Michigan TU Chapter Updates

by Joe Barker

Adams Chapter

Like most chapters across the country, 2020 was a challenging year for the Adams Chapter. Before the first lockdown, the Chapter engaged members in a youth and community fly tying day in February 2020. In addition, the Chapter engaged in an outreach effort in the greater angling community of Traverse City by having a presence at the city’s 2020 Fly Fishing Film Festival.

As spring rolled in and restrictions came into effect, virtually all of the Chapter’s activities and projects were canceled. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, its conservation work continued through planning and partnership to remediate an old instream sand trap site on the North Branch of the Boardman River (shown above). Restoration work on this site will commence in 2021. Summer 2020 on the Boardman River brought the discovery of a population of rainbow trout prevalent throughout the section upstream of the Union Street Dam. Plans to study and calculate the presence of this population are slated as a top priority for 2021. Fall brought the Chapter back together (at safe distances) to plant over sixty trees and over one hundred live willow stakes along a stretch under restoration after removing the Sabin Dam.

Pine River Chapter

The Pine River Chapter has a tree-planting project in the works for the banks of Cole Creek, a tributary of the Manistee River, where a road has been closed because of removing a failed culvert. The planting is for bank stabilization. Seedlings will include dogwood and cedar, along with ninebark, an upright, spreading, dense shrub with arching branches reaching six to ten feet tall and wide. This spring’s seedling planting project will involve TU volunteers and thirty to forty high school students from the Agriscience and Natural Resources class of Wexford/Missaukee Career Technical Center. The class instructor, Mark Johnson, is the Chapter’s vice-president.

The Chapter’s Silver Creek project, a tributary of the Pine River, has been delayed with design changes regarding multi-bank stabilization on state land. The design modifications still need approval from the state before work can begin. The groundwork for the project should start sometime in mid-February to March. This first stage of the three to four-year bank restoration project will be assisted by multiple partners, including the MDNR Recreation Improvement Fund, Pine River Watershed Enhancement Fund, Pine River Association, Lake County Community Foundation, Trout and Salmon Foundation, Michigan Fly Fishing Club, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and Challenge Chapter of TU.

The Pine River Area Chapter has canceled its spring banquet for 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The May banquets usually host 125-175 people and serve as fundraisers for youth programs, conservation work, and adult programs. A 2022 banquet is being planned.

Mason-Griffith Founders Chapter

The East Branch Au Sable River below the fish hatchery in Grayling has been informally known as a “Kids Only” fishing area for decades. A project is coming together to restore instream fish habitat and promote access to this part of the river for family fishing in an easygoing, less technical environment. Part of the plan is to develop a nature trail system for hiking. The MasonGriffith Founders Chapter is working with riparian landowners, including Crawford County, the City of Grayling, Crawford Au Sable Schools, and Munson Healthcare, as part of a county recreational plan.

The plan aims to improve stream conditions and ultimately showcase the trout angling opportunities in the East Branch from the Grayling Fish Hatchery to the confluence with the mainstream, ultimately making the river available to all anglers from novices to veterans of fishing. This effort is inspired by the city of Grayling’s Community Park, Recreation, Open Space, and Greenway Plan, which states: “The Au Sable River forms the backbone of the community’s greenway system. The river is a nationally recognized recreational asset. The creation of linear parkways and trails along the Au Sable presents opportunities to connect parks, schools, institutional facilities, residential areas and the downtown. Natural areas within the City offer a close-by escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life, where residents can enjoy the beauty of nature, mixed with the sounds of birds and running water.”

Charles Fellows Chapter

Over the past several years, the Charles Fellows Chapter’s focus has moved toward improving youth outreach. They continue to focus on their bi-annual F.A.M. Fishing Camp, a full scholarship two-and-a-half-day event for a youth and a parent/guardian to spend time together to learn about local watersheds, rivers, and conservation and to spend quality time together on the water. The Chapter decided it was important to create time for family bonding, knowing most youths need an adult with them while fishing. The Chapter’s next camp is slated for June 2022.

The Chapter has also made an effort to sponsor more Salmon in the Classroom programs. This program has created some great relationships between the Chapter and some local schools and teachers. The Salmon in the Classroom program can be a time-consuming program for teachers to take on, but teachers that enjoy it have made a perennial commitment. This year a program began at Rolland-Warner Middle School in Lapeer, where the Chapter is sponsoring three tanks. The Chapter also supports a tank at Grand Blanc East Middle School where, despite remote learning, the program is up and running, and the teacher is integrating the salmon into his remote learning lessons. The Chapter purchased all the expendable tank supplies for the programs and plans to attend a fish release in May. In the warmer months of spring, the Chapter is developing plans to cooperate with other chapters to support conservation efforts.

