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| Greeting guest at the Waterbrook Winery entrance - are 35 pound Chinooks searching for fly fishers "Elwha Tears" by Al Adams |
June 6th this year we conducted our Seventh Annual Fly Fishing Fair (FFF), again at Waterbrook Winery located on Hwy 12 just east of Walla Walla. This year the weather was warm and beautiful for the event.
The purpose for this annual event is to interest people in the sport of fly fishing, in an open public forum, and for FREE.
Club President Tom, felt that we had about 75 interested fly fishing participants joining our FFF this year.
The past two years our club has been involved with a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. program. "Healing Those Who Serve" the veterans from Walla Walla and the surrounding area that need a break from war's reality and it's memories. Proceeds of today FFF will go to that cause.
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| Gerald Berton Newell, 75 May 4, 1940 — Feb. 1, 2016 Rest in Peace dear friend |
Therefore we do have available a silent auction table of fly fishing goodies to help in the raising of funds for this local program.
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| Fly boxes have up to 70 flies in them - a $100+ value in each. Flashlight and table lamp to help fund the cause. |
This year we raised over $250 for our Project Healing Waters program, and wish to thank everyone that participated/ donated to this cause.
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| Project Healing Waters-Fly Fishing - Coordinator Jerry is loaded and ready for their next group fly fishing trip |
This year we conducted our FFF a bit differently, in demonstrating and instructing fly casting and fly tying. In years past most of our presentation has been a group activity / demo. This year we catered more to the individual, to show a little of the art and science of fly fishing.
Again, since "a picture is worth a thousand words" this blog posting will share this day's event -indoors and outdoors- via pictures.
Our presentations were scheduled to start at 11:00 am, the time the winery opens. As some of the club members were coming earlier, we found some folks ready to get started and wanted to see what they could do with a fly rod, so the day started with a smile, warm sunshine, and fly rods in hand.
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| Found a trout in camo |
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| Found a frog watching a pointless fly overhead |
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| Found a trout on the fly |
Our lead casting instructor today was Robert, with help from Jim and Grant. These instructor gave their time for one-on-one instruction to all those that wanted to get the feel of fly rod casting. No hooks with points are used for our FFF demos.
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| Robert talking and instruction details of timing and line~fly delivery |
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| as easy as - 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 - fly on the water, waiting for the bite |
Even though fly line casting may look a bit tricky, once an individual learns the rhythm of the casting swing, the rod and the weight of the fly line does all the "work" making casting of a weightless fly very easy. All the caster has to do is just aim and shoot... the fly line.
You see, it is...
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| as easy as - 1 |
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| 2 |
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| 3 |
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| then it is practice, practice, practice on grass or water in learning to put your fly in the fish's lip. "All in a day's work and play." |
Along with the art of casting a weightless fly to the lips of fish, there is also the art of tying flies to help create the circle and joy of fly fishing. Today we had club members Herb and Steve giving fly tying demonstrations and answering questions of how to whip thread, fur, feather, and synthetics onto a hook to catch a fish.
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| some #26 flies are small and catch big fish |
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| some flies are large to catch steelhead, salmon and the like |
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| some flies are to "match the hatch" and catch rising fish |
Particularly fishing for trout there is an art and science in fly tying - called "matching the hatch", when sometimes it is almost necessary to catch the rising trout. From time to time the Walla² Fly Fishers also offer fly tying round tables for novice to advanced fly tyers. Stay in touch with our blog postings and facebook page to learn more, about times and place.
Don't be distressed, if you don't have the time to tye your own flies there are plenty of online warehouses selling flies to make your next fly fishing trip a success.
There is a great deal of satisfaction in catching your next fish on a fly that you tyed.
So again we feel that we had a most successful day at this Walla² Fly Fishers Seventh Annual Fly Fishing Fair.
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| Waterbrook Winery - tasting room and patio |
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| Grant Richie |
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| The life cycle of the Pacific salmonids |
And we wish to thank everyone and our club members for joining us to again make this annual event a fun success.
PS. Our next scheduled monthly meeting will be held Wednesday, September 23 at Smith's Family Restaurant 1425 Pine Street in Walla Walla. Dinner and social hour at 6:00 pm with meeting to follow at 7:00
Tight lines and Good Fishing
Tom Craig – President
Dave Stemmer – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster
Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator
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