YOU are cordially invite to...

Our Eighth Annual Fly Fishing Fair

Saturday 18 June 2016 -11:00 am 

at Waterbrook Winery
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10518 W. Highway 12  Walla Walla, WA

“I fish because I love to. Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful... Because in the woods I can find solitude without loneliness. ... 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 unimportant and not nearly so much fun.”
― Robert Traver

There is an art and science to throwing a nearly weightless hook - with fur and feather attached - 30', 60', 90' to a rising fish. Almost anyone can do it - just come out and try it.
Group and individual fly casting instructions are offered - FREE.

OH for the joy... of a nice fly presentation, and then the fishy hook-up that follows.

Demonstrating the art and science of fly tying --
where the smallest of flies, is sometimes what it takes to a catch large fish.
We do offer individual fly tying instructions - FREE 

Yes, we do stand around discussing fishing and other important matters in life

There are fish to be caught on the fly at our Fly Fishing Fairs at Waterbrook Winery

Walla² Fly Fishers - invite area fly fishing guide services to join us to share in the day and the opportunity to fly fishing our Pacific Northwest waters successfully

Walla² Fly Fishers' special community project is sponsoring our local Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.
The annual Fly Fishing Fairs gives the general public and the area fly fishing community the opportunity to join in our efforts to contribute to the cause with silent auction tables, holding some nice items.

At Waterbrook Winery there is pop, lunch, and wines served to refresh the day, Please join us.

We offer individual fly casting instructions - FREE

 

Visit our previous SEVEN Fly Fishing Fairs links to get a taste of our venue, and the Waterbrook Winery.
June 18th once again we will be fly fishing / fly tying / talking about the art and science of the sport. Will you join us?
FREE - hands on programs of fly casting, fly tying, fly fishing to the interested PUBLIC - we have the fly fishing gear you will need, or bring your own.

Click on this link and follow the label - Fly Fishing Fair - to view past Walla² Fly Fishers' Fly Fishing Fairs and other club activities.

Tight lines and good fishing

Direction and map to Waterbrook Winery

https://goo.gl/maps/N2JBWFCvnPE2

We hope you will join us here on June 18th.

A Report from...

Our Meeting of May 18 --

In the absence of Dale McKain our Club's Secretary, these notes were provided concerning the business of our May meeting.

There were 15 members and guest in attendance. 

- Discussed was the upcoming - Eight Annual Fly Fishing Fair on June 18.

- Treasurer Dr. Doug reported that we have a little over $1200 in funds in our bank account and the meeting's needed funds bag.

- Diane told us about her 2016 Youth Fly Tying Class and their excursion to an area pond to test their creation from the tyers' bench. 

- Daniel has found a good lake for bass fishing and thinks it would make a good fishing outing for club member to try out.

- Daniel Biggs gave the evening program of a video presentation of fly fishing highlights from around the world. This was not one of his personal video, but very interesting.

- Report is, Bennington Lake is producing some nice fishing time if you have a raft, pontoon boat, float tube. Green Wooley Buggers and/or anything yellow works well trolling.

- Fly boxes this evening (door prize and raffle) went to Herb and Doug. Enjoy

Contact Us

Dave Stemmer – President
Tom Craig – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster
Dave Stemmer – PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator

Winter 2016 - Fly fishing, Fly tying, and other things of great importance

Vice President Tom called our meeting to order at 7:10 pm. 
He announced that this week President Dave was on a mission to attend a national conference in Florida, with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.(PHW). Dave has taking the commanding role in our club’s affiliation with PHW, after we lost Jerry Newell – RIP, on February 1.

There were 13 club members and guest in attendance.

We started the evening discussing fishing trips that have been taken during the past month.  Diane had just returned from a most exotic fishing trip which was a cruise to Chile, and while there one excursion off ship was an upriver 5-hour fishing trip searching for brown trout. She found them.

