Rick Hafele - After dinner

Rick Hafele – After dinner - Fly Fishing Lakes

President Judy called our meeting to order at 7:03 this evening. We had 4 guest present.

Treasurer Harold reported that we have over $1400 in the club's checking account. 

VP Tyson said he was in the process of cataloging the club's library, hopefully it will be back on the table in September.

Heidi announced that there would be another meeting of the Lady Fly Fishers on May 22 at Clarette's restaurant. 

This evening we had the privilege of being joined by Rick Hafele - Author/Lecturer/Bug Man.

Today Rick was in town to discuss with a group of fly fishers from around the area the art, science and presentation of technical fly fishing from the layman’s view and language. 

As an author, Rick was not here to sell his books, but to share the vast amount of knowledge he has comprised in his education of Entomology.

The Complete Book of Western Hatches, was Rick’s first book co-authored with Dave Hughes, was published in 1981.  Since then he has co-authored or authored several other books including Western Mayfly Hatches, An Angler’s Guide to Aquatic Insects and Their Imitations, Nymph Fishing Rivers and Streams, and more. In 1983 he completed the instructional video, Anatomy of a Trout Stream, produced by Scientific Anglers.  This has been followed more recently by six other instructional DVDs: Fly Fishing Large Western Rivers (a four volume set), Nymph Fishing Basics, Advanced Nymph Fishing and most recently Advanced Tactics for Emergers & Dries.   

With the vast amount of insight that Rick shared with us this evening was about Fly Fishing Lakes; this writer will not try to make a conscientious accounting of Rick’s presentation, but instead point you to the wealth of knowledge share in Rick’s publications.

One can find many of Rick's publications on Amazon.com

This evening's program about lake fishing covered the hatches, fly patterns, and tactics needed for success on stillwaters.

Being a picture is worth a thousand words, this writer will give you some of the highlight slides of Rick's presentation and again encourage you to turn to Rick's publication for a greater understanding on how the fly and fish will go so well together to fill your creel, if you are inclined to do so.

Rick, we Thank You so much for sharing this day, and your knowledge / expertise with us. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge, on how and where to hook a fish.

To help cover the expenses of this evening we did a one fly box raffle tonight. This box was a donation with 12 flies brought to us by Heidi, and then Dale added 48 more flies to make the box an even 5 dozen fly box with flies for trout and steelhead. Rick pulled the raffle ticket and Jenny got the box. Our meeting was adjourned at 8:40.  

Our meeting was adjourned at 8:40.  
Our next meeting will be in September - look for an email to announce the meeting. You may also follow us on Facebook.

Respectfully submitted, 
Dale McKain 
Club Secretary  

Tight lines and good fishing

Diane Briggs –  Co-President
Judy McDole – Co-President

Tyson Kopfer – Vice President

Harold Saxby – Treasurer

Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster

Dave Stemmer – PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator

Rick Hafele -- Before dinner

Rick Hafele – before dinner - Understanding Western Hatches

This afternoon we had the privilege to get together with Rick Hafele - Author/Lecturer/Bug Man.

Today Rick was in town to discuss with a group of fly fishers from around the area the art, science and presentation of technical fly fishing from the layman’s view and language. As an author, Rick was not here to sell his books, but to share the vast amount of knowledge he has comprised in his education of Entomology.

 The Complete Book of Western Hatches, was Rick’s first book co-authored with Dave Hughes, was published in 1981.  Since then he has co-authored or authored several other books including Western Mayfly Hatches, An Angler’s Guide to Aquatic Insects and Their Imitations, Nymph Fishing Rivers and Streams, and more. In 1983 he completed the instructional video, Anatomy of a Trout Stream, produced by Scientific Anglers.  This has been followed more recently by six other instructional DVDs: Fly Fishing Large Western Rivers (a four volume set), Nymph Fishing Basics, Advanced Nymph Fishing and most recently Advanced Tactics for Emergers & Dries.   

With the vast amount of subject matter and insight that Rick shared with us this afternoon, of his knowledge of Understanding Western Hatches - 

A 3-hour slide/lecture program that explains the “why” of fishing success.  Topics covered include: How to recognize the key western hatches of mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, and more. 

