SWTU, P.O. Box 45555, Madison, WI 53744-5555 president@swtu.org

What a summer! A Special Guest at our August 9 Meeting

We’ll see you at Schwoegler’s
By Topf Wells

kailee_bergeePlease join us on Tuesday, August  9. We’ll meet again in Schwoegler’s community room on the southern end of the building near the pro shop.

We’ll hear from Kailee Berge, our first SWTU/DNR/UW MADISON ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUM intern. She has spent an incredibly busy summer volunteering for SWTU workdays, helping 6(!) DNR fish and water quality biologists with stream surveys, and  searching for rare, native fish with John Lyons, the UW Curator of Fishes, across Wisconsin. What a summer!

Kailee will report on these grand adventures, wonderful fish, interesting streams and plenty of learning at our August 9 membership meeting. This will be a fun and lively presentation.  The meeting starts with dinner and drinks at 5:30.  Kailee’s presentation will begin about 7. Reviews on the room at Schwoegler’s and the food and beverage service have been excellent.

Special thanks to John Lyons. He arranged for Kailee’s internship, handled all the administrative and scheduling details and supervised her.

New members are most welcome to attend! We’d love to see you and offer a friendly greeting as well as a pack of free flies.

And to our parsnip predators: If you were part of the crew that tackled wild parsnip at our recent workday, please attend the August 9 meeting and receive a set of free flies in thanks for your hard work and courage (it really was a daunting pile of parsnip as you’ll see in the next story).

If you or someone in your household is not feeling well, we urge you to stay home. Please also consider CDC guidelines for gatherings, including staying up to date with vaccinations. Thank you for your kind consideration. Like most venues, Schwoegler’s does not require masks but we’ll respect any member’s decision to wear one.

Schwoegler’s Lanes, 444 Grand Canyon Dr., Madison, WI 53719

Looking Ahead to the September Meeting
Mark your calendar for September 13 at Schwoegler’s with another special speaker.  Bradd Sims is now the Inland Trout Coordinator for the DNR with additional responsibilities for fish management on Wisconsin  rivers.  He has a year on the job and will speak on the state of Wisconsin Trout.  That’s gotta be a topic you want to hear about.

Bradd was the DNR fish biologist for much of southwest Wisconsin, including Grant and Lafayette Counties.  He’s been a great friend of TU.  He’s been the key DNR biologist working with the Nohr Chapter on easements and restorations in Blue River watershed.  He played the same role in SWTU’s easement and restoration work on Gordon Creek.  He also arranged for one of the all time great SWTU work days on the Steiner Branch (those brook trout are Bradd’s doing) when he led the search for some pre-spawn brook trout after the brushing.  He and we found them – what gorgeous fish.  He has some other interesting professional and personal fishing interests.  He is the great champion of the flathead catfish, the ones that get big enough to eat fair sized muskies.