Rocky River Chapter Trout Unlimited Charlotte, North Carolina
We Conserve, Protect and Sustain our
Coldwater Natural Resources
          Upcoming Events:
​Trout in the Classroom Releases - see the list below
Fall Alarka Camping- October 10 - October 13

Great chapter meeting on Thursday.  Brian Esque lead a terrific presentation on fly fishing the Northwest corner of Yellowstone and the surrounding area.  Enjoy these scenes from the area,  and watch for the presentation along with important details in planning an amazing trip out west.

US Forest Service Fishing Day at Boone Fork Pond

RRTU was very fortunate in being invited to the annual Fishing Day by the US Forest Service.  Over sixty area folks with special needs were there for trout fishing and a hotdog lunch.  There were over 550 hungry trout stocked the day before the event on May 10 and I bet there were not many left by the end of the  day !
It is truly difficult to say who had more fun, the volunteers or the fisherfolk.  It is not often we at RRTU have an opportunity like this and it sure was a swell day.
A shout out to George Wilson, Stuart Tucker, Jason Yepko, Cliff Blaney, Peter Valenti, Jeff Bradley, Greg Norman, and Michael Nichols who all volunteered for RRTU. 
What a wonderful day.

Trout In the Classroom Releases

Volunteers are Invited !

One of the most successful programs our chapter is the TIC (Trout in the Classroom) and it is one of the most most enjoyable for participants. Raised from eggs and releasing small fish in a trout stream, involving a classroom's participation for nearly the entire school year.  Learning why trout environments are critical to their success is knowledge and hands on experience will last a lifetime.  The year's work culminates in a wonderful day for the children, teachers, parents and RRTU releasing the fledgling trout into a trout stream in a NC state park.  The smiles are priceless.  Please plan to attend as many of these as possible, and like the children, you will be joyfully rewarded.
Releases are at South Mountains State Park in Connelly Springs NC and at Stone Mountain State Park and begin at 9:00 am until approximately 11:30

NOTE: The Stone Mountain TIC release on May 11 is coordinated with a chapter streamside.  Food Fun Fishing are included.  Please plan to attend and watch for an announcement closer to the date.
SOUTH MOUNTAINS STATE PARK
May 17    Whitewater Middle School
May 22   Charlotte Country Day School
May 31   Pleasant Knoll Middle School
​STONE MOUNTAIN STATE PARK

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​Join us in celebrating Mr. John Riley's decade of commitment and participation in the continuing success of Trout in the Classroom at Cannon Middle School.  John exemplifies the best qualities in guiding and teaching the environmental principles Trout Unlimited has sought to reach the hearts and minds of our next generation.  

Thank you John Riley !

Paul Duffy, Joyce Shepherd, John Riley, Bill Thomas, Brian Esque in photo





​Enjoy some snaps from our recent Trout in the Classroom releases :
photos by George Fleszar

Earth Day with Carolina International School and Rocky River Trout Unlimited
                                                                                      With the classes of first through eighth we set a new record of 180 flies tied.

Thanks to Bill Thomas and Joe Beckert !!!

Spring
Alarka
2019

Fly of the Month May 2019

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Grizzly King
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Professor

Spring Alarka 2019

Fly of the Month 05.19
This group of fly patterns are not as related in terms of materials and style as much as they are totally related to being created and tied by the same individual, a Scottish fly tyer named John Wilson who tied flies and authored books under the assumed name of Christopher North. Historically all these fly patterns have been traced back to his origin except King of Waters which is most likely his invention as well. About 1820 James Wilson was reputed “the best trout angler with the fly in Europe.”
Both John Wilson and his brother, James Wilson, were considered expert fly-fishers in their time and three of their fly patterns reflected such three-decades after John’s passing. After twenty-five years of fly-fishing experience, Wakeman Holberton, a well-known New York fly tyer classified flies according to their overall productivity in catching trout in the 1880s:
Most Killing                           Good                                          Occasionally Good            
Coachman                              Queen of Water                      Hooker  
Shoemaker                             Professor                                 Bee          
Abbey                                     Beaverkill                                                  ​
Grizzly King                            Cahill                                         
                                                Montreal                                                   
Note: Most killing means catches the most fish of course.
                  
The Wilson Family of Fly Patterns
The Grizzly King is a fly pattern by Professor James Wilson, brother of John Wilson who is well-known for his fly pattern, the Professor. In his The Rod and Gun: The Treatises on Angling and Shootingbook, published in 1840, he describes his fly pattern as: “The Grizzly King is a hackle par excellence. They call him Coomberland in the northern parts of merry England. His wings are broad and burly, formed of any undyed feather, bearing narrow natural bars of black and white, and he bristles with many stripes from head to heel, his dark green body being would about the gray or mottled hackle, and terminated by a fiery tail, turned up in what naturalists call an ensiform manner – that is, somewhat after the fashion of a sword.”
 
            “What seems his head, the likeness of a kingly crown has on.” thus, the name Grizzly King from the caption of a reproduction from “Rod and Gun.” 
 
George M. LaBranche, of New York City, designed and developed the popular Pink Lady. LaBranche’s father’s favorite fly pattern, and consequently his, was a Queen of Waters. On preparing for a trip, and failing to obtain his desired patterns, the clerk sold him some flies called “King of Waters.” A king is not unlike the queen, except it has a scarlet body, instead of orange. In drying some after using, the red dye in the body faded to a pink. This pink bodied fly pattern, tied in LaBranche’s pattern with upright wings and a tail, in appearance no unlike the imago of the May fly, is the Pink lady.
George M. LaBranche tells of it in his fascinating book, The Dry Fly and Fast Water, written in 1914, rated as one of the best American trout books. He was one of the organizers of the Angler’s Club of New York, in 1905, and one of the incorporating directors of the National Association of the Scientific Angling Clubs, in 1909. LaBranche describes his fly pattern as: wings, medium starling or duck; body, pale pink floss, ribbed with flat gold tinsel; legs, ginger or light reddish-brown hackle; and, tail, three whisks of same.
                  John Wilson, 1785-1854 was the originator of the fly pattern named after him, the Professor. Wilson, educated at Oxford, noted for his skill in sports, beginning in 1817 wrote articles, many on angling, for Blackwood’s Magazine. Some of these are contained in the two-volume work entitled: Recreations of Christopher North, a book sometimes over-looked in the collection of an angling library. It was in 1820 that he became a professor in Edinburgh University. 
 


History has it that on a fishing occasion he was without flies, and made one from petals of buttercups and grass, and a thread from a sock. This resulted in the creation of the buttercup yellow, silk bodied fly pattern known as the Professor.
                  Thomas F. Stoddard, in his book, The Scottish Angler, printed in 1835, says: “Foremost is the fly pattern commonly called the ‘Professor’ after Professor Wilson of Edinburgh. The wings are formed of a mottled brown feather taken from the mallard or wild drake; the body is of yellow floss silk, rather longish (the body, not the silk, which is trig and tightly wimpled) and wound about close to the head with a fine red or black hackle; tails are often used but we think them unnecessary. Instead of a yellow silk body we sometimes adopt one of pale green, especially in loch fishing.”
                  In the same author’s book Angler’s Companion, printed in 1847, Stoddard speaks of the Professor fly pattern as being: “dressed in coils of red hackle coming well unto the forepart of the chest.” The more modern dressing is with the yellow silk body, gold tinsel ribbed. The wings, grey mottled mallard. The hackle, brown. The tail, a bit of scarlet ibis feather. Then there is a variation in body color, a Blue Professor and aGray Professor.
                  Remove the tag, make the body orange instead of yellow, wind the hackle palmer style, and one has the Queen of the Waters, a fly pattern also original with Christopher North and his naturalist brother, Professor James Wilson, author ofThe Rod and Gun: The Treatises on Angling and Shooting, published in 1840. In that book the Professor fly pattern is described by James Wilson as having, “wings usually composed of a mallard wing, barred by nature in the usual way, and varied in the ground-color by being dyed by art, lighter or darker, as may be deemed advisable. His body is formed of Paisley yellow floss silk, its texture rather tight and slim in form. It is not always advisable to try to hackle him, although he may sometimes be so slightly either with red or black about the shoulders, but his prevailing character is that of clearness, quietness, loveliness, and originality of composition, with a good deal of sarcastic sharpness about the barb, especially to bunglers who don’t understand the nature of the Kirby bend.”
                  Though the origin of the King of the Watersis not definitely known, as it is very similar, it may reasonably be presumed it also is one of the Wilsons.
 
The Wilson Family of Fly Patterns:
Grizzly King
King of Waters, Queen of Waters
Pink Lady
Professor, Blue Professor, Gray Professor
Fly of the Month 05.19
Tom Adams and Alen Baker
References:
Smedley, Harold Hinsdill. Fly Patterns and Their Origins, 1944
Bergman, Ray. Trout

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Rocky River Programs

Rocky River Trout Unlimited members are heavily involved in a number of conservation projects and programs.
NOTICE: A quick overview of the calendar is now at the top of this page under Upcoming Events.
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We who trout fish together ...will work together to
Conserve,  Protect,  and Restore our Coldwater Streams
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Rocky River Chapter of Trout Unlimited (RRTU) 348