january – lower salt river float (day trip) outings for
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O F F I C I A L D E S E R T F L Y C A S T E R S N E W S L E T T E R
Desert Fly Casters Supports BARBLESS HOOKS CATCH & RELEASE
LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS BEHIND WHEN WALKING THE PATHWAYS OF OUR ARIZONA ENVIRONMENT
JANUARY 2014
JANUARY DFC CLUB MEETING...
JANUARYWednesday,
January 8, 2014Cocktails: 5:30 • Dinner: 6:30Raffle/Action & Prizes: 7:00
Elks Lodge 1775 West Chandler Blvd.
Chandler, Arizona 85224
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014Gordon Tharrett...Co-owner of Trout Creek Flies in Dutch John, Utah. Mr. Tharrett will be talking about fly fishing the Green River below Flaming Gorge. Also...Lorraine Avenetti and Curt Gill from AZGFD will bring us up to date.Come meet-up with us Trout Bums...6:00 Dinner... 7:00 Club Meet-ing, followed by your monthly program along with fun and raffle
January – Lower Salt River Float ...(Day Trip)Dates: Saturday, January 11, 2014Where: Phon D. Sutton Parking LotTIME: Meet at 8:30 am; Start float by 9:00amHost: Dave Weaver | [email protected] | 480-495-2983Time to get started fishing in 2014 with a float down the lower Salt River with your host Dave Weaver. Sign up at the January meeting. The lower Salt River is an easy day trip to fly fish in the valley during the winter months. We will meet in the Phon D Sutton parking lot off the Bush Hwy. The flows will be lower and slower compared to summer months. The Salt river will be stocked with trout. Bass can be caught as well. 4-6wt rods will work best. Bass flies include clouser's, wooly buggers. Trout flies in your fly box with/without a dropper setup will work. Some will use a two rod setup with floating and sinking lines. Watercraft like a U-boat will work fine and pontoons work even better on the float. If you need a boat, give Dave a call and we will do our best to get you connected with one to borrow. If you have any questions call Dave at 480-495-2983. Don’t forget your Tonto Day Pass!
Dead Horse Ranch State Park Outing:February 21 to 23 at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona. Cost is $40 per site and includes one car or tow vehicle, two night’s site fee. There will be a potluck Saturday night. There are three ponds to fish, plus the Verde River. Lots of good hiking, and it is close to Sedona, Oak Creek, and Jerome. This is a good outing for the whole fam-ily. We have reserved the group site. It includes 23 sites plus a ramada with electric for crock pots or other small electrical appliances. No hook ups, but water and hot showers/restrooms are available. Looking forward to seeking you at this outing. Please sign up at the January meeting, or call Harriet at 480-363-5552.OU
TINGS
FOR 20
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This is one of the fly boxesfrom Tom Horvath and Vince Deadmond keep when floating Lees Ferry. See Vince and Tom at the next DFC January club meeting and discuss with them their suggestions on catching the big ones! Note, me thinks, thars some green wennies in that box! ALSO... Check out January Fly Tying on page 3 in this newsletter.
Desert Fly Casters
CATCH US HERE:Desert Fly CastersWeb Sitewww.desertflycasters.com
PresidentJoe [email protected]
Vice PresidentMichael [email protected]
SecretaryRick [email protected]
TreasurerHarriet [email protected]
ProgramsGentry [email protected]
OutingsTom [email protected]
MembershipDave [email protected]
WebsiteBill [email protected]
News LetterRobert [email protected]
Hey fellow DFC’ers—we could use your help. Our annual banquet will be held Wednes-day, February 12, 2014 at the Knights of Columbus Hall.As you are probably aware, the annual banquet is our op-portunity to raise money to support the ongoing operations of the Desert Fly Casters. The money brought in by the raffle allows us to support:• Blue Ribbon fishery volunteer work: Lower Canyon Creek in the Tonto National Forest and White Mountains Lake Founda-tion. Both of these are a part of Arizona’s very few catch and release, fly and lure only fisheries. We provide yearly support and donations • Yearly support at fishing expos and stores for education of fly fishing with emphasis on bringing new people into the sport.• Yearly classes for fly casting, fly tying and rod building• Provide training for Boy Scouts Fly Fishing merit badge• Monthly meetings with guest speakers• ….and outings for our club members! While there are still some very generous donations made by mem-bers of the fly fishing business community, in all honesty many companies that used to donate have either stopped altogether or have reduced their contributions by a significant amount. I’m hoping that you can help us close the gap. If you own a busi-ness, please consider donating some services or products. If you are good friends with a business owner, please ask them to donate a service or a product. As an individual, perhaps you would con-sider donating a craft item, a wine basket, a box of hand tied flies, that extra fishing vest you have never used etc. etc. Please contact Charlie Rosser at [email protected] for more infor-mation on how to donate or for our charitable contribution letter (we are a 501. C3 corporation, so donations are tax deductible) or call him at 480.586.7163. Thank you!Joe Staller, Desert Fly CastersBob Harrison at: [email protected]
Outings the DFC Board is working on:
• Salt River Outing- January 11, 2014
• Casting Games at Red Mountain Ranch TBA• ANNUAL DFC BANQUET
February, 12, 2014 • Dead Horse Lake- C/G
February 21, 2014
Need YourSupport...
