Jan - Feb 2010 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

8/9/2019 Jan - Feb 2010 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

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MIKE GENTRY

THE TROUT LINE VOLUME 10,ISSUE 1JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

Meeting Schedule: Regular chapter meetings are held at theLUCKYLABRADOR on the second Wednesday of each month at6:30 PM with a social get-together and the formal meeting at 7:00

PM unless otherwise noted in the newsletter or website. LuckyLabrador, Multnomah Village, 7675 SW Capitol Hwy. Portland,(503) 244-2537. Food and beverages available.

January 13: Andy Andrews and Mike Gentry bring pictures andinformation from their recent trip to Patagonia (Argentina andChile) to educate and tempt us.

February 10: Hal Gordon will present information on fishing theOwyhee River. Hal is a renowned fly tyer with lots of great adviceon fishing for big brown trout in this great water.

This has been an exciting and noteworthy year for the Tu-alatin Valley chapter. Events sometimes create a momen-tum of their own, and can act as a springboard for evenmore opportunities.

As you know from an earlier issue, our chapter newsletterreceived the award at the TU National Convocation this fall,in large part in recognition of the necessity of keepingchapter members abreast of projects and issues like letter-writing, hands-on work and other contributions that canmake a difference. One of those projects is the Necanicumoff-channel overwintering restoration at Neitzel Farm toprovide much-needed low-velocity freshwater refuge andforaging habitats for juvenile Coho and cutthroat.

The Neitzel family received well-deserved recognition whenCongressman David Wu presented Ernestine Neitzel with aCongressional Record plaque for allowing interestedgroups including this chapter to restore part of the farm toits natural state.

and consisted of excavation of the historic off-channelcourse, placement of large woody debris in the new over-wintering areas, and beginning the revegetation of the ar-eas. TU provided assistance in obtaining some of thewoody debris and the chapter scheduled a work party in

early November to replant and to do some shovel work tohelp reconnect the area to the main stem channel. Thechapter members responded well to the work party requestbut the weather did not cooperate and we had to postpone.

Sensing that thetime is ripe, thechapter now isapplying for anEmbrace-A-Stream grant tocontinue the ef-forts on NeitzelFarm. The grantproposal seeksslightly under$10,000 forphase is de-signed to allowfor excavation ofadditional wet-lands and forrevegetation ofthe floodplainand adjacentwetlands withnative plants, trees and shrubs, together with two years ofpost-construction maintenance. If the grant proposal isaccepted, the chapter has committed to be heavily involvedin the revegetation and monitoring activities. We will con-tinue to keep the chapter members updated on the pro-

posal, and in all likelihood will put out another call begin-ning early next spring to assemble a series of work parties.So keep your boots and shovels handy and your enthusi-asm high!

Published bimonthly

Inside this issue

Page 1

The Fundraising Challenge Page 2Conservation Update Page 3Project Healing Waters Plans for 2010 Page 4Fall River Fishing Trip Page 5Fly of the Month - Golden Stone Page 6Holiday News Release Page 7Board of Directors Listing Page 7Meeting Schedule , Budget Summaryand Intro of new board members Page 8


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THE TROUT LINE

For the last few years the Tualatin Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited has sent out requests for donations to sustain ouractivities throughout the year. The method of soliciting those donations included sending a stamped, self addressedenvelope in the newsletter that we mailed to all members. This was very expensive.

This year we have sent out a few requests for donations to members who are not able to receive electronic newslettersor who have indicated a willingness to support our conservation programs and other activities.

-on efforts such as the several current Necanicumwatershed projects is dependent upon getting substantial support by way of donations from its members. In fact, thegenerosity of our members makes up about half of our meager yearly budget, helping us pay for our monthly meetingsstrating significant member involvement through contributions. We keep our members abreast of our project work inarticles in our bimonthly newsletter which is now sent electronically as the most economical distribution method (as wellas eco-friendly). Anyone who prefers a mailed hard copy can simply let us know.

mission. Please join in our effort in this 50th anniversary of TU by making a contribution. Come to our meetings and par- we welcome your involvement and feed-back.

If you have not yet sent a donation, please consider doing it now. This is a voluntary donation and is not included in anyTU national membership fees. Mail to our Treasurer:

Erle Norman6152 SW Nevada Ct.Portland, OR 97219

Many thanks to all of our members who have already donated.

