TEXAS CHAPTER OF TROUT UNLIMITED

Editor: Bob Tuttle at 207 Finn Austin, TX 78734 (512)261‑4409

President: Eric Bataille

VP Chapter Affairs: Alan Bray

VP Fishing Affairs: Mike Small

Secretary/Treasure Recording Secretery Ex‑Officio: Ex‑Officio & National TU Director: Jim Vynalek

October 1991 Notice of Fall Meeting & Newsletter

FALL ANNUAL MEETING

DATE: SATURDAY OCTOBER 19, 1991

PLACE: St. Thomas Church Activity Center adjacent to the church on River Rd. just below Canyon Dam ‑Sattler, Texas.

TIME: 10.00 AM ‑ Registration (Coffee/Tea Bar)

10:30 to 11:15 ‑ Meeting Business Raffle Program

11:15 ‑ 12:30

LUNCH: 12:30 ‑ Barbecue Brisket, Tasty Salads, Good o'Beans, Chips, Bread, Relish, and possibly some surprise desserts and maybe choice of wines if the contributors come through. Another culinary masterpiece by Margaret Ann and Betsy. Don't miss it!

DIRECTOR'S MEETING 1: 30

News of last meeting

The Sage #4 Fly Rod Raffle was won by Jeff Schmitt. Picture is not available as he was not at the meeting. This proves once again that you do not have to be in attendance to win one of the raffles.

Election of officers and Directors to fill expired terms was carried out with much gusto and fervor as the Sargent‑of‑Arms dozed in his chair. After a rousing cheer for a job well done, Howard Itten, the immediate past president, administered the oath of office to Eric (The L's are silent) Bataille. The current slate of officers is shown above and the current directors are:

Eric Bataille 4/94 Clem Bird 4/93

David Hotz 4/94 Howard Itten 4/93

Chad Oliver 4/94

Robert Story 4/93

Miller White 4/94

(The dates indicate when term expires)

Charly McTee, well known writer and radio personality, gave an excellent presentation on fishing topics. Very tender succulent Barbecue, home prepared potato salad, secret recipe Bill Johnson's beans, choice of wines, topped off by Chocolate Hazelnut Tort or choice of cookies finished the very short business meeting. Our weather committee came through again with a delightful day except for the extra fast flowing Guadalupe.

Those who purchase the lease access permits are entitled to fish the leases, obtain lower fishing fees from some of the private access spots, receive advisory mailings of the Trout drops, and be able to participate in the stocking programs. As this chapter is part of Trout Unlimited, an up to date membership in National Trout Unlimited is required. Any lapse in membership would make the lease access permit null and void. This prerequisite will be strictly enforced.

Some Interesting Statistics

This is a breakdown of the largest concentrations of members of the Texas Chapter of Trout Unlimited.

Amarillo 20

Austin 118

Dallas 141

El Paso 28

Fort Worth 68

Houston 185

Lubbock 16 Midland 21

San Antonio 118

The above figures are of the greater metropolitan areas of each city. It would seem that there should be more than one, yes 1, chapter in Texas, Our chapter has members throughout the entire state and even several living in other states.

If there is anyone that is interested in starting a chapter in their area we would be delighted to furnish you with mailing lists and/or labels to aid you in your startup. National TU can give you other particulars. Let us know what Postal Zip Codes you might be interested in and we will forward them on to you and answer any questions that you might have.Use any of the addresses in the newsletter for correspondence.

One of our advertisers, Rodmakers, is an unusual place to visit. it is the only store of its kind in the Southwest. With their program you can actually build a custom fly‑rod to your specifications. The only items that are not built are the rod blanks, ferrules, reel seats, and the miscellaneous hardware required. The cork pieces are custom shaped by the customer. Wrappings are an individual choice as is the selection of the individual components. If one has the time and the inclination, then the savings are worthwhile. The store personnel give hands on instruction in their shop. Even if you have no intention of building your own rod, a visit to the store is an experience. They are even open Sundays. See their ad.

Another advertiser, Austin Angler, who have always been generous in giving us a break on our raffle items, is a not to be missed supplier of fly fishing items. They stock the top brand rods and reels along with a complete selection of fishing essentials. If you are able to negotiate the stair climb, you will see clothing, flies, books, waders, and almost believe that you are in flyfisher's heaven. A cardfile lists used items that individuals wish to sell or desire to buy. Casting lessons and fishing trips can be arranged with the knowledgeable staff. You cannot get this kind of service from a mail order catalog, besides there are no shipping charges when you deal here.

