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Click Facebook ICON in upper right hand corner of any website page New (4/14) - World Fish Migration Day celecration. See below.
New (4/13) - April issue of "Stream Lines". See Newsletter Page New(4/13) - Spey Casting Clinic May 12th. See this Page New (4/12) - Hearing & Vote on the State Water Plan is Scheduled for Next Week. See Below New (4/9) - Chapter Meeting Program Change. Please see this page New (4/3) - Roaring Brook Water Quality See this Page. New (4/3) - Latest Issue of "On the Rise" Newsletter from TU's Diversity Initiative. See homepage. New (3/1) - Isonychia Emerger. See Fly Tying page New (2/27) - $5 Trout Stamp Approved! See this page World Fish Migration Day Celebration April 21, 2018
FirstLight's Inaugural Run and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the Scotland Fish Lift on World Fish Migration Day!
By invitation only the Thames Valley TU will be sending a representative to the presentation and ribbon cutting ceremony of the Scotland Dam Fish Lift featuring Robert Klee, Commissioner, CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. World Fish Migration Day Celebration: For all our efforts and support in improving fish passage in this watershed, we have also received an invitation for the chapter and its members to visit FirstLight’s fish passage facilities at Taftville and Tunnel Generating Stations, also scheduled for April 21, 2018. These facilities will be open to the public from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. With the opening of the Scotland Fish Passage, all of FirstLight’s Fish Passage facilities are in operation throughout the Shetucket and Quinebaug Rivers. We are excited to offer the public a unique opportunity to see and visit two of our stations. More information will be provide at out April 16 Chapter meeting The following is from River Alliance of CT:
YOUR COMMENTS ARE NEEDED! Hearing & Vote on the State Water Plan is Scheduled for Next Week Signs of spring: those peepers, thousands of tiny ants, and public hearings in Hartford. Next Tuesday, April 17, the state comprehensive Water Plan (under development by the state Water Planning Council since 2016) will go to a joint public hearing of four legislative committees. The time is 11 am to 4 pm. The place is the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Avenue. If you can attend wonderful. If you will testify, more wonderful (the limit is 3 minutes, but you can bring written remarks -- officials are requesting 30 copies). You can also email testimony to phtestimony@cga.ct.gov -- they are setting a deadline of 2 pm tomorrow (Friday the 13th). A deadline this early is unusual. We are asking that the Plan be approved as presented without changes. We are asking you to support that position. Any change will require a return of the Plan to the Water Planning Council for another year. The Plan is the consensus result of hundreds of long, tedious hours of deliberation and negotiation among many dozens of stakeholders -- including the most important stakeholder of all, the public. The cost in consultants, presentations around the state, and other necessary expenditures has been approximately $1 million. We do not believe that attempting to put in another round of negotiation will bring any improvement. It risks that the Plant will languish, uselessly. The Plan is the best platform we have at this time to move forward to improve water management for the public good. It’s a low platform, but does get us one step off the ground. The main goal of Rivers Alliance for sustainable water stewardship is that it should no longer be legal in Connecticut to pump a stream dry. The Plan doesn’t make this statement, and doesn’t make any actionable recommendations. But it does acknowledge that this kind of use of a stream may deserve scrutiny going forward. In general, the Plan’s best feature is that it does identify in one document the key problems with existing water policy and many of the proposed ideas for better management. That is new. The Plan states in the Executive Summary that water is a public trust resource under state law. This has been the law for more than 40 years, and, of course, the public trust doctrine underlies the state’s authority to manage water for the public good, for example, in periods of drought. Nevertheless, the Connecticut Works Association has led a vigorous opposition to inclusion of the acknowledgement of the public trust law in the Executive Summary. Water companies feel it might be used to call into question their business practices. Many of you have already written the Water Planning Council and legislators in support of the public trust in water. Thank you. Rivers Alliance opposes any change in the present language of the Plan, especially the language on public trust (even if this means the Plan does not pass this year). We will be pleased to answer any question at all related to the Water Plan and the hearing. Contact us at rivers@riversalliance.org or 860-361-9349. We will post our own testimony on our website tomorrow. (It won’t be lengthy.) Here follows the official announcement of the hearing. It includes links to the Plan. See also our website: www.riversalliance.org. PUBLIC NOTICE The Public Health Committee, Energy and Technology Committee, Environment Committee, and Planning and Development Committee will hold a joint public hearing on the Connecticut State Water Plan on Tuesday, April 17, 2018, from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. in Room 2C of the LOB. The Committees are accepting electronic testimony via email at phtestimony@cga.ct.gov. Please submit electronic testimony in Word or PDF format no later than 2:00 P.M. on Friday, April 13, 2018. If you are unable to submit electronic testimony, please submit 30 copies of your written testimony no later than 9:30 A.M. on Tuesday, April 17, 2018 in Room 3000 of the LOB. Testimony submitted after the deadline will be made available to legislators after the hearing. Sign-up for the hearing begins at 9:00 A.M. in the First Floor Atrium of the LOB. The first hour of the hearing is reserved for Legislators, Constitutional Officers, State Agency Heads and Chief Elected Municipal Officials. Speakers will be limited to three minutes of testimony. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing with the Committees. 
