| |
Wow! We certainly had a full house at the March
meeting to hear Dale Darling as he gave a great talk
about dry flies and dry fly fishing. Fred Hustead had a
banner day for the raffle with record ticket sales. Way to go Fred!
It will be hard to top for this month. This month’s speaker will be John Smeragllo
who will be presenting a program on fly fishing the Deschutes River.
This should be another great program. Come early and be sure to get a
seat. Remember that next month we have our annual Barbeque and White
Elephant Sale, so be sure to clean out your closets and fly vests and
bring your donated items to the club for the sale. This has always
been a very fun event with members meeting each other in a more social
setting, with great food and guaranteed a lot of laughs.I can report to you that the March trip to the
Lower Owens River was an unqualified success! The weather was
most cooperative, with no rain or snow and hardly any wind (a very
unusual state of affairs for the Owens River). Mike Wright conducted
an excellent clinic on rigging your flies for nymph fishing and how to
present the fly. We also had many of our experienced members help our
new members and guide them through the whole process and get into
fish. A special thank you to Mike and all those who volunteered to
assist our newer members. Dave Parker hosted a great
steak dinner for all those who attended the outing at his mansion
overlooking Round Valley (to call his place a “cabin” would
hardly do it justice). Many a glass of Dave’s home brewed beer was
raised, and a great time was had by all who attended. On a personal
note, I have never had much success fishing the lower Owens River
due mainly to the high water flows at the times when I am usually
there. The water flows at this time of year seem perfect. While I
won’t relate the exact number of fish this writer caught on this trip,
I will say that I was not fishless for the trip. Whenever the fish
catching is slower, I reflect (since this is when I have time to
reflect) how much more there is to fly fishing than just catching
fish. I enjoy the surroundings, the clean air, and the companionship
and camaraderie, and as a result, regardless of the number of fish
caught, every fishing trip is a great event for me, and that is why I
still enjoy it after almost forty years. Mike is having one more club
training trip before the Opener. He will be going to the Kern River
April 26th to the 27th. It promises to be
another great club outing and I believe Mike will be covering Czech
Nymphing on that trip. Contact Mike for details. The club Opener coming up, May 1st
through May 8th, promises to be another great fishing
event. It looks like we had lots of snow so sufficient water should
be available to keep the streams flowing and the lakes full. We
should have an excellent turn out from the membership, as Mike
Telles, our outings chairman, reports we will be using four
condos this year. Now we just need to keep our fingers crossed that
most of the higher lakes thaw out for our trip! The Trout in the Classroom is now back on
track since we are once again receiving the trout eggs for the
program. Doug Spieske and Steve Zaborsky
are always looking for more membership participation to help with the
upcoming releases. Give them a call; they can use your help. Our club is in good shape in terms of the
Meetings, Activities, Training, Conservation, Trout in the Classroom
and our finances are healthy. I want to thank all of the club
officers and participating members for their good work.
See you at the April Meeting.
Bob Habereder |
|
