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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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