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 ishing 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 ish 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 ish a INTERNATIONAL break. Carry a thermometer and keep an eye on water temps. Fortunately we have tail water streams that low 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 dificulty 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 ishing.

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 justiies 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 ished 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 trafic 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 ind 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 iberglass 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 ishing equipment is also quality and exceptionally maintained. He is using an interesting deep system to ish. We were indicator ishing at about 32 feet deep. Come to the September meeting and I’ll detail that technique if you’re interested. We ished 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! Rafles – 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 ishing 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 loat 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 ishing Crowley, come to the next meeting and I’ll ill you in on not only the ishing 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 ish. The whole idea is to cast your line downstream to the side and let the lies swing across the stream and down. Letting your line swing across the stream allows you to cover more water. As your lies 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 lank feather ibers or died wood duck ibers - 6 or more • Abdominal: Uni-olive dun thread with ine 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, signiicant others, and/or children must also be FFI members to be oficial 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 Afiliated 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 oficials 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. There could be a "near-complete loss" of the young endangered species of salmon because temperatures above 100 degrees for extended periods of time are overheating the river, making it uninhabitable for the ish to grow beyond their egg stage, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) conirmed to CNN on Tuesday. "This persistent heat dome over the West Coast will likely result in earlier loss of ability to provide cool water and subsequently, it is possible that all in-river juveniles will not survive this season," CDFW said in a statement. California, among other Western states including Oregon and Washington, has been experiencing extremely high temperatures in recent weeks. But drought conditions in the Golden State are especially taxing, with much of the state under severe or exceptional drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. The drought is so bad in some parts of that state that a family's well in Clovis in Fresno County ran dry, leaving them without water, CNN reported. Meanwhile, as temperatures near and surpass triple digits, many reservoirs in California's Central Valley have diverted more water to cities and farmers during the drought, making rivers shallower and too hot for the ish to develop from eggs, a process which can take at least 60 days to complete. According to CDFW oficials, water is more insulated when it is deep. However, since more water is heating up and evaporating, the salmon are losing their insulation blanket, which normally makes it colder at the bottom of the river. The eggs will die when the water temperature rises above 56 degrees, oficials said, warning only a few thousand of winter-run Chinook are left. "It's an extreme set of cascading climate events pushing us into this crisis situation," said CDFW spokesman Jordan Traverso.

Efforts to save salmon are pricy To combat the poor river conditions in the Central Valley, some ish preservation organizations have tried to save the salmon population by launching large scale trucking operations to transport millions of salmon to the San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay and other ish farms where they are more likely to survive, Traverso said.

- 5 - The CDFW announced Tuesday that it had successfully relocated 1.1 million juvenile salmon from the Klamath River in northern California, where conditions are similarly extreme. While relocating salmon is an option, there are better alternatives than the high- priced trucking process, a spokesperson for the Golden State Salmon Association said. John McManus, president of the association, said dam operators could hold on to more water to keep the ish alive, but that would require contracts to be modiied between the operators and their federal and state partners who supply water to cities and farmers. A warmer California recently prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to call on voluntarily reductions of water use by 15% to protect reserves and to help maintain critical lows for ish and other wildlife. "We could lose salmon here in California if we continue with business as usual and the climate continues to warm," McManus said. "There's a very real possibility we could lose salmon forever here."

Jon Passantino and Aya Elamroussi contributed to this report. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/14/weather/extreme-heat-salmon-sacramento- river/index.html

CDFW Successfully Relocates 1.1 Million Hatchery Salmon Until Klamath River Drought Conditions Improve wildlife.ca.gov / July 13, 2021

Due to drought and poor water conditions in the Klamath River, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) successfully relocated 1.1 million juvenile, fall- run Chinook salmon from its Iron Gate Fish Hatchery in Siskiyou County. The ish were trucked to a nearby satellite facility and to the Trinity River Hatchery 122 miles away where the ish will remain until conditions in the Klamath River improve. More …

- 6 - Tips and Tricks

With nobody local jumping in with a new tip/trick, here’s a quick video thanks to the folks from Midcurrent sharing it in a recent email. Tactical Fly Fisher produced this quick tutorial on tying a dropper tag knot, basically a double or triple surgeon’s knot. View the video at the link. https://youtu.be/bPsVZ7YK4-w

More Club News - Raffle

9ft 9wt Powell Tiburon II/Tioga Teton 9ft 3wt Powell LGA/Tioga Trinity Current rafle is two E.C. Powell rods w/Teton reels donated by Philip Hawkins, the Atwater school teacher whose students were doing a salmon release February of 2020 and our club members provided casting and ly tying instruction. The irst is a Powell Tiburon 9ft 9wt with a Teton Tioga reel. The second is a Powell LGA 9ft 3wt with a Teton Trinity reel. Both include custom-sewn rod sacks and reel pouches from Gus Link. We are selling playing cards, one deck for each rod combo, for $5.00 each. The rafle drawing will be held when either the decks have sold out or at our December 2021 meeting, whichever comes irst. Proceeds will be used to help fund speakers for our general meetings. Thank you, Philip, for your donation to our club.

