June 2012 CLUB CASTING ACTIVITY Walk With Wildlife Volume 17 Issue 6 Saturday, June 2nd Wichita, Kansas www.flatlandflyfishers.org 8:00 AM TO 12:00 PM GARVEY PARK AT THE RIVER Volunteers are needed to help with the “Walk With Wildlife” outreach INSIDE THIS ISSUE (Intersection of Washington St and Galena where they both dead end) program that Flatland Fly Fishers help The Program is being headed up by Doug sponsor. “Walk With Wildlife” will Youth Fly Clinic Meyer, FFF certified instructor. take place in Great Plains Nature Cen- Page 2 & 3 ter & Chisholm Creek Park on Satur- PROGRAM OUTLINE ——————————————— day, June 9, 2012 from 9:00 AM till 8:00 TO 10:00 (ON THE GRASS) Wichita 2 Wichita 3:00 PM. A Kids Fishing Clinic, spon- Basic Casting (with one on one training) sored by Kansas Department of Wild- June Meeting Specific Techniques of Interest: (Examples: shooting line; Single life and Parks, Flatland Fly Fishers, 2013 Winter Program and The Wichita Eagle will be offered Page 4 hauling; double hauling; casting into the wind; etc. for kids 12 and under. ___________________ 10:00 TO 10:30 BREAK (Light Snack and cold East Meets West drinks) Page 5 10:30 TO 12:00 (CASTING ONTO THE WATER) ___________________ Roll Casting Mending Techniques Blue Gill Fest Photo’s Dry Fly Presentation Page 6 ___________________________ Nymphing Other Enjoyment of Fishing Keep Reel Working Come to work on basic casting Page 7 Come to learn and/or practice special cast- ___________________________ ing techniques Presidential Thoughts Come to learn/practice fishing techniques in Club Information moving water KDWP needs volunteers to help Page 8 Come to exchange ideas and enjoy the ca- run the Kids Fishing Clinic. You may maraderie volunteer for the morning (8:00 AM - 12:00 PM) or the afternoon (12:00 PM Bring equipment and flies Bring waders or boots for casting on the - 4:00 PM) group. Each fishing session Visit our website water will have 50 kids and last 30 minutes. www. flatlandflyfishers.org/ Bring lawn chair (there are some tables) Please bring pliers, clippers, hat, sun- Billed cap or hat with brim and glasses re- glasses, and water. quired for safety Volunteers' responsibilities include; Next Meeting Directions: From Kellogg and 135 inter- June 7, 2012 change go South on 135 to the Hydraulic Baiting hooks and releasing fish exit. Turn right onto Hydraulic, go a block Taking photos of each kid with their 7:00 P.M. north to Fortuna St and turn left. Go one fish block to Victoria and turn left. Go one block Having fun with kids and helping to to Galena St & turn right. Follow Galena four blocks to Garvey Park on the left. catch their first fish 2 Flatland Fly Fishers Youth Fly Fishing Clinic On May 12, 2012 Flatland Fly Fishers Club had its first Youth Fly Fishing Clinic. The clinic had six youth in atten- dance. Jason Alyssa Carson Brett Hayley Alex The Saturday was cloudy with a chance of rain but with- out a backup plan we started. Stuart Weniger opened with a fly tying demonstration then with, instruction from Doug Meyer, the youth unpacked the rods, put them together and strung the line. When they had the rods together the group was divided into two groups. Group A went with Stuart for fly tying and Group B with Doug for casting then about 35 minutes the groups switched. Flatland Fly Fishers 3 The fishing lasted for about an hour when it was time to head back to the Nature Center. Back at the center the youth unstrung their rods and put them back in the case. Upon completion of the casting and fly tying instructions it was time to prepare the rods for fishing With the assis- tance of club members Adam, Jerry, Stuart, Doug, Roger, Rick with friend Sabra, Dan and Robert the youth were in- structed on how to attach the fly and off to the water they went. The final part of the day was lunch which was prepared by Neal. The day was normal (tad windy) but the youth had a great time. They were instructed on setting up the rod, tying flies, casting and on the water experience. In talking with them after the clinic they were excited and looking forward to the 2013 Youth Fly Fishing Clinic. Photo’s by: Rick Brown, Dan Stark and Sabra Cazel The fly boxes that each youth received was a great hit. Thank you to all who donated flies. Flatland Fly Fishers 4 June Meeting Wichita 2 Wichita Steve Webb Braids Of The San Juan You don’t have to go west to fly fish in the mountains. In The program for the June meeting will be “The braids of mid-April Gary Tatro and I spent a long weekend dodging the San