The Trout Line Newsletter - Nov. 5, 2018

THE TROUT LINE

November 5, 2018

 

Welcome to The Trout Line Newsletter! This is our Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter newsletter that will be coming out twice a month on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month.

  Come Join Us on the Board! 

Your Tualatin Valley TU Chapter could use a couple of additional Board members.  The job description is pretty simple.  The Board meets monthly at 6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month (some months with no meeting needed) in the downstairs meeting room at the American Legion Hall in Tigard.  Meetings usually last an hour or a bit more.  TVTU has been quite successful in recent years, with projects such as the Christmas for Coho efforts and with good attendance at effective and entertaining Chapter meetings held most months at the Lucky Lab in Multnomah Village.  But we can always use fresh energy and fresh ideas.  If you are interested and would like to come to one of the Board meetings to test the water (barbless hook only), please contact Mike Gentry at  michaelgentry04@comcast.net or (503) 636-0061.  This is a feel-good volunteer opportunity.
  
Want to Get Your Hands Wet?

Written by Mike Dahlstrom and Mike Gentry

How can old Christmas trees help a stream?  And how can I help that happen?  Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited has been collecting and repurposing trees for a number of years through its "Christmas for Coho" efforts in various rivers and estuary areas.  The latest project involved placement of many hundreds of trees in a side channel of the Clackamas River in late October at McIver Park near Estacada in partnership with ODFW and Clackamas River Basin Council.  Volunteers from TVTU, ODFW, CRBC, Clackamas River TU, University of Portland Fishing Club, a West Linn Scout Troop and others placed and secured trees that will provide enhanced rearing cover and food source for future salmonoid smolts and other finny creatures.  This area would accommodate many more trees, and future projects here are definitely on the wish list as well as for other suitable areas.  The weather and stream levels for this project were ideal, allowing hundreds of trees to be moved to site, schlepped down to stream side and placed in a couple of hours.  Under the coordination of TVTU member Mike Gentry, this October's efforts are the second placement at this site in providing critical habitat improvement to a key brooder river.  TVTU looks forward to another year of collecting trees on the first two Saturdays of January and collaborating with various partners in 2019 to find good new watery homes for those trees.  Want to help support cold water fisheries?  Get involved - it's rewarding to know you make a difference.





 Fly Fishing Arts and Conservation Society (FFACS) presents the Fly Tyers Rendezvous on Saturday, November 10, 2018

TVTU is a member of FFACS and for the last 19 years has assisted in the Fly Tyers Rendezvous.  The mission of FFACS is to further education and conservation related to fly fishing in the area by sharing the proceeds from this event among the 5 fly fishing clubs that are members of the organization.  In the past these funds have gone to many great projects including scholarships for graduate students at Oregon State University, the Deschutes River Alliance, Lewis River restoration projects among many other very important education and conservation efforts.

Please mark your calendar and plan on attending the event at the Jackson Armory, 6255 NE Cornfoot Rd; Portland, Oregon 97218.  The event opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 4:00 PM.  There will be 40 or more fly tyers exhibiting their skills along with fundraisers in the form of bucket raffles, silent auctions and great barbeque.

You many want to consider going through that closet full of great fly fishing gear that you can seem to use.  Items of value would be greatly appreciated as opportunities to raffle or auction to someone who can put it to good use.  The funds go to a great cause.  

 Fall River Outing

Written by Andy Andrews

I have often been asked how long I have been fishing the Fall River.  I usually reply 30 years or even 40 years, but the reality is that my very first time fishing that river was well over 50 years ago.  I simply loved the river and the environment.  I did not fish the river every year since my first visit, but the last 20 years with TU, the Fall has been a regular one week experience.  For the last five years or so I have been concerned about possible problems  occurring on the river.  In the last five years I have left the lantern burning way into the night.  It used to be that the lantern glass by morning would hold 1 - 2 inches of bugs attracted to the light.  Most of the insects were October Caddis, but there were also a variety of other insects in the lantern glass.  For the last (at least) three years, not one bug has made its way to the lanterns light.  Not one!  The invertebrates, bugs, in the river are one of the basic building blocks of the rivers environment.  Birds, frogs, fish and other critters rely on the river insects for their life.  So is this some sort of phase the river is going through, or is there more going on?  I did not witness one hatch during the day, not even the reliable Little Blue Wing Olives that appear about 1 - 2 PM almost every day at a certain spot on the river.  And the fish recently planted on the river did not hold but (I believe), went down river looking for food.  I know that spending one - week on a river is not reason to speculate that there is a problem. 
 
However, in the Oregonian for October 17th there appeared an article (originally published by the Washington Post, “Researchers bugged by big drop in number of insects” ) that documented a 40 year study recording a crash in the world bug (arthropod) population.  The article said that a decrease of bees and beetles by 45 percent has occurred in the last 35 years according to a international team of biologist.  In Germany, a study showed a 76 percent decrease in flying insects over the last few decades.  The article blamed most of the problems on a 4 - degree temperature increase over the last 40 years.  Some might say that the article is fake news, but not me.  Something bad is going on, and I can’t fix it.  If you can find the article, it’s well worth the read, but scary.
 
I think everyone attending the outing did catch fish but the pickings were very slim.  Usually, I can either see or catch one trophy fish during my visit, but that did not prove out this year.  I think everyone had a good time and there was more food available on the dinner table than could have been eaten on two trips.  One shinning moment (?) for me was the replacement of the Gold Lake fishing regulation sign which had been established about 10 years ago by both Portland area chapters of TU.  The old sign had simply faded out with time and the regulations were no longer visible.           
 

  

Meetings Location and Dates

Regular chapter meetings are held at the Lucky Labrador Public House 7675 SW Capitol Hwy. Portland, OR 97219 (503) 244-2537.  Food and beverage available.  Social get together starts at 6:30 pm and formal meeting starts at 7:00 pm unless otherwise noted in the newsletter or website.


November Meeting Nov. 14 - Kyle Smith - TU Sportsmen's Conservation Project Campaigns in Oregon

Trout Unlimited national staffer, Kyle Smith, will join our November chapter meeting for an overview of the work he's engaged with as Oregon Field Coordinator for TU's Sportsmen's Conservation Project.  Kyle will provide updates on efforts to protect public lands on Elk River, combat mining interests in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness region, fight rollback attempts of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, and pass Good Samaritan legislation in Congress that would allow TU to cleanup abandoned mines throughout the Western US.

 


 
 

More Information:

 

TVTU Website: https://tualatinvalley.tu.org/

Current Board Members and Contact:https://tualatinvalley.tu.org/tualatinvalley/about

TVTU Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/tualatinvalleyTU/

C4C Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/christmasforcoho/