Across
the Stream – February 2007
A
Publication of Heart of America Fly Fishers
HOAFF February Meeting
Monday, February 19, 2007 - 7pm
Fly Tying Social Night
Bring
your fly tying gear and learn some new patterns
President's Message
by Mark Borserine
t’s that time of the year to renew your membership in the HOAFF. While our
meetings are open to anyone, it’s the membership dollars that allow us to
continue to offer great programs and outings to make this wonderful sport of
fly fishing more enjoyable.
I am
always proud that out of all the clubs in the Southern Council it seems that we
consistently turn out a higher percentage of our members than our peers. There
are clubs much larger than the HOAFF in membership, but we still lead in
percentages. This is witness to the quality of what we offer. Please renew your
membership so that we can continue to offer this quality. There is an old
saying in business: “No Profit, No Mission!” While the HOAFF is a
not-for-profit, the same saying can be applied in this way: “No Funding, No
Mission!”
As
you renew your HOAFF membership, also
renew your FFF Membership for the very same reasons expanded to a National
Scale. If you are not an FFF Member, please consider becoming one. The FFF provides
the same quality at the National Level that the HOAFF provides to its local
membership. “No Funding, No Mission!” applies to the FFF as well. If you care
about the excellence and furtherance of our sport, you will enroll as a member
of the FFF as well. At HOAFF we can provide you with the forms or you can
enroll via the FFF website:
www.fedflyfishers.org.
Your
membership in both organizations will assure that you get the best possible
information. Since there is a cost to newsletters and magazines, only paid
members get information from the respective organizations; information that is
vital to your enjoyment of this great sport!
Special Membership Meeting in March
by Bill Brant
A
special meeting of voting members will be held at the club meeting March 19th. The purpose of the meeting will be
to vote on club directors and to conduct any other club business that is of
interest to the members.
The
organization of the club is governed by bylaws that were adopted in 2005, and
then amended at later dates. The bylaws define the rights and
responsibilities of those involved in the club. Following are some of the
highlights:
• Members of the club have the right to elect
Directors and also have the right to remove Directors.
• The Directors elect the Club Officers and
watch over the affairs of the club.
• The Officers run the day-to-day affairs of
the club, the Officers include the positions you would recognize, such as the
President, the Treasurer, and the numerous chairs.
Current
Directors are John Bell, Tom James, and Bill Brant. David Andrews and Hod McIntosh recently retired from being Directors after
several years of much appreciated service. The slate of new Directors
includes Jim Jorgensen and Cliff Cain. Jim and Cliff were selected due to
their contributions to the club over many years along with a respect for their
judgment. Nominations from the floor for Directors will also be accepted.
Once
the new Directors are elected, they plan to vote to elect this year’s
officers. The proposed slate of officers is listed at the end of this
article.
When
you look over the list of Officers, you will notice 4 new names this year:
Travis Knight, Ron Carruthers, Darrin Watson, and
Kevin Carril. Be sure and thank them at the
next meeting for helping out. You will also notice that there are a few
empty positions. If you are interested, we would be glad to have your
help.
If
you want to provide any input on the running of the club, feel free to contact
any of the Directors before the March meeting or attend the March meeting and
speak your mind.