Miller-Van Winkle Chapter

Though the ongoing pandemic has made such events more

challenging, in early August 2020, members of the MillerVan Winkle Chapter in Emmet and Charlevoix counties, working with the staff at the Bay Harbor Yacht Club Youth Camp, provided young campers a day-long lesson in flyfishing basics.

Campers learned fundamentals such as introductory casting mechanics and simple fly selection. The event, possible through several chapter members’ participation, culminated with the young anglers practicing their new techniques in nearby Little Traverse Bay. MVWTU provided the instruction and the rods that campers used that day and through the rest of their camp season. The Chapter actively promotes youth participation in angling, and all proceeds from this annual event go to benefit those efforts.

MVWTU provides rod and reel combos through the Petoskey District Library as well, offering loaners to interested newcomers who participate in any of the Chapter’s sponsored clinics throughout the year. This past year proved particularly challenging for additional clinics, but the Chapter plans to restart these clinics in 2021, whenever possible.

In addition to the Bay Harbor Youth Camp event, another major project for MVWTU involved continued work with Michigan Council TU Aquatic Ecologist Kristin Thomas and others to monitor water temperatures on the Maple River in northern Emmet County. Temperatures and sediment levels on the river are of greater interest since removing the Lake Kathleen Dam in 2018. The Chapter is hopeful they can soon restart other popular efforts, such as the weekly Tie One On fly-tying nights.

Clinton Valley Chapter

Members of the Clinton Valley Chapter were kept busy in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chapter hosted monthly socially distanced fishing outings and river clean-ups monthly throughout the spring, summer, and fall. In June 2020, the Chapter hosted their first “CVTU Veterans Outing” at the Pere Marquette Lodge in Baldwin. In late September, members teamed up with the Clinton River Watershed Council (CRWC) and the Vanguard Chapter to remove large woody debris on Paint Creek near Yates Cider Mill in Rochester Hills.

With the pandemic not entirely in the rearview mirror, CVTU has been busy at the start of 2021. Members elected a new slate of board members and have monthly online Zoom confluence (chapter) meetings. In January, they hosted two outdoor activities: a conservation project recon day and the CRWC Stonefly search. The Chapter is finalizing their spring/summer/fall conservation projects. Unfortunately, they had to cancel their annual spring banquet dinner and are holding an online month-long raffle to raise annual conservation/education funds. If current conditions improve, CVTU will host a small youth fly fishing school for Salmon in the Classroom students this spring. They also hope to host the annual Wa Wa Sum outing on the “Holy Waters” of the Au Sable River if Michigan State University opens the facility. Lastly, the Chapter plans to host their second annual Veterans Outing this spring/summer in the Grayling area.

Challenge Chapter

The Challenge Chapter has revised its Manistee River guide. The Chapter’s “Classic Trout Water of the Manistee River Guide” originated in the late 70s and contained an emergence schedule of forty-five mayflies, caddisflies, and terrestrial insects, two detailed 9” x 9” maps of Kalkaska and Crawford Counties, and other general fishing information. The first revision of the guide added color photographs and significantly more detailed access sites and directions. The most dramatic change in this third edition is the cover. While the new edition’s format isn’t remarkably different from previously, graphics and photos are sharper, type neater, and maps cleaner.

The lack of a chapter logo became a recent discussion topic to have a graphic that visually identified the Challenge Chapter on its publications and elsewhere. Individual Chapter members shared their thought and ideas, and in a short time, an extensive and diverse sampling was accumulated. Professional help in the form of a member’s son with a degree in Industrial Design/Graphics, and a TU Life Member, synthesized several initial concepts, which helped narrow things down to a couple of designs for further development. That led to the Chapter’s new logo, which will be embroidered onto fishing shirts for members and will be utilized for the Chapter letterhead, patches, decals, and hats.

Kalamazoo Valley Chapter

The Tie-A-Thon, started by Terry Wittorp and Tim Scott in 2006, had the goal of providing flies for the Michigan Youth Trout Camp. There were around 2,000 flies tied that year. It was then decided to see if other groups could use flies. The amount has grown from a couple thousand to 20,000 flies last year. Many groups, including several years of the Michigan Youth Trout Camp, have benefited from the flies over the years. The Kalamazoo Valley Chapter has provided donations to help with expenses, such as t-shirts for those that turn in flies. To date over 150,000 flies have been donated.

KVCTU members have participated since the first year. Don Squires is one such member and will be providing flies for this fifteenth year. He has been tying size 16 Elk Hair Caddis. Leroy Heikes is another member who started participating in 2016. He was new to fly tying at the time, and attending the Tie-A-Thon, provided 100 woolly buggers by the end of the day. For Leroy, learning new flies and getting other people involved with fly fishing through various organizations keeps him interested.

The St. Joe River Valley Fly Fishers Club, which hosts the event at the Elkhart Conservation Club in Indiana, is welcoming and genuinely appreciative of everyone’s tying efforts, as are the groups that receive the flies.