If you wake up this morning and are looking for something to do we encourage readers of this blog to jump in their cars and head to Bronte Creek at Lowville where you can help members of Trout Unlimited Canada roll rocks and create riparian cover for the fish that have been stocked in this creek.

For details check out www.tucanada.org

I like to think I am a fairly level headed, upbeat person but yesterday was an off day. The day started out on a sour note and got progressively worse. It’s not that anything bad happened but rather nothing was going quite right. My son Jake had been cranky throughout the night to the point that he may have been awake more often than he was asleep which didn’t help. I think our household’s circadian rhythms were just off kilter. After attending my first meeting of the day my decision to work out of my home office quickly morphed into taking a mental health day so I grabbed my gear bag, jumped into my car and headed for the nearest stream to my house which is Bronte Creek.

For those not familiar with Bronte Creek a great description is available on Trout Unlimited Canada’s Ted Knott Chapter website (http://tutkc.org). This creek is a local and accessible oasis of calm for any angler who is looking for a fun outing and it is a preferred haunt for anglers who need a quick escape. As I parked my car in Lowville and took the keys out of the ignition I could feel my anxiety start to subside and by the time I had my waders on and my rod lined up my frustration level had dropped well below the ‘#@&% you’ threshold. The sun was out, the humidity had dropped and I had a fly box waiting to be opened.

Bronte Creek at Lowville is not difficult water to fish but as I mentioned earlier it is fun. Through the efforts of Trout Unlimited Canada and other like-minded organizations this watershed is undergoing a rehabilitation program that is improving the fishery ten-fold. River bank stabilization projects and a fish stocking program have made the angling in this area excellent for those who don’t mind catching smaller fish and yesterday was one of those days. I am a huge fan of dry fly fishing and the fish in the creek were on the same page as the longer I spent on the river the broader my smile grew. Trophy anglers may disagree but an afternoon of catching a couple of dozen creek trout that are 6 to 8 inches on a dry fly is fun – and the perfect way to get my mental state back on track. What made the start to my day even better was meeting a fly angler from Hamilton at the end of the lane where I had parked who kindly shared not only his knowledge of the creek but one of his own custom flies he had been fishing that was working particularly well (thanks Dennis – it worked for me also!). His generosity and kind words were a harbinger of things to come and the following 4 hours were exactly what the psychiatrist ordered.

As I was wrapping up my day I rounded a bend in the river and saw the only other angler I encountered casting into a riffle above a bridge. We waved from a distance and as I approached I introduced myself by first name and said I was finishing up. As we chatted I added that I hoped his day was going as well as mine and he smiled and said, “It’s going great – I just caught my first fish!”

“First fish of the day?”, I asked.

“No. My first ever fish on a fly!”

What I then learned was that Brian Mori and his son Michael had come to Bronte Creek directly from WILSON’S an hour earlier where they had invested in new Sage rods, Abel reels as well as Simms waders, boots and vests. I smiled when he told me this and then thanked him for the business – which initially puzzled him until I introduced myself as the owner of the store. We both laughed at the irony of our meeting and, to be honest, sharing the excitement of Brian’s first trout on a fly was the perfect reminder of what first drew me to this sport and also why I love being in fly fishing retail. There may be more noble pursuits in business but none more important than one that helps people enjoy the small pleasures in life. Congratulations Brian – and thank you for allowing me to share this moment with you and your son.

If you would like something to do this Sunday (other than sleeping in) we encourage you to drive up to the Dominion Street Bridge at the Forks of the Credit River for 9am to help Trout Unlimited Canada with a work day. Organized by the Greg Clark Chapter of TUC and the Izaak Walton Fly Fishing Club, volunteers will be working in-stream at the lower meadow site adjacent to a brookie spring constructing a ‘debris catcher’ using a B.C. technique for high gradient streams to provide instream cover for trout and salmon.

For further information please contact Steve Copeland at stevec@porchlight.ca or 519-927-5025.

PS – don’t forget to bring your rod…

Many who read yesterday’s blog entry may have thought to themselves, “The Conestogo River – they’re kidding?” We weren’t.

Long considered a warm water fishery, the Conestogo River was identified as one of 42 ‘best bets’ in the Grand River Fisheries Management Plan for the stocking of brown trout. If you are not aware, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources started a new 5 year stocking plan on the Conestogo in the spring of 2010 that added 14,750 brown trout, 13,000 yearling and 45,000 fry to the river. Stocking took place again this year and will continue in the coming years with the hope that these fish will be able to thrive in the cool waters between the Conestogo Dam and the town of St. Jacobs. Some of the partners who have been working behind the scenes on this valuable project include the Friends of the Grand, KW Fly Fishers, Trout Unlimited Canada and the Grand River Conservation Authority. If you would like more information on the Conestogo River please contact MNR District Biologist Ken Cornelisse at 519-826-6849 or Brad Knarr of the Conestogo River Enhancement Workgroup (CREW) at 519-747-1824.

On a final note, we are told that the best brown trout fishing starts about .5 km downstream from the reservoir and there are good brown trout holes in the river as far as the the Solomon Bauman property… This is a nice stretch of river to drift so do yourself a favour: hire a guide and fish this river out of a drift boat.

Every now and again an idea comes along that deserves promotion and praise and this is one of them.

Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) is one of Canada’s leading water conservation organizations and it has created a child-friendly trout mascot named ‘Takoda’ which is a Sioux word for ‘friend’. This program has been created to help teach children the importance of water quality and the program is gaining traction. We can all do our part by purchasing a toy trout for $35.00 for our kids to help finance the important work of TUC and help educate children about the work TUC completes on our behalf.

The “Adopt a Trout” program includes the following:
• Your very own 7″ plush trout complete with unique ‘T-Bar’ identification tag
• 1- year membership to the Smolt School
• Smolt School online community login
• ‘Get Schooled’ newsletter
• Trout fact sheet
• Adoption certificate

We trust you agree this program is worth promoting and hope you will help support it. To help your children adopt their trout please contact Trout Unlimited Canada via their website www.tucanada.org