead Chapter has been busy teaching fly tying during January to about fifteen people under the leadership of our head instructor Scott Cesari and many dedicated volunteers. I hope the participants of the course will join us as members of our TU chapter and become active TU volunteers.

Scott will be instructing an exciting new class in Intermediate Fly Tying on February 25 and March 3. He will be building on the techniques taught in the basic class, and you will learn four new patterns, as well as how to prepare the materials with which to tie.

Hopefully, they will join with many of you and me at the February 8 General Membership Meeting to tie flies and learn techniques that we all develop as individuals as we tie flies. The Board has suggested that we donate flies tied at the February meeting to Project Healing Waters for the veterans and Casting for Recovery (breast cancer survivors). If we clean out our fly boxes, we can probably have enough flies to also donate to the Rivers Conservation School that PATU runs. They are interested in batches of three dozen of each pattern to provide one fly of each pattern to each student.

We need suggestions for candidates to send to the PATU Rivers Conservation School. They are already looking for applicants for this summer’s group. If you know of a deserving youngster between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, please contact Bob Stevens with contact information. The early application period is now open, and they will be notified by March 31. Candidates must fill out an application, write an essay, and provide information from a teacher in their school.

Don Baylor suggested that other chapters have trips to fish together. We recently formed a new trips committee, and after one meeting, we developed our first chapter fly fishing venture! The committee has finalized our first chapter trip to fly fish the weekend of May 11-13 on New York’s legendary Beaverkill-Willewemoc system, a.k.a. the BEA-MOC! You will find a flyer with all the details in this issue of Streamside Asides, as well as on the chapter’s official website. You should already have received an e-mail with the flyer attached. There are a limited number of spaces available. The trip costs only $100 per person, including 2-night’s lodging, fishing location maps, a hatch chart and driving directions. Members would car pool to Horton, NY, sharing meal and gas expenses. During the trip, we will make a visit to the historic Catskill Fly Fishing Museum. If you are interested, please get your check for the full amount to Eric Baird, our Chapter Treasurer. It might also be a good idea if you called Eric (570-355-0165) to see if there are still available spots for this trip because we expect it to sell out very quickly!

Remember, our annual Banquet is March 31! Tickets can be ordered from Eric Baird or contact any board member. April 14 is our Opening Day Fishing Contest at Brodhead Park Pond for kids under 12 years; I hope to see you there with a kid in tow! April will be a very busy month with training opportunities and chances to expose others to fly fishing.

The PATU youth committee has scheduled an opportunity for youth out in State College on Spruce Creek for a mentored fishing trip. This trip will take place on April 29. Joe Humphreys will give a casting and fishing demonstration. Greg Hoover will give a talk on local Fly Fishing Entomology. Participating youth will fish from 1:00-4:30 pm. All fishing will be done form shore, no wading. There will be a dinner from 5:00-5:45 pm. Adults may fish after dinner. Everyone must depart the area after dark.

This spring brings a lot of potential for involvement I hope we can get more members involved in these events. Remember, every event you participate in gives you another chance in the rod and reel package to be raffled off in June at the picnic.

I hope to see all of you more often in the coming months!

Tight Lines!

Tom