SWTU, P.O. Box 45555, Madison, WI 53744-5555 president@swtu.org

Learn What Your Board’s Been Up To

Minutes from SWTU Board of Director meetings can be viewed in this Google Drive. If you have questions on what you read in them, reach out to one of the Board members listed on the last page of each newsletter. (Note that you may need to click the “Last Modified” header at the top to sort the list with the latest minutes at the top.)

And also … in addition to the article on Improving Streams and Rivers in SW Wisconsin, your Board also took steps to sponsor Grayson Yerges and Tristram Morris at this year’s State TU Youth Camp, the first camp since the onset of COVID. By all accounts the kids and instructors enjoyed the experience. We hope Grayson and Tristram continue to enjoy trout fishing and TU activities. If you know a child who’d enjoy the TU Youth Camp experience, keep an eye out for the notice next spring. SWTU tries to sponsor two kids every summer and we want to hear from anyone who wants to attend.

Two Great Women’s Flyfishing Updates

(Building on the success shared in last month’s Newscasts)

Featured in Trout Magazine

Check out page 72 of your latest issue of Trout Magazine, the quarterly publication of Trout Unlimited. It features an impressive two-page writeup of last year’s Women’s Leadership Institute. Many congratulations to Tina Murray for her leadership and everyone who is involved in this impressive initiative.

Introducing Women to Fly Fishing

Jim Hess donated an introduction to fly fishing for women to a silent auction for sustainable farming.  On Sunday Jim and Marci, assisted by several SWTU Board Members, welcomed four women from the Blanchardville area to the Lake Belleville/Sugar River Park in Belleville.  A spectacular thunderstorm ended 30 minutes before starting time, clearly a sign this was going to be a fun and worthwhile day.

The instruction included an introduction to many aspects of fly fishing; the  casting clinic featured individual coaching.  The afternoon concluded with cheese, crackers, brownies, watermelon, beer, and fishing for smallmouth bass in the Sugar.  The food bit better than the bass but all enjoyed the afternoon.  The women appreciated the clinic and are planning expeditions to gear up and fish.  One of them announced she has a nice spring pond loaded with brown trout that haven’t seen a hook for years.  The next fishing trip is going to be a success.

Thanks to Jim, Marci, Henry, Tom, Don, and Topf.
(click to see picture) Read More

Sawyer Pheasant Tail Nymph

Sawyer Pheasant Tail Nymph

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

Have your children ever been so completely cos­tumed that you no longer recognized them?  Frank Sawyer, originator of the legendary Pheasant Tail Nymph, probably wouldn’t recognize many of his “children” today.  Sawyer’s original Pheasant Tail is a model of simplicity, but the modified, substituted, cus­tomized, and dolled-up variants today often bear little resemblance to their stately ancestor. Read More

New Members – September 2022

We’re pleased to announce the addition of the following new members to our ranks! Read More

What a summer! A Special Guest at our August 9 Meeting

We’ll see you at Schwoegler’s
By Topf Wells

kailee_bergeePlease join us on Tuesday, August  9. We’ll meet again in Schwoegler’s community room on the southern end of the building near the pro shop.

We’ll hear from Kailee Berge, our first SWTU/DNR/UW MADISON ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUM intern. She has spent an incredibly busy summer volunteering for SWTU workdays, helping 6(!) DNR fish and water quality biologists with stream surveys, and  searching for rare, native fish with John Lyons, the UW Curator of Fishes, across Wisconsin. What a summer!

Kailee will report on these grand adventures, wonderful fish, interesting streams and plenty of learning at our August 9 membership meeting. This will be a fun and lively presentation.  The meeting starts with dinner and drinks at 5:30.  Kailee’s presentation will begin about 7. Reviews on the room at Schwoegler’s and the food and beverage service have been excellent. Read More

Continued Success for the Women’s Fly Fishing Clinics

By Henry Nehls-Lowe

This July, the Wisconsin Women’s Fly Fishing Clinics were again a resounding success with over 40 total participants in the “By Women for Women Beginner Fly Fishing Clinic” and the “On the Water Skills Intermediate Clinic”. These clinics could not happen without the many volunteers (leaders, kitchen team, instructors, river buddies, guides) who are key for improving participant’s knowledge and putting them on solid fishing opportunities.

Since 2009, SWTU’s Women’s Clinics have attracted national attention as an effective model for engaging and instructing women in fly fishing. Over 400 women from across the Midwest have increased their fly-fishing knowledge and skills via this incredibly popular program. Special shoutout to Tina Murray, Women’s/ Diversity Initiative Chair, for her invaluable leadership, without which the Women’s Clinics would not happen.

Photos include a group photo of the women who stepped up this year to help run the clinics and keep it sustainable, stream ecology instruction and casting clinic. Read More

Crowe Beetle

Rusty Dunn Crowe Beetle

Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

A mid-summer day in the late 1940s begins like many others in Pennsylvania’s fertile Cumberland Valley.  A young Vince Marinaro fishes the crystalline wa­ters of Letort Spring Run.  The day is brilliantly sunny, and as the heat builds, so does Marinaro’s frustration.  Insects are seemingly nonexistent, yet many fine trout rise stead­ily in the creek’s weedy channels.  The riseforms are slow and deliberate, leav­ing only the faintest hint of a ring. Read More

A Celebration of Dan Wisniewski’s Life

Hosted by Fran DeGraf, his beloved wife

Dan WisniewskiLast May, we shared a Remembrance of Dan Wisniewski – a person who did an immeasurable amount of good for conservation and our cold water resource. You are cordially invited to the celebration of Dan’s life on September 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Holy Wisdom Monastery, 4200 CTH M, Middleton. The celebration will include speakers, music and food with the program starting at 3.

A Heroic Workday – Crew Takes on Wild Parsnip

By Jim Hess, SWTU Conservation Chair

I want to give a special shout out to the following volunteers that showed up for a mid-summer special workday to battle out of control wild parsnip and other invasives in our prairie planting at the Basco Wildlife Unit: Mark Maffitt, Bob Harrison, Jim O’Brien, Jim Hill, Bob Brewer, Kieth Katers, Carl Fernandez, and Jim Beecher. The weather forecast was warm and humid, but luckily it stayed cloudy all morning, making the conditions a little more tolerant. Read More