The P.M. activities started with John sitting up a fly tying station, and first fly of the day was his most famous summer steelhead catching fly, the Spawning Purple.
As John was tying this Spawning Purple we reminisced of the time at the Northwest Fly Tyers' Expo, he got in a match against the clock to see how fast he could tye a Spawning Purple. He said he had his tying time down to about 6½ minutes per fly, when on the stopwatch.
Through this afternoon, John greeted our members and guest and discussed flies, fishing, and other important things concerning the pursuit of happiness.
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| Watching John tye his flies |
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| John tying the Max Canyon |
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| Jerry thinking about fishing the Max Canyon |
The next hook in the vise holds the Classic fly - Parmachene Belle
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| John tying the Parmachene Belle |
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| Diane, also a fly tyer, checks out this Parmachene Belle |
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| John's picture - Parmachene Belle and his steelie hookup |
John is probably the first angler in 70 years to take a steelhead on a Parmachene Belle...namely because he is probably the first guy in 70 years to actually use what was, from 1890 through the 1920s, a very popular steelhead fly!
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| Two of John's tyes for the afternoon - the Spawning Purple he gave to a club member these two will become door prizes. |
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| Our club's lead fly tyers... John, Herb, and Diane |
This writer was able to sneak a look at John's steelhead fishing fly box - a look at what catches fish for John.
Thank You Judith O'Keefe for this private snapshot of a "working man's" tools of the trade.
John made the statement that the most successful fly one can fish with, is the fly that an angler has the most confidence in and uses most of the time. That is a fact.
As John was "working" at his tying table, the club membership was just milling around, socializing, and checking out the Silent Auction Table for our club's funds raiser.
Thank You Judith O'Keefe for this private snapshot of a "working man's" tools of the trade.
John made the statement that the most successful fly one can fish with, is the fly that an angler has the most confidence in and uses most of the time. That is a fact.
As John was "working" at his tying table, the club membership was just milling around, socializing, and checking out the Silent Auction Table for our club's funds raiser.
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Our No Host Bartender served us well, with lots of Waterbrook wines  |
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| Around John's tying table and the Silent Auction table |
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| Our Silent Auction table held a lot of nice donated items.Funds made from our Banquet will go to help our club's chapter of Project Healing Water Fly Fishing, Inc. |
We wish to Thank the individuals and businesses that made donations to our Silent Auction Table. With funds raised we will help Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. and the veterans we serve at the Walla Walla Veterans Hospital.
This evening John brought with him his #1, and long time fishing buddy Tim from Burns, Oregon. These guys met while working the same fly shop together, many years ago and have stuck it out through rain, sleet, and warm sunshine to fish the western US together. Tim we are glad to have met you this evening, and hope you and John will have many more stream miles to share together. You are two lucky fellas to have the opportunity to travel and fish the places you do, catch the fish you catch, and met the people looking for you. Tight lines and good fishing.
After John's fly tying expo, and the rest of us socializing, we bellied up to a wonderful buffet dinner, prepared by the Walla Walla Country Club kitchen.
Our Walla Walla Country Club dinning room scene looked a bit like this for the evening.
After dinner President Tom and VP Dave, made presentation of our Door Prizes:
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| President Tom - VP Dave |
1) a 2015 Out-of-State Fishing License (Oregon or Washington) - Jerry Newell won this prize2) two dinner tickets to the Northwest Steelheaders' -annual Crab Feed Banquet- in May 2015 - Patty Newell won this prize
3) the two flies hand tied by John Shewey this evening
4) four subscriptions to Northwest Fly Fishing magazine, given us by editor John Shewey
5) a book of John's - Steelhead Flies
After the door prized handouts we closed the Silent Auction Table and everyone making the highest bids on a lot of nice thing, got to claim their goodies.
With all of this said and done, Secretary Dale gave an introduction for John and his presentation.
With all of this said and done, Secretary Dale gave an introduction for John and his presentation.
John started his tale with his early days of fly fishing as a kid in Eastern Idaho. His home was surrounded by BLM and US Forest Service lands with a lot of fly fishing opportunities easily accessible from his home. - Lucky kid.
John is a true dog lover, with his favorite breed being the Weimaraners.
His best Ole Dog was Jake, and John shared a number of tales of the adventures of he and Good Old Jake.
John is a true dog lover, with his favorite breed being the Weimaraners.
His best Ole Dog was Jake, and John shared a number of tales of the adventures of he and Good Old Jake.
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| Good Old Jake |
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| John's current pair of puppies are Josie and Java |
In John's presentation this evening he made mention the number of times that he had taken his dogs fishing with him, and paid the "price" of having a dog along on a fishing trip. He told us of skunk encounters, dogs enjoying others' picnic tables, disturbing nice fishing holes he was about to slip into, etc., But after all, the dogs are man's best friends along with a fishing buddy like Tim.
John's sharing of his fly fishing experiences for this evening was a PPP of places he had been, people he had met, fish he had caught, friends he had made.
"I fish because... I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariable beautiful and, finally not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally important - and not nearly so much fun."
- Robert Traver
Most of John's presentation was a history of his wanderings, and chasing of fish in the Great Basin and Pacific Northwest.
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| Redband trout |
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| Cutthroat trout |
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| Brown trout |
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| Dolly Varden ~ Bull trout |
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| Golden trout |
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| Whitefish |
Then there is John's favorite freshwater ~ saltwater ~ freshwater specie he loves to chase... the Pacific Northwest steelhead. By most state fish departments in the Pacific Northwest a 20" -rainbow/redband- trout is classified as a steelhead, unless it is found in stillwater. John, explained to us the difference between a 8"- 20" Redband trout found in Oregon and Washington waters and much the same 20"- 40" Pacific Northwest steelhead. There is no genetic difference between the two, but a resident Redband lives in it natal waters for life, while a steelhead runs to saltwater and grow much larger. Steelhead can and will make the trip to "salt" more than once, returning to their indigenous waters to spawn a number of times.
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| a resident Redband trout |
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| a having gone to saltwater and returned "Redband" steelhead |
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| John's favorite fishing range for trout |
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| surf perch |
John has now authored 22 books. His 23rd and latest book Classic Steelhead Flies is currently due to come off the press in January 2015. Check out the link for a preview of what is coming our way.
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| Want to learn more about fly fishing the Pacific Northwest - look into John's repository of 22 well written book on the subject. |
It was a very fine, and most enjoyable evening.
Again, Thank You one and all.
P.S. 23 October 2014 - Treasurer Doug's Banquet expense / income report...
33 paid dinners - 2 guest dinners $677 received from auction/sale Cost of meals @$30.45 Expenses for John Shewey: Speaking fee $500 Hotel $75 Fuel $100 We spent about $70 more than we took in.
Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Dale McKain
Club Secretary
Tom Craig –
President
Dave Stemmer – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary ~ Blogmaster
Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary ~ Blogmaster
Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator
