The Coosa Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited is proud to announce that the 3rd Annual Trout Expo will be held Saturday, February 25th at the Rome Floyd River ECO Center located at Ridge Ferry Park. The hours are from 10am till 2 pm. This year we will continue our efforts to educate and enlighten the people of Northwest Georgia in everything trout and trout related.

The Georgia “BACK THE BROOKIE” program will be a feature of the Expo. Back the Brookie is a Trout Unlimited program that is part of the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture that involves State, Federal, local agencies & TU chapters from Maine to Georgia in an effort to restore brook trout into their native ranges. Georgia’s BtB program is one of the most successful of all BtB efforts and has become a model for the rest. Come and see what TU is doing and learn where these “jewels of the mountain” can be found.

The Expo will have booths for fly fishing, fly tying, and how to rig a fly rod. There will also be booths for the bait angler and the spin fisherman. We also hope to have all three state record trout on display. There will be door prizes given away every 15 minutes. The door prizes will all be fishing related and hundreds of dollars worth will be given away.

Representatives from the Department of Natural Resources, the US Forest Service will be there to answer questions about new regulations, the best places to fish & the best camping areas. Members of the Coosa Valley Chapter will share their expertise freely with those who attend.

Our Chapter members are usually “tight lipped” about where they fish, their favorite “secret baits” and techniques. The Trout Expo is the one day that they are under orders from the chapter president to tell all they know. Don’t miss out because it will be next year before the next expo.

DREAM TRIP

Georgia TU is giving away a fly fishing adventure trip for two to a private log cabin in Idaho. The cabin is located between the Madison River, Yellowstone and Henry’s Fork. That is the heart of some of the finest trout fishing in America. The winner will receive 2 custom made 9foot, 5 weight Winston fly rods completely outfitted with line & reel, 2 boxes of flies and hosted fishing by John McGarity for 5 days & lodging & meals for 6 nights. John is a retired restaurateur so the food will be as good as the fishing. The winners will also receive $500 to help offset the travel expense.

There are a lot of back up prizes with guided trout fishing here in Georgia, a fishing trip to Canada, certificate for fly fishing school, guided striper fishing, a float trip on the Hooch, boxes of flies and more.

This is the only fund raiser that the Georgia Council of TU has and proceeds go to fund the TU Kids Trout Camp and other cold water projects that take place in Georgia. Please help us by buying a chance on the dream trip & the consolation prizes. Tickets can be had by calling me, Paul Diprima @ 706-766-5083 or email me co1381@bellsouth.net. If we have not sold all tickets by the Trout Expo, the remaining tickets will be sold there.

TROUT MEETING

The next meeting of the Coosa Valley Chapter of TU will be Thursday, January 19th at 6:30pm at the meeting room in back of Scott Logistics. Our speaker will be US Forest Service biologist Ruth Stokes. Ruth will give a presentation on the on-going work being done by the USFS & Trout Unlimited to protect & enhance the trout habitat in the national forests. Two chapter members, Bill Pinson & David Bowen had a great trip to the gulf recently and are supplying the fresh ocean fish for a fish fry at this meeting. (hush-puppies, slaw, fries & fish) Members eat for $5.00 and 1st time guests eat free. The public is invited.