Our new meeting location - El Sombrero Restaurant - Walla Walla

With the closure of Smith’s Family Restaurant this past summer, President Judy made a search of local restaurants to find a new location for our monthly WWFF’s meeting. She did a great job on finding a third Wednesday of the month ~ room vacancy at the newly renovated El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant at 4 West Oak St. in downtown Walla Walla.

Prior to our monthly meetings we try to schedule a 6:00 pm Dutch-Treat dinner open to all interested fly fishers.

We start each meeting by passing out a FREE door prize ticket for a fly box. Additional raffle tickets are then available for $1 a piece or 6 for $5, as dinner is served.

Fly box #1   ---------   Fly box #2

This evening President Judy opened business meeting at 6:55 with a Welcome to All.

We had 22 members and guest in attendance tonight. Since this was the first meeting coming off our 2-month summer fishing break, we made a brief around-the-room introduction of ourselves.

Following these introductions Secretary Dale gave a brief summary of our May meetings with Rick Hafele and the status of our Treasurer’s report at that time. Dale brought up the fact that the club had purchased an 8’ Outcast pontoon boat, and President Diane had donated a float tube for all due paying club members to have access to – no charge. The club does not provide a PFD.

These watercrafts are kept under lock-&-key at Dale’s house for all members to have access to, and he ask that anyone wanting to use these watercraft, please give him a 24-hour notice (via club’s email address) so the watercraft will be unlocked upon their arrival. Dale lives ¼ mile from the intersection of Stateline Road off of WA-Hwy 125 / OR-Hwy 11 between Walla Walla and Milton-Freewater – very easy to find for all due paying members fishing in  OR or WA.
Dale concluded his Secretary's report by asking everyone to refer to this, the club's blog, and Facebook page for more details of past and current club events.

Our club Treasurer Harold gave his report on the club’s funds stating that we currently have $1250+  in the bank.

This evening VP Tyson was out-of-town so his assistant, Heidi gave a report on the progress of cataloging our club’s library and tells us that it should be showing up at our meetings again soon. When the library has been catalogued (books, magazines, video discs) these items will be available to all DUE paying members to checkout a month at a time.

Co-President Diane updated the group on some of the discussion the Board of Directors were in concerning the purchase of an updated CD/DVD video presentation apparatus, which we need badly for our meeting presentations and those of our guest speakers. 
Upcoming events for this weekend, are a planned fishing trip to Anthony Lake on Saturday, to meet with Dale at his house or at the lake, 

and another with Heidi, to conduct an outing to Jubilee Lake on Sunday. Both of these outings are -- bring your own bag lunch and catch-can when you get to the lake.

After the tables had been cleared of foods and plates, Dale and Judy passed out a membership / guest questionnaire for all to fill out to help bring our group together with ideas to fulfill individual fly fishing wants and needs. See the reply results of the questionnaire below or via this link.

 Heidi had visited our last Board of Directors meeting and told us that she had visited Graphic Apparel and talked to them about resetting the club’s logo and what the pricing would be to produce some more club caps as we have done some years ago. 

Getting a feel for this idea from tonight’s group, we asked Heidi to go ahead and place an order for a dozen logo caps. Tom and Dale also mentioned that they had also had some other apparel embroidered with the club logo a few years ago and had enjoy the clothing and the quality thereof – all available at Graphic Apparel on Rose Street in College Place.

After the discussion of club business, we went around the room sharing fishing tales that had come out of this summer’s “Let’s Go Fishing” break.

This evening we also had the pleasure of having a couple of guys from our Walla Walla Sportsman Warehouse pay us a visit. They were the floor reps for the store's Fly Fishing Department, asking how they could help our club and posing the question; Could we get together to enhance the fly fishing community with more angling training / education opportunities? 

They also brought along with them some $10 OFF coupons that were passed out to everyone at tonight's meeting.
We will be looking at opportunities to work and play with the folks at Sportsman Warehouse to share our knowledge and experience of fly fishing with their customers and the general interested public.
Lest we forget, we are about to enter the 2019-20 Fly Tying Season of "it's cold outside, too cold to fish".

Heidi is continuing to develop the fly fishing skills of her group of fly fishing women, with casting, fly tying instructions, and on-the-water experience.
Ladies if you are interested in learning more about the art and science of fly fishing with a group of women - contact Heidi at kc7ccl@gmail.com

This evening Dave and Kris won the fly boxes.

In closing this evening’s meeting the subject of steelhead fishing came up. Tom mentioned that the Tucannon River was being closed to fishing due to the low number of steelhead return this year. Dale mentioned that due to last year’s very low steelhead return numbers he had not done any steelie fishing, 

Black line is 10-year average ------- Red line is 2019
Steelhead returns at The Dalles Dam

but gave the historical migratory progression / fishing progress he had experienced in past year from the earliest fish arrival dates of mid-September into the Deschutes River, with prime November fishing at Troy, OR through the late season fishing dates of April on the Wallowa River. He mentioned that he had been in communications with the ODFW fishery biologist in Enterprise, OR last fall about the open season in that area and says he will try to re-contact those biologists about making a club meeting presentation next month before the steelhead begin to make their showing on the lower Grande Ronde River.
NOTE: Check all state Up-to-Date fishing regulations before leaving on a steelhead fishing trip.

Our meeting was adjourned at 8:00.

Our next meeting will be held Wednesday, October 16^th at El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant

Respectfully submitted,

Dale McKain

Club Secretary

Tight lines and good fishing

Walla² Fly Fishers new meeting location - September 18th

NOTICE: New Meeting Location for the Walla² Fly Fishers

Smith's Family Restaurant is PERMANENTLY CLOSED. 

Please NOTE: the next meeting of the Walla² Fly Fishers will be held at the new El Sombrero Mexican Restaurant at 4 W. Oak St. (just off N. 2nd Avenue) in Walla Walla.

Wednesday 18 September

Dinner at 6:00 pm with meeting to follow.

Hope to see you at El Sombrero - bring your summer fish tales with you.

Tight lines and good fishing,

Dale

Club Secretary

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

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

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

Minam Fishing Guide Services with Grant and Lottie

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 20^th 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 4^th 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 15^th 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 --

  Wednesday

15th May 2019
6:00 pm Dinner and Social
7:00 Call-to-Order Club Business

Respectfully submitted,

Dale McKain

Club Secretary

Contact Us

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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