Area Shops and Guide Services (we encourage your support of these folks - they support us!) Arkansas River Fly Shop, 7500 W. US Hwy 50, Salida, CO  81201  (719) 539-3474 Broadacres Ranch, 25671 Highway 149, Creede, CO  81130  (719) 658-2291 Fox Creek Store, 26573 Hwy....

Excerpt from an email to the board (with an invitation for any chapter member to help) from Mark: San Luis Valley Trout Unlimited | President's Duties  Replies to State Council and National TU correspondence and requests Attends quarterly CTU meetings/National TU...

My 2 cents worth on Mark's presidency by Darrell Lewis (SLVTU Board Member) We could write a book on the list of things accomplished by the Chapter under Mark's leadership. A few things stand out. The presence of Kevin Terry has had a huge impact on the number and...

I have only served on the board for one year. Mark has been a lifeline for me as the rookie Newsletter Editor. I am a student of leadership and have made it one of my mantras to recognize and learn from leaders in my life, Thus I feel compelled to share with you what...

Fishing is Fun ( POGG1,PMAA,202200002241) Final Report Summary: The Conejos Meadows Resilient Habitat Project created a low flow channel that will improve habitat conditions and connectivity to complex pool refuge habitat in a nearly 2-mile reach (9,200 linear feet)...

Carefully planned and scheduled to coincide with the all-time peak in Covid cases, Mark DeSanto Jan and I arrived in Havana on January 13, three days ahead of our fishing week.  We rented an entire three-bedroom apartment in a perfect location one block from the...

Project Healing Waters Fly-Fishing Spring Update Thank you for your service to our country! Project Healing Waters has continued with our Fly-Tyin and Rod-Building Classes for our disabled veterans throughout the winter months. Several new participants have been added...

June 12-18, 2022 - Skills, Conservation Principles, and Camaraderie. Colorado Trout Unlimited will host the 17th annual River Conservation and Fly Fishing Camp for teen youth at AEI Base Camp in Taylor Park, Colorado, June 12-18, 2022. Since 2006, youth from across...

Project Healing Waters Fly-Fishing Update Outings abound as COVID restrictions were lifted and our group was able to get out on some water for fishing of the extraordinary kind. Special thanks to Stan Price and all who make it possible to bless the life of a veteran...

JIM & JAN on the BAJA After two COVID thwarted attempts to schedule this trip, my wife, Jan Crawford, and I finally made it to the Baja in pursuit of sizeable roosterfish, jacks and dorado. Our arrangements included six days of fishing starting on May 22, just two...

2nd Annual Jim Creek Brook Trout Challenge Trout Unlimited, alongside agency and organization partners, has been working to protect, secure, and enhance the population of the native Rio Grande cutthroat trout in Jim Creek since 2014. We have built and maintained 5...

Board Meeting on the Rio When SLV TU Chapter President, Mark, announced the last board meeting would be officially conducted in the middle of a float trip on the Rio Grande River near Creede, it was not hard to get attendance even though it was in the middle of busy...

LEARNING ON THE RIVER Special thanks to our President, Mark, and two other members (mentioned below) for helping a few Del Norte High School Students learn about some of the science of fly fishing! Mark writes: It was the final day of class for the Aquaponics class at...

Part 2 - The Fly Tier's Bench By Doug Camp The second part of our virtual meeting will be a video demonstration of how to tie a darned good fly (see picture below).  Master tier Doug Camp will give the demo, along with some general hints useful for tying other flies...

This Month's Program | Part 1 - Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout Update for the San Luis Valley By Estevan Vigil Local Aquatic Biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Estevan Vigil will be giving an update on the recent accomplishments concerning Rio Grande Cutthroat...

A Note From the New Editor First and foremost, please join me as we acknowledge Marty Jones for extraordinary service to the San Luis Valley TU Chapter over many years, including his most recent tenure as the Editor of this newsletter. Thank you Marty! My name is Don...

March 2021 Virtual SLV TU Meeting Thanks to the twenty folks, primarily from the SLV, who joined our fourth virtual SLVTU meeting in March.  The slate of candidates listed in the March newsletter (now shown on the first page of this newsletter) was unanimously...

Project Healing Waters Fly-Fishing Update While you may not have been aware of it, we have been having our own in-house (San Luis Valley disabled veterans only) rod building competition for the 2020 rod builders.  Thanks to the many who have been working in the...

Hands-on Projects for the Season As you can see from the first page of the newsletter, we're gearing up for an active season of projects.  The semiannual highway cleanup events (May 23 and September 19) will both start at 9 am.  Meet at the pullout at mile 4.5 of the...

SLV TU is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Monthly TU meeting Time: Apr 27, 2021 07:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Every month on the Last Tue, until Jun 29, 2021, 3 occurrence(s) Apr 27, 2021 07:00 PM May 25, 2021 07:00 PM Jun 29, 2021 07:00 PM...

A Note From the Editor We always like to include pictures in the newsletter. If you have some good ones that you are willing to share, please email them to mbjones@adams.edu.  In addition to pictures, the editor would like to receive stories that could be featured in...

Project Healing Waters Fly-Fishing Update Thanks to Stan Price for keeping this going during the COVID-19 pandemic!  Participants are gearing up to start a new year of rod-building with the very capable assistance of Darrell Lewis, and will continue tying flies using...

Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 7 pm This will be our third virtual SLV TU meeting, using the Zoom platform.  To access the meeting, please click on this link:  SLVTU February Chapter Meeting.  If you have used Zoom before, you know what to do after you click the link. ...

A shout outto Doug  for doing an awesome installment of The Fly Tier's Bench! https://youtu.be/WFrIqa3YDVQ

From Deep Time to Game Time - A Snapshot of Cutthroat Evolution and Opportunities for Catching Rio Grande Cutthroat Today by Kevin Terry This presentation will speed through a few million years to reveal the trail leading to Colorado’s native trout assemblage, discuss...

Last Cast | We continue with our stories from the book "Fishing with Kay" DAS BOAT By David Kenvin One fine summer day Kay give me a ring. He wanted to know if I would take him and a friend fishing in the boat on the Rio Grande. I told him “sure no problem” and we...

A Note From the Editor We always like to include pictures in the newsletter. If you have some good ones that you are willing to share, please email them to mbjones@adams.edu.  In addition to pictures, the editor would like to receive stories that could be featured in...

Tuesday, January 26, 2021, 7 pm Virtual TU Meeting on Zoom, featuring Kevin Terry and Doug Camp This will be our second virtual SLV TU meeting, using the Zoom platform. To access the meeting, please click on this link: SLVTU January Chapter Meeting. If you have used...

Colorado Trout Unlimited News Despite COVID-19 Impacts, Youth Programming Adapts & Continues Despite COVID-19 impacts, Colorado TU is excited to share some successes in the Stream of Engagement programming from this fall. The youth education programs faced...

Fishing Reports Arkansas River San Juan River Conejos River Rio Grande

Last Cast Our Debt to Kay By Joe Kolupke My stories of fishing with Kay Watkins have a simple plot: Kay invites me and perhaps two or three others to go out with him.  We head out to the Rio Grande or the Arkansas or the San Juan.  The other guys catch perhaps six or...

A note from the editor We always like to include pictures in the newsletter. If you have some good ones that you are willing to share, please email them to mbjones@adams.edu.  In addition to pictures, the editor would like to receive stories that could be featured in...

Part 1 - Western Native Trout Challenge by Deacon Aspinwall What is the allure of native trout? These beautiful creatures come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They are as varied as the landscapes of the west from which they evolved. They come from the mountains, the...

Project Healing Waters Fly-Fishing Update Thanks to Stan Price for keeping this going during the COVID-19 pandemic!  Participants have been tying flies based on Postfly fly packets and have just recently submitted all the necessary materials for judging the rods they...

Tuesday, November 17, 2020, 7 pm This will be the first ever virtual SLV TU meeting, using the Zoom platform.  To access the meeting, please click on this link:  SLVTU November Chapter Meeting.  If you have used Zoom before, you know what to do after you click the...

Monitoring the Water at the Blanca Vista Ponds Member and Adams State Chemistry Professor Dr. Frank Novotny reports that two preliminary studies to monitor the pH, dissolved oxygen (D.O.), and temperature of the water at the Blanca Vista Ponds began in July with the...

Sand Creek Project By Kevin Terry When I first heard about Sand Creek, I was in my first year of my first real job as a fisheries biologist. I was hired to manage the fisheries program for the Jicarilla Apache Nation in northern New Mexico, and the tribe is a...

Member News Welcome to new member Mike Blenden, and to a member who has transferred to our chapter, Steve Prochnow! Thanks to our renewing members and contributors:  Bob Antiel, Charles Brown, John Bullington, Benn McGee, Stan Price, Norman Segel, Dan Street, Larry...

Annual Meeting Many of you know that the last Tuesday of October has traditionally been our official "annual" meeting, at which officer/board elections are held.  However, two factors this year have led to a delay in this annual meeting (1) National TU has changed...

Colorado Trout Unlimited News Q&A with Colorado's Senatorial CandidatesHigh Country Angler and Colorado Trout Unlimited had the chance to pose a series of questions to the major-party candidates for U.S. Senate – current Senator Cory Gardner, and former Governor...

A Sad Farewell With regret, I want to let you all know that one of our members has recently passed away.  Dr. Rob Benson, emeritus professor of geology from Adams State, lost his valiant struggle against cancer on September 20, 2020. Rob introduced me to the lower...

Among the recent Fishing is Fun projects approved for funding is the Conejos Meadows in the San Luis Valley. In-stream habitat improvements will occur on 1.75 miles of the Conejos River downstream from Platoro Reservoir in the San Luis Valley. The project will address...

Mark Konishi has had plenty of success catching some nice Rio Grande cutthroat, brown trout and brookies this summer.      

Temperatures and Fishing during the Drought, Part 2 Joel Condren, owner of 8200 Mountain Sports and South Fork Anglers, tells us that his guides are recording high temperatures on the Rio Grande in the afternoons, so he has instituted "Sun Downer" rules, which means...

Responsible Angling in Drought Conditions, Part 1 Presented by the San Luis Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited Upper Rio Grande Basin, Colorado Premise: The Upper Rio Grande has been in an extended drought for many years. Our water supply has varied widely over the...

We always like to include pictures in the newsletter. If you have some good ones that you are willing to share, please email them to mbjones@adams.edu. In addition to pictures, the editor would like to receive stories that could be featured in the Last Cast portion of...

The City of Alamosa Parks and Recreation Department, together with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and SLV Trout Unlimited, have installed two handicapped-accessible fishing piers at the Blanca Vista Park ponds (just east of Cattails Golf Course in Alamosa). A Fishing is...