SLIDE SHOWS 2018
Holiday Meeting December 18th Slideshow: George Jacobi - "A Season in the Grand Canyon"

In 2016 George and his wife were Volunteers at Grand Canyon National Park from July to October. His job was to write a blog to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Park Service, which detailed his joyful immersion in the canyon/desert ecosystem.

At the December meeting he read essays and stories from the blog that focus on nature and wildlife, illustrated with a 'slide show' of mostly his own photographs from the 3 ½ month experience. A change of pace for Thames Valley TU, this program was well received by our conservation and outdoor-minded folks.
Novembers meeting featured Paul Dinice and his well known program “Fly Fishing the Cape”. Just as fly fishing is a passion for Paul, so is Cape Cod.  Paul has been visiting and fishing Cape Cod for the past 30 years, from Sandwich to Race Point in P Town.

Paul’s presentation took us on a visual tour of Cape Cod featuring various towns such as Falmouth, Hyanis, Yarmouth, Chatham , Orleans and Province town on the seaward side and Brewster and Dennis on the bayside to name a few.

Many have called Cape Cod one of the best Striped Bass fishing spots in the world. But as Paul emphasized, it’s more than that. Beautiful beaches and sites abound. Paul described, in detail, fly fishing locations, fly patterns, tourist “must see”, restaurants, and places and towns to stay and for those of us with short memories, Paul provided a very comprehensive handout with all the info one would need for a successful fishing trip to the cape.

A good portion of the presentation included photos and stories of the “after fishing” experiences that Paul and his wife had with their friends emphasizing that each trip each trip contained a portion of good friends, good times, and great fishing.

To quote Paul on his Cape Cod fishing experiences: “ It’s about friends and memories”.

November Meeting Recap
"Fly fishing Cape Cod" with Paul Dinice
September 18th Chapter Meeting -
Steve Babbitt - Willimantic TMA
Eight Mile Riverfest- Slide Show
Saturday, October 6th, 2018.

The day was a little chilly and cloudy but there was a nice turnout at the annual EightMile River Fest. TVTU was well represented and our table attracted numerous folks who were interested fishermen or wanted to know more about our organization. We also had some young people who took advantage of the opportunity to learn basic fly casting. 

TVTU 282 Builds and Delivers New Picnic Tables to the Konow Fish Camp

Led by Crew Chief Ray Schaefer and assisted by helpers Gary Lussier and Bruce Danielson, TVTU 282 was able to build and deliver two much needed new picnic tables to the Konow Fish Camp. Just in time for the upcoming campout and Spey casting Clinic.

Just a small token of our appreciation and gratefulness to the Konow Family for their support and use of their camp for many, many years...Thank you, Konow Family!

Slideshow Special
Annual Shetucket River Camp-out and Breakfast - June 1-2

The Annual Shetucket fish, camp and fine dinning event was held at Sandy Beach along the banks of the Shetucket River with 18 members attending. 

This private property was kindly made available by the Konow family.  This was an overnight camp out with a gourmet hotdog cookout on Friday evening and an open air breakfast on Saturday morning. The breakfast included eggs to order, hash browns, sausage, bacon, pancakes, french toast, donuts, coffee, tea and juices. This was all served under the direction of Chapter 282 chefs Jen and Duke Preston.
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Fishing on Friday and Saturday seemed rather slow with most of the catches being small mouth bass, pan fish.and a few trout... of course, we blame the hot & humid conditions!  However, this did not hamper the good spirits of all attending.

After breakfast on Saturday there was a two person team fly casting contest.  One member casting was blindfolded while the other guided them to "catch" a trout and retrieve to hand and then reverse their roles.  The first team to finish was the grand prize winner (two $25 Cabela's gift certificates) and other place winners had choice of TU hats,  fly boxes and flies.  Four teams were awarded prizes.  First place team was Duke & Jen Preston, 2nd place Ray & Jim Schaefer,  3rd place Gary Lussier & Bob Davis, and 4th Jim Valuckus & John Preston.  The fifth place duo of George DeGray & Tim Pindel were awarded ice cold refreshments for their efforts... it was very warm in the sun and they were out there a long time!!!!!!
Friday Camp-out and Cookout
Saturday Breakfast & Team Contest
​TVTU Annual"Flies & Pies" A Great Success

The annual "Flies & Pies" night turned out to be a great success.

Members and guests were were treated to a variety of demonstrations, displays, auctions, raffles and great food. Not to mention, just a great time.

Fly tying tables were manned by tiers ranging in age from very young to not so young.

Bob Walsh and Don Avery displayed their bamboo rod building, rod case, nets and paddle  building skills.

Charilie McCaughtry presented a collection of his well known artwork.

Duke Preston demonstrated how to make a furled leader.

The table that seemed to draw the most attention was the one manned by Jen Preston. The smorgasbord started with a selection of several different types of pizza. Stepping a little further down the table we came to Gary Lussier's beef chili. That went pretty quick. Next we came to a chicken and potato casserole followed by a  periogi  and kielbasa bowl by Jen and Duke. Not to be outdone, Ray Schaffer provided a fine pot of sweet and sour kielbasa.

When the pots were empty, out came the sweets and, as usual, they disappeared  quickly.

The meeting highlight was the auctions and raffles. The amount and diversity of the the items was amazing. Both events resulted in a lot of smiling faces both young and old.