Diane's Chilean brownie

Tom reported that he, Steve Roy and Grant Richie has spent March 9^th fishing the Wallowa River, mostly 5-miles upriver from Minam Junction. He reported that the weather that day was off-and-on between winter and spring. He reported that the water level was good, the water clarity was a good steelhead green, and he tagged the only hook-up of the day. 

One that didn't get away from Tom

He said that Grant had done a wonderful job of guiding this trip, and he could not believe the amount of time that Grant spent walking their boat, so that he and Roy had added opportunity to “work” the river.

Tom also told us that he had made a trip up to the Tucannon River lakes. Said fishing was very slow but he spotted some large rainbows in Big Four Lake. He reported that with late winter water flow crossing the Tucannon River was a tough chore.

Tom also mentioned that this year Curl Lake would be opening 1 month later that all the other Tucannon River Lakes.

Dr. Mike, Robert and Dale had spent three days in late February fishing the Imnaha River. 

Dr. Mike's very cozy hideout for winter steelhead fishing

Their first day on the river was cool, with over cast skies, water flow a bit swift. The second day was spend fishing at Cow Camp, water and weather conditions were improving. There they saw a bait and bobber fisher from Enterprise heading for his truck with two steelies in hand – one very dark, the other quite bright.  The third day of their outing was one that every steelheader wishes for; good clear water conditions, bright skies, mild air temperature, and many cast being made with anticipation of a swirling hookup and powerful jerk in return. They did experience some great fishing, just no catching for their three days spent in the middle of nowhere - NE Oregon. Each day they checked with the creel-checker at the end of the paved road, and all three days the creel count from fishing down river was zero. 

Diane mentioned that she had contacted the USACE about the filling and fishing of Bennington Lake at Walla Walla, this spring. 

She was told that it would be filled at the end of the spring flood risk season. She said that she would keep us posted on the lake filling and trout stocking, with hope that the club could make a few floating outings to work on our stocked lake creel limits.

It was mentioned that in reading the 2016 Oregon Fishing Regulations manual, most of Oregon’s lakes are now open for fly fishing year round. Streams and river are open May 22 – Oct 31.

Oregon's e-Regulations connection

 After these fishing reports, Tom announced that the date was now set for our 2016 -  8^th Annual Fly Fishing Fair (FFF) to be held at Waterbrook Winery. This year our FFF will be held on Saturday, June 18. This event is FREE to the interested fly fishing public, that wish to learn more about the art, science and act of fly fishing.

Tom said this year the publicity for this FFF would be ready for distribution around May 1. He also announce that Grant Richie of Minam Raft Rentals and Jim Gallagher from Troutwater Guide Service would be attending to aid us in the development of our event.

This evening Tom brought a number of his Fish Alaska Magazines to the meeting to share with anyone that would be interested in taking one or more home for their reading enjoyment.

It was also discussed that the Tri-Cities, WA fly fishing club –Columbia Basin Fly Casters– had been in contact with our club, asking if we would be interested in developing a conservation project with them. With very little details of what they have in mind, this matter will be looked at again later, when more detail are presented to us.

Last Saturday the local 4-H Group had their Super Saturday Event. Tom and Diane attended to aid interest kids in fly fishing and fly tying.  Diane reported that the novice fly tyers were turning out 3 flies per 1¼ hour. 

Tonight is was agreed that we would hold the fly boxes we usually  raffle; to be loaded with the flies tied this evening, and offer them for our next month’s meeting prizes.

This evening we did not have a guest speaker, but we did have our two most top-notch fly tyers demonstrating their talents at their tying vices. Tonight Diane and Herb set up a table together with vises and light and turned out some of their favorite flies, while the rest of our evening's group observed, discussed and noted the handy work from these tyers' fingertips.

Heidi inspects Diane's tyes of the evening

We get a closer look at Diane's flies

One of Herb's tyes of the evening

A time for Q&A's

A look at some of Herb's working fly collections.

Thank you Diane and Herb, for your time, show and tell this evening. Thank you for the flies to enhance the fly boxes raffles for next month.

This evening our meeting was adjourned at 8:20.

