soff news · 2019. 12. 19. · soff news special mention rich hosley: membership john storfold: fly...

SOFF News

SPECIAL MENTION

Rich Hosley: MembershipJohn Storfold: Fly Tying ChairKevin Daniels: Fly Tying InstructorRay McClenathan: ProgramsSonja Nisson: Auction ChairDavid Haight: Outings ChairSue Keeling: SOFF WearDave Roberts: OR Council IFFF RepEd/Sandy Michalski: RafflesJohn Storfold Project Healing Waters Chair

Dinner Reservations: E-mail - [email protected] or call the Club at (541) 955-4718

Vol.24 No.1 The Monthly Newsletter of The Southern Oregon Fly Fishers, Inc. January, 2017

SOFF NEWS A publication of

Southern Oregon Fly Fishers P.O. Box 1144 Grants Pass, Oregon 97528 Web Site: www.soff.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dave Grosjacques President/Habitat Chair Bruce Cochran Vice President

Rich Steed Treasurer/Publicity/Historian Jan Knapik Secretary

Board Members At Large Jerry Keeling SOFF Wear Ron Cremo Sonja Nisson Brady Keister Duane Chebul Newsletter Editor/Web Master E-Mail. [email protected]

Southern Oregon Fly Fishers Monthly Dinner Meetings are moving. For at least the next five months, we will be meeting at the Taprock Restaurant.

Due to construction of additonal units for the Lodge Hotel, we have been asked to move until the construction is completed, which is es-timated to be one year. In the interim, we will be meeting across the street at the Taprock restaurant for at least the first six months at which time a new location will be sought for after our July and August hiatus.

SOFF NEWS January, 2017 Page 2

FROM THE BOARD

ATTENTION! Board Meeting

The Board of Directors meet in the conference room of the Taprock Restaurant. The next meeting is scheduled: Jan 3rd at 6:00pm or the first Tuesday of the month All members welcome

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE by Dave Grosjacques

fillourstatedpurposeandgoalssothatwe do not lose their support.

What does it take for our club to continue to serve the members I have listed above? It takes a core of dedicat-ed people who are willing and able to achieve the purpose and goals stated in the club by-laws. It starts with the board of directors. Duane Chebul has been on the board as long as I have, pushing ten years of service. Duane also does our newsletter (the best I have seen!) and handles dinner reservations. Jan Knapik is the club secretary, keeping minutes at our monthly board meetings. Jan has

been president of a fly fishing club inanother state and that experience is very helpful to me and the rest of the board. When Jan speaks, we all listen! Rich Steed is our treasurer and in that role is responsible for all the club’s income and expenses. He uses his knowledge of fiscal operations to simplify and orga-nize the SOFF budget. Jerry Keeling is our vice president and also takes care of the SOFF hats and shirts with his wife Sue. Board members Brady Keister, Bruce Cochran, Joe Knapik and Ron Cremo are always there with advice and opinions on club matters. Joe was our mentorship chair and Brady our cast-ing chair in 2016. If you happen to see any of these dedicated people at a future meeting, thank them for their service!

Continued on Pg. 3

The club chairs are also a vital part of club operations. Rich Hosley is our membership chair, keeping track of members and dues, and putting togeth-er our directory each year. I am glad he is in charge of that data base in-stead of me! David Haight handles our monthly outings, with a seasonal mix of steelhead and trout hot spots to try. JohnStorfoldisourflytyingchairandthe head of the Project Healing Waters project with the veterans at White City. ThesetwothingskeepJohnbusy,find-ingaflyofthemonthforthenewslet-ter and organizing the Project Healing

Waters instruction and fishingtrips each spring and fall. At our monthly meetings, Ed and San-dy Michalski do a great job with the lucky ticket raffle.Programchair Ray McClenathan takes care of our speakers, and Jerry and Sue Keeling handle the sales of club hats and shirts. Sonja Nissan is our auction chair, and her endless enthusiasm and hard work makes the annual auction a fiscalsuccessandalotoffun.Iam the habitat chair and I try to keep the club informed on what is happening with the agencies and watershed councils whose efforts benefit the fish popula-

tionsandfishhabitatthatwevaluesomuch. Kevin Daniels is our beginning fly tying instructor, organizing andteaching the class for ten Wednesday

Whatdoesittakeforaflyfishing club to func-tion?The Southern Oregon

FlyFishers ismade up of flyfishermen and women withvarying abilities and knowl-edge of all things fly fishing.We want to try our best to of-fer something of value to all members and to be accepting of all members. The club has people who are experts when itcomestoflytying.Wehavesomefishing guides asmem-bers, experts at locating fishand presenting a fly to them.Wehaveexpertflycastersandpeople with local knowledge of fishing spots near and far.We also have members who are learn-ing the sport. Since I joined the club in 2003 I have seen these beginners ac-cepted and encouraged. That is part of what we do and I hope it will always be seen as a very important part of our club. Many of us are so enthusiastic about our sport that we enjoy talking about it to beginners and experts alike, learning and teaching at the same time. We also have members who believe in what we do, donate to our annual auc-tion and keep up on club happenings, but do not regularly attend meetings. These members are important! Even though we do not see them each month, the club continues to try to do some-thing for them as well. If they believe in what we do we must continue to ful-

The 2016 Board of Directors - the power behind the throne!!


PROGRAMS Future Programs Feb 16 Keith LyonMar 16 John Kraft Apr 20 Fly Tyers NightMay 18 TBAJun 15 TBAJul 20 No MeetingAug 17 No MeetingSep 21 TBA

WHEN: TIMES: WHERE: Taprock Restaurant971 S.E. 6th St. G.P.

5:30 PM Social Hour and Fly Tying Demo. 6:30 PM Meeting 7:00 PMDinner and Program

Griff Marshall - Fishing the Lower Deschutes

Jan. 19, 2017

President’s Message Cont. From Pg. 2

My name is Griff Marshall. I manage the guide service at Fly and FieldOutfittersinBend,Oregon.MyprimaryriveristheLowerDe-schutes from Warm Springs to Maupin, doing both day-trips as well as overnight camping adventures. I’ve just released my second book, My Mistress Whispers and Roars, a series of introductions and stories about my favorite rivers for the last 32 years.

Mypassionforfishingbeganearly.AsaboyIfishedtheshoresofSanFran-ciscoBayeverychanceIhad.Wefishedforfood.ItwouldbeyearsbeforeIdis-coveredfishingpurelyforfun.Inmylate-teensIventuredtooneofthelakeonMtTamalpais with my ugly stick and box of lures. It was there I was properly exposed forthefirsttimetothepoeticbeautyofflyfishing.Nottomentionwitnessinghoweffectiveitcanbe!Iwassolidlyoutfishedbyguysnotfiftyyardsaway.Forhours.WithinaweekI’dpurchasedajust-add-waterCortland6wt,ahandfuloffliesandwas on my way.

Eventually I discovered Trout Country in Northern California and all sane bets wereoff.IfishedHatCreek,theFall,Pit,McCloud,theLowerandUpperSacra-mentoRivers,SquawCreek.I’dcreatedajobinthefilmindustrythatallowedforlots of time off. That time was used to locate, seduce and capture trout. I started fishingbamboo,tyingallmyownbugs,livingoutthebackofaseriesofabusedtrucks,becomingananti-social,fishingfreak.And in retrospect, itwasaquestwell worth taking. I highly recommend it.

I arrived in Bend in 2010, my second wife and our daughter in tow. I’ve long lost count of days on the river since we got here, but already there is a deep love for the dynamic variety of water here. This is where I should have been all along.

evenings starting January 11th. Rich Steed is also our historian, helping us remember some of the activities and people of SOFF years past. These chairs spend a lot of time helping all of us. Thank them if you see them! They will certainly appreciate a simple thank you and some encouragement.

Finally, it takes an informed and active membership for a fly fishingclub to function. It takes members who are willing to come to meetings, attend the outings, volunteer for habi-tat projects and help with the annual auction as a committee member, help-er or bidder. It takes members who are willing to help others when it comes to flies, fly fishing locations, fishingtechniques and more. The Southern Oregon Fly Fishers is made up of members who are as active as their schedule and situation allows, and oth-ers who are always there. We value all of them. Our club will continue to try to serve the membership in as many ways as we can. That is why we have a flyfishingclubinthefirstplace.


