This evening President Diane called our meeting to
order at 7:03.
We had 33 members and quest in attendance.
Diane and President Judy gave a warm welcome to our
evening guest and asked them to introduce themselves.
Thereafter Diane asked for a Moment of Silence – for our
dear departed club founder Skip Prichard.
Skip
had thoughts of opening an Orvis fly shop in Walla Walla in 2009, and prior to
opening such he worked on developing a fly fishing club – The Walla² Fly
Fishers. Skip was a most devoted
husband, father, grandfather, a counselor and minister of the College Place
Presbyterian Church. Skip was also a certified fly casting instructor, owner of
his Stone Creek Fly Fishers’ guide service. An asset to our community, and a friend
to all that knew him. RIP – Skip, you will be missed by many.
Secretary Dale was asked to give his report, of which
he mentioned the club blog being updated, that we were working on acquiring a
fleet of watercraft (pontoon boats and float tubes) to let out to all Annual
Due Paying club members, for
their enjoyment of stillwater fishing – hopefully by the time Bennington Lake
is fishable. Dale said that fellow member Jerry Makus (Attorney-at-Law –
retired) was working on a Watercraft Use Agreement for the club.
He also
mentioned that the club was again lining up a meeting presentation by Rick Hafele (Author/Lecturer/Bug Man) in
May. A few of the many books written by Rick.
Treasurer Harold gave his report that we currently have
about
$1400 in the club’s checking account.
Fellow club member Heidi has been working on organizing a
women’s only fly fishing group; to complement our club’s effort to share fly
fishing with more area individuals. Fact is, women make better fly fishers than
do men in almost every aspect of the sport. Heidi announced the first “Meet and
Greet” ladies fly fishers meeting at Clarette’s Restaurant on April 10th and had 9 women in
attendance.
Their next schedule get together will be April 20th at
Tietan Park –WW- at 10:00 am for a class of Introduction to Fly Casting,
directed by Diane.
Thereafter the drawing for the Door Prize Fly Box was
made.
President Diane mentioned that we were in conversation
with the WW Sportsman Warehouse to set up a Fly Fishing Fair for all interested
parties and their store customers.
Tom thereafter gave a report on the WW 4-H Super
Saturday event that Dave and Judy helped him with. This event offered a short
presentation of fly fishing with some hands on fly casting for the kids to
participate in.
Tom then introduced our evening program speakers – Grant and Lottie Richie.
Grant and Lottie own the Minam Store – Raft Rentals and
Fishing Guide Service.
NOTE:
This same business was once the Minam Motel – but they no longer have rooms to
rent.
They did mention that their Minam Store does have groceries, snacks, pop along
with rods/reels/flies and fly lines for sale. The main feature they have to
offer is their 40-mile guided fishing trips on the Wallowa and Grand Ronde
rivers.
In this Oregon NE Zone fishing is allowed in streams
and river year around – of course depending on water flow conditions.
Grant gave us a general schedule of fishing the area
being:
Steelhead fishing from late October through early April
with the best being in March
Trout fishing in March is best with Stoneflies, in April it is with using
Mayflies imitations.
Around Mother’s Day in May the Caddis Flies begin to show strong for the
balance of summer. In late June, early July a strong hatch of Golden Stoneflies
come off.
By mid-July the Wallowa and Grand Ronde river flows are
getting low, so Grant and Lottie bought into a Snake River Raft ~ Guide Service
last year with they get into from July 4th through Labor Day, into
September. The Snake River fishing is primarily for bass; and they tell us that
it is hard to keep those pesky fish off of their Hoppers and Poppers. They told
us that usually in later September / October they return to their guiding on
the Wallowa when the flow rate reaches 450 cfs. This year Grant said he is
going to start a “Cast & Blast” guide service in the road-less area of the
Wallowa… hunting for Chukars and fishing for trout.
Not only are Lottie and Grant’s river guide service
about fishing and this year bird hunting, but there is also a lot of exposure
to the Great Outdoors, wildlife and NE Oregon beauty.
So a few pictures can best tell the story….
After Grant’s presentation we had the Fly Box Raffle
drawing – Steve WON that box.
Thereafter, Dale introduced Heidi with a very full fly
box from Paul Anderson of Fly Fishing Strategies Fly Shop located in The Dalles, OR.
While visiting the Tri-Cities Sportsman Show, Heidi had received a 2-sided floatable fly box with a dozen flies as a donation to our club - with no strings attached.
Dale later filled this
unsinkable fly box to contain 60 all-purpose flies to be raffled between now
and our May 15th meeting with Rick Hafele.
Raffle tickets for this fly box went on sale this evening - $2 each - and will be selling at our next meeting to help with Rick Hafele's travel expenses.
Our meeting was adjourned at 8:15.
Our next meeting will be held at Smith's Family Restaurant on W. 9th Street in Walla Walla --
15th May 2019
6:00 pm Dinner and Social
7:00 Call-to-Order Club Business
Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary
Diane Briggs – Co-President
Judy McDole – Co-President
Tyson Kopfer – Vice President
Harold Saxby – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster
