VHF Opening Day at Chatfield Hollow

Bill a new vet participant starts us off on our first event of the year

Great day at Chatfield Hollow. Weather was perfect, light wind, and the water was clear, no leaves or trash hindering our cast. After a few sick calls, we ended up with 19 and a half vets, vols, and a vet's grandson (He is the .5, well mannered and polite as well).

Mike pulled in the first trout of the season pictured with Ted Rz

You will see we only have 2 fish pics, but there were a few more reported (undocumented, as we say, no proof). Looking at it through the teams perspective, if fish are caught, then we all share the glory. We were not skunked!

Doug Wading the big pond

We fished from shore, we waded out to the shelf about a hundred yards out in the pond, and dabbed the water from rocks and bridges. This is school vacation week so there were a ton of families on hand but still plenty of room for us to fish uncrowded.

A great lunch and lots of fish stories

When you review the pics, the trout is Mike P's, and the other was brought in by Bill one of our newest participants. You can't say we didn't try, we covered the upper pond, the lower pond the the stream in between. We had reports of other fish too the net, but no pictures. I guess our anglers were too focused on getting the back in the water so someone else would have a shot. We only practice catch and release.

Some of our rag tag crew

Ham, turkey, or Italian wraps for lunch from one our favorite independent shops in town. No one left hungry. Next up Salmon River in East Hampton on April 30th. We even have some bug experts coming it to capture live samples from the river of both what the trout are eating, and the flies the vets are tying.

Some of our waders give it their all

In 2 more weeks, we are going to do this all over again on the Salmon River. And... we will have 2 techs doing a bug sampling. Carl S and a partner will actually pull a live sample the bugs on the water and teach what the trout are feeding on. It will be great for the crew to see what the fish are actually eating and let the vets see how the flies they have been tying match.

No fish for Hugh, but still a great day on the water.

Bill, one of our newest vet participants, learning the cast.

All in all, a great event. We have 13 day outings and planned for this year. We also have 3 overnight outing of 6 vets each to different locations where they can hone their craft.

Deerspring Lodge, Merrill NY 6 vets and 2 vols

Orvis, Manchester, VT

6 vets and 2 vols

Delaware River, Hancock, NY 6 vets and 3 vols

I'll be back in another week

Tight lines,

Don