It is time for a classic DTU party and time to officially launch Carp Slam 6 Season. Meet old and new friends upstairs at the Skylark Lounge, Tuesday, May 22, 2012 @ 7:00 pm. Nothing terribly official going on at this event, but you can call it a meeting if you need to.

And, if that weren’t enough, there’s a contest going on. Guess the party’s bar tab for the night and you’ll win an original Tim Romano print. Goto www.troutsflyfishing.com/blog for the details. And we hope to see you there – yeah, even you Shane.

Order these cards for distribution by your chapter because:

1. This is a nationwide no-nonsense reporting response line staffed 24/7 by the US Coast Guard. They will notify all local agencies. Trout Unlimited members are building a credible stream threat reporting reputation. We know when something is wrong in a river or stream.

2. Your chapter can cut and paste in your own logo if you want, and can change the Twitter tag on the back.

3. Receive a $50 discount on your first order by using referral code RP1NS9KMT when ordering online at www.printingforless.com. Or call 800-930-6040 and order by phone.

4. To order the exact same card use these specs:

Description: 500 3.5 X 2 Plastic Cards, 4-Color/4-Color,
30 mil Plastic, Lanyard Slot Short Side

You can get a copy of the template we use from:
https://picasaweb.google.com/DenverTU/SPspill?authuser=0&feat=directlink

5. We found their service to be superb with a followup call from a committed fly fisher on their staff. Turn around is very quick. Their web interface is simple and you can get a quick quote and delivery time in seconds from their site.

That is…getting eaten. By those fish you are usually casting #24 midges to!

Frank Smethurst Presents…

Rigging and Mousing: focusing on bigger Colorado trout

Mr. Frank Smethurst is a lifelong angler, fly tier, traveler and writer, as well as a fly fishing manufacturers representative, television host and proud father. Come find out how he does it.

REI Denver Flagship, April 24th at 7:00 pm

Help Clean Up the South Platte River and Bike Paths April 21, 2012 at Union Avenue Put In.

This is an Earth Day event in conjunction with the Greenway Foundation where volunteers picked up trash along the South Platte River and Bike Paths. There are usually have between 150 and 250 volunteer rafters, kayakers, cyclists and pedestrians. In past clean ups an average of 1.5 TONS of garbage from the river and bike path have been successfully removed each year. The event garners local and regional media coverage on Fox News and 9 NewsTV channels, as well as appearing in the Denver Post newspaper. We start at the Union Ave Put In, raft, kayak, bike and walk 6 miles of the S. Platte River and Bike Path finishing at Habitat Park.

[more info]

The sixth annual South Platte Pro/Am Carp Slam is set for Saturday, August 25, 2012. Sign up by May 31st and your entry fee is only $250.00 – a $100.00 savings.

Truckers Don’t Be Fooled: Carp Slam 6 is almost certain to be filled before June 1st. Download and complete the sign-up form below and send it in as soon as you can. The first 15 applicants will be competing in the most gonzo fly fishing event anywhere. Checks and applications received after event is sold-out will be immediately returned to sender, though we will maintain a wait list.

Check CarpSlam.org often to get the latest Carp Slam news; including prizes, pro-list, maps and more.

Click for Carp Slam Entry Application

Pulp Fly – Volume One

Look, I’m only halfway through and I am telling you; Run, don’t walk, to your couch and get yourself a copy of Pulp Fly Volume One. For the price of a Starbucks, you get 11 authors full of humor, nostalgia, absurdity, imagination, fear and hope. Several of these guys are Friends of DTU (FODs), including one board member.

A co-worker saw my ‘Don’t Suck’ sticker and asked what it was all about. Seizing the moment, I gave her rant number 213 (didn’t even need my notes). I was glorious; full of facts, well-reasoned arguments and intricately woven threads of cause and effect. It took less than 15 minutes to turn her genuine interest into a slight aversion to being in the same room with me.

Reading Pulp Fly, it occurs to me that there is great power in epiphany. The stories in this book make their points less bombastically than lectures and let the reader discover for themselves perhaps leading to a more internalized connection to the ideas. Or, maybe not. So what, this collection is a hoot.

Go to Amazon and get an e-copy for Kindle. Ipad and Nook versions are coming soon. And check out PulpFly.com.

Surface Film Part Deux, Part Deux

The Greenbacks have never had a Surface Film Closing event hampered by EPIC SNOW (don’t worry about the fact that there hasn’t been a previous closing event for Surface Film). Speaking as someone who disregarded the threats of Snowmeggedon, the photography is top notch. And… you could take some home. Seriously, don’t miss it this time.

