Meeting Attendees

Mike Beachy - Leonard Gustin - Brandon Rasler

Bob Roth –  Lee Troyer

Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the July meeting were approved.

Fishing Reports

Mike Beachy reported that he caught a 22 1/2 “ brown.

Lee fished last Friday and caught two browns.

Treasurer’s Report

There was no Treasurer’s report as Don Fiwek is in the hospital.

C&R Signs for Solomon Creek

Mike Beachy has the signs ready to install.  Lee will try and help getting this installed.

Indiana on the Fly

Still waiting to hear from Patty Beasley about getting a discount for the show this year.

Youth Education

Scheduled for October.  Waiting to hear from Marc Gantt.

Indiana Fly Casters

Mike will give them a presentation October 13^th.  This is the same evening as our LECTU meeting.  We will decide next month if we want to change our meeting schedule.

Dave Arrington

Dave Arrington will be at our December 8^th meeting.  He is making good progress on the Little Elkhart project and he has received funding for another three years.  He has also completed the invertebrate study and will share it with us.

Neil Ledet

Neil Ledet (DNR Fisheries Biologist) will be at our November 10 meeting.  We will have trout catch data ready for yearly comparison.  We will discuss our stocking program as well as discussing the possibility of the state stocking browns.

Summer Newsletter

We will try and get a summer newsletter out soon.  Items to include are as follows:

September is our annual meeting

Data on catch and release rates

Middlebury Riverfest

Middlebury fishing derby for kids

Hunter safety

Fly of the month – Mike Beachy

Middlebury Fishing Derby

The Middlebury Fishing Derby for kids will be Saturday, August 14 from 9 AM to 11 AM.  Lee, Mike and Brandon will volunteer to help measure fish.  We are to meet at the covered bridge on the Essenhaus property.

Middlebury Parks

Mike spoke with Tom Enright as to discussions at the Middlebury Parks Board meeting.  They discussed the idea that we brought to them about stocking the pond at Riverbend Park for kid’s catch and release fishing.  They were open to the idea.  We will make a point of discussing this with Neil Ledet to determine that if bluegills escape into the Little Elkhart during high water, if there is any negative effect.

Tom Enright also mentioned that there is a group that wants to make the Little Elkhart canoe accessible.

Cabela’s

Steve Mack of the Hammond Cabela’s store assisted us in one of our river clean-up projects.  He stated that Cabela’s is having a family weekend on August 28 and invited LECTU to set up to sell memberships and do a raffle.  Cabela’s can provide raffle items.  This is a high traffic event.  Leonard Gustin will attend and man the table.

River Work Project

We have completed work at four different sites for a total of ten volunteers spending eighty man hours.

Bob Roth reported that he has been approached by an Amish individual about a log jam on Rowe Eden causing flooding on his property.  He is erroneously blaming LECTU because of our catch and release on the Little Elkhart.  Bob will get with him to find out the exact location and see if our chapter can assist with the log jam removal.

Mike stated that there is a log jam by Marilyn Hodgson’s property on Solomon Creek.  We will look at it to see if we can help with that.

New Business

Adopt-A-Trout Raffle rules – This was brought up at last month’s meeting.  Since there was light attendance this month, this will be tabled until next month’s meeting.

September Officer Elections

A slate has been proposed as follows:

President – Mike Beachy

V.P. – Leonard Gustin

Secretary – Lee Troyer

Treasurer – Don Fiwek

3 Year Board Member – Bob Roth

Next Meeting – September 8, 2010 at 7:00 PM at the Middlebury Library

Lee Troyer – Secretary

Meeting Attendees

Mike Beachy - Don Fiwek - Leonard Gustin

Bob Hagin - Jim Phillips - Brandon Rasler

Bob Roth - Tom Taylor - Lee Troyer - Don Bates

Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the June meeting were approved.

Fishing Reports

Mike Beachy reported that he fished CR 10 to CR 35 a couple of weeks ago.  He took a few smallmouth and also a couple of rainbows and one brown in the lower section.  Mike also caught 13 browns last Sunday with one being 20 inches.  They were hitting an olive nymph.

Brandon and Lee both fished yesterday and they each caught one rainbow.

Correspondence

Keith Edwards from Cincinnati inquired about the Little Elkhart and where to fish.  He ended up catching one rainbow and one small brown.

Patty Beasley of Indiana on the Fly also inquired.  Mike steered her to a section of the catch and release.  No report yet.

Treasurer’s Report

Don Fiwek reported our balance at $7,961.73.  He has taken out two CDs.  One is for $3,000 with a 5 year and 11 month term.  The other is for one year at $2,000.

