It's time for another Wet and Dirty Conservation Project!

Pages Mill Pond in North Branford has been invaded by European water chestnut (Trapa natans). This "jewel of the upper Farm River" provides spawning habitat for the declining Alewife river herring. This invasive aquatic plant would degrade the alewife's habitat by prolifically covering the entirety of the pond. Let's not let it!

On Saturday August 5th please join The Farm River coalition, in conjunction with Trout Unlimited and support from Regional Water Authority & CT DEEP) to help us remove the invasive aquatic plant.

Saturday August 5
8:30 am to 1:30 pm, or whenever you need to leave

Pages Mill Pond
16 Mill Road, North Branford
**See attached map for parking**

Carpooling encouraged

Unload your canoe or kayak at the farm gate, then park along the road.

BYO: water bottle, lunch, sunscreen, bug spray, hat, gloves that can get wet, clothes that can get wet & grungy, boots and/or water shoes

At lest two kayaks ant two canoes can be reserved for loan (contact Heather at: [email protected] to reserve a boat)

These floating aquatic plants are not poisonous, or difficult to pull, but they are prolific! The best means of removal is to pull the plants by hand, and dump them on land, where they will be tended to. Shallow-bottomed boats are best for access to the plants. Our host Lindsay says it’s actually kind of fun! Though most of the effort is done on the water, we also need land-based ‘runners’ who take the ‘haul’ from the boats and spread it out on the shore.

We will break for lunch, when our host (the property owner, Lindsay Suter) will tell interested volunteers about the history, lore, and workings of the old Mill and the new fish ladder.

Due to the nature of the work and the venue, young children are not invited, but self-sufficient teenagers are welcome! We aim to work for 4 to 5 hours, but you may leave any time. Please spread the word!

Please sign up for this event by going to the TU Events System at:
​https://tu.myeventscenter.com/event/Invasive-Water-Chestnut-Removal-82165

It's time for a Wet and Dirty Conservation Project!

Please join us on July 8th starting at 9:00 a.m. at Pages Millpond, 18 Mill Road, North Branford for an invasive Water Chestnut removal effort. This is the pond on the Farm River at which the Hammonasset Chapter members have worked to install and operate a fishway over the dam that forms the pond.

Canoes (and kayaks with laundry baskets affixed to the deck) will be required.  Expect to get wet and dirty!  Lunch, soft drinks, and water will be provided.  

Please sign up for this event by going to the TU Events system at: 

https://tu.myeventscenter.com/event/Invasive-Water-Chestnut-Removal-79378.

It's also time to start thinking about Fly Tying at the Durham Fair Discovery Center!
We will be putting together a schedule for the Durham Fair shortly.  The Fair will be held on September 21st through the 24th this year.  Stay tuned for a sign-up opportunity.

No Chapter Meeting Scheduled for May!

While we had planned to have a picnic at Chatfield Hollow on May 6th, a scheduling conflict has come up and we will have to postpone to a date later in the year. 

Message from the Vice President

Members and Friends,
I hope that you are enjoying spring and that you have been experiencing tight lines! The latest, as I have no doubt you already know, is that the Hendrickson hatch and other hatches are in full swing on many of Connecticut's rivers. Hopefully, the recent rains will be beneficial to the fish and perhaps the fishing. 

We have some good news from our efforts on the Farm River in North Branford.  Two Alewives and two Brown Trout have been caught in the trap installed to document fish using the the fishway at Pages Mill Pond.  While these numbers may not be large, it is a clear indication that fish use the fishway.  If you have any interest in helping to check the fish trap on any morning, please contact me at: [email protected]. 

As has been mentioned previously, we are planning to hand pull invasive European Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) from Pages Mill Pond.  We will need canoes and kayaks as well as some rakes, forks, and shovels.  Be prepared to get wet and dirty!  The dates under consideration are June 24th and July 8th.  Please take the poll included below to let us know when we will have the most help. 

Which date would be best for you to help with a European Water Chestnut Removal Work Day at Pages Mill Pond on the Farm River?
None
June 24th
July 8th
Both days are good

Our Youth Education effort for 2023 will be on May 13th in support of the No Child Left Inside/Families in the Parks program at Wharton Brook State Park in North Haven.  This is a Free Fishing Day where no license is required to fish.  I hope that many of you can come out to help! I have created an event in the TU Events system.  Please obtain your free ticket to the event at:  https://tu.myeventscenter.com/event/Hammonasset-Chapter-446-Youth-Education-Event-77100.  This will let us know how much help we can expect on the 13th and help with planning for the provided lunch. Thanks.

Best regards,
Rick

Trout in the Classroom releases will be happening soon!  Please contact Jim Woodworth at: [email protected] if you have an interest in helping out with this important youth education program now or in the future. 

Our speaker for the April regular Chapter meeting is Captain Mark Dysinger who will provide a presentation on "Sight Fishing for Striped Bass.".  Captain Mark Dysinger has fished the New England salt most of his life.  Although he is skilled in many angling methods, he is most accomplished with the fly rod.  He specializes in the northeast slam of striped bass, bluefish, and false albacore.  Although he guides in Long Island Sound and its surrounding waters, he is also passionate about freshwater fishing and is a recognized authority on flyfishing for northern pike. Mark has fished extensively across North America, and his works have appeared in numerous print and online publications.  He has been a featured innovative fly tyer for Eastern Flyfishing Magazine, and his Bunny split fly (aka Musky Bunny Twin Tail) is included in the "deadly dozen" musky patterns in Rob Tomes' Musky on the Fly.  In 2018, he was recruited as an ambassador to the American Museum of Fly Fishing, whose mission is to provide stewardship of the history, traditions, and practices of the sport while promoting conservation of its waters. Mark is a regular fixture at the northeast winter fly fishing shows, where he demonstrates fly tying techniques and shares angling insights and strategies.
Striped bass live in a wide variety of habitats...finding the fish in those places is the key to catching them.  This presentation emphasizes a practical approach to locating bass in various water types based on tide, forage, and season.  Finding the fish is usually the hard part; catching them after confirming their presence can be relatively easy. 

The Hammonasset Chapter meets each month from September through May at the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association building at 540 Oregon Road in Meriden.  Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month. The doors open at 6:15pm. The monthly programs start at 7pm sharp. Each meeting features special programming related to fly fishing in and around Connecticut.  Sometimes guides share knowledge of local rivers and at other times state officials will come speak about hatchery, conservation or other water & fly fishing related themes.  In addition we talk about current fishing conditions, hold a raffle and of course socialize.  Directions to the QRWA Headquarters

Be sure to get your free ticket to the meeting at: 

https://tu.myeventscenter.com/event/Hammonasset-Chapter-Regular-Monthly-Meeting-76253

Regular Monthly Chapter Meeting on Thursday, March 9, 2023.  Please be sure to get your free ticket at:  https://tu.myeventscenter.com/event/Hammonasset-Chapter-Regular-Monthly-Meeting-74779

Our speaker for the March regular Chapter meeting is Joe Cassone,  a Fisheries Biologist for the CT DEEP in the Habitat Conservation and Enhancement (HCE) Program. Joe covers the eastern district of the state. In this role he works to protect fisheries habitats from potential impacts from regulated activities and works with partners to conduct habitat enhancements.  Joe will provide a brief overview of the HCE program and how it fits into the Fisheries Division.  He will also go over some of the issues they look for when reviewing projects, some of the different stream habitat enhancement measures they use, and then discuss ways the HCE Program staff partner with organizations like TU chapters.

Prior to joining DEEP in the fall of 2021 Joe spent almost 8 years working as a fisheries and environmental scientist for HDR Engineering in NY where he got to work on a wide range of projects including: Environmental Compliance for the Tappan Zee Bridge Replacement, relicensing of hydropower projects, offshore wind permitting and planning, water quality sampling in and around NYC, and fisheries programs along the Erie Canal/Lake Ontario tributaries associated with the Reimagine the Canals Project. Before joining HDR he also worked for the Town of Greenwich Conservation Commission and on a lobster boat off of his home town in Branford, CT.

Joe received his Bachelors from UCONN in the Natural Resources in the Environment Program and completed a Masters at Sacred Heart University in the Environmental Systems Analysis and Management Program. He currently live in Fairfield CT, with his wife Jenn and their two wild children. In his free time he enjoys fishing (especially for false albacore), building fishing rods, and making his own tackle.

Please join us on January 12, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association building, 540 Oregon Road in Meriden for our regular monthly meeting.  This month we will have a very informative presentation by noted angler, fly tier, and author Steve Culton. Steve will present his Wet Flies 2.0 program. Wet Flies 2.0 takes a deeper dive into wet flies and wet fly fishing. Starting with the essential wet fly tackle and toolbox, Wet Flies 2.0 explores topics like matching hatches with wet flies (from caddis to mayflies to midges to stoneflies to terrestrials); searching tactics with wet flies; presentation and rigging options to match conditions and situations; fishing wet flies as nymphs or dry flies; wet flies on small streams; and much more! 

Join us for and some good fellowship! A short business meeting, program updates, and raffle precedes speaker.

A Message from the Vice President 
 
 Happy New Year!  Well, I certainly hope that my new year gets moving along better than my end of 2022.  The flu sure can be a pain.  I hope that your 2022 ended with a wonderful holiday season. 

The Board of Directors of the Chapter had a fairly low key end of the year, except for pulling off a fairly successful Holiday Gathering at the Guilford VFW in December.  Those of you who couldn't attend missed great food and fellowship!  Thanks again to Paul Dinice for a great presentation of his thought provoking program on the "Stages" of Fly Fishing. 

I know that for me, Paul's presentation brought to mind nostalgia for my early experiences and anticipation of trips to come with friends.  Thanks also to Jim Woodworth, our Treasurer and VFW member, for his work with the venue and staff.  I hope that we can make this event an annual occurrence. 

Board members continue to try to move forward with conservation projects with less success than hoped for.  Conifer revetment projects on state land are a beast of a different color, to say the least.  Many moving parts.  We will continue to engage on both the Coginchaug River in Wadsworth Falls State Park and the Mill River in Sleeping Giant State Park.  

On December 31, 2022, Bill Martin, his wife Lorrie, and I shut down the Pages Millpond Fishway on the Farm River for the winter.  We look forward to opening up the fishway in the spring.  In July this year, we will be conducting a removal of invasive water chestnut (Trappa natans) from the pond.  Canoes and kayaks (and folks willing to get dirty) will be needed. 

Any of you who tie flies and are interested in supporting our Veteran's outreach project with sight impaired patients from the West Haven VA Hospital should contact me at [email protected] for more information.  This winter we have three dates (one per month in January, February, and March) scheduled in Branford through the Take a Vet Fishing folks, with whom we partner.   

As always, we encourage members of the Chapter to contact us with ideas on ways that we can engage with you.  What are your expectations from the Chapter leaders regarding you membership in Trout Unlimited?  Are you more interested in being a part of the larger national conservation and advocacy organization and/or do you have specific local interests that we are or aren't fulfilling?  We also continue to seek folks interested in leading the Chapter forward.  Please email me at [email protected]. 

I guess that's it for now.  I hope to see you at the January meeting on the 12th and at future meetings and events.  Again, I wish you and yours a healthy and happy new year.  

Best regards,
Rick

The Hammonasset Chapter #446, Trout Unlimited, Inc.
 
Cordially Invites you and your guest/spouse to ourDecember Dinner Meeting and Holiday GatheringDecember 7, 20226 P.M. to 9 P.M.VFW Post 7666,104 Mill Rd, Guilford, CT 06437
 
Please R.S.V.P. by December 1st to
Rick Huntley by
Email at:  [email protected] or
Text at:  (860) 301-3653
 
Cost is $20.00 per person paid at the door or $20.00 per person plus transaction fees paid online. 
 
