Fishing New Zealand with Tom Craig

 
President Tyson called this month’s meeting to order at 7:15 pm.

We had 18 members and guest in attendance for this evening’s meeting.

It was announced that Tyson had purchased a DVD projector for our club meeting use. It is hoped that there are enough laptops in the club’s membership to always have one available for any/all club presentations, without having to purchase one.

Secretary Dale, unable to post to the club’s blog site (having moved out of the reach of an ISP) passed around copies of the April 11^th meeting minutes, to each table for all to review.

There was a short report concerning our June 9^th Fly Fishing Fair being held at Waterbrook Winery, west of Walla Walla on Old Hwy 12. This will be our fourth annual affair there, FREE to the public and all who are interested in the art and science of fly fishing. 

This evening we had the privilege to have our own VP Tom Craig to make the evening’s program presentation of the trip that he and wife, Annette made to New Zealand’s South Island this past winter in February and March. 
 In Tom’s presentation he had lots of beautiful landscape pictures of NZ. He reported that during the NW fishing season there was a rainy season and a fishable season. During the rainy season many of the rivers and stream were swollen with runoff, and the country he was in would be full of waterfalls. 

During the dry season all the streams and rivers would be very fishable and the waters were gin clear. Tom also reported that the fish of NZ were very fly wise and leader shy. He told us that there is a saying in NZ, that if you are not catching fish in NZ, you should work on you fishing skills… reporting that a lot of trout can be spotted, but not so many can be hooked… very wild fish. Tom also had pictures to show that his skills with a fly and rod in hand could take-on and catch the wildly NZ trout. Tom said that he hooked into some rainbows, but most of his catches were brown trout and sea-run trout.

 He reported that some of the most productive flies he used were Copper Johns, Prince Nymphs, and a NZ fly called a Bottle Brush. 

 


Tom also reported that the price of gasoline in NZ while he and Annette were there was $8.50/gal and fortunately they did not have to do a lot of long run road trip to get to some prime fishing waters. Tom brought in a bundle of literature concerning the island with places to go and things to do. A fly fisher's paradise.

This evening’s meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Secretary

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Tyson Kopfer - President
Tom Craig - Vice President

Dr. Doug Coe - Treasurer
Dale McKain - Secretary

Past Presidents
Bob Long
Scott Peters

Fishing our local waters with Herb Clark

President Tyson Kopfer called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

Discussion of business:

• ·         June 9^th is now set to be our Fourth Annual FFF at Waterbrook Winery
• ·         Everyone reminded to turn-in their steelhead/ salmon catch tags to ODFW & WDFW
• ·         Grant Richie – Wallowa River raft / fishing guided trip discussed for a club fund raiser
• ·         Pres. Tyson is looking into buying a DVD projector for program presentations
• ·         Dale McKain is going to try to make contact with John Shewey concerning availability for a club  FALL Banquet (Dale is temporarily out of Internet contact with the world)
•      Treasurer Doug Coe reported the club currently has $1200+ in the Baker Boyer Bank account, and pointed out the club expenses of the past month. Our banking / money accounts details are only given to those present for our meetings.

This evening we had 26 members and guest in attendance.

Dave Stemmer won the first fly box of the evening.

  

This evening our program was presented by Herb Clark – Fishing for Small Mouth Bass and Carp in the Columbia Basin

Herb told us about his experiences fishing the Touchet, Walla Walla, Columbia, Snake rivers and the Pothole Lakes in the Moses Lake area. He told us of catching Small Mouth Bass in the size range of 16”- 18” with some he had caught being over 20” and weighing in at 4-6 lbs.

He was said that the best time to fish small mouth bass in our area was after the spring runoff, and good areas to fish were the WW River below the Touchet River, Other good stretches of the rivers to fish are the Touchet River below Prescott, and the lower WW River from 9-Mile Ranch to Madame Dorian Park / the Columbia River. He pointed out that when fishing any of the local areas, be sure to display the WA Start “Discovery Pass” in your vehicle window at river access points and where WDFW access pass is required.

Herb also talked about fishing the lower Grande Ronde and Imnaha river for small mouth bass.

