June 2009

General Meeting - Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Note: The June meeting will be held on the third Tuesday which is June 16th

This months program is on "Black Bears on the Fly: Avoiding Conflicts, Managing Encounters" by Kelcey Burguess

Kelcey Burguess is the Black Bear Project Leader for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife (NJDFW). His presentation, "Black Bears on the Fly: Avoiding Conflicts, Managing Encounters", will discuss the history and population expansion of black bears in New Jersey, how bears become habituated and the NJDFW bear research and management program.In addition, he will outline what people should do if they encounter a black bear, how to "bear proof" their residence, and other tips to minimize conflicts between bears and people that will be geared towards anglers. "Cyngen," one of NJDFW's "Bear Dogs" will also be in attendance.

There are no General Meetings during the months of July and August

The next meeting will be Tuesday, September 8th

News & Events

First Annual NJTU Pig Roast

Saturday, June 20th

The 2009 Trip Schedule is available here

President’s Letter

June 2009

This president's letter is going to be a short one; things are pretty busy on my end. I'm heading out to do some fishing, but of the warm water variety. As far as I know there are not too many trout swimming in state of Mississippi. There's camping gear to sort through and I have to blow the dust off of all the spinning and casting tackle. Going through my gear reminded me of a recent e-mail I received from someone that was interested in joining our chapter. His concern was that he was not a fly fisherman, but he WAS a trout fisherman. I assured him that we were not a fly fishing organization and he was more than welcome to join our chapter. Our correspondence got me thinking that we do tend to over emphasize fly fishing at times and some times the whole aspect of fishing tends to over shadows our primary mission to conserve, protect and restore New Jersey's cold water fisheries and their environments. We are at heart a conservation organization not a fishing club. So if you share some of the concerns of the above individual rest assured that we not are a fly fishing only group. The main reason that most of our speakers and presentations center on fly-fishing is because that is the most requested topic. If you would like to see some other topics covered during our presentations drop me a line.

Speaking of conservation I was excited to learn about the possibility of some work projects developing on our home stream the Musky. The final details have not been worked out yet, but we will share the info as soon as the project is solidified. As always when work projects come up we will send out an action alert with all the details.

As a reminder our meeting is this Tuesday (June16th). We had to schedule the meeting a week later because of a scheduling conflict with the hall. This week our speaker will be providing use with some valuable information on sharing our environment with our ever-increasing black bear population.

One final note the NJ Trout Unlimited State Council is hosting their 1st Annual Pig Roast/Barbeque on June 20th. Tickets for the event will be on sale at our general meeting this week. It looks to be a great event for the whole family, so come out and spend the day with us.

Tight Lines,
Bart Lombardo

Trout in the Classroom Update

The Trout in the Classroom students released their Brook Trout into the Toms River recently to complete this years program. More information and pictures can be found here.

Musconetcong - Point Mountain Stocking Wrap-up

Rich Post

We were fortunate this year in having CJTU volunteers available on all eight (8) stocking dates to assist Hunterdon County Parks Personal in the distribution of fish through out the Point Mountain stretch. A special thanks to our volunteers, Kim Ott, Ed Cordilla, Dan Rodriquez, Brian Cowden, Kevin Martin, Marty Collett and Jon Burgess. Our next and final stocking for this year will be conducted in October.

I would encourage any chapter member who has some time to become involved with this important activity. It's a great place to spend several hours and I guarantee you will come away with some additional fishing information. I personally enjoyed working with our volunteer group and want to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all for their efforts.

Mentoring Program

Rich Post

We want to remind all members who may have any fishing questions that members generally can be found on the VFW porch prior to our meetings during warm weather. If you want on-stream instructions please contact one of our executive board members during the meetings so we can set up a time and place to do some instructional fishing.

Let's hope the summer weather will provide some excellent fishing days for all of us.

Articles

This month we have the "Spring Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative Update" from Brian Cowden.

Can you believe that year one of the Musconetcong Home Rivers Initiative is well behind us already? For me, it has been a whirlwind of activity. The Musky now has 2 fewer dams with several more dams on the chopping block. Next to be removed will likely be the Finesville Dam, the first dam upstream of the Delaware. Removing this dam may mean that American Shad will once again swim in the Musky to spawn. Other diadromous fish may also benefit as will brown trout coming into the river to spawn in the late fall, now blocked from doing so above this dam. In 2008 and early this spring, we have planted riparian buffers on some 18 acres of river bank to help stabilize the banks, shade the river to keep it cooler, and filter out non-point pollution and runoff. Although I struggled at times late in the year last year to find funding for my salary, the project funding has come in steadily which is a blessing to our work in the watershed. As of this writing, my salary is fully funded for this calendar year although we scratch for every penny in these difficult economic times. All salary is grant funded or privately funded and we all know the difficulties that grant foundations are going through with their stock market investments.

Continue reading this article.

Pequest Programs 2009

We have been informed that Pequest will once again be shutting its doors on weekends with the upcoming voluntary furlough days that Governor Corzine is imposing. Sorry for any inconvenience but all weekend programs are being cancelled.

Fly Casting Clinic for Beginners - Cancelled

Saturday, July 11th 11am - 3pm
Saturday, August 1st 11am - 3pm

CJTU Kids Fishing Education Day - Cancelled

Saturday, September 19th 10am - 3pm