DFC 2014 Membership Drive--Win a Brand New Orvis H2 Fly Rod! DFC is kicking-off our 2014 membership drive and this year members have the chance to win a brand new Orvis H2 Fly Rod ($795 retail value)! The membership drive will officially begin Jan 1st, 2014 and run until April 9th, 2014. Members who sign-up, or renew, in that period will receive one-raffle ticket. However, just to sweeten the deal, if you pay your 2014 club dues in December, you will receive two-raffle tickets! And, for the first time, we are offering lifetime club memberships! See details below for more information: Annul Memberships--$35 Early Bird Special--Receive Two-Raffle Tickets:If you pay at the Dec club meeting, or by mail before Dec 31st –must be postmarked by Dec 31st to receive two-tickets. Receive One-Raffle Tickets:If you pay after Jan 1st, but before the April club meeting. Payments made by mail must be received by April 9th , regardless of postmark, as the drawing will be held at the April meeting. Lifetime Memberships--$350Early Bird Special--Receive Ten-Raffle Tickets:If you pay at the Dec club meeting, or by mail before Dec 31st –must be postmarked by Dec 31st to receive ten-tickets. Receive Five-Raffle Tickets:If you pay after Jan 1st, but before the April club meeting. Payments made by mail must be received by April 9th , regardless of postmark, as the drawing will be held at the April meeting. Good Luck!
January Fly TyingWe will again have a tying session at Bass Pro Shop on January 21st. One of our up-coming outings will be Dead Horse State Park in Cot-
tonwood. One recipe is for the Green Wennie and we will also be tying a verity of Prince Nymphs. I think the Green Weenie is effective at
Dead Horse as it kinda looks like what they feed hatchery trout.
Recipe: Green WeenieHook........Mustad 3906Thread....Chartreuse 6/0 UniTail...........Chartreuse ChenilleBody........Chartreuse ChenilleCollar.......Black Ice Dub
Questions??? Hey you can catch me, Tom Horvath,at: [email protected]
602-768-7280 – Cell
Check out the Lower Salt River DFC Outingwith Dave Weaver on January 11, 2014
Catch Dave at: [email protected]
Desert Fly Casters
REMEMBER --- January Meeting Conservation UPDATES!!!!! Arizona Game and Fish Department Presentations
Lorrainne Avenetti, Research Biologist, will introduce new AZGFD Trout Fishing projects started in the Rim Country and the White Mountains. She’ll tell us what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and
maybe even what we can do to help. Curt Gill, Fisheries Program Manager, will tell us about the recent work on Canyon Creek, and show
Real LIVE videos of the fantastic results of the recent spawning gravel placements in the stream. Canyon Creek is one of our Premier Brown Trout Streams, and it’s getting better!!! See the Article below!!!!
These Updates will be BEFORE our regular Speaker. So come on out for a great evening packed with Fun, Information, Where to go, What to catch, and How to do it!!!!!
