Next Meeting November 6, 7:00 P.M. Flatland Fly Fishers 2 White River Trout President’S Moment
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November 2014 Volume 19 Issue 11 2015 Winter Program Speaker Wichita, Kansas www.flatlandflyfishers.org February 28, 2015 INSIDE THIS ISSUE White River Trout Then and Now President Message Mike George 2015 Club Elections Page 2 ___________________ Youth Fly Fishing Clinic Page 3 also got my dad back into fishing by taking him trout fishing on a three day weekend in ___________________ October 1979. This was the start of two Wooly Bugger changes in my life. First, we started a fish- Page 4 & 5 When I was 4 years old my dad took me ing tradition that lasted 25 years. We got ___________________ fishing in the oxbow lakes that were my brother involved and we did everything Club Picnic formed by the Missouri River west of we could to make that fishing trip take Page 6 Whiting, Iowa. We fished with a bamboo place. In the family it was commonly re- ___________________________ cane pole, a cork float, and a hook and with ferred to as the “Jack Daniels’s fishing Club Information worms we dug in the garden. Growing up trip.” A book could be written about the Page 7 in rural Iowa as kids we all spent a lot of trips but that is another topic. The second time fishing in the local creek for Carp and thing that took place was fly fishing. Dad Catfish and Bullheads. We graduated to and I eventually went back to the same ox- Visit our website fishing in the Missouri river for bigger bow lakes we fished years earlier. Only www. flatlandflyfishers.org/ Carp and Catfish and anything else we now I was fulfilling a dream I had as a kid, could catch. We also fished at Blue Lake, I was fishing with a fly rod to catch bass. I which was one of the oxbow lakes off of was using an old reel I purchased at an es- “One Fly” Tournament tate sale. I still have the reel but the rod did the Missouri river. It was a long bike ride not make it. The time is getting close for south of us about 15 miles. There we the New Year’s Day “One Fly” caught Bass and Northern Pike. Tournament. This started me on another aspect of fly I had a few years with very little fishing. fishing, tying my own deer hair bugs. I The December newsletter I loaded weapons on various aircraft in the eventually developed techniques for will have all the information you Air Force, went back to school and sought “spinning deer hair.” I discovered later that need. If you can’t wait for the employment as a civilian, got married and I was actually stacking hair. newsletter look on our website, started a family. All of which I am very (listed above) or ask a proud, but I did very little fishing during Hope to see you at the February winter club officer. this time. Eventually I got back to fishing program. for trout at Lake Taneycomo in Missouri. I Hope to see you there. Next Meeting November 6, 7:00 P.M. Flatland Fly Fishers 2 White River Trout President’s Moment These are trout I have caught in 2013 - 2014 on the White Fall is fi- River in AR, fishing with Ben Levin using hoppers. nally here, and Roger Gilger with it another Kansas trout season. If I’m not mistaken, November 1st should be the first trout stocking at the Slough. Hope- fully, we will have more rain before then to condition the stream. Speaking of the Slough, at our next month’s meeting on November 6, a few of our club members will be talking about fishing at the Slough. If you know anyone who is new to fly fishing or who may be interested in learning about fly fishing, this will be a great meeting to bring them along. The Slough is a great place to learn to fly fish. Also, if you’d just like to and tie flies, the classroom is always open. At next month’s meeting, we will also be holding elections for next year’s board. If you haven’t been on the board yet and you are reading this, it’s your turn. Come out and vote, and think about taking an open position. I’ve found it to be an enjoya- ble experience and I think you will too. I look forward to seeing you all at Slough Creek. Catch ya later. Sean Corns Flatland Fly Fishers Club President, 2014 2015 Club Elections The four elected positions are: Club President Club Vice President Rick Brown Club Secretary Dan Stark Club Treasurer Bill Ethridge The appointed positions are: Conservation Neal Hall Web Master Songbin Chon Activities Sebra Cazel Programs Dave Johnson Editor Dwan Welty Steve Webb Membership Dwan Welty Marketing Member at large Ryan Allred Flatland Fly Fishers 3 Youth Fly Fishing Clinic The kids caught on quickly, and soon headed off to the pond to test their skills. Adam was already at the pond scout- ing out the area. He found that the carp were very active, and We had a good day at the Youth Clinic. It was great to see tied on one of his own patterns that I shall not name. You’ll fresh faces get a taste of fly fishing. I think at least one of our have to ask him for the pattern---take my word for it, the fly attendants is hooked. We started out tying a simple fly pattern. was killer. Two of the participants, Brett and Sarah, quickly Adam made good at the vice, and volunteers assisted the par- hooked into a couple of carp. As it died down, Adam suggest- ticipants with their flies. ed that we fish another area, and return later. All of the sud- den, another group with the Nature Center came out to the area we were fishing. The group that came down had bags of fish pellets, and began feeding the carp, sending the fish into a frenzy. So, we decided to stay and we hooked up a few more times. We may have crossed the line here, but it was enjoya- ble, and the kids had a great time. We finished the day with a few pizza pies. Thanks Jerry! Thanks to the volunteers and the participants! Then, the volunteers and participants headed outside where Rick demonstrated proper casting techniques. His patient and tender instruction was well received. Rick, thanks for coming out and volunteering on your birthday. Flatland Fly Fishers 4 The Woolly Bugger Rick Brown EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW OR NOT KNOW ABOUT THE WOOLLY BUGGER John Gierach discussed the Woolly Bugger first in his chap- ter on streamers in his book “The Good Flies”. In the book Let us go back in time to when I first started tying flies. I “The Professionals’ Favorite Flies” Bill Hunter said, “The had no idea of what I was doing back then and some would say Woolly Bugger is so effective, it should be banned from some that I still don’t know what I am doing when it comes to tying watersheds. I suspect its effectiveness is due to its resemblance flies. At a club meeting a number of years ago, we had a tying to so many edible creatures in the water—nymphs, leeches, night. I was just sitting there with a vice, tools and some mate- salamanders, or even small sculpins. Its tail undulating behind rials with no plan or idea of what I was going to tie. One of the a fiber, bubble-filled body is just too much for most fish to members sitting next to me asked what I was going to tie that resist. It just looks like a meal!” In other articles the Woolly night and I said I don’t know anything about tying a fly, so he Bugger was said to imitate baitfish, drowning terrestrial in- said let’s tie a Woolly Bugger. The fact that I did not know sects, clamworms, crayfish, shrimp and crabs. In my world the what I was doing and that the guy teaching me how to tie my Woolly Bugger imitates a Woolly Bugger; the fish think it is first Woolly Bugger had a number of beers before the meeting an evasive species and are trying to kill it to get it out of there we somehow got the job done. My first Woolly Bugger was watershed. something to see, never in the history of fly tying had a Bugger been tied in the manner that that one was tied. I wish I still had Al Rockwood, the Michigan steelhead guru and steelhead that Bugger, as it has been in a tree for some time now. And to fly tier, says, “In my opinion, the Woolly Bugger is the most make things even sadder I don’t remember which tree or on effective wet fly for trout in Michigan. It works for steelhead what river I lost it. But that is when my love affair started with and salmon in bigger sizes. I have found it deadly for brookies the Woolly Bugger. I had my first ten fish day on Slough in Labrador, steelhead in Michigan, and browns in New Zea- Creek with an olive Woolly Bugger as well as my first twenty land. Dead-drifted or stripped, down deep or on the surface, and fifty fish days. I fished Woolly Buggers for about five the Woolly Bugger is a sure attractor pattern”. years before I found out that Buggers come in other colors be- sides olive.