George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited Banquet TODAY!!

The George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited's annual banquet is a mere 1 week away! This year, the event will be at the Butte Plaza Event Center 3100 Harrison Ave, in Butte, Montana.

There are plenty of raffles, giveaways, a silent and live auction with tons of great stuff to bid on. The food is catered by Casagranda's Steakhouse and is fantastic.  The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program will be there with their live aquatic bugs for you and your children.  There are kids games and a bar.  Everything benefits GGTU and their mission to protect and restore Southwest Montana's cold water fisheries.  I don't know if you could ask for anything more.

Click here to buy tickets and while you're on the GGTU website, be sure to become a member of Trout Unlimited today!

George Grant Chapter of TU will meet to discuss cleanup and restoration of Clark Fork R. and Silver Bow Cr. (updated)

The George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited is holding a Board of Directors meeting and the public is invited.  Some folks representing TU and the MT DOJ, as well as, Joe Griffin (retired MT DEQ hydrogeologist and all-around bad-ass) will be giving a presentation on the restoration and mine waste cleanup on Silver Bow Creek and the Upper Clark Fork River.

Updates:

• Casey Hackathorn of Trout Unlimited (national) will present on the Upper Clark Fork and its tributaries.
• Jason Lindstrom of MT FWP will present electro-fishing data from Silver Bow Creek.
• Pat Cunneen of the BNRC will likely present on efforts to remove the Parrot Tailings, Diggins East, and Northside Tailings from the banks of Upper Silver Bow Creek in Butte.

This is not one to be missed!!

The meeting is Monday, December 14, at 6:30 pm in the Business Development Center @ 305 W. Mercury St. in Butte, Montana. 

"Trout Unlimited provides $34K in grants for western Montana fisheries projects"

Check out this article in today's Missoulian Newspaper to see where your Trout Unlimited membership and donations go to.

MT Trout Unlimited on the PBS NewsHour

Check out this great video by Meri DeMarois of the University of Montana and her mentor, Anna Rau from Montana PBS.  This piece aired nationwide last week on the PBS NewsHour.  Some of my local heroes make cameos.  Bruce Farling of MTTU, Dr. Lisa Eby from UM, Carey Schmidt of Westslope TU.

Bitterroot Skwala Variant

2014 Model Skwala Dry

• Size 10-12 1-2XL Dry Fly Hook.  The curvy, stonefly hooks look great too.
• 6/0 olive thread
• Black craft foam
• Small black wire ribbing
• Goose Biots for tail
• Hand blended dubbing mix
• Old school Fishaus Tackle "Fly Sheet" for wings.  Any sheet wing material would work fine.
• Deer hair overwing
• Silicone legs
• Peacock herl for thorax under-body
• One Grizzly, one brown hackle

This is a variant on a fly that George Kesel ties.  Mine is a bit more involved but I love the silhouette.  The instructions for George's fly was published in the Westslope Chapter of Trout Unlimited's newsletter.  Here's the link: Bitterroot Skwala Tying Instructions Part 1 Bitterroot Skwala Tying Instructions Part 2

Here is the link to the Westslope TU website: http://www.westslopetu.org/