President’s Message
Dear MMTU Members,
Curt organized a camping fishing to the Driftless area of Wisconsin for June 9-12. Joining the fun from MMTU were Curt Morgret, Bill Lamberson, Mike Kruse, Jeff Koppelman, Jeff Holzem, Doug Grove, John Wenzlick, Ty Figg, Travis Figg, Jeff Witten, Garry Teeple and Lynn Kloepfer. Joining us from Wisconsin were Duke Welter and his wife, Kris, Carol McSherry Murphy, President of the Harry & Laura Nohr Chapter, Mike Seipker and his wife from Iowa came, too. Cheese curds did make an appearance.
Now that I am back in civilization and connected again...
That was awesome! This will be one of the memories that I cherish until I die (or finally go completely senile).
Thank you all so much. Thank you all for the fishing tips. Thank you Curt for taking charge of making this trip happen. Thanks Bill for the steaks.
I didn't take pictures so thanks for sharing yours. I'm going to download some of them.
Sunday Jeff Holzem and I went up Timber Coulee to Rulland Coulee, by the restoration, near by Skogdalen Lutheran Church. It was my best wild trout day ever. All caught on a size 18 Elk Hair Caddis (well maybe three of them).
WOW.
Doug Grove
Camping, Fishing, Meeting and Tree Planting
On Friday evening Bill grilled steaks. Duke spoke about TU's restoration efforts. During the last 15 years there have been two 500 year floods and a 1000 year flood. He is currently working on removing a dam from the Kinnikinnick river, https://www.americanrivers.org/endangered-rivers/kinnickinnic-river-wi/. The cost will be around $3M and he is well on the way. Our president and Vice President were present and we had a quorum, so we approved a $10,000 contribution. There was discussion about encouraging the council to match it.
Mike Siepker, an Iowa fisheries biologist, formerly from Missouri, also spoke around the campfire about his projects and more information is attached.
These are Travis’ comments:
Awesome weekend guys. Catching fish, drinking spotted cow, and watching others step in cow patties. Doesn’t get much better than that.
I hope we can make this a recurring event.
If anyone has pictures to share for the website please email them to midmotu@gmail.com and I’ll get them added.
Thanks!
Here are Duke’s comments:
To our Mid-Missouri friends:
Thanks sincerely for hosting Kris and me at your camping spot Friday night! The steaks were superb and the conversations a lot of fun. And THANK YOU all for your support of Kinnickinnic River restoration! We'll get that dam dam out this winter, if we have to chop it up ourselves. But your contribution will be a big help in getting it done. TU's grassroots are showing up for this one!
Saturday was just about the perfectest fishing day one could have imagined. No lightning, light to moderate rain. Up here around Viroqua the streams never got discolored, and fish were willing to work. I caught a nice handful and missed four strikes in a row. When I finally caught a nice one, I let it lay in the net in the water while I dug around for my hemostat. That fish dislodged the hook and swam out of the net. I hope your days were good too. Safe travels and we'll look forward to seeing you when next you get up this way.
Best wishes,
Duke
Curt shared these comments:
Duke- what a wonderful area to fish and good friends to share it with
Curt Morgret
Mike S shared these comments:
Hi Curt,
Thanks again for letting me crash the Mid-MO TU trip to Wisconsin to provide an update on Iowa coldwater conservation efforts. I was happy to make the trip over to see everyone and provide the update since Mid-MO has been a valuable partner in protecting coldwater habitats in the Iowa Driftless.
I've attached the project update that I reviewed at the Friday night campout. Please feel free to share with your membership.
As projects continue to develop, I'll keep the Chapter updated on future opportunities to support work in Iowa.
Best,
Mike
Check out the pictures Gary added to our FB page.
Mike K said hopper/droppers were fun on Bronson Creek
More Tree Planting
Saturday morning Bill, Gary, John, Doug and I planted 20 trees (red oak and river birch) on Travis and Ty’s property, which on a tributary of the Hornbeck. We got wet, but Travis sprung for lunch in Veroqua, so we could dry and plan the afternoon’s fishing. We should go back in the fall to plant more.
Jeff Holzem
Newsletter editor
Council Climate Change Coordinator
NLC Climate Change Workgroup Co-chair
President
Doug Grove
Vice President
Travis Figg
Past President
John Wenzlick
Secretary
Nathan McLeod
Treasurer
Brandon Butler
Banquet Chairs
Bill Lamberson
Banquet Chairs
Curt Morgret
Education Director
John Wenzlick
Membership
Curt Morgret
Conservancy
Bill Lamberson
Conservancy
Sam Potter
e-Newsletter
Jeff Holzem
Web Master
Travis Figg
Facebook editor
Ben Moore
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