On the morning of Saturday, October 2 we will be doing macroinvertebrate sampling in Deep Brook, the Pootatuck River, Pond Brook and the Halfway River in Newtown. This is a continuation of a several year sampling program to evaluate the water quality of 4 high quality cold water streams in Newtown and to determine the impact of previous oil spillls on Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River. The sampling is sponsored by the Candlewood Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, The Pootatuck Watershed Association, and the Newtown Land Use Department.

I need to know who and how many volunteers we will have in order to determine the number of points to sample and set up sampling teams. Our plans are to meet at 8:00am at the Newtown wastewater treatment facility on Commerce Road for training and then go to the field for sampling. We should be done around noon. Sampling team membeers will need to have waders or hip boots.

Please let me know re your attendance via return email ASAP. Email Joe Hovious (jchovious [at] yahoo [dot] com) if you are available.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, September 14th at 7 pm at the Miry Brook Firehouse in Danbury, Connecticut.

Our own Tony Ballato will be speaking about his trip to Alaska this summer with a few other members of the chapter to chase large fish.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting! [directions]

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 13th at 7 pm at the Miry Brook Firehouse in Danbury, Connecticut. [directions]

Tom and Dan Harrison of Harrison Anglers will be joining us next month to talk about the fishing in Western Massachusetts. Like our presentation last month, this presentation will focus on a river that we’ve fished often as a chapter. Dan and Tom are excellent hosts on the river and I expect they’ll put on quite a show.

By the way, that photo was texted to me by Dan one morning in mid-March. I was on a conference call in the office. He was on the river catching beautiful browns. That really hurt.

Penns Creek, May 2009

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 9th at 7 pm at the Miry Brook Firehouse in Danbury, Connecticut. [directions]

Jonas Price, owner of the Feathered Hook Fly Shop in Coburn, Pennsylvania will be coming to speak with us about the five creeks of Centre County. The Feathered Hook is located on the banks of the fabled Penns Creek in central Pennsylvania. The chapter has fished this area several times over the past few years and now you can learn why it’s such a special place to fish.

Our annual banquet will be held on March 26th at the Stony Hill Inn in Bethel, CT at 6:30 p.m. This event is a great opportunity to get together with your friends (fishing and otherwise) and help raise some money for our conservation efforts. Most of this money will go towards supporting our Youth Education efforts.

No speeches – just good food, friendly people, lots of stuff, and a great cause!

Auction and Raffle items include:

Youth Education

• Guided fishing on the Housatonic River
• Great seats to a Yankee game
• Collectible books
• Guided salt water fishing
• Salt and fresh water reels
• Guided fishing on the Pootatuck River
• Professionally (and amateur) tied flies
• Float trip on the Deerfield River
• Hand signed “Conservation Edition” Bob White artist prints
• Fly rods
• Float trip on the Housatonic River

Plus many Bucket Raffle items.

Tickets are $40

Available at the Valley Angler, from CVTU Board Members, by emailing Adam at the email in the comment below or by calling 203-241-5361

The event will be held at the Stony Hill Inn located at 50 Stony Hill Road (US Route 6), Bethel, CT.

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Paul Dinice's Eel Fly

Our next meeting will on Tuesday, January 12th at 7 pm at the Miry Brook Firehouse in Danbury, Connecticut. [directions]

Paul Dinice will be speaking with us about “Fishing for Stripers on the Housatonic”. The topics will include techniques, flies, bait and locations.

As always, we’ll also have a Swap-n-Sell table so bring those items you’re looking to unload. We’ll also be doing some fly tying prior to the meeting. We look forward to seeing you there.

Our next meeting will on Tuesday, December 8th at 7 pm at the Miry Brook Firehouse in Danbury, Connecticut. [directions]

Take a break from the holiday rush.  Pizza, Fly Tying and a viewing of Red Gold are the planned events.  We will also be having the Swap N Sell Table as well as some small raffle items.

Red Gold synopsis…
The Bristol Bay region of Southwest Alaska is home to the Kvichak and Nushagak rivers, the two most prolific sockeye salmon runs left in the world. Foreign mining companies Northern Dynasty Minerals and Anglo American have partnered to propose development of what could be one of the world’s largest open-pit and underground mines at the headwaters of the two river systems. Mine backers claim the Pebble exploration site is the second largest combined deposit of copper, gold, and molybdenum ever discovered, and has an estimated value of more than $300 billion.

Despite promises of a clean project by officials, the accident-plagued history of hard rock mining has sparked deep concern from Alaskans who love and depend upon Bristol Bay’s incredible wild salmon fishery. Red Gold documents the growing unrest among Alaska Native, commercial, and sport-fishermen. It’s a portrait of a unique way of life