Slate of Officers, 2007
President Mark Borserine
Vice-President
Past President David Andrews
Secretary Jim Jorgensen
Treasurer Paul Bennetts
Newsletter Tom James
Newsletter Assistant
Programs John Bell
Cliff
Cain
Education/Recognition Bill Lindley
Norm
Crisp
Outings Ron Carruthers
Darrin
Watson
Membership Travis Knight
Frederick
Clark
Conservation Chair Kevin Carril
Conservation, Missouri
Conservation,
Arkansas John Bell
Conservation,
Metro KC
Library Doug McDonald
Web Master Vicky Newton*
Raffle/Auction Jim Mattes
Spring Programs Dick Martin
Don
Grundy
Historian Bill Brant
Liaison SC Hod McIntosh
Supernumerary Ray Zook
2007 Officers
President
Mark Borserine
913-381-0722 majborser@aol.com
Past President
David
Andrews
816-741-8314 davidgandrews@kc.rr.com
Secretary
Jim
Jorgenson
913-469-1950 jjorgensen@ci.lenexa.ks.us
Treasurer
Paul Bennetts
913-338-3837 pbennetts1@comcast.net
Newsletter
Tom James
816-718-0393 tom@blackdogsports.com
Programs
John Bell
785-843-1782 j.bell@kcc.state.ks.us
Cliff
Cain
913-558-5069 cliffcain@hotmail.com
Education/Recognition
Bill
Lindley
913-888-3177
Norm
Crisp
913-645-1994 streamsideff@yahoo.com
Outings
Membership
Travis
Knight
816-246-4168 tdk883@yahoo.com
Frederick
Clark
913-831-0305 fclarks@planetkc.com
Conservation Team - Arkansas:
John Bell
785-843-1782 j.bell@kcc.state.ks.us
Library
Doug
McDonald
913-764-6678 mcdoug5148@sbcglobal.net
Web Master
Vicky
Newton
816-943-8306 svnewton@sbcglobal.net
Raffle/Auction
Jim
Mattes
913-268-6161 jimmattes@mattesappraisal.com
Spring Programs
Dick
Martin
816-781-9557 rlm@mllfpc.com
Don
Grundy
816-781-9019 dgrundy@sbcglobal.net
Historian
Bill
Brant
816-941-9691 billandkathy@kc.rr.com
Liaison SC
Hod McIntosh
913-722-3684 singingreels@kc.rr.com
Supernumerary
Ray Zook
816-941-2862 rzook@kc.rr.com
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
Sowbug
Roundup
by John Berry
The North
Arkansas Fly Fishers will host the tenth annual Sowbug
Roundup at the Redeemer Lutheran Church Family Life Center located at 307 W.
North Street, Mountain Home, Arkansas on March 15, 16 and 17.
This is a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The hours are 9:00AM to 4:00 PM.
The Sowbug Roundup is a celebration of fly fishing. There will
be demonstrations by over 100 expert fly tyers. There
will be several seminars presented by local professional guides.
There is
free tying and casting instruction presented by renowned instructors and there
will be drawings and auctions throughout all three days of the event. Admission
for adults is only $5.00 for all three days. Children under 16 years of age
will be admitted free when accompanied by their parents. Anyone desiring more
information can call (870) 491-5520, email at sowbug@
northarkansas flyfisher.org or go to the North
Arkansas Fly Fisher’s website, www.northarkansasflyfishers.org.
Blue River Cleanup
by Bill Brant and
Kevin Carril
Our
club’s annual Blue River clean-up will be on Saturday March 31st, at 8:00 AM
(or later if you sleep in a little).
As many
of you know our club has adopted part of the Blue River through the Missouri
Stream Team program. The Stream Team program is run by the Missouri Department
of Conservation.
The
program consists of over 3000 different volunteer groups who look after streams
and rivers across the state of Missouri. That is an amazing number of folks
interested in clean water.
If you
are interested you can get more information on the program at the Stream Team
website: mostreamteam.org
As in
years past, we will coordinate our clean-up with the Lakeside Nature Center.
Their effort is run by Gervis’s daughter, Vicki
Richmond.
Lakeside
will provide a continental breakfast and then lunch at the Nature Center in
Swope Park. We generally skip the breakfast, but many club members have
attended the lunch. It’s fun.
The
Nature Center will also provide supplies and haul away the trash we pick-up. In
addition to cleaning up the river, we will be considering cutting down shrub
honeysuckle.
Honeysuckle
is an invasive plant species imported from Asia. It is taking over many of the
natural areas in the metro area. Consider it as the plant equivalent of the
zebra mussel or consider it as the plant equivalent of the bug that causes
whirling disease in trout.
Go to www.kcwildlands.org
for more local information. We will be using loppers and saws to cut down the
honeysuckle and then use a reasonably safe herbicide to kill the remaining
honeysuckle stumps. Mark your calendars (and set your alarm clock) for this
event, March 31st.
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
The Few and The Frozen
by Mark Borserine
The
Marines have a saying “The Few and The Proud”; the HOAFF has “The Few and The
Frozen”. About a dozen brave, fearless
members of the club actually made it all the way to Sand Spring Resort for the
second attempt at a Winter Outing and Annual Banquet. Those who made it down earlier on Friday
actually had some good fishing. The
Trout were “midging” and anglers did well on
Griffith’s gnats and small midge pupa patterns.
