Guadalupe River Chapter Trout Unlimited

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

Contributors: Jeff Schmitt, Jim Vynalek

OFFICERS President: Jeff Schmitt 282‑4408

VP Chapter Affairs: Alan Bray 263‑9619

VP Fishing Affairs: Erik Bataille

Secretary Cyndie Schmitt 282‑4408

Treasurer Bob Story

DIRECTORS

Clem Bird

Cyndie Schmitt

David Hotz

Jeff Schmitt

Jon Morse

Marion Tilson

Irving O'Neal

*Jim Vynalek

Judy Presswood

*Ex Officio

October 1993 Notice of Annual Fall Meeting & Newsletter

DATE: SATURDAY October 23, 1993 PLACE: St. Thomas Church Activity Center adjacent to the church

[Just below Canyon Dam on South Access) ‑ Sattler, Texas.

TIME: 10.00 AM ‑ Registration, Socializing & Fish Stories Coffee or Tea 10:30 to 11:00 ‑ Meeting Business Raffle SAGE 3 wt 4 piece L.L. TRAVEL FLY ROD (S. Ram. Insert Sheet) Program 11:00 ‑ 12:00 ±

LUNCH:(optional) 12:30 ‑ Some really good food! Abandon Hunger All Ye

Who Enter Here. Sobroso Beef, World Class Johnson legumes, and other morsels. Surprise offerings welcomed. Margaret Ann, Betsy & others are to be congratulated for their help in this department.

If you decide to dine, kindly feed the "kitty" on your way through the line.

DIRECTORS MEETING AFTER LUNCH

THE PROGRAM:

Our intrepid program director Irving O'Neal has arranged to have Charles Barton who was raised on the banks of the Arkansas White River speak to us about that area. It is the only trophy trout area within a days drive from central Texas. Charles is now living in San Antonio and is a member of a Colorado Trout Unlimited chapter. He will be covering; how to fish the White River, what flies are most productive, places to fish, along with a color slide presentation. You could take your wives, drop them off at Branson Missouri which is merely one axle greasing up the road from the Bull Shoals area where the White River begins. The Bull Shoals lake is also a splendid place to fish. The entire area has excellent motels, resorts, campgrounds, restaurants, and other accommodations. Several Chapter members have visited and fished that part of the country.Come to the meeting and learn more about this great trout river.

It is Autumn again ...

kids are back in school, the tubers are into other activities, the heat has waned and the Guadalupe is ready and so are the trout!

Time again for voluntary dues and lease cards. For the quickest service send in your application now. Lease cards will not be issued at the meeting, they will all be mailed. Don't call about the status of your lease card for at least 2 to 3 weeks after you mail in your application and then only call your local membership representative, NOT the Chapter Treasurer. Be sure that your TU National membership is current as all applications will be checked against the latest National Roster.

Membership information can be obtained from any of the following:

Austin‑ Alan Bray (512) 263‑9619

Houston‑ Judy Presswood (713) 932‑7874 San Antonio‑ Jon Morse (210) 493‑7132

LOOKING BACK....

At the April meeting there were over 50 in attendance when the counting stopped. The drawing for the trip to Colorado (donated by Sylvan Dale Ranch) was won by our current Kingfish, Jeff Schmitt. The fly rod raffle was won by one of our members who left so fast to fish it that we were not able to obtain his name. The program was given by Doug Ming, avid trout fisherman/guide, concerned mile high trout fishing in Colorado. Very interesting and informative. Many tips on tackle and fly selections as well as premier spots to catch wild trophy trout in Colorado.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

The 1993/94 season marks the beginning of my tenure as President of the Chapter. As I have only been a member of your group for about 3 years, not only do I have to get myself up to speed on the history and organization of the Chapter, I'm still just meeting all of you. I thought I'd use my first column in the newsletter to introduce myself and share with you a few of the ideas and visions I have for the Chapter.

My name is Jeff Schmitt, but I can’t introduce myself with introducing my wife, too, as we are in this as a team on the role of President of the Chapter, Cyndie and I agreed that we would share the responsibilities of leading this organization that serves the interests of the activity we both enjoy. Cyndie is serving as Secretary of the Chapter during my term as President and we plan on working together on this project.

When Cyndie and I aren't sharing our love for flyfishing and travel, I ran an Austin based manufacturing company that produces acoustical enclosures for hearing testing and noise control applications. Cyndie is a Senior Policy Analyst for the State of Texas Sunset Commission and a native Austinite, with family roots going back several generations of Texas history. As a two career couple with no children, when we are not fully absorbed by our jobs, we have been fortunate enough to be able to travel to and fish in some of the nicer places on this earth, and hope to be visiting many more in the future.