Tickets available online at: 
Holiday Gathering

Presentation by Paul Dinice:  The Six Stages of Fly Fishing – A Life’s Experience
 
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after”.
 
By far this is my favorite presentation.  This is a very different program.  Instead of a program on catching more fish, or a fly fishing destination, the primary focus is on the fly fisherman.   What is it that drives us to be so passionate about the ‘Quiet Sport’?   “Who are we?” This program examines the various ‘stages’ in a fly fishers life, including the initial ‘discovery’ of the sport, the need to learn and educate ourselves more about it, it’s addictive powers, the friendships it has helped us form, the spirituality it has given us, and how it has provided us with a better understanding about where we fit in the world and universe.

Members and friends,

I hope that this message finds you well and that you have been safe and warm during this colder than usual fall season.  I'm sure that you all are well on your way to building a great Thanksgiving for your family.  I'm also sure that many of you have braved the temperatures to get out to fish, and some may have even gotten up to the Great Lakes tributaries for lake run anadromous fish like member John Atherton.  I know that many folks like me and Paul Dinice, our guest speaker at the December dinner meeting, are still fishing the salt for Striped Bass. 

I wanted to share with Chapter members a great video that John Atherton put together during his recent trip to the Salmon River in New York.  You can view this video at:  Steelhead 2022. I enjoyed this video very much and I'm sure that you will too!

The Chapter leaders still struggle with post (or perhaps nearly post) pandemic issues.  We had our first meeting in November with Jeff Yates as our speaker.  We had some wifi bandwidth issues, so our intention to broadcast the meeting live on the Chapter Facebook page was not successful.  We will continue to try to have a hybrid meeting format for the future.  Our January meeting speaker will be Steve Culton. 

I encourage you to bring your spouse and/or guest(s) to the Chapter Holiday dinner meeting at the VFW Post in Guilford.  We haven't finalized the menu, but I'm sure that there will be something that you will enjoy. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope that we see you soon. 

Best regards,
Rick


 

The Hammonasset Chapter #446, Trout Unlimited, Inc.Regular Monthly Chapter Meeting.  Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month. The doors open at 6:15pm. Pizza/soft drinks will be available. Bring your own beer or wine.  The program start at 7pm sharp. 
 
Join us this month for:  Fishing the Housatonic from Top to Bottom with Jeff Yates
Flowing from the Berkshires of Massachusetts to the shores of Long island Sound, the Housatonic River offers one of the region’s most diverse fisheries where anglers can target trout, smallmouth bass, pike, striped bass and more! The Housatonic Watershed is also one of Trout Unlimited’s new Priority Waters, a network of streams across the country recognized for their significant conservation value and targeted for large-scale restoration work in the years to come. Join Jeff Yates, Director of Volunteer Operations for TU, as well as a guide and author of the book Fly Fishing Fairfield County for a visual journey down the entire length of the Housatonic covering where to fish, how to access the water and what you can do to help make the “Housey” healthier for future generations of anglers.
 
 
For free in-person or Facebook Live tickets to the meeting go to:  https://events.eventgroove.com/event/Regular-Monthly-Chapter-Meeting-69729.
 
A Message from the Vice President 
Members and friends,

I hope that this message finds you well and enjoying the fall!  Things sure seem to be getting more hectic as I get older. I have been trying harder to get out and fish a bit and I hope that you have as well. The holidays will be upon us before we know it. 

That said, I really hope that you can join us as we start in-person meetings for 2022/2023. Also, stay tuned for information about our Holiday Gathering scheduled for December 7th at the VFW Post in Guilford. We have lined up a fantastic keynote speaker in Paul Dinice. More to come on arrangements and cost. 

