Let's Go Fishing - Bennington Lake

Sunset on Bennington Lake

Recently some Walla² Fly Fishers have been fishing the lake after work and weekends.Most or our PM fishing has been very successful - averaging 50-75 hookups, with 40-60 long line releases and a few nice trout have received invitations to dinner.

The take home for 6-6

  The take home for 6-7

​

​Fresh trout with fresh WA asparagus - an early June treat

Most recent fishing reports have come back saying...

May 10 - Full moon – Barbara and Dale fished the lake… Dale’s first time on this lake. Both using a BS Special. Fishing was good with many hookup and filling creel with 5 trout each. Best under the Full Moon catching Dale has ever experienced. Dale had one fly stolen.

Dale having caught a full creel of trout - with a full moon rising

June 6 – Barbara and Dale had a very good evening on the lake… hooking 30-50 fish, many long line releases, creeled 5 trout each. Both using a BS Special.

June 7 – Barbara and Dale, joined by Heidi had a great evening on the lake… many hookups, many long line releases with a lot of fish throwing the fly on their leap from the water. 

Great catching, great FUN

click on corner box to go FULL screen - best picture

June 11 – Full moon – Barbara, Heidi, and Dale had very slow fishing. Maybe no more that 12 strikes each. Dale had maybe 6 hookups for 3-4 seconds, Barbara the same with 2 trout landed. Heidi and I came out empty handed.
Mike Wallace fished the lake during mid-afternoon, and had very poor results.
Brian fishing from the shore had a couple of good strikes, nothing creeled, had one fly stolen.
Ran into Daniel Biggs, fishing from the shore, hooking a few trout, more crappie than trout as a mayfly hatch was coming off at 8:45-9:00pm Daniel says this hatch gets really thick in the next couple of weeks. Should have #12 Stimulators ready to go into action at any time.

June 13 – Barbara fished the lake after work, reports catching was slow, but she had two fresh rainbows for dinner. Reports she is beginning to run low on BS Specials.

June 21 – We had our monthly club meeting was held on the lake today. In attendance were Tom, Diane, Dick, Barbara, Robin, Harold, Heidi, Dale, Daniel with a young friend learning to fly fish. Most folks arrived between 6:00 and 7:00pm. Fishing has become rather slow with water temperature rising. Most of the catch were crappies, and a couple of trout. Most everyone "worked" the lake until 8:30. It was an enjoyable evening on the lake for all, catching or not... fishing is good. "Damn it" Dale did not have his camera to get photos of this outing.

Barbara reported on August 1st

Fishing at Bennington. I've been catching a lot lately, tonight 1 trout, 7 crappie and 1 bluegill. Daniel says he and Robin caught 40 assorted fish the other night.
I also fished this morning and caught 2 trout, 2 crappie

Dale reported on August 14

Report from Bennington This evening - fishing was good This evening - catching was not so good. Temperatures today were in the low 80's and all the Canadian smoke is gone. So after the evening news and weather, I went out to sit on Bennington Lake - rod in hand. It was calm, quite, and a beautiful sunset. Catching was slow - two crappie, and one burly set of whiskers.

Dale has posted a lot of stillwater fishing tips / how to's on the club blog. The next move is up to you. Let's Go Fishing

http://wallawallaflyfishers.blogspot.com/

Reported by Dale McKain 

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

November 14, 2018 Meeting Minutes

This evening President Dave Stemmer brought our meeting to order at 7:09.

There were 25 members and guest in attendance.

There were several items on the agenda that were to be addressed this evening:

·     Election of club Officers for 2019

·     Disbursement of $200 from June fly fishing seminar to non-profits

·     Treasurer’s report of end-of-year bank balance

·     Discussion of buying some pontoon boats for membership use

·     Recent fishing trips reports

·     Meeting program presentation -steelhead- by Dr. Chris Peery

To start the meeting President Dave opened the floor of new officer nominations, no one came forward, so the slate of member who had previously consented to take office was presented –

Diane Briggs – Co-President
Judy McDole – Co-President
Tyson Kopfer – Vice President
Harold Saxby – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary / Blogmaster

All of the above had previously agreed to form a new club administration. A vote was called for on these members to be our new officers beginning 1 January 2019, and this slate of officers was passed unanimously.

Next order of business was the disbursement of $200 received from the Walla Walla Public School District for the fly fishing presentation our club members made in June for the Washington State Dept. of Education DO Seminars at Whitman College. 

https://wallawallaflyfishers.blogspot.com/2018/06/a-fly-fishing-workshop.html 

Several Non-Profit organizations were under consideration. After discussion and a vote was taken, the club decided to donate locally -- $100 to the Tri-State Steelheaders’ schools classroom Salmon Recovery Program, and $100 to the Walla Walla Christian Aid Center.

Treasurer Doug Coe gave us his end-of-the-year Baker Boyer Bank balance report-
currently in our checking account we have $1539, and this evening funds received for the fly boxes raffle was $53.

Barbara won the Raffle box      --------     Robin won the Door Prize box

Secretary Dale had previously discussed with President Dave the idea of making a club purchase of 2-3 pontoon boats (shopping for the best prices) for the paid membership to have access to. It was discussed that with club fishing outing -stream fishing- was a good thing but is strung everyone out along a stream or river with little socializing, whereas -stillwater fishing- allowed member to come and go, meeting each other on the water, comparing fishing “notes” and ideas of the day’s activities. The proposal was presented to the membership this evening – all were in agreement, a vote was made and passed unanimously.
Thereafter Vice President Tom said that he had an Outcast 9’ pontoon boat that he would sale the club for $300 (a $900+ value). Dale immediately made a motion that the club buys Tom’s pontoon boat for $300. The motion was discussed ~ carried ~ voted on and passed. The 2019 club officers will now be shopping for one or two more pontoon boats in the $300 +/- price range for due paying members to use. 

Now… Let’s Go Fishing.

Heidi brought up the idea that the club create a Mentoring Program to help novice fly fishers, find a coach to get into the sport. With discussion of an outline of such a program Blogmaster Dale said he could create a listing of mentors that area wannabe fly fishers could make reference to, to gain help with their fly fishing ~ fly tying ~ where to go fishing endeavors.

Diane brought with her this evening a pair of new neoprene waders and wading boots – ladies size 7 1/2. These had been given to her, and she wished to Give them -FREE- to someone that could use them. Aimee was the lucky lady to take this wading outfit home.

Fishing Reports – Tom had recently been to Ireland fishing for Atlantic salmon. He brought back and showed us some of his flies bought there, and tonight donated a few to our fly boxes.
Brian has recently made a guided trip to the coast to fish for Sea-run Cutthroat. He reported a successful trip and ready to go again.
Tom reported that prior to his fishing trip to Ireland, he had fished the Grand Ronde River for a few days - he said he had hooked a couple of steelhead, but catching was quite slow.

PLEASE NOTE: with the very small return of steelhead this season there are a number of rivers being CLOSED to fishing for steelhead – check the most updated fishing regulations on all local river before lining up your rod, wetting your hook. Please consider Catch & Release Only if steelhead fishing this season.

11/1/2018 only 102,226 adult steelhead returning through Bonneville Dam

  

Our evening program was a PP presentation made by Dr. Chris Peery who is currently employed with the US Army Corp of Engineers- Walla Walla office.

For years he has studied steelhead and has his PhD. in the studies of steelhead fisheries. He has studied and advises the entire Columbia River system, with his greatest concentration on the hatchery operations of the Snake River system and that of Dworshak Dam.

Dworshak Dam and hatchery

Also discussed this evening was the ebb and flow of steelhead passage on the Columbia River system, and some of the causes for low returns, of steelhead and salmon for the past two years.

A most interesting evening spent with Dr. Peery, discussing the Salmonids of the Pacific Northwest. 

Dr. Chris, Thank you for your time and sharing your extensive knowledge of, and experience with our PNW steelhead fisheries.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:40.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary

Happy Holidays

We take a multi-Holiday Break -- our next meeting will be held at Smith's Family Restaurant on W. 9th Street in Walla Walla --

  Wednesday

16 January 2019
6:00 pm Dinner and Social
7:00 Call-to-Order Club Business

Contact Us

~ Follow Us on Facebook ~

Dave Stemmer – President

Tom Craig – Vice President

Doug Coe – Treasurer

Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster

Dave Stemmer – PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator

Elk on the left ~ Elk on the right ~ Elk in the road

Last week Prez Dave was discussing with Sec Dale about the possibility of making a fishing trip to Anthony Lake this week. We were ON for Tuesday.
Sec Dale put out a APB to all other club members of plans to go fishing Tuesday to Beat the Heat, and asked who wants to join us?
A couple of days later, Dave called back and said his wife reminded him of a previous obligation - can't go fishing.
By this time several members replied with Heidi and Harold saying YEA, "let's go fishing" but maybe not Tuesday. We decided on Thursday, which was to be a few degrees hotter than Tuesday.
A couple of days later, Harold emailed back saying, his wife reminded him of a previous obligation - can't go fishing.

Heidi, and Dale went fishing Thursday for R&R, and to Beat the Heat of the Columbia Basin.

The HIGH temperatures 

of the day

Leaving Walla Walla at 10:00 am it was getting hot; we made our way through Summerville and on to La Grande to pick up a bite of lunch for Dale and Buddy. The entire NE Oregon area was very smokey again this year, much like last year.

