Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �1 10

October 2018

PLEASE CONSIDER

Volunteering for a CBFC officer

position for next year.

UPCOMING FISHING EVENTS

12 Nov Nov Club meeting 23-24 Nov Free fishing days in Oregon

CLUB PURPOSE: Promote fly fishing, conserve regional fishing resources, encourage friendship & cooperation among all anglers.

NEXT MEETING: 9Oct2018 at CG Public House & Catering in Kennewick. Starts 6p

PROGRAM: This month features CBFC members Darius Grogan, Sheldon Coleman, Dennis Kreid, and Rod Gilge. Darius will

report on his experiences as a Counselor at the WA Conservation Camp. Sheldon will tell us about fishing for browns and cutthroat on the Madison, Beaverhead, and Big Hole Rivers, as well as Blue Lake in Montana. Denny will discuss his recent trip for rainbows on Kamloops Lake, British Columbia. And, Rod will recount this

summer’s trips for steelhead on the Skeena River in British Columbia.

2018 OFFICERS President: Craig Anderson 509 378-7849 Craig's email 1st VP-Membership: Rich Holten 2nd VPPrograms: John Strand Treasurer: Jeff Drowley Secretary: Denny Kreid Directors at large: Wanda Shearer Dennis Collins Ted Lewis Newsletter Editor: Ron Reed Past President: Mike Wade

MEETINGS Second Tuesday of every month except Mar, Jul, and Aug

6:00p -Wet Fly-no host 6:30p -Dinner-$18 7:15p -Program - free

MEMBERSHIP DUES $25/yr Indiv&Family $35/yr Business To update personal info please contact Rich Holten: 509 521-4291 or Rich's email

CBFC CLUB WEBSITE

President’s Tippett by Craig Anderson

'Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart." - Elizabeth Andrew We have a large task confronting us this month, which might end up being a problem. We are going to have a larger than normal number of Board positions to fill for Calendar Year 2019; and, a slate of new officers is due to be presented in the November meeting. Ron Reed, who has been our newsletter editor for many years, and has done an outstanding job in filling that position, does not feel he can continue. John Strand, who has been organizing our programs each month for the last two years, and has done a great job in bringing us interesting speakers, is retiring from that position. Jeff Drowley, who many of you know as the guy that collects your money at the door each month, has much more responsibility than that as Treasurer, keeping our books and reporting on our financial condition each month. Reed Kaldor, who has been our monthly raffle coordinator for years, providing us with fantastic “deals” each month, is retiring from that position. As usual, our third year, at-large Board member, Dennis Collins, needs to be replaced. Wanda Shearer and Ted Lewis are continuing on for the balance of their Board terms. And, I will need to be replaced as President. Rich Holten and Dennis Kreid have agreed to continue their efforts as Vice President for Membership and Secretary, respectively. Thank you to both of them. So, I am looking for volunteers to fill those vacated positions: VP Programs, Newsletter Editor, Treasurer, At-Large Board member, Monthly Raffle Coordinator, and President. I don’t want to have to lean on you to “volunteer,” so please step forward if you have an interest in filling one of those positions. We are a volunteer organization, and we cannot continue to provide the quality of

membership that you expect without volunteers. If you want a bit more information on what the position involves, call me at 378-7849. Most positions require about 2-4 hours a month, and are not onerous. Meanwhile, fishing has been great with the cooler weather, and the fish are stocking up for the winter. The stream flows are low and the lakes are cooling off a bit to make them a healthier place for what will be holdovers. I am taking advantage of fall fishing, and hope that you are, too. See you out there.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �2 10

THE BUNYAN BUG-FLIES OF

YESTERYEARS By Bob Newell

Many years ago, as a teen growing up in western Montana, while examining my dad’s fishing lures, I came across a small fly box. The box contained a few of the flies of this period like the Royal Coachman, grey and brown hackle and others. One fly that caught my attention was a large orange bug with a cork body and hair wing. My day said it was used during the ‘salmon fly’ hatch. It took me many years to figure out just what a ‘salmon fly’ was. I have no recollection of using this fly and did not fly fish much as a teen. He called the fly the Bunyan Bug.

Years later I learned that the term ‘salmon fly’ was a common term for the giant stonefly, genus Pteronarcys. In dad’s fly box was another copy of a salmon fly. It had a woven nylon body and web wing material positioned over the body. As you can guess this wing material did not survive many casts; but I learned the wingless fly was a great nymph. I do not know the name of this fly.

George Grant’s book, MONTANA TROUT FLIES has two similar patterns, the Salmon Fly or

Spring Tonic and the Mossback. He was an exceptional fly-tyer and mentioned he was never able to duplicate the Bunyan Bug.

If you have read the book or seen the movie, A River Runs Through It, you may be familiar with the Bunyan Bug. WAAAY back in 1982 I wrote about the Bunyan Bug in Fly Tyer magazine, vol. 5, Issue 2, August 1982. The internet contains a wealth of info on the Bunyan Bug, but no source to purchase a fishable fly.

This fly was originated by Norman Means in Missoula, MT, about 1929, and was sold out of what had to be one of the earliest fly fishing stores in the west, Paul Bunyan’s Blue Ox Fishing Tackle.

Norman Means received the nickname “Paul Bunyan” thus named his flies “Bunyan Bugs’. After my article on the Bunyan Bug, Norman Means sent me a nice letter and a collection of Bunyan Bugs. The collection contained a display case showing 11 different bugs of various sizes and colors (see photo 1). I learned later that Means created about 15 different patterns for the original cork and horse mane materials. The background of these flies lists many species of large insects imitated by various Bunyan Bugs and Means’ rendition of these insects. He had a good knowledge of entomology.

The original Bunyan Bug was about 1 ⅛-inches long with the rear half yellow and front half orange. In 1940 Means created a decal he placed on the cork body to imitate body segments. The wing is placed in a slit in the cork body and is taken from brown or white horse mane. The under side of the cork body is slit lengthways to accommodate the long shank hook (see photo 2). It obviously floats like a dream.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �3 10

New Signage on the Yakima River

By Mike Wade Late last year CBFC agreed to participate in a project with the Yakima Fly Fishers Association and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to replace damaged fishing regulation, information, and safety signs at various Yakima River access points. The CBFC Board approved a donation from our conservation budget last December. Design and fabrication of the signs was recently completed. On August 25 Jeff Drowley, Ted Lewis, and Mike Wade linked up with members of the Yakima Club and Marc Divens from WDFW to install the signs and clean up trash from seven Bureau of Land Management and WDFW landing sites in the canyon and farmlands regions of the river. One sign at each site clarifies the fishing rules, and provide tips for safe catch and release practices. A second sign provides etiquette and safety tips for those floating the river.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �4 10

Going Fishing Guide Service Bruce HewittWashington and USCG licensed and insuredBurbank, WA 99323 509-430-6448

Fishing eastern WA rivers and reservoirs for salmon, steelhead, trout, walleye and sturgeon.

DISCLAIMER The opinions or endorsements of products or services expressed or

implied in this Newsletter are solely the responsibility of the author, or the Editor

if no author is listed; and do not necessarily reflect the

consensus of CBFC members.

Likewise, website links are only for reader convenience and information.

Untying Flies By Craig Anderson

Over the years I had accumulated a soup bowl full of flies that I was not using for several reasons: they were damaged during fishing, were tied early in my fly tying attempts, and were flies I just didn’t use (I should stop my subscription to Fly Tyer magazine, which would probably help reduce the latter category.) The soup bowl stood at the back of my tying area for a decade or more, waiting for me to salvage what I could from the collection, mainly the hooks. My folks were of the Great Depression era when you saved everything of which you could make use. Also, my Scots blood resulted in me being frugal. Hooks are getting expensive nowadays, especially steelhead/salmon hooks, but even dry fly hooks are getting to be $.20 apiece or more. So as part of a general reorganization of my tied flies (I won’t mention or even try to estimate how many), I decided to get rid of the flies in the soup bowl. Over the course of a couple of days, I untied about 230 flies using a vise to hold the fly and cutting off the material, first with a pair of scissors and then with an Exacto blade sawing along the shank of the fly. I learned a bunch through the process:

• I did not make Washington State minimum wage during my reclamation efforts,

• Tying flies is infinitely more fun than untying flies,

• If you are going to untie flies, you probably should devise some method of identifying which are tied with lead (the Exacto blade didn’t like running into lead on its course along the shank),

• After taking the wings and tail off a dry fly, a pretty good nymph pattern is left,

• I obviously have not tied an effective caddis pupa pattern…ever,

• Peacock herl at the aft end of a fly needs protection, as a lot of peacock caddis were in the soup bowl, herl

hanging off the back; wrapping the herl around tying thread before palmering would likely increase the longevity of the fly,

• The same holds true for palmered hackle. Taking a wrap of abdomen material behind the hackle would help preserve it from fish teeth,

• If you plan on untying flies, consider using a whip finisher when tying and forgetting the head cement; it isn’t really needed and is difficult to cut,

• Although pretty much immune from fish teeth, hackle wings still fall off,

• A lot of damaged size 14 flies were in the soup bowl, not sure why, except that I either lose less in bushes and trees or I tie a lot of #14 flies,

• Exacto blades don’t like untying flies, and the cost needs to be factored into hook reclamation revenue,

• I found about a half dozen perfectly good flies and have no reason why I pitched them in the soup bowl, except that the glass of single malt often frequenting my tying area confused my brain or eyesight or both.

My next experiment in untying flies will involve a metal mesh basket hanging in an active chiminea. Will keep you posted.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �5 10

BC Fishing Adventure By Denny Kreid

From Sept 5-15, Sue and I completed an auto tour of western and central British Columbia culminating (for me!) in two days of guided fly fishing on three lakes near Kamloops. We first spent four days with friends in Victoria followed by a day on the western “sunshine coast”, then up the Fraser River valley and on to Kamloops. Other than a couple of days in Victoria, the weather was wet, windy and cooler than we had hoped; but, it was a grand tour none-the-less.

My fishing guide, recommended by Brian Chan, was Steve Maricle. Prior to his recent retirement, Steve managed the small lakes program for the BC Fisheries organization in the Kamloops region. Therefore, he knows the regional lakes better than anyone. There are over 1100 lakes of varying size, elevation and character in the Kamloops region all stocked with trout. Steve introduced me to three different

lakes near Kamloops that varied in size from one similar to Quail Lake up to a lake somewhat larger than Lenice Lake.

The method that Steve tried to teach me, with limited success, is based on the indicator technique developed with Brian Chan. The method is primarily used for fishing chironomids, but is also used with other nymphs and even leaches. The technique uses slip indicators that are designed to release on the action of a strong hookup on a solid fish. The novelty of the technique developed by Brian is that they use the indicator technique at depths up to 20, 30 and even 40 feet! For the fishing I did with Steve, we fished primarily in water less than 20-ft deep, but this still required a 14-ft leader. I only approximately mastered the difficult casting technique, but still managed to catch a respectable number of rainbows up to 18 inches.

In spite of the weather, I had two great days of fishing with a skilled and highly personable guide. If you are interested in guided fly fishing the Kamloops area, you can’t do better than Steve Maricle, and I know he will be happy to help with recommendations of where, how, and when to go fishing in the Kamloops region! You can contact him at: (250) 318-7180, or maricleflyfishing@gmail.com.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �6 10

DENNY KREIDMORGAN LAKE, BC

GUIDE: STEVE MARICLE

Club Trip Report Lochsa 2018

by Craig Anderson

Last year the Lochsa Outing was cancelled because of forest fires, even though Reed and Sarah Kaldor went up and were able to fish. This year we moved the Lochsa trip to the weekend after Labor Day, when we usually have the Anthony Lakes outing. The Group Camp at Anthony was booked solid for every weekend in August and September. So we swapped the two outings and had the Lochsa Outing the weekend after Labor Day and Anthony in August. Thirteen people attended the Lochsa Outing, and the fishing and the weather both were very good. My first fish was a 16-in. cutt, and I thought, “Here we go.” It ended up being my biggest fish; but, I caught fish every day and many 12-14-in. cutthroats. The water was so clear as the accompanying picture shows, a bit dangerous

as you cannot tell how deep it is, and end up stepping into water somewhat deeper than you think. Small flies seemed to be the order of the day, and I heard of our members catching fish on ants, Renegades, Adams, you name it, but also on some large hopper patterns and hopper-like patterns. Rod Gilge and I hosted dinner Saturday night at the gazebo with hot dogs, burgers and brats. Everybody brought a dish to share; so, there were baked beans, salads, cold slaw, chips and dip, and desserts. No one had to go hungry. It is a long drive to the Wilderness Gateway Campground, but the fishing is good, the river and surrounds are gorgeous, and the campground is clean and COOL. In our previous visits in August, it has been very hot. There is a group camp at the WGC, and we will look at booking it. However, there may be a minimum number of campers and with no camp host, it was closed when we were there. So whether we can book it is an open question, which I will get answered. Think about joining us next year.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �7 10

LOCHSA RIVER, IDAHOPHOTO BY C. ANDERSON

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �8 10

WEB HOT-LINKS to FISHING STUFF

FLY TYING Fly Tying Forum -Free access to over 6,000 patterns

OTHER FISHING CLUBS Fly Fishing Clubs in Washington

REGULATIONS Idaho Fishing Seasons & Rules

Oregon Fishing Regulations

Washington Fishing Regulations & Seasons

Washington Emergency Rule Updates

Links to Regs & Licenses for all 50 States

FISHING INFORMATION Idaho Fish & Game Fishing Information

Oregon Fishing Resources and Information

Washington Fishing & Shellfishing Information

Columbia Basin Bulletin's Significant developments related to salmon and steelhead recovery and other important Columbia/Snake River Basin fish and wildlife issues. River and stream data USGS current and historical data for Washington State.

e and educate the public on conservation of marine resources. CCA’s objective is to

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM

Columbia Basin Fly Casters Post Office Box 791 Richland, WA 99352 2015

Date: _____________________

Name_____________________________ Renewal, no change in address/phones/

email

Street Address:_____________________ City:______________________________

State: _______ZipCode:______________

Primary Phone: _______________

Work Phone: ________________

Email:____________________________

Name(s) of Family Member(s) or Business

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

ANNUAL DUES:(Please Check One) Please make checks payable to CBFC

Family Membership ($25) Business Membership ($35) Includes

business-card size, fishing-related advert in newsletters. Send artwork as xxx.jpg digital file to editor

Who can we thank for referring you to our Club? __________________________________

To be completed by Treasurer: ___Cash __ Check #__________ Membership Database updated:_________

KNOW ANY PROSPECTIVE CBFC MEMBERS?

Please forward a copy of this newsletter to them, and bring them to the next meeting.

tight lines and BIG fish.Ron Reed, Newsletter Editor

September 2018 Board

Meeting Minutes by Denny Kreid

Call to order 7:00 PM, 25 September 2018 by President Craig Anderson.

Board members present: Craig Anderson, Jeff Drowley, John Strand, Rich Holten, Dennis Collins, Ron Reed, Mike Wade, and Denny Kreid.

President Craig Anderson asked if there were any concerns on the part of the Board with regard to Conflict of Interest. With no issues raised, the meeting proceeded per the agenda provided.

Secretary Report - Denny Kreid noted that the Minutes of the September 4 Board meeting were prepared by Mike Wade. Lacking any other comments, the September 5 CBFC Meeting Minutes were approved by the Board.

Treasurer Report - Jeff Drowley noted that the CBFC Profit and Loss Statement for August was discussed and approved at the Sept 4 Board Meeting.

VP Membership Report - Rich Holten provided the Membership Report indicating that current membership roles show 105 members.

Programs Report – John Strand reported on the programs planned for the remainder of 2018.

October – Presentations by members Rod Gilge, Sheldon Coleman and Denny Kreid on 2018 fly fishing adventures November – David Paul Williams lake fly fishing and tying demonstration December – Annual Christmas party

January 2019 – Zack Williams on steelhead fishing February 2019 – Rick Hafele topic TBD

John Strand requested additional funding of $500 to complete the planned programs for 2018. The Board agreed to the requested funding.

In discussion of planned programs Craig Anderson indicated that he is working on a speaker for the 2019 Annual Banquet and made a commitment to call Dave Hughes.

Newsletter Editors Report – Ron Reed discussed the status of the October 2018 newsletter. Contributions are needed by October 1 for the October 9 meeting.

Old Business

Guidance on Newsletter Content – The Board discussed draft guidelines on the content of the CBFC Newsletter that were prepared by Mike Wade and Craig Anderson pursuant to Board discussion in the Sept 4 Board meeting. After the discussion, the Board agreed that the proposed guidelines are appropriate and are adopted.

New Business

Feedback from the September 5 CBFC meeting: There was agreement that the September 10 meeting went well, but concern was raised about the scarcity of meat in the meal that was provided. President Craig Anderson agreed to discuss meal content in upcoming contract discussions with the Country Gentleman manager.

Feedback from the Lochsa Outing: There was general agreement that the Lochsa outing went well. However, some were concerned about the lack of power and light in the gazebo where the dinner was held. In addition, it would be desirable to have all the campers in the same loop. It was agreed that in the future the club should consider paying

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �9 10

the $240 fee to reserve the group camp and charge the participant campers a proportional amount so that everybody could be together in the group camp.

Wildlife and Recreation Coalition (WRC): The WRC sent a letter to CBFC requesting a contribution to support their programs. After discussion the Board decided to decline this request to focus on support to fly fishing related organizations.

Request to Help Sell Fly Fishing Materials: A former CBFC member requested assistance in selling fly fishing gear he no longer needs. The Board decided to not provide assistance.

Nominations for 2019 CBFC Board Positions: In the October 9 2018 meeting President Craig Anderson will request club members to volunteer or nominate candidates for 2019 CBFC Officer and Board positions. All positions are open for nomination for the 2019 Officer and Board Member positions. The current 2018 officers and Board members and their intent to retire or preference to continue at the completion of the 2018 club year are as follows:

President – Craig Anderson –Retire 1st VP for Membership - Rich Holten- Continue 2nd VP for Programs – John Strand – Retire Treasurer – Jeff Drowley - Retire Secretary Dennis Kreid – Continue Directors at Large Wanda Shearer – Continue Ted Lewis - Continue Dennis Collins – Term expires Newsletter Editor – Ron Reed - Retire Past President - Term expires Current President fills this Position

Future Board Meetings – The October Board meeting will be on October 23, 2018 at President Craig Anderson’s home.

Columbia Basin Fly Casters October 2018 Newsletter Page � of �10 10