2012 Winter Meeting & Event Schedule View from Kennedy
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STREAMSIDE Volume 18 Issue 1 Periodical Newsletter of the Dame Juliana League Winter 2012 View from Kennedy Bridge by Troy Dunn, President Featured Article: Happy New Year! some print copies available so long as it The Reach Cast By the time you re- does not stretch our resources too thin. By Mike Costello ceive this newsletter, Check out the spring line up of guest we will have man- speakers coming to DJL. It’s quite impres- If you’re new to fly fishing one aged to survive one of sive. We continue to get excellent sugges- of the challenges you will encounter is the wettest years on tions from our membership for speakers and overcoming “drag”. Drag is probably record in Pennsylva- topics. Please keep them coming! the number one nemesis to both be- nia. Although the French Creek float stocking and the ginner and expert fishermen alike. flooding rains of 2011 annual Learn to Fly Fish Course are just Water currents rarely flow at uniform may have spoiled a around the corner. As always we need vol- rates and can drag your fly and / or fishing outing or two, unteers from our membership to make these your fly line at varying speeds. If the consistent supply of cool water into our events successful. Please watch your e-mail your fly looks like it is water skiing, fisheries provided a heat-stress-free summer and check the website for updates on these then it’s dragging. Unwanted drag can for many of our fisheries, and I am hopeful activities. If you are interested in participat- occur while nymph fishing or streamer that this will be reflected by good fishing ing in either event let us know by sending fishing, but it is particularly problem- reports in 2012. an e-mail to [email protected]. atic in dry fly fishing. You want your The fall of 2011 turned out to be a Finally I would like to call your atten- fly to float naturally, as if it is not fairly quiet one for the club. You probably tion to the article on the Chester County tethered to the fly line and leader. noticed that the newsletter has gone elec- Conservation Camp. Each year DJL solicits One the most useful tactics to tronic, and has taken on a slightly new for- nominations, from membership, for the prevent drag and one of the easiest mat. We have been making print copies Lance Morien Scholarship to send a youth methods to learn is the “Reach Cast”. available for those without e-mail address- to this wonderful camp. If you have chil- Curiously, as in all things fly fishing es, and to leave at our local sponsors, but dren or know of a child who would like to we have a way of complicating things, are still debating the fiscal merits of the attend, I would encourage you to make a the Reach Cast is not really a cast at policy. If you have an opinion on this topic nomination. Tight lines… all, but rather what is called an “In the we would certainly love to hear it. For now Troy air mend” or “aerial mend”. Con- we anticipate that we will continue to make fused? (My goal here is not to write a book or put you to sleep, so I’ll keep this brief) “Mending” means reposi- 2012 Winter Meeting & Event Schedule tioning some or all of your fly line. Winter is about to unleash its wrath so why not make a plan to beat the doldrums There are two basic types of mends: of cabin fever and attend our January meeting. Craig Hull will present "Fishing “On the Water mends” and “In the Small Trout Streams from the Adirondack's to the Blue Ridge" Craig is a local Air” or Aerial Mends”. Both types of guide and fly-tier from Carlisle. He is the owner of TroutGetter Flies and mends are done after the completion Guideservice. You can check out his website here http://www.troutgetter.com/ In of the cast: “On the Water Mends” addition to his presentation Craig will bring his famous flies to sell at unbelievably after the cast has been completed and low prices for premium hand tied commercial flies; $10 for a dozen trout flies or a the fly line is on the water; “Aerial dozen saltwater flies, $20 for a dozen of freshwater bass flies. Mends” after the cast has been com- - January 30, 2012 - pleted but the fly line is still in the air. “Fishing Small Trout Streams from the Adirondack's The purpose of the Reach Cast is to the Blue Ridge” to reposition the fly line at an angle, featuring Craig Hull across and upstream of the fly. If there February 27– DJL Movie Night! The movie "Trout Grass" is a are varying current rates between the documentary of the journey of tonkin cane from its origins rod tip and the fly, positioning the fly in China to the fly fishers cast. line across and upstream from the fly March 26– Speaker to be announced! Stay tuned... will allow the fly to float freely before April 28– 20th Annual Learn to Fly Fish Course, Phoenixville YMCA the faster moving currents affect April 30– Mid-Atlantic Saltwater fly-tier and instructor Steve Farrar (drag) the end of the fly line. will be present a program on fly fishing the Atlantic coast. (continued on page 3) Page 2 STREAMSIDE Saltwater Adventures: Annual Trip to Harkers Island, NC Contributed by Emerson Cannon Each year from Sept through the beginning of December, chartreuse over white or pink all about 3.5” in length. Size 8 baitfish followed by false albacore invade the water around Cape hooks for early October followed by the size 4 or even size 2 Lookout, North Carolina. Weather permitting, fishing can be fast sizes in the clouser style for later on. The bait might be the and furious. Bait will start its yearly migration followed by nu- schooling type like bay anchovies or the smaller non-schooling merous species of fish ‘puttin on the feed bag’. like spearing. When the bait is thick, let the games begin! Baitfish will be anywhere from 1” to 5”, purrrrrfect for fly There are numerous other fish that join the Cape Lookout fishermen. Matching the hatch is critical. Flies, 1.5” in length, party seen. Some names are spanish mackerel, king mackerel, tied in all white for the early days of the run work well. As the monster sharks and the huge prize, red drum! different species of baitfish arrive, size and color change. Late The size of the albacore can be 7 - 20 lbs. October is the time for gray, tan or pink over white, brown or Photos by Emerson Cannon Time is probably more generous to the angler than to any other individual. The wind, the sun, the open air, the colors and smell, the loneliness of the sea or the solitude of the stream, work for some kind of magic. – Zane Grey STREAMSIDE Page 3 Dame Juliana League The Reach Cast Sponsors Chester County (continued from page 1) To execute the Reach Cast, let’s as- Conservation Camp sume the target is directly across or slightly Did you know that every summer, across and downstream from you and the the Dame Juliana League sponsors boys current is moving from your right to left. and girls between the ages of 11 and 14 to Make an overhead cast in the direction of attend the Chester County Conservation your target, then after you stop the rod on Camp at French Creek State Park? It is the forward cast and while the line is still true! The club has established a permanent unrolling in the air you reach (hence the scholarship which allows club members to name Reach Cast) the rod upstream from nominate deserving youths from our area you.. This move will place the fly line up- to attend the camp for free! “The Lance stream from the fly and the intended target. Morien Memorial Scholarship” was estab- If the current is moving from the right to lished to fund this program in memory of the left, you reach your rod to the right. If Lance Morien a former board member a the current is moving left to right you life long outdoor enthusiast. reach to the left. Or more simply said: Al- The Camp's mission is to educate ways reach upstream. By positioning your youth through experiential learning in a line and fly rod tip upstream you have set traditional outdoor camp setting. Through yourself up for a good drift. As the line adventure-based activities, campers ex- floats downstream, plore local natural follow its path with resources, experience “Persistence , for the fisherman, is the rod to prevent varied ecosystems a virtue that transcends the line from pull- and aspire toward ing tight. There stewardship of the patience.” A.J McClane are two key cave- environment. The ats you must keep camping program strives to build under- in mind. First as you reach the rod up- standing and appreciation of local and stream you’ll most likely be pulling the fly global conservation issues. short of the target line. There are two ways The Camp's activity-based pro- to make sure the fly stays on target. Either gram uses the environment as an outdoor cast enough line to overshoot laboratory to experiment and discover the the target by two feet or so, or natural world and to explore the diversity preferably shoot some line as of Chester County.