As I mentioned, we only joined your organization three years ago. Our love for flyfishing for trout in the cold water rivers and streams in the mountains of the west on summer vacation led us to explore the possibilities of catching trout near home during the rest of the year. So, like many of you, our interest in Trout Unlimited started simply in search of better fishing opportunities. And, while flyfishing on the river is still a primary interest of ours, we see the Guadalupe River Chapter of Trout Unlimited as offering us possibilities to expand on our passion.

We see numerous possibilities for the Guadalupe River and our TU chapter. Our interests run from promoting the development of a long‑term, self‑sustaining fishery on the Guadalupe via streamside incubation programs, habitat enhancement and preservation to improving user awareness of our efforts to enhance the fishery and encouraging them to practice catch and release tactics that are consistent with our efforts. We'd also like to set up something to help Chapter members take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that a number of our fellow members have accumulated in their local and remote fishing experiences. And, of course, we'd like to continue to approve our members access to a quality trout fishery in the Central Texas Hill Country.

It is difficult to lead any organization into the future until you fully understand its past. Over the past several months we have been busy reading the Chapter files, getting familiar with the organization of our Chapter and the national TU organizations and calling some of you on the phone, trying to pick your brains on needs of the Chapter. Over the next couple of meetings we'll

be meeting even more of you. Please let us know more about each of your interests in TU and the Guadalupe River Chapter so that we can better lead the Chapter in a direction that best serves the interest of the membership. We look forward to seeing and talking with each of you at the meeting in October.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

The Chapter has several positions that it is going to need to fill over the next year. We are interested in locating members who are interested in giving some of their time to Board level, Officer and Chapter business support positions.

Amongst our most urgent need is the position of Treasurer. Bob and Betsy Story, who have done an outstanding job on this for the past several years, have announced that this will absolutely be their last year. We need to locate a member who is willing to take on this function at the end of this season. Someone with a home computer, an aptitude for finances and an interest in helping support the Chapter would be ideal for this position.

We can also use additional volunteers to assist with the committees (Membership, Fisheries, Etc.), newsletter and meeting programs ideas. If you would be interested in volunteering some of your time, please let Jeff Schmitt know at the upcoming meeting.

PARKS & WILDLIFE CONDUCTS STREAM SURVEY

Members who have attended the meetings over the past couple of years may recall the study that Steve Magnelia and Dave Terry of TPW are undertaking on the trout population in the Guadalupe River. Steve reports that an electrofishing survey was conducted on the Guadalupe River in late June and that they located good numbers of the trout we had stocked earlier in the year. A total of 31 trout, or about 8 fish per hour of electrofishing, were captured along the river, with more than half of them coming from the Camp Bean area. Most of these fish were positively identified as coming from either our February or March stockings, as these fish were fin clipped at the time they were stocked. They report capturing one brown trout of 18" just above Horseshoe Falls. Thye did not survey at the lease, but did locate fish in the area they surveyed around Whitewater Sports.

Overall, Steve reports that the river "looks in better shape that it did in fall 1992.” They plan to return for another survey in October, when we will get a chance to see how many of our fish survive the low flows and high water temperatures of this summer. Several members have reported catching trout early in the morning and late in the evenings at several locations along the river, so maybe we'll have some fish hold over this year.

Chad Oliver, 1928 – 1993 "Big Enough to Keep"

The Guadalupe River Chapter lost one of its pioneer members in August when Dr. Chad Oliver succumbed after a long and valiant battle with cancer.

During and illustrious lifetime, Chad rose to Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at The University of Texas/Austin, was recipient of numerous scholastic awards and recognitions., author of award‑winning science‑fiction and western historical novels, 3‑time president of The Guadalupe River Chapter: 1973, 1978, and 1979, and a Chapter director during most of his 22‑year membership in Trout Unlimited.

Before Chad died, TU National presented him with a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his many years of support for the cause of conservation. He also received the Chapter's highest accolade ‑‑‑ the bronze service award.

An avid trout fisherman, Chad spent many hours on the Guadalupe. During summer vacations, he could be found casting a dry fly for brookies in the Colorado Rockies. His favorite rivers were the Rio Grande near Creed, and the Lake Fork of The Gunnison near Lake City.

With wisdom and wit, Chad led the Chapter through its trying formative years. For this and his many contributions to the success of the Chapter throughout its existence, he will be long remembered.

There are many prayers attributed to fishermen, but we know the following one was meant for Chad:

"I pray that I may live to fish until my dying day

And when it comes to my last cast I then most humbly pray

When in the Lord's great landing net and peacefully asleep,

That in his mercy I be judged Big enough to keep!"

Big main, big mind, big heart, big contributor of time and talent, Chad Oliver, "Big enough to keep!"

The following was included in a 1991 newsletter and is being reprinted in memory of Chad Oliver

A NOVEL MAN .....

