TU Trout Expo spreads wonder of the outdoors

It’s been warm enough the past week for anglers to be walking the trout stream across Northwest Georgia, but on Saturday they settled for a day in the Rome-Floyd ECO Center during the annual Coosa Valley Trout Unlimited Trout Expo.

Adults and children alike got to hone their skills at fly-casting with a TU instructor, learned to tie flies with longtime trout anglers and got to paddle the Oostanaula River behind the ECO Center in kayaks.

TU chapter President Ronny Cooper said the whole purpose of the Trout Expo is to get families together and inspire them to get outside.

“We’re trying to encourage families to get outside and go fish, especially as a family,” Cooper said. We want to get them away from the TVs and tablets.”

ECO Center Director Ben Winkelman said TU has been a major supporter of the center since it first opened.

“They sponsor and finance our trout stream exhibit and also support us with dollars for its maintenance,” he said.

An artificial stream runs inside the ECO Center and it’s stocked with trout to show the thousands of visitors each year what a trout habitat is supposed to look like.

Cooper also used the occasion to present a $5,000 check to Vivian Davis, manager of the Arrowhead Environmental Education Center — another outdoor education center in Floyd County, located on the Department of Natural Resources Region 1 headquarters property off Floyd Springs Road.

Together the centers hosted over 18,400 children for visits to learn more about the outdoors.