- 7 - NCCFFI President’s Report by Mark Rockwell, August 2021

We Need to Protect our Fish During this Hot & Dry Summer

The Heat Is On Mother nature is serving up a blow this summer? 2021 is way hotter than average across much of the United States. What does that mean for trout? What does that mean for those of us that ly ish for trout? These questions have been on the minds of many of us this past month as temperatures soared here in California and across the west.

HOW HOT IS TOO HOT FOR TROUT? In the heat of summer, water temperatures increase, which can be troublesome and often fatal for trout, especially during extended periods. If water temps get above 68 degrees Fahrenheit, ish begin to struggle to breathe, get stressed and need a little extra TLC from us. How hot is too hot for trout? Here are a few tips courtesy of Trout Unlimited based on water temperature: Below 65 °F – Fish are happy, healthy, hungry, and ready for a ight. 65 - 68 °F - Trout are starting to slow down and are feeling the heat. Rope up with heavy tippet and land ish quickly. Skip the picture and give them plenty of time to revive before release. Over 68 °F – Heads up: Too hot for trout. Trout are feeling stressed and need a break! Mortality rates increase even with proper handling.

- 8 - PACK A THERMOMETER How do you tell if the water is too warm and causing the ish stress? Pack a ishing thermometer with you and when you get to the stream check the water temperature. If the water is too hot (out of the trout comfort zone), have a beer, take a nap, read a book, chase warm water species, ish a spring creek or a tailwater, or head for the high country and try again when the water temperatures drop. In other words, give the trout a break. We all have a responsibility to protect the trout we love.

My Personal Actions for Trout This Summer

• I will always carry a thermometer and check water temperature every hour. If water temperature goes above 65 degrees I will stop ishing. • I will consider not ishing cold water ish if air temps go above 95 degrees and water temps are not below 65. • I will consider ishing only early morning & late evening. Measure water temperature before starting, hourly thereafter, and I will stop if temps go above 65. • Every day will be different. Some days just will not be trout days. • I will consider only ishing warm water ish if the heat prevails, and I will do so into the Fall and until water temps are below 65 throughout the day.

The point here is to protect our cold water ish so they will be with us in the winter and next year. As some of you already know, Oregon has issued a set of regulatory changes to protect its isheries (see emergency regulations for angling zones: https:// myodfw.com/recreation-report/ishing-report/). We’ve not yet heard anything from CDFW, but I do expect it. Let’s band together and do our part to care for and protect our isheries in this, our most severe summer in years, if not ever. I salute all of you who join me in this effort. We’re in this together - we and our ish.

- 9 - Conservation: Part Two

WATER STORAGE: 2021-07-30

Infl Capaci Elevati Stora % of % of Outflo Storage- Reservoir Sta Storage Average ow ty on ge Capacit Averag w Year Ago Name ID Change Storage (CFS (AF) (FT) (AF) y e (CFS) This Date )

TRINITY RIVER

TRINITY LAKE CLE 2,447,650 2,256.68 1,013,918 -5,396 41 1,962,349 52 2,684 78 1,639,151

WHISKEYTOWN WHI 241,100 1,208.90 237,577 349 99 237,719 100 2,091 2,294 238,087

LEWISTON LEW 14,660 1,900.51 13,550 117 92 13,858 98 2,790 2,858 14,322

RUSSIAN RIVER SONOMA(WARM WRS 381,000 393.70 122,900 -232 32 214,507 57 100 -4 196,981 SPRINGS) MENDOCINO COY 122,400 706.87 25,483 -190 21 68,947 37 106 21 54,577 (COYOTE)

