April President's Message

Welcome Spring!

The weatherman is talking about 70's and 80's this coming first weekend of April! I see some buds on the trees in my backyard! I have survived another NH winter!

I used to love winter until I became a fly fishing addict. Trying to cast that fly into a nine inch diameter hole in the ice just doesn't cut it for me anymore, although it is great casting practice for accuracy.

Spring usually means that our major annual fund raiser is over and done with and indeed it is. We had a small (less than 40 paid attendance) but dedicated group at our fly auction at Weeksie's Pizza on March 29th. There was some breath holding by your Board of Directors throughout the evening, but the occasion was festive, a good time was had by all and in the end it looks like we will be able to maintain our programs for another season. The pizza was great too. You should try the Rueben Pizza; it is awesome!

The March that came in like a lion and caused the cancellation of our guest speaker, Thomas Ames, Jr., on March 1st, wasn't a very pleasant month but for a few days. I heard that the Urban Forestry Center lost a lot of trees around the parking lot, and was closed for several days while the damage was cleared. Mr. Ames has tentatively agreed to be our opening guest speaker this fall, so stay tuned as we start to put together next season's speakers.

We are going to finish out our guest speaker season with Bill and Janet Thompson from North Country Angler on April 5th. What a great way to ease us into the spring fishing season!

May is cleanup month with the Lamprey cleanup May 1st, and a very festive Cocheco River Day being planned for May 15th, including the release of some of the Trout-in-the-Classroom fish, hatched and grown by students in Dover schools, who cared for them since they were eyed eggs back before Christmas.

Get those waders patched. It’s time to go fishing!

Tight Lines Everyone. See you on the water!

Mitch Kalter, President GBTU