Gravel enhancement project at Canyon Creek a breakthrough for wild brown troutDec. 17, 2013
PHOENIX -- A breakthrough gravel enhancement project at Canyon Creek, the prized wild trout fishery located on the Mogollon Rim near Heber, has led to about 30 wild brown trout spawning sites in the newly added gravel, which is more than 50 percent of the highest number ever counted over a 2.5-mile section from the reserva-tion boundary to the O.W. Bridge. The Arizona Game and Fish Department manages Canyon Creek primarily for wild brown trout. The department expects one result of the project to be a more resilient wild brown trout population and enhanced fishing opportunities. In early October, volunteers from Desert Fly Casters, Arizona Fly Casters and the Zane Grey Chapter of Trout Unlimited, along with Arizona Game and Fish Department per-sonnel, hauled 20 tons of gravel in four hours, passing buckets and dumping the gravel onto spots in a 100-foot portion of the creek with favorable spawning conditions (ideal
water velocity and depth). See post-project video of trout utilizing this gravel substrate for trout spawning sites (also called redds). Curtis Gill, an Arizona Game and Fish fisheries program manager, said a particularly hot summer of 2012 stressed fish populations and led to a 50-percent reduction in wild brown trout populations during the following year. Although conditions were conducive to spawning, there hadn’t been any spawning activity within 100 yards of the targeted spawning sites selected for enhancement. “The take home,” Gill said, “is that if you build it, they will come.” Fishing regulations at Canyon Creek are split in two at the O.W. Bridge. There is a four-trout limit in the upper reach. The lower reach is artificial fly and lure only, and catch-and-release only for trout. As of Jan. 1, single, barb-less hooks will also be required in the lower reach. The brown trout spawn is over statewide until next fall.
Desert Fly Casters
DFC 2014 Banquet – THIS IS THE ONE!This is the best event of the year for DFC – the 2014 DFC Super Deluxe Banquet Extravaganza. At the 2013 banquet, the food was amazing…there was plenty for everyone and the selection was as varied: hams and turkeys as far as the eye could see down a 200-foot table. YUM! And the other items: at least 300-400 salads, side dishes, and desserts that covered two more tables. Add to that a full bar with beer, wine, and spirits, and watch out…fun ahead!
My eyes glazed over at all the donated items available for the raffle. Where to begin for heaven’s sake! I purchased as many raffle tickets as I could, and began dropping them into the cups for the items that caught my eye (soo many). And when the drawing began I did not win as many as some, but certainly won my share – worth more than the money I put in! In fact, I won so many things that I haven’t yet used them all. And this year’s banquet is just around the corner.
But many folks were even more fortunate than me. One brand new member won two high-end fly rods and I believe one or two reels (along with some other items). How is that for a few dollars worth of tickets?
I am still trying to find as many items as I can to donate so that we have another great raffle this year. And I am saving my money so that I can buy plenty of raffle tickets. If you only go to one banquet in 2014, this is the one.
Michael L. Stewart – DFC memberCatch me at: [email protected]
Desert Fly Casters
Don’t miss out on the DFC 2014 Annual Banquet and Raffle to be held Wednesday, Feb 12. The ban-quet is held in a different location than our regular monthly meetings. See the map for location. Come early to purchase your raffle tickets and bid on the items you want. We will have many fly fishing items, gift certificates and items donated by members. Current items we have received are: a pontoon, a float tube, a portable fly tying bench, several rods and reels, insulated side gear bag for your pontoon, safe passage travel bag from Orvis, several wine baskets, various fly tying material and flies, chest pack, pocket watch and 2 for 1 guided fishing trips. Many more items to come. This raffle is different than our monthly raffle. Raffle tickets are 6 for $5, 30 for $25, 70 for $50 and 140 for $100. You will purchase tickets and place them in buckets for items you want to bid on. A winner for each item will be drawn from each bucket. In addition to the normal raffle there will also be items for purchasing tickets in the amount of $25, $50 & $100. We will also be selling tickets for $10. The lucky person that has the winning ticket will take home a rod and reel combo. The rod will be a name brand rod blank built up by our own famous rod build-er Mr. Dave Weaver. There will be a Ross Evolution LT reel with line to complete the rod/reel combo. We have a 50/50 raffle. Tickets will be 5 for $5. At the end of the night the lucky ticket holder will pocket 50% of the money collect. Just think, this could pay for all your raffle tickets you purchased.With all the raffle items and good food it is bound to be another good DFC Banquet/Raffle evening. If your last name begins with A-R bring a dish to share or S-Z bring a dessert. You DFC Board will furnish the meat. The hall has a cash bar for drinks. Hope to see you there.If you have an item to donate or question give Charlie Rosser a call or e-mail him:[email protected]