February 24, 2012 7-11 pm
Anthology Fine Art Gallery
635 Santa Fe, Denver, CO

No one is going to be forgetting about the ‘Dream Stream’ anytime soon, but don’t overlook Colorado’s ‘Stream of Dreams’. Follow the links to see how years of work have begun to gain serious traction and momentum. And stay tuned to find out how you can give the Denver Metro a clean, natural, swimmable, boatable and, yes, fishable river.

Denver Post Your Hub article by Daniel Smith

Denver Post article by Bruce Finley

We spend a lot of time doing the crucial, good work of defending and whistle-blowing, and when we turn back careless greed or stave off disaster; we feel good. Rightly so. But there is something extra-special about an opportunity to get back something that’s been lost.

Last night the board of South Platte Suburban Parks and Recreation and the City of Littleton voted unanimously to begin the process of returning the South Platte to a naturally functioning river. They approved the master plan proposed by Ecological Resource Consultants (ERC), whose intial feasibility study was purchased by Denver Trout Unlimited. The work begins with three demonstration projects, which are fully funded and you should expect to see work begin in late 2012.

To pursue and fund this project took enormous vision, courage and commitment by South Suburban Parks and Recreation, the City of Littleton and Urban Drainage. The Littleton project added to planned improvements utilizing the Shattuck money awarded to The Greenway Foundation equals a Renaissance for the Urban South Platte.

Click HERE to check out the plan for the South Platte River in Littleton.

Trevor Tanner was already a proven friend of the Denver South Platte River having volunteered time and raising money for river restoration. This August, Trevor was crowned the Amateur Champion of DTU’s Fifth Annual South Platte Pro-Am Carp Slam. Trevor can now be considered a Conservation Hero. Click HERE to read the Denver Post story about how Trevor, while prowling an area of the South Platte known as “The Stink”, recognized a growing environmental crisis and doggedly pursued a response that has ultimately led to involvement by the EPA.

What next McTage?

Tweet this link about #SPspill South Platte Spill.

Additional coverage of the Sand Creek – Suncor  Benzene Spill – Beginning Nov 2011

• 11/27/2011 Trevor Tanner … Original Post on the Sand Creek Spill he happened upon on while fishing the Denver South Platte.
• 11/29/20011  Bruce Finley … Three trucks sucking up oily muck in Sand Creek trying to keep more from flowing into South Platte River – The Denver Post
• 11/30/2011 Bruce Finley … Health department: Pipe may have broken a half mile from Sand Creek spill site – The Denver Post
• 12/01/2011 Bruce Finley … Benzene in Sand Creek measured at 400 times amount tolerated by national drinking water standards, EPA tests show – The Denver Post
• 12/01/2011 Walter Ayramenko .. Order to Suncor on monitoring and mitigation .. CO Dep of Health and Env.
• 12/02/2011 Will Rice in the Drake … S. Platte Bitten by Benzene Attack
• 12/02/2011  Bruce Finley Denver Post … Cleanup orders at Colorado’s Suncor refinery spill into Sand Creek officially issued – The Denver Post
• 12/02/2011  EPA  Sampling Read:the full summary of the EPA’s surface water sampling for the Sand Creek seep, as of December 2, 2011.
• 12/03/2011 Bruce Finley … Trench being dug to halt toxic ooze into Sand Creek north of Denver – The Denver Post
• 12/05/2011  Trevor Tanner – Inspection of Sand Creek spill mitigation.
• 12/06/2011 Bruce Finley … Sand Creek trench done, catching gasoline-like leak near Denver refinery – The Denver Post
• 12/30/2011 CO Dept of Health and Environment – Hazmat -.. 2nd Interim Order requires sparging system and drinking water standards in Sand Creek by 1/31/2012
• 12/30/2011 Bruce Finley  … Benzene is fouling drinking water at Suncor refinery and chemicals are seeping directly into Sand Creek- The Denver Post
• 01/02/2012 Will Rice … Cause & Fx -current status of Sand Creek -The Drake Magazine.
• 01/07/2012 Bruce Finley …Suncor refinery employees tested for benzene contamination - The Denver Post
• 2/8/2012 Denver Post     Suncor begins building trench to stop flow of contaminants near Denver
• 03/01/2012 Denver Post Suncor working to expel cancer-causing benzene from under Denver-area refinery
• 04/03/2012 Denver Post   Suncor refinery in Commerce City to pay for air-pollution violations
• 04/21/2012 Denver Post Suncor energy installs fountain, underground walls to reduce benzene plume near Denver