Well, my time as president of Kiap-TU-Wish is coming to a close. It is hard to believe it has been three years already?!?! Well, you’re still here and the chapter is still solvent, so I didn’t muck things up too badly. That is testament to a fabulous board and you chapter members who helped me along the way. I couldn’t have made it without you! It has been a privilege and an honor to serve as your president and I can’t imagine a finer TU chapter and I am proud to be a member.
Looking back over the past three years it’s amazing what we have accomplished. I figured I would never see a River Falls dam removed in my lifetime; to thinking I would see one removed, to now being very hopeful that both will be gone! During this process we have strengthened ties with KCC and TCTU, demonstrating the great things we can accomplish when we work together.
We’ve overcome the difficulties with meeting during the COVID outbreake, although I never overcame the difficulties with setting up a ZOOM meeting …… The Kiap-TU-Wish Holiday Banquet was revived and since has been a huge success; it has been wonderful to see our members come back and support it.
The on-line auction continues to expand and coupled with the chance drawings, the Hap Lutter appeal, and most importantly our member’s generosity, our fund-raising efforts continue to reach new heights.
The addition of a June and August outing has allowed members to stay connected during the summer months and both events were well received last year. Look for the Sulphur Solstice and Full Moon Fever at Phil’s to continue this summer.
Important chapter work continued. Education opportunities such as TIC, BIC, PFF Youth Day, TU Camp, and the RF Fly Fishing Clinic went on as usual. We expanded our offerings with the addition of a Stream Girls program which has been an exciting development, thanks to board members Linda Radimecky and Michele Bevis. We now have board member Rainbow Barry on the Pierce County Groundwater Advisory Committee to make sure our interests are considered and studied. Badger Flowers and Scott Larson are heading up chapter communications efforts and bringing us into the 21st century, a dream come true as we are getting all the chapter documents, research, and history stored on the cloud. Trout stream restoration work continues, making our trout habitat world class! Don’t forget, due to your efforts we received the 2022 Wisconsin TU Chapter of the Year!
Thanks again for all the support and encouragement you have given me, the board, and the chapter over the past 3 years! None of it would have been possible without you!
The KIAP-TU-WISH auction is now live!!! It is our biggest auction ever! Over 100 items!!! There is something for every interest and every budget! Vacation stays! Guided trips for trout, bass, pike, steelhead! Many, many fly boxes packed with proven flies! Casting lessons and fly fishing school! Rods from Winston, G.Loomis, Echo, and TFO. Reels from Ross, Cheeky, and Sci Anglers. Cooking class, books, beautiful art, farm tours, gift cards from area merchants…. the list goes on and on! Remember, this auction along with our Hap Lutter appeal and 3 x 100 drawing is where the chapter gets the majority of its funding so bid early and often! Auction ends February 18th. Here is the link! https://go.tulocalevents.org/kiap2024/
Speaking of 3 x 100 drawing, we are now sold out of Sage rod tickets, but still tickets remain for the Cunningham painting and Norling rod, get yours now, before they are all gone!
Cunningham Painting tickets remaining: 46 Norling Rod tickets remaining: 24 Sage Rod tickets remaining: 0
Our annual 3 x 100 chance drawing is now open until February 18th!!!
Just a reminder, from the TU annual renewal dues that you pay, we get nothing. That is used to pay salaries of national TU staffers, to pay for your TROUT magazine subscription, national grants, White House lobbyists, etc.
This event combined with the Auction and Hap Lutter Appeal is where the vast majority of the chapters funding comes from for the entire year. The chapter needs donations in order to continue to do our work and most of that has a monetary requirement: from boulders, to chillers, to Randy’s hotdogs and cookies. Please help!
To purchase tickets, email Greg Olson at gregolson@kiaptuwish.org. I will let you know if we have tickets remaining (I will be sending mailchimp updates once a week). You can either send me a check made out to KIAP-TU-WISH or pay on-line via our website, let me know which drawing your donation is for (but email me first to make sure we have tickets left!). I will also have these items at our February chapter meeting, selling tickets at Juniors, if any tickets are left.
DON’T DELAY!!!!! EMAIL NOW!!!!! See details below!
The 3 X 100 chance drawings will start today, with the winners drawn on February 18th.
The first item, a beautiful painting by our 2022 Silver Trout Award artist, Joshua Cunningham!
The painting is 8”x10”, Oil on Linen, titled “May on the Rush.”
Only 100 tickets will be sold at $20 a ticket. You know you want (or is it “need”) this original painting of one your favorite rivers. “Own” a piece of the Rush River in your home! Get your ticket(s) NOW!!!
The second item is a beautiful Norling bamboo rod!
The rod is a 5-wt, 7′ 6″ rod with two tips, agate guides, rod sock & brushed aluminum travel tube with cap by renowned rod makers Dave Norling Sr. and Dave Norling Jr.
Only 100 tickets will be sold at $20 a ticket. You know you want (or is it “need”) this heirloom quality rod! What are you waiting for! Get your ticket(s) NOW!!!
