Across
the Stream – April 2006
A
Publication of Heart of America Fly Fishers
HOAFF April Meeting
Monday, April 17, 2006 - 7pm
Eric
Pietz
Fly
Fishing Utah and Colorado
President's Message
The Arrival of Spring
by Mark Borserine
As
the weather warms the water we enter both the most active time of the year for
us as Fly Fishers and the most quiet time for our Club itself. Spring Seminar and Sowbug
are behind us and the Southern Council Conclave and our Auction are ahead of
us. In between these events we have some great outings planned just for your
enjoyment and relaxation. Many of us
have some great trips planned: Cliff
Newton and I will be going to Kodiak Island in July!
I
want to encourage everyone to make the most of the summer! Enjoy and enjoy some more – we, as fly
fishers are given a great gift to enjoy the beauty and serenity of nature. Be safe, be careful of the environment: when
you pass through, leave as little of yourself behind as possible, but take the
memories and sense of peace with you and carry it always in your heart.
If
you’ve never tried it, do some Warm Water Fly Fishing this summer. A summer evening spent in a comfortable float
tube is among the most peaceful experiences you will ever have! Yet the action you can have will be some of
the best! A bluegill is every bit as
game as any trout – a big bass will test your gear to the max. If you’ve never tried Float tubing before on
small waters, make a point to come to our June 17th outing at the Hunting Sports Plus
strip pits just an hour South of Kansas City.
We’ll have some extra “boats” for you to try, all you’ll need is waders
and boots!
Marcy Brook
By Steve Jenkins
Mountain
streams have their own fascination. Maybe it is the intimacy of the
surroundings. Maybe it is the unspoiled beauty. Many writers have tickled our
imaginations with their portrayals of mountain streams.
I’ll
admit it; I’m drawn to mountain streams. Surely it isn’t the size of the fish –
typically small. Surely it isn’t their wariness – typically bold. At sometime I
expect most of us trout fishers have tried our luck on mountain streams. For
me, fishing mountain streams is something I grew into.
Small
streams can be an excellent classroom in trout habitat and behavior. They can
teach us more, and more quickly, than spending the same time on larger streams.
On small streams, everything is in focus, and your mistakes are magnified. But,
small streams are not the place to perfect your double haul. Intimacy means
cautious casting with short lines.
My
first exposure was on Marcy Brook. This gem rises on the north face of Mt.
Marcy, the highest peak in the Adirondack Mountains. Its south face provides
the headwaters for the Hudson River, but the north face drains through the Ausable River system to Lake Champlain. Except for perhaps
its last mile, before joining with other mountain streams to form the West
Branch of the Ausable River, March Brook is home
exclusively to brook trout. The trout here aren’t large, but they are feisty. A
10-inch fish is a big one.
Barney
was nearing retirement. Other than a few years in Washington, D. C., during
World War II, his entire career had been in the design of large electric
generators. Tall and rangy, Barney grew up on a farm in Michigan, and he
learned early about the wily ways of trout. I was just learning the ways of
trout and was anxious to accept Barney’s invitation to fish Marcy Brook.
We
made our plans for a trip in mid-June. Any earlier date would have exposed us to
the nemesis of the Adirondacks, the black fly. These critters hatch soon after
ice-out and can last into late May, if the ground remains damp. Only about 2 mm
in length, black flies can leave nasty bites. Some folks are allergic to their
bite and will have severe swelling near the site. They generally persist in
swarms and can get into your nose, ears and under your cuffs and collar. As I
wanted to take one of my boys along, I voted for the June date.
We
hiked from the South Meadow parking area along a closed logging road toward
Marcy Dam and the summit. About half way up the road to Marcy Dam, Barney
turned right and we headed into the woods. There was no trail, and fortunately,
no black flies. We had our hip boots and lunch in a wicker pack basket.
Matt,
my 10 year-old son, got to wade wet (47 degree water!) Matt was planning to fish with worms and his
spin cast outfit. Barney and I brought fly rods – he recommended something
short. Mine was a 7-½ ft fiberglass rod designed for a 3-½ weight line, but I
used a 4 weight because the 3 ½ was almost impossible to find. Barney said you
didn’t need many flies. He recommended streamers and wet-flies. I also brought
some typical nymphs.
After
crashing then through the woods for about 15 minutes, we came to the stream. In
most places, the trees on either side were no more than 10 yards apart, with
the stream tumbling through. There were no pools – just pockets around the
boulders. I wondered how one was to fish this kind of water. We selected a
wider clearing area and left our gear.
Matt
got started immediately – it took Barney and me more time to get rods prepared
and into the hip boots. Barney suggested we work downstream for a while, hike
back up, have our lunch and then walk further upstream, fishing back down to
our “camp”. We would spread out – maybe 50 yards apart. Matt and I stayed
together.
It
was tough work, hopping the rocks and trying to keep your line out of the
trees. Matt did connect with a couple of fish, both about 7 inches long. I
dropped my flies into the pools and let them swim around, but had no success,
in spite of trying various flies. Sometime after noon, we met Barney coming
back upstream. He had caught four fish, all about the same as Matt’s. During
our lunch break, he showed me the fly he had used. It was a simple streamer
with black chenille body and a grey squirrel tail wing. He said he used no
extra weight.
On
the way upstream after lunch, Matt and I stopped to cast into a larger
plunge-pool, formed below a particularly large boulder. Matt threw his worm up
toward the foam and while winding it back, hooked a trout. On his second cast,
it was instant replay. This looked too easy, so I tossed my streamer – a bucktail – into the same spot. It took me two casts, but I
caught the prize fish of the day – about 11 inches.
Resuming
our trek upstream, I wondered about the technique. Barney had apparently been
fishing downstream. I had little success with that technique, yet here at the
foot of this falls, we took three fish by casting upstream and retrieving
downstream. Soon we began our trip back downstream, with Barney leading. Matt
and I let him get just out of sight and we began out trek. Matt caught another
trout soon, but I was having the same luck as in the morning. I decided to revise
my technique. I cast upstream and slowly stripped the streamer back. Bang! A nice strike, but no fish. At the next
pocket, I tried it again – it worked and I released a fat 8 inch brookie. I think I learned something.
Working
Marcy Brook, or any similar mountain stream, is a different challenge from a
more typical trout stream. You probably have to contend with tight foliage,
complicating conventional casts. Many spots call for a “plop-and-drop cast”,
where you gently flip the fly forward to plop it into a likely pocket and
gently retrieve.
Sometimes
you can work a roll-cast, if you aren’t too vigorous. If you are casting
upstream from the middle of the water, you may have enough of an opening in the
tree canopy to make a normal, but short, cast.
Clear
water is another challenge. Fishing downstream normally has you approaching the
trout head on, right into their best visibility window. Even in fast moving
water, your reflection or movements may spook the fish. Casting upstream has
its advantages. Combat the clear water and spooky fish by using the natural
cover of boulders and trees to break up your body silhouette.
If
the stream is small, fly placement may not be that important. Visibility in the
water is generally not a problem in a bath-tub size pocket. While it might be
nice to know what food is in the stream, my experience says what you offer is
less important than how it is presented.
Many
mountain streams are not particularly fertile, making almost any pattern you
throw interesting to the fish. But, sometimes it seems the fish can be
leader-shy. If the fish refuse your offerings, try a finer tippet. Check you
hook frequently. Bouncing flies around on the rocks can easily break the point,
and you’d never notice it.
A
few years later, on another Marcy Brook trip, I took my younger son and a
friend. Clay is a good fisherman – his mother used to say he could catch a fish
in a mud puddle. His first four fish came from the same small pool, casting his
worm upstream and retrieving down. In this trip, my technique was compromised –
I forgot to bring my fly reel. I took about 15 feet of Clay’s spinning line,
ran some through the guides and left about 9 feet beyond the tip. Even with
this unconventional rig, when I fished upstream, retrieving down (by lifting
the rod) at just faster than the current, I caught fish. If I dropped my fly
down into the pockets, no fished were fooled.
I’ve fished numerous small mountain streams. The
downstream approach will work, but using the Marcy Brook approach, casting
upstream with a gentile retrieve, has been the best bet.
