officers and 25 off the beaten path montana fly streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in...

10
Spokane Fly Fishers www.spokaneflyfishers.com October, 2016 October 12, 2016 Presentation 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams By Jodi Fitts, Vice President SFF We have all heard about the legendary rivers of Montana. The Bighorn, the Madison, the Missouri, the Bitterroot – these are some of the biggest, most storied fly fishing waters of Montana. They host thousands of anglers and guides every season, and they provide some of the most exceptional fly fishing in North America. But beyond these famous Montana rivers, there are hundreds of equally productive, equally breathtaking rivers and streams that are a little smaller, a little lesser known, and a lot less frequented - and every bit as beautiful! These are the places that Molly Semenik will be talking to us about at our October meeting. Please join us at the meeting on October 12 th , for her presentation discussing her book, “25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams.” It will truly be a great evening. The presentation starts at 7:00 PM, following club business. Molly has 40-plus years of fly fishing experience and she started teaching fly casting back in the 80’s after she left the Midwest and landed in Utah. In 2000, Molly and her family moved to Livingston Montana where she began a 15-year guiding career. She and her husband currently live in Birch Bay, Washington. While she lived in Montana, Molly started Tie the Knot Fly Fishing, became an outfitter and an IFFF Master Certified Casting Instructor. She is currently on the IFFF Casting Board of Governors and their Board of Directors. Annually, Molly teaches over 400 students throughout the United States through schools, shops, clubs and shows. Please check out her book, titled “25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams” and look her up on Facebook at “Tie the Knot Fly Fishing” or at tietheknotflyfishing.com. OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS President Claude Kistler Vice President Jodi Fitts Treasurer Joe Papenleur Secretary Connie Tedrow Board Position 1 Al Odenthal Board Position 2 Miguel Ferrera Board Position 3 Craig Adams Past President Gale Allen Sgt. At Arms Rick Newman Contact us at: P. O. Box 4141 Spokane, WA 99220 Or [email protected] COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN Programs: Jodi Fitts Barbless Flyer Editor: Linda Howe Conservation: Miguel Ferrera Outings: Rick Diffley Education: Kurt Tempel Membership: Mark Gardner Fly Fishing School: Jodi Fitts Claude Kistler Librarian: Larry Ray Project Healing Waters: Fred Timms FFF Liaison: Rick Newman Beg. Fly Tying: Mary Kovatch Int. Fly Tying: Mike Berube Casting for Recovery: Mary Kovatch AROUND THE BEND Oct. 12: SFF Meeting 7:00 PM Oct: 15/16: Lake Lenore Outing Oct. 19: SFF Board Meeting 6:30 PM Oct. 21/23: Grande Ronde Outing Nov. 16: SFF Meeting FLY AUCTION Molly Semenik Casting Classes October 12, 2016 Molly has offered to teach two casting classes for us. They will both be during the day of October 12th and will take place at the Medical Lake Park on Medical Lake. It will be on the water so bring your waders and boots and be prepared for typical Fall weather. The first class is for beginning casters, starting at 11:00 AM. The second class is for immediate and advanced casters, starting at 2:00 PM. Both classes will cost $40 and run for two hours. Currently, we only have three spots left and only for the beginning casting class. Please get in touch with Jodi Fitts at [email protected], right away if you want to be in the beginner’s class, as we have opened it to non-members.

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Page 1: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

Spokane Fly Fishers wwwspokaneflyfisherscom October 2016

October 12 2016 Presentation 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

By Jodi Fitts Vice President SFF We have all heard about the legendary rivers of Montana The Bighorn the Madison the Missouri the Bitterroot ndash these are some of the biggest most storied fly fishing waters of Montana They host thousands of anglers and guides every season and they provide some of the most exceptional fly fishing in North America But beyond these famous Montana rivers there are hundreds of equally productive equally breathtaking rivers and streams that are a little smaller a little lesser known and a lot less frequented - and every bit as beautiful These are the places that Molly Semenik will be talking to us about at our October meeting Please join us at the meeting on October 12th for her presentation discussing her book ldquo25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streamsrdquo It will truly be a great evening The presentation starts at 700 PM following club business

Molly has 40-plus years of fly fishing experience and she started teaching fly casting back in the 80rsquos after she left the Midwest and landed in Utah In 2000 Molly and her family moved to Livingston Montana where she began a 15-year guiding career She and her husband currently live in Birch Bay Washington While she lived in Montana Molly started Tie the Knot Fly Fishing became an outfitter and an IFFF Master Certified Casting Instructor She is currently on the IFFF Casting Board of Governors and their Board of Directors Annually Molly teaches over 400 students throughout the United States through schools shops clubs and shows Please check out her book titled ldquo25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streamsrdquo and look her up on Facebook at ldquoTie the Knot Fly Fishingrdquo or at tietheknotflyfishingcom

OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS

President Claude Kistler Vice President Jodi Fitts Treasurer Joe Papenleur Secretary Connie Tedrow Board Position 1 Al Odenthal Board Position 2 Miguel Ferrera Board Position 3 Craig Adams Past President Gale Allen Sgt At Arms Rick Newman

Contact us at

P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

Or sffisherscomcastnet

COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN

Programs Jodi Fitts Barbless Flyer Editor Linda Howe Conservation Miguel Ferrera Outings Rick Diffley Education Kurt Tempel Membership Mark Gardner Fly Fishing School Jodi Fitts Claude Kistler Librarian Larry Ray Project Healing Waters Fred Timms FFF Liaison Rick Newman Beg Fly Tying Mary Kovatch Int Fly Tying Mike Berube Casting for Recovery Mary Kovatch

AROUND THE BEND

Oct 12 SFF Meeting 700 PM Oct 1516 Lake Lenore Outing Oct 19 SFF Board Meeting 630 PM Oct 2123 Grande Ronde Outing Nov 16 SFF Meeting

FLY AUCTION

Molly Semenik Casting Classes October 12 2016

Molly has offered to teach two casting classes for us They will both be during the day of October 12th and will take place at the Medical Lake Park on Medical Lake It will be on the water so bring your waders and boots and be prepared for typical Fall weather The first class is for beginning casters starting at 1100 AM The second class is for immediate and advanced casters starting at 200 PM Both classes will cost $40 and run for two hours Currently we only have three spots left and only for the beginning casting class Please get in touch with Jodi Fitts at vicepresidentspokaneflyfisherscom right away if you want to be in the beginnerrsquos class as we have opened it to non-members

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 2

Please remember that our Annual Fly Auction is Wednesday November 16

th This is one time change to our meeting schedule (3

rd Wednesday)

due to a conflict with the church schedule Help us get a jump-start on the auction by bringing your donations to our October 12

th meeting

September was a busy month for SFF volunteers with fly casting demonstrations to over 500 5

th grade youngsters taking part in the

Liberty Lake Water Festival the Spokane River Clean-Up and fin clipping at the Spokane Fish Hatchery Thanks to all who participated Also two club outings are scheduled for October Lake Lenore (Oct 15-16) and the Grande Ronde (Oct 21-23) The board also appointed a committee to review a proposed contract with the national Project Healing Waters organization as well as discussing a dues structure for our local Veterans and Project Healing Waters members With the loss of our Club House last spring we are looking for a new location to host our Beginning Fly Tying classes If you have ideas on a location please let me know The board has also asked Mary Kovatch to review class needs regarding class supplies printed material tying vices and class enrollment costs Irsquom happy to report that club member Doug Keene is helping Mark Gardner with membership activities at our monthly meetings Also Rick Newman will join me as co-chair of the November Fly Auction and I will join Jody Fitts as co-chair of the annual Fly School Club Secretary Connie Tedrow will also assist in these activities If you are new to the club volunteering on these and other activities is an excellent way to get to know other members and help your club grow in service as ambassadors to fishing education and conservation

PREZ SEZ By Claude Kistler

MEMBERSHIP By Mark Gardner Chairman

We have had a mad dash in cleaning up and completing the 2017 directory At this time there are still 70 memberships that have not yet been made current If you are not certain that your membership is up to date feel free to shoot me an e-mail or pay me a visit at the October meeting My email address is membershipspokaneflyfisherscom On another note Doug Keene has volunteered to assist me with the membership duties Thank you Doug for taking time out of your days and providing your services to our club Irsquoll see you at the October meeting

At the September Board meeting your board discussed charging non-members a $10 fee to listen to speaker presentations While the general membership meetings are open to the public a fee is being considered for speaker presentations to help offset the rising costs of speakers club insurance meeting facilities and other rising club expenses If the person becomes a member within 30 days the $10 fee would be applied towards their annual membership cost The board will continue to discuss and make a decision by the January 2017 meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 3

CONSERVATION CORNER By Miguel Ferrera Chairman

NORTHWEST NATURAL RESOURCE INSTITUTE WATER FESTIVAL REPORT This festival was presented on Sept 8

th and 9

th at Liberty Lake Park Several Spokane Fly

Fishers participated in the fly casting portion of the event showing over 500 fifth graders (from several Spokane schools) how to cast a fly rod line to a hula hoop target All of the kids seemed to enjoy it and were obviously having fun even the ones that had not wanted to participate initially Our club is fortunate that we have members that will step up to assist with events - - they make a big difference

SPOKANE RIVER CLEAN-UP REPORT - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17TH

Our Spokane Fly Fishing Club took on the clean-up area down river from the waste water treatment plant and the Disc Golf Course section of the river Lots of trash and recycle material was picked up all during a light rain This year we had a couple of Air Force guys join us As always the camaraderie during any of our volunteer events is great Thank you

FIN CLIPPING AT THE FISH HATCHERY REPORT SEPTEMBER 20TH-21ST

Between the coordinated efforts of Spokane Fly Fishers Inland Empire Fly Fishers Fish Hatchery employees and an Avista fish biologist we clipped away 55000 adipose fins We had a really nice day to do this outside and the fish cooperated very well under anesthesia These fish were rainbow triploids destined for Long Lake under an Avista program During the day we were provided with a tasty barbequed lunch As always the camaraderie was great and we shared stories and experiences I look forward to doing it again next year Many thanks to our volunteers

BROWNS LAKE PROGRESS REPORT

We are still doing a creel survey on Browns Lake If anyone has fished it this year I would like to hear about species caught and size Three of us were there this summer and it was very slow water was down about 10 feet The results of the survey will be in the December Barbless Contact Miguel at 5092632534 or mfkfcomcastnet

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 4

GRANDE RONDE OUTING OCTOBER 21ST 22ND AND 23RD HOST Rick Newman

We will be camping at the Cougar Creek campsite It isnrsquot labeled as such but it is just a couple of hundred feet downstream from Cougar Creek It is on the North side of the river 43 miles from the bridge over the Grande Ronde at Bogganrsquos There is also a campsite 13 miles upstream from Bogganrsquos None of the campsites have anything but a toilet and campfire rings You will need shelter food and water for the extent of your trip other than what you procure along the way or at Bogganrsquos Oasis Dress for the weather and come prepared for wind as downstream winds blow in the afternoons There are numerous places to wade and fish A pontoon boat can also be handy to cross the river to get to more areas I donrsquot plan on floating the river unless the rains come and the riverrsquos level rises People can make their own plans for drifting the river if they so choose Some of the folks are experienced in fishing for steelhead on the Grande Ronde River and can usually be convinced to provide a few tips for those of you with less experience I will provide any knowledge of steelhead fishing and my experiences in the area and along the river that I can Donrsquot forget that you need a Washington State fishing license and all the permits that allow you to fish for steelhead that have passed through the Columbia River A steelhead punch card along with a marking instrument to immediately note the fact that you have kept a steelhead On September 21st when I write this outing description the Grande Ronde River is flowing at an average of 500 cubic feet per second In laymanrsquos terms this means that the flows are very low many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places With that being said things can change overnight At low water levels the Grande Ronde requires quick decision making because of the combination of rocks rapids and shallows present at these water levels Experience in reading the water in rowing your boat and time spent running rivers is highly recommended This is not a river to learn how to row on Appropriate clothing for the possible weather waders wading boots and wading staff should be packed for the trip The Grande Ronde is very slippery and the more grip your boots have be it studs spike or aluminum bars the better you will enjoy your wading High Top Converse basketball shoes wonrsquot cut it here To reach this site requires 3 to 35 hours of driving from Spokane through Lewiston Clarkston Asotin up the Rattlesnake Grade to Anatone then down the grade to the intersection of the Grande Ronde Road and Highway 129 More details will be available on the website wwwspokaneflyfisherscom

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 5

LAKE LENORE OUTING - OCT 15TH-16TH Host Vira Shiraz 509 754-2526

Directions Drive I-90 W to Moses Lake and take Exit 179 (I-90 BUSWA17 N) Turn right amp go until you see the 17 N EphrataSoap Lake sign and go right Stay on WA17 until junction WA 282 Take right and stay on WA17 to Soap Lake ( WA 282 will take you to Ephrata) go through Soap Lake and to Lake Lenore Alternately another route is via US Highway 2 Drive west from Spokane to Coulee City then south on WA 17 and past Sun Lakes State Park Lake Lenore has three state launch sites We will use the middle launch called Sam Israel (WDFW) which has a boat ramp Please refer to WDFW website on Lake Lenore for more detail

Camping Camping is recommended in Ephrata at Oasis RV amp golf park offering full camping services Check them out httpoasisrvandgolfcoursecom

Water Craft This lake is best fished from a boat canoe float tube or pontoon boat Internal combustion motors are prohibited Electric motors only Anglers are also advised that wind can become very strong

Special Instructions A Discover Pass is required or a Vehicle Access Pass

Sign-In Everyone is required to sign in with the host to provide their cell phone number emergency contact name and cell phone number and sign the clubrsquos waiver form Please see the host before you head out

Flies Traditional fall flies for me have being Wooly Buggers (color Purple Black amp Brown) Chironomid fishing with either an indicator or long line is also effective Damsel nymphs slow stripped alone the weed line can be very effective All of these techniques depend on water temperature amp wind Check with Darc Knobel at Desert Fly Angler in Ephrata 509 754-4070 He keeps all the right flies on hand

FoodsMeals As of this newsletter this outing is ldquoBYODIYrdquo (Bring Your OwnDo It Yourself) The host will contact those who signed up if therersquos a change such as a potluck

REMINDER NOVEMBER 16TH mdash FLY AUCTION

The Fly Auction with your donations and winning bids supports the clubrsquos activities for the year

START TYING NOW AND GET YOUR DONATION READY

If your flies are ready please bring them to the October meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 6

JUNErsquoS COEUR DrsquoALENE RIVER OUTING REPORT By Gale Allen

The Coeur drsquoAlene River may never be the same after the SFF outing there in June A record number attended We had around 50 club members arrive on Friday to brave the rain park in the mud and enjoy the fishing and festivities at the Babinrsquos and Allenrsquos By Saturday the weather cleared and we gained another 30 or more guests and all were busy Some of us were fishing Some of us were learning about identifying and matching the hatch with Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes on the river to guarantee a better fishing experience Some of us were visiting the Spragpole Museum in Murray to learn more about the history of the com-munity and try out the pizza at the Bedroom Goldmine Bar And some of us stayed behind and caught up on conversation and sleep While the rest of us were out and about our hosts Ken and Gale stayed behind to see to the completion of roasting of the pig The roasting process began early Thursday morning building the fire to develop coals followed by stuffing wrapping and burying the pig to let it slow cook for two days Cooking a whole pig is a process that requires time and patience By the time we gathered for dinner on Saturday and laid out the pot luck the roasted pig was being hauled out of the pit and carved for serving Carving the pig was such an exciting time that Carla Ferguson jumped out of the audience to join in the carving process We all know that you canrsquot get the kitchen out of Carla or is it Carla that we canrsquot keep out of the kitchen No one went away hungry but there was little pork left over After dinner festivities continued with a concert by Kenrsquos sonrsquos band ldquoOne Louderrdquo and later Kenrsquos Aunt Bonnie joined us providing a little Blue Grass music as well We all got a surprise when Rick Hafele joined the band with his harmonica and also provided us with a drum solo during the evening Our Babin hosts lit up a Swedish candle (a hollowed out log about 5 feet tall that functions like a chimney with a flame out the top) in the fire pit that kept us warm through the evening By Sunday the sun was shining the mud had dried up and the river was ready again to provide more memories of good fishing good fun and good friends Thanks again Ken for hosting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 2: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 2

Please remember that our Annual Fly Auction is Wednesday November 16

th This is one time change to our meeting schedule (3

rd Wednesday)

due to a conflict with the church schedule Help us get a jump-start on the auction by bringing your donations to our October 12

th meeting

September was a busy month for SFF volunteers with fly casting demonstrations to over 500 5

th grade youngsters taking part in the

Liberty Lake Water Festival the Spokane River Clean-Up and fin clipping at the Spokane Fish Hatchery Thanks to all who participated Also two club outings are scheduled for October Lake Lenore (Oct 15-16) and the Grande Ronde (Oct 21-23) The board also appointed a committee to review a proposed contract with the national Project Healing Waters organization as well as discussing a dues structure for our local Veterans and Project Healing Waters members With the loss of our Club House last spring we are looking for a new location to host our Beginning Fly Tying classes If you have ideas on a location please let me know The board has also asked Mary Kovatch to review class needs regarding class supplies printed material tying vices and class enrollment costs Irsquom happy to report that club member Doug Keene is helping Mark Gardner with membership activities at our monthly meetings Also Rick Newman will join me as co-chair of the November Fly Auction and I will join Jody Fitts as co-chair of the annual Fly School Club Secretary Connie Tedrow will also assist in these activities If you are new to the club volunteering on these and other activities is an excellent way to get to know other members and help your club grow in service as ambassadors to fishing education and conservation

PREZ SEZ By Claude Kistler

MEMBERSHIP By Mark Gardner Chairman

We have had a mad dash in cleaning up and completing the 2017 directory At this time there are still 70 memberships that have not yet been made current If you are not certain that your membership is up to date feel free to shoot me an e-mail or pay me a visit at the October meeting My email address is membershipspokaneflyfisherscom On another note Doug Keene has volunteered to assist me with the membership duties Thank you Doug for taking time out of your days and providing your services to our club Irsquoll see you at the October meeting

At the September Board meeting your board discussed charging non-members a $10 fee to listen to speaker presentations While the general membership meetings are open to the public a fee is being considered for speaker presentations to help offset the rising costs of speakers club insurance meeting facilities and other rising club expenses If the person becomes a member within 30 days the $10 fee would be applied towards their annual membership cost The board will continue to discuss and make a decision by the January 2017 meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 3

CONSERVATION CORNER By Miguel Ferrera Chairman

NORTHWEST NATURAL RESOURCE INSTITUTE WATER FESTIVAL REPORT This festival was presented on Sept 8

th and 9

th at Liberty Lake Park Several Spokane Fly

Fishers participated in the fly casting portion of the event showing over 500 fifth graders (from several Spokane schools) how to cast a fly rod line to a hula hoop target All of the kids seemed to enjoy it and were obviously having fun even the ones that had not wanted to participate initially Our club is fortunate that we have members that will step up to assist with events - - they make a big difference

SPOKANE RIVER CLEAN-UP REPORT - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17TH

Our Spokane Fly Fishing Club took on the clean-up area down river from the waste water treatment plant and the Disc Golf Course section of the river Lots of trash and recycle material was picked up all during a light rain This year we had a couple of Air Force guys join us As always the camaraderie during any of our volunteer events is great Thank you

FIN CLIPPING AT THE FISH HATCHERY REPORT SEPTEMBER 20TH-21ST

Between the coordinated efforts of Spokane Fly Fishers Inland Empire Fly Fishers Fish Hatchery employees and an Avista fish biologist we clipped away 55000 adipose fins We had a really nice day to do this outside and the fish cooperated very well under anesthesia These fish were rainbow triploids destined for Long Lake under an Avista program During the day we were provided with a tasty barbequed lunch As always the camaraderie was great and we shared stories and experiences I look forward to doing it again next year Many thanks to our volunteers

BROWNS LAKE PROGRESS REPORT

We are still doing a creel survey on Browns Lake If anyone has fished it this year I would like to hear about species caught and size Three of us were there this summer and it was very slow water was down about 10 feet The results of the survey will be in the December Barbless Contact Miguel at 5092632534 or mfkfcomcastnet

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 4

GRANDE RONDE OUTING OCTOBER 21ST 22ND AND 23RD HOST Rick Newman

We will be camping at the Cougar Creek campsite It isnrsquot labeled as such but it is just a couple of hundred feet downstream from Cougar Creek It is on the North side of the river 43 miles from the bridge over the Grande Ronde at Bogganrsquos There is also a campsite 13 miles upstream from Bogganrsquos None of the campsites have anything but a toilet and campfire rings You will need shelter food and water for the extent of your trip other than what you procure along the way or at Bogganrsquos Oasis Dress for the weather and come prepared for wind as downstream winds blow in the afternoons There are numerous places to wade and fish A pontoon boat can also be handy to cross the river to get to more areas I donrsquot plan on floating the river unless the rains come and the riverrsquos level rises People can make their own plans for drifting the river if they so choose Some of the folks are experienced in fishing for steelhead on the Grande Ronde River and can usually be convinced to provide a few tips for those of you with less experience I will provide any knowledge of steelhead fishing and my experiences in the area and along the river that I can Donrsquot forget that you need a Washington State fishing license and all the permits that allow you to fish for steelhead that have passed through the Columbia River A steelhead punch card along with a marking instrument to immediately note the fact that you have kept a steelhead On September 21st when I write this outing description the Grande Ronde River is flowing at an average of 500 cubic feet per second In laymanrsquos terms this means that the flows are very low many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places With that being said things can change overnight At low water levels the Grande Ronde requires quick decision making because of the combination of rocks rapids and shallows present at these water levels Experience in reading the water in rowing your boat and time spent running rivers is highly recommended This is not a river to learn how to row on Appropriate clothing for the possible weather waders wading boots and wading staff should be packed for the trip The Grande Ronde is very slippery and the more grip your boots have be it studs spike or aluminum bars the better you will enjoy your wading High Top Converse basketball shoes wonrsquot cut it here To reach this site requires 3 to 35 hours of driving from Spokane through Lewiston Clarkston Asotin up the Rattlesnake Grade to Anatone then down the grade to the intersection of the Grande Ronde Road and Highway 129 More details will be available on the website wwwspokaneflyfisherscom

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 5

LAKE LENORE OUTING - OCT 15TH-16TH Host Vira Shiraz 509 754-2526

Directions Drive I-90 W to Moses Lake and take Exit 179 (I-90 BUSWA17 N) Turn right amp go until you see the 17 N EphrataSoap Lake sign and go right Stay on WA17 until junction WA 282 Take right and stay on WA17 to Soap Lake ( WA 282 will take you to Ephrata) go through Soap Lake and to Lake Lenore Alternately another route is via US Highway 2 Drive west from Spokane to Coulee City then south on WA 17 and past Sun Lakes State Park Lake Lenore has three state launch sites We will use the middle launch called Sam Israel (WDFW) which has a boat ramp Please refer to WDFW website on Lake Lenore for more detail

Camping Camping is recommended in Ephrata at Oasis RV amp golf park offering full camping services Check them out httpoasisrvandgolfcoursecom

Water Craft This lake is best fished from a boat canoe float tube or pontoon boat Internal combustion motors are prohibited Electric motors only Anglers are also advised that wind can become very strong

Special Instructions A Discover Pass is required or a Vehicle Access Pass

Sign-In Everyone is required to sign in with the host to provide their cell phone number emergency contact name and cell phone number and sign the clubrsquos waiver form Please see the host before you head out

Flies Traditional fall flies for me have being Wooly Buggers (color Purple Black amp Brown) Chironomid fishing with either an indicator or long line is also effective Damsel nymphs slow stripped alone the weed line can be very effective All of these techniques depend on water temperature amp wind Check with Darc Knobel at Desert Fly Angler in Ephrata 509 754-4070 He keeps all the right flies on hand

FoodsMeals As of this newsletter this outing is ldquoBYODIYrdquo (Bring Your OwnDo It Yourself) The host will contact those who signed up if therersquos a change such as a potluck

REMINDER NOVEMBER 16TH mdash FLY AUCTION

The Fly Auction with your donations and winning bids supports the clubrsquos activities for the year

START TYING NOW AND GET YOUR DONATION READY

If your flies are ready please bring them to the October meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 6

JUNErsquoS COEUR DrsquoALENE RIVER OUTING REPORT By Gale Allen

The Coeur drsquoAlene River may never be the same after the SFF outing there in June A record number attended We had around 50 club members arrive on Friday to brave the rain park in the mud and enjoy the fishing and festivities at the Babinrsquos and Allenrsquos By Saturday the weather cleared and we gained another 30 or more guests and all were busy Some of us were fishing Some of us were learning about identifying and matching the hatch with Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes on the river to guarantee a better fishing experience Some of us were visiting the Spragpole Museum in Murray to learn more about the history of the com-munity and try out the pizza at the Bedroom Goldmine Bar And some of us stayed behind and caught up on conversation and sleep While the rest of us were out and about our hosts Ken and Gale stayed behind to see to the completion of roasting of the pig The roasting process began early Thursday morning building the fire to develop coals followed by stuffing wrapping and burying the pig to let it slow cook for two days Cooking a whole pig is a process that requires time and patience By the time we gathered for dinner on Saturday and laid out the pot luck the roasted pig was being hauled out of the pit and carved for serving Carving the pig was such an exciting time that Carla Ferguson jumped out of the audience to join in the carving process We all know that you canrsquot get the kitchen out of Carla or is it Carla that we canrsquot keep out of the kitchen No one went away hungry but there was little pork left over After dinner festivities continued with a concert by Kenrsquos sonrsquos band ldquoOne Louderrdquo and later Kenrsquos Aunt Bonnie joined us providing a little Blue Grass music as well We all got a surprise when Rick Hafele joined the band with his harmonica and also provided us with a drum solo during the evening Our Babin hosts lit up a Swedish candle (a hollowed out log about 5 feet tall that functions like a chimney with a flame out the top) in the fire pit that kept us warm through the evening By Sunday the sun was shining the mud had dried up and the river was ready again to provide more memories of good fishing good fun and good friends Thanks again Ken for hosting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 3: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 3

CONSERVATION CORNER By Miguel Ferrera Chairman

NORTHWEST NATURAL RESOURCE INSTITUTE WATER FESTIVAL REPORT This festival was presented on Sept 8

th and 9

th at Liberty Lake Park Several Spokane Fly

Fishers participated in the fly casting portion of the event showing over 500 fifth graders (from several Spokane schools) how to cast a fly rod line to a hula hoop target All of the kids seemed to enjoy it and were obviously having fun even the ones that had not wanted to participate initially Our club is fortunate that we have members that will step up to assist with events - - they make a big difference

SPOKANE RIVER CLEAN-UP REPORT - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17TH

Our Spokane Fly Fishing Club took on the clean-up area down river from the waste water treatment plant and the Disc Golf Course section of the river Lots of trash and recycle material was picked up all during a light rain This year we had a couple of Air Force guys join us As always the camaraderie during any of our volunteer events is great Thank you

FIN CLIPPING AT THE FISH HATCHERY REPORT SEPTEMBER 20TH-21ST

Between the coordinated efforts of Spokane Fly Fishers Inland Empire Fly Fishers Fish Hatchery employees and an Avista fish biologist we clipped away 55000 adipose fins We had a really nice day to do this outside and the fish cooperated very well under anesthesia These fish were rainbow triploids destined for Long Lake under an Avista program During the day we were provided with a tasty barbequed lunch As always the camaraderie was great and we shared stories and experiences I look forward to doing it again next year Many thanks to our volunteers

BROWNS LAKE PROGRESS REPORT

We are still doing a creel survey on Browns Lake If anyone has fished it this year I would like to hear about species caught and size Three of us were there this summer and it was very slow water was down about 10 feet The results of the survey will be in the December Barbless Contact Miguel at 5092632534 or mfkfcomcastnet

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 4

GRANDE RONDE OUTING OCTOBER 21ST 22ND AND 23RD HOST Rick Newman

We will be camping at the Cougar Creek campsite It isnrsquot labeled as such but it is just a couple of hundred feet downstream from Cougar Creek It is on the North side of the river 43 miles from the bridge over the Grande Ronde at Bogganrsquos There is also a campsite 13 miles upstream from Bogganrsquos None of the campsites have anything but a toilet and campfire rings You will need shelter food and water for the extent of your trip other than what you procure along the way or at Bogganrsquos Oasis Dress for the weather and come prepared for wind as downstream winds blow in the afternoons There are numerous places to wade and fish A pontoon boat can also be handy to cross the river to get to more areas I donrsquot plan on floating the river unless the rains come and the riverrsquos level rises People can make their own plans for drifting the river if they so choose Some of the folks are experienced in fishing for steelhead on the Grande Ronde River and can usually be convinced to provide a few tips for those of you with less experience I will provide any knowledge of steelhead fishing and my experiences in the area and along the river that I can Donrsquot forget that you need a Washington State fishing license and all the permits that allow you to fish for steelhead that have passed through the Columbia River A steelhead punch card along with a marking instrument to immediately note the fact that you have kept a steelhead On September 21st when I write this outing description the Grande Ronde River is flowing at an average of 500 cubic feet per second In laymanrsquos terms this means that the flows are very low many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places With that being said things can change overnight At low water levels the Grande Ronde requires quick decision making because of the combination of rocks rapids and shallows present at these water levels Experience in reading the water in rowing your boat and time spent running rivers is highly recommended This is not a river to learn how to row on Appropriate clothing for the possible weather waders wading boots and wading staff should be packed for the trip The Grande Ronde is very slippery and the more grip your boots have be it studs spike or aluminum bars the better you will enjoy your wading High Top Converse basketball shoes wonrsquot cut it here To reach this site requires 3 to 35 hours of driving from Spokane through Lewiston Clarkston Asotin up the Rattlesnake Grade to Anatone then down the grade to the intersection of the Grande Ronde Road and Highway 129 More details will be available on the website wwwspokaneflyfisherscom

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 5

LAKE LENORE OUTING - OCT 15TH-16TH Host Vira Shiraz 509 754-2526

Directions Drive I-90 W to Moses Lake and take Exit 179 (I-90 BUSWA17 N) Turn right amp go until you see the 17 N EphrataSoap Lake sign and go right Stay on WA17 until junction WA 282 Take right and stay on WA17 to Soap Lake ( WA 282 will take you to Ephrata) go through Soap Lake and to Lake Lenore Alternately another route is via US Highway 2 Drive west from Spokane to Coulee City then south on WA 17 and past Sun Lakes State Park Lake Lenore has three state launch sites We will use the middle launch called Sam Israel (WDFW) which has a boat ramp Please refer to WDFW website on Lake Lenore for more detail

Camping Camping is recommended in Ephrata at Oasis RV amp golf park offering full camping services Check them out httpoasisrvandgolfcoursecom

Water Craft This lake is best fished from a boat canoe float tube or pontoon boat Internal combustion motors are prohibited Electric motors only Anglers are also advised that wind can become very strong

Special Instructions A Discover Pass is required or a Vehicle Access Pass

Sign-In Everyone is required to sign in with the host to provide their cell phone number emergency contact name and cell phone number and sign the clubrsquos waiver form Please see the host before you head out

Flies Traditional fall flies for me have being Wooly Buggers (color Purple Black amp Brown) Chironomid fishing with either an indicator or long line is also effective Damsel nymphs slow stripped alone the weed line can be very effective All of these techniques depend on water temperature amp wind Check with Darc Knobel at Desert Fly Angler in Ephrata 509 754-4070 He keeps all the right flies on hand

FoodsMeals As of this newsletter this outing is ldquoBYODIYrdquo (Bring Your OwnDo It Yourself) The host will contact those who signed up if therersquos a change such as a potluck

REMINDER NOVEMBER 16TH mdash FLY AUCTION

The Fly Auction with your donations and winning bids supports the clubrsquos activities for the year

START TYING NOW AND GET YOUR DONATION READY

If your flies are ready please bring them to the October meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 6

JUNErsquoS COEUR DrsquoALENE RIVER OUTING REPORT By Gale Allen

The Coeur drsquoAlene River may never be the same after the SFF outing there in June A record number attended We had around 50 club members arrive on Friday to brave the rain park in the mud and enjoy the fishing and festivities at the Babinrsquos and Allenrsquos By Saturday the weather cleared and we gained another 30 or more guests and all were busy Some of us were fishing Some of us were learning about identifying and matching the hatch with Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes on the river to guarantee a better fishing experience Some of us were visiting the Spragpole Museum in Murray to learn more about the history of the com-munity and try out the pizza at the Bedroom Goldmine Bar And some of us stayed behind and caught up on conversation and sleep While the rest of us were out and about our hosts Ken and Gale stayed behind to see to the completion of roasting of the pig The roasting process began early Thursday morning building the fire to develop coals followed by stuffing wrapping and burying the pig to let it slow cook for two days Cooking a whole pig is a process that requires time and patience By the time we gathered for dinner on Saturday and laid out the pot luck the roasted pig was being hauled out of the pit and carved for serving Carving the pig was such an exciting time that Carla Ferguson jumped out of the audience to join in the carving process We all know that you canrsquot get the kitchen out of Carla or is it Carla that we canrsquot keep out of the kitchen No one went away hungry but there was little pork left over After dinner festivities continued with a concert by Kenrsquos sonrsquos band ldquoOne Louderrdquo and later Kenrsquos Aunt Bonnie joined us providing a little Blue Grass music as well We all got a surprise when Rick Hafele joined the band with his harmonica and also provided us with a drum solo during the evening Our Babin hosts lit up a Swedish candle (a hollowed out log about 5 feet tall that functions like a chimney with a flame out the top) in the fire pit that kept us warm through the evening By Sunday the sun was shining the mud had dried up and the river was ready again to provide more memories of good fishing good fun and good friends Thanks again Ken for hosting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 4: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 4

GRANDE RONDE OUTING OCTOBER 21ST 22ND AND 23RD HOST Rick Newman

We will be camping at the Cougar Creek campsite It isnrsquot labeled as such but it is just a couple of hundred feet downstream from Cougar Creek It is on the North side of the river 43 miles from the bridge over the Grande Ronde at Bogganrsquos There is also a campsite 13 miles upstream from Bogganrsquos None of the campsites have anything but a toilet and campfire rings You will need shelter food and water for the extent of your trip other than what you procure along the way or at Bogganrsquos Oasis Dress for the weather and come prepared for wind as downstream winds blow in the afternoons There are numerous places to wade and fish A pontoon boat can also be handy to cross the river to get to more areas I donrsquot plan on floating the river unless the rains come and the riverrsquos level rises People can make their own plans for drifting the river if they so choose Some of the folks are experienced in fishing for steelhead on the Grande Ronde River and can usually be convinced to provide a few tips for those of you with less experience I will provide any knowledge of steelhead fishing and my experiences in the area and along the river that I can Donrsquot forget that you need a Washington State fishing license and all the permits that allow you to fish for steelhead that have passed through the Columbia River A steelhead punch card along with a marking instrument to immediately note the fact that you have kept a steelhead On September 21st when I write this outing description the Grande Ronde River is flowing at an average of 500 cubic feet per second In laymanrsquos terms this means that the flows are very low many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places With that being said things can change overnight At low water levels the Grande Ronde requires quick decision making because of the combination of rocks rapids and shallows present at these water levels Experience in reading the water in rowing your boat and time spent running rivers is highly recommended This is not a river to learn how to row on Appropriate clothing for the possible weather waders wading boots and wading staff should be packed for the trip The Grande Ronde is very slippery and the more grip your boots have be it studs spike or aluminum bars the better you will enjoy your wading High Top Converse basketball shoes wonrsquot cut it here To reach this site requires 3 to 35 hours of driving from Spokane through Lewiston Clarkston Asotin up the Rattlesnake Grade to Anatone then down the grade to the intersection of the Grande Ronde Road and Highway 129 More details will be available on the website wwwspokaneflyfisherscom

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 5

LAKE LENORE OUTING - OCT 15TH-16TH Host Vira Shiraz 509 754-2526

Directions Drive I-90 W to Moses Lake and take Exit 179 (I-90 BUSWA17 N) Turn right amp go until you see the 17 N EphrataSoap Lake sign and go right Stay on WA17 until junction WA 282 Take right and stay on WA17 to Soap Lake ( WA 282 will take you to Ephrata) go through Soap Lake and to Lake Lenore Alternately another route is via US Highway 2 Drive west from Spokane to Coulee City then south on WA 17 and past Sun Lakes State Park Lake Lenore has three state launch sites We will use the middle launch called Sam Israel (WDFW) which has a boat ramp Please refer to WDFW website on Lake Lenore for more detail

Camping Camping is recommended in Ephrata at Oasis RV amp golf park offering full camping services Check them out httpoasisrvandgolfcoursecom

Water Craft This lake is best fished from a boat canoe float tube or pontoon boat Internal combustion motors are prohibited Electric motors only Anglers are also advised that wind can become very strong

Special Instructions A Discover Pass is required or a Vehicle Access Pass

Sign-In Everyone is required to sign in with the host to provide their cell phone number emergency contact name and cell phone number and sign the clubrsquos waiver form Please see the host before you head out

Flies Traditional fall flies for me have being Wooly Buggers (color Purple Black amp Brown) Chironomid fishing with either an indicator or long line is also effective Damsel nymphs slow stripped alone the weed line can be very effective All of these techniques depend on water temperature amp wind Check with Darc Knobel at Desert Fly Angler in Ephrata 509 754-4070 He keeps all the right flies on hand

FoodsMeals As of this newsletter this outing is ldquoBYODIYrdquo (Bring Your OwnDo It Yourself) The host will contact those who signed up if therersquos a change such as a potluck

REMINDER NOVEMBER 16TH mdash FLY AUCTION

The Fly Auction with your donations and winning bids supports the clubrsquos activities for the year

START TYING NOW AND GET YOUR DONATION READY

If your flies are ready please bring them to the October meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 6

JUNErsquoS COEUR DrsquoALENE RIVER OUTING REPORT By Gale Allen

The Coeur drsquoAlene River may never be the same after the SFF outing there in June A record number attended We had around 50 club members arrive on Friday to brave the rain park in the mud and enjoy the fishing and festivities at the Babinrsquos and Allenrsquos By Saturday the weather cleared and we gained another 30 or more guests and all were busy Some of us were fishing Some of us were learning about identifying and matching the hatch with Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes on the river to guarantee a better fishing experience Some of us were visiting the Spragpole Museum in Murray to learn more about the history of the com-munity and try out the pizza at the Bedroom Goldmine Bar And some of us stayed behind and caught up on conversation and sleep While the rest of us were out and about our hosts Ken and Gale stayed behind to see to the completion of roasting of the pig The roasting process began early Thursday morning building the fire to develop coals followed by stuffing wrapping and burying the pig to let it slow cook for two days Cooking a whole pig is a process that requires time and patience By the time we gathered for dinner on Saturday and laid out the pot luck the roasted pig was being hauled out of the pit and carved for serving Carving the pig was such an exciting time that Carla Ferguson jumped out of the audience to join in the carving process We all know that you canrsquot get the kitchen out of Carla or is it Carla that we canrsquot keep out of the kitchen No one went away hungry but there was little pork left over After dinner festivities continued with a concert by Kenrsquos sonrsquos band ldquoOne Louderrdquo and later Kenrsquos Aunt Bonnie joined us providing a little Blue Grass music as well We all got a surprise when Rick Hafele joined the band with his harmonica and also provided us with a drum solo during the evening Our Babin hosts lit up a Swedish candle (a hollowed out log about 5 feet tall that functions like a chimney with a flame out the top) in the fire pit that kept us warm through the evening By Sunday the sun was shining the mud had dried up and the river was ready again to provide more memories of good fishing good fun and good friends Thanks again Ken for hosting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 5: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 5

LAKE LENORE OUTING - OCT 15TH-16TH Host Vira Shiraz 509 754-2526

Directions Drive I-90 W to Moses Lake and take Exit 179 (I-90 BUSWA17 N) Turn right amp go until you see the 17 N EphrataSoap Lake sign and go right Stay on WA17 until junction WA 282 Take right and stay on WA17 to Soap Lake ( WA 282 will take you to Ephrata) go through Soap Lake and to Lake Lenore Alternately another route is via US Highway 2 Drive west from Spokane to Coulee City then south on WA 17 and past Sun Lakes State Park Lake Lenore has three state launch sites We will use the middle launch called Sam Israel (WDFW) which has a boat ramp Please refer to WDFW website on Lake Lenore for more detail

Camping Camping is recommended in Ephrata at Oasis RV amp golf park offering full camping services Check them out httpoasisrvandgolfcoursecom

Water Craft This lake is best fished from a boat canoe float tube or pontoon boat Internal combustion motors are prohibited Electric motors only Anglers are also advised that wind can become very strong

Special Instructions A Discover Pass is required or a Vehicle Access Pass

Sign-In Everyone is required to sign in with the host to provide their cell phone number emergency contact name and cell phone number and sign the clubrsquos waiver form Please see the host before you head out

Flies Traditional fall flies for me have being Wooly Buggers (color Purple Black amp Brown) Chironomid fishing with either an indicator or long line is also effective Damsel nymphs slow stripped alone the weed line can be very effective All of these techniques depend on water temperature amp wind Check with Darc Knobel at Desert Fly Angler in Ephrata 509 754-4070 He keeps all the right flies on hand

FoodsMeals As of this newsletter this outing is ldquoBYODIYrdquo (Bring Your OwnDo It Yourself) The host will contact those who signed up if therersquos a change such as a potluck

REMINDER NOVEMBER 16TH mdash FLY AUCTION

The Fly Auction with your donations and winning bids supports the clubrsquos activities for the year

START TYING NOW AND GET YOUR DONATION READY

If your flies are ready please bring them to the October meeting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 6

JUNErsquoS COEUR DrsquoALENE RIVER OUTING REPORT By Gale Allen

The Coeur drsquoAlene River may never be the same after the SFF outing there in June A record number attended We had around 50 club members arrive on Friday to brave the rain park in the mud and enjoy the fishing and festivities at the Babinrsquos and Allenrsquos By Saturday the weather cleared and we gained another 30 or more guests and all were busy Some of us were fishing Some of us were learning about identifying and matching the hatch with Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes on the river to guarantee a better fishing experience Some of us were visiting the Spragpole Museum in Murray to learn more about the history of the com-munity and try out the pizza at the Bedroom Goldmine Bar And some of us stayed behind and caught up on conversation and sleep While the rest of us were out and about our hosts Ken and Gale stayed behind to see to the completion of roasting of the pig The roasting process began early Thursday morning building the fire to develop coals followed by stuffing wrapping and burying the pig to let it slow cook for two days Cooking a whole pig is a process that requires time and patience By the time we gathered for dinner on Saturday and laid out the pot luck the roasted pig was being hauled out of the pit and carved for serving Carving the pig was such an exciting time that Carla Ferguson jumped out of the audience to join in the carving process We all know that you canrsquot get the kitchen out of Carla or is it Carla that we canrsquot keep out of the kitchen No one went away hungry but there was little pork left over After dinner festivities continued with a concert by Kenrsquos sonrsquos band ldquoOne Louderrdquo and later Kenrsquos Aunt Bonnie joined us providing a little Blue Grass music as well We all got a surprise when Rick Hafele joined the band with his harmonica and also provided us with a drum solo during the evening Our Babin hosts lit up a Swedish candle (a hollowed out log about 5 feet tall that functions like a chimney with a flame out the top) in the fire pit that kept us warm through the evening By Sunday the sun was shining the mud had dried up and the river was ready again to provide more memories of good fishing good fun and good friends Thanks again Ken for hosting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 6: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 6

JUNErsquoS COEUR DrsquoALENE RIVER OUTING REPORT By Gale Allen

The Coeur drsquoAlene River may never be the same after the SFF outing there in June A record number attended We had around 50 club members arrive on Friday to brave the rain park in the mud and enjoy the fishing and festivities at the Babinrsquos and Allenrsquos By Saturday the weather cleared and we gained another 30 or more guests and all were busy Some of us were fishing Some of us were learning about identifying and matching the hatch with Rick Hafele and Dave Hughes on the river to guarantee a better fishing experience Some of us were visiting the Spragpole Museum in Murray to learn more about the history of the com-munity and try out the pizza at the Bedroom Goldmine Bar And some of us stayed behind and caught up on conversation and sleep While the rest of us were out and about our hosts Ken and Gale stayed behind to see to the completion of roasting of the pig The roasting process began early Thursday morning building the fire to develop coals followed by stuffing wrapping and burying the pig to let it slow cook for two days Cooking a whole pig is a process that requires time and patience By the time we gathered for dinner on Saturday and laid out the pot luck the roasted pig was being hauled out of the pit and carved for serving Carving the pig was such an exciting time that Carla Ferguson jumped out of the audience to join in the carving process We all know that you canrsquot get the kitchen out of Carla or is it Carla that we canrsquot keep out of the kitchen No one went away hungry but there was little pork left over After dinner festivities continued with a concert by Kenrsquos sonrsquos band ldquoOne Louderrdquo and later Kenrsquos Aunt Bonnie joined us providing a little Blue Grass music as well We all got a surprise when Rick Hafele joined the band with his harmonica and also provided us with a drum solo during the evening Our Babin hosts lit up a Swedish candle (a hollowed out log about 5 feet tall that functions like a chimney with a flame out the top) in the fire pit that kept us warm through the evening By Sunday the sun was shining the mud had dried up and the river was ready again to provide more memories of good fishing good fun and good friends Thanks again Ken for hosting

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 7: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 7

ST JOE OUTING REPORT - JULY 29TH - 31ST By Rick Newman

Once again the St Joe River outing was enjoyed by many SFF members Some of us arrived on Thursday the 28th of July with the main contingent arriving Friday The weather was pleasant not too hot not wet basically just right Fly Flat Campground had few visitors other than club members We discovered that we can no longer suspend our club banner without prior approval from the For-est service Something about having it tied to trees Apparently none of the USFS personnel had ever seen our banner displayed before Call the St Joe District Ranger office a week or two ahead of time if you ever host this trip

On to the activities and such Friday found a variety of us trying out fishing fairly close to Fly Flats with Red Ives being a popular destination Numerous flies and presentation styles were tried but only a few fish were duped Gary West and Mark Gardner took the long trek to a less travel section of the river and were rewarded with better luck Friday night found us sharing a BBQ After dinner a group of us traveled downstream a few miles to investigate the first big long flat water we could find We were rewarded with plenty of rising fish and a major hatch of caddis and mayflies However the fish didnrsquot appreciate many of the flies we presented They suggested that we should be using emergers by the way they were taking the bugs Too bad we didnrsquot figure that out while we were fishing Driving back to camp we were presented with a huge showing of flying bugs too bad itrsquos difficult to ID a smashed mayfly

Twenty-one folks participated and enjoyed meeting their old friends and making new ones Lots of stories were shared during the gathering Those present were Bill Murphy Marilyn Keith Bill Lundin Craig Adams Mark Gardner Paul Olsen Jon Bowne Miguel and Kendal Ferrara Jim Marshall Ken and Alicia Moore Gary West Victor Frazier Mark Krider Dick Williams Art Crane and myself Rick Newman It was a real treat to visit with an old high school friend of mine Doug Nance and his daughter Clarissa (I hope I got that right) also showed up Doug is a new member We both attended school in Ellensburg WA and once lived just a few houses apart I havenrsquot seen Doug since 1969 or so when we graduated They sent along some pictures that I have passed along to Linda Howe for possible inclusion in the Barbless