CASTING ABOUT


OUTINGS AND WORKSHOPS

Jan 28-29 Coastal Winter SteelheadFeb 10-11 Cow CreekMar 18 Applegate SteelheadApr 22 TBAMay 20 TBAJun 17 TBAJuly 22 TBAAug 19 TBA

Photo Potpourri

January Outing - Winter Steelhead on the Lower Rogue

2017 Outings

Forfly anglers in thePacificNorthwest, fishing in Janu-ary usually means targeting wintersteelhead.Unfortunatelyforusin the Rogue Valley, few winter steel-head have typically reached our section of theRiver. Ifwewant tofind goodnumbersoffish,wemustheadforthecoast. For our outing on January 28 and 29, we will do just t ha t—we will go to the lower R o g u e R i v e r near Gold Beach.

O n Saturday, the 28th, we will meet for breakfast at 8:00 AM at the Indi-an Creek Cafe located a short distance upstream of Hwy 101 on the south side of the Rogue River (94682 Jerry’s Flat Road). If you don’t want to eat break-fast, join us there by 9:00 AM.

The lower Rogue offers plenty of good opportunities for bank anglers. Many of the large gravel bars are pub-licly owned and easy to access. For those that want to bring a boat, drift boats, pontoon boats, jet boats, and even prop boats, if you are careful, can

be used to reach good locations that lack road access.

The lower Rogue is a big river with large gravel bars and long runs well suitedtoswingingflieswithlongrods,so seven to eight-weight Spey or switch rods paired with Skagit heads and an as-sortment of tips would be ideal for this outing. If you don’t have a Spey or switch

rod, don’t w o r r y , the steel-head usu-ally trav-el close to shore, so single-h a n d e d rods, of s i m i l a r w e i g h t , with sink-tip lines or sink-

ing shoot-ing heads

also will work. Bring 10 to 15-lb tippet material and an assortment of flies--from traditional steelhead patterns, to egg-sucking leeches, to intruders. Black orpurpleflieswithabitofbrightcolormixed in often work well. If you prefer to dead-drift egg patterns or nymphs, you can do that too. Pack your waders and rain gear as well.

Gold Beach has a good variety of lodging and dining options, and there are several RV parks and campgrounds alongtheriver.Youcanfindmoreinfor-mation at www.goldbeach.org.

Thereareavarietyofotherfishingoptions in the area. If you want to try a smaller stream, Hunter Creek and Pistol River have good runs of winter steel-head.

Due to the uncertainty of river conditions during the winter, be sure to check the club’s website before you leave for the outing to see if we had to

make any last-minute changes.

David Haight, Outings Chair

David Haight displays a chrome bright winter steelhead taken on the Lower Rogue.

Robert Hodge playing a nice rainbow at Diamond Lake. The date of the photo was Nov. 4th, which makes that water awfully cold to wade in!

Robert Hodge sends in another nice photo this time of a dandy rainbow he landed last July at Agency Lake.

Ray McClenathan sends in this photo of a nice steelhead he took on the Cattarau-gus Creek in Irvine NY. He caught it on a Gary Anderson 7wt Spey Rod.


FLY TYING CORNER

Name(s):Address:City: State: Zip:Phone: Home ( ) Work: ( )Email: Personal interests: Renewal:_____New:______

Please make checks payable to: SOFF and mail to: PO Box 1144, Grants Pass, Oregon 97528

Regular..........................................$35.00 Family............................................$45.00 Youth..............................................$10.00 Contributing..................................$50.00 Lifetime (Individual)...................$350.00 Lifetime (Couple).........................$450.00

Membership Form

John Storfold Fly Tying Chair 541-660-6584 [email protected]

Tying Instructions:

Hare’s Ear Special Hook: Targus 200 or equivalent, Size 10-16.Thread: Match the Body.Tail: Marabou..Back Strap: Mottled Turkey.Ribbing: FineGoldWireorUltraWire.Body: Hare’s Ear or Squirrel Dubbing.Wing Case: Mottled Turkey.Thorax: Same as Body.Legs: Partridge.Head: Bead Head Optional.

Pinch the barb (personal choice) and dress the hook with the thread, positioning the thread at the back of the hook. Tie in the Marabou so that it extends a 1/3 of the way back beyond the hook.

Tie in the back strap and the wire and dub the body all the way to the front of the hook. Pull the turkey over the back and tie it down just behind the eye. Wrap the wire forward segmenting the body and secure.

Fold the turkey about 1/3 of the hook and tie down. Now add dubbing to form the thorax. Cut a “V” in the partridge and tie it in for the legs. They should extend just past the wing case. Pull the wing case for-

ward and tie it off. You can pick out the body and thorax and some more at this point to make it even more buggy. I chose tonotusethebeadheadonthisfly.Butconditionsmaydictatetheuseofthebead.Goodfishing!

ThisflywastiedbyJohnStorfoldandrecipewastakenfromthebook“MayfliesToptoBottom”byShaneStalcup.Thispatterncanbemodifiedincolorandusefulformanydifferentmayflyimitations.AndwiththatIwillborrowonofEdMorphis’s phrases, “Tight Threads”.

Fly Tied by John Storfold


CHANGING LINES COMING EVENTS1-3 Board Meeting1-10 SOFT Fly Tyers, Madrone Mobile Home Park in Gold Hill.1-19 Club Meeting with Griff Marshall.1-28-29 Club Outing - Coastal Winter Steelhead.2-7 Board Meeting.2-10-11 Club Outing to Cow Creek with Dave Grosjacques,2-14 SOFT Fly Tyers, Madrone Mobile Home Park in Gold Hill.2-16 Club Meeting with Keith Lyon.3-10-11 Albany Fly Fishing Expo.Editor’s Notebook Cont. From Pg. 8

should all approach resolutions, don’t quantify them as to numbers, rather be satisfied thatyoucanstilldowhateveryou resolve and let the numbers handle themselves. Another resolution for me is to plan another Alaska trip for 2018, as President Dave wrote in one of his columns a few months back, don’t put offplanningandgoingonflyfishingad-ventures whether locally, out of state or even out of country as we never know how long we’ll be around or have health issues that would prevent such a trip.

Letmeclose thismaudlinsumma-tion of my life in 2016 with this wish for 2017.MaytheGoodLordblesseachandevery one of you and grant you a healthy, prosperous and joyous New Year; one filledwithbigfishandotheradventuresthat you’ll remember to share with the old editor.inwalkingtowherewewouldbefish-

ing, once there, the old man showed the youngsters that he still had it by put-ting the hurt on numerous Silver and Pink salmon.

Yet as I still live and breathe, it seems that at the conclusion of each year, I go through the same mental ex-ercise and trying to make some sense out of the concluding year as well as making new year’s resolutions for the coming year. Funny, for as hard as I trytomakemylifebetterormyfish-ing better with these resolutions, it seems that they vaporize before the ink has had a chance to dry on the page. I guess it is human nature in that we all have a desire to improve or make life better for one’s self, but without con-stant monitoring, just living life sort of blinds us to any improvements that we wish to make. I suppose one of my favorite resolutions is that I’m going to fishmorethanIdidthepreviousyear.If it happens at all maybe it will be a couple days extra. Maybe I should in-stead resolve that I’ll justflyfishandlet the numbers handle themselves. The samegoeswithfly tying insteadofresolvingtotiedozensofflies,justbesatisfiedthatIcanstilltieafly.

Maybe that should be the way we

Annual SOFF AwardsPresented

If it is the December meeting, then it must be time for the an-nual club awards presented to deserving club members.

President Dave called each of the re-cipients up and after a brief description of the reasons for the award, presented each of them with a plaque of recogni-tion.

The awards were:Volunteer of the Year was present-

ed to Julie Rogers for all the volunteer work she has done over the years for the club’s annual auction.

Member of the Year went to San-dy Michalski for all the work she puts ineachmonthattheclub’sraffletable.

Julie Rogers receiving her award from President Dave.

Sandy Michalski receiving her award.Fly Tyer of the Year went to Ed

Morphis for all the contributions he has made to the club be it teaching the beginning fly tying school, hostingseminars or being available to all club membersasaresourceforanyflytyingquestions.

President Dave presents Ed Morphis with his award.

Special President’s Award went to Rich Hosley for the many years that he has been the membership chair.

The award winners.


Editor’s Notebook

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S POSTAGE

PAID PERMIT NO. 420 Medford, OR

P.O. Box 1144Grants Pass, Oregon 97528E-Mail: www.soff.org

Continued on Pg. 7

feel as virile as I did in my younger years. The gray hair and wrinkles must be an illusion because I don’t feel old, that is until doing something

that requires strength findsme with an empty tank in that department.