Friday night the rain started in earnest and turned to ice; about 3:30
in the morning the power went out at Sand Spring and by about 6am not only were
the rooms getting cold, we realized we had only ‘one flush left’ since the
resort is on a well and electric pump.
At that point some very brave men began to disappear and head for home. At 8am, Nancy Hall called me and said their
restaurant was without power, so there went the Annual Banquet! She called about an hour later to say that
the Applebee’s in Lebanon had raw sewage coming up through the drains since the
storm sewers had clogged with ice.
The
only thing in the entire area of the Spring we could find with power were the
restrooms on the South Side of the stream in front of the Nature Center: they
flushed, they were warm and lighted! A
few of us decided to stay and do a little fishing and leave around noon or,
when the ice started to fall again as predicted. John Bell shot some photos of the area
accompanying this article. The ice storm
produced a strange and wildly fantastic beauty.
The stream had risen quite a bit during the deluge of the night and
fishing was only so so. Gary Bader had to duck out of the way of a
falling limb while wading. The strangely
beautiful silence was broken by the crashing of trees all around us!
Exactly
at Noon the sleet started again and the few brave men left put their ‘tails
between their legs’ and headed for home!
Thus ended the Winter Outing that never was!
Expectations
by Steve
Jenkins
The year had been a fishing “bust” for me. Early in
the season, we had too much rain. Later, it was too dry. And, a fishing guy
shouldn’t admit it, but work got in the way, too. I had one overnight to the
Ozarks early in the season. The streams were unusually low and the fishing was
mighty slow. On a family trip to Michigan, I tested the Rogue River, but it was
late in the season, however the fabled “white fly” still wasn’t hatching.
For about a dozen years, I’ve managed to hook up with
Doug, my old fishing mentor from New York, for a few days on the Frying Pan
River in Colorado. He lives now in Phoenix and manages to escape in their RV
for the summer. In late August, they are heading back home and the ‘Pan is
generally their last stop. Last year he was ill and they hurried home. But,
last year, the ‘Pan was good to me with four 20-fish days. That was enough to
salve my acute fishing fever for most of the summer. Last year wasn’t too bad.
But, this year it has been a different story. I made one trip to NY arriving in
the midst of floods, so my gear had just gone along for the ride. So, the trip
to the Frying Pan more and more became the center of my thoughts.
Other than caddis and the omnipresent midges, the
Frying Pan really has only three mayfly hatches with enough gusto to get the
fish excited. Blue winged olives (Baetis) are
frequent with major hatches in the early and late seasons, particularly on
cloudy days. Late in the season, it takes mighty small stuff to fool those very
educated fish feeding on the “grey curse.”
Beginning in July, you will begin to see Pale Morning Duns, aka “PMDs”. But, for some reason,
they don’t hatch until the afternoon!
Maybe this is to just confuse any fly fisherman that wants things
rigorous. The big fly on the ‘Pan, however, is the Western Green Drake. In late
July, August and September, it isn’t unusual to find all three of these
mayflies on the creek at the same time. And in that case, the fish can really
mess with your mind.
The Frying Pan is mostly pocket water. It is a tailwater below Ruedi Dam and the
flow is controlled. Some years in late August they release extra water to
facilitate spawning of the endangered squawfish downstream in the Colorado
River. Wading can be real tricky – even dangerous. The stream level reports
showed it unlikely there would be a big dump this year. So the conditions were
good and expectations grew.
Doug and I both like fishing pocket water like the
‘Pan. It is a strong reminder of the West Branch of the Ausable
River in NY – water he had fished since his early teens and water we together
fished regularly when we both lived in the area. But, the ‘Pan is different
because of the heavy insect life. While the Ausable
has insects, it is also loaded with minnows. But, not the ‘Pan – it is much
more an insect stream. So, the timing of the Green Drake hatch fits perfectly
with Doug’s travel plans and we try to connect in the last week of August. By
then, the drakes are on the decline, but not totally gone. The Baetis are becoming maddeningly prolific and there are
still PMDs.
