Trout Unlimited MINNESOTA the Official Publication of Minnesota Trout Unlimited - August 2016
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Trout Unlimited MINNESOTA The Official Publication of Minnesota Trout Unlimited - August 2016 Fishing Our Habitat - Garvin Brook A Successful Great Waters Expo! Book Review - Covered Waters 2017 Fly Fishing Film Showcase Details More Lost Metro Trout Streams The Photo Issue - Photo Contest Winners! without written permisssion of Minnesota Trout Unlimited. Trout Minnesota of permisssion written without Copyright 2016 Minnsota Trout Unlimited - No Portion of this publication may be reproduced reproduced be may publication this of Portion No - Unlimited Trout Minnsota 2016 Copyright ROCHESTER, MN ROCHESTER, PERMIT NO. 281 NO. PERMIT Chanhassen, MN 55317-0845 MN Chanhassen, PAID l P.O. Box 845 Box P.O. March 17th-19th, 2017 Details Inside U.S. POSTAGE POSTAGE U.S. Non-Profit Org. Non-Profit Minnesota Trout Unlimited Trout Minnesota Trout Unlimited Minnesota Council Update MINNESOTA The Voice of MNTU Summertime on the Water By JP Little, Minnesota Council Chair On The Cover elcome to the 2016 summer call out those opportunities to join in the Minnesota Trout Unlimited fun. Photo contest winner Dan Callahan statewide newsletter. Sum- with a section of Nass Creek, aka W mer has broken out all over the great state I would like to thank Dean Campbell, “Unnamed #4” one of the Lost Trout of Minnesota, and tis the season to enjoy President of the Twin Cities chapter, Streams of Burnsville. Dan has won our many, many miles of trout streams. for agreeing to serve as State Council the “Minnesota Waters” category and From Southeast to Central to the North Secretary for the next year. We are still also is the overall winner. Find other Shore, we have countless opportunities in need of a long-term solution for that winners on page 6. to chase trout and wild steelhead. role – please contact me at jplittle999@ gmail.com if you would be interested. There are also many opportunities to participate in rehabilitation projects on those trout streams throughout the year, In This Issue although projects are in full gear across Tight Lines! the state as you read this. There are a • More “Lost Trout Streams” number of articles in this newsletter that • Photo Contest Winners! • Fishing Garvin Brook • Funding for New Habitat Work Table of Contents • And much more! Fishing Our Habitat Work: Garvin Brook.....................page 4 2016 Photo Contest Winners....................................page 6 Caring for the Boundary Waters .................................page 8 Fly Tying - The Basic Pheasant Tail............................page 9 Funding Secured for State Habitat Projects..................page 10 Join TU Today! A Gift and a Dance.........................................................page 11 Want to subscribe to this newsletter? TIC Update....................................................................page 11 See the back page for details or visit www.tu.org to join Trout Unlimited! Invasive Plants..............................................................page 12 Finding Nass Creek.......................................................page 13 Book Review - Covered Waters...................................page 14 2017 Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo Unveiled............page 14 Trout Unlimited Minnesota is the of- ficial publication of Minnesota Trout An Exceptional Angler & Donation..............................page 15 Unlimited. Issues are distributed to all members of Minnesota Trout Unlim- The Lost Trout Streams of Burnsville - Part 3.................page 16 ited chapters. Subscriptions are avail- able by joining Trout Unlimited. See Chapter News...............................................................page 18 the back page for further details. Reeling it In...................................................................page 20 Copyright © 2016 Minnesota Trout Unlimited. No Portion of this publica- tion may be reproduced without writ- ten permission from Minnesota Trout Unlimited. Advertising rate sheet available on re- quest. Send all editorial and advertis- ing correspondence or other inquiries to the editor: Carl Haensel 2067 E. Pioneer Rd Duluth, MN 55804 [email protected] Send address changes to: Trout Unlimited, 1550 Wilson Boule- vard, Arlington, VA, 22209. Students in the Trout in the Classroom program examine aquatic macroinvertebrates as a part of the all- school summit held this past spring. Learn more on page 11. 2 From The Executive Director Wishing for a Goldilocks Flood By John Lenczewski, MNTU Executive Director arlier this summer I visited a habi- where trout and bugs quickly thrive. The tat project in southeast Minnesota damage to streams from average floods Ewhich MNTU had completed the is the result of decades of human activi- year before. I found myself wishing for ties which buried valley floors in sedi- a good flood. ment. Our habitat projects open up and reconnect streams to their floodplains so “A good flood?” you may ask. “I thought that the stress of flooding quickly dis- floods were bad?” sipates rather than tearing apart stream MNTU banks and in-stream habitat. ited were doing very well, but this small Truly severe floods, the “100 year stream had not experienced high water Connections events” you hear about, damage human Our projects create cover habitat for low since before the project. Silt covered the structures and can tear apart stream chan- and moderate flows. But just as impor- gravel and cobble and the rock vanes Executive Director nels. However, more average floods, the tant, they are also designed to manage built to scour out pools, had been idle. I John Lenczewski type that occur every other year or so, are flood water, which scientists call “chan- found myself wishing for a “Goldilocks [email protected] essential for moving the sediments that nel forming flows,” in such a way that flood.” 612-670-1629 every stream must transport. In South- sediment is moved through and sorted www.mntu.org east Minnesota, where silt and sand can out in ways beneficial to trout. MNTU I am happy to report that the flood has build up in the absence of high water designs for the benefits of an average since come, scouring out pools and trans- events, the benefits of an average flood flood. On the flipside, restored stream porting the silt and sand away. The wild Minnesota Council Chair are obvious. Long reaches, which have banks are vulnerable until vegetation trout are beginning to thrive amongst the JP Little been gradually filling with silt and sand, establishes roots to hold soil. We don’t gravel and cobble bottom. [email protected] burying spawning gravel and smooth- want too much water too soon. ing insect habitat can be transformed to gravel and cobble-bottomed streams The native grasses on the stream I vis- Tight lines. TU MN Editor Carl Haensel [email protected] 218-525-2381 TU MN Copy Editor Jade Thomason [email protected] TU MN Communications Coordinator Dan Callahan [email protected] Gitche Gumee Chapter Jon Aspie, President [email protected] 218-724-5014 Headwaters Chapter Bob Wagner, President [email protected] A wild steelhead is ready to release on the North Shore. Bob Wagner gives thanks on page 11. 218-586-2798 Hiawatha Chapter Editor’s Angle Phil Pankow, President [email protected] Summertime Explorations www.hiawathatu.org By Carl Haensel, Editor Mid-Minnesota Chapter hope this newsletter issue finds you ect on the North Shore has been mov- Micah Barrett, President at home for only a brief time between ing forward, though we always need [email protected] I summertime fishing trips. Summer more volunteers. Consider stopping on as a fishing guide is a time of adventure, the shore between fishing trips to help exploration and time on the water. I rel- out. Read more about it in the chapter Twin Cities Chapter ish the opportunity to reconnect with old news section. Other habitat projects Dean Campbell, President waters that I’ve known in the past, and around the state are always in need of a [email protected] to explore new locations around NE MN helping hand. Contact the local chapter 612-564-TCTU and around the country. It seems on al- president if you are interested in getting www.twincitiestu.org most every day that there are trout wait- involved today. We’re always happy to ing somewhere, just around the bend, hear from traveling anglers as well, and ready for a fly to be laid behind their are happy to provide local tips regarding Win-Cres Chapter personal boulder or at the edge of the log streams and rivers that are fishing well. Joe Lepley, President jam where they live. On the longest days [email protected] of the summer, I go to sleep dreaming of May the streams flow cold and clear, and www.wincrestu.org these perfect lies, and wake up just a few the trout rise up to meet your flies as they hours later to cast to them again. land softly on the water as our summer eventually fades into early autumn. For MNTU, summer is the time when most of our habitat work and research Good luck fishing! www.mntu.org projects occur. The temperature proj- 3 Fishing Our Habitat Work: Garvin Brook Fishing & Restoring a SE MN Gem By Mark Reisetter arvin Brook has long been an extremely productive brook Gand brown trout fishery, far ex- ceeding what might be expected, given its small size, high visibility, easy road- side angling access, and proximity to the population center of Winona. After heavy rains, it becomes an even more valuable resource, as it is one of the first streams to clear up for quality fly fishing! Garvin Brook gets its name from H. C. Garvin, a Winona flour magnate who, along with his wife, Louise, do- nated a sizeable tract of land to Winona County in 1925 near the headwaters of this beautiful spring creek. With that newly acquired parcel, Winona County created “Farmers Park,” the entrance of which is located near the twin stone arches, circa 1882, which carry the railroad over Winona County Road 120 and Peterson Creek, a small tribu- tary of Garvin Brook. Farmers Park remains a much-used picnicking and family gathering location to this day.