Trout Unlimited and partners receive national award for Musconetcong River restoration.

Brian Cowden, NJ's TU Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative Coordinator just reviled that Trout Unlimited, along with their many talented partners in the Musconetcong River Restoration Partnership, will be receiving the 2012 National Coastal American Partnership Award for "outstanding efforts to restore and protect the coastal environment". This is for work to remove dams and restore fish habitat for native, anadromous fish that move between the ocean, the Delaware River and the Musconetcong River which is NJ's largest tributary to the Delaware River. This award is for everyone that has helped in any way with these various projects. Many thanks to you and all our volunteers for helping make this Partnership a huge success. And we're just getting started in many ways!

May All Your Christmas Dreams & Fishes Come True

Happy Holidays from you friends at Rahway River Trout Unlimited!

New Jersey Trout Angler Survey

The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife is beginning its second phase in seeking angler input on New Jersey trout fishing through the release of an online survey.  Phase one consisted of a recently conducted telephone survey of 1,200 anglers who bought a trout stamp in recent years. If you did not participate in the telephone survey the online survey is your opportunity to provide input to the Division of Fish and Wildlife.

The online survey takes less than 15 minutes to complete and includes questions on species preferences, creel limits, and specific trout stocked waters. Angler responses will help guide future decisions related to trout fishing in New Jersey. The survey is available at https://www.research.net/s/NJFishandWildlife2012troutsurvey .

Thank you in advance for taking the time to provide your input through the survey. Together we can make the future of trout fishing in New Jersey even better!

Time Is Running Out....Get Out & Fish Before It's To Late!

RRTU Welcomes Aaron Jasper on December 19th

Author in American Angler & Fly Tyer magazines, guide, innovative fly tyer, New Jersey's own

 Aaron Jasper will be our guest speaker next week on;

WINTER FISHING PENNSYLVANIA
WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO USE

"Don't think winter is for only tying flies..."

I also have it that he plans on giving up some spots with 20 inch trout.

This is one presentation YOU don't want to miss out on!

What's Happening?

Tyvek Stone Fly Nymph

Hook: Size 6 Nymph/Streamer 2x long
Thread: 6/0 uni Rusty Brown
Underbody: .15 Lead Wire
     (Tie in a strip of wire to both sides of hook shank. This will give the nymph a flat appearance and add bulk to the body)
Tail, Legs, Antennae: Rubber centipede legs
Rib: Silver Wire
Back, Wing Case, Head: Tyvek Paper
        (Cut and tapered into a funnel shape. Back bound down by wire and wing case continued from the back)
Body: Golden Olive or Stone Dubbing
Hackle: Partridge hackle for front legs tied in by the tip (Preen the fibers toward the back)
Coloring: Black, Olive or Orange Permanent Marker's

     This past Monday a small group gathered at the Cranford Community Center for one of the Rahway River Trout Unlimited's  bi-weekly Fly Tying Nights. The pattern chosen was for this fun event was a Rubber Legged Stone Fly Nymph that utilizes an often discarded product called Tyvek. Tyvek is a synthetic "paper" made of non woven fibers of plastic - it's tough, tear resistant  and waterproof. This product is most often used as a vapor barrier for house wrap. You can often find it lying around a construction site when they cut the holes out for the windows. Tyvek is also made into overnight shipping folders or old floppy disk sleeves that you may have around your office. One sheet would last you a lifetime of tying. When dyed with a sharpie or other perminant marker, Tyvek makes a nice waxy looking wing case on any nymph pattern.
      This fly fishes well all year and works well as your top fly in a double fly rig. The weight of the fly gets to the bottom quickly where the fish are feeding and where this bug is actually found. I have not fished this particular pattern yet, but have been told it is the "bread & butter fly" and a must have in every fly box. The rubbery legs give a lot of fish attracting action. 
    The next Fly Tying Night will be held on Monday December 17th at 7:00. The Community Center is located @ 220 Walnut Avenue , Cranford, NJ. Stop on by to tie up something new, watch a video, drink some coffee or just to shoot the breeze with some friends.
       

 

We have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

3rd Annual NJ FLY FISHERMAN of the YEAR November 10th

    

      The crisp day began in the morning mists with check-in, hot coffee, and some rules orientation.  The morning rounds consisted of two fishing sessions and a "bye" cutting the contestants to three for the afternoon finals.  Angelo Conti, Stuart Shaffron, and John Wester battled it out until a few minutes before the bell with ANGELO CONTI taking top honors.  There was a serious amount of talent in the waters of the South Branch for this event.  Thoughtful fly selections, multiple styles and plenty of river stewardship was evident all day long.  The fellowship grew into the evenings banquet and generous amounts of camaraderie.

10 T.U. Chapters and two watershed associations were represented.  The contestants had a terrific time!

•  "Jake" Frank LaMotta - Rahway River T.U.
• Johnny Utah - Ridge and Valley Chapter
• Jeff Kurt - Raritan Valley
• Cliff Behrens - East Jersey T.U.
• Darren Rist - Northern T.U.
• Christina Muller - Ray Nearly T.U.
• Bill Silva - Ken Lockwood T.U.
• Fred Poulle - Raritan Headwaters Watershed Association
• Bob Simpson - Jersey Shore T.U.
• Angelo Conti - Ernest Schweibert T.U.
• John Westor - Central Jersey T.U.
• Stewart Shafron - Musconetcong Watershed Association     
  
  
  
  

Fishing inspite of the looming hurricane

Even Sandy couldn't stop the RRTU monthly Fishing With A Member outing today in the Ken Lockwood Gorge WMA. This 2.5-mile stretch of the South Branch of the Raritan River flows through the gorge, cascading over boulders, spilling over small waterfalls, and pouring into quiet pools. With the wind howling and the leaves blowing, our members still managed to land a few hungry trout on scuds & nymphs. It was a fun morning had by all and we can't wait for next months FWAM, keep posted.....

Just some of the other items in RRTU's clothing line

 

Hoodie

 

Long sleeve tee

 

Polo

 

Sweatshirt

 

All in various sizes and colors

 

http://www.zazzle.com/rrtuchapter/gifts

RRTU Chapter Storefront

   Announcing the all new Rahway River Trout Unlimited storefront to get your chapter t-shirts with printed logo. To purchase your own, please use the link on the sidebar or go directly to www.zazzle.com/rrtuchapter. There you can also find other styles of apparel, bumper stickers and water bottles too. These shirts are printed on demand and usually shipped within one day.

November 2012 General Monthly Meeting

Our next regularly scheduled meeting in November has been moved up one week to Wednesday, November 14, 2012 Cranford Community Center 220 Walnut Ave. at 7:30 PM

Our regularly scheduled meeting date falls on Thanksgiving eve 

it was decided to move it up one week.

Our speaker for the night will be our own George Lechner on 

WILD TROUT OF NEW JERSEY and the LEHIGH VALLEY.

George has his own blog WILD FLY 365

anyone who follows George's blog knows his passion for fishing wild trout.

http://wildfly365.blogspot.com/

Trout in the Classroom

Trout in the Classroom (TIC) is a science based program that teaches children about the importance of cold water conservation through a hands-on approach to learning.

Through the process of raising brook trout from eggs to fingerling, the size they are at release time, students learn about the importance of clean cold water not only for the brook trout they are raising, but also for the other organisms in the stream as well.

Volunteers from RRTU doing their part to keep this program going.

Matt Grobert's October Caddis

Matt always comes up with timely patterns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x11gvBDlfpU

RECIPE
Hook: #8-12 Standard dry fly
Thread: 6/0 Orange
Tail: None
Body: Mixed rusty orange rabbit and zelon (or antron)
Underwing: Amber zelon
Wing: Orange dyed elk body hair
Thorax: Same as body, touch-dubbed (It should seem somewhat heavy when you dub it, but after a cast or two, the loose fibers fall out, leaving a nice, fuzzy, floating thorax.)

 

http://www.caddischronicles.com/

Fly Tying Night October 22, 2012

Twice a month we meet for a fly tying night, there we teach people to tie flies.

 

 

There is always a great deal of comaraderie

 

 

Here Jake teaches RRTU's newest member Lisa how to tie

 

Jason (r) welcomes Sean, who discovered us through Meet Up

 

http://www.meetup.com/rahwayRiverTroutUnlimited/

 

Jake starts Sean off with the basics

 

It is not all instruction, members catch up on filling their fly boxes

 

 

George shows Sal some advance techniques in tying

Everyone gets involved

But again, it is all about getting together and for a relaxing evening together as a chapter

Jake and Vinnie go over the various techniques and strategies of fly fishing

 



RRTU October Meeting - Salmon River Presentation

Christopher Klopsis gave a presentation on fishing the Salmon River, Pulaski, NY

Third Annual New Jersey Fly Fisherman of the Year Fishing Contest will be held at the Raritan Inn Bed & Breakfast - Shannon's Fly and Tackle Shop on Saturday, November 10th, 2012 .

Representing RRTU this year will be Jake LaMotta

Jake was selected by the membership for his hard work and dedication in 2012.

Jake is the coordinator for the chapters Fly Tying Nights, and lead instructor. 

We all wish Jake luck in bring home the prize.


http://www.shannonsflytackle.com/index.html

http://www.raritaninn.com/

NJTU State Council at Raritan River Fest

New Jersey State council of Trout Unlimited was well represented at the recent Raritan River Fest

 Musconetcong Home Rivers Project Coordinator Brian Cowden and Council Chairman Rich Thomas

Rich Thomas tying a fly under the watchful eye of an interested on looker

Very good turn out from the local residents of Raritan, NJ

We even experienced a good size hail storm

The long awaited duck race went off regardless of the rain / hale storm 

RRTU 2013 Meeting Guest Speakers

As a young chapter the difficulties in making ends meet is a challenge. RRTU's largest expense is the guest speakers for our monthly meetings. So in 2013 we are going to try something a little different  we are developing our own in-house speakers.

Looking at our membership we realized that there is a lot of talent just sitting there at each meeting, so why not have our own people step up to the podium and share some of their expertise and experiences.

So this past Wednesday Christopher Klopsis did just that with a very good and informative presentation on fishing the Salmon River in New York.

Next month George Lechner will share his experiences fishing wild trout streams in New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. If you are a follower of his blog you know you will be in for a special treat.

http://wildfly365.blogspot.com/

We are also looking to provide our in-house speakers to other TU chapters in the state at no charge.
We hope this will foster an exchange program where their in-house speakers will come to our meeting and share in the expertise and experiences as well.

RRTU Kids Fishing Derby - Volunteers

The RRTU Kids Fishing Derby wouldn't have been the success without the following volunteers.

RRTU Vice President and Kids Fishing Derby Chairman Dave Licks

RRTU President Greg Sabol

 RRTU Communications Director Chris K. (L)

RRTU Secretary Tom (R)

RRTU Treasurer Chris M.

RRTU Fly Tying Night Coordinators

Jake, Jason, Brain

... and Chuck who volunteers on every project