The third item is an incredible fishing tool, a new Sage Foundation 9′ 4 wt with case!
Equipped with a high-performance blank (Graphite IIIe), the FOUNDATION has a fast action providing excellent casting power and effortless control. It’s the very foundation of what defines a Sage rod – Performance – taking your game to another level. Armed with this rod, the trout don’t stand a chance! More info on the Sage website: https://farbank.com/collections/sage-foundation-freshwater. Donated by Cabelas Rodgers and KIAP-TU-WISH.
Only 100 tickets will be sold at $10 a ticket. You know you want (or is it “need”) this high performance rod! What are you waiting for! Get your ticket(s) NOW!!!
Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It was awesome to see so many Kiap-TU-Wish members at the Holiday banquet, last year we had 64 people attending and this year we topped 100! It reminded me of an Olson family Christmas, where I would see some faces that I hadn’t since the previous year. It was the only day all my uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandmother were together in the same house and what a full house it was, with my father being one of ten kids! The only downside was that the house reeked of lutefisk. The swedish meatballs, lefse, rommegrot, krumkake, and rosettes made up for the smell though. If you have any feedback about what you liked about the banquet and ideas to improve it, please let me know. No worries, we will never be offering lutefisk at Juniors!
I’m looking forward to the Wisconsin early trout fishing season opening up on Saturday, January 6th. If the temps get above freezing, winter can be fun to scratch that itch and get a little fishing in. The way this winter is going, there could be a lot of January and February days above freezing. I supposed I just jinxed that…. I believe I have mentioned it before, but a pair of insulated, boot foot waders has really made winter fishing much more enjoyable for me. I had tried my stocking foot waders with bigger boots, different combinations of wool socks, foot warmers, etc., but regardless it would not take long for my feet to turn to blocks of ice. However, that has all changed with the insulated boot foot waders. I have spent time at the vice, cranking out midge patterns that dominate the winter hatches and I am ready to go! Don’t forget to volunteer for some of Randy’s work days! Those always make the winter go by faster.
I’m really looking forward to our chapter meetings in the new year as well. I can’t wait to see what Sarah Sanford and her friends the Gillespies come up with in January. Then we have the Dick Frantes fly tying meeting where we are thinking of offering some fly tying challenges to those that want to participate. March brings renowned artist and guide Bob White to Juniors. In April, we have the usual chapter business to attend to and then Kent Johnson and Dr. Clarke Gary will present some of their recent aquatic bug sampling findings on the Kinni compared to findings at the same sites decades ago. Carl Nelson will also report on sampling he and his team did on the Rush. In May we will have Kasey and Nate back!
Our on-line auction and 3 x 100 chance drawing will be starting in January. The auction is shaping up to be bigger and better than before. If you have any items to donate, you can bring them to the January chapter meeting or any of the area fly shops: Lunds, Mend, or Bob Mitchells. For the 3 x 100 chance drawing, we again will have a Joshua Cunningham painting, this one titled “May on the Rush”, a Norling bamboo rod, and a Sage 4wt graphite rod. Last year the tickets sold out quickly, so be sure to get yours while they last!
When Sarah Sanford accepted my invitation to be our January speaker, I knew we were going to be in for something wonderful; perhaps wild, probably wacky, but certainly wonderful. I told her the topic was up to her…. just make it related to fish (please!) and waited and wondered. When she finally gave me her idea at the Holiday Banquet, I had to check with her the next day to make sure I heard right. I had! So without further adieu, KIAP-TU-WISH brings you…….!
An Evening with Eben, Barbara, and Sarah Hear music, see fish photos (narrated by Sarah), meet the Uninvited Mermaid!
Barbara and Eben Gillespie are lovely Minneapolis residents who make beautiful music together. They once invited strangers from the internet to a 60’s music jam in their north Minneapolis basement. Sarah Sanford went to sing and learned they weren’t axe murderers at all! Eb and Barb will share from their enormous repertoire of acoustic music from the 60’s to the present. Sarah has promised that the songs will all be about fishing.
Here is the lowdown!
Join us, January 2nd at Juniors (Radisson Hotel) in downtown River Falls (414 S. Main St.), for Sarah, Eben and Barbara.
Dinner menu will be available at 6 pm, with the program starting at 7 pm.
We are not even going to attempt this with ZOOM, but hey, you are going to want to be there in person! We have never done anything like this before, don’t miss out! This is going to be too fun!!!
Also the book swap will return! You know the drill by now. Bring your fishing/outdoor books you wish to swap out. If you don’t have any to bring, you can still pick from other members offerings. If you brought a book that was not picked up, please bring it back home with you.
Also, this is one of the last chances to bring in items for our February Auction. We would appreciate your help!
Thanks and hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
CHAPTER MEETING: November 7th, Juniors in River Falls. 6:00 pm.Tim Stieber and Josh O’Neil will be speaking to us. Tim is the Land and Water Conservation Administrator and Josh the Conservation Planner for St. Croix County. They will be talking about their stream improvement projects and ways we can help. Watch for an upcoming announcement of the Kiap-TU-Wish annual Christmas event, on December 5th.