Thames Valley TU Chapter Fund Raising Raffle 2018
Only 50 tickets to be sold. $15 ticket Cabela's Theorem Fly Rod and Ross Evolution LT Fly Reel Outfit (Value $655) Cabela's Theorem Fly Rod (9ft, 4pc, 5wt) - With Generation-II nano-silica resin and a high-modulus graphite blank, Cabela's Theorem Fly Rod produces the accuracy, distance and sensitivity you need to help solve the fly-fishing equation. Four-piece high-modulus graphite blank features lightweight, corrosion-resistant REC recoil guides that always return to their original shape. Tapers increase feel yet recover quickly for exceptional accuracy. Burl-wood reel seat with high-polish aluminum hardware and a modified western cork handle. Rod case & Lifetime Guarantee Ross Evolution LT® Fly Reel #2 (4-6 wt/4.2oz) - Conical drag eliminates start-up friction; Heat-dissipating Delrin 500AF drag material; Triple-redundant radial pawl engagement; Aluminum-alloy construction; Quick-release locking spool; Oil-impregnated bronze bushing; Stainless steel spindle; Easily converts for right or left-hand retrieves; Quick-release locking spool. Rated for freshwater or saltwater duty. Manufacturer's lifetime warranty. Made in USA. Includes: Cortland Precision Finesse WF5F Fly Line Thames Valley TU is continually working on our Mission of conserving, protecting and restoring our cold-water fisheries in the Eastern CT. This takes a lot of resources... man-hours and money. Please help us raise funds for current and future projects Raffle tickets are only $15 each. The drawing will be held once we have sold 50 tickets. You do not have to be present to win. Tickets are available at our monthly meetings and through the Chapter's Board of Directors members. Or, send a check payable (with name, address & phone#) to: Thames Valley TU Chapter 282, P.O. Box 211, Hanover, CT 06350. A ticket will be mailed back to you and recorded. Thank You for your Support... 
Free Family Membership Upgrade Extended
We are pleased to launch a new Free Family Membership Upgrade offer to any existing Trout Unlimited member -- for a limited time only! By signing up and adding the names and information for the family members living in your household at www.tu.org/familymembership, you will enjoy the benefits of a TU family membership for the duration of your regular membership for free. These benefits include: • Ensuring your family members feel that great sense of belonging to the nation’s leading trout and salmon conservation organization. • Additional family members can expect to receive communications and invitations to local, statewide and national events and activities, like for example one of our dozens of chapter-hosted women's specific fly fishing seminars or youth fishing days. • A complimentary copy of Stream Explorers magazine for any youth under age 12. All members of your household will be able to create a unique member profile on www.tu.org to engage in our online community, join discussion groups, access member-only content such as the digital version of Trout Magazine and more… |
Spey Casting Clinic w/ Bill Keister
When: May 12th 9:30 am-12:30 pm - Inclement weather date: May 13th Where: Sandy Beach (Konow’s Trout & Salmon Camp), Shetucket River, Sprague, CT Cost: Only $15 - includes lunch (outdoors & sheltered) Bill Keister a Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) certified Master Casting Instructor (MCI) will provide “words of wisdom” and a brief overview of Spey casting (single or two handed); ask for your clinic expectations; and followed with a demonstration. This is a hands-on clinic with plenty of time on the water with individual instruction and help as required. The clinic will be limited to 15 participants. It is not necessary to have a two-handed rod, but if you have one, please bring it. All you need is a regular single hand fly rod equipped with a double tapered fly line to learn to Spey cast. There will be a limited number of two-hand rods available to try. Lunch will be served (approx. 12:30pm) and there will be more time after lunch for additional practice. Here is a video from Rio on how to make a single hand spey cast to perk your interest. Also visit our Fly Fishing 101 page for more fly fishing information. Contact John Preston to enroll or for more information. 
