The President's Angle

by Yves Charron
Great turnout at our March chapter meeting, it was nice to see new faces. New members and not-yet-members, interested to find out more about our organization. The Vermillion River is quite special, and it was interesting to learn its history and all the hard work done to bring it back to life. Thank you all for volunteering on habitat work and other events related to the Vermillion River; every bit makes a difference. Talking about big fish on the Vermillion, I hooked a monster there a few weeks ago. I saw part of it but wasn't able to bring it to the net. No pictures, you will have to take my word for it. These veteran fish know what to do once they are on the hook. From now on, I plan to use my 8wt on the Vermillion and will not lose the battle next time.  If there is a next time.
We will have our annual Earth Day Trash Cleanup on Eagle Creek this Saturday, April 19th. Bring your family, friends, and your appetite, as we will grill burgers and brats for everyone.
​Now let us talk about fishing. 

I have been on the streams every week on Fridays since spring started, and fishing has been great. I bet many of you have had good luck as well. On my last outing, I went to my usual spots on the Rush, but several fishermen beat me to them. I thought about using my Trout Unlimited "habitat project" flag to clear the river of fishermen, but that would be misusing this asset and would build bad karma. Instead, I decided to fish a tributary that everyone ignored. With fish rising, I put on a Paul Johnson BWO special imitation. The one I tied was not as pretty as the ones tied by experts, but good enough to catch fish. I have caught brook trout before on this stretch, but not this time; only browns of all sizes, the biggest one about 12 inches. I found another place on the Rush to finish the day. Starting with the same fly, I then switched technique since there was no more rise. With a fly on a jig hook and tungsten bead, I could get to the bottom and minimize catching rocks and branches. I hooked a few brookies that were hanging upstream in the pool I was fishing, probably to get away from the browns. I changed flies again to test some other flies I tied, some of my favorites: the flashback blue wing olive and the pink squirrel. I fished until dusk and did a little bit of mousing, but no takers. Maybe next time, and on the Vermillion. A few pictures below of the flies used and fish caught. As mentioned, the flies are not the prettiest, but good enough to catch fish, and that's what counts!