2006 Officers
PRESIDENT
Mark Borserine
majborser@aol.com
(913) 381-0722
pAST
PRESIDENT/SECRETARY
David Andrews
davidgandrews@kc.rr.com
H (816) 741-8314
tREASURER
Paul Bennetts
pbennetts1@comcast.net
913-338-3837
NEWSLETTER
EDITOR
Tom
James
tom@blackdogsports.com
O (816)
718-0393
PROGRAMS
Cliff Cain John Bell
cliffcain@hotmail.com j.bell@kcc.state.ks.us
H (913) 780-3865 H (785) 843-1782
O (913) 433-5224 O (785) 271-3139
OUTINGS
Jim
Jorgensen Bill Lyon
jhjflyfisher@everestkc.net blyon51@yahoo.com
H (913) 469-1950 (816) 525-1243
O (913) 477-7701
MEMBERSHIP
Cliff Newton Fred Clark
ccnewton@sbcglobal.net fclarks@planetkc.com
H (816) 943-8306 H
(913) 831-0305
O (816) 426 3925 x260
CONSERVATION/BLUE
RIVER PROJECT
Open Position
LIBRARIAN
Doug McDonald
mcdoug5148@sbcglobal.net
(913) 669-5222
EDUCATION/RECOGNITION
Bill Lindley Jim Mattes
wlindleyjr@kc.rr.com jimmattes@mattesappraisal.com
(913) 888-3177 H
(913) 268-6161
SPRING
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Dick Martin Don Grundy
rlm@mllfpc.com dgrundy@sbcglobal.net
H (816) 781-9557 H (816)-781-9019
O (816) 221-1430
WEBMASTER
Vicky Newton
svnewton@sbcglobal.net
H (816) 943-8306
AUCTION/RAFFLE
Committee
Jim Mattes
jimmattes@mattesappraisal.com
H (913)
268-6161
HISTORIAN
Bill Brant
billandkathy@kc.rr.com
H (816) 941-9691 O (913) 458-6826
SOUTHERN
COUNCIL LIAISON
Hod McIntosh
singingreels@sbcglobal.net
Home: (913) 722-3684
BANQUET
CHAIR
John Richards
jreyedoc1@aol.com
H (816) 781-0545 O (816) 781-0500
Heart
of America Fly Fishers Meetings
Meetings
are held at 7pm on the 3rd Monday of each month
Community
of Christ Church
79th
& Mission Rd, Prairie Village, KS
White River Outing
April
22 – Mountain Home, Arkansas
by
Jim Jorgensen
The
first club outing of the year will be held on the weekend of April 22nd. There
is a variety of water to fish on the White and North Fork Rivers.
Accommodations
will be at the White Sands Motel and Restaurant, Brass Door Motel and
Restaurant, and the Rim Shoals Lodge.
All locations have contact information in the newsletter. The club will meet for dinner on Saturday
night at the Brass Door Restaurant in Gassville, Ark.
around 7:00 pm.
For
additional information contact Jim Jorgensen, 913/481-1129.
Clarification
on Doug’s Crayfish
A
clarification is in order on the fly recipe I included two newsletters
ago. In the recipe it says a “1/64th oz. Jig hook”; I find that Doug was
using custom-molded jig heads. The
smallest available on the market in a tube jig hook is 1/32nd oz.
I have been tying the fly (in preparation for our next meeting on April
17th) on Eagle Claw 570 size 6 jig hooks
and wrapping .020 lead on the last third of the shank at the hook eye in two
layers. This seems to give the fly the
correct weight. Also the Ozark FlyFishers (St. Louis), lists a recipe for the fly which
includes a longer hook – Eagle Claw 630 (3x long) in size 6 or 8 version. The recipe discusses the smaller 570
version. This recipe can be reached at http://www.ozarkflyfishers.org/pages/flies/flies_page1/dougs_crayfish.html. This recipe is basically the same but the
text is somewhat more detailed than the one given me; it is worth having both
at hand. I will be tying this fly for
you before the meeting on the 17th.
2006
Membership
As of our
Officer/Director meeting of March 6th we have 55 paid members for 2006.
There are 68 unpaid who were paid members in 2005. We ask that you update your
membership for 2006 in the near future!
Conservation
Team
Encouraged
by Ray Zook, the Officers and Directors established a
Conservation Team. The purposes are:
• To keep abreast of significant activities
related to conservation in areas of interest to the club.
• To make appropriate and timely reports to the
club pertaining to these activities and make recommendations or proposals for
actions to be taken by the club.
• To write grant applications to the Southern
Council.
There
will be four members covering the following areas:
General – Nationwide:
Missouri:
Arkansas: John
Bell
Metro Kansas City:
Assistant
Newsletter Editor
Tom
James needs help with the Newsletter. Would someone like to be a Reporting
Assistant? Contact Tom. Also, any member who would like to submit articles (200
words or less preferred) and photos that would be of interest to our members is
requested to do so.