Juan” presented by Roger Gilger. Roger and Bruce the tornado apocalypse while riding our “adventure motorcy- Garren had the opportunity to fish this newly “remodeled” area cles” southwest towards the of the San Juan in late April. Roger wants to share their ex- Wichita Mountains National perience with us and give us some great information about Wildlife Preserve near how he found out about this, and the ins and outs of fishing it. th Lawton, Oklahoma. These Join us Thurday June 7 at 7pm to hear about yet another great granite outcroppings, rising fishing opportunity. from the surrounding prairie, are a unique geologic occur- rence created by uplift and then subsequent erosion of the softer sedimentary layers that covered them. The preserve is home to free ranging herds of Bison, Elk, and Longhorn cattle and the landscape is dotted with small reservoirs built in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. 2013 Winter Program Several creek systems cut I'm Charlie Craven and your club has invited me to be your 2013 Winter Program guest through bedrock and create speaker. The Winter Program the water source for these is scheduled for Saturday, February 9, 2013. small lakes. One of these creek/reservoir combinations I got started in this business was the focus of our fly fish- as a commercial tyer when I ing efforts. With no real was twelve years old. I have knowledge of the water, we basically just picked an access tied flies for most of the shops point and then hiked in and in my area during that time. I started fishing. Although we guided on the South Platte and found flowing water it was other area waters for about twelve years or so, then evident from the small size moved on to help open and run a fly shop in Boulder and even- of the various species of sun- tually opened my own shop. I love this business and can't fish we caught that the ex- imagine not being a part of it. I am truly lucky to have realized treme drought this area suf- my lifetime dream, and I thank my lucky stars everyday. I fered through last year had have had the opportunity to meet and get to know people from taken a toll on the fish popu- all walks of life, with the common thread being fly fishing and tying. These are my kind of people! I have always loved trout lation. However, we were able to test our new “motofish” fishing and go out every chance I get. My favorite rivers vary friendly six piece travel rods plus Gary’s new Tenkara stick. from season to season, but include the South Platte, the Colo- This area is certainly a worthy rado and the Eagle among others. My partner, Ross, and I have fly fishing destination and a done a fair amount of saltwater fishing and I find it truly chal- little post trip Goggle map lenging and addictive. We've been to Belize, Mexico and the scrutiny has revealed a couple Florida Keys several times and plan on continuing this tradi- of spots that look to be worth tion as time allows. I have three great kids, Charlie (17), Julie (14), and Jack (11). They spend a fair amount of time with me exploring on the next trip, here in the shop, so they're no strangers to the fly shop life! hopefully on two wheels. We live right here in Arvada and are all native Coloradoans. Flatland Fly Fishers 5 East Meets West Gary Tatro Lefty considers it a fad, a passing craze that will Two motorcycle trips Steve soon fade away; Yvon thinks it may very well be the salva- Webb and I recently completed high- tion of modern fly fishing. Somewhere between the wildly lighted the effectiveness and convenience differing opinions of these two fly fishing celebrities - of Tenkara equipment. The first Trip to Tenkara fly fishing will find its path here in the Western the Wichita Mountains in southern Okla- world. homa gave an opportunity to fish for Tenkara is the traditional Japanese method of fly warm-water fish in moving water and it fishing that has been practiced in Japan for hundreds of was very enlightening. The chance to use years. Tenkara translates to “from heaven”, referring to the new equipment is fun; to have your eyes Tenkara rod’s ability to delicately place a fly on the water. opened as to how effective this stark, The rods were originally bamboo but are now graphite; they straightforward gear can be is especially gratifying. This sim- are telescoping in design, usually in nine or ten sections. ple method of fishing made catching the familiar Green Sun- Tenkara rods are longer than typical western fly rods; a thir- fish and Bluegill seem just a little exotic and new.