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Our next monthly meeting will be held Wednesday. 20 April.
Our regularly scheduled meetings are held on the third Wednesday of the month September - May at:
Smith's Family Restaurant

1425 Pine Street

Walla Walla

Dinner and social at 6:00 pm with meeting following at 7:00

Come one, come all, come as you are. Our meetings are open to the interested fly fishing public.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary

Tight lines and Good Fishing

Contact Us

Dave Stemmer – President
Tom Craig – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster
Dave Stemmer – PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator

 

 Past Presidents
Tom Craig
Tyson Kopfer
Bob Long
Scott Peters 

Stillwater Fly Fishing with Tyson Kopfer

This evening President Dave called our meeting to order at 7:15 pm.

Tonight we had 20 members and guest in attendance.  

 

We began this meeting with a moment of silence to think about the departed soul of our friend and fellow member Gerald Berton Newell, 75.
Jerry passed away from our group; a loyal fly fisher and the Co-coordinator of our club's Walla Walla Chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. on 1 February.
Tight lines and good fishing dear friend ~ RIP

VP Tom took the floor and announced that our 8^th Annual Fly Fishing Fair had been agreed upon with Waterbrook Winery to be held on Saturday, 18 June 2016.  

We passed around a sign-up sheet for those who thought they would be available to help conduct this year’s event.

VP Tom also addressed the upcoming 4-H Super Saturday event to be held on 12 March. He asked for volunteers to help with a.m. and p.m. classes to conduct instructions in fly fishing and fly tying for the youth members of our local 4-H groups.

Treasurer Dr. Doug gave a report that the club has over $1100.00 in our checking account and this evening we had $97 in cash in the club’s treasury.

VP Tom again took the floor and announced that he had been working with Grant Richie at Minam Raft and Guide Service to arrange a group steelhead fishing trip for club members. This will be a 2-day trip (weather and water flow permitting) on March 9 and 10. Please contact Tom to make arrangements if you would like to take part in this trip.

This evening’s fly boxes were won by Heidi and Daniel.
Tight lines and good fishing with those flies.

 

Our program for this evening was a PPP by past President Tyson Kopfer. 
With this program Tyson shared a wealth of knowledge about his experience in the art and science of stillwater fly fishing.

Being the program was a slide presentation, and Secretary Dale does not take very good note in low light conditions, this blog posting will be excerpts from Tyson’s slides… “A picture is worth a thousand words”.   

  

In most cases stillwater fish will go to imitation (bait type) flies, more than to attractor flies. With 90% of trout diet being sub-surface insects and editable, Tyson presented us with these charts of stillwater seasonal smorgasbord menus.

Year Round Diet

Spring Diet

Summer Diet

Fall Diet

All of these charts can be enlarged and viewed with descriptive detail by following this link to Seasonal Diet Charts for Trout.

His presentation also gave a some realistic views of the above mentioned stillwaters trout food.

and a look at a few of Tyson's fly boxes to imitate the above aquatic stillwater insects. 

Chironomids

 

Leeches

Scuds

 With this Tyson gave us another slide to consider... 

and a few examples of the results of fishing stillwaters with flies...

large Cutthrouts

fat Rainbows

and the folk that enjoy fishing stillwater in early spring.

Thank you Tyson for a great program, and sharing of your stillwater fishing experiences.

You can follow this link if you would like to learn more by video instructions on how to fly fish stillwaters.

Our meeting was adjourned at 8:10, with a short session for fish tails tells thereafter.

Since the Walla² Fly Fishers are only a few miles from fishing in Oregon or Washington, each with different stillwater fishing regulations; we suggest that you get to know each state's Sport Fishing Regulations for you added enjoyment. 

Oregon's e-Regulations connection

Washington e-Regulations connection

 

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary

Tight lines and Good Fishing

Contact Us

Dave Stemmer – President
Tom Craig – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster
Dave Stemmer – PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator


Past Presidents
Tom Craig
Tyson Kopfer
Bob Long
Scott Peters