Walla² Fly Fishers in action

A small group of the Walla² Fly Fishers went fishing on the South Fork Walla Walla River today. Air temperature in the canyon was about 80°, the water temperature was 58°, and the sky was full of sunshine. To the best of my knowledge everyone was hooking- releasing fish (C&R) and having a most enjoyable afternoon. During this meeting of the Walla² Fly Fishers, no minutes were taken, no motions were made and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the rest of our story in the order of events...

Alex with the first hang up of the day.

Dan with his out-of-town guest from Baltimore, determining a good fly pattern to use.
I strongly suggested to the group that when fishing the So. Fork you wear jeans, cool & wet for the summertime...

In the many years that I have been fishing and horseback riding the So. Fork I have come upon maybe a half dozen or so, buzz-tailed critters on the trails or in the grass here. This day was one of those times. They are heat seekers (for food) so wet jeans and wading boots can help to take a fisherman's legs out of their - defensive or seeking/see ya /got ya- scenario.
The guy pictured above was about 16-18" long -- I didn't get too close for measurement -- with a buzz attachment of about 1' -- it cross my path between Dan's (above) and Lauri's (below) fishing spots. At the end of the ring-tail on the right (hidden by leaf) was its buzz attachments. This snake did not rattle or strike, it just ran away to hide and not to be stepped on.

Lauri appeared to be in her own fly fishing world.
Lovely world, don't you think?
Below is Herb working with the finesse of his 2wt. bamboo/fiberglass rod.
After catching up with Alex and several other guys just above the third ford, I let everyone know what to expect by fishing further upriver, and that I was going to head back to the ranch and play with my baby...

horse that is. "Summer" is almost 1 month old this weekend.

Dale McKain -- as copied/edited from a McKuster Ranch Life blog posting.

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Scott Peters - President

Skip Pritchard - Co-President

Dale McKain - Secretary

Walla² Fly Fishers

For The Record --- this evening Scott Peters, Skip Pitchard and I made plans to come together and sign off on the paperwork for the official formation of our local Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) chapter hereinafter called the Walla² Fly Fishers. Sad to say, but Skip has an illness in his family and was unable to join us. Scott as Chapter President and I as Chapter Secretary did meet and signed the papers forming our organization in alliance with the FFF.

Dale McKain -- and -- Scott Peters

Right after this 6/30/09 Executive Board Meeting was adjourned, Scott and I lined up our fly rod, slipped on our wading boots and jumped into the ranch section of the upper Walla² (Walla Walla) River to test the water for wet wading temperature and fish-ability. Air temperature was about 83° and water temperature was 58° which made a most perfect evening's wet wading fishing environment. Water flow was a little fast in some places, but our flies drifted well enough to attract and hook a few pea brain redbands/steelheads and salmon smolts.

Our searching flies for the early evening were a Copper John, and a beadhead CDC Caddis. After hooking a few fish with these teaser/testers, we changed over to dry flies using a Royal Trude, and a white-X-legged Black Ant. Success was sweet, with all these wild fish being C&R.

Here at the ranch it is a pretty tough job... getting back to the river, keeping these summer salmonoids in line/on line, but someone has to do it. Tonight I have to thank Scott for his assistance and a job well done ;>)

On our way back to the house from the river, we stopped by the raspberry patch and enjoyed quite a few handfuls of perfectly plump ripe raspberries for an evening sweet treat.

When we got back to the ranch house we joined Kittee in watching the mare herds and our Summer play. Scott mentioned that he and family might like to come back out to the ranch this 4th of July weekend and Kittee and I suggested his children go for a pony -Jasmine- ride and pet some horses, maybe even our baby Summer.

Today was a good day, it was also the first day of the season for wetting a fly here at the ranch. The river is in great shape this year and there are a few #8 Golden stoneflies in the air.

Dale McKain --- as copied/edited from a McKuster Ranch Life blog posting.

