As previously announced, the MN State Legislature, in an 11th-hour move, rejected a funding request for the MNTU Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program, an award-winning science education program that teaches students in over sixty (60) Minnesota K-12 schools about coldwater conservation.
After we learned of the cancellation of TIC funding, all of MNTU statewide chapters, together with the State Council, pledged enough money to keep the program going at a basic level for another year, and agreed that we will work together in the coming year to find more sustainable, long-term support. Rumor has it that Minnesota has the 3rd-largest TIC program in the country, only behind California and New York. In order to boost support across Minnesota for MNTU Education Program Supervisor, Amber Taylor, we are looking at developing a field support effort for the enrolled schools, which for this coming year is approximately 70 K-12 schools. This field support would be achieved by MNTU Chapter volunteers supporting 1 to 5 schools in each of the volunteer’s local community.
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By Tom Roddis, Oktoberfish Volunteer Join the TCTU community at the Summit Brewing Rathskeller for our year-end celebration and silent auction to benefit TU education and outreach programs. Swap fish tales over beer and food trucks fare. Learn the finer points of fly lines and their performance from guest speaker Josh Jenkins of Scientific Anglers. Catch up on the latest TCTU news with a chapter update from Bob Luck. Tickets are $25 per person and include one free beer. And...we have an early bird special! If you register for the event by September 1st, you can select one of the following gifts: a ceramic mug, a Silipint cup, or a box of flies tied by one of our volunteers (approx. 30 flies). We have limited supplies of the fly boxes and Silipints, so act now to get your first choice! To register, click below. You can also visit our Facebook page for updates on the event (don’t forget to like the page and share it). Please read this important message from our State Council Chair, Brent Notbohm. Getting on the Board of MNTU is one of the best ways you can contribute to TU's Mission in Minnesota, and it is a lot of fun as well!
TCTU Streamkeeper Report, July 8, 2022, By Jim Sauter
Welcome to July. Our days are getting slightly shorter as we enter the summer season. Air temperatures have been rising into the 90’s and 80’s, and it appears that most streams are holding their own with water temperatures in the upper 50 and lower 60 range. When I fished Lawrence Creek in Central Wisconsin recently, I recorded my highest water temperature of the season at 62 degrees. The brook trout were in a deeper section of the river below a riffle and were very active. Our Streamkeepers have been busy monitoring streams. Click here for our reports! TCTU Streamkeeper Report
June 11, 2022 By Jim Sauter Welcome to June. Our days are getting longer as we approach the summer solstice, the stream water temperatures are warming up nicely in the 50 degree plus rise range, the hatches have been very active, and the water levels have been replenished with ample spring rains. This bodes well for our streams! Most of our streams continue to be healthy, with a few having elevated nitrate levels. We may need to take more accurate readings on these if the pattern continues. Greetings from your TCTU stream-keepers, and welcome to the spring season. We look forward to expanding our “targeted” streams and will be monitoring these streams in 2022: Bell, Hay, Little Cannon, South Vermillion, and Trout Brook. In addition, we have several “general” Streamkeepers monitoring other streams on a more random and spontaneous manner. In the coming months, we hope to give you updates on stream conditions in the TCTU area and beyond.
Greetings from your TCTU Streamkeepers, and welcome to the spring season. As we begin the stream monitoring program for 2022, the season has been marked with cool temperatures and plenty of rain and snow. We expect that area streams may rebound well after last year’s drought conditions and extremely warm temperatures
Overall, our stream temperatures are currently in the 40-degree range, clarity in streams is good, and there has been little or no spring flooding due to a slow snow melt. Last year was the first year of our “targeted” Streamkeeping monitoring efforts on Hay Creek, Trout Brook, and the South Vermillion. Our “targeted” Streamkeeper teams were successful in monitoring these streams at least ten times over the course of the season and started establishing baseline data. Like many of you, some of my favorite moments in fly fishing haven’t involved me catching a fish, but rather helping family and friends to catch a fish on a fly rod. One of my finest moments in a life spent fishing, is the day I helped both of my daughters get their first trout on a fly rod. However, a close second has been getting other young people their first fish on a fly through my involvement with the Foster the Outdoors Mentor Program with Minnesota Trout Unlimited. There’s an undeniable thrill and sense of accomplishment here that you can’t really get anywhere else.
If you, or somebody you know, love to teach kids how to fish, then we have the perfect job for you! MNTU's Education program is looking for a Fishing Skills Instructor from June to August to run its fishing programs in the metro area. You'll work hands-on with kids, and also coordinate and communicate with volunteers from our chapter--a great bunch of people to work with! To download a detailed job description, including job requirements, qualifications, compensation, and application information, please click below.
Our sister chapter in Wisconsin, Kiap-TU-WIsh, has been monitoring water temperatures on the Kinnickinnic River since 1994. Their data showed that the two dams in River Falls were warming the summer water temperature in the lower river by more than 4 degrees F. These data were critical in building the case for removing the dams. Kiap-TU-Wish just finished adding the data from 2021 to their series. 2021 was the first full summer showing the impact of drawing down the lower reservoir. Approximately half of the thermal impact was mitigated; improving the summer environment for coldwater species in the lower river. Part of the funds we are raising for the Kinnickinnic Restoration Effort will be used for continued monitoring of the river, which we expect to show the positive impact of the Powell Dam removal, and build the case for removal of the remaining (Junction Falls) dam. If you want to nerd out, you can download the full report here. Kiap_TU-Wish has a number of other reports on the Kinni that you can find in their Coldwater Science Library.
Reposted from The President's Angle column in our March Newsletter Shortly after moving to the Twin Cities some 30 years ago, my wife and I crossed the Kinnickinnic River at the Highway 35 bridge just north of River Falls. “I’ve heard of this river," I said, “It’s one of the most famous trout streams in the country.” A few weeks later, she gave me a fly rod for my birthday, and her life hasn’t been the same since. In those days, I spent most of my time on the Upper Kinni, where the current flows deep and smooth. I could get onto the water within 5 minutes of parking my car—an important consideration given my young family and a full-time job. The Kinni above Powell Dam on March 20th
Almost all of the snow has melted in the Kinnickinnic Canyon, but there is some ice still hanging onto the north facing walls. Below is a video of one of the "Weeping Walls". In the summer it is covered with moss as the water drips from countless springs into the river. That's not going to happen for a while, but the trout don't seem to mind. They were taking streamers and soft hackle wet flies below the wall. The temperature finally went into the 50s today! Great weather for fishing...except the snowmelt flows into the river, cooling it down and staining the water. A little stain is not a bad thing, but when the visibility gets to be less than a foot it is tough to fish flies. And, at this time of year, a drop in water temperature shuts the feeding off cold! Best to fish when temperatures are steady or rising, and find other things to do once the afternoon melt hits. Here are some screenshots from the gage and camera on the Kinnickinnic River at Highway F today. Until about 3 pm, the river gage held steady, but started to rise quickly thereafter. This Secchi disk photo taken at 3 pm from the time-elapse video shows the river was still clear. By 5 pm. the river had become stained so much that the Secchi disk was almost invisible. No doubt that the water temperature had dropped, too.
If you plan to fish the Kinni, check out the USGS gage and time lapse video here. It makes a good proxy for nearby streams as well! By Evan Griggs, Membership Coordinator The Twin Cities Trout Unlimited Chapter ranks in the top three largest TU chapters in the country. With more than 2000 members, not only do we cover a large geographic area, we also cover a wide array of demographics. Earlier this year, the board sent out a survey to know our members better, and guide our chapter activities and projects. We received nearly 300 responses to our survey, and below are a few interesting stats. Our membership cares about conservation! When asked, “What types of activities would you be interested in volunteering for?” over 63% put conservation projects as their top pick. Another front running activity was education and outreach (over 28%). We also asked respondents for their secret fishing spots. Well not exactly, but we did find out where they prefer to fish. Over 42% of respondents said they primarily fish western Wisconsin streams within 75 miles including the Kinnickinnic and Rush Rivers. 26% head to SE MN or SW WI beyond 75 miles and nearly 21% fish MN streams within 75 miles. According to this data, it can be inferred that our members are more inclined to take the short drive to fish the Kinni, the Rush and other Western Wisconsin streams than anywhere else. When asked “If we were doing a 5-year review of TCTU in 2026, what are some things you’d like to say TCTU accomplished between 2021-2025?” Using the word cloud below to sample the most used words/phrases, the most commonly used phrases were: stream restoration, habitat restoration, and education. We can infer that our members care about the streams they fish and want to continue working to restore and protect them. We appreciate the nearly 300 folks who took the time to respond to our survey! With this info the board is excited to prioritize the things that you do: conserving the cold water habitats that you love to fish, offering more educational opportunities for youth, and making our chapter meeting and events more accessible. To download all the response data, please click on the link below.
