Ok...you are kidding right? How can that be, 60 some days to Christmas...you cannot be serious! Every year it seems like we wake up and say where did the year go? I have always understood it by the theory of when you are three years old, the distance from Christmas to Christmas represents 33.3% of your life and takes forever to get here; versus at 50 years old it represents only 1/50th of your time on earth and seems like the holidays were a minute ago. A better example of this is my play on Albert Einstein's Perception of Time analogy..."Why does an hour of fishing seem so much shorter than an hour in a doctor's office." Perception is reality...go fish!

That being said prepare for time travel at warp speed as November in our area is packed full of local events in addition to the Thanksgiving holidays. Starting off the first weekend of the month on November 4th & 5th will be the return of "Fly Tyers Weekend" being held at Little River Outfitters in Townsend, TN. This will feature over forty fly tiers of every description from local favorites to saltwater and freshwater tiers from other states. All three of our local Trout Unlimited chapters will be represented by one booth this year and your help is needed. See the article below for information on how to help out.

Just a few days later, on Thursday night November 9th is the annual Clinch River TU Swap Meet. If you did not attend our September chapter meeting and sale of GSM chapter member Les Graham's collection sale you are in luck. We still have a large amount of items that will be available at the Clinch River chapter's Swap Meet. Come out and get vises, tools, and feathers and hooks of every description in addition to what the Clinch chapter members will bring. If you have gear you want to sell please feel free to bring and sell or just come out for the always fun event. See the article below for more information and details.

On Saturday, November 11th is the TU Tennessee Council Fall meeting at the St. Francis Episcopal Church, 158 W. Norris Rd, Norris Tn. This is the same location of the Clinch River Swap meet. As a Tennessee TU member you are welcome to attend and take part in the TU State Fall meeting. See below for more information and details.

This past Saturday on October 21st, our Great Smoky Mountain TU chapter was invited along with the Clinch River TU chapter to help assist the Webb High School Fly Fishing club on a day on the water. Our chapter followed up with a "hot dog & all the fixins" lunch grilled on the river bank. It was a great day and you can see pictures in the article below, thanks to all who came out and helped!

Elections were held as announced at the September meeting and the results are listed in the article below. I want to thank everyone for their vote of confidence and I also want to thank those who are new as a GSM TU chapter officer or board member and especially those who were re-elected and agreed to serve again. It is your chapter and works only thru the dedication of its volunteer members!

You will also see below a link to a survey that was presented at the last chapter. It is a very simple questionnaire asking for your ideas and feedback as to what you would like to see going forward for the coming year 2018. We hope you will take a few minutes of your time to complete and submit your ideas.

The coming new year is already shaping up to be another great time to be a member of the Great Smoky Mountain Trout Unlimited family. Starting in January with the "IRONMAN FLY CONTEST 2018", where we raise the money to send a boy or girl to "Trout Camp" in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park each summer. Follow that up on February 2nd & 3rd with the Atlanta Fly Fishing show where Southern Trout Magazine will hold the "Legends of the Fly" Hall of Fame. We have again been invited to be a part of the largest fly fishing event in the Southeast, do not miss this event!

We invite everyone to please join us at our chapter meetings or events, and bring your family and friends. You never have to be a member to attend a Great Smoky Mountain TU event. Our only requirement is a love of the outdoors and being with others who feel the same.

John Reinhardt

President

Great Smoky Mountain 

Chapter #047