January 2020 Newsletter

Welcome to the newsletter from the Fallen Timbers Chapter of Trout Unlimited, your local chapter in Northwest Ohio.

A Note from the President - Brad White

Happy New Year!

In December we had our annual meeting and a truly fascinating presentation on the reintroduction of Arctic Grayling into Michigan waters by Nicole Watson of Michigan State University. It would be hard to imagine anyone more knowledgable or passionate about their work than Nicole.

Nicole's research will be a key factor in making the reintroduction of one of Michigan's most beautiful and fascinating game fish a success. If you want to learn more about the reintroduction of Artic Grayling into Michigan, you can do so the web site for the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative - https://www.migrayling.org.

If you would like to make a donation to the MSU Grayling Research Project you can make a check payable to: "Michigan State University". In the note/comment area write "FW:Nicole Watson, Grayling Research". Mail to:

MSU Department of Fisheries & Wildlife
Attn: Mary Witchell
480 Wilson Rd, Room 13
Natural Resources Building
East Lansing, MI 48824

Also at our December meeting, we had board member elections with members present voting to fill two spots vacated due to expiring terms. Tod Armbruster and Ryan Williams were reelected to new three year terms. Immediately afterwards, the board of directors held officer elections for 2020 with the following results: President - Brad White, Vice President - Paul Justen, Treasurer - Ryan Williams, Secretary - Tom Rairdon.

We would like to hear from you! If you attended our banquet, please send us an email at info@fttu.org and let us know what you thought, what you liked, and what if anything we could do to improve it. If you didn't attend the banquet, we would also love to hear from you about why you didn't attend and what we could do to make it more appealing to you. Please send your thoughts and suggestions to info@fttu.org.

Finally, if you are interested in conservation, we continue to look for new and additional board members. Give us a shout!

See you on the stream!

Brad White

Tom Rairdon Elected Chairman of Trout Unlimited's Ohio Council

At our TU State Council Meeting in Wooster, OH, held on November 23, 2019, one of Fallen Timbers own was elected Chair of the TU Ohio Council. Tom is also the secretary for Fallen Timbers and a long time TU member and advocate. We appreciate everything Tom has done for TU and we know he will do an excellent job chairing the State Council.

Congratulations Tom!

Many Thanks to Don Dean for his last three years of service as Council Chair. Don will continue to be TU Trout in the Classroom (TIC) coordinator for the state.

Members from all five chapters were present at the State Council meeting. Those present from the Fallen Timbers Chapter include Tom Rairdon, Brad White, and Dakota Showalter.

January Presentation - MI Steelhead fishing

Thursday, January 16, 2020

For our January meeting, Brad Dunkle from Wildwood Anglers in Sylvania, OH will speak about steelhead fishing in Michigan.

Dinner and social hour will be at 6:00 PM. If you are planning to eat please be here by 6:15 to place your order.

The presentation will start at 7:00 PM.

This meeting is free and open to the public. You are responsible for your own food and beverage.

The meeting will be at Charlies Taverna, 1631 Toll Gate Dr, Maumee, OH 43537

Bar Flies with Wayne Samson

Thursday, February 20, 2020

In February we will have a "bar flies" meeting. Come on out and tie a couple of flies led by Wayne Samson and maybe have a beer or two while doing it!

This year we will tie a parachute dry fly and steelhead pattern. Wayne will attempt to demystify parachutes for us.

Unlike our other meetings, there will be a $20 fee for this meeting payable at the door. Wayne will supply all materials for the flies, including hooks. You just need to bring your tools, vice, and some thread. It is highly recommended that you have some tying experience. While not an "expert class" it will be tough to keep up if you've never tied before. If you have had some tying experience and can do a whip finish knot, you should be good to go.

You must RSVP for this meeting via email at info@fttu.org in order to reserve your seat. There are a limited number of seats available in order to be able to provide the best atmosphere.

Wayne has been fly fishing and tying for nearly 20 years. Originally a warm water fisherman he started by experimenting with bass bugs using deer hair. Soon he met Chris Helm of Toledo, Ohio- considered by most to be perhaps the finest deer hair tier and he quickly developed a friendship. Chris rounded out Wayne’s tying, especially deer hair, and considered Wayne to be not only his best student ever, but the "best fly tier no one ever heard of." Wayne’s specialty remains deer hair bugs and hair work in general. However, he ties epoxy flies, saltwater flies, classic Atlantic salmon flies and most all trout flies as well.

Wayne has entered the Mustad Scandinavian International Fly Tying Competition two times and has returned home two Gold Medals. Most notably was a head-to-head competition against the master and his teacher Chris Helm in 1998. Wayne has won several other notable fly tying competitions and enjoys the competition challenges of fly-tying very much.