As an aside, many of you know that I went to Alaska this year with my son and some of his friends and there were many times that I need-ed his assistance especially in getting into and out of ourfloatplane.Atoneriver,our float plane landed somethree hundred yards from the shore, due to low water and

father and son walked arm in arm so that the old man

wouldn’t take a header into the drink before reaching shore. Although I may have needed a little assistance

firmgrasponmywadingstaff.Iseeatime in the not too distant future when to avoid falling from just walking, I’ll need the assistance of a walking stick

(aka a cane).Funny too, as I look into a mirror

I see an old man staring back at me, yet mentally I don’t recognize him as I

Well here it is the last day of the year and I’m sitting at my com-puter looking for the highlights and achievements that makes 2016 special. I guess I could say thatas Igetolder,onreflec-tion I made it through another year without any harms, acci-dents or mishaps. My health remains reasonable good with the exception of the new little aches and pains I experience as my body rebels against the aging process and starts plac-ing limits on my physical ac-tivities. As I get older my bal-ance which I always took for granted is starting to fail. No longer can I wade a stream or river with wild abandonment, but findmyselfnow limited towaternohigher than my knees providing the current isn’t too swift and I have a

Father and son arm in arm as we make our way to the mouth of the Olga River on Kodiak Island

SOFF News

SPECIAL MENTION



Vol.24 No.2 The Monthly Newsletter of The Southern Oregon Fly Fishers, Inc. February, 2017






One of the more popular outings each year is when President Dave Grosj-acques leads a two day adventure to Cow Creek for Steelhead.

Here President Dave G proudly displays a steelhead he took on a prior outing to Cow Creek. Dave has fished Cow Creek for many years and has amassed an intimate knowledge of the best spots. He believes in sharing “the wealth”and has produced a map showing all his favorite holes in which has taken fish. If you go on his outing he’ll give you the map - the only drawback it goes blank after the outing!

SOFF NEWS February, 2017 Page 2

FROM THE BOARD


The Board of Directors meet in the conference room of the Climate City Restaurant. The next meeting is scheduled: Feb 7th at 6:00pm or the first Tuesday of the month All members welcome


adviceonflypatternsand tyingmeth-ods,andDalewilltellyouabouttheflytying materials that will produce a good fly.Ifyouwanttoknowmoreaboutty-ing streamers, ask Joe Knapik. If you want to get better at tying Humpies, talk toKevinDaniel.Ifyouwanttofishtheupper Rogue for steelhead in the fall, ask Chuck Huntington about his favor-iteflypatternsforthatarea.Ifyouwantto have a discussion on the tremendous variety of flies and what they imitate,ask Mark Teeters. The list goes on.

PRESENTATION – What is the best way to present the fly you havedecided to use? This involves reading the water and conditions, and knowing somethingaboutthebehaviorofthefly,leaderandflylineinthewater.Inmostcases it also involves some skill casting the fly. For advice and information onflylineIalwaysaskJoeKnapik.Joehashelped me try to understand the some-timescomplexchoicesoffly linesandtips to use in a certain situation. Josh White at the Rogue Fly Shop and Will or Jon at the Ashland Fly Shop are other expertstoaskaboutflylineselectionforthewatersyouwillbefishing.

When it comes to casting informa-tion and advice, the SOFF has members who can help the beginner as well as theexpert.CertifiedcastinginstructorsLarry and Bobbi White are two of my friends in the club whom I rely on for casting instruction. I keep trying to im-prove my casting stroke and like to tell Larry that someday I will get it right! JohnMcDiarmidisanothercertifiedin-structorwhowillhelpyouwithflycast-ing. John enjoys casting and teaching, his advice is always helpful.

LOCATION – This is a pretty ob-vious one, but it involves more than just being on the river or at the lake. Simpli-fied,ifyouhavethebestimitationandpresentationbut arenotwhere thefishare you might be wasting your time! I would include time of year and time of day in the location category, with the understanding that we deal with migrat-ing steelhead on the Rogue and Apple-

gate, for instance, and with changing water temperature and other variables in a lake.

So ask Redge Heth about fishingthe Rogue in the Galice area for fall steelhead.Ask John Iding about fish-ingFallRiverinJuneoraboutfishingin New Zealand. Ask yours truly about fishingCowCreekforwintersteelheadoraboutfishingLemoloorGalesvilleReservoirs. Talk to Ray McClenathan or Gary Miller about the hot spots in Klamath Lake. Ask Josh White about fishingfortarponintheFloridaKeys.Ask Russ Wright about fishing forsteelhead in the Coos Bay area. Talk toRussLeavittaboutfishingspotsforbass and crappie. He might tell you about his second and third favorite spots, don’t even ask about that super secret spot!

I realize that this is an abbreviated list of SOFF members willing to give information and advice about imita-tion, presentation and location. There are many others in our club who can help one decidewhat fly to use, howto present it and where to go for some great fishing. This wealth of knowl-edge is perhaps the greatest thing the Southern Oregon Fly Fishers has to of-fer.Wecanallbenefitbytakingadvan-tage of it.

In last month’s column I tried to answer the question of what it takes for a fly fishing clubto function. I explained that our club is made up of people with different levels of knowledge and ability on all thingsflyfishing.Wehaveitall,frombeginners to experts. I also went on to say that the people make the club what it is, from our board of directors and chairs to the members who keep up with things by attending meetings and outings or by reading the newsletter. In this column I want to continue that theme by talking about the Southern Oregon Fly Fishers as a mutual infor-mation and advice society.

Several years ago I was asked by GaryMiller toaddresshisflyfishingclass at Cascade Christian High School. I wanted to start with a simple message onfishingandexpandthattocoverfliesand what they imitate. My simple mes-sagewasthatflyfishingsuccessoftendepends on imitation, presentation and location. I don’t know if the students remembered what I said that day, but I did and I use those three words often to helpmakeflyfishingdecisions.

IMITATION – what fly are youusing? In the SOFF there are a lot of members who can really get going on this one. So who should you ask for in-formation and advice? For technical ad-viceonthebestwaytotiefliesIliketoask Ed Morphis, Dave Roberts or Dale Heath. You might see me at a meeting talking to Ed about a good way to tie aparticularfly.Davealwayshasgood


PROGRAMS Future Programs Mar 16 John Kraft Apr 20 Fly Tyers NightMay 18 TBAJun 15 TBAJul 20 No MeetingAug 17 No MeetingSep 21 TBAOct 19 John Shewey



Keith Lyon - How Fly Rods are Built and Choosing the Right Rod

Feb. 16, 2017

For those of you who have still not paid your 2017 member-ship dues, they are now 30 days past due. This is the stage of the renewal process where I need to track you down with emails, phone calls, homeandofficevisits,etc.Itendtorunout of time and energy and have been known to get cranky. Won’t you please help me out by mailing your check to theclubpostofficeboxtoday?

Southern Oregon Fly FishersPO Box 1144Grants Pass, OR 97528

The 2017 edition of the club mem-bership directory will be going to print on Monday, March 27. If you are plan-ning on being included with your cur-rent contact information, I need to hear from you before then.

Thank you.

Rich Hosley, Membership Chairman

2017 MEMBERSHIP DUES

Keith is the owner of Jefferson Rod Company. He is also a guide with Jefferson Flywater, a guide service focused on the Klamath River in Califor-nia.KeithgrewupfishingtheriversinandaroundtheRogueValleyandhasadeeploveandenthusiasmforthefishingopportunitiesinourarea.Hisloveof the sport grew even more when he was a student in the Cascade Christian High School Fly Fishing class. After learning the basics of the sport in high school he went on to build rods and guide vocationally at age 18. Currently Keith resides in Eagle Point with his wife Caitlin and spends most of his days building rods or sharing his passion with other anglers on the river.

Jefferson Rod Company was established in 2015. The small rod shop is located just outside of Medford near TouVelle Park. The Rogue valley is knownforqualityproductsintheFlyfishingindustryandKeithestablishedhis business with hopes that it will serve to contribute to our area’s reputa-tion of producing excellent Fly Fishing essentials. Every rod is handcrafted and built with great care and precision.

Keith is also a guide with Jefferson Flywater. This guide service oper-ates on many rivers throughout Southern Oregon and Northern California. Jefferson Flywater owns property on the Klamath River in a remote area. This deluxe tent camp is all inclusive and serves as a base camp for multi-daysteelheadfishingtrips.


CASTING ABOUT



Feb 10-11 Cow CreekMar 18 Applegate SteelheadApr 22 TBAMay 6 TBAJun 1-4 Lemolo LakeJune 23-25 Cascade LakesJul 29-30 Umpqua BassAug 19-20 Lower Rogue Half- pounders.

February Outing - Cow Creek

2017 Outings

The Southern Oregon Fly Fishers outing for Febru-ary will be to Cow Creek for winter steelhead. The outing will be led by Dave Grosjacques, and will be on Friday and Saturday, Feb-ruary 10th and 11th. We will meet at 7:45 AM both days at Glendale High School for a short ses-sion on where andhowwewillbefishing.Fromtherewe will drive to West Fork Bridge for a groupphotographbeforewestartfish-ing. PLEASE let Dave know if you plan on attending this outing. The part of thestreamwewillbefishingwillriseand get muddy very quickly if we get a heavy rainstorm. If that happens Dave must get in touch with you by email or phone to let you know that the outing will be postponed.