The Fundraising Challenge

Thanks to our generous members who have contributed time and money to the Chapter we have been able to continuethe great work of TU here in Oregon. The board has considered some alternative forms of fundraising. Here are someexamples of ideas that the board has considered and rejected.

Burglary? - Too hard to

sneak around wearing waders

and boots carrying fly rods.

Gambling? - None of us

can tell how large a fish is,

how could we count dots on

dice, or place odds?

Grow a money tree? - Too busy

with conservation efforts to take

time to cultivate this hard to

grow species.


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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

Conservation Update - Alan Moore

This may be repetition for some of you, but then again, alittle double-dose of sunshine can't be a bad thing duringthe cold, gray months - particularly the Mondays, right?Feel free to spread it around to other FOOFs (fans of Ore-

gon's fishes) that you know.

As we have reported in recent weeks, the run of wild Cohonow returns to spawn in Thompson Creek in the Necani-cum River system. This is one of the base project sites forTU's growing Oregon coastal habitat work, led on theground by the Tualatin Valley Chapter and friends. Theresults have been robust this year to say the least, as pre-dicted. Our partners at the North Coast Land Conservancy- owners and stewards of the Thompson Creek project area- report seeing dozens of spawning Coho pairs crowdinginto the little creek in waves after the Thanksgiving rains.So many wild, amorous and eligible silver singles havecome back that they have begun expanding the spawningparty downstream into our the main project restorationreach, helped by the mobilization of some new gravel andother positive habitat changes there.

Meanwhile, the hatchery steelhead have begun showingup. We will all be watching very closely in the comingmonths for the North Coast's wild winter steelhead run. Wehope it follows the coastal Coho's hearty example. Fingerscrossed. Knots tight. Guts unsettled.

Those of you who have supported TU and our partners'work in the Necanicum, should take some measure of pridein this year's happy events. That means you, Jubitz Family

Foundation, Clackamas River TU, Doug Ray, AmericanRivers, NOAA, Carex Consulting, Ernestine Neitzel and

Family, Congressman David Wu, US Fish and Wildlife Ser-vice and its Partners Program, ODFW, OWEB, NecanicumWatershed Council, Save Our Wild Salmon, Rainland FlyCasters, Tongue Point Job Corps, Westfly.com, Herb

Thompson, Seaside HS, Seaside Golf Course, Big RiverConstruction and too many others to list. Watch for newprojects and partnerships along the greater North and MidCoast - coming soon.

Knowing that strong Coho years like this one on the coastwill be the exception rather than the rule, the need for com-prehensive conservation diligence in these critical water-sheds to maximize the benefits now is made all the moretimely, if not urgent. Look no further than the coast's fallChinook run this year for a reminder of how fickle, fragileand cyclical these systems and their fish populations canbe. Contrasts like those between the coastal Coho and fallChinook this year remind you that coldwater conservationwork is always satisfying, but never done, so we may aswell get back to work.

And so the work continues: if you or someone you knowwould like to get more involved, let me ([email protected]) orTom Wolf from the Oregon Council ([email protected])know, and we'll definitely keep you in the loop. If the NorthCoast isn't exactly in your neighborhood, drop me or Tom anote to see what great projects and endeavors other Ore-gon TU chapters have cooking in other parts of our finestate.

If there isn't a TU chapter or a project in an area near or

dear to you or someone you know, talk with us about start-ing one. We can help!

Silvers spawning in Thompson Creek Photo by Neal Maine/North Coast Land Conservancy
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Page 4JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010

Project Healing Waters Plans for 2010

As we begin our third year of sponsorship of Project Heal-ing Waters, with pride, the Tualatin Valley Chapter of TroutUnlimited invites members to learn more about the programand participate as volunteers if you can afford the time.

This program is part a national organization that provides

an introduction to Fly Fishing for disabled veterans andmembers of the active duty military. It began at WalterReed Medical Center more than six years ago.

Locally, we hold workshops each month at the VA Hospitalin Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA. Each workshop fea-tures fly tying, instruction on the tools of fly fishing and knottying. In the last two years we have conducted 48 work-shops with more than 230 veterans attending.