Wayne has good fishing skills and enjoys teaching beginners as well as more advanced fly fishers different techniques and fishing applications on the stream. Wayne likes all styles of fishing from warm water saltwater & bass to cold water steelhead and trout. He fishes in Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio mostly. Wayne works full-time at Ford Motor Co. as a Machine Repairman.

The meeting will be at Charlie's Taverna in Maumee. The address is 1631 Toll Gate Dr, Maumee, OH 43537. Fly tying will begin at 6:30 and end by around 8:30. If you plan on having dinner at Charlies, please be here by 5:30.

This meeting is open to anyone.

The Fallen Timbers Chapter of Trout Unlimited is once again hosting the Fly Fishing Film Tour at the Maumee Indoor Theater in Maumee, OH. Many thanks to our local sponsors who have made this possible. They include Waterford Bank, N.A., The North Branch Boys Fly Fishing Club, Glenn River Fly Company, and anonymous donors.

Friday, February 28, 2020. Doors open at 6:00 PM and the film will begin at 7:00 PM.

We will have some awesome door prizes, including items from Costa, Yeti, Simms, Thomas & Thomas fly rods, Ross Reels, Scientific Anglers, Oskar Blues Brewery and much more! Must be present to win.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

Tickets are available online here.

Tickets will also be available at Wildwood Anglers in Sylvania sometime the week of Jan 13.

Early 2020 Activities

Thursday, January 16, 2020 - Brad Dunkle of Wildwood Anglers will talk about steelheading in Michigan. Brad will cover locations, gear, and techniques. Location - Charlie's Taverna, Maumee - 6:00 PM

Thursday, February 20, 2020 - Bar flies with Wayne Samson. Bring your tools and vise. Wayne will lead us in tying a couple great flies and we can have a beer while we are doing it. Everyone survived last year. It was a great time! Location - Charlie's Taverna, Maumee - 5:30 PM to eat. Tying will start @ 6:30 PM

Friday, February 28, 2020 - Fly Fishing Film Tour at the Maumee Indoor Theater. We had a great turnout for this last year. Hoping to have an even better one this year. We will have plenty of door prizes, a raffle or two, and a chance to enter the national sweepstakes for a great destination fly fishing trip.

Thursday, March 19, 2020 - John Satkowski - How to match your flies to specific baitfish and the characteristics to look for. John will go over how to design a fly to mimic a specific baitfish and what characteristics to look for. (i.e.) a perch fly should have the coloring and barring of the perch as well as a broad profile to match the shape of the fish. John will demonstrate tying a creek chub imitation, a very hard fish to mimic because of the iridescence and colors of the sides of their body. John will also be demonstrating a “sandwich” dubbing loop and how you can use them to create a multicolored effect. This method also adds durability to a streamer fly that can take abuse from predatory fish such as pike. Location - Charlie's Taverna, Maumee - 6:00 PM

April - TBA

Watch our web site and Facebook page for meeting announcements. We will also send out email reminders prior to our meetings.

Looking for Board Members

At the Fallen Timbers Chapter, we currently have a spot open for board members. If you are interested in conservation and in preserving, protecting and restoring cold water fisheries and their watersheds, we would love to talk to you. We have a working board. Our board meetings are monthly and expect a prospective board member to be able to attend most of the meetings throughout the year. You must also be willing to volunteer and work at many of our events throughout the year.

We are an active chapter and while we are busy, the work is very rewarding.

If you are interested, please contact one of our existing board members or email us at info@fttu.org. We have a nominating committee that will review all applicants and decide the appropriate candidates to present to the membership for possible election.

 Meetings:

We have our regular meetings at Charlie's Taverna on Toll Gate Dr. in Maumee on the third Thursday of the month, September through April.

Meeting schedule is:

6:00 Dinner and social hour
6:45 Short business meeting
7:00 Presentation

If you will be eating dinner, please make sure you have your order placed by 6:15.

These meetings are open to the general public.

For details on any of our meetings, please check the events page on our web site where details will be posted on all meetings.

Board Members

Three Year
Tod Armbruster
Ryan Williams
Two Year
Brad White
Tom Rairdon
One Year
Stephanie Bowman
Paul Justen



 2020 Officers

President/Chairman - Brad White
Vice President - Paul Justen
Treasurer - Ryan Williams
Secretary - Tom Rairdon

Committee Chairs
Conservation - Tod Armbruster
Membership - Tom Rairdon
Trout-in-Classroom - Brad White
Veterans Services - Tom Rairdon
Youth Education - Stephanie Bowman
Nomination Committee - Brad White

Past President - Dick Altman


Board Meetings:

Our officers and board members meet every month on the 2nd Thursday of the month. While we spend all of our time focused on chapter business, we welcome all members to come to our meetings to listen in or be heard. We welcome your involvement.

If you want to attend a board meeting, you are more than welcome. Just drop us a note at info@fttu.org and we will make sure you know where and when the next board meeting will be. Meetings start at 7:00 PM.