Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited

April  2006

April Meeting

Tom Hargrove holds court in his shop

Please join us to hear Tom Hargrove, proprietor of T. Hargove Fly Fishing in St. Louis, for a presentation on fishing Montana’s Beartooth Mountains.  The meeting will be held at the Missouri Department of Conservation, Resource Science Center at Stadium Blvd. and College Ave. in Columbia at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday April 4.  Many of us know Tom as a great fisherman that travels the world with fly rod in hand.  He is also an entertaining speaker and will be talking about a location easily accessible to most of us.

The Missouri Department of Conservation will host its annual Day with Wildlife at the American Legion Post on Highway WW (Broadway) east of Highway 63 in Columbia on Sunday April 2.  The event begins at noon and runs through 5:00 p.m.  Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited will have a table and demonstrate fly tying.  Please bring your fly tying gear, join us and show off your fly tying skills, or just come and shoot the bull.  A Day with Wildlife is always fun.  Bring the kids, you will be able to shoot some clay birds, watch retrievers perform, and see the birds of the Raptor Rehabilitation Project from the MU College of Veterinary Medicine.

2006 Conservation Banquet

A big THANK YOU to donors, buyers, volunteers and attendees of the annual conservation banquet.  We had a great banquet this year.  Attendance was 184, a record for a Thursday evening banquet.  We raised approximately $7,500 for projects for the year.  The Nello Donati Award was presented to Jim Washabaugh in recognition of his work on the chapter’s Web page and past editing of the newsletter.  Dave Mayers was recognized as Conservationist of the Year for his leadership, as well as hands-on work, in trout conservation as an employee of the Missouri Department of Conservation.  Congratulations Jim and Dave!

Presidents Message

OK, so you’ve made it to spring.  You know what to do now.  Except sometimes stuff gets in the way.  I had a friend a few years ago who got caught in a month-long “home project” all of April.  No fishing.  Spring rains came and went, water levels dropped, fish took the summer off.  He missed it.

How could that happen you ask yourself?  How could a person expose himself to the danger of getting scheduled during the best fishing time of the year? We all have our blind spots – this fellow is married to a gardener.  He should have seen it coming.

So you ask, “How can I figure out what my blind spot is and, if I find it, can I do anything about it?”  This is the first step of several, maybe twelve, on your way to recovery of your fishing life.  The first thing to do is be honest with yourself. Ask hard questions like: “Do I fish all the time?”  And, “Why don’t I fish all the time?”  Also, “Is there any food in the fridge that I can pack for lunch?”

There are many different kinds of professional counselors who can help you with personal problems.  Unfortunately, none of them deal with this issue, or if they do, it’s from the entirely wrong point of view, like, “Do you feel guilty about ignoring your family?”  And, “Tell me why you think you can’t hold a job very long.” Honest. And these people truly believe they’re helping.

Quiet contemplation and introspection can solve many problems but, let’s be honest, this problem is not a “sit around and think about it” type of a deal.  You have to get a grip on this. Preferably a cork grip attached to a length of fly rod suitable for the task at hand.  You thought long enough to realize you don’t fish all the time, you recognized this is a problem, then the next step is to finish the cup of  coffee you poured at the beginning of the process, steps four through nine involve the fly shop and equipment needs,  ten and eleven are gas and soda, and twelve is, well, fishing.

I know, many people have mentioned I should consider making a career out of my special talent for helping folks with their “problems.”  My wife has mentioned more than once about my “egregious hypoplastic grasp of basic humanity.”  She thinks big words flatter me but I live only for the discreet handshake and quiet “thanks” from those I’ve put back on the path.  See you on the stream.

Flyfishers Guide to Missouri and Arkansas

by Larry Kinder and Robert Montgomery

A new guide to local waters is available from Clearwater and local and Internet bookstores.  I’ve not yet had a chance to more than page through it so can’t give a detailed review, but it is another in the series of excellent Wilderness Adventures Flyfishing Guidebooks.  It is probably well worth a look.

March Meeting

Del Lobb, Resource Scientist for the Missouri Conservation Department, presented an interesting program on MDC’s Trout Stream Habitat Assessment Project.  This on-going project was initiated in collaboration with Mike Kruse.  Quantitative measures of stream quality with respect to suitability of trout habitat, in particular continuous measurements of stream temperature at a number of locations, a frequently limiting factor here, are being evaluated for approximately 30 Missouri trout streams.

Copies of James Prosek’s book, “A Good Day’s Fishing”, were donated to each elementary school library in the Columbia Public Schools.  We have received many thank-you letters including the following:

From Suby Wallace, Derby Ridge Librarian -

Please thank your fellow fishermen for the copy of A Good Day’s Fishing by James Prosek.  I LOVE that book, and I am not a fisherman.  However, the illustrations of the tackle box and the glossary at the end are fabulous!

I purchased a copy of it last year for Derby Ridge’s library.  When I found out we were receiving a second copy from your organization I was really excited because the book is very popular!  Having a second copy is great.

Thanks so much for thinking of us.  What a great teaching tool it is.  And the kids who already fish get so excited when they see lures and tackle they recognize!  It’s always checked out.

From Cathie Loesing, Paxton Keeley Librarian –

I would like to thank you for your generous contribution to our library collection.  As the mother of a fishing enthusiast, as well as a library media specialist, I can tell you that our libraries do not have enough books about outdoor activities to keep our kids reading.  We certainly appreciate your addition.