Trout Unlimited offers free fly fishing clinic

Thermopolis Trout Unlimited will host a Free Fly Fishing Clinic on Saturday, Oct.19 from 3-6 p.m. at Hot Springs State Park. Whether you are new to fly fishing or an experienced fishing guide, they will have networking opportunities, informative classes, and fun contests with cool prizes including hats, stickers, hand tied flies and gift certificates. They will also be raffling off a free one-half day guided trip on the Bighorn River.

Small Group Classes include: Setting up your fly rod, including all the basic knots you need to know; Reading the water, knowing where the fish are, and how to get your fly in front of them; Staying safe on the water for you and your fishing buddies; Proper fish handling and release techniques; Basic fly fishing casting techniques; Casting contest - “Hit the targets and win prizes!”

You are also invited to join them on Thursday Oct. 17, from 7-8 p.m. for the Thermopolis Trout Unlimited Speakers Series. This month’s speakers will be seasoned local fishing guides, presenting: “Great Local Places to Fish this Fall.” This informative discussion will cover places to fish on the Big Horn River, as well as surrounding mountain streams and lakes. Fall is a great time to fish and there are not as many anglers on the water. Meet at 643 Broadway Street, basement of the Big Horn Federal Bank.

Gene Pruett of the local group here in Thermopolis said that “Trout Unlimited is a worldwide nonprofit, conserving, protecting and restoring cold water fisheries in their watersheds. Wyoming Trout Unlimited is focused on conserving and protecting Wyoming’s cold water uses in their watersheds. What’s important about that is that in the Rocky Mountain States, we provide inflow water for basically the whole United States of America”

Pruett continued and said, “Trout is a keystone species that tells us that the river is healthy. If there’s no trout, there’s no food in the river for the trout, it is not healthy water. There’s no healthy water downstream from the Rocky Mountain region, not just the trout die. It’s not good for people. In addition, I grew up in Wyoming and went fishing with my dad when I was young, and just want my kids to be able to enjoy the same thing. So if we don’t take care of these watersheds, our children will not be able to go up into the mountains and go fish here on the Bighorn River.” 

Pruett added, “I’ve been a member of Trout Unlimited for several years, and we started as a subchapter of the East Yellowstone chapter. I was born in Cheyenne, but I went to college in Florida and ran a nonprofit organization. There was a rescue mission. And, so kind of when they found out that I had a background in nonprofit, they said, oh, you should start a chapter in Thermopolis. Two years later, I agreed to do that.”

The Thermopolis Trout Unlimited meets every third Thursday of the month at the Big Horn Federal conference room. The business meeting time is at 6-7 p.m., the speaker series is at 7-8 p.m. Every month they will have a speaker that focuses on different things, and they will have events for public awareness.

Pruett said, “This month there will be local guides just explaining to people where on the Bighorn can you fish without encroaching on private land. There’s a lot of access points that people don’t know about.”

Pruett also discussed their activities with some of the middle school students and their teachers. He said, “There’s a project called trout in the classroom. What we do there is we put a fish tank in the classroom. Wyoming Game & Fish stock it with eggs, and then the kids take care of the eggs until they grow to fry (baby fish) large enough. And then they go out with the game andfish and release. The idea being, we really want to focus on youth.”

They will be doing a variety of activities with the schools and 4-H, including fly tying clinics, fly rod building classes, and fishing days. 

In November Trout Unlimited will do a river cleanup project in the Wind River Canyon. They will go to each of the pullovers and provide bags, trash pickup trucks, and gloves. They are looking for volunteers. Pruett said, “People pull over and they don’t always get their trash in the trash can. That trash makes its way into the river. Degrades the water.”

Regarding the importance of taking the kids out to fish, Pruett said, “If you go out and you spend time on that water in that river, you will appreciate it and you won’t want it to be destroyed. We want the next generation of fisher people to appreciate what we have here. It’s very rare. And so it’s beautiful, and fishing is just one part of a way to share a message of conserving and protecting, creating watersheds.”

You can join Trout Unlimited with a $35 annual donation. Pruett added, “You don’t have to be a member to come to our board meetings. You don’t have to be a member to come to any of our clinics. We’ll be having a banquet pretty soon with a keynote speaker that’s a nationally known podcaster and YouTuber. So none of that costs money. It’s all on a donation basis.”

If you have questions or looking to volunteer, contact Gene Pruett at 307-855-5259 or thermoptu@gmail.com.