President's Message
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August 2021 Headwaters NEWSLETTER OF THE STANISLAUS FLY FISHERS President’s Message Hey, how about this lovely Valley summer weather? It’s looking like 105 today. It’s only 10:00 a.m. as I write this, and I think I’m inside for the day already. While this isn’t unusual weather for this time of year, it does pose questions about Dishing when it follows the extremely dry winter we had. A CHARTER With early season low water many of our streams that we would CLUB OF FLY normally Dish at this time of year are warming sooner than normal. If you are FISHERS on water warmer than 65 degrees, please call it a day and give the Dish a INTERNATIONAL break. Carry a thermometer and keep an eye on water temps. Fortunately we have tail water streams that Dlow cool throughput the day that are the best MEMBER OF THE bet for ishing and being responsible anglers. NORTHERN Also, while concern for the well-being of our quarry is important, CALIFORNIA don’t forget to take care of yourselves if you’re going to ish through the day COUNCIL OF FLY this summer. Wear a broad brim hat, apply sunscreen liberally, maybe use a FISHERS sun gaiter, wear long sleeve shirts and enjoy being able to leave the waders INTERNATIONAL home and wet wading. I have mentioned previously that due to the virus we have had difDiculty with meeting attendance. While fully understandable it still makes it Live Meeting tough to plan meetings. Therefore, we are going to quarterly meetings until membership and folks interested in checking out the club feel better about in- No LIVE Meetings person gatherings. With that said our next general meeting will be held on until September. September 14th at the Scout Hut in Riverbank. During this meeting bring your vice and necessary materials to do a little tying. Hopefully, our award winning tyer Bud Hientz will be there to demonstrate techniques and help you with tips and tricks to improve your tying skills. We plan to have something for a light dinner. We are still selling chances to win the two rod and reel combos that were donated to us. Dinner and a drink will be $7.00 and drawing chances will be $5.00 per chance. Stay tuned and we will provide meeting updates in next month’s newsletter. That’s all I know. Plan to attend the meeting, stay heat safe, and go Dishing. Tight Lines, JIm - 1 - Club News Stanislaus No August General Meeting Fly Fishers As announced in the last newsletter, there will be no Membership general meeting in August since we are moving to quarterly Information general meetings until such time as attendance justiDies paying for a meeting space and/or speakers. The next general meeting Membership dues are $40 per will be Tuesday, September 14th. year for members. Crowley Lake Fishing Report Members must also join Fly by Jim Bowen Fishers International. Dues for the IFF vary, but do not Vivian and I Dished Crowley Lake on July 17th. We booked Crowley exceed $35 for a single, one- guide Ernie Gulley after hearing his Zoom presentation hosted by our year membership. friends at the Delta Fly Fishers. We booked a room at the Best Western in Bishop that put us about a 40 minutes from the lake. We heard that due to the reservation system in effect at Yosemite it was taking two hours, if not longer, to get through the entrance to the park as Hwy 120 would be our iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii most direct route to Bishop. With that news we elected to take Sonora iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Pass over to Hwy 395. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii That route had very light trafDic and of course phenomenal scenery. We enjoyed a leisurely, scenic ride down to Mammoth Lakes and decided to stop there for a little snack and a break from the Jeep. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and enjoying a beer and a little snack. I do not have the name of the establishment we stopped at but it was across the We’re on the Web! way from the Motel 6. We left Mammoth and headed to Bishop only to Dind very different iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii weather. It was 102 when we hit town. Ugh! We had planned on visiting a iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii couple of antique shops and maybe doing some evening light iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii photography but elected to have dinner and hide out in the air iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii conditioning. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii The next morning we were up early in order to meet Ernie at the Lake at 6:30am. Ernie has a beautiful 22 foot Diberglass blue water boat with a 200 hp Honda outboard that is kept in immaculate condition. After introductions and guide paperwork we headed out onto the lake. Ernie’s Dishing equipment is also quality and exceptionally maintained. He is using an interesting deep system to Dish. We were indicator Dishing at about 32 feet deep. Come to the September meeting and I’ll detail that technique if you’re interested. We Dished hard from 6:30 to 11:30 for a half day outing. At about 11:30 the wind went from a pleasant zephyr to hurricane force in about two minutes it seemed. It was a mass exodus for the marina and within minutes the lake was empty of boats. (Continued on next page) - 2 - Stanislaus Fly Fishers Club News (cont.) 2021 Board of Directors Crowley Lake Report … President – Jim Bowen Well, hopefully I’ve kept you wondering about the catching Vice-President – Gus Link or you’ve igured out since there are no hero pics that the catching Treasurer/Membership – wasn’t great. We each caught a couple of Sacramento Perch and Dennis Stambaugh Vivian had a real good ish on for awhile, but didn’t close the deal. Secretary/Webmaster – That was disappointing, but no one else out there was catching, Michael Hewitt and Ernie worked his tail off trying to get us into ish. You never Outings – Bob Bullock know about ishing. That’s why we keep doing it. On a different day it could be outrageous! RafDles – Jim Goodwin There are really big ish in Crowley Lake, and it’s a great At-Large – Bud Heintz place to work on your indicator game. I know I’ll go back. Next At-Large – Jeff Bakker time I’ll rent a boat rather than hire a guide, though I highly At-Large - Pat Roe recommend Ernie. He’s a great teacher, and you’ll be way ahead of the curve after a day Dishing with him. He not only guides from his In-person board meetings are boat, but will guide loat tube ishing and also does lakeside and currently suspended until Covid Dloat tube how-to classes. Finally he’s just a good guy to spend protocols have determined it is safe time in a boat with. to resume them. If you want to know more about Dishing Crowley, come to the next meeting and I’ll Dill you in on not only the Dishing but local area as well. The Fly Box “BWO So/ Hackle” by Bud Heintz A couple of months ago Bud shared his pattern for a no-hackle BWO. This is his soft hackle version of a BWO. Soft hackles are simple to Dish. The whole idea is to cast your line downstream to the side and let the Dlies swing across the stream and down. Letting your line swing across the stream allows you to cover more water. As your Dlies swing across the currents, you follow the line with your rod until your line completes its swing. That’s it! They can also be dead drifted as well. Material List: • Hook: Diiachi 1580, 1260, 1270 or Equal. Size 16 thru 20 • Thread: Uni thread, Color: Olive Dun, 8/0 • Bead: Brass or Tungsten, Color: Black per hook size. (bright or dull) • Tail: Wood duck Dlank feather Dibers or died wood duck Dibers - 6 or more • Abdominal: Uni-olive dun thread with Dine gold wire rib • Hackle: 1- Grizzly hen hackle Here’s Trident Fly Fishing’s version video. - 3 - Upcoming Outings and Events Lake Crowley Outing – July, 2021: Details TBA Little Truckee Outing – October, 2021: Details TBA Salmon Festival – November 13, 2021, Knight’s Ferry (unconfirmed) International Sportsmen’s Expo – January 20-23, 2022, Sacramento Fly Fishing Show – February 25-27, 2022, Pleasanton Membership Information Membership Dues ($40) for 2021 are due now due and payable. For your convenience, we can now accept a credit card for your dues for an additional fee of $1.00 to cover the cost of the transaction. All SFF memberships are “Family Membership” status; spouses, signiDicant others, and/or children must also be FFI members to be ofDicial SFF members. FFI General Memberships include you, your spouse or co-habitating partner, and children under 18. Reminder: Club dues DO NOT include FFI dues. FFI dues are paid directly to the FFI and must be maintained regularly since the SFF is an FFI Charter Club. If you are not an FFI Life Member, or do not pay for three years at a time, you must renew your membership yearly! Remember to list the Stanislaus Fly Fishers as your Af>iliated Club. This is important due to our Charter Club status. The online application for FFI membership is linked below. FFI Membership Application Comics ALMOST MAKES YOU RECONSIDER THE OLD ADAGE “EVEN A BAD DAY OF FISHING BEATS A GOOD DAY AT WORK.” - 4 - Conservation Notes Extreme heat could kill nearly all young salmon in the Sacramento River, officials say cnn.com - Alexandra Meeks - July 14, 2021 California ofDicials are warning nearly all juvenile chinook salmon in the Sacramento River could die due to abnormally hot underwater conditions as heat waves continue to bake the West.