This will be the 8th year the SOFF has done this outing. We have had one outing rained out in that time, another one postponed due to low water and a third had to be adjusted due to a series of landslides that closed Cow Creek road! Cow Creek is a large tributary of the South Umpqua River. It runs into

the South just downstream from Can-yonville. Our access will be through Glendale and downstream to the West

Fork Cow Creek Bridge, which is about a twenty min-ute drive. The stream is about the size of the Applegate River, and we willbefishingfrom the bank. Cow Creek Road follows it from the up-per deadline at Middle Creek

Bridge all the way down to the town of Riddle.

Cow Creek opens for winter steel-head in December and is open until the endofApril.Theupperdeadlineforfish-ing is the Middle Creek Bridge, which is justupstreamfromWestFork.Thefishare all wild, and it is catch and release only. Spey rods and single-hand rods insizes6through8willworkfine.Thefisharelarge,so1Xand0Xtippetsareneeded. A variety of dark and light-col-oredsteelheadflies,bothweightedandnon-weighted, have been successful for us in the past. Club members who have fishedthisoutingbeforeareencouragedtoattendandbringyourfavoritefliestoshow and share. A map of access spots andgoodplacestofishwillbehandedout the day of the outing.

You can sign up on the clipboard at the January 19th general meeting at Taprock Restaurant. You can also send Dave an email and give him your con-tact information and what days you plan tofish.LET’SGOFISHING!

2016 Donation to Casting for Re-covery

A special “Thank You” goes out to allthatboughtraffleticketsattheDe-cember General Meeting.

We raised $615 which has been do-nated to Southern Oregon’s Casting for Recovery Program.

For some of you that don’t know what Casting for Recovery is, it is a weekend long program that introduces breast cancer survivors to fly fishingwhich is an ideal physical therapy for exercising the joints and soft tissues af-fected by treatment and surgery.

Joe and I have had the pleasure of serving as “river helpers” for the last couple of years and we can attest to how appreciative and excited the ladies are tobe introducedtoflyfishing.Asone participant is quoted in the CFR’s letter of appreciation says, “...helped me forge a new, more invigorated part of me that was beyond my imagining.” So again, THANK YOU!

John Storfolds displays a nice steelhead he took on a prior Cow Creek outing.

Thank You By Jan Knapik

Club Member PassesIt is with great sorrow, that I an-

nounce the passing of long time club member Don Sortwell on January 2nd.

According to daughter, Beth Mor-tonson, Don loved the SOFF meetings and dinners as well as allk the friends that he made there.

Per Ms. Mortonson, there were no services held; however, the family is planning a memorial service for July 20th, which was Don’s birthday. See later editions for additional details.

For the club and myself let me close with this thought:

May Don always have a gentle breeze at his back, a warm sun on his faceandtherightflyforall theheav-enly streams.

Tight lines old friend.


FLY TYING CORNER




Membership Form


Grey Goose Midge Emerger Hook: #10- 14 Scud Hook, TMC 2487, Daiichi 1130, TMC 403BLJ, Unpqua U202, TMC 2488, Dai- Riki 125, Dai-Riki 135.Thread: Black 8/0 or Equi..Rib: Fine Silver Wire..Body: Canada Goose Wing Fibers (Herl) or Similar.Wing Case: Same as Body.Thorax: Peacock Herl.Head: Whip Finish and Head Cement..

ThismonthIamtyingaflyfromthoserequiredfortheIFFFFlyTyingSkillsAwardProgram.Forthosethatmaynotbefamiliarwith the IFFF Fly Tying Skills Award Program, it is outlined on the IFFF website www.fedflyfishers.org. The information I am about to share with you can be found on their website and All the information is free to download.

Theprogramhasgreatbasicinstructionsandvideosonhowtotieallthesefliesandmanyusefultipsfortyingingeneral,suchasmaterial,tools,tyingpracticesandhowtoproportionfliesetc.EvenifyouarejustalittlecuriousIencourageyoutovisitthewebsite,checkout the instructions, and watch the videos at www.fedflyfishers.org.Clickonflytyingandthedoorisopentochallengeyoutoimproveyourflytyingskills.Nomatterwhatyourcurrentskilllevelis,IamsureyouwillasdidI,learnafewnewtricks.

Youwillfindoutthattogetthecertificationthereisanominalfeetosendyourfliesinforevaluation.Thesechargesaretocoverthe administrative cost of running the program. Think of the different awards, Bronze, Silver, and Gold as kind of like getting a merit badge. Be proud of your tying skills.

You may ask why an IFFF Fly Tying Skills Award Program? The IFFF Fly Tying Group exists to preserve, enhance and support the artofflytying.Ourfocusgenerallyistwo-fold:sharingofinformationandteachingsothatmorepeoplemaytakeaninterestinourcraftand become more knowledgeable and accomplished tiers. The purpose of the FTG is as follows: “The FTG is dedicated to the preserva-tion,enhancementandsupportoftheartofflytyingasahistoricelementofthefly-fishingexperience.Archivingofhistoricdocuments,developmentofeducationalandinstructionalmaterials,teachinganddemonstrationarefundamentaltoperpetuatingtheartofflytyingforanglerswhofishwiththeartificialfly.”Forindividualstoimproveastiers,theyneedtobeabletomeasuretheirprogress.TheIFFFFlyTyingSkillsAwardsProgramprovidesIFFFmemberswiththeopportunitytodeveloporreinforcetheirflytyingskillsandtesttheirprogress against a consistent, standard at three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Forstepbystepinstructionintyingthisflygotowww.fedflyfisher.org.


CHANGING LINES COMING EVENTS2-7 Board Meeting.2-10-11 Club Outing to Cow Creek with Dave Grosjacques,2-14 SOFT Fly Tyers, Madrone Mobile Home Park in Gold Hill.2-16 Club Meeting with Keith Lyon.3-7 Board Meeting3-10-11 Albany Fly Fishing Expo.3-14 SOFT Fly Tyers, Madrone Mobile Home Park in Gold Hill.3-16 Club Meeting with John Kraft.3-18 Club Outing - Applegate Steelhead.Editor’s Notebook Cont. From Pg. 8

the Marine Board to come up with a program addressing non-motorized boats. The agency formed a public advi-sory committee whose suggestions led to development of the proposal, Massey said.

“In our committee, they understand that in order to play, they have to pay, too,” Massey said.

One of those on the committee was Eric Weiseth, managing partner of Or-angeTorpedoTrips,araftingandoutfit-ting company in Merlin.

Weiseth said he realizes that cover-ing at least some of the costs of Marine Board programs makes sense.

“I use boat ramps all the time,” Weiseth said. “Nobody’s for having another thing to buy. But it does make sense to me to help pay for what we use.”

The Marine Board estimates that the fees would generate about $2.17 mil-lion over the next two years.

The proposal calls for two full-time employees and one part-timer, and the program would have a biennial cost of $1.87 million. The excess money, Massey said, would be available as grants.

HB 2320 currently does not have a legislative sponsor, Massey said.

Thebillwouldalso,forthefirsttime,defineandregulateforsafetythoseus-inginnertubes,floatingmattressesandotherpool toyswhenfloatingOregon’srivers and streams.

The term “non-motorized craft” would be used to describe items not definedas aboat andnotpropelledbyequipment such as oars, yet still capable of supporting a person on the water, ac-cording to the Marine Board.

Anyone floating a river or streamon a non-motorized craft would be re-quired to wear a life jacket, according to the bill’s draft.

However, that designation and re-quirementwouldnotabolishthosefloat-ers’ exemption from rules banning the operation of a boat while under the in-fluenceofintoxicants,Masseysaid.

Massey said the committee dis-

$5 annual Invasive Species Program permit users of boats over 10 feet long must purchase to fund efforts to keep aquatic invasive species such as quag-ga and zebra mussels out of Oregon waterways and control those already here.

Under the proposal, anyone 14 or older would have to carry both permits when operating any non-motorized boat. Companion bill HB 2321 seeks to remove the AIS exemption for non-motorized boats less than 10 feet long.

The Marine Board said non-mo-torized boat activity now equals or exceeds motorized activity, and non-motorized boaters account for, on av-erage, half of Oregon’s annual boating fatalities, the agency said.

The Marine Board estimates there are about 110,000 unlicensed, non-motorized boats in Oregon, along with 155,629 licensed boats.

Some owners of non-motorized boats have told the Marine Board they would accept modest fees if they see results on the water from it, Marine Board spokeswoman Ashley Massey said.

“It’s really about meeting the needs they told us they had,” Massey said.

The 2015 Oregon Legislature told

cussed expanding the BUII rules for non-motorized crafts but opted against it.”

Right now the proposed fee is fairly low - $30 over 2 years, which includes the new $20 fee plus $10 for the annual Invasive Species Program. Since the majorityoftheboatsflyfishermanusearepontoonboatsorfloattubeswhichare generally under 10 feet, we have been exempted, but no longer, as there is a companion bill that seeks to remove the exemption for non-motorized boats less than 10 feet long. That means that youandIandallflyfishermanthatusesometypeoffloatingdevicearegoingto be subject to these new fees.

Also, what is going to happen to the money that is collected? If you noted in the Mail Tribune’s article, out of an anticipated revenue of 2.17 mil-lion, 1.87 million would be the cost to administer the program. Seems like a lot of money for 2 full-time and one part-time employees! The remaining $300,000 would be used for some type of grant program.

If it isn’t already too late, I would certainly suggest writing to your state representatives asking them that they not vote for HB 2320 and positively not vote for the companion bill HB 2321, which would eliminate the exemption for non-motorized boats of less than 10 feet long.

Just remember this; the fee is noth-ing more than a ‘cash cow’ to be raised whenever there is a need for more money for the state. Kill it now or be subject to it forever.


Editor’s Notebook

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S POSTAGE



Continued on Pg. 7

motorized boaters.The program would also offer

grants to public agencies to buy, build, expand or renovate facilities for non-motorized boats as the Marine Board currently does through its facilities program. Money also would be avail-able to put marine patrols on water-ways heavily used by non-motorized boats and fund removal of naviga-tional hazards such as “strainer” trees dangerous to the summer flotilla onthe upper Rogue River.

House Bill 2320 would authorize the program and establish fees for transferable permits boaters would have to carry when rowing or sailing their boats.

A one-week permit would cost $4, an annual permit would cost $12, and a two-year permit would cost $20.

This would be in addition to the

Tribune indicating that the Oregon State Marine Board will be asking the Oregon legislature to create and fund a new non-motorized boating program to assess fees to the non-motorized boating public.

To better understand what the Or-egon State Marine Board is asking for, I’ve included the Mail Tribune piece by Mark Freeman.

“Driftboaters, kayakers, sailors and others running boats without mo-torsmaysoon-forthefirsttime-startpaying toward their playing on Or-egon’s public waterways.

The Oregon State Marine Board will ask the Oregon Legislature to create and fund a new non-motorized boating program that would help pay for upkeep of boat ramps, other facili-ties and marine patrol programs here-tofore paid largely by fees charged to

Several months ago, either the beginning of last year or the end of the year be-fore, I wrote an article indicating that the Oregon State Marine Board was having scoping hearings regard-ing the requiring of new fees for all non-motorized boaters. At that time I gave a list of scoping hearings and also recommended the writing of let-ters and emails to make your feelings known as to the establishment of new fees for non-motorized boating.

I will admit that I didn’t attend any of those meetings myself; howev-er, I did email my thoughts about the establishing of fees for non-motorized boaters.

As usual, these scoping meetings are nothing more than an exercise to gauge the negative feelings of their proposal, which in all likelihood is al-ready ‘a done deal’. And so it was, as evidenced by a piece in the Medford

SOFF News

SPECIAL MENTION



Vol.24 No.3 The Monthly Newsletter of The Southern Oregon Fly Fishers, Inc. March, 2017






One of the more popular events each year is the annual North West Fly Ty-er’s Expo held each year at the fair grounds in Albany.

Each year fly tyers and want to be fly tyers gather from around the Pacific Northwest at the Oregon Council’s of the IFFF North West Tyers and Fly Fishing Expo to be regaled by the latest in hair, hackle and artificial materials that can be bent around a hook and made at-tactive for salmonoids and other denizens of the deep.

SOFF NEWS March, 2017 Page 2

FROM THE BOARD


The Board of Directors meet in the conference room of the Tap Rock Restaurant. The next meeting is scheduled: Mar. 7th at 6:00pm or the first Tuesday of the month All members welcome


is a distance of about 12 miles. The Cow Creek watershed has

populations of resident rainbow trout and cutthroat trout, which are mostly in the headwaters and smaller tributar-ies. It also has populations of migratory Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, winter steelhead, sea run cutthroat trout and Pacific lamprey. The trout season isopen from late May through September 15th. There is no open season for salmon on Cow Creek, and the steelhead season runs from December through the end of April. The steelhead are a bit larger than theRoguewinterfish,withanaveragefishinthe7to10poundrangeandsomebigonesover15pounds.Thesteelheadareallwildfishandmustbereleased.Ihave caughtmy share of these fish ongearandflies,andImustsaythatifyoucatch one you will not forget the experi-ence!

TheconstructionofGalesvilledamon upperCowCreek improvedhabitatconditions for salmon and steelhead in the watershed. The dam holds back wa-ter from the winter rain and snow, and spreads out the release of that water from May through October. The increased flowandcoolerwatertemperatureshelpthejuvenilefishmakeitthroughthehotsummermonths.Increasedflowsinthefall also help migrating adult salmon make it to their spawning areas in the upperpartofthewatershed.GalesvilleReservoircontainsrainbowtrout,trout-sized coho, largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie and bluegill.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife operates a mitigation pro-gram for coho salmon to make up for lost habitat above the dam. The Um-pqua Fishermen’s Association helps the ODFW capture adult coho at the base of thedam.Someofthesefisharetruckedto the Rock Creek hatchery near Glide. They are spawned there, then incubated and hatched. After a year at the hatch-ery, the juvenile fish are returned to anet pen at the base of the dam, where they are fed for a time then released into Cow Creek to start their migration

Continued on Pg. 3

totheocean.Ihavebeenamemberofthe Umpqua Fishermen’s Associationsince 1987 and have helped with thecoho program. In most years there are a lot more adult coho returning to the base of the dam than are needed for the mitigation program. In recent years we haveusedsomeofthesesurplusfishtogivetotheDouglasCountyfoodbank.Also,someofthehatcheryadultshavebeen trucked to the upper part of the reservoirandreleasedtheretocontin-ue upstream to spawn.

The mitigation program calls for acertainnumberofcoho juveniles tobe released each year at the base of the dam. To allow for an accident or dis-ease outbreak at the hatchery, a few thousandfishinexcessofthatnumberare raised at the hatchery. If there are no problems, those excess coho juve-nilesarefinclippedandreleased intothe reservoir to grow to trout size sotheycanbecaughtbyfishermen.Thisprogramhas provided a very popularfisheryforGalesvilleanglers.Aprob-lem with some language in environ-mental impact documents written be-fore the dam was built has resulted in a haltofthereleaseofadultandjuvenilecohointoGalesville.IhavejoinedwithapastpresidentoftheUmpquaFisher-men’s Association to urge the Douglas County Commissioners to re-establish the releaseof thesefish into the lake.I have spokenwithODFWpersonnel

The record rains in Oregon this winter have reallymade our winter steelhead fishingachallenge.Iwassupposedtolead the 9th annual SOFF outing to Cow Creek in mid-February. The high water forced a one-week postponement, and evenmorerainandhighwatercausedus to cancel it for this year. So I want to make up for the cancelled outing in partbywritingabout thefishpopula-tions in the Cow Creek watershed.

The headwaters of Cow Creek are a short distance from the headwaters of Evans Creek. It runs north, thenturns west and runs into GalesvilleReservoir, which was built in 1986and 1987. It then runs past Azalea, through the small town of Glendale and enters the Cow Creek canyon. It then runs through the town of Riddle beforejoiningtheSouthUmpquanearCanyonville. The largest tributary isWest Fork Cow Creek, which enters Cow Creek about halfway between Riddle and Glendale. The upper dead-line for winter steelhead is the Middle Creek bridge, which is only a short distance upstream from West Fork. In past years, our group would meet in Glendale, then drive downstream tothe West Fork bridge for a group photo before we started fishing. The pavedroad follows the stream all the way to the Riddle/Tri-City area, where it connects with Interstate 5. Our group wouldfishpoolsandtail-outsfromtheupper deadline at Middle Creek all the way down to Doe Creek bridge, which


PROGRAMS Future Programs Apr 20 Fly Tyers NightMay 18 TBAJun 15 TBAJul 20 No MeetingAug 17 No MeetingSep 21 TBAOct 19 John SheweyNov 11 Annual Club Auction



John Kreft - Fishing the Metolius River

Mar. 16, 2017


John Kreft is this month’s featured speaker and will present a program entitled “ASecretRiverWestofSisters…theMetolius”.Whilehisfamousquoteis“therearenofishintheMetolius”-someflyfishersknowbetter.Hispresentationwillincludefishingaccesspointsalongtheriver,thefishavailable,buglife,andafewtips about hismethod of catching the elusiveRedsides,BrownTrout, andBullTroutintheriver.