When scheduling and budget permits we plan fishing out-ings. This past year we held three fishing outings, two atLake Margaret and one overnight trip to the Crooked River.Each trip provided 12 - 14 veterans with the opportunity tolearn on the water with all equipment provided and eachwith an experienced fishing buddy.

Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter One, Portlandgenerously provides all equipment and resources to assurethat veterans can participate at no expense.

The schedule for workshops in the next calendar year isincluded on this page.

If you are interested in receiving more information aboutthe program please contact Jerry Lorang at 971-404-5154,or email [email protected].

Portland

January 15 Friday

February 5 Friday

March 19 FridayApril 2 Friday

May 7 Friday

June 11 Friday

July 9 Friday

August 6 Friday

September 3 Friday

October 15 Friday

November 5 Friday

December 3 Friday

Vancouver

January 25 Monday

February 22 Monday

March 22 MondayApril 12 Monday

May 17 Monday

June 24 Thursday

July 19 Monday

August 23 Monday

September 20 Monday

October 25 Monday

November 15 Monday

December 6 Monday

VA PORTLAND CAMPUS IN THE AUDITORIUM

VA VANCOUVER CAMPUS IN BLDG D-7, COLUMBIA ROOM, 2ND

FLOOR

NOTE: ALL WORKSHOPS BEGIN AT NOON AND END AT 3:00 P.M.


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about because it keeps providing something new to experi-ence, and so I keep returning year after year. There aremany reasons I keep returning but each year is differentand I really appreciate the environment.

This year on my last morning, I awoke believing that I hadoverslept because it was so light outside. Imagine my sur-prise when I opened the tent door to find that it had snowedduring the night. It was only a skiff of the white stuff but Istill put on some Christmas music and had coffee andbreakfast in the snow for the first time at the Fall Rivercampground. My mini weather station had shown low tem-colder mornings (the record for me in September was 13degrees with a howling wind) but the snowfall was a first.

The river is very clear and by the time you see fish, theyhave seen you. I find a unique pleasure in being able toput someone onto fish and I enjoy their success when theycatch one.

myself a guide, but

I simply try to im-odds against waryfish. This year Ibelieve everyonewho fished caughtone. That mayhave been a firstshared the Fall

with TU members (or guests).

Fall River Fishing Trip By Andy Andrews

Every year you face unknown fishing conditions. The num-ber of fisherman vary on this river. Last year, parking spots

were hard to find because of the high number of fishers. Itwas very difficult because the little rascals were hard tofind. This year there weredays when you had theriver all to yourself and fishwere under every bankand log.

Upon leaving the Fall, Istopped by to talk tofriends at the hatchery. Ireported seeing many fishand was surprised to hear

that reports from otherfisherman were that therewere no fish in the river. The Fall is a unique river and itcan make you a much better fisherman if you work to im-prove your skills.

This year I returned to a section on the river I callwould recommend that you should fish a 6X leader ex-tended to 12 or more feet. There is always a pod of largefish in this section and you need all the stealth you canmuster just to get afish to the fly. Land-ing a fish in this sec-tion of the riverwould be as rare aswinning the statelottery due to thedowned logs andother river debris.Being successfulhere is simply get-ting the fish to thefly. I was successfultwice . The largest

fish I have seen in

We had great campfires, conversations and good food. Wehad coyotes calling late at night and early in the morningand one evening an elk was talking a little. During theweek the number of people around the campfire varied butfor the BBQ, we had 12 in attendance.

If you missed the Fall River trip this year, I hope to see younext year.


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Board of Directors:

Outings Andy Andrews (971) [email protected]

Raffles: Ron Reinebach (503) [email protected]

Conservation: Michael Ellis (503) [email protected]

Newsletter : Jerry Lorang (971) [email protected]

Jerry Heppell (503) [email protected]

Jeff Gottfried (503) [email protected]

Officers

President: Mike Gentry (503) [email protected]

Vice Pres.: George Wilson (503)[email protected]

Treasurer: Erle Norman (503) [email protected]

Secretary/ Bill Schoen (503) 638-7748Membership: [email protected]

Ex-Officio: Hank Hosfield (503) 228-6553(Past Pres.) [email protected]

NOTE: New Members of the Board in Bold.

TUALATIN VALLEY TU OFFI CERS AND BOARD

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Fishery managers predict 470,000 Columbia Riverspring Chinook in 2010

SALEM, Ore.The technical committee advising ColumbiaRiver fishery managers has released its forecast for the2010 spring Chinook run. If the fish show up as projected,the forecast of 470,000 spring Chinook would be the larg-est return to the Columbia since 1938.

run of 169,300 fish.

Because of challenges in forecasting the spring Chinookreturns in recent years, members of the Technical AdvisoryCommittee (TAC) had to reconsider the model they have

used in past years to predict the number of returning fish.

According to Stuart Ellis, current chair of the TAC and fish-eries scientist of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Com-mission (CRITFC), committee members were leery of theville Dam in 2009. Jacks are immature, precocious malesthat return after just one or two years in the ocean.

In the past few years, forecasts relying heavily on jackcounts from the previous season had overstated the actualreturn of adult fish by an average of 45 percent. An accu-rate preseason forecast is necessary to set commercialand recreational harvest levels that meet treaty obligationsunder U.S. v Oregon and conservation mandates to protectfish runs listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Ellis said this year the committee considered several addi-tional models that took into account other factors such asocean conditions.

time, we know the environment for young salmon appears

nook salmon next year, but we needed to temper last

The seven models chosen by TAC generated a range ofpredicted run sizes from 366,000 to 528,000 adults. Thecommittee members agreed on 470,000 as an average of

the models. This forecast will now be used by the manag-ers to develop preseason fishing plans.

The Technical Advisory Committee was established underthe US v. Oregon and includes representatives from Ore-gon, Idaho and Washington fish and wildlife departments,the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (on behalfof the Nez Perce tribe, the Umatilla tribe, the Warm Springstribe and the Yakama Nation,) the Shoshone-Bannocktribe, the National Marine Fisheries Commission and theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

This news release was issued jointly by the Oregon Depart-ment of Fish and Wildlife, the Washington Department ofFish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal FishCommission.

NEWS RELEASE

Just in Time for the Holidays
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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The Trout Line

Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited Chapter

85 Tanglewood Drive

Lake Oswego, OR 97035-1415

Meeting Schedule: Regular Chapter Meetings are held at the LUCKYLABRADOR on the second Wednesday of eachmonth at 6:30 PM with a social get-together and the formal meeting at 7:00 PM unless otherwise noted in the newsletteror website. Lucky Labrador, Multnomah Village, 7675 SW Capitol Hwy. Portland, (503) 244-2537. Food and Beveragesavailable.

January 13: Andy Andrews and Mike Gentry bring pictures and information from their recent trip to Patagonia(Argentina and Chile) to educate and tempt us.

February 10: Hal Gordon will present information on fishing the Owyhee River. Hal is a renowned fly tyer with lots ofgreat advice on fishing for big brown trout in this great water.

March 10: We have not confirmed our speaker for this meeting. Check the blog site and the next edition of the newslet-ter for the latest information.

April 14: Bill Myers will bring information on the Crooked River from his many years of guiding there. Included in hispresentation is a month-by-month hatch guide and information on river flows and best spots to fish and camp. We hopeto schedule a Crooked River Outing soon after this presentation because Bill has offered that he would join us on the wa-ter!

Inside this issue

Page 1The Fundraising Challenge Page 2

Conservation Update Page 3Project Healing Waters Plans for 2010 Page 4Fall River Fishing Trip Page 5Fly of the Month - Golden Stone Page 6Holiday News Release Page 7Board of Directors Listing Page 7Meeting Schedule , Budget Summaryand Intro of new board members Page 8

Introducing Two New Members of the Board of Directors .

Michael Ellis has joined the Board as the Conservation Chair, and Jeff Gottfried has joined as a director.

most notably on the Crooked River outing.

The other board members join the general membership in thanking each of them for stepping up and providing needed

Mike and Jeff, welcome to the board.

TVTU Budget Summary

During the quarter ending 9-30-09, significant expendituresincluded $250 for raffle prizes, and receipts included $233from the auction at our picnic.

Due to a delay in construction, expenditure of the $10,000Embrace-A-Stream grant funds from TU will occur in 2010.This is an off budget item, restricted to paying for work in theNecanicum watershed conservation project.

Jan - Feb 2010 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

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