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Scott Peters - President
Skip Pritchard - Co-President
Dale McKain - Secretary / Blog Master

Walla² Fly Fishers on the lawn and at the tables

With the streams of our area swollen with spring runoff, waters too fast to swing a fly; the Walla² Fly Fishers came together this Saturday afternoon at the 1st Presbyterian Church of College Place, WA. With the beautiful weather we are having it made a great get together of fly tying and lawn fly casting practice.


Everyone felt that it was a beneficial meeting for all. We had 18 in attendance for this meeting. It gave all of those attending a chance to get to know each other as our group continues to form.

From this meeting there were no minutes, no procedures, just a matter of our club getting to share our skills, knowledge of the art of fly fishing with the local community.

Dale McKain --- as copied/edited from a McKuster Ranch Life blog posting.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Scott Peters - President
Skip Pritchard - Co-President
Dale McKain - Secretary / Blog Master

In forming a club... Walla² Fly Fishers - Part III

This evening, we held the third meeting of the Walla² Fly Fishers. Our group came together in Dietrich (Dome) Activity Ctr. on the Walla Walla Community College campus. This is a newly formed group of fly fishers from around the Walla Walla, WA and Milton-Freewater, OR area. The name Walla² the group found "catchy" from Dale McKain's use/reference of squaring Walla Walla in most of his recent communications so it was decided this would be part of our club's nomenclature. At this meeting we discussed the club's organization and affiliation with the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) as a Charter Chapter. This week's meeting we had 16 "members" present, and for those that could not make it we now have about 25 interested individuals making up the club to date. At this meeting Scott Peters and Skip Pritchard were elected club co-Presidents, Dale McKain was elected to be Secretary for a period of six months as the club works on formation/organization and our group get a chance to know each other.
It was also discussed that this group would pass the word around and make plans to have a fly fishing expo - fly tying and fly casting - open to the public on Saturday 16 May.

Walla² Fly Fishers
Scott Peters - President
Skip Pritchard - Co-President
Dale McKain - Secretary

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
--- as copied/edited from a McKuster Ranch Life blog posting.

In forming a club... Walla² Fly Fishers - Part II

An email to Don Davis of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
~~~~~~~
... last night was our second gathering. Last week we basically had a get acquainted meeting of 11 fly fishers from the local area. In that group's meeting we felt it worthy to do a follow up meeting again last evening and get down to the business of club formation. Last night we had 16 fly fishers present at our meeting. The group voted to become a FFF "Charter Chapter" - same as the Blue Mtn Flycasters - for all the goods and services that FFF offers. We discussed the objectives and goals as currently perceived for the formation of this new organization.
We decided to study the constitution / by-laws as prescribed by FFF for being a Charter Chapter in the next month, (Skip Pritchard will be sending this out via email). We felt it would be good to make our own by-laws around those guidelines, and have an election of officers to put this organization on the streams and rivers (fishing) ASAP.

Our meetings are currently set to be the second Wednesday of the month, probably September through June with fishing vacation the months of July & August. Next meeting will be Wednesday, 8 April at 7:00 p.m. in the Dietrich (Dome) Activity Ctr. on the Walla² Community College campus. This is with all going according to PLANS.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain --- Reporting

In forming a club... Walla² Fly Fishers - Part I

An email to Jim Buchan and Don Davis of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
~~~~~~~
Just a quick note to let the folks at the Walla² Union-Bulletin know that there was an interest meeting held last evening 4 March at Walla² Community College to discuss the formation of a local fly fishers organization. This first meeting of interest was attended by eleven local fly fishers from both sides of the Walla Walla River. A very short presentation was given by Dave Karl (WDFW) on the fishery resources of our Walla Walla River drainage, and fly fishing opportunities were discussed by all.

It was agreed by the group present (11 individuals) that we would spread the interest of this group's meeting concerning the formation of a local fly fishing club, and meet again next Wednesday, March 11th in the same classroom in the Dietrich (Dome) Activity Ctr -east entrance- at 7:00 p.m.

All interested parties that would like to learn more about fly fishing, fly tying, fishing local waters are invited to attend.




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Best regards,
Dale McKain - Reporting