Nutmeg TU looks ahead into 2021

Greetings,

It is hard to believe that it has been nearly a year since the world ground to a virtual halt. Everyone has suffered, but hopefully the virus will soon be tamed.

Fortunately, fishing can be a socially distant sport, allowing us to get some exercise and fresh air.

Although we did manage to get in a few Nutmeg fishing trips, our conservation efforts have gone by the wayside until we can safely gather.

Thanks to Mike Piquette and Gian Morresi, we were able to monitor water temperatures in the Mill and Pequonnock Rivers, providing useful data which may help with future projects. We also won an Embrace a Stream grant from Trout Unlimited and Orvis, which will provide us with a Habitat Improvement Plan for the Mill River section along Congress Street in Fairfield.

On hold have been our revetment project, tree plantings, invasive species removal, macro invertebrate studies and river cleanups. Some of the rivers are getting trashy. While we cannot do a TU sponsored cleanup yet, if family members want to get out and pick up trash, just let us know where and when and send us a few pictures. The Mill along Congress and Park avenue can use some TLC.

Some of our Zoom meetings have been great, but of course they are a poor substitute for the real thing. We will resume our Port 5 meetings as soon as we can. If you have taken an interesting fishing trip and want to share you with the chapter, we’d love to have you speak to the group.

Since we can no longer raise funds at our meetings, we have started to sell our donated inventory on eBay. David Ader has taken up the challenge and sold our first rod in one day. If anyone has used gear they would like to donate to the chapter as part of our fund-raising efforts, please let us know. We will do all the work and give you a receipt for the IRS. Also, be on the lookout for a sweepstakes for a Winston 5 wt. rod.

Let us know if you want to get involved. We have spots on the Board or you can do a one-off project. Phil Jacques has retired from the board after more than a decade of service. We appreciate all he has done and continues to do for TU. Ed Grzeda has agreed to take over the Treasurer’s position, following Phil and then Jerry Goldstein.

In 2021 we plan to expand our reach to youth, veterans, and inner city. Please join us to help grow our membership and reach all members of our community. All volunteers are welcome.

I feel like spring is around the corner (even though it is in the low 30s as I write this) and can’t wait to get vaccinated and be able to join you all on the rivers, work together to improve the habitat of local rivers and have some fun along the way.

I want to also thank all of our board members for their support, ideas, enthusiasm and volunteer hours. Jerry Goldstein – Vice President; Jack Kovach – Communications, Meetings and Chair of the CT Council; Ed Grzeda – Treasurer and Membership; Gian Morresi – Conservation; David Ader – Assistant Treasurer; Alex Ziemkiewicz – Raffles;  and non-Board member Joe Lanese – TIC Coordinator. Please contact me or any of the other board members with your thoughts.

Wishing you all a great 2021, complete with health and perhaps a few fish in the net.

Rich Rosen

Nutmeg President