The EPA has proposed to strengthen the Clean Water Act, and Trout Unlimited needs your help in supporting this important policy. The new "Waters of the United States" rule would establish protections for small streams, headwaters and wetlands, many of which lost protection under the previous administration. These waters are critical for healthy fisheries and downstream ecosystems. Click here to voice your support.
The KIAP-TU-WISH Chapter, based in Hudson and River Falls, are conducting their annual Spring Fundraiser and Silent Auction. You can find everything from a guided Musky trip to a box of hand-tied flies to a tour of a bamboo rod workshop. To see everything on offer, click here.
Our friends at the Gitche Gumee Chapter are raising funds by raffling off a piece of history: a bamboo rod with a reel seat made from an oak tree that was on the property where TU was founded. Help them support native brook trout in the Northwoods, and protect the migratory fish that inhabit Lake Superior! $10 a ticket, with a cap of 250 tickets. Sounds like the odds are pretty good.
Last night, TCTU's board passed a resolution to support removal of the two Kinnickinnic River dams within the City of River Falls, Wisconsin. Long-term monitoring has shown that the dams contribute to downstream warming of the Kinni, putting stress on this renowned coldwater fishery. The lower Powell Falls dam is the first planned for removal, possibly within the next two years if funding allows. We look forward to working with the Kinni Corridor Collaborative, the Kiap-TU-Wish chapter of Trout Unlimited and other partners to support this effort in the coming months. Stay tuned to learn how you can help!
TCTU will hold elections for the Board of Directors during the Annual General Meeting scheduled for January 25th at 7 pm. To participate in the meeting and vote for Board Members, you must be a chapter member in good standing with dues paid.
If you are a chapter member in good standing, you should receive an email invitation to the meeting by January 15th. Due to the spread of the Omicron variant, the meeting will be held over Zoom. If you feel you are entitled to vote but do not receive an email by January 15th, please contact info@twincitiestu.org. If you would like to join TU or renew your membership so that you can vote, please visit https://www.tu.org/memberships-and-giving/ by Evan Griggs
Winter trout catch and release season is right around the corner! Both Minnesota and Wisconsin seasons open on Saturday, January 1st 2022. Dodge, Goodhue, Fillmore, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha, and Winona counties in MN, and all of Wisconsin will be open for catch and release fishing. Whitewater, Forestville, Beaver Creek Valley state parks, as well as in-town sections of Preston, Lanesboro, Rushford, Spring Valley, and Chatfield, MN- and northeastern Iowa- are all open to fishing year-round. This is a wonderful time to fish and explore our driftless streams, and fishing can be quite good. With a lack of foliage and angling pressure, this is a great time to try new spots and enjoy the scenery. There are some special tips and tricks I’ve found over the years that anglers should keep in mind to ensure success and safety while fishing during the winter. First published in April 2020.
If you can’t make it out on the stream, the next-best way to connect with trout during the pandemic is by reading a good book about fishing. We enlisted Jim Holden, a former high school English teacher and trout fishing nut, to put together a review of his favorite books about Midwestern trout fishing. Jim has himself written a gem of a book about trout fishing in Minnesota. Titled “Heron Thieves, A Bat Out of Hell, and other Fly Fishing Stories, Essays and Poems”, it is a delightful selection of stories that will make you laugh and teach you a few things about the personalities involved in developing the sport of trout fishing in Minnesota. If you’d like to order a copy for ten bucks plus postage, contact Jim at holden@stolaf.edu. In 1785 Scottish poet Robert Burns penned these words which seem particularly relevant in this time of the great pandemic: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice and Men gang aft agley.” Translated into idiomatic English the words “gang aft agley” might read “go often askew/awry.” First published in November, 2018. It used to be that Minnesotans who wanted to fish for trout from October through December had to head to Iowa until the special catch-and-release season opens on January 1 in southeastern counties. But since 2014, year-round catch-and-release fishing has been available in three state parks: Whitewater, Beaver Creek and Forestville. And in 2017, the regulations were extended to streams within the city limits of Chatfield, Lanesboro, Preston and Spring Valley. Although I haven’t yet fished the towns or Beaver Creek, I have made a few trips to Forestville and Whitewater this fall, and found good fishing. |
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