Johnisrenownedforhisfamous“JohnKreftflies”whichhehasgraciouslydonateddozensanddozenstotheCentralOregonFlyfishers(COF)monthlyraffle.HehasmanagedtheCOFWinterFlyTyingsince2012andcontributestotheFlyof the Month column in the COF newsletter.

InadditiontotheCOFactivities,JohnwasthetreasurerfortheOregonCoun-cil–IFFFfor4½yearsandChairofthe2015and2016NWFlyTying&FlyFish-ingExpoinAlbany.HehasbeenanexhibitionflytyerattheNWExpo,WesternIdahoFlyFishingExpo(Boise),NorthernCaliforniaFlyTyingExpo(Redding),andseveralnationalIFFFFairs.HeisontheboardofCentralOregonProjectHeal-ingWaters,teachingflytyingandflyfishingtoveterans.

Lastly, John started the website RiverKeeper Flies (www.johnkreft.com) inMarch 2014, which is a great resource to novice and experienced anglers. Hisweeklypostsincludeavarietyoftopicsincludingflyfishing,flytying,andvolun-teer work. A couple of notable tabs on the webpage includes Fly Patterns(includ-ingCrookedRiverflies)andResources (knots,hookandbeadconversioncharts).Manypicturesaccompanythepostsandflypatternstohelpwithhisstory-tellingstyle.

JohnandhiswifeKaren(anotedflyfisherinherownright)liveinSisters.

about it, and I was told that the reason for the freeze on putting coho into the lake is not a money issue or a biological issue. We hope that it can be worked outandthatthispopularfisherycanbecontinued.

A few of the club members that attend-ed a previous Galesville outing.

So for the Southern Oregon Fly Fishers,theCowCreekbasinprovidesmultiplefishingopportunitiesthatarerelativelyclosetohome.Youcancatcha large winter steelhead in the Cow Creek canyon, or trout and severalwarmwaterspeciesinGalesvilleRes-ervoir.WehavebeentalkingaboutanunofficialoutingtoGalesvilleinAprilor May. I would be willing to unof-ficially schedule a weekday trip withSOFF members and help those who haveneverfishedtherelearnthelake.Send me an email if you are interested. Let’sgofishing!


CASTING ABOUT



Mar 18 Applegate SteelheadApr 22 TBAMay 6 TBAJun 1-4 Lemolo LakeJune 23-25 Cascade LakesJul 29-30 Umpqua BassAug 19-20 Lower Rogue Half- pounders.Sept. 16 Klamath Basin Trout

March Outing - Winter Steelhead On The Applegate River

2017 Outings

We are fortunate here in Southwest Oregon to live near some of thebest steelhead streams in the world. With runs of both summer and winter steelhead,wecanenjoysteelheadfish-ing throughout the entire year—riverconditions permitting. As we near the endofwinter,theApplegateRivertyp-ically of-fers an outstand-ing op-portunity to catch steelhead onafly.

F o r t h o s e that are new to the area, the Ap-p l e g a t e is a small riverwithw a t e r thatiseasytoreadandfish.Itiswellsuited to nymphing tactics; however,thereareplentyofplacestoswingflies.Winter steelhead arrive in theApple-gatelateintheseason,sofishingusual-ly gets going around the middle of Feb-ruary and keeps getting better until the season ends on March 31. Since most ofthelandalongtheApplegateRiverisprivate,unlessyouknowsomeone,ac-cessislimitedtoseveralpublicproper-

tiesscatteredalongtheriver.Sincetheriver is quite shallow at the flows thatoffer the best fishing and there are noboat ramps, few people use driftboats ontheriver.Theuseofsmallpontoonboats;however,isgettingmorepopular.Ifyoudofloat the river,beaware thatsome sections of the river have dams,low bridges, rapids, and other obstacles.

Also, re-m e m b e r , by law, you must get out of the boat to fish.

If you want to learn more about fish-ing the Applegate, come to the club outing on Sat u rday March 18.

We will start off by meeting for break-fastat8:00AMattheShari’sRestaurantonthecornerofAgnessAvenueandtheGrants Pass Parkway. If you don’t want toeat,be thereby9:00AM. Wewillcaravantotheriverfromthere.

Bring your fishing gear, waders,rain jacket, polarized glasses, lunch, and water. Single-handed, switch, and smaller Spey rods in the 7 to 8-weight range are suitable for the Applegate. Pack your floating and sink-tip lines,and bring a variety of nymphs andstandard steelhead patterns. As I said above,theApplegateRiverisverywellsuited to nymphing techniques. An ef-fective setup is to use a large, heavynymph, such as a salmonfly nymph,withasize10A.P.nymph,hare’sear,pheasanttail,orsimilarflyonadropper.For those thatwant to swingflies, tra-ditional steelhead patterns, egg-sucking leeches,andsmallerintruder-styleflies

workwell.Manypeoplefeelhavingalittlechartreuseon theflyhelpswhenfishingtheApplegatenomatterwhichtechnique you choose.

Because it is soproductive, Iwillspend some time during the outing dis-cussing proper nymphing techniques, aswellasgoingoverwhen,where,andhowtofishtheApplegateRiver.Giventhe conditions we have experiencedthiswinter,thereisachancetherivercould be out of shape for our outing, so be sure to check the club website for any updates just before the outing.

David Haight, Outings Chair

The Applegate Outing is both a fishing and instructional event. Here Dave Haight and Josh White provide a little instruction before those club members go in pursuit of the steelhead.

For SaleEasilyloadyourboatonyourve-

hicle with the Eide automatic boat loader(Model#305).Thismodelcar-riesup to250#and accommodates boats10’-15’inlength.Itisremov-able—noboltingtothevehicle.Thehand-cranked winch attaches to the loader. #305fitsvans, suburbans,sportvehicles,andcarry-alls.

Price:Newin2000was$895Mypriceis$350

Contact Bruce Bochman 541-471-1985or541-761-1176


FLY TYING CORNER

Name(s):Address:City: State: Zip:Phone:Home()Work:()Email: Personal interests: Renewal:_____New:______



Membership Form


Tying Instructions:

Olive Dirty Bird

Hook: Dai-Riki075,Size8Thread: Black6/0Bead: Black 5/32 Bead.Tail: Natural ParteidgeRib: Medium Copper Wire.Body: OliveRabbitDubbing.Wing: OliveKrystalFlash.Collar: Natural Partridge.Head: Black Rabbit Dubbing.

Clip a clump of partridge about 1/8 inch wide, and tie in at the bend of the hook for the tail. Then tie in the copper wire andwrapthethreadbacktothetail.Twisttheolivedubbingontothethreadandwindthedubbingtothebackofthebead.Wrapcopperwireoverthedubbingtojustbehindthebead.Cut4strandsofKrystalFlashaboutthreequartersofaninchlong and center the Krystal Flash behind the bead and tie in, then fold the forward facing strands back and wrap thread in front so that all the strands are facing back. Tie in partridge by the top just behind the bead, and make 2 to 3 wraps around the fly,creatingacollar.Makeacoupleofwrapswiththethreadinfrontofthecollar,andtwistblackdubbingontothethread.Make2wrapswiththeblackdubbinginfrontofthecollar,whipfinishandthat’sit.

Fly Tied By: Josh White

AccordingJoshWhiteoftheRogueFlyShop,thisisanexcellentflytohavetiedupandinyourbox,particularlyifyou’regoingontheMarchoutingontheApplegate.WethankJoshforprovidingthisflyofthemonth


CHANGING LINES COMING EVENTS3-7 Board Meeting3-10-11 AlbanyFlyFishingExpo.3-14 SOFT Fly Tyers, Madrone Mobile Home Park in Gold Hill.3-16 ClubMeetingwithJohn Kreft.3-18 Club Outing - Applegate Steelhead.4-4 Board Meeting4-11 SOFT Fly Tyers, Madrone Mobile Home Park in Gold Hill.4-20 ClubMeeting-FlyTyers Night.5-2 Board Meeting.5-6 TentativeClubOuting.Editor’s Notebook Cont. From Pg. 8

other goodies for those attending. At lastyear’sparty,theremust’vebeen35to40peopleinattendance,alotofthemnot only club members, but other tyers, vendors and even the president of theInternational Federation of Fly Fishers stopped by.

