Tonight Vice President Dave called our meeting to
order at 7:14.
Dave announced that President Tom had left the country this day.
Tom was headed for a "summer" fly fishing trip in New Zealand for the next few weeks. We hope to hear fabulous stories of dreams come true from Tom's mid-winter excursion.
Dave announced that President Tom had left the country this day.
Tom was headed for a "summer" fly fishing trip in New Zealand for the next few weeks. We hope to hear fabulous stories of dreams come true from Tom's mid-winter excursion.
This evening we had 24 club members and guest in
attendance.
Dave began our meeting’s discussion announcing that
he and Tom had made contact with Waterbrook Winery, and discussed a Fly Fishing
Fair event there for 2015. Waterbrook Winery has had a change in management and
Dave indicated that the discussion went from the subject and concept of an
outdoor educational fly fishing experience to a “fly fishing” banquet
/ salmon bake. This proposal created a concern, as it would be a major deviation
from our past 6 years of a FREE outdoor Fly Fishing Fair; with the interested general public, to a $25/plate salmon dinner.
This evening fly box – door prize – was won by John W.
Robin announce that the Walla Walla Fairgrounds’
Farmers’ Market would begin operating again this year on the 1st
Saturday in May and run through the 19th of September. With the
success of last season’s Kids’ Day, that event was being scheduled for a repeat
this year on 12th of September. She said they would again be happy if our club would like to have a sharing booth at no charge this season. She asked that all interested fly fishers consider
joining them once again for a morning of fly fishing demos and games in September for their Kid's Day activities.Jerry announce that our club’s chapter of Project Healing Waters, was progressing with their fly rod building projects. He stated that the group had learn a few things –not always mentioned in the book–about building a fly rods from scratch.
It was reported that seven members of our club shared bits of their fish catching experiences at our club's first fly tying gathering at Stu's house on 7 February.
This group came together to share their time and ideas about the art of tying flies. It was a good afternoon of whipping thread, fur, feathers, dubbing, onto hooks with good camaraderie around the table.
This day we tied, an Egg Sucking Leech, a Flash Wooly Bugger, and a Green Butt Skunk. Here you can see that Barbara first time tying turned out quite well. This group came together to share their time and ideas about the art of tying flies. It was a good afternoon of whipping thread, fur, feathers, dubbing, onto hooks with good camaraderie around the table.Our next scheduled fly tying meeting will be held Sunday 22 March at Stu’s house off Cottonwood Rd. in SE Walla Walla. All club members are welcome to join us, and Diane has some extra fly tying gear that she will share to help get individual's into the art of fly tying for FREE.
Wallowa River steelhead fishing was discussed. Even though our Walla Walla River waters ran high and looked like milk chocolate this past week, the Wallowa River had a good fly fishing flow rate and was not off colored. Erik and a fishing buddy has a 9-fish hookup day, with 5-keepers last Saturday. 
It was discussed about scheduling with fellow club member / fishing guide / motel owner Grant Richie, a fishing outing on the Wallowa and / or Grande Ronde rivers between now and 15 April - the closing day of steelhead fishing season.
Dale brought up the idea of putting into our club’s 2015 fishing trip schedule some stillwater fishing outings. It was mentioned that most stillwaters are open for year around fishing. In Oregon the best waters are stocked lakes / ponds at higher altitudes, and to fish them (other than ice fishing) we would have to wait for ice off and after the spring turnover – usually in late March. Dale mentioned that he was familiar with this timing a bit from his experience with the membership and fishing outings with the Blue Mountain Flycasters while living in Pendleton. He said he would share this 2015 timing via this blog report…
March 21 (Saturday) fishing trip to Cold Springs Reservoir near Hermiston.
April 4 (Saturday) Fishing trip to Lake Lenice in SE WA.
April 25 (Saturday) fishing trip to Bull Prairie Reservoir south of Heppner, OR
June 27 (Saturday) fishing trip to 5412 pond south of Pilot Rock, OR
July 11 (Saturday) fishing trip to Jubilee Lake east of Weston, OR
Dale mentioned that during the
balance of summer and early autumn there are many high lakes and ponds that he
knew of that were great places to-beat-the-heat and catch fish, but some did
get too mossy to fish as the season progressed. He also mentioned that a lot of
these ponds could be fished from the shore very successfully, but to fish the
lakes – one would need a watercraft.
July - October fishing trips to NE Oregon high lakes such as Anthony Lake...
 |
| 7100' elevation - the highest drive to lake in Oregon - great area trout fishing |
Dale mentioned that he had rented the ole "Guard Station" at Anthony Lake for weekend stillwater fishing outings with the Blue Mountain Flycasters. He suggested that our club might consider doing the same as the cabin would sleep 8-10, had hot/cold running water - shower, full kitchen, and dining area.All of these options are to be discussed as the 2015 fishing season approaches, and we decide which way to go with our fishing gear.
Our next meeting will be 11 March at Smith's Family Restaurant in Walla Walla.
6:00 pm dinner and social hour ~ 7:00 business meeting
Our meeting was adjourned at 8:10.
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