C&R Signs for Solomon Creek

Mike Beachy has the signs ready to install.  He would like some help in getting this completed.

Indiana on the Fly

Mike spoke with Patty Beasley about getting a discount for the show this year, considering we are a non-profit club.  She will get back to us.

Youth Education

Scheduled for October.

Indiana Fly Casters

Mike will give them a presentation October 13^th.  This is the same evening as our LECTU meeting.

Dave Arrington

Mike left a message with Dave Arrington about putting on another program for our chapter at a future meeting.

Middlebury Riverfest

We did receive the two fly casting outfits.  We had a few hoops set up for target casting and a few attendees came over to make some casts.  Attendance was fairly good, considering this was the first year for the event.

Cabela’s Store in Hammond

They have expressed an interest in helping with our river cleanup project.  They will send six workers for the July 31^st. work date.

Dar Geegan Fish Shocking

Dar conducted the fish shocking at the Middlebury River Fest.  A number of species were captured including three brown trout.  Dar has volunteered to do a shocking study for us at no charge.  The members had some reservations as to the effects this could have on the trout.  Dar had indicated that when large browns are shocked, occasional it can have a negative effect.  There have been instances where it broke the spine on the fish.  It was felt that the information gathered by such a study would not add significant data to what we already know and we believe it is not worth the risk.

Catch and Release Maps

Mike provided a detailed map of the catch and release area.  Brandon put it in color.  This will help in discussions when referring to certain parts of the river.

River Work Project

June 19^th, the club removed the log jam on the Little Elkhart at US 20.  July 17^th is another work day.  We will work in the woods from the “tornado bend” and work upstream to the “cut through”.  Mike purchased a come-a-long and some chain to assist us in moving large logs.

New Business

Our three years are up for stocking brown trout into the Little Elkhart.  We will have to re-apply for additional stocking.  A motion was made, seconded and passed that LECTU will pursue efforts to continue our brown trout stocking program into the foreseeable future.

Saturday, August 14^th, will be a kid’s fishing derby at the Essenhaus.  We have been asked to provide volunteers to assist with counting fish caught and measuring the fish.

There was some discussion about stocking the pond at Riverbend Park for kid’s fishing.  There was some concern that the pond could flood and wash these fish into the river.  Tom Enright will bring this up at the Middlebury Park Board meeting.  It was suggested that we send a representative to the Park Board meeting.  Mike will check into it.

There was a discussion held regarding the development of a professional Little Elkhart River habitat restoration plan in cooperation with the Middlebury Parks Department.

Jim Phillips brought up the ethical propriety of LECTU officers and directors winning the raffle for Adopt-A-Trout.

Next Meeting – August 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM at the Middlebury Library

Lee Troyer – Secretary

The focus of the clean up is to open up the main river channel and clean out some of the logjams that impede the flow of the river. The logjam clean out accomplishes several objectives.

By opening the flow of the river, water is allowed to flow more freely. Moving water creates oxygen and prevents warming that occurs when water is backed up. Moving water will help scour the bottom creating more trout habitat. Opening flow through areas help make log jams more fishable by removing snags. The debris that are removed from the log jams are then either discarded up on the bank or rearranged to narrow the river and deflect flow creating more trout habitat. Legally all work has to be done by hand and using hand tools only otherwise permits have to be secured. Many times the logs that require moving are heavy and require several guys to accomplish the task.

We need volunteers to assist in this project. The camaraderie is good and we always have a blast. I would encourage you to come and help out. Bring someone with you especially if they are young and strong. The work may be hard but the rewards can be fulfilling. It is a great way to get to know the river and it’s secret spots. It will make you a better fisherman once you are in tune with the river.

You will need to come ready to get in the water. Waders and bug spray is a must. I would recommend a garden rake, drinking water, rubberized gloves, and long sleeves.

In the event of pouring rain or lightning we will not work on the stream.

Meeting Attendees
Mike Beachy, Don Fiwek, Leonard Gustin, Bill Myers, Penny Myers, Jim Phillips, Brandon Rasler, Tom Taylor, Lee Troyer

Meeting Minutes
The minutes from the May meeting were approved.

Fishing Reports
Brandon passed around a report from our catch rate database for review. There have been additional reports of what appears to be naturally produced browns being catch. Their size is smaller than what the Elkhart Conservation Club is stocking in the stream. The only possible explanation is that we are getting some natural reproduction in the Little Elkhart.

Correspondence
Mike received an email from Andrew Krzysiek of W. Washington University asking about fishing the Little Elkhart. Mike pointed him in the right direction.