So if you’re planning on attending theExpo,which again is onMarch10and 11th, at the Linn County Expo Cen-ter in Albany, stop on by the Comfort Suites Hotel at the conclusion of Fri-day’s events, ask formy suite numberand join us.

CaliforniaandOregonoverthelast30years, I have never left one of them,thatIhaven’tlearnedsomethingfromit. That’s the beauty of one of these af-fairs; you can always learn something new.

As I said, there are 200 tyers alltoldthataredemonstratingoverthe2daysof theevent,butnotat thesametime.Thismeansthatyouhaveampleopportunity to continuously see new tyers as the Expo progresses.

Although my interests lie primari-lywithflytying,thereareotherclassesthat are conducted at each Expo some of which are specialty classes on cast-ing,flyfishingandflytying.

Lastly,therearethevendors.Eachyear the Expo seems to attract new and differentvendorswhodisplayflytyingmaterials, rods, reels, destinations, and guidedtripsalltoenticetheflyfisher.

AlthoughIreceivealotofsatisfac-tion from the Expo, one of the high-lights for me is the annual reception that my wife and I host each year. It started out as a couple of club mem-bers stopping by my room for a glass ofwineaftertheeventendedonFridaynight and has now progressed to me booking a suite and seeing that there arehothorsd’oeuvres,dips,chipsand

2017 MEMBERSHIP DUES

Forthoseofyouwhohavestillnotpaidyour2017member-shipdues,theyarenow60days past due. This is the stage of the renewal process where I need to track you down with emails, phone calls, homeandofficevisits,etc.Itendtorunoutoftimeandenergyandhavebeenknown to get cranky. Won’t you please help me out by mailing your check to theclubpostofficeboxtoday?

Southern Oregon Fly FishersPO Box 1144Grants Pass, OR 97528

The2017editionoftheclubmem-bership directory will be going to print on Monday, March 27. If you are plan-ning on being included with your cur-rent contact information, I need to hear from you before then.

Thank you.

Rich Hosley, Membership Chairman

FOR SALE----GREAT FISH-ING BOAT

1975—13’4” Welded AluminumGregor w/Dilly Tilt Trailer,

MadeinUSA(ModelDelux400).2002Mercury15HPshortshaftout-

board(verylowhours)

Also included: set of oars, detach-able boat dolly wheels, 2 anchors, 5 gal. gas can, 2 seats w/backs, spare tire

Price: $2495.00 or Best Offer

Contact Bruce Bochman—541-471-1985or541-761-1176

For Sale

Rich Hosley presents Tom Beverage with a Gary Anderson Rod for paying his club dues before January 1st. Just goes to show that the early bird does get the worm or in this case a new fly rod.


Editor’s Notebook

NON PROFIT ORG

U.S POSTAGE



Continued on Pg. 7

theeverydayfliesImightuse.Thosetying dry flies, as well as nymphs,probably receive themajority ofmyattention.IfIreallylikeaflypatternbeing demonstrated I might sit down andwatchitbeingtiedseveraltimes,trying to remember not only the ma-terialsforthefly,butthestepsneces-sary to craft it. I, like many others, have taken to carrying a notebookalong with their cell phones or camer-astorecordeverystepalongthewayof patterns they wish to try at home.

I have to say, that I doubt therearemany newpatterns being devel-oped anymore. Rather it is the tradi-tional patterns that are being tied in a non-traditional manner. There’s new materials, methods and techniques thatmay change of fly’s appearancesomewhat, but its genesis will hear-ken back to an original pattern. Af-ter attending these Expos both in

the Atlantic Salmon Patterns which are flies that due to their complexityandcreativityneedtobecarefullyen-shrined in a shadowbox and hung on a walltobeadmiredandnotfished.Nextin the line of tyers are those that craft steelhead patterns. In my judgment, these flies rank just below Atlanticsalmon patterns, still fairly complex to tie,butareusedforfishing.Andlast-ly, not to be outdone by the other two types of flies, are the traditional dryflyandnymphpatterns.Regardlessofyour interest, there are numerous tyers demonstrating each discipline.

I relish the opportunity to walk up and down the rows of tyers, stopping at each tyer’s station and checking out what each participant is tying. I must say that although Atlantic salmon pat-terns are in themselves works of artother than admiring them for what theyare,Ihavelittleinterestintyingone of them. Rather, my interests lie in

As spring approaches I, like nature, have a re-awakening. Instead of having the sap flow as with a tree,my juices instill in me the need to tie flies.Nowis the timewhenI thumbthrough countless fly fishing maga-zines,YouTubeproductionsandotherfly tyingsources tosee if Icanfinda pattern that intrigues me enough toattemptit.Asusual,Ineverseemtofindtherightpatternthatinterestsme enough to try it. Now here is my conundrum! Having collected thou-sands of patterns over the past 30yearsorso,Ican’tfindtherightonetotie,nowwhatdoIdo?

Fortunately for me, the annual ‘Fly Tyer and Fly Fishing Expo’, scheduled for March 10 and 11th in Albanyisalmosthere.Atthisevent,thereare200primoflytyersdemon-stratingtheartofflytying.Therearetyerstyingthe‘GrandDame’offlies,

SOFF News

SPECIAL MENTION



Vol. 24 No. 4 The Monthly Newsletter of The Southern Oregon Fly Fishers, Inc. April, 2017






So. Oregon Fly Fishers bemoan the fact that this season’s local steelhead fishery has been a bust due to the re-cord rain fall we had this year.

By the time your receive this newsletter, the Applegate will be closed to steelhead fishing. This year the Applegate has been a bust due to the ‘monsoonal’ rains we experienced. So that you know that there are steelhead in the Applegate, I have included a photo of Tom Mor-ris with a fine specimen taken a couple of years ago.

SOFF NEWS April, 2017 Page 2

FROM THE BOARD


The Board of Directors meet in the conference room of the The Brew Pub The next meeting is scheduled: Apr. 4th at 6:00pm or the first Tuesday of the month All members welcome


about casting is that it draws people to flyfishing.Theyseehowsimpleagoodcaster makes it look. They watched the movie A River Runs Through It. They want to try it. I have seen this time and time again when I work with beginners at SOFF’s annual fly fishing clinic inMay. These folks want to get a rod in their hand and try casting. We spend a lot of time with casting at the clinic and the participants cast until their arms are tired and want more!

The casting motion is simple enough. The caster raises the rod to pick up the line off the water and start the backcast.Therodflexes,thenstraight-ens back out as the line goes back. Then

the rod is flexed again as the casterstarts the forward cast, and straightens back out again as the line goes toward the target. The art and science of it is to know where, when and how to move the rod. The point at which the rod tip starts and stops during this series of mo-tions is a key fundamental to success-ful casting. I have heard some say it’s like painting a straight line with the rod tip. I have heard others say to move the thumb of your casting hand in a straight line. Others preach the three-count mo-tion of back cast, pause, forward cast. Does this sound like an art and a sci-ence? I believe it is.

Castingonastream,lakeorsaltflatis much more than just knowing how to cast. It involves the casting variables which must be dealt with to success-

Continued on Pg. 3

fully get the fly where and how youwant. The wind is a variable that can make casting a challenge or even make it unsafe! I got to go to Belize a few yearsagoandwascastingtobonefishonthesaltflats.Thewindwasalwaysblowing.Thefishingguideshowedushow to cast with a sidearm motion so the line would be less affected by the wind. I have experienced the infamous “right ear wind” that can take a cast andmovethelineandtheflyintothecaster. In this type of situation another method must be used so that you don’t hook your right ear! Some casters will cast with their left hand, or keep the rod in their right hand and cast with the tip

over their left shoulder to keep the line downwind.

Other variables depend on where you are fishing, ofcourse. The depth, speed and turbidity of the water you are fishing candictate the typeofcast you want to make. The size, weight and length of the rod you are using and the type of leader setup are also vari-ables to consider. The weight and type of fly you are usingcan also affect casting style.

The casting platform is another key variable. If you are wading, getting into the best position to make the cast is crucial. In some cases you are re-stricted by deep and/or swift current so

Casting Reflections

I am not an expert. Now that I have gotten that disclaimer out of the way I want to share some reflectionsonflycasting.

Castingafly is the trade-mark of our sport. To some it is simple, natural and comes fairly easily. To others it is a puzzle that is never solved. Af-ter 40 years of doing it, I have not come close to mastering it. I have been fortunate enough to watch and listen to famous casting instructors from all over the West. I have also had the opportunity to get some casting instructions and advice from SOFF members. After all of this, I wondered why my casting ability got only a little bit better.

I found out why in a very simple way several years ago. I won a 6-weight rod and wanted to compare it to a 6-weight I already owned. I rigged up both rods with casting yarn and went out in my yard. I could feel the differ-ence after 3 or 4 casts with both rods. I didn’t know why the newer rod was easier to cast for distance, I just knew it was. But the most important thing I discovered that day was that it was fun to practice casting with yarn in the yard!BeforethatIonlydidflycastingwhen I was fishing. Practice was notdone,onlyfishing.Ichangedthatandmy casting improved.

Another thing that I must mention

President Dave shows his casting style.


PROGRAMS Future Programs May 18 Devin OlsenJun 15 TBAJul 20 No MeetingAug 17 No MeetingSep 21 Spey ClaveOct 19 John SheweyNov 11 Annual Club AuctionDec 21 Mark Bachmann



Annual Fly Tyer’s Meeting

Apr. 20, 2017


you have to make the type of cast that will work best from where you are. If youareinaboatorfloattube,youcanmove around to make it easier to make a successful cast. Another set of vari-ables involves the snagging capabili-ties of sticks, rocks and overhanging brush. One must avoid snags on the back cast and sometimes the forward cast, and watch for snags in the water as the line is retrieved.

All of these conditions can be a problem, or they can be dealt with using patience and experience. The thing to remember is what ALL of the instructors I have listened to tell me: “Practice, practice, practice!” To that I want to emphasize making practice easy and fun to do. Keep a rod rigged up so you can grab it and go out in the yard or street. Pick out targets for dis-tanceandsomemoredifficult targetswith obstacles to cast over, under or around. Spend 5 or 10 minutes casting a couple of times a week. You will en-joy it and your casting will improve!

This year our Fly Tyer chair, John Storfold, has put together a super list of tyerstoregaleyoutheirflytyingabilities.Therewillbenewpatterns,newmaterialsandnewtechniquestohelpyouproduceaflythatwillbeonly a little less effective than dynamite. So come on down, bring your notebooks andcamerastorecordthestepsintyingthese‘dynamite’flies.

Those club members tying this year are:Bruce Bochman, Kevin Daniels, Dave Grosjacques, Jeff Fox, Morris

Fruitman, David Haight, Dale Heath, Joe Holzen, Chuck Hunnington, Joseph Knapik, Dan Kellogg Ed Morphis, Marlon Rampy, Dave Rob-erts, John Storfold, Mark Swanburg, Mark Teeters, Josh White and Paul Wolflick.

As noted before all these tyers with the exception of three were at the recently concluded Fly Tying Fair in Albany. If you were at the Fly Tying Fair and missed seeing any of these tyers, or missed the Albany show, you’re in luck as these tyers willdemonstratingtheirflytyingprowesstothedelightofoneandall.

These are just some of the tyers that will demonstrating their abilities at the vise at the Fly Tyers meeting.


CASTING ABOUT

Save the Date

Guess what is happening on July 22nd? Its the annual SOFF wine dinner. Imag-ine this: A wonderful dinner, beautiful grounds, and good wine. Schmidt Win-ery in the Applegate Valley, is where our event will be taking place. Our

The club has received our first check, $54.04, from the Fred Meyers Com-munity Reward Program!

So thanks to all that have signed up for a reward card and selected the Southern Oregon Fly Fishers to receive their Community Reward Points.

If you’ve not signed up, see Jan Knapik at a General Meeting and she will help you sign up. Remember se-lecting the club does not affect you, you still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today. The amount given by the Fred Meyers Reward Program is based on how many folks select our club, so, the more that sign up the more monies will come to the club.

To sign up we will need to sign into your Fred Meyer digital account or create one. Also, we will need your Fred Meyer reward card number to proceed.

SOFF AUCTION By Sonja Nisson

Your auction committee is already hard at work planning the 2017 SOFF Auction. Due to an extensive remod-el, Taprock will not be able to host our event, but not to worry- we have GREAT NEWS! We will be holding our annual SOFF Auction at Grants Pass Golf Club. SAVE the DATE - Sat-urday, November 11, 2017. Grants Pass Golf Club is known for great food and a warm and fun atmosphere- perfect for our party. Now is the time to put the date on your calendar. A special invite to all our veterans- Our party falls on veterans day this year and it will be an honor to have you share a part of your day with us!

An added note - In the past three years, our auction has grown, but our committee has lost several members. We need your help!

Sonja Nisson putting together the an-nual auction.

We Need Volunteers to help before the auc-

tionVolunteers to help the day of the

auctionVolunteers to help at the auctionVolunteers to help clean up

or Go All Out and volunteer to join

the auction committee!To join in the fun while making

this year’s auction a success, call Sonja at 541-582-4833.

Annual Wine Dinner By Bruce Cochran

The inviting front door at the Schmidt Winery will greet those club members and guests attending the annual wine dinner.

A view of Schmidt Winery gardens.

dinner will be held in the Round House, which overlooks their gardens and vine-yards. You can take your loved one, with a glass of wine and stroll the gardens and enjoy the evening. Dinner will be Tri-tip, Chicken, Summer Salad and Vegetables alongwiththeirfamouswoodfiredbread.To start the evening, we will enjoy chips andvariousdipsandfinishoff theeve-ning with a wonderful desert. Stay tuned for more information and how to sign up. We look forward to seeing you there.

Community Rewards By Jan Knapik



May 6 Copeland’s Pond.Jun 1-4 Lemolo LakeJune 23-25 Cascade LakesJul 29-30 Umpqua BassAug 19-20 Lower Rogue Half- pounders.Sept. 16 Klamath Basin Trout.Oct 21 Middle Rogue Steelhead.

May Outing - Copeland’s Pond

2017 Outings

dessert to share. You can then spend the restofthedayfishingandvisitingwithfellow club members.

Bob requires thatfishcaught fromthepondbereleased,sothefishhavethe

o p p o r -tunity to grow to i m p r e s -sive sizes. D u r i n g p r e v i -ous out-ings, club m e m -bers have l a n d e d l a r g e -m o u t h bass over 20 inches and crap-pie over

15inches.Youcancatchfishrightfromthebank;however,afloattube,pontoonboat, driftboat, or other small watercraft willgiveyoubetteraccesstothefish.If

bugs,rabbit-stripflies,woollybuggers,leeches, streamers, and nymphs. Olive or white woolly buggers have worked well for both crappie and bass in past years.Large,oliverabbit-stripfliesorleeches have been effective for the big-ger bass.

For those of you that have been concerned about not seeing the Copeland’s Pond outing on the schedule, don’t worry, we are going—it just took a little longer this year to schedule the date. What has be-come, by far, the club’s most p o p u l a r outing is scheduled for May 6. For those of you that are new to the club and don’t know why this is a big deal, C o p e -l a n d ’ s Pond is a private pond, owned by club members Bob and Valerie Copeland, that offers some of the best fishing in the area for biglargemouth bass, crappie, and other warm-waterfish.

We will follow our usual routine: You can arrive any time after 8:30, and spend themorning fishing. At noon,the club will provide hamburgers, chips, and drinks. Those attending are requested to bring a salad, side dish, or

Fishing must be easy at Copeland’s Pond if even the old editor can hook up!

One never knows what might take your fly at Copeland’s Pond as attested to by Mark Swanburg with this giant carp he took at a previous outing. youplantotargetpanfish,3to5-weightrods work well, but if you hook into a big bass or carp, you may wish you had something heavier. For bass or carp, a 6 to 8-weight rod would be a good choice. Slow sinking lines will likely be the most useful,butbringyourfloating linesaswell.Yourflyboxshouldcontainbass

After a hard morning fishing at Cope-lands, outing participants recharge their batteries with hamburgers and drinks provided by the club and potluck sup-plyed by the members.

To get to Copeland’s Pond, take Redwood Highway west from town. Turn north off the highway onto Ap-plegate Avenue then look for the club signs where Applegate Avenue turns right and becomes Leonard Road.

The outing to Copeland’s Pond is always a lot of fun—both for the great fishingandtheopportunitytoenjoythecompany of fellow club members. We greatly appreciate Bob and Valerie’s generosity in allowing us to enjoy their property. If you plan to go, sign up at the April meeting or call or e-mail me by April 30, so I know how much food to purchase.

David Haight, Outings Chair 541-855-9043, [email protected]


FLY TYING CORNER




Membership Form


Tying Instructions:

Orange Tied Down Caddis

Hook: Standard Numph, Size 6-16.Thread: Black 3/0Tail: Natural Dark Deer HairBody: Orange UV Dubbing (Original Calls for Orange Yarn.Wing Case: Natural Dark Deer HairHackle: Coachman Brown.

Continued on Pg. 7

After laying thread foundation attach a small bunch of deer hair at the shank bend. The tips of the deer hair will be the tail and the remainder will form the wing case. Th

soff news · 2019. 12. 19. · soff news special mention rich hosley: membership john storfold: fly...

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