From the CTU President

 

Investing in the Future of Fly-Fishing

By Sharon Lance

Dear Fellow Members of Colorado Trout Unlimited and trout anglers across the state!

Colorado Trout Unlimited, or CTU, is entering a new phase – the phase of partnerships. We are very excited to enter into a partnership with High Country Angler. I would like to thank Frank Martin, the managing editor, for giving us this opportunity to present our voice in this new free publication that focuses on Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. With this partnership, we can reach all the residents of Colorado and share with them our important work in preserving and protecting Colorado’s water.

We had a successful event in a partnership with the Boy Scouts and the US Sportsmen’s Alliance on May 15th  in Elbert, CO. Approximately 200 children and parents attended. Cub Scouts from 7 districts participated. It was so exciting to introduce 6,7,8,9 and 10 year old boys, their four year old sisters, and parents to the sport of fly fishing. When I heard the enthusiastic words, “I caught a fish!!!” yelled across Silver Lake, I knew it was going to be a great day. We introduced them to the concept of “catch and release” which was a new concept for most of them. They even enjoyed watching the fish swim away. 

Denny Bohon, a US Forest Service biologist led the entomology station with a fish tank borrowed from Scott Gilmore at the Division of Wildlife. Scott also provided us with new spinning rods and reels. Rob Anderson and Tom Tuley headed up the fly tying station and even managed to catch some small mouth bass after the exhausting day. Steve Johnson at Royal Stevens fly shop and John Bailey from Dan Bailey’s shop donated the materials for fly tying. 

Steve Bailey ran the fishing station and we fished with bobbers donated by Joe Brenton. One boy even insisted that we take the fly off of his line and put the fly he tied on his line. Sure enough, he caught a fish on his own fly!!!!  We even managed to keep all barbless flies out of hands and faces. Mark Lance taught the children how to cast with some yarn and dowels. When he showed them a fly rod, they all wanted to watch him cast it. They even pretended they were fish and grabbed the end of the line.

I would also like to thank the other volunteers for taking a Saturday off to help us – Heather and Robert Sarfi, Bob Hilton, Ken and Mike McClatchy, Elbert Bivins, Ross Custer, Marty Knape, John Vaught, Harry Hall, Steve Lopez, Charlie Nelson, Doug Jones, Dave Nickum, Ben Hawkins, Pamela Middleton, Kathleen Reynolds, Jim Crawford, and John Osborn. We could not have done it without each and every one of you.

We are having another fly fishing event with the Boy Scouts on August 13, 14 and 15th up at Camp Tahosa near Estes Park. Please contact me if you would like to volunteer.

I hope that many of you who are reading this article can join us next year. We hope to make it an annual event.

Happy Fishing!

Sharon Lance

 

About the Author

Sharon Lance is President of Colorado Trout Unlimited. For more information about CTU, visit their website at www.cotrout.org.This article reprinted from the Summer 2004 issue of High Country Angler