ANNUAL DFC BANQUETWednesday • February 14, 2014
Knights of Columbus Hall 644 E. Chandler Blvd. • Chandler, AZ
Desert Fly Casters
“In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friend-ship, but never in want.” - Traditional Irish Toast Auld acquaintance be not forgotten! The year 2013 was a good one for fish and fish-ing buddies. I got to spend quality time, drinking coffee, telling fish stories, and riding in trucks, early many mornings going to various fishing destinations with friends and family members. That time spent was almost as good as the actual fishing, thank you. It was an OK year for my Trout fishing. I managed to land Brookies, Rainbows, Browns, Apaches, and Cutthroats this year. I’ll need to add some Gila’s to my list for next year. My saltwater fishing netted several new species of fish, and that is always a plus. Last year I made a new years resolution to do more Tiger Musky fishing, and I am glad I did. This past year was my best Pike and Musky year ever. I caught my largest Pike in Upper Lake Mary a 42 inch fish. I caught my two largest Tiger Muskies on the same day at Quemado Lake in New Mexico. The first, and largest Tiger Musky of that day was a 38 inch fish. On the way back to camp and lunch I had another large fish that followed my fly, but would not bite. Later that afternoon I fished the same spot and hooked up with my largest Tiger, a 46 inch monster that I was really glad to get a hand from Jerry King in landing, and help with getting a photo. One weekend outing at Bluewater Lake in New Mexico I had wonderful Tiger Musky numbers. These fish were in the 28-32 inch class, and I managed to land seven of them on a Friday, and 14 more the next day during a Musky club outing. Fly rod guys can catch Musky! Here is hoping that 2014 will be another good year for fish, friends, and family. Vince Deadmond The Fly Fishing Hardware Guy can be reached at Best Hardware Apache Junction, AZ 237 N Apache Trail, and [email protected] and at 480 982 7461.
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW YEAR! by Vince Deadmond
2013 Canyon Lake Outing ...Dick Brooks
The results are in, the polling data tabulated, the surveys completed and all the data has been adjusted for seasonal variation and participant attitude and it has been es-tablished beyond a shadow of a doubt the the DFC Annual Canyon Lake Outing was a re-sounding success. The participants arrived mostly on time in spite of being held up coming up the canyon road by a wrecker extracting a vehicle that had tried to take a shortcut across the canyon and wound up in the ditch. Twenty plus DFC members arrived to find a sumptuous array of breakfast pastries (heat-ed of course), hot coffee with all the fix in's, various juices, and other beverages for those who were interested. We consumed all but a few of the parking spaces in the upper lot and and when everyone had sated themselves on the provisions they got their gear ready and headed for the water. One of our participants had all new "everything" and it was interest-ing to see stuff that had never been used before. However, most of our people are seasoned veterans and keep their gear just above the worn out bar. We then headed for the water and that is when things started to fall apart. The darned fish just wouldn't cooperate. Arizona Game and Fish showed on their stocking report that they would be putting a gazillion fish in the lake the week prior to our outing so we had high hopes. Evidently the fish were hidden well as our members were unable to find, or at least catch, only one small bass and one bluegill. But that's fishing. Most of us abandoned the project at about 12:30 and headed to Tortilla Flat for lunch. It was delightful. Maybe some of the diehard fishers that stayed on the water had some success but I have yet to receive any info on that and we all know that if anyone was successful we all would have heard about it by now.I want to thank all of you the showed up to make this a premier event on the always busy DFC event calendar! Couldn't have worked without you.
Desert Fly CastersPO Box 42252Mesa, AZ 85274-2252
MAIL TO: ☛
OUTINGS- 2014Joe Staller- President
Michael Georgopapadakos-Vice PresidentHarriet Georgopapadakos- Treasurer
Rick Scott- SecretaryOutings- Tom Horvath/Gentry SmithPrograms- Gentry Smith/David Huang
LibraryOpen position
Retail/Books/Logo -Jerry KingMembership- Dave Weaver
(Also- Newsletter distribution)Education
Cinda Howard/Mayer/GentryConservation- Joe Miller/Brooks/Stewart
TU/FFF Liaison- Bob Harrison Raffles- Kristen Kile
Newsletter Editor/Graphics Guru Robert McKeon
Website AdministratorBill Batchelor
Member at Large
Dick Brooks, Tom Russo, David Huang, Charlie Russer,
John Myer, Mike Stewart, Doc Nickel
Web Address Sitehttp://www.desertflycasters.com
2013 DESERT FLY C ASTERSBOARD OF DIREC TORS
See ya at the club meeting...
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
DFC ANNUAL BANQUETWednesday, February 12, 2014
at the Knights of Columbus Hall.
January 11, 2014 Lower Salt River / Day Trip
Host: Dave Weaver | [email protected] | 480-495-2983
February 21 to 23, 2014 Dead Horse Ranch Outing
Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, ArizonaPlease sign up at the January meeting,
or call Harriet at 480-363-5552.