" Let me show you a letter" Chad Oliver says, taking one off a stack of mail just answered. The letter comes from a man Oliver has never met, someone who read one of his early science fiction stories and was inspired by it to write a play.

"One of the really strange things about writing,”

Oliver says, leaning back in his chair, "is that you go on all these years and you write stories and they go out and land with a dull thud‑or nothing, like dropping something down a bottomless well and then, 30 or 40 years later, here comes a letter. I wrote that story in 1955."

Oliver's other career as a teacher of anthropology at the University of Texas is like that too.

"Want to see another letter?" he offers with a grin.

A Former student who went on to become a medical doctor has written to say how much that anthropology course he took from Oliver 30 years ago has meant. He wants his son to take the course.

For years Oliver, the tall pleasant‑looking man in the tweed sportcoat has kept up two demanding careers.

His name may not be as recognizable as Larry McMurtry's or Margaret Mead's, but then Oliver has been both author and anthropologist.

His book Broken Eagle, a fictional account of Caster's final campaign, won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame award as "Best Western Novel of 1989." An earlier book, The Wolf is My Brother, won the annual Golden Spur Award for Best Western Historical Novel. His science fiction novels and short stories have been chosen as classics of that genre.

At UT, Oliver was cited as outstanding Plan II teacher in 1989, received the Presidential Award for Teaching Excellence in 1982, the Ransom Award in 1980 and others before that. He holds an endowed chair and was, for 11 years, chairman of the anthropology department. Numerous scholarly articles and an anthropology textbook bear his name.

Despite such successes, Oliver gives the impression of not taking himself overly seriously. He has to dig down through a few Me drawers before he finds the picture of himself in tuxedo accepting the award for Broken Eagle. "You see I'm a regular suave (he pronounces it rhyme with 'wave') professor here," he says.

Oliver refuses to speculate about what he might have accomplished had he concentrated on only one field even if he could have limited himself that way, given his particular makeup.

"What I do know is, I can't do it all any more," he says, his voice firm. "It's a function of energy, not will."

However, as Oliver outlines his plans for retirement in 1992, it becomes clear that he will not give up either field even then.

"I want to go on teaching because I like the

contact with the kids," Oliver says. "I plan to teach for four months and write and trout fish for eight and serve on no committees." "The one advantage young writers have and I tell them all the time is energy. Maybe you have all kinds of things to learn, but you're never going to have the kind of stamina that you have when you're 18 again. Don't waste it. You'll learn by writing."

Even at age 62, with boxes full of manuscripts behind him, Oliver is still learning the craft. He recently wrote a lyrical story, "A Lake in Summer,” that is unlike anything he has done before. "It's one of the few times I've tried to tap into my own early childhood."

He also completed a long outline for a novel set in Texas between the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Civil War. And he wrote the introduction for a collection of science‑fiction, Night of the Cooters, by his friend, Howard Waldrop.

Oliver first started writing as a 14‑year‑old kid in Cincinnati. He grew up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne and all the latest pulp adventure magazines. Then he contracted rheumatic fever and was out of school for two years. "Reading was all I had," he says.

He decided to become a writer after reading a story called Thunder Moon by Edmond Hamilton, published in Amazing Stories magazine. "I thought that this was the most fantastic story I'd ever read," he recalls. "I taught myself to type and I commenced writing stories. You can imagine how awful they were."

During his sophomore year in high school, the family moved to Crystal City, Texas, a town of 5,000 where his father was a medical officer in the armed forces. "I was a sick cat when I go there," Oliver says, "and the people of Crystal City were absolutely wonderful to me even though I was a Yankee. Of course the dry climate probably helped, too."

Like the boy hero of some Amazing Story, he started playing football, became editor of the school paper and the yearbook, and also wrote a short story a week. "The small‑town Texas I saw was a very warm and giving and understanding place," Oliver says.

He already has depicted Crystal City and scenes from early Austin in a novel, Shadows in the Sun, written when he was 25 and a graduate student at UCLA. He hopes to write more about those places in some future novel.

As I grow older, I am more interested in looking back than in looking forward,." Oliver says. "I just can't get real excited about writing convenient science‑fiction. Nowadays there are all these quest novels with dragons flying around and stuff like that just a series of rip‑offs of Tolkien. Whatever talents I may have are not suited to that."

Much of Oliver's writing deals more with the conflict of cultures. In science‑fiction as well as western history, he creates an understanding of the parties of different sides.

"I remember when a lot of the young writers who came to Austin were convinced that the world was going to end tomorrow," Oliver says, "I didn't think so. I used to argue that we 've b en through worse before and somehow we're still here. I would say the same thing about the ghastly situation we're in at present, though my eyes are bloodshot from watching CNN so much."

Above article appeared in Austin American Statesman 2/21/91 written by Anne Morris a free‑Lance writer. Reproduced with permission.