HOAFF Apparel now available
Now you can get a T-shirt or a fishing hat with the
new Heart of America Fly Fishers Logo. Hats $15, T-shirts $12
Notes on AK Best Spring Seminar
March 11, 2006
by Mark Borserine
I
had the wonderful opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with AK Best at
dinner the night of the Seminar and he gave me a couple of tips that I wanted
to pass on to all of you.
I
asked what could the tyer do who wanted to tie his
quill-bodied dry flies but didn’t tie in enough quantity to justify the process
of stripping by ‘burning’ and dyeing quills. AK said to strip the quills by
hand and simply color them with permanent markers, like “Sharpies”. The quills
can still be soaked prior to tying without the colors running and fished successfully.
AK said this is the way he did it when he first started tying his “signature”
quill-bodied flies. He went to “burning” the quills instead of stripping by
hand and dyeing when he needed much larger quantities.
Also,
AK said that he uses Kreinik silk dubbing for his dry
flies smaller than 18. Some fly shops carry this and some don’t. If you’re
having trouble getting it, call me; I can get it for you through my wife’s
Needle Work shop since she is a Kreinik dealer.
AK
was very generous in letting Ron Renoe (and we are
very grateful to Ron for doing so) videotape his presentation. Ron will be
putting this on DVD and it will be available through the club library. I would
encourage you to especially watch AK tie his flies; his economy of motion is simply
astounding! Ron taped it in close-up and
it struck me that there is not a motion wasted – no unnecessary wraps or hand
motions.
AK
donated three of the flies he tied to the club for auction. I have the flies in
my safekeeping until our auction, so I’ve had the pleasure of being able to
look at them “up-close” and “leisurely” and they are simply exquisite! There is not a fiber out of place, not a
piece of material more or less than necessary!
In otherwords, they reflect his discipline and
economy in tying. I think AK would be flattered to have me say they are entirely
“sufficient”!
Dumpster Lifecycle
By Bill Brant
Most
people in the club understand the life cycle of a mayfly. It’s born in a
stream and spends the first part of its life in the water as a nymph. At
the appropriate time the mayfly leaves the water in the form of a winged insect
that can fly through the air. It mates, and then the eggs are dropped
back into the water to repeat the cycle.
Once
in a while other things, such as a dumpster, can also go through a lifecycle
that involves dry land and a stream. Prior to June 2005 a dumpster sat on
dry ground, somewhere in the floodplain of the upper Blue River. Maybe
the dumpster was located in Kansas City; however, it was probably located in
southern Johnson County. On June 3rd and 4th, 2005 there was a massive 5” of
rain that caused the Blue River to swell up and flow up out of its banks.
Sheets of water flowed across the floodplain, and presumably floated the
dumpster. It end up that a dumpster is seaworthy if the drain plug is
blocked.
On
June 4th,
2005 the water surface reached the level of the steel superstructure of the Red
Bridge, located on the appropriately named Red Bridge Road. The first time
I got to see the dumpster, it was floating in the water, pounding into the
upstream side of the Red Bridge. I pushed it down and sank it. It
disappeared in the torrent of water, and then presumably bounced along the
bottom of the stream, moving downstream with the current.
In
September 2005, I found it ½ mile downstream from the Red Bridge. It was
sitting upright in the middle of a 3 foot deep pool.
In
March 2006, it was gone. I found it 100 yards further downstream, resting on
the upstream side of a gravel bar. High water after a rain must have
floated it off of the streambed and moved it downstream until it landed in
shallower water.
April
1st, it was time to return the dumpster
back to its native habitat, dry land. This was the day for the 1000+
person Blue River Rescue sponsored by the Friends of Lakeside Nature Center.
We
baled water out of the dumpster and floated it downstream to an accessible
location. We used a bobcat and a chain to hoist the dumpster out of the
river and up on the bank. We dragged it through a meadow and placed next
to the parking lot at the baseball fields south of I-435.
Later
that day it saw its first piece of trash. Someone threw an empty beer
bottle in the dumpster.
A
few days later, the dumpster’s original owner came and retrieved their
property. The dumpster has now completed its lifecycle and is again
sitting on dry land, available for depositing trash.
One
good sign: We found lots of mayflies when we first started moving the
dumpster in the river. They were March Browns, size 12, that hatch in
mid-April in the Blue River.
Those
who participated in this event: Bill Brant (HOAFF), and Jim Hightower and Dave
Goodwin (Friends of Lakeside Nature Center).
