A nice afternoon for bass fishing, until...

Last evening The Walla² Fly Fishers came together for our second Meet and Greet gathering in the past two years (the last being April 27th) to break bread, exchange fishing stories among ole members and new guest. 

With the COVID-19 virus still circulating in our area, again the club rented the outdoor picnic pavilion at the Fort Walla Walla Museum Park, and set the tables for everyone to partake in another club’s treat dinner of sandwiches and soft drink beverages. The weather this evening for dinner was most pleasant, sunny and mild temperatures.

Attendance at this evening meeting was 20 fly fishers - club members and guests that have interest in reviving our club’s activities, following so many of our area’s pandemic shutdowns.

After dinner was served, and all were fed Co-President Judy made an evening greeting and called our meeting to order. It was during this time, that an evening breeze began to blow. Shortly thereafter the clouds on the western horizon began to thunder and lightning.

Treasurer Harold then gave his report, reporting that prior to this evening’s meal cost ($140) the club’s checking account had a balance of $1139. He said the current bank account report – should now show that we currently have close to One Thousand ($1000) on account with some club dues (cash) payments in hand. Harold pointed out that $1000 sound like a nice sum to have on hand, but once the club begins to have regular monthly meeting we can go through these fund rather fast with the expense of bringing in guest speakers and having club functions. During Harold’s report the wind began to blow a bit harder.

After Harold’s report, President Judy asked Dale to give a Secretary’s Report. Dale made a brief recap of our last month’s meeting which was more of a Meet and Greet gathering than business, and he addressed the club’s assets (floatation craft – pontoon boat and float tubes) that were being kept at his house. He announced that these items were readily available to any and all paying club members and to notify him via email if you wished to check them out for use.

Dale also mentioned that the club had a fly fishing library (books and videos) available to all club members. By this time the wind was beginning to blow a bit harder and the thunder and lightning was getting closer to the park. Dale was asked to speak a bit louder, and so closed his report.

In the past at each meeting we have held meeting raffles and door prizes, usually these have been fly boxes (with flies), and other items of interest. This evening we had no raffle but gave door prizes of a fly box and two club logo caps.

With the presence of the outdoor elements bearing down on us, President Judy asked if there was anyone that would like to take charge of trying to secure a regular indoor meeting location for our next planned meeting to take place in September. Judy made the point that traditionally our club meetings have always been held from September through May, with a summer break for “not-so-organized” club fishing parties being planned and taking place June – August. There was a short discussion concerning this matter of a future meeting location and our Ex-President Dave stood up to the occasion 

and said that he would work on securing an indoor / restaurant location for our September meeting needs. In the past we have held regular meeting at the China Buffet on Plaza Way, at Smith’s Family Restaurant off of Hwy 12, and at El Sombrero on Second Avenue. Towards the end of this discussion, Dave was also asked to speak a bit louder and the storm was drawing near.

If you have a suggestion for a public meeting location please contact President Judy, or Dave, or Dale with your ideas. Please offer any ideas and suggestions to - 
  WallaWalla.Flyfishing@gmail.com   
Thank you.

Before we could proceed any further with our meeting, it began to rain, the wind blowing harder was beginning to blow rain into the shelter area, so EVERYONE gather up our meeting and meal layouts and ran for their vehicles.

Meeting adjourned.



Please stay tuned to Walla² Fly Fishers follow up emails of / for further summer group activities and announcement of our next meeting which should be around the third week of September.



Tight lines and good summer fishing.



Respectfully submitted,

Dale McKain

Club Secretary 

Diane Briggs –  Co-President

Judy McDole – Co-President

Harold Saxby – Treasurer

Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster

We have returned.

The Walla² Fly Fishers came together for our first Meet and Greet gathering in over two years (the last being February 19, 2020) to break bread, exchange fishing stories among ole members and new guest. Present this evening were 6 club members and 7 guests that have interest in reviving our club.

For the past several months the club officers have been in touch via Email communications, and one small group meeting to discuss the parameters to reactivate the Walla² Fly Fishers as we have watched the decline in numbers of public illness due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With hopes that spring weather would cooperate with us, we chose this Wednesday evening, to make a reservation with Walla Walla Parks and Recreation to have our meeting at the Fort Walla Walla Park.

After the usual morning rains, we had a most pleasant afternoon sun break with mild temperature for our 5:30 gathering. Club Secretary Dale made arrangements to provide from Safeway a delicious croissant sandwich tray complimented with bowls of melons, strawberries and soft drinks with funds of the club’s treasury. Co-President Judy brought plates, napkins and tableware. Putting all of this together, we had a most pleasant outdoor “picnic” meeting – under shelter covered with sunshine.

After everyone had more than enough to eat - sandwiches and fruit, Co-President Diane called the meeting to order. This was a most informal meeting whereby everyone introduced themselves and gave a brief synopsis of themselves and their past two years of fishing experiences.

Treasurer Harold, reported that prior to this evening’s meal cost ($80) the club’s checking account had a balance of $1239.
Also this evening a number of ole and new members paid their annual dues of $15 per individual and/or $20 per family.
Harold did point out that even though $1200 looked like a health checkbook balance, in 2019 before the pandemic the club had paid out $1000 for the cost of having guest speakers to address our group.

As the meeting closed, Co-President Diane brought out a large bag of fly boxes that Grant Richie of the Minam Store Raft Rentals and Guide Service had given our club and gave a fly box to everyone present. Thank you Grant.

It is with regret, that after 4-years of their service to the club; Secretary Dale makes this announcement to all... that effective after our May 2022 meeting, Co-Presidents Diane and Judy, VP Tyson, Treasurer Harold will be resigning from their elected club offices. Secretary Dale will remain in his position.

In closing this meeting, it was discussed that we will attempt to have another meeting in May – the date and place to be announced, most likely we will attempt to setup the May meeting like this one and maybe at this same location - Fort Walla Walla Park. Please watch your Emails for further development and announcements. Your RSVP will also be requested at that time for attendance. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary

Tight lines and good fishing

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Diane Briggs –  Co-President
Judy McDole – Co-President
Tyson Kopfer – Vice President
Harold Saxby – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster

It is with a great deal of sadness, we must report...

Sept. 1, steelhead fisheries on large stretches of the Deschutes, Umatilla, John Day and Walla Walla rivers will be closed through the end of the year. See the link below for more details...

https://www.opb.org/article/2021/08/28/steelhead-fishery-closure-deschutes-john-day-umatilla/

August 11 - Club Officers' Meeting Minutes

It has been a very long time since our club went dormant, from the pandemic shutdown of 2020.

This has been a sad scenario, but to stay Safe from the global COVID pandemic the club's officers have felt it best to freeze the club in place since our last meeting of February 19, 2020.

A few weeks ago as it looked like "our world" might be getting some relief from the July SURGE of COVID-19, the club officers made contact with each other to discuss the situation and look at a club meeting scenario. Some options were discussed by emails. Last evening the club officers held a face-to-face meeting at President Diane's house to discuss in more detail.

It was nice coming together again with fellow club members, and sharing our most recent fishing outings. 

Diane had been in Montana, Dale had been on Anthony Lake, Harold told us about some of his Montana outings, it was asked if Jubilee Lake was open. Dale made note that he and club member Jerry had fished Anthony Lake (7,100 feet) to Beat-the-Heat on Tuesday, water was quite warm, he caught 1 rainbow. He says that the lake was covered with too many people on all types of floatation devices. So much surface activity, and very warm surface water conditions has put the fish down into the depths of the lake. He will not be going back until after Labor Day weekend.

When Diane called the meeting to order, officers present -- President Diane, President Judy, Secretary Dale, Treasurer Harold, Vice President Tyson was absent but had communicated his thoughts via email, which Diane read to open our meeting.

Our thoughts were that maybe we should contact El Sombrero to check on the availability of their patio dining room, which could give us an open air dining-meeting area. We talked about the idea of trying to conduct a ZOOM meeting.
Then we discussed the age of many of our club members. We discussed the current SURGE and rapid spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 in our immediate area. It was mentioned that we open the club meeting to vaccinated - mask wearing members, but felt that might be discriminatory / preferential to only those who would wish to comply.
This put us between a Rock-and-a-Hard-place, as to what to do for the benefit of all concerned.

We discussed...

In the end, it was decided that we would not try to initiate having club meetings beginning in September.
We do have thoughts of looking again at October... if the current COVID-19 SURGE subsides, and group gatherings appear to be safe again for those who have protected themselves and also CARE for the well being of all others.

Be Safe, and good fishing.

Best regards,

Dale
Club Secretary 

https://www.facebook.com/lovePNWsteelheading

 While waiting for the Pacific Northwest to reopen from the COVID-19 Pandemic, you might want to think about our next Salmon Run and the chance to be in the Great outdoors.

We hope to have our meeting room reopen soon, so we can share some wonderful Pacific Northwest fishing tales and make plans for more in 2021.

Hope to see you soon  

 

We shall RETURN

NO WWFF MEETINGS until further NOTICE

Please observe these COVID-19 precautions

~ Deliberately increasing the physical space between people to avoid spreading illness. Staying at least six feet away from other people lessens your chances of catching COVID-19.

~ Frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. When soap and running water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand rub with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands that are visibly soiled.

~ Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.

~ Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

~ Deliberately increasing the physical space between people to avoid spreading illness. Staying at least six feet away from other people lessens your chances of catching COVID-19.

~ Spend plenty of time outdoors in fresh air and sunshine catching fish.  

To discover some of the finest fishing spot in NE Oregon and SE Washington scroll through the years of our blog's postings; to plan your next catching outing.

Tight lines and good fishing ~

COVID-19 pandemic is putting everything on HOLD

The first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic was announced by the state of Washington on January 21, 2020. Washington made the first announcement of a death from the disease in the U.S. on February 29 and later announced that two deaths there on February 26 were also due to COVID-19. Until mid-March, Washington had the highest absolute number of confirmed cases and the highest number per capita of any state in the country.

With the onset of COVID-19 taking place in Washington at this time, this email was sent out today to the membership of our Walla² Fly Fishers.

Greetings ALL,

The COVID-19 outbreak issue has been weighing on our minds for the past few days. 

Tuesday morning I called St. Mary's Hospital, and the WW County Health Dept. to ask for advice. 

The Health Dept. advised  us (I passed it along to club fellow officers) to use our best judgment. The WW County Health Dept. was NOT suggesting calling off group meetings at this time, but would advise sending a message to ALL that if you are feeling less than 100% it is best to stay at home, be safe and not to spread a common cold, or the COVID-19 flu like virus.

Since many of our members are 55+ years old -- a most critical age for complication with the COVID-19 outbreak ~ the club officers have made the decision to be SAFE; to, for, with ALL concerned and CANCEL our March 18 meeting.

Tough call, but we are inclined to stay Safe and Sound, by staying home - with little to no exposure to annual illnesses; waiting for this national / community illness to pass.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary

Tight lines and good fishing

Contact Us

~ Follow Us on Facebook ~

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

Tyson Kopfer – Vice President

Harold Saxby – Treasurer

Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster