President’s Message:
Dear Mid-Missouri Trout Unlimited Members,
Our May 7th chapter meeting will be held at the Fickling Shelter at Bethel Como Park. The address is 4500 Bethel Street Columbia. For more information about this venue and for directions go to the following link: https://www.como.gov/contacts/j-w-ficklin-shelter/. Our meetings start with a social hour beginning at 6:00 PM, followed by a short business meeting and a presentation. This month we will be talking about the Iowa Driftless Region and planning for the May 16-19 trip some of us will be taking.
At the April meeting Mike Kruse gave us a very informative presentation on trout fishing on the North Island of New Zealand. Thank you Mike for the presentation.
We will be making a trip to the Iowa Driftless region. The trip will be May 16-19. If you are planning to go or are considering going please contact Curt Morgret so we can be sure to have enough campsites and so you are kept informed of updates.
A trip to Colorado is also in the planning stages. The snowpack looks good; however, many of us are thinking an August trip is still probably the best choice. In any case a date has not been chosen.
It is important to make a distinction between the fishing trips that we are making and chapter events. These trips to Iowa and Colorado are a group of like minded folks getting together to enjoy fishing and the outdoors, they are not chapter events. No chapter funds are used for the event so all expenses and risk are the responsibility of the participants. People who are not members of trout unlimited are welcome to join us at outings such as this as they are also invited and welcomed to join us at chapter events.
Many Missouri conservation organizations are closely watching Missouri HB1691 and SB981 bills which are attempting to redefine the definition of the “waters of the state”. This is a bad bill and if passed will effect the quality of our state waters including our drinking water. The Senate Bill had a hearing in the Agriculture, Food Production and Outdoor Resources Committee on March 5. Interested parties were able to present their views. The House bill has been referred to the Agriculture Policy Committee which fortunately has not scheduled a hearing. It is hoped that the lack of public support and strong public objection to this bill are the reason that the committees have not held a vote on this bill. To learn more about the issue please go to the Stream Teams web site: https://www.streamteamsunited.org/stop-bad-waters-of-the-state-bills.html.
There are a number of elections coming this year please vote.
I hope to see you at the next meeting.
Doug Grove
April 2 Minutes:
The Mid-Missouri Chapter of Trout Unlimited met on April 2 at Fickling Shelter at CoMo Bethel Park. There was good attendance with approximately 15 members. After an abbreviated social hour due to chilly weather, President Doug Grove called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm.
Travis Figg requested a head-count for the Iowa Driftless trip to be May 16-19 with camping at the South Bear Creek Campground near Highland, IA. Others interested in participating should contact Curt Morgret via email @ cmorgret@gmail.com. Travis indicated that a convenience store at the campground could supply essentials. He also noted that caddis are prevalent on NE Iowa streams during May. This year the periodic cicada emergence may occur during mid-May. Ann Miller’s recently published book, Pocket Guide to Upper Midwest Hatches, is a good reference to what insects may be present and how to imitate them.
The May chapter meeting will be devoted to preparation for the Iowa trip. Travis will lead that part of the meeting.
The program for the evening was Mike Kruse (https://missouriflyfishingguide.com/) showing photos and videos from his recent weeks on New Zealand’s north island. Mike emphasized the variety of waters, including lakes, spring creeks, and rivers with heavy flows, rugged landscape, and dense vegetation. His photos and videos provided evidence of the opportunity to catch large (up to 12 lbs.) browns and rainbows. Mike also emphasized that the fishing (as well as the wading in rivers) could be very challenging, with one of his fishing companions at one point going fishless for four days. While the south island is noted for sight fishing for large browns in crystal clear streams, that is less so on the north island. Mike noted that travel access to NZ has improved with flights from Columbia to Auckland connecting through Dallas.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Lamberson
Secretary
Cicada Pattern courtesy of Bill Lamberson:
This is a reasonably simple cicada pattern that is very buggy. It was effective last summer in imitating insects that emerged a year ahead of the expected major emergence of this year.
Hook: Tiemco 2302 #6
Thread: 3/0 black waxed monocord
Underbody: 6-7 strands of peacock herl or similar synthetic
Hackle: light furnace saddle
Body: 2 mm black foam
Wing: blond elk
Legs: orange and black striped rubber legs
Wrap the hook shank with thread front to back.
Tie in the hackle by the butt at the hook bend.
Tie in a 3/16” wide strip of foam extending to the rear.
Wrap thread forward.
Tie in peacock herl on top of the hook shank and wrap thread over it to the bend.
Wrap thread forward to the eye.
Wrap peacock herl forward, tie off and trim.
Wrap the thread back 1/8”.
Fold foam forward, tie off and trim at the eye leaving a bit for a head.
Palmer the hackle over the foam, pinching the foam from each side so that the hackle digs into the foam. Tie off and trim.
Tie in blond elk hair with tips extending slightly beyond the bend of the hook. Trim the butts of the hair even with the hook eye.
Tie in rubber legs on each side to form four stubby legs.
Whip finish behind the eye.
Apply head cement over the wraps at the base of the hair and over the whip finish.
Stream Team Presentation on Missouri waters:
Laura Richardson who works at DNR gave an excellent presentation on the Missouri Stream Team program to the Capital City Flyfishers. She described the importance of protecting our water. Her team can monitor streams but do not have authority to limit non-point source, such as runoff from a yard or field. They can suggest and help fund ways to prevent it. They can suggest using less fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide. There is a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico from chemicals that come down the Mississippi. From what we know of watersheds rain that falls on Missouri ultimately ends up in the Mississippi River.
Laura said something else that concerns all of who like to catch and eat fish. She presented data from 2020, but this 2024 Health Department has current warnings. https://health.mo.gov/living/environment/fishadvisory/pdf/fishadvisory.pdf. It suggested limiting carp over 21 inches catfish over 17 inches , all buffalo, sturgeon and sturgeon eggs from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Laura did not speak about PCBs (from building materials (flame-retardants, plasticizers, paints, caulking compounds, sealants, fluorescent light ballasts, etc.) and electrical equipment) and chlordane used to control termites). They can harm our health and are present in fish and drinking water.
How does mercury enter streams and lakes?
Mercury is released to the air from natural and man-made sources. Coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, medical waste incinerators and municipal waste incinerators account for 80% of the mercury releases in the United States. Mercury released to the air eventually falls into streams, lakes and watersheds as dust or is carried by rain.
A large percentage of the mercury released to the air goes into the upper atmosphere and can travel thousands of miles before coming back to the ground. Since mercury can travel so far in the atmosphere, it is a state, a national and a global problem. The DNR reports Largemouth Bass, Spotted Bass, Smallmouth Bass, and Walleye over 12 inches, Flathead, Channel, Blue Catfish > 30”. The good news is fish in Missouri that typically have very low mercury, PCB, and chlordane levels are trout, crappie (except those from Clearwater Lake), sunfish (except green sunfish and black bass), and suckers. In addition, smaller or younger fish tend to have lower contaminant concentrations than older fish of the same species because younger fish consume smaller prey and have not lived as long to accumulate as many contaminants.
For more information see the DNR websites: https://dnr.mo.gov/document-search/total-maximum-daily-load-tmdl-streams-mercury-impairment-pub2356/pub2356
Keep sending me information to share with our chapter and enjoying fishing,
Jeff Holzem
MMTU Newsletter Editor
MMTU Advocacy Coordinators
Ozark Council Climate Change Coordinator
NLC Climate Change Workgroup Co-chair
President
Doug Grove
Vice President
Travis Figg
Past President
John Wenzlick
Secretary
Bill Lamberson
Treasurer
Ty Figg
Financial Reviewer
Curt Morgret
At Large Board Members
Lynn Kleopfer, Eric Cunningham
Banquet Chairs
Curt Morgret
Alternative Funding Committee
Chalen Jackson
Education Director
John Wenzlick
Stream Team
John Wenzlick
Membership
Curt Morgret
Conservancy
Bill Lamberson
Conservancy
Sam Potter
e-Newsletter
Jeff Holzem
Web Master
Ty Figg
Facebook editor
Ben Moore
Event Planning
Doug Grove
Advocacy
Jeff Holzem
Diversity
Open