How insect behavior affects fish feeding behavior.  How to select and fish the proper patterns.  Rick’s presentation was an excellent slide show of color photos illustrate all stages of the insects, their habitat, fly patterns, and tactics.

This writer will not try to make a conscientious accounting of Rick’s presentation, but instead point you to the knowledge shared in Rick’s publications.

During this one afternoon's sitting in Rick's lecture, this writer built 10-pages of fly fishing notes to ponder. One can find many of Rick's publications on Amazon.com

If you were unable to make it to this lecture, you might be interested in watching this short facebook video about hatches and where to look for trout.  

Tight lines and good fishing,

Walla² Fly Fishing women are at it again

The Walla² Fly Fisherwomen were at it again…

With beautiful blue sky and "perfect" temperatures to greet us, a small cheery group of women gathered at Tietan Park for our second mini-workshop on fly casting and knots last Saturday, May 4^th.

Club President Diane started by leading the group through basics of putting rod/reel together and stringing up the line.  Hula hoops were placed in the lush lawn to serve as "targets", and as Diane started the demonstrations and students started to cast, the breeze came up, making casting more difficult.  Diane had the students move to the other side of the hula hoops, and casting became much easier, with students enjoying themselves as they learned.

With the smaller class size this time, Diane was able to provide a bit more personalized help to individual students.  After a nice amount of time casting, students were advised to set rods aside for awhile, and move to the picnic table to work on knots.  Diane again provided materials and demonstrations so that each participant had the opportunity to "tie a fly on" a few times, as well as get hands-on experience working with knot-tying tools to practice the knots to add tippet onto leader.  

The temperature remained ideal, and the gentle breezes felt great, plus the breeze provided a bit of "realism" to the knot-tying practice! Diane used that situation to explain why it's often best to tie SOME knots on shore or other protected area! (such as adding tippet to leader!)

After the knot-tying session, the group resumed casting practice.  Diane again provided personalized instruction as students practiced casting.

Smiling faces and cheerful conversations wrapped up the morning's activities.  Walla² Fly Fisherwomen circle leader Heidi provided some resource handouts to those interested, as students chatted and put gear away.   A fine morning indeed!
Our next casting practice will be held at the College Place Lion's Park next Wednesday May 8th.
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Casting practice at Lions' Park - May 8 

The Walla² Fly Fisherwomen were at it again…
Happily, the predicted gusty winds didn't materialize, and there were only moderate breezes to "play games" with fly lines and yarn on Wednesday afternoon, May 8

Several ladies gathered at Lions Park in College Place for the afternoon casting practice lead by Dale, the Walla² Fly Fishers club secretary.  

Putting rods together and stringing them up with line was the first order of business.  That was followed with students standing along the edge of the pond as Dale talked about the "10 o'clock ~~  2 o'clock" casting stroke and other aspects of casting.  The occasional loud splash of ducks jumping into the pond added a bit of "outdoor adventure feel" as the students practiced casting.

In short order, a leader with yarn found it's way to a tree branch during a back cast, and Dale stopped and got everyone's attention, then explained and demonstrated the best way to retrieve the line/leader without risking damage to the fly rod.  That is an extremely useful bit of information, since I suspect every fly fisher has been in that situation at least once, and some of us have on multiple occasions!   

A good amount of time was provided for casting practice, and as activities were winding down, participants were reminded of the Walla Walla Fly Fishers club meeting next Wednesday evening, and invited to attend.  

A quick reminder: The next women's fly fishing activity will be Wed. May 22 at 6 pm, at Clarettes restaurant in Walla Walla.  Along with the social meet and greet time (plus ordering any food and/or beverage if desired) there will be hands-on and information re: fly fishing tools and accessories, and if time allows, maybe some knot tying.  We're looking forward to seeing you there! 

Tight lines and good fly fishing,

Walla² Fly Fishers

Diane Briggs –  Co-President
Judy McDole – Co-President

Tyson Kopfer – Vice President

Harold Saxby – Treasurer

Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster

Dave Stemmer – PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator