TU also builds friendships
Ijoined Trout Unlimited because its goals were to improve trout streams and their watersheds. I have met many folks that I would have never known if I had never joined TU.
The Coosa Valley Chapter has about 160 members. As a member of the Georgia TU Council I became close friends with many of the state leaders and even friends with the National TU leadership. Working hand and hand with other chapters installing structures in streams, friendship was a byproduct.
Below is a story by Robert Bold and a couple of TU friends:
One of the advantages of being a TU member is that you make friends. On March 25 I was about to mow three acres when I got a text from Coosa Valley TU Treasurer Cathy Valancius. She was at John’s Creek and the stocking truck was there. I gathered my gear and texted her that I was on the way.
I stopped at the first stocking tube, which our chapter installed several years ago. I had a 3 weight, six and a half foot fly rod with a yellow “grub” wet fly and a dropper Wooly Bugger. The water was murky and deep and I couldn’t see any fish, but in that pool but I caught two trout. A third fish broke off the Wooly Bugger. I caught three more trout on just the grub. Grub is not the actual name of the fly. It looks like a grub so that’s what I call it. I used it as an indicator, because it was yellow and I could see it.
I drove upstream until I found Cathy’s vehicle and pulled in. She was hanging onto a tree, roll casting into a chute with visible trout. By the time I got down to her she caught one fish and lost another. We talked and I took some pictures of her fishing. There was another person there and, rather than crowd the spot, I left to try by the handicapped area. I fished there for about 30 minutes and caught nothing.
I went downstream and found a stocking tube with no vehicles in view and, sure enough, no one was there. It was a wide pool and I could see lots of fish. Knowing these fish were used to having feed thrown in the hatchery raceways, I put on a Royal Wulff fly. Using a barbless hook, mainly for my own safety, I caught 20 trout and lost nearly as many. That was a personal record for me using a dry fly. Two other fishermen came to the spot and they were using spinning tackle. I saw them catch numerous fish.
I finally managed to hook up with a tree that just wouldn’t give up my fly. I broke off and called it a day. I released all the fish, because two days before my neighbor had just given me 12 trout he caught on the Tellico River. Driving home from Johns Creek I checked my voice mail and another TU member had called me and left a message that Little Cedar had also been stocked.
TU members share information with each other. I joined in 2013 and knew very little about trout fishing. You can pick up lots of information in books and videos but it does not compare to having someone go with you and show you what to do. When that happens, you make lasting friendships.
FISHING REPORT
Tyler Brown and Preston Crowe fished the lower end of Big Cedar Creek with crank bates and beetle spins and caught a few redeye bass and a bunch of white bass up to two pounds.
TU MEETING AND TACKLE SWAP
The next meeting of the Coosa Valley Chapter of TU will be Thursday, April 28, at 6:30pm at the Rome Floyd ECO Center at Ridge Ferry Park. Danny Jackson, who spearheaded the Crayfish Creek Project, will have a presentation showing details of the project and how it helps to protect the Chattahoochee River.
During the meeting we will have a tackle and outdoor gear swap. Lures, flies, rods, reels, waders, wading shoes, tents and sleeping bags may be available. Bring anything that you are no longer using on your outdoor adventures.
♦ Workday at Rock Creek in Murray County, Saturday, April 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p,m.
Directions: From Fairmount, go north on Highway 411 about 18-19 miles, to a stoplight at a Dollar General store. Turn right, go about 800 feet, and turn right. Go about 200 feet and turn left onto Old Federal Road. Stay on that for about 2.3 miles, then turn right on Peeples Lake Road. The road starts out paved but turns to dirt and gravel. Go about 5 miles to the work site.
Note: The last 5 miles can take better than 20 minutes