On August 31, 2024 Jim Vynalek passed away. Jim a founding member of GRTU, was 102. He also was a radio operator on a bomber in World War II, which made the chances of reaching 102 look pretty slim. He persevered and we all were the more fortunate for it. His official obituary is linked here, but there was far more to Jim, GRTU, and the other founding members then will ever be reflected in an obituary.
Jim, like each of the founding members, had his own personality and had his reasons for fishing. He grew up in Illinois where he learned to fish as a child. By the time I met Jim, he was a Big Fish Guy. Jim loved big fish – trout, salmon, steelhead, musky, redfish, tarpon, permit – he pursued them all. He was one of the most optimistic and pleasant men that I will ever know. He always had a smile on his face. He was always interested in what you were doing and what interested you. You had to pursue him in conversation to get him to tell you much about himself because of his great interest in others. His involvement with the chapter activities was legendary. I don’t believe he was ever the secretary of the chapter, but I know he was president, vice president, and treasurer on more than a few occasions. The board and the officers in the early days were basically the membership. Meetings transitioned from board meetings to general membership meetings with only a few new faces and chairs needed. I can never remember Jim being annoyed about anything. He was just a happy person. He often repeated the mantra of several of the members – “shorter meetings, more fishing.”
Jim was a very avid advocate for the Vibert Box program. After several years of digging holes in the gravel bottom of the river in always cold and nasty weather, we were only seeing a few Browns show up. The chapter became convinced that part of the problem, and the reason we were only seeing modest numbers of brown trout was because the gravel, riverbed, and flows were less than suitable for hatching the eyed eggs. The semi-regular high water in March seemed to also have a somewhat detrimental effect on the eggs and the fry. Hence a program was started based upon information received from TU National. We would plant the boxes and hatch the eggs in gravel that we placed in old refrigerators along the banks of the river, the first refrigerator that I recall was put in Jim’s front yard at his and Earlene’s house right below Horseshoe Falls. Jim was rather stoic about the high water that came and washed his refrigerator away. We never knew where it ended up nor did we receive a “come and get it letter” from the owner of the land where it ended up. Putting a TU decal on the refrigerator was maybe not the best idea we ever had.
The first lease on the river was below the KANZ store; it was some of the most desirable and easy water to access and fish on the river. Members of the chapter funded the chapter stocking program out of their own pocket in those days and putting 750 fish in the river was considered an accomplishment. Lone Star Beer initially and eventually Texas Parks and Wildlife put the vast majority of the fish in the river, but GRTU put the vast majority of the larger fish in the river. Over the last few years when I have explained to Jim, how big the chapter and the lease program have grown over the last 40 years, he was amazed.
Jim was one of a handful of early Trout Unlimited members I met on River when I was barely a teenager. The Chapter was just getting off the ground and each of them and others are listed as founding members of the chapter. Jim was one of these members who perpetually had time for others, time for the chapter, and time just to listen to fishing stories. As the youngest of the group, I got to know them all and watched them change the trajectory of a small tailwater fishery in an unlikely place like Texas.
Bob Newman, GRTU Member
