President Tom called this meeting to order at 7:15p. This
evening we had 12 members and guest in attendance.
President Tom’s first order of business was to ask the group
for thoughts and comments on changing our monthly meeting date to be moved to
the third Wednesday of each month – September through May. Everyone in
attendance agreed that there was no foreseeable problem with such a change, so
the motion was made and voting passed that our future meeting will be held on
the third Wednesday of the month. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be
Wednesday, October 21.
After having had kidney surgery just a little over a week
ago, it was good to see VP Dave at this meeting. Dave was doing well, but sore. He tells us it will be awhile before he can maneuver a fly rod, but eager to start
steelhead fishing from the banks of the Mighty Columbia River very soon. Dave
is looking good, for a guy who was in serious trouble a couple of weeks ago.
Tom then brought up the fact that he wished to resign from the
position of club President, at the first of the year 2016. VP Dave said he
would be willing to step into that position, but wish to have the floor open to
anyone/ everyone that would like to consider being our next club President.
There was no other new business for the evening,
except for the The Cross Trail Outfitters (CTO) program presentation by Jason Peterson, so for awhile we had
a round table discussion of member’s fishing activities for the summer.
It was discussed the fact that in Oregon and Washington both
we had limited hours of daily fishing this summer; on most streams and rivers due
to the heat and drought. This summer's fishing opportunities were limited to
the hours of sunrise to 2:00 pm. Many streams and some rivers were closed to
fishing all together. Tom announced that Yakima River fishing had re-opened and
that Troutwater fishing guide service was resuming their regular scheduled activities. It was mentioned
that Grant Richie at Minam Raft Rentals had suspended his fishing guide service
for a while during the summer, but was back in active business and six of our
"active" club members were heading that way this afternoon to fish with Grant for a couple of days.
Tom told us that he had some fair fishing this summer on the
Klickitat River, but that the waters there were turbid from glacial melt off
the Cascade Mountains. He brought up that the word had gone out looking for a club
steelhead fishing run for the Deschutes River, but that trip was stalled due to
milky glacial melt and low water flows at Moody near Biggs. We discussed trying to make a Deschutes River steelhead fishing trip asap, and "working" on the John Day River as soon as the water flow come up enough to swing a fly.
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| November steelheading on the John Day River |
Robert reported that he and wife Sheri had spent the
previous day fishing Jubilee Lake, and been quite successful filling their
creel, but found none of the large triploid rainbow trout stocked in that lake.
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| Jubliee Lake off Umatilla Forest Road 64 |
Herb reported that he had a fun day fishing on Bennington
Lake for largemouth bass and found his new concept –a Squid fly- was quite
successful in bringing bass to his call.
Harold and Robin told us of their summer adventure into
Idaho’s Clarke Fork River. There they spent 3 days floating the river, with the
first day mostly in exploration and fly testing. The second and third days were
enjoyed with much success and Robin again out fishing/catching Harold by 2 to
1, with both having a lot of fun and enjoyment. On the second and third days
they reported that many of the fish caught were in the size range of 10”-25”
trout.
Diane gave us her report of fishing the Missouri River in early June. She reported a
lot of nice big trout hookups, beautiful country, and perfect weather was
enjoyed. She told us that this was a most worthwhile fishing trip and would do
it again when the opportunity arises.
Dale reported the announcement from ODFW early in September
to the club via email, that a number of stocked trout fishing ponds across the
southern Blue Mountains were going to be rotenone to wipe out the trash fish
and that the trout size and creel limits had been lifted from these ponds. With
this announcement in effect Dale and Terry headed for the hills -Notellem Trout Pond- the afternoon
of 9 September, and fished to their hearts’ content. On the right day, many of
these stocked gravel pit ponds will offer 12-25+ trout hookups per hour and some are stocked with triploid rainbow trout.
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| Notellem stocked trout pond at the crest of the Blue Mountains |
After the fishing reports, Tom introduced our speaker for
this evening’s program – Jason Peterson.
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| Jason Peterson |
Jason is the director of the Walla Walla Chapter of Cross Trail Outfitters (CTO). This Walla Walla Chapter is the furthest chapter in the western US beyond
those in Texas. We found that we are lucky to have such an organization in our midst.
The Cross Trail Outfitters - Walla Walla is a youth hunting and fishing club, guiding youth
to Jesus Christ through the great outdoors. With the youth of our area Walla
Walla and Umatilla counties this organization conducts outing for hunting –
pheasant and deer, fishing – for bass, trout, steelhead and salmon.
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| Elk hunting in the Blue Mtns |
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| Bow practice on Valley Chapel Road |
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| Fishing on Omak Lake |
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| CTO camping on Omak Lake with the kids |
Their next major outing will be steelhead fishing float trip on the John Day
River, OR – October 24-26.
This organization is NOT just for boys, but centers on working, playing,
educating young people (mostly fatherless) ages 7 to 20. Most of the kids that
Jason is now working with are ages 6-9 yo.
Jason’s presentation this evening to our club was also asking for volunteer
help with the organization’s fishing adventures and fly tying classes. Most of
their “skill nights” have a turnout of 20 to 30 kids and adults volunteers.
Currently CTO has a large facility southwest of Walla Walla on Valley Chapel
Road where they conduct the indoor programs in preparation for their outdoor activities.
If you would be interested in “working” with Jason Peterson
within the CTO organization please contact him at jpeterson@teamcto.org.
Our meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary
Tom Craig –
President
Dave Stemmer – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator
