(1 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

PRESIDENT’S LETTER – Lew Leichter

June 2017

CATCH & RELEASE: I believe most of us practice catch and release techniques. However I wonder how many of us use the BEST PRACTICES for catch and release. In lieu of my normal prez letter I felt it important to share the following article with you. A big thank you Richard Anderson the Publisher & Editor of California Fly Fisher and to Robert Ketley the Author for giving us their permission to share this with you. Hope we all take the time to read the included article and start using the BEST PRACTICES when we practice catch and release. A pdf version of the article is available - contact Lew.

All of us in the Santa Lucia Fly Fishers are wishing Jim Trask a speedy recovery.

We hope to see Jim back on the stream soon.

SAVE THE DATES June 8th - 5 to 6 pm Board meeting, 6:30 pm General meeting June 18 - 25th - Manzanita Outing at Lassen National Park June 24 – 30th – Lake Almanor Outing – BBQ at George Protsman June 27th - 6:30 pm Fly Tying – Odd Fellows Hall July 8th - Halibut Fishing at Port San Luis August 5th - Club Picnic and Halibut Fishing at Avila Beac

http://www.santaluciaflyfishers.com San Luis Obispo, CA Greg & Mary Lugo, Editors

Tight Lines June - 2017

(2 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Occasionally, thanks to your skill or luck (or both), a fish is going to take your fly. The se-

quence of the events that follow is nev-er certain, but often results in a fish that needs to be landed and, more often than not, released. Not surprisingly, this is when a number of fish are injured. In the not-too-distant past, such injuries weren’t a significant concern. The fish was des-tined for the table, so missing scales, damaged fins, or blood loss weren’t con-sidered problems. As Russ Chatham said in the movie Rivers of a Lost Coast, “we didn’t give a XXXX about conservation back then.” Things are different now. The decline of steelhead and salmon, so painfully de-scribed in Rivers of a Lost Coast, has been well documented, but other species are also in trouble. California’s current list of threatened and endangered freshwa-ter fish identifies 34 species. Sadly, more are sure to follow. While declines in fish populations are usually due to numerous factors, it is irresponsible for fly fishers to assume our impact on the remaining stocks is insignificant. A catch and re-lease (C&R) mortality rate of 10 percent is enough to impair the recovery of threat-ened species. Steelhead and salmon in many of the state’s small coastal streams are an excellent example of f ish popu-lations that can be seriously harmed by C&R-related mortality. If 10 percent postcapture mortali-ty sounds high, I have some sobering news for you. Data provided in the paper “Hooking Mortality: A Review for Rec-reational Fisheries” (Reviews in Fisheries Science 2, no. 2 [1994], pp. 123–56) indi-cates that the C&R practices of fly fish-ers result in rainbow trout mortality rates ranging from 5 percent to 35 percent. Unfortunately, far too many well-mean-ing fly fishers are unknowingly practicingineffective C&R, which results in many fish dying minutes, hours, or even days after release. I always thought I used the right gear and practiced effective C&R. It turns out I was doing a lot of things that were far

from optimal and in some cases just plain wrong. This epiphany was painful, to say the least, but at least it gave me something I could act on. I thought it was important to share this information.

Five Minutes

Anyone who is serious about the survival of their catch should make sure they land and release their fish quickly.

This is hardly news to most f ly fishers. But what exactly does “quickly” mean? As you might have guessed, the answer isn’t straightforward. In fight-or-flight mode, organisms rapidly exceed the oxygen-car-rying capacity of their blood, resulting in a condition called acidosis. The more severe the acidosis, the less likely the fish is to survive. How the heck does a fly fisher know if a fish has experienced lethal acidosis? It’s not as if we can draw a blood sample and run lab tests. Thankfully, there are a number of scientific papers that, with some careful reading and analysis, can yield a useful rule of thumb. Based on the studies I looked at, you can assume nonle-thal acidosis if the fish is brought to hand within five minutes. This is a relatively conservative number, but by no means impractical. The vast majority of fish we

catch can be landed in five minutes or less. If the fish is in good physical condition, and the water temperature is in the ideal range for that species, it may be able to survive up to 10 minutes of vigorous fight. Be-yond that, the odds of survival go down significantly. Clearly, f ive minutes is plenty of time to land small Sierra brookies or farm pond panfish, but what about bigger fish,

such as steelhead and stripers? You have to know the limits of your gear to bring these f ish quickly to hand. Tarpon f ly fishers are perhaps the very best at exe-cuting fast fights. You can’t screw around when a long, graphite twig and skinny plastic line directly connect you to one hundred-plus pounds of ocean-fit f ish. The key to a fast fight is a low rod angle and a drag set to about 80 percent of the tippet’s strength. Holding the rod that low may look odd and might even get flak from guides, but there’s no overcoming the laws of physics. Tarpon expert Andy Mills provides a nice explanation of the technique in an online video at www.you-tube.com/watch?v=CWXskIPu9SE. Once you’ve seen the video, string up some trout gear and knot a piece of 5X or 6X tippet to something solid. I’m willing to bet that when you use the right tech-

nique, you’ll find it’s a lot harder to break the tippet than you ever imagined. Apply similar f ish-fighting techniques on the water, and five minutes will be plenty of time to land almost every fish you hook.

Hooks

As most fly fishers are only too well aware, hooks are responsible for the ma-jority of problems when releasing f ish.

Depending on the location, depth of pen-etration, and the presence or absence of barbs, hook removal can be premature (the fish gets off before the fight ends) or close to impossible. While certainly not foolproof, barbless hooks are usual-ly easier to remove and generally cause less tissue damage. Does that really make a difference? A number of studies have evaluated the mortality rate of barbed and barbless hooks. While the percentages vary (depending on a number of factors), overall, barbless hooks reduce mortality by about 50 percent. That makes going barbless the single most effective C&R measure you can implement. Some anglers are reluctant to go bar-bless, fearing that doing so will reduce the number of fish they land. In reality, the number of fish you will lose is probably much lower than you imagine and with

40 Mar/Apr

By the time you read this, Christmas will be over, mak-ing it likely that your wallet has

shrunk while your waistline has done the opposite. But perhaps a nice little enve-lope from Mom or Aunt Gladys, or, for the grownups in California Fly Fisher ’s readership, an end-of-the-year dividend or capital-gains distribution, has provid-ed you with a few surprise bucks. Sum-mon up, then, some New Year’s cheer: the fly-fishing industry can satisfy your needs and desires with all sorts of new toys.

Staying DryHow about some new waders or

wading boots? Patagonia has improved their aluminum-grid-soled wading boot for 2015. The new Foot Tractor’s sticky rubber lugged sole with multidirectional gripping aluminum bars has been recon-figured for increased traction, and the up-pers are lighter, with improved drainage, more comfort, and more durability. Ev-erybody I know who tried the old version likes them a lot. The new ones are $279.

Orvis’s new entry-level Encounter waders are notable not simply for being reasonably priced and having features generally found on more expensive wad-ers, but also for having women’s and kids’ models. Made from a four-ply laminate with the same fit and sizing as Orvis’s Silver Sonic waders, Encounters come with a wading belt, have a kangaroo-style handwarmer pocket behind a mesh chest storage pocket, and convert easily to waist-highs. They’re $169 for men’s and women’s stockingfoots, $139 for kids’ stockingfoots, and $259 for men’s Thin-sulate-lined, felt-soled, boot-foot waders. Not surprisingly, Orvis has added En-counter wading boots for women to their offerings: $98 with felt soles, $119 with sticky rubber.

Adamsbuilt has a couple of good- looking new wading boots in their Smith River and Gunnison River offer-ings. Both are of synthetic leather with polymesh uppers for support and durabil-ity. Heels and toe boxes are reinforced and rubberized for added protection, there’s a

padded insole for comfort, and the web lacing system makes for easy on-off. The Smith River boot has a felt sole with stud receptacles at $109.95, and the Gunnison River boot has a sticky rubber sole with stud receptacles for $129.95.

Chota Outdoors’s innovative new DUCS Suspender System, available on their Bob Clouser Series South Fork wad-ers, fastens the shoulder straps primarily at waist level and only secondarily at the top of the wader. Unclip the buckles at the top of the wader, and you can roll them down to make waist-highs. Unclip the waist-level buckles next, and you can drop the waders low enough to answer nature’s call without removing your vest or wading jacket — a neat idea. They’re $279.95.

Simms has continued to upgrade their top-of-the-line wading jacket. The company modestly bills their new G4 Pro model as “the baddest, most weath-erproof jacket the world has ever seen.” The updated Gore-Tex shell fabric results in a garment that’s 15 percent lighter than previous versions while increasing abra-sion resistance and tear strength. There are nine storage pockets, including fly-box-sized bellows and zippered chest pockets, two tippet pockets, an on-sleeve stash, internal woven stretch storage, and one large back compartment. A highly water-resistant Dry Cuff system keeps inner sleeves dry. I suspect the G4 Pro is every bit as good as Simms says and worth the $549.95 price for folks who fish in the worst weather. Fair-weather angler that I am, I won’t be testing how much more weatherproof it is than other jack-ets. When things get really miserable, the fishing mostly does, too, and I head back to camp.

The Eddie Bauer brand used to be synonymous with high-quality outdoor gear. Over the past 40 years, however, the company, like its East Coast equivalent, Abercrombie and Fitch, morphed into a trendy mass-market sportswear outfit. For those of us who used the company’s sleep-ing bags and down jackets or bought rods and other f ishing, hunting, and camp-ing gear from them, it was a sad decline.

Recently, EB has made an attempt to go back to its roots with a Sport Shop di-vision that offers EB-branded premium hunting, fishing, and shooting soft goods. For the angler, this amounts to a collec-tion of decent-looking angling shirts and pants, a boat bag, lumbar and chest packs, and a couple of waterproof/breathable wading jackets. The Immersion jacket at $299 looks like a winner. It’s a full-fea-tured garment with zippered self-drain-ing chest pockets, interior mesh pockets, neoprene cuff gaskets, and an adjustable fold-away hood. The Harbor Rain shell is a minimalist packable model at $199 and is also available in a tall version at $219 for the long-waisted among us. And since EB can’t seem to get entirely away from the mass-market mentality, their top-line stuff goes on sale now and then. I’m bet-

ting that’s the case for the post-Christmas season. Worth a look.

Staying WarmThis next paragraph isn’t about a new

product, though it will lead into that. Consider it a shout-out for something re-ally good and widely available. The most useful garment I’ve bought over the past decade is a lightweight nylon pullover in-sulated with PrimaLoft, a synthetic that retains most of its warmth even when wet. Patagonia was the innovator here, and its Nano Puff (now $169) was a lightweight, quilted nylon shell with 60-gram Pri-maLoft insulation. It slid on and off faster than a hooker’s shorts, packed down to the size of a grapefruit, though a quarter as heavy, was warm, but not too warm, as an outer garment, even when wet, and was even warmer when layered under something like a wading jacket. It’s an invaluable part of my kit just about any-where. Patagonia also has a Nano Puff zip-front vest ($149), jacket ($199), and hoody ($249) that are just as neat. A cou-ple of years ago, L. L. Bean came up with their own version that they now call the PrimaLoft Packaway Pullover. Not as nicely fitted as the Nano Puffs or available in those cool Patagonia colors, they were just as functional and were offered in tall sizes, as well as regular sizes. Bean has since discontinued the pullover in favor of Packaway jackets and hoodies at a very reasonable $99 to $129. Simms now also makes a nice-looking PrimaLoft insulat-ed jacket and vest called Fall Run at $149 and $199. From where I sit, one of these should be in every angler’s traveling kit.

But that’s old news. For 2015, Pata-gonia has come up with a couple of no-table additions to its Nano lineup. Nano Puff pants ($179) combine quilted Pri-maLoft in front and legs with 3.4-ounce nylon Taslan reinforcement in the seat. They’ve got a button closure, a stretch waist with belt loops and front zipper, two front pockets, and a rear secure zipper-closure pocket. I’ve not yet tried them, but I’m guessing they’ll ultimately replace the fleece versions I use in cold

Jan/Feb 49

THE INTERNATIONAL FLY TACKLEDealer Show finished up in mid-July this year, and as usual, the in-

dustry’s manufacturers had a lot of newgear to show off. As near as I can tell —and I admit that I stayed far away from theshow in Orlando’s gooey summer heat —nothing particularly earthshaking sur-faced, though there were the usual “incre-mentally better”new products. Let’s take alook at the new fly rods.

Sage has another attractive line ofrods priced in the high-medium pricerange for 2015. Accel models — the namehas resonances with both “excel” and “ac-celerate” — are emerald green with dark-green wraps and black accents. They wonBest Freshwater Rod at the July dealershow. There are 17 single-handed Accels,all four-piece rods, at $595 in the usual 8-foot 6-inch to 10-foot lengths for lineweights 3 through 9, and one cute little 7-foot 6-inch 3-weight. Three 11-foot 4-inch switch rods at $695 and four 12-foot6-inch to 13-foot 6-inch Spey rods at$750 for 6-weight through 8-weight linescomplete the Accel lineup.The 590-4 thatI cast was medium fast, with a nice feel inhand, tracking cleanly and easily formingtight or open loops. All Accels come in agreen ballistic nylon tube with carryingstrap, rather than an aluminum tube.That’s not only more than adequate, butthe carrying strap keeps the tube fromrolling around. Rod components and cos-metics were all the usual excellent Sagequality, with the exception of the grip,which had been bleached, masking nu-merous filled voids. Still, with high-quali-ty cork running well over a dollar a ring,it’s no surprise to get lesser, but acceptablequality on a midrange rod.

Among other midrange rods, TimRajeff ’s Echo has shuffled its lineup a bit.New, lighter, and quicker Boost models re-place the Echo Edge series and are intend-ed to compete with TFO’s BVK line.There are 12 Boost models, at $229.99 forfreshwater rods and $249.99 for saltwatermodels. Blanks have a matte-black finishwith red (freshwater) or blue (saltwater)

wraps, Wells grips with composite corks atthe top, and black, all-metal uplocking reelseats. Also, at the beginner end of the pricerange, there are new Echo Base models,four 9-footers for line weights 4, 5, 6, and8 at $89.99 to $99.99 — nothing fancy,but at those impressively low prices, youwouldn’t expect it.

For the retro double-hander crowd,Echo has also introduced a series of fiber-glass switch and Spey rods to go with theirshorter single-handed models. New 10-foot 6-inch to 10-foot 10-inch rods for 3-weight through 7-weight switch lines are$279.99, and 12-foot 4-inch to 12-foot 7-inch rods for 6-weight through 8-weightSpey lines are $299.99. They are built onbutterscotch-colored blanks with cork-in-sert uplocking reel seats on all but the 8-weight, which has a downlocking seat.One fellow who’d tried them describedthem as “Skagit monsters.”

And speaking of glass, TFO hasadded two new fiberglass rods to their Fi-nesse series, a three-piece 7-foot 3/4-weightand a 7-foot 6-inch 5/6-weight. Both arenicely appointed and run a mere $199.95.

On the big-rod front,TFO has added9-foot four-piece 10-weight and 12-weight “predator rods.” They’re priced at$319.95 and designed to cast big, bushyflies for aggressive freshwater and saltwa-ter fish. Named Esox for the musky fami-ly’s taxonomic title, they have an extendedgrip that looks like a Wells grip on top of asecond Wells grip and an IFGA-compli-ant two-inch-long fighting butt. Both aredesigned to let you cast two-handed, if youcan’t get the mop you’re casting out of thewater or out past your rod tip, and to en-able you to do figure-eight moves with therod to elicit strikes when the fly is near theboat.The cork on the rods I saw looked tobe a composite, rather than the usualsmooth “specie” cork. Esox rods are anonglare brown with TFO’s proprietaryTiCr coating for durability.

LAST YEAR, Redington introduced thefirst really good synthetic handle ma-

terial in their Vapen series of fast-action

graphite rods. The polymer Power Gripwas developed in collaboration with thegolf-club-grip company Winn Grips. Ithad great feel and texture, didn’t slip whenwet, cleaned quickly, and was easy on thehand muscles. But it was red (for RED-ington, one imagines) and while it wasfunctionally great, lots of us found the redcolor a bit outré. This year, Redington hascome up with a Vapen Black series of rodswith black Power Grip handles, and thoseamong us who shun bright colors can takethe rods more seriously. The black PowerGrip models are available on the samemodels as the Vapen Red (9-foot four-piece rods for line weights 4 through 12),at the same $349.95 price.

Adamsbuilt Fishing, of Fallon, Neva-da, which entered the fly-fishing marketwith a strong showing in 2012, has up-graded its highest-quality combinationrod/reel/line outfit. The new GVH com-bo, at $299.95, has an improved, progres-sive-action graphite 9-foot 5-weight four-piece model,matched with a machined 6061T-6 aluminum fly reel that’s been loadedwith a weight-forward 5-weight floatingline and backing. It all comes packaged ina ballistic-nylon-covered rod-and-reel tube.

When Hardy was purchased a year orso ago by Pure Fishing, the company thatalready owned Berkley, Fenwick, AbuGarcia, and Trilene, Hardy devotees won-dered what would become of their treas-ured brand. Well, for starters, they’ve in-troduced a lower-priced Sintrix rod line.(The Sintrix name refers to the company’sproprietary and highly durable fiber-resincombination.) Hardy’s earlier Sintrix ProAxis rods were light, fast, strong, and gotuniversally good reviews from scores ofcritical anglers on both sides of the At-lantic. But they were expensive ($689 to$699 for single-handed models), and thatlimited sales a bit. The new Sintrix Jet se-ries comes in at $445 to $495 in all theusual lengths and line weights.

IGUESS I WAS PRESCIENT when I sug-gested, in July/August’s “Gearhead,”

that there might be something of value in

shorter fly rods, because Orvis and G.Loomis just added sub-9-foot models totheir lineups.

G. Loomis Pro4x Shortstix are thatcompany’s major new fly rod launch thisyear. These 7-foot 6-inch three-pieceheavy-line models for 9-weight through12-weight fly lines are said to be “quick-loading and dramatically easier to cast.”The company tells us that the rods arekeyed to the demands of Northeast striperand bluefish anglers, but notes that Short-stix also should be great for roosterfish, bigsnook, tarpon, pike, golden dorados,muskies, and peacock bass. And if youwonder where you should fish them, you’lllearn that they’re meant for “shallow wad-ing, casting from the jetties or from a boat.”That covers both the aquarium and thewaterfront.What I think it boils down to isa series of fast, beefy little rods that are ca-pable of delivering surprisingly large flies intight quarters where back casts are tough,also giving the angler a short-rod leverageadvantage over muscular fish. They’remodestly priced, too, from $400 to $425.

Orvis’s short rods are part of the com-pany’s new Recon lineup, which replacesthe Access series (there’ll be a quiz on this,so pay attention). Like G. Loomis’s Short-stix, as well as Sage’s Bass II and TFO’sMini Mag models, short Recons are in-tended primarily for saltwater or heavyfreshwater use. The 7-foot 11-inch 4-piece Recons, for lines 8-weight through10-weight, are modestly priced at $425. Inaddition to the 7-foot 11-inch Recons,there are saltwater Recons at 8 feet 6 inch-es, 9 feet 10 inches, and 10 feet for lineweights from 6 through 10.

In addition to the saltwater models,Orvis has eight four-piece freshwater Reconsfor line weights 3 through 6, including an8-foot 4-inch 3-weight and a 10-foot 5-weight. Again, they’re $425. Recons are allmade at Orvis’s Manchester, Vermont, rodshop, using nice components and cosmet-ics, plus an innovative ferrule design.

Orvis has also joined Hardy, G.Loomis, and Echo in the one-piece salt-water rod club.The company’s new Helios

GearheadGood Stuff for Fly FishersBy Larry Kenney

And You Thought You HadToo Many Rods....

Sept/Oct 49

New Soft Goodsand Accessories

ORVIS’S ENCOUNTER WADERS

Catch and Release

Good Stuff for Fly FishersBy Robert Ketley

RELEASING A FISH SO THAT IT REMAINS HEALTHY AND ALIVE IS NOT AS SIMPLE AS ONE MIGHT THINK.

(3 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

better fighting techniques can be brought down to a level that is insignificant. New-bies can be excused for poor fish-fighting techniques — the rest of us can’t. If you want to explore C&R hook technology further, take a hard look at barbless circle hooks. A study by the Na-tional Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center found that 97 percent of fish were lip hooked when cir-cle hooks were used, as compared with 50 percent for standard J hooks. A number of folks scoff at using circles, suggesting they have no place in fly fishing. Talk to anglers who have actually taken the time to learn how to use them properly and you’ll often get a different story. I con-verted most of my surf and striper flies to barbless circles years ago. They are also well suited to egg, worm, and streamer patterns. The initial hookup rate can be a bit lower than conventional J hooks, but that is usually due to faulty hook-setting technique. You don’t strike with circles — just tighten the line, and the fish does the rest. Tame your strike response, and you’ll catch and release plenty of fish on circles.

Wet Release

Almost every published research pa-per has found significantly greater surviv-al rates when fish aren’t exposed to air. A paper in the journal Fisheries, “Fish Out of Water: How Much Air Is Too Much?,” Fisheries 40, no. 9 (September 2015), http://www.fecpl.ca/wp-content/up-loads/2014/12/AirExp.pdf, suggests that anything more than 10 seconds of expo-sure to air will compromise survival for some species. Trout Unlimited recently conducted a review of the current science and concluded that exposure to air should be no more than 15 to 20 seconds. It turns out that survival isn’t the only problem with exposure to air — tak-ing a fish out of the water can harm future generations, too. As little as 10 seconds of exposure reduced the fecundity of Atlan-tic salmon, and smallmouth bass were ob-served to more readily abandon their nests when exposed to air. Sadly, wet release is infrequently mentioned in fishing maga-zines and almost eliminates the popular “grip-and-grin” photos. It’s not that hard to release a fish without taking it out of the water, and if you really want a photo, you can do that without hoisting it aloft. It just takes a bit of thought and an ounce of preparation.

Handling Fish

Perhaps the main diff iculty with wet release is controlling the fish while the hook is removed. Smaller fish can be

managed by simply holding the leader taut and popping the fly out. But this can be impractical with larger fish, especially those that have been fought quickly and still have plenty of kick. For trout and most other soft-finned species, you can control the fish by gently grasping it just behind the head and gills. How you grasp the fish is very important. It is vital that you don’t remove the fish’s protective slime layer or dam-age its internal organs. One piece of kit that really helps with this is a mesh glove like Midstream’s Landing Hand (invented by Bill and Kate Howe) or the Fish Tailer from Orvis. These provide a better grip with much less pressure than you’d need when using bare hands. If you have a particularly lively fish, holding it upside down will often (though not always) calm it down. With larger fish and those that have spiny fins, you can sometimes grip them just in front of the tail. Once you have the fish under control, raise the head just far enough to see the fly. If you can’t remove the hook in under 10 seconds, lower the fish back into the water so it can breathe and you can figure out what to do next.

Lipping For some species, such as largemouth bass and stripers, you can control the fish by grasping the lower lip between your thumb and forefinger. This is definitely something you want to do while the fish is in the water. I used to pull stripers out of the surf and onto wet sand by their lower jaw. That was how the “experts” did it in the fishing magazines, so I assumed it was OK. It isn’t. It can dislocate the jaw and separate the cartilage that connects the head to the body. Lip a fish only if its weight is fully supported by water. And don’t force the jaw down like many conventional bass guys do. The mouth only needs to be opened far enough to remove the fly. For a while, mechanical lip grippers were the “must have” tool. They appeared in countless magazine photos. It seemed as if everyone was using them to land and weigh fish, “safe” in the knowledge that the fish was unharmed. It turns out these grips can do considerable damage. One study found that 40 percent of bonefish that were lipped with a popular device suffered severe injuries, including split-ting the mandible and separating the tongue from the floor of the mouth. How long do you think you’d survive in the wild with a broken jaw? Fish that suffer that sort of damage will swim away and die later from disease or starvation.

Landing Nets

Sometimes, you can’t release a fish without netting it. This additional step isn’t without consequences for the fish, so it is important to have the best type of net and use it appropriately. Since exposure to

air is a significant factor in C&R mortal-ity, you are going to want to keep the net-ted fish in the water while you remove the hook. If that isn’t practical, make sure to keep air exposure to less than 10 seconds. It helps to spend a few seconds evaluating the situation and ensuring you have the right tools at hand before you raise the net.

So what type of landing net is best? Type “catch and release landing nets” into a search engine and you’ll likely get over six million results. Even if you ignore 99.9 percent of them, you still have more than six thousand things to read. Let’s make this a bit less painful. The first and most obvious answer is use a net that is big enough to hold the fish. Now let’s consid-er net material. A 2002 paper in the journal Fisheries Research evaluated the effect of net mesh on injury and mortality in bluegills. The study found all mesh types caused some mortality, with levels ranging from 4 to 14 percent within seven days. The main cause of death was tail f in damage and fungal lesions. Knotted mesh nets had the highest mortality rates, so scratch these off your list. Rubber nets were the least

likely to cause injury and death, though soft, knotless mesh wasn’t far behind. From a C&R perspective, either material is suitable if the net is the right size and used properly. One added advantage of rubber nets is they won’t snag flies.

Many landing nets have a cone-shaped bag, which tends to force fish into a bowed shape. This can increase the risk of tail fin damage. Flat-bottom nets are less likely to force the tail into the mesh, but even these aren’t perfect.

I f igured there had to be a better solution. To get a handle on this, I turned to the work of fisheries biologists. In some cases, these folks surgically insert large archival tags inside the fish’s body, a procedure far more invasive than

hook removal. Research budgets are usu-ally super tight, so scientists can’t afford to go far offshore and place an expensive tag in a fish only to have it die days or weeks later. Their choice of gear has to be well thought out. Most biologists use a cradle to control the fish during tagging. Like a cattle crush, the cradle keeps the fish from flopping about while the biologist deftly wields a scalpel or tag gun. A cradle can double as a landing net.In fact, a number of forward-thinking

Mar/Apr 41

THE MIDSTREAM LANDING HAND HELPS AN ANGLER CON-

TROL A FISH SAFELY DURING ITS LANDING AND RELEASE.

and they don’t always know the proper river etiquette — for example, an angler lipping a steelhead they caught out of the water for a picture or fi fty and then toss-ing it back in the water without reviving it. Th is drives me insane. I guess seeing any fi sh mishandled is enough to make me contemplate doing bad things.

Bud: As clients of guides, many of us are likely to be average fl y fi shers, at best, and one good reason for even beginners to hire a guide is to make progress along the learning curve. In your experience, what sorts of skills should trout anglers work on to improve our competence? And how about skills for steelheaders and would-be steelheaders?

Leslie: Th e best clients are those who are always willing to learn. You can con-trol every aspect of the guide day except making a fi sh eat. Which is why there are so many other things to focus on when the fi shing is slow. One thing you can work on as a trout angler is cast-ing. Practicing single-handed casting doesn’t require water, just your rod, reel, and line. Better casting means covering more water and fewer tangles. Another great thing to work on while fi shing without a guide is read-ing the water. Before slopping into the water like a herd of buff alo, take a few minutes to look around and see if you can spot any fi sh. Th en next time, do it again, and again. Eventually, you will have a good reference as to where the fi sh are holding. It will vary from spot to spot, but this is a great way to begin understanding trout habitat.

Bud: Steelheaders and, increasingly, trout anglers have embraced the use of Spey and other two-handed rods. You’ve done so, as well, climbing that learning curve and even competing in the casting competition at the Spey-O-Rama at the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club. What’s your advice for someone who’s taking up the really long rod for the fi rst time, and what are the keys to progressing as a two-handed caster — and, since they’re not quite the same, as a two-handed angler?

Leslie: Spey casting has become immense-ly popular on the fl y-fi shing scene. Th e fi rst time I cast a Spey rod, I was drawn to the challenge and artistic nature of it. And then the fi rst time I caught a steel-head swinging a fl y, well, it was an instant addiction. Competition casting is a more recent challenge I have embarked upon.

I think the best recommendation I can give to anyone taking up long-belly casting is to practice. You need to be on the water to do this, and it can be very tough to practice in the midst of having fi shing opportunities, but to progress and be competent, you do have to practice. In terms of Skagit or Scandi cast-ing, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of anchor consistency and visual awareness. You cannot complete a Spey cast properly unless your an-chor point and D loop are in the correct place at the right time. On every cast, you should be looking at your anchor and D loop to perfect the correct timing and sweep speed. In terms of fi shing a two-handed rod, when starting out, there is always the urge to fish only those perfect or mostly perfect casts. Th e rest are imme-diately stripped in to be recast. By the time you have made a good cast as a be-ginning Spey caster, you have probably managed to cane the water and spook all of the fi sh. Make a mend and take the time to recount what went wrong on a cast while you are letting it swing through and f ishing. You may even catch a fi sh.

Bud: One of the unsung leitmotifs of fl y-fi shing lore is the topic of fl y-fi sh-ing dogs. (Ralph Cutter wrote about his in an “Under the Alders” column a few years ago.) You’ve got one — Marlee. Why does a dog fi gure so prominently in some people’s sense of the ideal an-gling companion?

Leslie: Dogs and f ly f ishing. Well, I think that dogs in general are such an enrichment to human life. I know there isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t im-mensely enjoy Marlee’s company. He is a part of my family. Dogs truly are iconic f ly-fishing partners. Perhaps it correlates with having a fi shing partner who loves the outdoors and also can’t give up your secret fi shing spots. Per-haps also there is just a rich tradition of dogs in European outdoor sports such as hunting and fl y fi shing. Or perhaps the majority of the fl y-fi shing commu-nity is so awesome because they love dogs just as much as I do.

Bud: Here we are at the traditional Silly Tree question. If you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be?

Leslie: I would be an old-growth red-wood that managed to escape the clutches of the crazed logging industry.

16 Sept/Oct

bauerflyreel.com • 888.484.4165

New RXHIGH PERFORMANCE

ELEGANCE

Bauer RX4 BW CAFF Ad 042015c_Layout 1 4/28/15 1:12 PM Page 1

July/Aug 19

bauerflyreel.com • 888.484.4165

New RXHIGH PERFORMANCE

ELEGANCE

Bauer RX4 BW CAFF Ad 042015c_Layout 1 4/28/15 1:12 PM Page 1

4 Jan/Feb

tapered tip and more modestly pebbled head and running line. Airf lo’s Ridge lines, made in England, have tiny grooves running along their length to reduce sur-face contact with guides and promote bet-ter shooting and line pickup.

A Line’s CoreNylon monofilaments and multifila-

ments have been used selectively by line companies for many years, in conjunction with specific coatings to provide stiffness or suppleness. Solid monofilaments are used on most clear lines. Hollow braided cores are softer and used on lines with softer coatings intended for colder wa-ters, while solid braids are used on stiff-er-coated tropical lines to keep them from becoming too limp. Each of these ny-lon-core lines has some stretch built into it. At maximum load, just before failure, that stretch can go as high as 30 percent. Since the coating itself has some memory and can take a set, a core that stretches can be helpful for getting the memory out of a line. There’s also an arguable ad-vantage to having some stretch in the line to reduce the risk of breaking off a fish, especially a heavy fish such as a tarpon.

For the past year or so, however, a couple of line companies have extolled the advantages of lines built around

cores that stretch very little: something less than 6 percent for the polyethylene core that RIO calls ConnectCore. And Monic, by Flow Tek of Colorado, builds some lines around a gel-spun core that has zero stretch. Fabricators of low-stretch or no-stretch lines argue that these cores make for more secure and faster hook sets, greater sensitivity for better timing of casts, easier line lift, and sharp, pre-cise mends. I’ve enjoyed the casting and fishing qualities of the new RIO lines I’ve used, though I’m really not sure that the lack of stretch is noticeable. I do notice a difference in feel with a 9-weight gel-spun-cored Monic intermediate, but I’ve not tried light-line versions. And whether it helps or not is something I’ve not yet answered.

Critics of low-stretch cores argue that a straight fly line is the key to the most direct connection to a fish. As Lefty says, you can’t move the end of the fly line or the fly until the line is straight. Since line coatings themselves have memory, it takes a core with some stretch to let you remove the set and straighten the fly line. Monic argues that neither its poly-urethane coating nor its gel-spun-core lines have memory, so perhaps the issue is irrelevant. But then neither have I no-ticed greater coil memory with my RIO InTouch lines with ConnectCore than with those using nylon cores. 

A more telling argument is that f ly-line cores of any material are made from materials testing out at 20 pounds or more breaking strength, and the pub-lished amount that a core stretches is de-termined at maximum tension. Nobody, including most of the tarpon/tuna gang, ever puts that much pressure on a fish. Indeed, they argue that the amount that a line stretches in casting, striking, and playing a fish is too low to be significant, regardless of the type of core. If stretch occurs, it’s going to be at the leader and tippet. Whether nylon or fluorocarbon,

leaders and tippets are far less strong and thus stretch more readily under fishing loads than the line’s heavier core.

It’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out, particularly between SA’s nylon-core textured lines and RIO’s polyethylene-core low-stretch smooth lines. Perhaps an angler can shade the odds a bit with a low-stretch line or, for that matter, with a textured line. Or not. In any event, the important thing is to fish a line that casts well, shoots far, puts the fly where you want it, picks up easily, and lasts long enough to justify the $70 to $90 you spent buying it. And just to rattle a cage or two, my trusty inflation calculator tells me that assuming produc-tion, packaging, and marketing costs have stayed the same, the $15 top-end fly line of 1975 should cost only $66.50 today.

New ManufacturersAnother interesting feature of the

current line market has been the con-tinuing emergence of new — some would call them “boutique” — line companies. Masterline had it’s day, but it was a pretty short one, so I’m calling out Royal Wulff for their Triangle Taper lines and Jim Teeny, for introducing what we now call an integrated-shooting-head line, as the real first of these boutique makers.

Teeny’s lines combined a very heavy, fast-sinking 24-foot tip with a f loating running line. They cast like a box of rocks, and you were stuck with the one fast sink rate, but for anglers uninterested in carry-ing or casting multiple sinking shooting heads in front of mono running line — such as our friends in Washington and Oregon, and the occasional Easterner who’d discovered sinking lines — they got your fly down where it often mattered.

Triangle Taper lines, patented by Royal Wulff and fabricated for them by Scientif ic Anglers, have a long-head-length front taper that allows for quite delicate presentations. Despite never be-ing made with SA’s most current coating formulations, they gained strong follow-ings. I never found them noticeably more delicate than a good weight-forward or double-taper line, though they roll cast quite well. There are now multiple spe-cialty Triangle Taper incarnations, in-cluding sinking and Spey models, all of which have their adherents.

Monic fly lines, the love child of a gifted chemical engineer with an angling habit, got its start with a patented clear polyurethane coating over clear mono cores. They became favorites of a bunch of Florida flats fishers a decade or so ago for their low visibility in skinny water. The

company now makes multiple additional lines with a second patented polyurethane coating and a variety of low-stretch cores, including gel-spun, for a broader range of modern fly fishing opportunities. As noted earlier, most of the polyurethane lines I’ve fished handle well and are quite durable, but mike out a bit larger than PVC-coated lines.

Recently, two more new companies have emerged to compete for anglers’ hearts, minds, and dollars. Montana’s 406 Fly Lines (area code 406, get it?) address-es a perceived need for suppler, accurately weighted lines tailored to softer bamboo and fiberglass rods. (Cortland’s Sylk and RIO’s Light Line fall in this category, as well.) The company has taken what they feel are the best of “vintage” tapers and have had lines made to those dimen-sions with modern coatings by Scientific Anglers. They’re a subtle olive/tan color and are offered in double-taper as well as weight-forward configurations in line weights 3 through 8. Every line is made precisely to AFTMA specifications, rath-er than overweighted, as is becoming the trend for lines on stiff, fast-action rods. So a 4-weight will be 140 grains, and a 6-weight will be 160. The weight-forward floating 4-weight and 5-weight versions I’ve cast are sweet trout lines, with smaller diameters than I expected for lines that float so well. It will be interesting to see whether they catch on.

ARC Fishing’s new fly lines are built around low-stretch cores with nanomol-ecules of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene — a totally hydrophobic solid) incorpo-rated into their polyurethane coating, like Airflo lines. The lines are grooved, again à la Airflo’s Ridge lines, for distance and easy shooting, and have a slightly hard-er, different-colored, lower-compression material at the high-wear haul and run-ning zones. Lines are marked with their specs ahead of the back loop. Come to think of it, that all sounds like Airflo, so I’m guessing that’s who’s making the lines for ARC. Where they differ from Airflo, presumably, is in their tapers. ARC offers half a dozen weight-forward models for fresh and salt water. I’ve not cast an ARC line, but have heard positive comments.

Beyond cores and coatings, the nitty gritty of fly lines is taper . . . but that’s a subject for another day.

In the meantime, let’s all hope that El Niño will arrive early and with enough rain to put every river in the state out of its low-water misery. My fingers are crossed that this will be the last time I wish for unfishable high water, but I’m betting it won’t be, dammit.

46 Nov/Dec

In the years we’re dealing with in this exercise, Bill ’s enthusiasm was running at a fever pitch, and a f ive-or-six-week gig at the Austin Riffle was worth 300 fish. However, since Bill used the fish he caught to barter for goods and services, after about 1960, he let it go because there was nothing to take home. Too, as the calamitous effects of the Coyote Dam began to dwindle the Russian’s stocks, those halcyon days faded into mere mem-ory. But catch 300 steelhead from 8 to 15 pounds fishing every day for 40 or 40 straight days, and you have a good start on a comprehensive acquaintanceship with the species.

If we accept my averages, the aba-cus shows that Bill landed a bit above

a thousand steelhead this season. In a low-water year, that figure could double. Of these, he killed only the legal limit each day. A citizen of our time might exclaim, “My god, this one man killed more steelhead in one season than all the fly fishers in California now catch in five years.” Know this: catch-and-release is a pointless mantra in the conservation of migratory steelhead and salmon. Are fly fishers’ egos now so warped by the ma-cho tone of tackle manufacturers’ adver-tisements that they can possibly imagine disaffecting an entire healthy population of steelhead with their pathetic little fish poles? If Bill Schaadt couldn’t, it’s cer-tain you can’t. Of course we don’t have a healthy population, and are facing soon having none at all, so bop your one fish a season on the head with a length of drift-wood and put it on the barbecue. It will be delicious, and it’s not going to make the slightest bit of difference. Mark Twain said: “If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.” But it’s all we have to fight the monsters among us. Worried about the ongoing de-cline of wild fish? Then put that obscenely expensive gear away and focus instead on jousting with bulldozers, cranes, chain-saws, cement trucks, and giant earthmov-ers, existing and proposed water diver-sions, dams (the building and removal of), 10-mile drift nets in flagrant violation of international law by pirate factory ships, feckless hatcheries, impostor biologists, scumbag politicians, and assorted other criminal types. Remember what the com-ic character Pogo said fifty or sixty years ago, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” In Iceland, where they’ve kept re-cords for three hundred years, it’s been proven that a river with a run of four thousand Atlantic salmon can sustain

a thousand f ish taken per season, and each year, four thousand fish will return. That’s 25 percent of the run. If, as all the old-timers asserted, the Russian River had three to five hundred thousand steel-head in it, and sport fishermen killed sev-enty-five thousand each year, that’s 15 to 20 percent, depending on who you believe — Fish and Wildlife, who have napped their way through the millennium, or people who have spent sixty or seventy years eyes glued to the ball. If every single person killed every single sport-caught fish on the entire West Coast since Lewis and Clark came through, it would be im-possible to wiggle the decimal point on species numbers. The authorities today systematically demonize the sport fishers, punishing them with preposterously stu-pid regulations, while the criminal spoil-ers order another drink, light up a cigar, and gouge another wound into our one and only planet. Then slaps on the back are in order from the corrupt, bought-off environmental police force. Are you angry yet? If not, what are you thinking? Do you still believe as so many of us did fifty, sixty, seventy years ago, that our state commission, theoret-ically put in place as a protective agen-cy, has been doing just that all this time? Well they haven’t. And if allowed to con-tinue with business as usual, which is to sell out wild salmon and steelhead to the highest bidder, then the 99 percent loss suffered under their squinty eyes is inexo-rably headed toward flat-line zero. The only possible hope for saving what little is left and moving on to ulti-mate restoration is to take the management of all salmonids out of their dirty hands. What’s needed is a science-driven com-mission that has the authority to stand on equal ground with both state and federal governments and that cannot be bought off by cheap-suit politicians or hormonal-ly imbalanced, fiendishly greedy, undem-ocratic capitalists. Those gleaming law-enforcement badges so proudly displayed are unfortu-nately pinned to black-hooded robes be-neath which furtive cowards and frauds cringe out of sight in order to keep their unearned paychecks coming. We need an army of the concerned to rip those dark clown outfits off all the cowering intellec-tual midgets, spray them with holy water, and send them on a vast ship of their own far from landfall, where they can do no more harm as they drool for an eternity over their hands of solitaire. When the column of militia is lined up to head into battle, I’ll be proud to stand at the fore-front and take the first bullet.