SACRAMENTO RIVER

SHASTA SHA 4,552,000 923.17 1,468,616 -9,383 32 3,260,911 45 6,695 2,149 2,702,549

KESWICK KES 23,772 586.03 23,154 214 97 22,345 104 9,056 9,172 22,094

FEATHER RIVER

OROVILLE ORO 3,537,577 648.37 902,040 -3,588 25 2,598,978 35 4,708 2,997 1,891,331

ANTELOPE ANT 22,566 4,992.84 14,957 -23 66 19,957 75 ------19,758

FRENCHMAN FRD 55,477 5,568.57 29,815 -64 54 36,953 81 ------40,631

LAKE DAVIS DAV 83,000 5,763.61 45,238 0 55 63,419 71 ------58,936

YUBA RIVER

BULLARDS BAR BUL 966,000 1,827.51 468,663 -2,376 49 755,433 62 1,263 6 768,934

ENGLEBRIGHT ENG 70,000 525.87 69,046 876 99 66,395 104 ------66,720

AMERICAN RIVER

FOLSOM FOL 977,000 376.75 244,613 -937 25 698,288 35 1,541 1,075 560,261

UNION VALLEY UNV 266,369 4,816.96 140,504 -1,236 53 216,343 65 ------235,788

LOON LAKE LON 69,306 6,400.90 57,103 -77 82 60,115 95 ------57,371

ICE HOUSE ICH 43,496 5,427.97 29,872 -56 69 38,780 77 --- 1 28,447

NIMBUS NAT 9,000 124.07 8,296 509 92 8,349 99 1,048 1,306 8,111

CACHE CREEK

INDIAN VALLEY INV 300,000 1,361.84 19,633 --- 7 159,848 12 10 -4 119,050

- 10 - PUTAH CREEK

BERRYESSA BER 1,602,000 406.95 981,625 -1,866 61 ------1,270,961

STONY CREEK

BLACK BUTTE BLB 143,700 439.39 30,599 0 21 68,551 45 3 20 53,562

CALAVERAS RIVER

NEW HOGAN NHG 317,000 650.63 111,791 -356 35 149,212 75 188 37 164,219

MOKELUMNE RIVER

CAMANCHE CMN 417,120 197.20 179,390 --- 43 289,995 62 245 183 275,450

PARDEE PAR 203,795 ------189,955 ------202,063

STANISLAUS RIVER

DONNELL'S DON 64,320 --- 54,754 -282 85 53,712 102 227 --- 62,129

BEARDSLEY BRD 97,800 --- 53,448 63 55 82,859 65 205 --- 70,678

TULLOCH TUL 67,000 508.84 65,523 665 98 65,190 101 3,084 3,431 65,560

NEW MELONES NML 2,400,000 948.74 1,046,166 -6,094 44 1,471,235 71 3,465 463 1,643,098

TUOLUMNE RIVER

DON PEDRO DNP 2,030,000 747.57 1,157,952 -2,289 57 1,552,311 75 2,545 409 1,568,778

HETCH HETCHY HTH 360,000 --- 294,048 --- 82 324,352 91 425 --- 335,434

CHERRY VALLEY CHV 273,500 --- 223,886 -835 82 192,863 116 357 --- 252,637

MERCED RIVER MC CLURE EXC 1,024,600 720.54 319,392 -1,481 31 633,854 50 1,262 52 585,260 (EXCHEQUER)

CHOWCHILLA RIVER EASTMAN BUC 150,000 465.41 9,867 --- 7 67,930 15 0 0 36,282 (BUCHANAN)

FRESNO RIVER

HENSLEY (HIDDEN) HID 90,000 455.10 7,253 --- 8 34,356 21 3 5 16,565

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER MILLERTON MIL 520,500 503.27 225,391 484 43 333,090 68 822 1,114 269,879 (FRIANT)

LOS BANOS LBS 34,600 --- 18,287 --- 53 19,376 94 ------

SAN LUIS CREEK

SAN LUIS SNL 2,041,000 388.08 431,375 -6,906 21 1,015,475 42 ------973,162

KINGS RIVER

PINE FLAT PNF 1,000,000 766.50 217,953 --- 22 520,719 42 1,379 336 357,126

KAWEAH RIVER KAWEAH TRM 185,600 615.85 31,806 --- 17 54,953 58 145 67 23,953 (TERMINUS)

- 11 - TULE RIVER

SUCCESS SCC 82,300 ------35,213 --- 65 --- 22,378

KERN RIVER

ISABELLA ISB 568,000 2,535.70 61,122 --- 11 276,522 22 291 135 143,893

TRUCKEE RIVER

STAMPEDE STP 226,500 5,895.49 85,804 -97 38 145,214 59 45 -2 133,695

INDEPENDENCE INP 17,295 6,943.80 13,741 -7 79 16,664 82 ------13,429 LAKE

DONNER LAKE DNN 9,700 5,934.05 8,028 -16 83 8,834 91 ------8,561

SANTA YNEZ RIVER

CACHUMA LAKE CCH 193,305 718.25 105,139 -142 54 161,365 65 55 -6 148,185

SOUTH COAST

PYRAMID PYM 180,000 2,572.34 162,697 -63 90 160,034 102 ------165,892

CASTAIC CAS 325,000 1,406.79 130,108 -976 40 274,962 47 ------302,400

LAKE PERRIS PRR 131,452 1,582.26 113,946 -110 87 103,348 110 ------124,078

AF - Acre Feet CFS - Cubic Feet per Second https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES

Entomology 101 - Chironomids (Midges) A stillwater ly ishing legend, Brian Chan probably knows more about ly ishing lakes than anyone in North America. Brian spent 35 years as a provincial isheries biologist and has an intimate knowledge of most of the trophy stillwaters in BC’s Interior. In some isheries, chironomids make up the majority of a trout's diet, making them some of the most important insects in the ecosystem. This is a chapter from an upcoming Masterclass with renowned biologist and anger Brian Chan. https://youtu.be/qJyQ-RPM1OI

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