Allegheny Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited

59^th Annual Fundraiser

On April 12^th we held our annual fundraiser at the DuBois VFW. 120 people attended and from the feedback it was a success. The prizes this year were among the best in years with the highlight being the Blackstone grill along with a pizza oven and a 40” tv. The rod raffle had 9 prizes this year along with two special rod raffles and a special knife raffle. Kudos to Kelly Williams for chairing the fundraiser again this year. There are a lot of behind the scenes work to make the evening special. We would like to thank our sponsors for the special fly rod, reel and line along with a sponsor print both from Spitzer Subaru/Chevrolet GMC in DuBois. Color TV from Karen Yanek At Home Reality. There is a lot of behind the scenes work to make the evening great. In addition to these many of our members stepped up to provide some fantastic prizes for the bucket raffles. We offer a BIG THANK YOU to all who helped with setting up and soliciting and donating prizes. The annual ticket raffle that all our members received in the mail was also a success with the winners being:

1^st prize $500.; Dave Miller with Bruce Miller receiving the $100 bonus for selling with winning ticket.

2nd prize; $200 Ryan Ishman

3^rd prize; $100 Sharon Malloy

The food was also very good, and the facility was great, and we have booked it for next year, which will be April 11, 2026. Mark your calendar and be sure to attend as this will be our 60^th anniversary of the chapter and we will make it special for all attendees.

Congratulations Dave

This years Golden Reel Award recipient was Dave London. Dave has been involved in the chapter for a very long time serving on the board during the late 80’s into the 90’s and took a break to earn a living and now in semi-retirement has not only rejoined the board but took on the Vice President position as well as meeting coordinator. He is chairing the Punxsutawney Elementary School Environmental Day. Not only does Dave join an elite group of fellow TU’ers but also marks a father son duo as his father Edwin was a past recipient for our highest honor.

DuBois Cleanup Day

We’ve all heard that when it rains it pours. Well, this year due to Easter on the Earth Day weekend the cleanup day was the same as our fundraiser. We have done this every year for the past 5 or so and it looked like this year was going to be a miss. We reached out to Samantha Snedden to see if she could chair this event as all the board members that had helped in the past were not able. She agreed and thanks to her and her family along with Brad Haines they were able to continue the tradition. We have always cleaned up the area around the Tannery Dam. Samantha attended the Wildlife Leadership Academy last year and has become a youth leader. Thank you, Samantha.

Dr Blakeslee Memorial Forest Cleanup

Mark you calendar for May 5^th to lend a hand with our annual cleanup of the parking lot and trails in the forest area. This is an annual event, and we usually have some help from the PA Wildlife Habitat group and is chaired by our own Matt Marusiak from the Western PA Conservancy.

Fly Tying Roundtable and Classes

Both wrapped up in March and were a success. Attendance at our roundtables was off a bit from past years but still the people who attended enjoyed the camaraderie along with getting some flies tied. Our class graduated 5 students after 6weeks. Most likely our class next year will be held in Punxsutawney if a location and interest is found. Stay tuned for details.

Fly Fishing Club

The DuBois Middle School Fly Fishing Club will be wrapping up the school year with our outing at Camp Mountain Run on May 2^nd. Each year we take the club to the lake at the camp for a afternoon of fly fishing. We provide lunch as well as all the flies and rods. If interested in helping that day call George Kutskel at 814-371-9290. We have several already on board to help the kids catch fish on flies, but there is always room for some more. We did some fly tying at school this year thanks to Dave Kemitis for lending a hand the kids were able to learn to tie basic caddis larva and a mop fly.

Environmental Day

Once again we will be hosting the 8^th grade at Camp Mountain Run on May 16^th. We will have members from National Trout Unlimited on hand to electroshock the stream, collecting macros, fishing, habitat assessment, and invasive species. We will once again have the Brockway FFA student on hand to help where needed. As with all our events involving young people to help you must have your clearances which are free to receive. For details on how to get them email the chapter at amctu036@gmail.com

Punxsutawney Elementary School’s day will be Tuesday May 27^th from 8:30 until 2pm. This is a fun day with the students and is held at the school grounds. Dave London is chairing the day this year if interested email the chapter at the address above.

Picnic Time

We have two opportunities for you to eat some good food and meet some great people this year. May 21^st we will join the Iron Furnace Chapter for a picnic at Walter Dick Park in Brookville. As we have done in the past the chapter will provide the meats and Iron Furnace will provide drinks and place settings. All you need to bring is a dish to pass and your fly rod to catch the evening hatch. We will be eating around 6pm and not to worry if its raining as we will be in the pavilion near the parking lot.

Our second picnic will be July 13^th at Bendigo State Park. If you’ve never been here this is a great venue. There is an inground pool for swimming as well as some of the coldest water in the state for those who would rather go fishing. We provide all the food and if would be great to see more of our members attending one or both of these FREE events.

Facebook and Social Media

We had an issue with our Facebook page earlier this year and now have a new page along with more people able to add content. Kelly has provided a QR code to help load the page for your convenience see below. Also check our website for updates on chapter happenings www.amctu.org