Willington Conservation Commission Concerned About Potential Impact to the Water Quality of Roaring Brook
There has been a flood of concern on the application of Love’s Truck Stop & Country Store for a permit to discharge wastewaters from a sewage treatment and subsurface disposal system in Willington. Charley McCaughtry and Mike Carl forwarded us the following information from Kathy Demers of the Willington Conservation Commission: Love's Travel Stop is proposing to construct a Travel/Truck Stop and Restaurant off exit 71 of RT 84 on Polster Road in Willington. The 40 acre property contains portions of Roaring Brook, two wetlands that drain directly into Roaring Brook and several other wetlands that function as vernal pools. As you are aware, Roaring Brook is designated as a Class 3 Wild Trout Management Area and is habitat for brook and brown trout (naturally reproducing and stocked). Love's did receive approval from Willington's Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission (IWWC) in 2012 and from Willington's Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) in 2013 with some conditions in order to minimize risks to Roaring Brook and the wetlands. At that time, their plans for their septic system were not complete. Now they are applying to CT's Dept of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) for a permit to install and operate a Subsurface Waste Water Absorption System (Commercial-size Septic System - average 6000 gallons/day and max 9000 gallons/day) to accommodate their proposed facility. The mounded leaching field system (120 feet wide x 140 feet length) is located approximately 120 feet from Wetland "H" which functions as a tributary to Roaring Brook. In 2013, the cold waters of Wetland "H" tributary were documented by Brian Murphy, DEEP fishery staff, to contain native brook trout fry. (I have attached a copy of Brian's 2013 report and comments to our PZC about the proposed development). The site disturbance and clearing needed to construct and maintain the leaching field will come within 20 feet of Wetland H. From that edge of Wetland H, it is less than 500 feet to where it runs into Roaring Brook. Our Conservation Commission has ongoing concerns about this project's potential impact to the water quality and temperature in Wetland H and Roaring Brook, which could reduce their capacity to support sensitive aquatic life and threaten their function as a cold water fishery. We intend to provide comments of concern at the Public Hearing on April 24th. Here is link to DEEP's Public Hearing Process and Schedule http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?A=2586&Q=601134 I have summarized the dates here: 1) Public Site Walk on Monday April 23rd, beginning 10:00 AM about 0.2 miles from 3 Polster Road in Willington (on left side). 2) Public Hearing on Tuesday, April 24th at the Willington Public Library (7 Ruby Road / Corner of RT 74 and RT 320). Community Room opens at 5:30 pm for public to view exhibits and talk to DEEP and Love's Travel Stop representatives. Staff presentation and Public comments and questions begin at 6:00 pm. 3) The public can also send letters directly to DEEP's Hearing Officer with their comments, concerns and questions…Deadline is May 4th. (Go to http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?A=2586&Q=601134 for email or mailing address info). Thanks for your interest and help getting the word out to other folks about the Public Hearing. For more information on this issue visit our Facebook page. And, stay tuned for more information & discussion at our April Chapter meeting & newsletter. $5 Trout Stamp Approved
Revised fishing regulations, including a single, combined trout and salmon stamp, as well as changes to Trout Management Area rules on the Mill River in Fairfield and Easton, were approved Tuesday, Feb. 27, by the the state’s Regulations Review Committee. The regulations will become effective after they are posted on the secretary of the state’s website. The initial proposal called for separate trout and salmon stamps that could be purchased individually or in combination. That proposal was replaced by one mandating a single stamp called a trout stamp for trout and salmon, at a cost of $5; that was sent back for revision, resulting in the now-approved trout and salmon stamp. A $5 trout and salmon stamp is required for any angler 16 years of age and older fishing in a Trout Management Area (TMA), Wild Trout Management Area (WTMA), Trout Park, or Atlantic Salmon Broodstock Area; or keeping trout, Kokanee salmon or broodstock Atlantic salmon anywhere statewide. Those who have already purchased a 2018 fishing license must purchase the trout stamp once the regulation becomes available. Click here for FAQs about the trout and salmon stamp. Alexander Lake in Killingly is open to fishing year-round. Baldwins Pond in Meriden and Green Falls Reservoir in Voluntown are open to fishing from 6 a.m. Opening Day through the last day of February. Tenkara fishing, a traditional Japanese method of fly-fishing without a reel, is now allowed in fly fishing areas. The period when broodstock salmon gear restriction applies to all species in broodstock areas is now from Sept. 1 to March 31 (inclusive). Diversity Initiative Newsletter Features Ways to Connect to More Diverse Communities
TU's Women's Initiative was launched in 2011 to address the concern that only six percent of all TU members were women, while at the same time women made up 36 percent of all anglers in the U.S.
In 2016, the initiative was renamed the Diversity Initiative in recognition that the successes of the past five years in recruiting and engaging female members and leaders could translate to similar growth in other demographic areas of our membership. At the same time, we celebrated an increase in female engagement in TU as members, and a significant growth in the number of female leaders at the chapter and council level! The Spring edition of the Diversity Initiative Newsletter "On the Rise" is designed to share the best practices and lessons learned by your fellow volunteers in recruiting, retaining and engaging a diverse range of members in TU and in leadership roles. In this issue, you'll find articles on:
WHY EVERYONE SHOULD JOIN TROUT UNLIMITED
Hank Patterson explains why... 
Don't be like these guys! Join Thames Valley TU Chapter for a special introductory rate of $17.50... half the normal membership price! Click - Join TVTU Be sure to select the "Thames Valley" Chapter 282 when signing up online. |
Welcome!
Thames Valley TU Chapter's Mission: To conserve, protect and restore Eastern Connecticut's trout and salmon and their watersheds.
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