Fishing News & information

In case that you had forgotten... or did not know, The 1st Saturday in June is the annual FREE SPORTFISHING DAY and therefore no person is required to have a fishing license! I believe that this is unique to Texas. When was the last time that you read the annual Texas Fishing Guide? The rules sometimes change from year to year. In addition there is information other than rules that might be of great interest. The guides are available from Texas Parks & Wildlife, various tackle shops, fishing camps, and sporting goods outlets. Simplest way is to phone TP&W and they will send you one.

Have not seen any creel reports lately but did pickup some info that various members had caught a 22 inch Brown and a 17 inch Rainbow on one of the leases. Please send in reports of what has been caught any way that you can... card, letter, phone..but let us know so that our nursery and stocking programs can be evaluated. Tell your fish story about what you caught and let go.

It is that time of the year again for voluntary dues and Lease Access Permits. There is a donation sheet within this newsletter for your convenience. Last year we did not have enough Permits for all those that applied, even after increasing the number of Permits issued. Just remember the old axiom "The early wader gets the trout."

A story lifted from the N. Arkansas FF Newsletter by Bob Brunsell.

Here is an adventure that a fly fishing friend of mine had more than 50 years ago near the community of Winter in northern Wisconsin.

I am told there are a lot of ex‑Wisconsinites in our area, surely some of them can empathize with this.

Rollie had stayed later than usual on a trout stream so it was moonlight when he started back to his car. He had walked only a short distance when he noticed three wolves following him. A few rods farther, it was apparent they were gaining on him so he climbed a tree.

The three wolves circled around the tree looking up at Rollie for several minutes, then two of them left. Rollie said he sat there for about fifteen minutes and was just about ready to jump down and make a run for the car when here came the other two wolves and they had a beaver with them to cut the tree down.

This is exactly the way Rollie told it to me.

Another tale, this one from a local Computer Bulletin Board System:

As a kid, I spent many summers with my grandparents at in South Austin (I always thought that north of the river Dallas). Each and every day at 4PM, my grandfather would the river (this was before they turned the Colorado River into Town Lake as it flows through Austin) to go fishing. I'd always go with him. After a couple of years of never seeing him catch anything, I finally asked him why he went fishing everyday if he never caught anything. In true Zen and/or grandfatherly wisdom, he replied that catching fish was not the purpose of going fishing. In not so Zen and/or grandfatherly wisdom, he said that, in his case, it was to get away from my grandmother's nagging.

Fast forward to 1983. At a going away luncheon for someone I've since forgotten, I was seated next to a woman I'd never met before (or since). She mentioned fishing and I told her about my grandfather's view on it.

Fast forward to 1985. I'm at a keg party, and a friend of mine introduces me to guy I'd never met before. The new guy says, "I already know who this a**h*** is. He's the guy who broke up my marriage."

This one has no bearing on trout or fishing but it does have a Texas flavor: What happens when you play country music backward? ...... You get your girl back, your dog back, your pickup back, and you stop drinking.

Time for another meeting close to the beautiful, cold, trout infested Guadalupe River. The reason that it is cold below the dam is that the water supplied comes from the bottom of the lake. This makes conditions very good for the trout that inhabit these waters. As we found out at a meeting last year, the water is aerated by the specially designed turbines in the generating station. Undoubtedly this is one of the best trout fishing areas in our state. The river below Possum Kingdom Dam is another. There are no other Texas waters that equal these two locations. In addition the food is better at our meetings so that makes our spot the winning choice.

Nearly every mail delivery has requests to our members by neighboring states for funds to support their trout or their watershed programs. Some of these requests are in the form of raffle tickets. one cannot find fault with their efforts but you should consider our home state first. Remember the non‑resident licenses and the trout stamps do much to support those other states. We too need all the aid that we can get in support of our efforts. Think and support Texas first.

Our Texas Chapter has over 1000 members as of this writing. The supporting members who make voluntary contributions to the chapter for our fishery endeavors, newsletters, and other programs number only 305. We could use some more good souls. There are some great benefits for contributing. We have some areas along the Guadalupe under lease for use by contributors who purchase the annual lease access permits. See the attached donation sheet for further details. This is the time of year for requests for voluntary donations which will insure that you will continue to receive these newsletters.