42 Sept/Oct

Truckee Tahoe Trout FundA donor-advised fund of the Truckee Tahoe Community Foundation

The Truckee RegionCould Use Your Help

If you fish the Truckee/Tahoe region,please consider making a donation tothe Truckee Tahoe Trout Foundation.

Support better angling for your children,your grandchildren...and yourself.

Help build our capital fund tofinance fisheries protection,enhancement, and research.

We’ve given out $3,000 ingrants to study the health ofaquatic insect populations in

the Little Truckee, lowerMartis Creek, and Bear Creek,

and financed delivery ofspawning gravel for lower

Prossser Creek.

Send your tax-deductible donation to:P.O. Box 366, Truckee, CA 96160

For information,phone 587-1776

or 587-8702

Pho

to b

y B

eth

Chr

istm

an

Volunteers sampling a creek for aquatic insects.

Subscribe!Get the best fly-fishing magazine in California delivered to your home,

office, or cabin.

See page 53.

SUBSCRIBE!Get the best angling

magazine in

California delivered

to your home, office,

or cabin.

See page 53 for

details.

lessons | presentationswalk & wade trips | stillwater tripstruckee, little truckee, north yuba prosser, boca, and milton

flyfishingtruckee-tahoe.com 530.386.0525

SUBSCRIBE!Get the best angling

magazine in

California delivered

to your home, offi ce,

or cabin.

See page 49

for details.

Free copy of

A Guide to Fly Fishing the Sacramento River with each purchase of

The Sacramento. A Transcendent River Bob Madgic, author

Order Form

____pb copy(s) The Sacramento @ $20.00 ea (reg. $26.50)

____hb copy(s) The Sacramento @ $35.00 ea (reg. $43.00)

____copy(s) A Guide to Fly Fishing @ free or $9.00 ea

____shipping - $5.00 (up to 4 books; add $2.00 for ea 1-2 more)

____total amt. Send check to: River Bend Books 6412 Clear View Dr. Anderson, CA 96007 Review books @ www.bobmadgic.com

Questions: bmadgic@yahoo.com (530) 365-5852

Send books to (complete and send with check)

Name_____________________________________________

Address___________________________________________

City/zip___________________________________________

Phone #___________________

email___________________________

lessons | presentationswalk & wade trips | stillwater tripstruckee, little truckee, north yuba prosser, boca, and milton

flyfishingtruckee-tahoe.com 530.386.0525

lessons | presentations presentationswalk & wade trips | stillwater tripstruckee, little truckee, north yuba prosser, boca, and milton

flyfishingtruckee-tahoe.com 530.386.0525

(4 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

steelhead anglers are already using them. They are relatively simple to use and can make unhooking large, lively f ish a bit easier than conventionally shaped nets. Lonnie Brooks of Fishing Addicts Northwest has a pretty good YouTube video showing how to use a cradle on a wild steelhead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcZBAB4fz1Q. Cumings, Frabil, and Loki all make cradle nets, and at $50 to $80, they aren’t too expensive. For something really spe-cial, check out the beautiful wood-han-dled cradles sold by Rushton Landing Nets. If money is really tight or you just like making stuff, it’s pretty easy to fabri-cate a serviceable cradle net. Just get some schedule 40 PVC pipe, a pack of zip ties, and a large (24-by-36-inch) f ine-mesh laundry bag. The whole shebang shouldn’t cost you more than a Jackson.

Fly Removal Once you have the fish under control, it’s time to remove the fly. For most lip-hooked fish that don’t have sharp teeth, just keep a taut leader and slide your fin-gers down to the fly and pop it out. If the fish has pointy teeth, you’ll probably want a hook-removal tool. A pair of forceps (clamps) is a quick and easy option. For fish with a mouth full of razorblades, a pair of cheap hardware store needle-nose pliers works surprisingly well. I use these whenever I have to unbutton larger hali-but or lingcod, both of which can quick-ly turn unhooking into a scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Things get a bit more complicated if the fly is lodged inside the mouth. If the fly is clearly visible, you should be able to remove it with forceps. If you can see the fly, but can’t tell exactly where it has penetrated, you are better off using a hook remover that self-aligns and works by feel. I ran some tests on several hook-removal tools to see which ones really worked. Two products stood out. Split-tube tools such as the Lamson/Waterworks Ketchum Release are simple to use. I like this type of hook remover when I am wading and can easily reach the fish. It takes just seconds to slip the tool onto the tippet, slide it down to the f ish, and pop the f ly free. Most of the time, this can be done without ever han-dling the fish, which clearly improves the odds of survival. Trout anglers should get one of these and use it religiously. The other tool that worked well is ba-sically a pigtail of stiff wire. I had previ-ously ignored this device, because it looks so cheap and crude. That was a mistake. I found it performed surprisingly well with

poppers and Clousers, which can some-times be difficult to remove. The pigtail quickly and cleanly extracted these flies, regardless of location and orientation in the mouth. Saltwater and steelhead f ly fishers should take a look at ARC’s de-hooker, which handles hooks all the way up to a monstrous 9/0. It is made from stainless steel, so you don’t have to worry about it rusting away in your tackle bag. Anyone with a modicum of DIY skill can make their own pigtail dehooker. All you need is a wire coat hanger, a pair of pliers, and a couple of minutes. I could try to explain how to make the pigtail and compound bend, but it is much easier if you simply take a look at pictures of de-hookers online. Type “notched dehooking device with offsets” or “fish dehooking device US 7818914 B1” into Google’s patent search and you’ll f ind diagrams that will make things pretty obvious. If you mount the tool onto a long handle, you can use it to release fish that can’t be brought close to hand. This is particularly helpful when fishing from pontoon boats and high-sided watercraft. A long-han-dled hook remover almost eliminates the need for a landing net.