Treasurer’s Report
Don Fiwek reported our balance approximately $8,200. He suggested that we put some of this into a CD. We agreed that a $4,000 CD would be appropriate.

C&R Signs for Solomon Creek
Tom Taylor has the signs in his garage ready to install.

Indiana on the Fly
Mike has not heard back on his request for a discount for the show. The show is not until January but we will keep it on the agenda.

Youth Education
Scheduled for October.

Indiana Fly Casters
Scheduled for October.

River Work Project
June 19 we will be working on the log jam at CR 43 and US 20. We will meet at Riverbend Park at 8:00 AM. Mike received approval to purchase a large come-a-long to aid in log repositioning.

Middlebury Riverfest
We have been asked to participate in the Middlebury Riverfest activities at Riverbend Park on June 26. It was suggested that we set up at least a portion of our casting course with some demo fly casting. We could also bring our fly casting training rods. In addition, we were asked if we could do some fly tying demonstrations. Mike suggested that we can also set up a table with our display board and banner for the event.

It was decided to purchase two casting outfits which can be purchased fairly reasonable.

New Business
It was suggested that we get Dave Arrington back for a program to update us on his progress working on the Little Elkhart drainage. This will probably be scheduled for the fall.

Meeting adjourned.

Next Meeting – July 14, 2010 at 7:00 PM at the Middlebury Library
Lee Troyer – Secretary

The focus of the clean up is to open up the main river channel and clean out some of the logjams that impede the flow of the river. The logjam clean out accomplishes several objectives.

By opening the flow of the river, water is allowed to flow more freely. Moving water creates oxygen and prevents warming that occurs when water is backed up. Moving water will help scour the bottom creating more trout habitat. Opening flow through areas help make log jams more fishable by removing snags. The debris that are removed from the log jams are then either discarded up on the bank or rearranged to narrow the river and deflect flow creating more trout habitat. Legally all work has to be done by hand and using hand tools only otherwise permits have to be secured. Many times the logs that require moving are heavy and require several guys to accomplish the task.

We need volunteers to assist in this project. The camaraderie is good and we always have a blast. I would encourage you to come and help out. Bring someone with you especially if they are young and strong. The work may be hard but the rewards can be fulfilling. It is a great way to get to know the river and it’s secret spots. It will make you a better fisherman once you are in tune with the river.

You will need to come ready to get in the water. Waders and bug spray is a must. I would recommend a garden rake and some rubberized gloves.

Mike Beachy called the meeting to order.

Meeting Attendees

Wayne Andrews           Mike Beachy               Don Fiwek                   Michael Flowers

Leonard Gustin            Chris Miller               Jim Phillips             Brandon Rasler

Tom Taylor                             Lee Troyer                Tom Vanderpotten           Adam Wallace

Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the April meeting were approved.

Fishing Reports

Brandon reported that members are logging their catch statistics on the web site.

Catch rates thus far are 2.4 rainbows per hour and 0.5 browns per hour.

Conservation Officer Report:

Mike met the new Conservation Officer for Elkhart County. He stated that they have been active at Solomon Creek checking fishermen but it does not appear they have done a lot of patrolling on the Little Elkhart catch and release section.  Mike invited him to our chapter meeting, but they did not attend this month.

It was mentioned that the signs on Solomon Creek are no longer there.  It was decided that we would put two signs at the CR33 bridge like the signs we have on the Little Elkhart.  Sign costs for the Little Elkhart were $80 each.

Treasurer’s Report

Don Fiwek reported our balance at $8,529.53. The outing was a success financially.  The income/expense numbers were as follows:

· Lunch $210 income $139.69 expense $70.31 net (Have not paid for the brats yet)

· Pick Raffle $670 income $0 expense $670 net

· Adopt-A-Trout $2,070 income $522.91 expense $1,547 net

· Merchandise $565 income $0 expense $565 net Total net $3,122

Spring Outing Recap

There were 46 attendance cards filled out.  There were a few that did not fill out a card.  It was estimated that 50 were in attendance.

· There was good attendance at the European nymphing techniques program by Jeff Stanifer.

· Chris Miller stated that he gave stream tours to 30 individuals.

· Mike Beachy reported that only 4 individuals took part in the guided fishing. We may discontinue this for next year.

· Lee Troyer reported that 8 individuals went through the casting course.

Overall it was a successful outing.

It was suggested that next year we may want to have several more items in the Adopt-A-Trout raffle.

Stocking Report

The trout arrived Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 PM and were stocked in the Little Elkhart.  We stocked 100 at CR43, 200 in the meadows and 200 in the woods on Judy’s property.  The trout were in good shape.  We ended up getting 8 – 10 inch browns.  Total cost was $1,982.  Cost per fish was $2.65.  In addition, we were charged mileage for 330 miles at $1.75 per mile.