Saturday morning I gathered six or eight of our newer fly fisher folks and returned to the site of the multiple rising fish from Friday nights endeavor Not as many bugs but the fish were still there I greatly enjoyed helping those folks work on their fishing skills Casting achieving drag free drifts water reading skills travel on up rip rap surfaces and how to spot fish were some of the things we worked on I got to fish too and had a few try to impale themselves on my flies The ever popular Purple Haze didnrsquot seem to be on the menu Some of us ventured all the way to Avery to partake of the fine milk shakes there A couple of quarters were donated to feeding the fish in the Avery cement pond too

Saturday afternoon the group worked together to set up the fine dining area grill some Eggers sausages and share the wonderful foods that people brought I know that I wasnrsquot the only one to eat way too much Some of the folks disappeared to fish some more but a bunch of us enjoyed stories and conversations A few more fish were caught new friends were made and learning new things about old friends also occurred Irsquom not a cribbage player but that was also a popular pastime amongst those addicted to that game

There is no water available in the campground any longer so bring your own if you come up Sunday morning found people packing up telling even more stories and heading back to home I for one to-tally enjoyed myself and had a great time The St Joe outing is always a great time Hope to see a fine bunch of folks there next year

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 8: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 8

BOOK OF THE MONTH By Larry Ray

Tracing Fly Fishingrsquos History through Development of Its Flies Has it ever occurred to you that fly fishingrsquos history could be traced through development of the flies themselves Not until Ian Whitelawrsquos The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies was donated to our Library did this occur to me This volume proves that our history can be so revealed making for delightful reading in the process

Most of the fifty flies described are generally known to us all making this exercise even more fascinating The original ldquorecipesrdquo are provided for each The first the Stonefly was tied on a ldquoHandmade hook from a bent and tempered needle with a hand-cut barbrdquo Also the tippet was ldquoHorse hair whipped to the hookrdquo as was usually the case before the advent of eyed hooks (a fairly recent development having been pioneered by one H S Hall in the 1880rsquos with a suitable knot being developed by Major WD Turle as described in other parts of this book) Sorry for the digression but this book will do that to you Avoiding more of the same Irsquoll just relay some of the facts contained in the narrative

In about 200 BC an angling fly was described by the Roman Claudius Aelianus who noted in On the Nature of Animals ldquohellipin Macedonia there is a fly called a Hippouros that looks like a wasp Fisherman donrsquot try to use the fly as batehelliprdquo Instead they ldquohellip wrapped a hook with crimson red wool and attached two wax colored feathers from a cockerelrsquos throatrdquo

Palmered hackle flies appeared in as the 1600rsquos and were named for the caterpillar they originally tried to imitate which in turn was named for pilgrims wandering throughout Europe in the middle ages

Dubbing was first described by Thomas Barker in 1651 (two years before the first edition of Waltonrsquos The Compleat Angler) as in ldquoif you make the grounds of Hogs-wooll sandy black or white or the wooll of a Bear or of a two year old red Bullock you must work all these grounds upon a waxed silkrdquo Dubbing used in a specific pattern was first described by Charles Cotton in his recipe for the Green Drake thusly ldquoAnd then take your dubbing which is to make the body of your fly as much as you think convenient and holding it lightly with your hook betwixt the finger and thumb of your left hand take your silk with the right and twisting it betwixt the finger and thumb of that hand the dubbing will spin itself about the silkhelliprdquo

Dry fly fishing only became acceptable in the mid-1800rsquos Before then when a fish took a wet fly be-fore it sank it was generally considered to be coincidental When in 1865 Charles Ogden using his Ogdenrsquos Special (a stiffly palmered mayfly imitation) proved to an audience on the River Wye that rising fish could be cast to and caught on winged and hackled floating flies shock grew to alarm that the method was so deadly it was banned on many waters for some time afterward

Concurrent with the proven success of the stiff hackled ldquodryrdquo flies soft hackled spider ties also became favored In 1857 WC Stewart lauded his Stewart Black Spider (tied with a black starling soft body feather) ldquohellipAs a means of capturing trout we rank them higher than the winged imitationsrdquo No less an authority than Mary Orvis Marbury concurred stating ldquoThe spider hackle is the favorite pattern with Mr WC Prime who considers its action upon the water extremely lifelikerdquo

While the original Coachman pattern (peacock hurl body brown hackle and white quill wings) was dressed in England by Tom Bosworth carriage driver to Queen Victoria as was the variant Leadwing Coachman the Royal Coachman was in fact tied and developed in America Coachman patterns had crossed the Atlantic to be very favored by American anglers John Haily a fly shop owner and tyer in New York City added the red silk band mid-body to prevent the fraying and unraveling of the peacock hurl When Mary Orvis Marberry niece to Charles Orvis showed the fly to her uncle he is reputed to have dubbed it the Royal Coachman as it was so splendidly dressed

These are but a sample of the rich chronologies and anecdotes tracking our sport from its origins through today that fill The History of Fly Fishing in Fifty Flies Find it in your SFF Library

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 9: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Page 9

2016 OUTINGS SCHEDULE

DATE LOCATION HOST RATINGSEXPLANAT Oct 15-16 Lake Lenore Vira Shiraz See September Barbless Oct 21-23 Grande Ronde Rick Newman 4-Wade Slick Rocks Visibility 4-Float Low fast water obstacles

SEE BARBLESS JANUARY 2016 FOR RATING EXPLANATIONS

EDUCATION AWARD

The Washington State Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers awarded the Spokane Fly Fishers the 2015- 2016 Education Award This was given to the club at the April WSCIFFF Fly Fishing Fair in Ellensburg The award is given for excellence and commitment to educating all ages of persons and for all aspects of fly fishing especially fly tying and fly casting The award especially noted the excellent Fly Fishing School the Spokane club offers each year Mary Kovatch accepted the award at the April Fair and presented it to the club and current President Claude Kistler at the September meeting

SUPPORT OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THEY SUPPORT US

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash

Page 10: OFFICERS AND 25 Off The Beaten Path Montana Fly Streams ... · very low, many rocks are showing in the river bed making the river difficult to maneuver in places. With that being

THE BARBLESS FLYER Spokane Fly Fishers P O Box 4141 Spokane WA 99220

NEXT MEETING

October 12 2016

MOLLY SEMENIK 25 Off-The-Beaten-Path Montana Fly Streams

700 PM

ST FRANCIS SCHOOL 1104 W HEROY

ldquoTHE MISSION OF THE SPOKANE FLY FISHERS IS TO PROVIDE A FAMILY FRIENDLY ORGANIZATION FOR PROMOTING THE SPORT OF FLY FISHING THROUGH

EDUCATION APPLICATION AND CONSERVATIONrdquo

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR NAME TAGS TO THE MEETING

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED mdash