Expectations were rewarded and finally the appointed
day came. Doug wasn’t expected for a couple of days, so I had some warm-up
time. I wasn’t able to get on the stream Monday afternoon until about 2 PM. By
that time, I figured the drakes would be fewer and fewer, since they start to
hatch about 11 AM and peak around 1 PM. I picked a spot a bit farther
downstream than might have been wise – in late August the drakes are
concentrated in the first few miles below the dam, as the hatch has migrated
steadily up-stream from its beginning in mid July. This spot is marked by a fast
riffle above, a swift run and tailout into a slower
pool. This spot has produced some good fish in the past, both in the run and in
the pool. I rigged for the drakes, but after about 15 minutes of casting a
local drake imitation, I saw none. Now, there were fish rising, indeed there
were many fish rising, but it was clear they weren’t taking drakes. Most of the
rising fish were in the margins of the pool area and experience told me what
they were eating – Baetis. Rerigging
for these tiny flies, I changed about 20 flies over the next hour and half and
didn’t even get a look. I tried dries, nymphs, emergers,
different shades of grey, different sizes, droppers, added lead – nothing! That is the way it is on the Frying Pan when
these maddening bugs are working. Sometimes, if you hit it right, with the
right pattern, you can really score. But, it wasn’t to be for me this time.
Finally, in desperation – it was getting close to
quitting time – I removed the gossamer tippet and loaded an Ausable
Wulff. On the third cast, bingo, a 15 ½ inch male
brown. After another strike, it got quiet. Later I landed one more brown –
about half the size of the first – and then headed home. This was definitely
not what I had hankered for months for, and not what I braved high gasoline
prices and the elevated Colorado fishing license fees for, either. Did last
year spoil me?
The next day changed all that. Often I’ve wondered
about the PMDs. On the ‘Pan, the duns sport a curious
pinkish abdomen color. Several local patterns have been produced, but none has
really worked for me.
But, this year, I started off with a nymph pattern
that produced quite nicely with the first fish a 15-inch male brown. But, soon
it just seemed like it was “drakes time.”
Off came the nymph and on went the dry drake patterns. After some years
of fishing these big flies, I’ve settled in on a Wulff
pattern coupled to a haystack pattern on the dropper. Both flies are in size 12
and the Wulff has prominent grey wings, a light
grayish olive body, mixed grizzly and medium dun hackle and ground hog body
hair for the tail. The haystack uses the same dubbed body material and western
mule deer wing and tail.
For the next three hours, this rig produced 16 brown
trout, between 10 and 16 inches. Late in the afternoon, things slowed down and
I traded the haystack for a size 12 Ausable Wulff and picked up two more nice browns.
The next day I used the big dries exclusively. It was
a strong day as I landed 25 trout, including four rainbows with the largest 17
inches that must have weighed over three pounds. Four of these came to the Ausable Wulff, again, later in
the afternoon. And, on that day, I lost four more fish that broke off and ran
away with four flies as I tried foolishly to land these with without the net.
That evening, I felt pretty smug!
Doug came in that evening and we arranged the time
and spot for the next day. Doug likes a particularly rocky stretch that has
some very interesting pockets. Earlier, I stayed out of this water – although
it is about 3/4 mile long. So I gave Doug the choice of the water. I moved
upstream and in about two hours, caught one fish. We met for lunch, as, as
expected, he had great success. I was grumpy!
In the afternoon, I replowed
the water Doug had fished earlier but managed only five more fish. I didn’t
need to be reminded and have often said, don’t follow Doug up the stream. He
caught 22. We had scheduled a nice dinner together with our wives that evening
– I didn’t say much.
The next day was to be my last and it turned out
better. I landed two rainbows over 16 inches, several browns almost as large,
and showed Doug some new water. Clearly, the drake imitations were the winners.
And the transfer of the Adirondack patterns – the Ausable
Wulff and the haystack – has been a great success.
Still, expectations alone can do you few favors – we
take our fishing days as the come.
Upcoming Events &
Programs
February 19, 2007 Members
Social Night – Fly Tying
March 19,
2007 Cliff Cain & John
Bell with Montana Guide
April16,
2007 Brent Frazee
May 21, 2007 Norm
Crisp: Traveling & Trout Fishing
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