We still can use help to plan and implement a couple of conservation projects. These projects are Christmas tree revetments on the Coginchaug River in Middletown at Wadsworth Falls State Park and on the Mill River in Hamden at Sleeping Giant State Park.

Plan to help for a few hours next July as we remove invasive water chestnut (Trappa natans) from Pages Mill Pond in North Branford. Don't worry, we will remind everyone many more times!  We'll also be reminding you about the opportunity to give help to the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association when they conduct their cleanup efforts on Hanover Pond in Meriden. 

Please let me know if you would like to see us have our meeting in May 2023 as a picnic meeting somewhere that we can also fish. Thanks. 

Best regards,
Rick

We hope that this message finds you well and enjoying this great fall weather we've been having.  Hopefully, you have gotten out to fish some of the waters recently stocked.  It's about time to give the native brookies a rest as they prepare for the fall spawning activities. 

It's been quite a while since we updated this blog.  The HCTU Board of Directors took a break from regular meetings and focused on the few continuing activities of the Chapter.  We had a great Durham Fair teaching folks, mainly kids, to tie woolly buggers and talked to many about our cold water conservation focus including youth education through Trout in the Classroom and our continuing cooperative effort with CTDEEP's No Child Left Inside program.  

We continued to have a presence at Hammonasset Day hosted by the Friends of Hammonasset State Park. We had fly tying, casting, and a backyard bass game. Our thanks goes out to the several folks who braved the rain to get our conservation message out.

We will be holding in person meetings again starting in November.  We will also be attempting to make the meetings hybrid and broadcast on Facebook Live or possibly Zoom.  Stay tuned for a Mailchimp email message with details about the November meeting.  

As always, if you have any interest in helping out with reinvigorating the Chapter and/or helping to work on the several potential conservation activities in our area, please contact any of the members of the Board of Directors.  Contact information is on the "Contacts" page of this website. 

Best regards and Happy Fall!

Rick Huntley
Vice President

Thank you for your continued support of Trout Unlimited!  We had hoped to have a regular Chapter meeting on January 20, 2022.  Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm the speaker that we had previously contacted.  That, together with the surge in Corona virus infections, has resulted in there not being a meeting planned for January.  If you would like to help plan future meetings, please contact Kevin Fuller at: [email protected] or Rick Huntley at: [email protected].  We hope to have a meeting in February.  Stay tuned. 
 
Conservation News
 
Chapter Board Members Rick Huntley and Jim Woodworth have been working with the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District to plan a  Christmas tree revetment project on the Coginchaug River at Wadsworth Falls State Park in Middletown. We hope to have the project designed over the next year and collect trees after Christmas 2022. Installation would occur as soon as working conditions allow in 2023. 
 
We have also been made aware of eroded banks on the Salmon River in Colchester that may also benefit from this type of project. We will be coordinating with the Thames Valley Chapter to see if a project might be possible there.
 
In other conservation project news, on December 11, 2021, Rick Huntley, Bill Martin, and Greg Sharp assisted dam owner Lindsay Suter in shutting down the fishway at Pages Mill Pond Dam on the Farm River in North Branford for the season. Stay tuned for an opportunity to participate in opening in the spring and for operating the fish trap in the fishway during the herring season. 
 
Tips for TU Communications Finetuning
 
We thought that members would appreciate the following information regarding finetuning what mail and email you receive.
 
You can fine tune the communications you receive by calling 1-800-834-2419 (between 9am-7pm Eastern, M-F), or by emailing us at [email protected] about mail and email communications. Be sure to share your membership email address and/or membership ID number to help find and verify your membership record.
 
Members can request adjustments to the amount of mail and email based on preferences. TU can also customize communications based on time or the type of solicitation (i.e. calendar, life membership mailing) or for fewer mailings and emails.
 
The most popular preferences (settings) include:
•           No Email – no online community access
•           No Email but wants online community access
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•           Fewer fundraising campaigns
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Another good option is the auto-pay renewals found at gifts.tu.org/sustainer. If someone signs up for autopay, they are suppressed from renewal mail and email.