South Jersey TU

salmo

salmo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
1,490
Location
South Jersey
I am pretty sad to announce that the SJTU chapter is terminating its charter. While I was not very active, it was nice to have a chapter less than 10 miles from my home. The next nearest chapter is VFTU. This is challenging to me as the trip would be over an hour each way.

I have tried to trout fish in NJ several times in the past 2 years, all with disappointing results. Much more the bummer because I don't have to pay for NJ license.
:roll:
 
I'm very sorry to hear that; I was a founding member of that chapter.

There's actually some very good trout fishing in NJ, just not in South Jersey.
 
Hate to see that fall stocking in a certain SEPA DHALO go! A nice January diversion or three every winter. Not sure where in NJ you are salmo, but there is a smaller chapter that meets at the Pennypack Trust too.
 
Iam not trying to be political here but , during a pandemic that statics show effects the elderly the most how does TU support local chapters who's members are mostly retired guys ? Like most other things lack of leadership really creates a void , and it's not fair for me to judge if I'm not involved but sometimes you step back and look at the view from 10,000ft and think there's gotta be a better way . This isn't gonna be the only chapter to cancel it's charter .
 
There is DELCO Manning TU In DELCO Pa . https://www.dmtu.org/

salmo wrote:
I am pretty sad to announce that the SJTU chapter is terminating its charter. While I was not very active, it was nice to have a chapter less than 10 miles from my home. The next nearest chapter is VFTU. This is challenging to me as the trip would be over an hour each way.

I have tried to trout fish in NJ several times in the past 2 years, all with disappointing results. Much more the bummer because I don't have to pay for NJ license.
:roll:
Click to expand...
 
I'm not inclined to think that COVID has much to do with this or that TU chapter striking the tent and calling it quits. Chapters come and go like dandelions, or maybe better put, like Lazarus and all it takes to revive a failed chapter is a half dozen guys/gals with the desire and time to volunteer. While the instant situation may be fatal, chances are better that it is not.

My take, anyway..
 
There are TWO South Jerseys, one defined by folks in SEPA and one defined by folks in NYC or North Jersey.

That being said, South Jersey from my vantage point as X-Delco & former NYC is the lower counties, which is not exactly trout haven with majority of the “trout waters” being a few overcrowded stocked streams and a bunch of stocked lakes & ponds.

If I have my TU chapters straight, the South Jersey TU folks spent most of their time fishing in PA. The dearth of opportunities in their own backyard and subsequent lack of interest because of that probably had more to do with their demise than anything.
 
Bamboozle wrote:

If I have my TU chapters straight, the South Jersey TU folks spent most of their time fishing in PA. The dearth of opportunities in their own backyard and subsequent lack of interest because of that probably had more to do with their demise than anything.
Click to expand...

Witnessed by the fact that they eventually named themselves the Ray Neirle chapter -- a man mostly known for salt water fishing.

A lot of trips to North Jersey, though -- easily done as a day trip.
 
redietz wrote:
Bamboozle wrote:

If I have my TU chapters straight, the South Jersey TU folks spent most of their time fishing in PA. The dearth of opportunities in their own backyard and subsequent lack of interest because of that probably had more to do with their demise than anything.
Click to expand...

Witnessed by the fact that they eventually named themselves the Ray Neirle chapter -- a man mostly known for salt water fishing.

A lot of trips to North Jersey, though -- easily done as a day trip.
Click to expand...

They are still a club they just dropped their affiliation with TU and are now a club through FFI not sure of the new name they chose .
 
Fredrick wrote:
redietz wrote:
Bamboozle wrote:

If I have my TU chapters straight, the South Jersey TU folks spent most of their time fishing in PA. The dearth of opportunities in their own backyard and subsequent lack of interest because of that probably had more to do with their demise than anything.
Click to expand...

Witnessed by the fact that they eventually named themselves the Ray Neirle chapter -- a man mostly known for salt water fishing.

A lot of trips to North Jersey, though -- easily done as a day trip.
Click to expand...

They are still a club they just dropped their affiliation with TU and are now a club through FFI not sure of the new name they chose .
Click to expand...
Maybe the "Ray Neirle" Club of FFI and they will focus on saltwater & warmwater fishing close to home which makes more sense with an OCCASIONAL trip to PA & North Jersey. ;-)
 
I think I heard that they're going to be more focused on fly tying as well some kind of fly tyers guild .
 
Why would there be a TU chapter in an area such as south jersey that has no trout streams? I'm not trying to be snarky, just curious.
 
South Jersey has trout lakes & ponds and TU isn't just for "moving or wild waters."

I don't know the South Jersey TU guys or their initial motives for starting a chapter, but I was one of the founding members of the NYC Chapter of TU back in the 1980's. We obviously had no trout "streams" or even trout ponds...

However, our motives were to support other chapters and National through seminars and demos we held and other fund-raising events.

We also went fishing in NY, NJ & PA a LOT and generally had a blast.

I was also a member of a NYC bass fishing club with similar motives, although there were a few places in the city to chase bass and the Theodore Gordon Flyfishers who have similar motives to TU and are headquartered in NYC.
 
There is one wild brookie stream in South Jersey - Mason's Run. The brookies there have different genetics than the native brookies in North Jersey so there is some debate whether they are native or were introduced with no records. Kind of an oddball population, but South Jersey TU did monitor it. There is also a native brookie stream within sight of downtown Manhattan in Bergen Co.

However, that chapter was far away from the other chapters and the TU stream projects in NJ were a couple of hours away.
 
Clams wrote:
Why would there be a TU chapter in an area such as south jersey that has no trout streams? I'm not trying to be snarky, just curious.
Click to expand...

Because good trout fishing is not very far away. The distance from where I lived in South Jersey until the mid-1980's to Ken Lockwood Gorge, for example, is less than the distance that I commuted to work every day when I lived in California.
 
>>Why would there be a TU chapter in an area such as south jersey that has no trout streams? I'm not trying to be snarky, just curious.>>

Chapters in more urban/suburban areas are usually also areas with higher levels of disposable income. This financial clout, both at the individual and chapter levels makes them a critical part of the overall TU body, whether they have a home streams to work on or not.
 
The money thing is real. For years Northern NJ and NYC were important sources of money for TU (that's where the money is), but no work was being done in NJ. Part of it is that Wall St guys probably fish more in Montana than NJ so the big money crowd didn't really know what was going on in the local streams.

However, NJ lobbied and got a TU home rivers project on the Musconetcong that removed at least 2 dams and did 6 stream restoration projects. This year I had good fishing all year in the Muskie and caught decent numbers of wild brook trout (only rainbows stocked in NJ to protect native brook and wild brown populations). All that work seemed to help IMHO. Suburban streams need love too.
 
I'm happy to announce that we are now SimplyFly-NJ. We are also affiliated with Fly Fishers International (all fish, all waters). FFI meets our needs better than TU. We had our 1st meeting on January 5th, with about 15 in attendance. We do have a FB group up and running if you want to check it out. Our focus will be mainly on fly fishing, but we have plans in the works for saltwater charters, surf fishing, kayak fishing, etc.
 
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