The Elkhorn Range shrouded in wildfire smoke -
view from 3,250′ elevation looking at 9,100' mountains

 We arrived at the lake at 1:00, and it was beginning to get quite warm as we put our boats on the lake and Buddy went for a short swim.

Today there was a lot of mid-week "traffic" on the lake, and with the oppressive heat wave of the past week we found the early afternoon catching to be slow. Dale took some temperature readings with his ole mercury angler's thermometer and found the water temperature at 2' deep to be 67* (too warm for trout to hold in) and the air temperature while sitting in the sun to be 88* (hot enough to order an onboard icy Gin & Tonic to be served if possible).

Trying to keep his feet DRY 

Today was Heidi's first day of fishing Anthony Lake and catching Brook Trout

After an afternoon at working the lake, Heidi came out catching 1 Brookie; Dale caught 2 Brookies and came back to shore with 2 triploid rainbows. We both had a good number of strikes at our flies, but the heat seems to be slowing the action down. While on the lake, Dale was talking with another anglers who told him that he had fished the lake regularly since the 4th of July; and for 2-3 weeks he was catching 3x maybe 4x more fish, than he has been catching since the weather turned HOT. Even though our catch rate today was slow, Dale's last hookup of the day perhaps gave him the best trout fight of his life... using his 2-wt. lake rod this one was much like fighting a summer steelhead, but the fish took flight when it's nose touched the landing net. 

The things that dreams are made of.

We were driving away from the boat launch at 8:00, for the 2.5 hour drive back to Walla².

To add a finishing touch to our day on the mountain, as we got to "the bottom of the hill" standing in the middle of the road are 3 elk - off to the left is 5 or 6 elk - off to our right is about 25 elk standing in a field of alfalfa, with at least one branch bull standing in that mix with antlers 3' long.
It was a good day - we'll be back.

Anthony Lake is a USFS fee area

Once Lifetime Fee for Seniors
-or-
A Daily Fee

Report of another day's fishing 8-9-18

Tight lines and good fishing -

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

May 17th Meeting

This evening our President Dave was ill and unable to attend this meeting. VP Tom conducted the formalities of the evening by calling the meeting to order at 7:10.

We had nine members in attendance.

Tonight was our last meeting for the spring/summer season, and we will resume our regularly scheduled ~third Wednesday of the month~ meetings in September.

We hope President Dave will be feeling better, and getting around soon. Without Dave being present, we received no updates on a couple of items he was working on from last month, a 2017 Fly Fishing Fair, and an update on points for the club's consideration concerning joining the Fly Fishers International (FFI). 

Tonight we were to have a presentation made by the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife concerning the developments on the upper Tucannon River basin, hatchery and fishing ponds. Their representative was unable to make this scheduled meeting. We hope to have them join us in the early fall, when our monthly meetings resume. 

Since our program for the evening did not develop, and with President Dave's absence, there was little business to be discussed.

Tom, presented us with the Thank You received from the Walla Walla 4-H for the help given in March on their Super Saturday Program. There Tom and Diane worked with a number of children, introducing them to fly fishing and fly tying.

Robin and Harold reported they had a wonderful spring trip to Montana to work on some trout lips, that they had left untouched last year.

Tom told us that he and his son had been doing some late season steelhead fishing on the Yakima River. Tom's son found a rather bright steelhead in the river, considering the time of year.

The fly boxes of the evening were won by Harold and Dick.

Dale made a report on a "Let's Go Fishing" trip that he and Steven had made to Bull Prairie Reservoir, a 27 acres lake south of Heppner, OR, on May 6. All club members were invited to make this trip. This trip was well organized by the fly fishers from Pendleton.They have invited our club membership to join them on most of their Let's Go Fishing outings.

Dale reported the snowy weather of that weekend broke off, skies cleared, and roads were clear, the catching was good.

A recap of this trip is now posted herein the club's blog.

More group outings are being planned throughout the summer.

Discussed this evening was a planned fishing outing to Penland Lake, a 67 acres lake which is located between Ukiah and Heppner, OR.
All paid members will receive a Heads UP as plans begin to form for each outing.

Tom suggested that since we do not have any summer club meetings scheduled, that we have a fly fishing get together at Bennington Lake a 50+ acre lake, a few miles east of Walla Walla on Wednesday June 21st. This outing will be announced to ALL current club email contacts as plans are being worked on. Mark your calendar --- Details to follow --- it will be BYOB.

Dale after a wonderful evening of catching on Bennington Lake, with a full moon rising

Our meeting was adjourned at 7:50.

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain
Club Secretary

Contact Us

~ Follow Us on Facebook ~

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