RCFF Board President Tippets, Tapers & Tales Mark Johnson [email protected] Secretary Bob Bawden Treasurer President’s Message - June 2021 Mike Grinwis I hope everyone has been able to get out and do some fishing Dave Hovis this spring. I have been out a few times and even caught a few Member at Large fish too! As we head into our last meeting of the year before Newsletter Editor our summer break I would like to thank again all the board Terry Greiner members and club members that helped make this year a suc- [email protected] cess. Despite the ongoing Pandemic, I feel we had a good year with our many Zoom presentations and a very successful online auction this past March. I am hopeful with the way things are Inside this issue: going lately with COVID that we will be able to meet in person again in the fall. At the last board meeting, the board voted to postpone the board elections until the fall. We did not see anything in the By-Laws that would indicate we cannot do this and felt that hopefully we will be back in person then and can vote then at a fall meeting. It also gives us President’s message 1 more time to find additional board members. If interested in joining our board of directors Monthly program 2 contact myself or another board member. Chief Dowagiac 3 We are going to try and organize a few summer fishing outings in the local area. For the most part these will be during the week in the evening for a few hours at a local pond, lake Baseball, hot dogs, 4 or river. We are planning on the first one a couple weeks after our June meeting so watch apple pie & Chevy your email, the RCFF website and Facebook page for the information. Chevrolet cont’d 5 We are working on a speaker for the June meeting and hope you will join us for this last Chevrolet cont’d 6 Zoom meeting before summer. We will have more details on the first weeknight fishing outing of the summer and would like your input on other possible places to try this sum- mer. Chevrolet cont’d 7 See you on the 8 th ! Glen’s streamer 8 More fish artwork 9 Mark A collector 10 Tools of the trade 11 X marks the tippet 12 A few chuckles 13 FFF History 14 History cont’d 15 History cont’d 16 History cont’d 17 Fishin’ pics 18 1981 McKenzie Cup Winners F-fishing under ‘isms’ 19 The Red Cedar Fly Fishers is a Charter Club of Fly Fishers International. It’s purpose is to promote fly-fishing through Education, Restoration and Conservation Field notes & Fridge 21 Reminders Monthly Program Jay Wisnosky | Lead Instructor & Guide of Schultz Outfitters will do a program on Summer smallmouth strate- gies in SE Michigan. He’ll also cover gear, techniques, flies, etc. I'd also be able to discuss what brands Schultz Outfitters carries to support that conversation as well an overview of the additional offerings the shop provides. Congratulations: To both Mark Johnston and Mark Johnson on receiving the John Wylie award for their outstanding ef- forts this year in setting up the Zoom meetings, navigating the successful club online auction, running the meetings, and al- ways helping out where and when needed. Stress Management - How to Handle Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon and some days you’re the statue. Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them. Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. Drive carefully…..it’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker… If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it. It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others. Never buy a car you can’t push. Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance. Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late. The second mouse gets the cheese. When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have the longer you live. Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once. We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box. A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. And Most Importantly ~ Save the earth….it’s the only planet with chocolate and wine! 3 The Man Who Was Heddon’s “Chief Dowagiac” The real name of Heddon’s “Chief Dowagiac” was William “Bill” Lester Coller, and he was hired by Heddon in the late 1920s to put on trick bait casting ex- hibitions at fairs, and sportsman’s show to help promote Heddon’s lines, which he used when he demonstrated his incredible casting skills. From an early age, Bill Coller took an avid interest in fishing and continuously honed his casting skills both on area lakes, and in local tourna- ment casting events from which he earned several medals for accuracy in cast- ing. A young William L. Coller pictured laying beneath the string of fish - circa 1910 From the late 1920s until the early 1930s, Coller worked for Heddon using the stage name “Chief Dowagiac” while displaying his superb casting skills at public events where he promoted Heddon’s lines and fishing tackle. Coller, with his entertaining trick casting abilities and his Indian attire quickly became a popular attraction at sporting related events and drew large crowds from afar who would come to see him perform his incredible tricks and feats of casting. To demonstrate his accuracy at casting, it was not uncommon for Coller to select some fellow from the audience, give him a cigar, light it and then proceed to knock the ash off the cigar from 60 yards away with a casting plug, without ever disturbing or removing the cigar from the fellows Mouth. Coller would always follow up his trick casting demonstrations with autograph signings, while he offered the members of his audience his W.L. Coller standing in front of expert casting advice and explained the his family’s sporting goods store special wrist techniques he used to help his Circa 1912 many fans improve their own casting abilities. All of these demonstrations were, of course, designed to promote the sales of Heddon’s products, but they also eventually helped to promote W. L. Coller’s own fame and celebrity as the World’s Champion Trick Caster. One of the Heddon fishing lines used and promoted by W. L. Coller when he performed his casting tricks as Side note: The editor has an 8 1/2’, two tip, three Chief Dowagiac piece split Bamboo fly rod from Heddon made in Do- wagiac, MI from at least in the 50’s or 60’s that came in a cardboard tube. 5 Glen’s Deadly Streamer & the Au Sable River ( Glen Jueckstock) 8 My Dad (Glen’s son talking) used a state-of-the-art fiberglass rod with a Shakespeare spinning reel. Tom used the same kind of setup, and Bob, being a semi ‘purist,’ had a bamboo fly rod, but he always took his spinning gear just in case. There was one thing they never went without ~ “Glen’s deadly streamers.” They were fishing on “fly only” water as designated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and this weighted fly with spinning gear was a deadly combination in the river’s huge brown and rainbow trout. I believe the fly imitates a small minnow but Tom said it imi- tated a bug on the bottom of the river. Glen had a sporting goods and taxidermy store in downtown Fenton. He developed this extremely effective fly in the early 50’s, and it did not go into the river without some controversy. Streamer flies have always been part of the fly an- glers’ arsenal, but Glen’s fly could be fished with conventional spinning gear and that angered traditional fly fishermen. The deadly streamer met all the criteria in the definition of a fly, according to the rulebook, but it was outlawed for a couple of years in the mid-50’s. This fly made it possible for a trout fisherman to access parts of a stream where a traditional fly rod couldn’t reach. It rides in the river with the hook in the ‘up’ position, and is therefore highly snag free when dragging it over logs and un- der banks. …..from the Tri-County Times ~ Fenton 2009 More Chevrolet Info: 9 Won Park is a master of Origami. He’s also called “the money folder,” a practitioner of origami who’s canvas is the United States one dollar bill: Won also has bats, dragons, crabs, spiders, scorpions, and more. Carp or sucker Dolphin Shark Hammerhead shark Does this sound like any of our male members: A man feared his wife was not hearing as well as she used to, and he thought she might need a hearing aid.