Clear View of the Blue River
A
few hundred yards downstream of the dumpster, club members cleared honeysuckle
along the east bank of the Blue River. Honeysuckle is the invasive shrub
that is displacing native plants throughout the metropolitan area. By
opening up this stretch of land, we returned visibility of the Blue River to
those who travel along the Blue River Parkway.
One
of the reasons for picking this particular project is that reconnects people to
a natural stream. Hopefully this benefits all streams, and the fish that we
pursue with flyrods. Although few of us fish in
the Blue River, the people who drive along the Blue River could end up being
either allies or adversaries when we think about fisheries conservation. I
would rather build allies.
Special
thanks go out to Hod McIntosh, Dan Dieter, Fred
Clark, and Tom James for participating in this activity. Fred noted that
this was really hard, physical work. In spite of that, he
persevered.
Quite
a few people signed-up, but were unable to attend. We would like you back
next year, would a reminder phone call help?
Thanks
also go out to KCWildlands (www.kcwildlands.org).
They provided tools and herbicide for our use.
Cabela’s offers 5% Discount
Cabela’s will give a 5% Discount to all HOAFF members on 3000-series
SKU-numbered items: Fly Fishing items if you will send them your e-mail. Log
onto yahoo.com, click on groups, search for the group “cabela”,
go through the registration process and you will receive special e-mails about
discounts from Cabela’s Fly Shop in Kansas City.
When
you present your HOAFF membership card at the register, you’ll receive a 5% discount on 3000-series SKU numbers.
Participation is purely voluntary.
Upcoming Events & Programs
April 17, 2006 Eric Pietz
- Fly Fishing Utah and Colorado
April 22, 2006 White River Outing
May 6, 2006 Fly Tying 101 - Red Bridge Library - 2pm
June 17, 2006 One Fly Outing
June 19, 2006 Norm Crisp - Fly Fishing Strategies
Visit
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The
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Ray & Jonell Fincke
(913)
642-5554
3731
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Independence,
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816-373-2283
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Designs
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578-4615
Pomeroy
Auction
James “J.P.” Rozine
Auctioneer
Kansas City, Kansas
(913) 334-2153
Lilleys' Landing
1-800-LILLEYS
367
River Lane
Branson,
MO 65616
Wilkinson
Outdoor Adventures
Clint
Wilkinson
272
Wild Cat Shoals Road
Gassville, AR 72635
870-404-2942
Saltery Lake Lodge
1516
Larch Street
Kodiak,
AK 99615
1-800-770-5037
Fax
(907) 486-3188
Fishing
River Custom Rods
Bill
Kreitz
13715
Nation Rd.
Kearney,
MO 64060
E-mail:
b.kreitz@att.net
816-628-5071
Cell:
816-392-6720
River
Run Outfitters
2626 Hwy
165
Branson,
MO 65616
417-332-0460
877-699-3474
(toll free)
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2456 State Highway 165
Branson, MO 65616
1-800-334-3104
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Service
Camping
417-778-6497
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Bow
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Crownsnest River
Southern
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Walk
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Mountain River Fly Shop
1177 West Main
Cotter, AR 72626
870-435-6166
Gartside’s Secret Stuff
www.jackgartside.com/tying_material.htm
Bennett
Spring State Park Concession Shop
26248 Hwy
64 A
Lebanon,
MO 65536
417-532-4307
1-800-334-6946
Gaston’s
Tackle
Bennett
Springs State Park
11798
Highway 64 - Lot 63
Lebanon,
MO 65536
417-532-9449
Sand
Springs Resort
1996 Hwy
64
Lebanon,
MO 65536
417-532-5857
417-588-3110
fax
Brass
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Hwy 62W
Gassville, AR 72635
Motel
Phone
(870)
435-2988
Restaurant
Phone
(870)
435-2288
(877)
272-7736
White
Sands Motel & Restaurant
Highway
62B - Next to Cotter's Rainbow Arch Bridge
870-435-2244
Bass Pro Shops
Chapman Creek Fly & Tackle
2701 North Marshall
Chapman, KS 76431
785-922-6630
Rim Shoals Lodge & Fly Shop
River Front Lodging
Guided FIshing Trips
Boat/Motor Rental
Full Service Fly Shop
Gary & Paula Flippin
(870) 435-6144
Anglers
and Achery Outfitters
136B Eden Way
Branson, MO 65616
(417) 335-4655
Parkview
Lodge
1-888-727-5883
5477
Hwy 165
Branson,
MO
Reading’s Fly Sho