2024 TCTU Scholarship Program Recap

By ​Zander Cummins - 2024 TCTU Scholarship Recipient

I attended The Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy from June 22 – 29 of this year, which was the 23rd year of the camp. The Academy is a program near Shelton, Washington that is dedicated to growing the next generation of fly fishers and conservationists. There were 18 kids there this week and a variety of volunteers teaching us different skills.

There were three main sections of this program. The first three days of the week were dedicated to building our skills as fly fishermen. We had casting classes from Marion Hiller, an FFI certified casting instructor, and tying lessons from a variety of different experienced tyers, including a couple of the directors. I liked the variety of different ways we could practice casting such as 1-on-1 instruction, the casting course, and tic-tac-toe casting. Because of this practice I was able to pass the Bronze course by the end of the week. The fly tying lessons were also really useful to me because I could watch to see what I was supposed to be doing.

The second part of the week was focused around the biology and conservation of trout, and entomology. We learned about these topics through Power Points by different people with knowledge on the subjects and a couple of field trips. Here is a list of the presentations and the activities that went along with them.

Entomology 101 and Match the Hatch
We went to a river to find bugs and then came back and talked about how they are important to the ecosystem, how to identify them, and how to create and choose fly patterns to match the bugs we found. Then, after dinner we tied flies that matched what we found.

Fisheries Conservation
This was led by a guy from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service who talked about what he does at his job. We then rotated through three activities, trout dissections, radio telemetry, and invasive species archery. These activities taught us more about the fish, how people track and estimate fish populations, and the dangers to streams in Washington state.

Fish Barriers
The same guy then talked to us about culverts and other fish barriers. After the talk we went to a culvert with some of his surveying equipment to see if the culvert was small enough that it was a fish barrier (it was not a barrier). This including taking water depth measurements, width and height measurements, and slope/waterflow measurements.

Clean, Cold, and Complex Waterways
This lesson was about the things that make up a healthy trout stream, clean, cold water and a wide variety of other organisms. To go with this, we took water tests at the lake we were on and at a nearby stream to see if they were good trout habitats. These tests included pH and dissolved oxygen samples, water clarity tests, and temperature checks. We found that both water systems were fairly good for trout but they were a little warmer than trout like it and the stream had a slightly too high pH.

The final part of our time at the academy was spent using our skills to catch fish on both a river in the area. We had one day at the river where we learned wading safety and how to mend while on the river. We then split into groups to fish different beats along the Satsop River and Bingham Creek. I went to Bingham and caught a couple of nice trout. On the last day of camp, we had the chance to go back to the river. I went to Satsop that time and my group caught a bunch of little trout.

Throughout the week we had a lot of free time to do what we wanted to. Sometimes during free time we were able to go out on boats and fish the lake. The problem with this was that there were lots of rules about when we could do it which didn’t give us as much time on the lake as I would have liked. Because of this I spent most of my free time tying flies which was really fun because there were tons of materials we could use. This was one of my favorite parts because I was able to experiment on different flies without wasting materials that I bought.
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During my time at the Academy I learned a ton and became a much better fisherman. I also learned a lot about what people in conservation jobs do which will be good to know when I decide what I want to go to college for. This program was an incredible opportunity and I think it would be cool if Minnesota had a program like this for people who had gone through other programs such as the Foster the Outdoors program I did. Thank you so much for the scholarship allowing me to attend this program.