Herb made a plate of his favorite bass and carp flies that he passed around the room for show and tell. 

After most of the discussion of fishing for small mouth bass, Herb then discussed fishing for carp on the fly in our area. Carp and bass are found in much the same areas of warmer, slow moving water at the mouth of many of the area rivers. While bass are also found upriver in many rivers, carp are generally found close to the mouth of the rivers and in backwater and eddy pockets of many river and the Columbia River. Herb pointed out that carp are spookier than bass and are generally larger with greater fighting capacity.

Bob Sallee won the second fly box (raffle) of the evening and like a great sport he gave the fly box to Kolby Moore the youngest member present this evening.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m. and the group mingled about in general discussion of fly fishing, past, present, and future.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Secretary

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Tyson Kopfer - President
Tom Craig - Vice President

Dr. Doug Coe - Treasurer

Dale McKain - Secretary

Past Presidents
Bob Long
Scott Peters

A Fly Fishing Discussion with Bob Wolfe

President Tyson call this evening’s meeting to order at 7:20 pm. There were 29 members/ guest in attendance. Club business discussed what membership dues to be forwarded to Treasurer Dr. Doug and scheduling our Fly Fishing Fair at Waterbrook Winery. Tentatively speaking we are currently looking at Saturday 9 June, to conduct our fourth annual FFFair. 2012 club membership dues are due- ($15 individual and $20 family) and payable to the Walla² Fly Fishers. Please mail to Treasurer Doug Coe @ 1341 Lowell Drive Walla Walla, WA 99362

After club business discussion our speaker for the evening, Bob Wolfe took the floor. Bob is a retired USFS law enforcement officer and very avid salmonid fly fisher, fly tyer. This writer learned long ago that if you have questions concerning fishing in NE Oregon, Bob is a #1 source of information.

This evening Bob’s presentation was titled "Why Chironomids". As defined a chironomid is a member of the Chironomidae family of nonbiting midges. Bob’s focus on chironomid fly fishing this evening was the use of these flies and fly patterns in stillwaters.

Bob presented us with this chart of stillwater trout diet, from this we see the chance of catching trout in stillwaters is increased greatly with the use of these small flies – chironomids. 39% of a stillwater trout's diet is made up of chironomids.

Source: Fly Craft Angling
http://www.flycraftangling.com/index.asp?p=127

Over the past 10+ years Bob has been an extensive stillwater fly fisher and has devoted lots of time in searching the stillwaters eastern Oregon and Washington to hone his skills in chasing trout here. He talked about his use of fly tackle, rod, line, leader, strike indicators (a dry fly, pinch-on and Thingamabobber) and the flies he uses. Bob normally fishes his chironomids at 16”-18” deep, but depending on the lake conditions he may go much deeper.

Bob discussed his thoughts on tying chironomid flies for stillwater fishing. He pointed out that he had found that in fishing deep water he uses a basic red fly, and in shallower waters he uses gray, black and olive colored flies.

NOTES on chironomid fly tying that Bob gave us were:

• Colors – as mentioned above (for olive Bob uses a Magic Marker on clear Stretch Magic)
• Shape – curved
• Hooks – Bob uses Cabela’s Model 20 and 25, mostly in sizes #14- #20
• Segmentation – some very segmented
• Translucent – use of Stretch Magic
• Radiance – having some sparkle / shine
• Gills – white polypropylene yarn

Bob's Black Magic - fly
and a view of one of his stillwater fly boxes

In closing his presentation this evening Bob invited all to fish with him and the Blue Mountain Flycasters on their next outing to Penland Lake for some great stillwater fishing fun (check their Facebook page here for their fishing activities). After Bob's presentation most of the folks in attendance this evening took the time to talk with Bob and each other about upcoming fishing activities.

Bob Thank You again, for sharing with our club a most informative and enjoyable evening talking fly fishing.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Secretary

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Tyson Kopfer - President
Tom Craig - Vice President

Dr. Doug Coe - Treasurer

Dale McKain - Secretary

Past Presidents
Bob Long
Scott Peters