Don Fiwek asked if we would be able to order two different fish sizes in the same load and he said that we would be able to in the future.

Communications

Rather than send out a newsletter right away, it was decided that Brandon would email a notification for the upcoming stream work days, the first of which is June 19.

River Work

There was a discussion about where we wanted to work on the stream at our June work session.  One suggestion was to work on the log jam that is just north of the US 20 bridge where it crosses the Little Elkhart.

There was some discussion as to what is required for more permanent restoration activities, such as bringing in rip-rap and installing lunker structures.  It was assumed that we would need to get a permit for this type of activity.  More research is needed to determine the feasibility for this.

Casting at the Cove

Tim Scott of SJRVFF asked Mike Beachy if LECTU was interested in having a booth at the Silver Hawks ball park for the Casting at the Cove evening.  Some discussion followed but there was not enough interest at this time.

Indiana on the Fly

The event will be in Indianapolis on Saturday, January 8, 2011.  There was a discussion whether we should participate again this year.  We did make a lot of good contacts last year.  In addition, we sold 50 adopt-a-trout tickets last year.  The fee is $200 for the booth.  Mike Beachy will see if he can get the fee reduced because of our non-profit status.

Youth Education

The plans are to work with the 4-H fishing club in October.  Charlie Ray plans to assist us in this.  He has a lot of experience in youth education as related to fly fishing.

Indiana Flycasters

Indiana Flycasters wants us to put on a program at their meeting in October.

New Business

Leave No Trace is willing to put on a program for our chapter.  This is about minimizing your impact in the environment, taking out what to pack in, etc.

River Bend Park

It was suggested that we look stocking the pond at River Bend Park in Middlebury with bluegills, primarily for kids fishing.  Some research would need to be done to determine what is involved.

Meeting adjourned.

Next Meeting – June 9, 2010 at 7:00 PM at the Middlebury Library

Lee Troyer – Secretary

This year we are attempting to report all catch rates on our LECTU.org web site. This is the vital information we need.

-How many hours did you fish?
-How many rainbow trout did you catch?
-How many brown trout did you catch?
-Were you fishing inside the catch and release section?
-Were you satisfied with your fishing experience?

These statistics are very important if we want to continue our brown trout stocking program or if we ever wish to expand areas of catch and release protected fishing. Please help us keep a running record no matter if it was a great outing or just a mediocre one they all are important in the overall scheme of things.

To report your catch please click here or on the link on the LECTU homepage.

I have decided to do a bluegill fly for this month.  The weather is getting warmer and the bluegill action will pick up as the water warms.  I admit that I prefer to catch bluegills on top with poppers and spiders, but there are some days where they are not inclined to hit a surface fly.

An excellent fly on those occasions is the Fish Slayer.  This fly was developed by Dick Koch who works part time at Lunkers and also belongs to SJRVFF.  The name of the fly comes as compliments of Billy Vale, also a member of SJRVFF.  Dick had given Billy some of these flies and apparently Billy had success with them, thus the name.

This is a very easy fly to tie and you can easily tie a dozen in less than one hour.

Recipe:

Hook: TMC 2488 size 12

Thread: Uni-Thread 8/0 (Gray or Olive)

Eyes: Spirit River Dazl-Eyes 1/8” Black

Wing: Blood Quill Marabou (Gray or Olive)

Dubbing: Antron Blend (Gray or Olive)

Colors: The fly is tied in either gray or olive (Select materials to match)  The fly in the pictures is gray.

Tying Instructions:

Start the thread onto the hook at the eye, wrap to hook bend and then bring thread to just in front of the hook point.
	Tie in the Dazl-Eyes on top of shank at this point. This will leave enough room so you don’t crowd the hook eye later on. You can apply some Zap-A-Gap at this point to keep the eyes in place.
Prepare a marabou feather by stripping away some of the feather fibers from the stem. You want to have a wing that is on the sparse side.
	Tie in the marabou as the wing behind the Dazl-Eyes, then bring the marabou over the top of the Dazl-Eyes and tie it down in front of the Dazy-Eyes.
Trim the excess marabou and bring the thread behind the Dazl-Eyes. Make a dubbing rope on the thread.
	Wrap a dubbing collar behind the eyes, criss-cross over the top of the eyes and finish with a small amount of dubbing for the nose of the fly. Whip finish and you are done.

Meeting Minutes – April 14, 2010

Mike Beachy called the meeting to order.

