If you have a spare hour, listen in on the state of TU address:

2011 State of TU from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo.

Learn to be a volunteer stream steward during a Trout Unlimited coldwater training session Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Glinodo Center, 6270 East Lake Road.

Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. TU members pay nothing; non-members pay $17.50. Coffee, snacks and lunch will be provided.

TU Marcellus Shale field organizer David Sewak will teach volunteers how to monitor water quality in rivers and streams where gas drilling is occurring. As part of its Coldwater Conservations Corps, Sewak will train individuals to serve as stream stewards. Taking water samples, measuring stream flow and conducting visual assessments are just some of the responsibilities of a stream steward.

“The training session will be an opportunity for Erie County residents to test and monitor the water quality of their streams as well as assess the impact of natural gas drilling,” Sewak said.

“We want to ensure that sportsmen and women play an integral role in preventing the destruction of important headwater habitats—the places where we fish and hunt,” said Dave Rothrock, immediate past president of TU’s Pennsylvania Council. “We must make sure that these rivers and streams remain healthy for future generations.”

The local TU chapter will be sponsoring Sewak’s visit along with Our Water Our Rights, a community group that helps educate and empower citizens to preserve and protect water resources.

Whatever you think of drilling in the Marcellus Shale region — and I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t have an opinion — it’s clear that the gas development has immense potential to impact lives.

In Pennsylvania, like elsewhere, that can mean more than one thing.

There are the jobs and lease income and other revenue provided by the arrival of the industry, of course, and in an economy that is at best stale, that money is not a minor matter.

There are the implications of Gov. Tom Corbett’s unwillingness to see the industry taxed in our state.

There are the concerns of residents who believe the drilling is a danger to their homes and health.

And there are the outdoorspeople of Pennsylvania, who are worried about the long-lasting impact drilling will have on a state that is, in many areas, wonderfully primitive, as well as the immediate impact on the water resources that are used in a drilling process called fracking.

It’s the last item in particular that has the attention of Trout Unlimited and the Sportsmen Alliance for Marcellus Shale Conservation. Here’s a video from the two that looks at the issue in ways large and small, but always measured.

Trout Unlimited wants your trout and salmon fishing photos.

And your photos of anglers out and about. And images of streams and landscapes.

If your photo is selected, it will be included in the TU calendar, in Trout magazine or on www.tu.org. There are great prizes for the winners.

Four additional winners will be selected for Wild Fish, Landscapes/Scenics, Young Anglers and Anglers in Action.

Submit your photos by May 1.

• Today’s warm weather hasn’t scared ice anglers off Presque Isle Bay. Bucket anglers and shanties pock the bay this afternoon. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s report from Tuesday: “Ice fishing on Presque Isle Bay for perch and steelhead has been sporadic although gill catches seem to be plentiful.”
• Jim Pfendler will resign in April as president of the Northwest Chapter of Trout Unlimited. The chapter’s secretary position and a director post also are open. Members interested in assuming a position can call Pfendler at (814) 464-5966.
• The TU Northwest Chapter’s scheduled meeting Thursday has been canceled.
• Trout Unlimited’s Caldwell Creek Chapter will put on a Marcellus Shale program Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Corry Higher Education Council, 221 N. Center St. Dave Sewak, TU’s national Marcellus Shale program coordinator, will be the guest speaker.

There are three certain ways to learn to fly fish:

1. Buy a rig. Rig it improperly, without influence from anyone who knows anything about the sport. Fish like a lout for a number of years until the negative reinforcement serves, by process of elimination and trial and error, to leave in sharp relief those things that actually work. Not recommended for those who actually wish to catch fish and enjoy the sport.

2. Sucker a fly-fishing friend or family member — or worse, a friend of a friend or family member — into agreeing to tutor you, gratis. Wonderful for the enthusiastic, often hyper novice angler, but not so wonderful for the experienced, often painfully impatient teacher. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

3. Pay for instruction from a guide, or at a camp where the itinerary and staff exist to serve a novice group of anglers who can learn quickly from each other’s mistakes and failures. Highly recommended, especially for older anglers trying fly fishing for the first time.

This summer, add a fourth method: Orvis and Trout Unlimited are sponsoring free three-hour seminars each Saturday in July at participating Orvis dealers across the country, including Lake Erie Ultimate Angler in Erie and Genesee Outfitters in Jamestown, N.Y.

Learn to cast and to rig your rod and reel, including vital knot-tying instruction. Participants who finish the course will get a $15 Orvis savings card and a free one-year membership to Trout Unlimited.

The catch: Space is limited, and you’ll need to call ahead to reserve a spot. Reach Lake Erie Ultimate Angler at 833-4040, Genesee Outfitters at (716) 665-2117 or find a clinic at another participating Orvis dealer.

The Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Trout Unlimited will put on a picnic and outing May 14-16 in and around Oil Creek for chapter members, family and friends. Get details here. Preregistration is required by May 9; call J.T. Davis at (814) 397-5673.

The Northwest Pa. Chapter of Trout Unlimited is meeting tonight in part to talk about the possibility of adding West Branch French Creek to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission trout stocking list.

The group’s monthly meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Elks Club, 2409 Peninsula Drive.

A PFBC waterways conservation officer will be on hand to talk about stocking the creek and how the TU chapter might assist. The meeting is open to the public, and new members are invited.

Steelhead anglers in particular but all anglers in general are invited to say thank you Dec. 19 to private landowners who generously open their Erie-area properties to fishing.

Four Erie-based conservation groups — the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the PA Steelhead Association, S.O.N.S. of Lake Erie and the Gem City Outdoorsmen Club Fly Tiers — will deliver some 100 fruit baskets the morning of Saturday, Dec. 19.

Non-members interested in helping with delivery are invited to meet at Heartland Antiques & Gifts, 9101 Ridge Road, Girard, at 8 a.m. The group will have breakfast at McDonald’s, then pick up baskets.