This
evening our meeting of the New Year, was called to order by President Tom at 7:15p.
We had a
very good turnout with 29 members and guest in attendance for this meeting.
After a Welcome to All from Tom, he announced that with regret, he would be unable to attend
February’s meeting as his plans will be taking him to New Zealand on a 3-week
fishing trip. VP Dave will be conducting the order of club business during Tom’s
absence.
Tom brought to the club’s attention that member Stu Farnham, has invited the club membership to join him in his home to form a fly tying roundtable group. By email Stu has stated that Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays were best for him as he spent many weekday out-of-town. Six (6) members indicated that they were interested in holding fly tying sessions and Friday was of the majority’s like, but Saturday or Sunday would be fine for such meetings.
Tom announced that he had been contacted by two (2) guide services that would like to come to one of our future meetings and make a presentation of their services and fishing results.
Our club Librarian Tyson, asked if anyone would assist him in the next few months with handling the club’s fly fishing library as he will be spending some time out-of-town, and may not be able to make it to all meetings.
Jerry announced that our Project Healing Waters group would restart weekly meetings at the Walla Walla VA Hospital on Thursday 22 January and that the fly rod blanks he had ordered would be coming in soon. The group will be building their own fly rods, to go with the ones donated by Project Healing Waters – National. Jerry also mentioned that he hoped that the group would be fishing the Wallowa River 4-5 times this year with the guidance of Grant Richie to point the group to some prime fishing times and water conditions.
This evening’s fly box door prize was won by VP Dave S. A rather nice collection of “let’s go fishing” flies, along with a handy box for the 2015 fishing season.
Tom announced that we had a few club logo caps for sale at $20 apiece. Several members now regularly wear their club logo apparel, which helps to give our club more public exposure.
This evening Grant and Lottie Richie of the Minam Raft Rentals & Guide Service made our program presentation.
2015 will be their third season of ownership of the Minam Motel & Store, which combines with their other services to make an all-around package for fishing / nature and great outdoor exposures while exploring the Minam area of NE Oregon.
As Grant and Lottie’s presentation was a narrative of many of their excursions, fishing, camping, floating the Wallowa and Grand Ronde river, so this report of our evening’s program will use some of their pictures which are worth… “a 1000 words”. Even though Grant and Lottie's center of operation is Minam, OR, Grant tells us they rarely fish or guide the Minam River, but spend most of their time "working" the Wallowa and Grand Ronde rivers.
Their prime targets of these rivers are big fat rainbow trout, steelhead, and on unexpected hookups they will land large Dolly Varden char.
Also a specialty of their guiding business is the riverside camps they set, the meals they have waiting for their guest/customers, and the experience of spending an overnight or two, or three in the canyon.
Grant also discussed with us some of his favorite flies for making connections with the trout of NE Oregon.
For trout he mentioned one of the best dry flies to be an Elk Hair Caddis of various sizes, and for a wet fly / nymph being a Copper John, depending on the time of year and water conditions.
When asked about the best water conditions / flows to fish the Wallowa and Grand Ronde rivers, Grant told us that he is able and willing to fish these rivers at anytime, as long as they are not blown out, or water runoff/ turbidity brings fish visibility to near zero.
Other flies mentioned favored by Grant were large stonefly / salmonfly patterns, orange & tan Chubby Chernobyl and for steelhead returns he like the Dolly Lama.
If you would be interested in learning more about Grant's and sons fly fishing adventures in NE Oregon, he has a very good blog you might really enjoy.
If you would like to get in touch with Grant and Lottie to make arrangements for a NE Oregon fishing trip, raft run down the river, or just stay at the Minam Motel and enjoy the Wallowa canyon country, they can be reached at - Minam Motel
Thank you Grant, Lottie, and sons for joining us this evening and sharing some of the good times you and your clients have found in the Wallowa Country.
Our evening raffle prize for the evening was a book donated to our club by John Shewey at our 2014 Banquet and it was won by Jerry M.
President Tom reminded our meeting that annual membership dues are now due. $15 - Individuals ~~ $20 - Family.
Treasurer Dr. Doug tells us that we had 16 membership dues paid this evening.
Thank you.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:15.
Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary
Tight lines and Good Fishing
Contact Us
Tom Craig – President
Dave Stemmer – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster
Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator
Past Presidents
Tyson Kopfer
Bob Long
Scott Peters