Meeting Attendees

Mike Beachy

Don Fiwek

Michael Flowers

Mike Gibbs

Leonard Gustin

Bob Hagin

Chris Miller

Bill Myers

Brandon Rasler

Bob Roth

Lee Troyer

Charlie Ray

Keith Loutzenhiser

Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the March meeting were approved.

Fishing Reports

March 20 – Mike Beachy caught 4 rainbows.

March 21 – Mike Beachy caught 8 browns and 1 rainbow.

April 6 – Lee & Sandy Troyer caught 2 rainbows and 1 brown.

April 13 – Leonard Gustin caught 2 browns

Wayne Andrews caught 1 brown and 1 rainbow

Treasurer’s Report

Don Fiwek reported our balance at $7,880.77.  There are no payables outstanding.  Adopt-A-Trout ticket sales thus far are $478 in excess of the associated expenses.

Stream Improvement

On March 27, volunteers moved a large tree on the Oesch property in order to function as a wing dam.  This stretch has a lot of siltation.  This has resulted in the silt being washed away down to gravel in this area.

Casting for Recovery

A motion was made to donate $250 to Casting for Recovery.  The motion was seconded and passed.  Don Fiwek will handle the donation.

Youth Education

Mike Beachy has been in contact with Marc Gant of the 4-H fishing club.  Their club meets the first Tuesday of each month.  We will work with them to introduce them to fly fishing at their October 5^th meeting.  It is estimated that 20 youths would participate.

Charlie Ray was in attendance and he does extensive work with youth groups introducing them to fly fishing.  His programs are through the Plymouth Park Dept and the Culver Summer Camp.

Charlie suggested that with 20 participants, it would work best if 4 or 5 stations could be set up.  Participants then could be divided into groups of 4 or 5 and then rotate through the stations.  This will allow more personal attention to the participants.  The stations could be fly casting, fly tying, entomology, stewardship, essential knots, … as examples.

Brandon reported that there will be another fishing derby for youths at the Essenhaus ponds this summer (August timeframe). Tom Enright has asked if our TU Chapter wanted to participate and possibly put on a fly casting demonstration.

Communications

The newsletter will go to press tomorrow.  Brandon suggested that we establish stream improvement work dates so that he can include them in the newsletter.  Mike Beachy will get him those dates.

SJRVFF Tie-A-Thon

Brandon Rasler and Lee Troyer represented LECTU at the fourth annual Tie-A-Thon on April 3^rd.  Mike Beachy also donated flies but was not able to attend.  This year there were 7,000 flies tied by volunteers bringing the 4 year total to 20,000 flies.  This year the flies will go to the Kalamazoo Valley TU Youth Camp as well as Reel and Heal.

Next year the flies will be donated to Project Healing Waters.

Adopt-A-Trout Raffle

Ticket sales have been good, thanks to the members who have been selling them.  We are over $400 ahead of expenses.  Everyone is encouraged to continue to sell tickets over the next two weeks.

Brown Trout Stocking

The stocking permit from the DNR has arrived.  The letter certifying that the trout are disease free is in the mail.  Once we receive that, we will forward it to the DNR.  The Crystal Springs hatchery can deliver the trout for stocking the second week of May.  Mike Beachy will get an exact date from them.  Chris Miller will coordinate the stocking.  Volunteers are Leonard, Chris, Lee, Bill Myers and Bob Roth.

Lee will contact Sam Hoover to get permission to access the stream across his farm property.

Annual Spring Outing

The Annual Spring Outing will be held at RiverBend Park on May 1^st.  Volunteers need to arrive by 8:00 AM sharp to help set up.  Mike reviewed activities, duties and supplies needed.  Assignments are as follows:

Greeting and Sign-In table – Bill Myers, Leonard Gustin and Don Fiwek

Purchase Food – Mike Beachy

Food Cooking & Service – Bill Myers and Bob Roth

Slide Show – Brandon Rasler

Fly Tying – Tom Park of GO-2-Flies

Fishing Guides – Mike Beachy

Access Tour – Chris Miller

European Nymphing demonstration – Jeff Stanifer

Casting Course – Lee Troyer

Apparel – Don Fiwek

DNR Officer Patrol

Lee Troyer will contact the DNR to request a Conservation Officer to patrol the catch and release area on opening day.

Creel Reporting Process

Mike Beachy stated that we should track our fishing catch rate again this year so that we have the statistical database for future reference.  Brandon Rasler will construct a link on our web site so members can post their statistics.  The reporting process will include hours fished, # rainbows caught, # browns caught, C&R Y/N, and an experience rating.

Meeting adjourned.

Next Meeting – May 12, 2010 at 7:00 PM at the Middlebury Library

Lee Troyer – Secretary