Fly Sacrifice What if the hook is lodged deep in-side the mouth? This is when you need to decide if it is better to remove the hook or leave it in place. If the fly is deep, but not in the throat or close to the gills, try using a split-tube or pigtail hook remover. A 2007 study of Australian bream suggests that survival is increased if hooks are re-moved when they are deep, but not locat-ed in the throat or gills. If the fly doesn’t pop out with a couple of quick tries, it’s time to cut the tippet. If the fly is in the throat or close to the gills, just snip the tippet close to the f ly and let the fish go. This may sound like bad advice, but research suggests otherwise. One study found that 44 per-cent of deep-hooked fish (bluegills) died within 10 days of hook removal, as com-pared with only 12.5 percent where the hook was left in place. A study of bone-fish found no increase in mortality when hooks were left in place. Sacrifice the fly and save the fish. To repeat George Santayana’s well-worn phrase, “Those who cannot remem-ber the past are condemned to repeat it.” If we don’t give a XXXX about conserva-tion, many of the fisheries we love may go the same way as the anadromous fish runs of yesteryear. Effective C&R tools and techniques are important if we want to avoid such a depressing future.

42 Mar/Apr

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

We tend to look at catch-and-release angling as a way to save fish we care about, but that perspective is too narrow. Ecosystems are incredibly

complex, and changes in the abundance of species (plant or animal) can have totally unexpected effects. To quote from a 2009 paper in Applied Ecology, “Population control through harvest has the potential to reduce the abundance of nuisance and invasive species. However, demographic structure and density-dependent pro-cesses can confound removal efforts and lead to undesirable consequences, such as overcompensation (an increase in abundance in response to harvest) and instability (population cycling or chaos).” To put that in plain English, well-intentioned efforts to save fisheries can have unanticipated consequences.

Two examples of how poorly we understand the role of organisms in ecosys-tems are the reintroduction of gray wolves into Yellowstone and the removal of feral cats from Macquarie Island in the South Pacific.

In Yellowstone, the re-introduction of wolves caused deer to avoid the valleys, which had been heavily overgrazed. With the deer gone, the valleys rapidly refor-ested, which directly and indirectly changed the hydrology of the rivers. Erosion and meandering were reduced, while pools and riffles increased, all of which quick-ly benefited the trout.

On Macquarie Island, introduced feral cats were decimating the population of blue petrels, a seabird that lays its eggs in a burrow. To save the petrels, authorities launched a cat eradication program. Unfortunately, with the cats removed, the is-land’s non-native rabbit population bred out of control. The rabbits removed most of the native vegetation on the slopes where the petrels nested. A combination of massively increased erosion and the establishment of non-native plants eliminated large areas of petrel nesting habitat.

What has this got to do with C&R, you may well ask. California’s list of threatened and endangered fish includes suckers and pikeminnows. Fly fishers occasionally hook these fish while pursuing trout or steelhead. Some folks kill and discard these fish because they believe doing so will help trout and steelhead by reducing egg depredation. Despite the fact this is illegal, well-meaning anglers assume it is OK because the approach has been used by biologists for similar species in a number of waters.

The problem is that most anglers aren’t fisheries biologists, and their actions, however well-intentioned, have the potential to do very real damage. Suckers and pikeminnows are native species that coevolved with salmon, steelhead, and trout over millions of years. While they do indeed consume the eggs of steelhead and salmon, they fill countless other important roles in the ecosystem. The survival and abundance of these fish may be vital to the long-term survival of steelhead, salmon, and trout in ways we do not currently understand. Those who cull suckers or pikeminnows may end up dooming the very species of fish they care about. If you are serious about protecting fisheries, use effective C&R techniques and tools with every native species of fish you catch.

— Robert Ketley

DO NOT HOIST A BASS BY ITS LIP. THE FISH IS LIKELIER TO SURVIVE IF IT IS KEPT IN THE

WATER DURING REMOVAL OF THE HOOK.

(5 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Thursday, June 8, 2017 at 6:30pm

Margie’s Diner, 1575 Calle Joaquin, SLO

“In Search of Native Trout in the Southwest”

Tom Nickelson

In my never-ending quest to catch all of North America’s salmon and trout species and sub-species, during the first half of September 2016 I joined forces with Steve Jacobs, a fellow fisheries biologist with a background in native trout biology and made a trek through the Southwest in search of new native trout to catch. I will provide something of a travel log of our trip. I will also provide some background information about the native trout we were pursuing and discuss some of the threats they face.

(6 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Attention Fly Tiers Come Join Us!!

Tuesday – June 27th Place - Odd Fellows Hall

Time - 6:30 PM

June Fly – To Be Announced

May’s Fly Tying Session Featured the Tan Comparadun Dry Fly

The last fly tying session was held at the Odd Fellows Hall in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, May 23rd. Paul Crafts demonstrated the Comparadun Dry Fly. Paul had success catching brown trout with this pattern in olive on Yellow Creek in the Lake Almanor area, using a dapping method over overgrown willow banks.

Paul borrowed from Tom Rosenbauer’s Orvis’ Fly Tying Guide. Tom uses this pattern to imitate scores of adult mayflies in sizes from 10 through 20. He states, “Hair for the wing should be chosen carefully….Fine hair with even ends…from coastal mule deer, or white tailed deer, makes the best wings.”

Materials : Thread - Tan 6/0 or 8/0 Hook - 2X-Long dry fly hook, Size 14 Tail - Divided hackle barbs Body - Dubbing tan Wing - Deer hair tied in a 180 degree arc on top of the hook Web Sites on the Comparadun Dry fly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD2fUatPU4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5WfZ7QD7o8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-dPiYrFnqA

(7 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Manzanita Lake Outing – June 18th to June 25th

This majestic place with its snow covered alpine peaks and natural beauty, wild trout and quality fishing brings us back year after year.

For those new to the lake: Most of us begin to fish mid-morning and stop by mid-afternoon. Some of us go back out in the evening 7 – 7:30 to 9 – 9:30pm. The fishing is principally done in 4 to 8 feet of crystal clear water around and over submerged weed beds. A float tube, kick, or pontoon boat is the best way to go; however, there are good spots around the lake that can be fished from shore. Manzanita is not a numbers game. You have to work for it to catch these wild fish. For the new or less experienced on the lake, fishing a half-day and hooking 1 to 3 fish of 14 to 17 inches can be (a normal) average. Most of the time the lake comes back to life around 7:30pm. During the evening, the fish are much less picky and easier to fool on a dry fly or a wooly bugger. Most of us will agree, there is a definite learning curve to fishing Manzanita Lake successfully. That being said, the lake can be hard to fish at times. Manzanita Lake is one of the rare still-water beauties that can teach us a lesson and challenge us to rise up to the occasion. It awakens the best in us to succeed and become a better still water fisher. We plan to have a daily fishing report - get together around 5pm in campsite C 1. We will talk about what was working and what was not working, and if necessary come up with an adjusted fishing approach. A dinner get together can be arranged for Thursday 6 to 6:45 pm. Fourteen people have signed up for the Manzanita outing so far. WHERE: Manzanita Lake - Lassen NP (north entrance). Take highway 44 east out of Redding. WHEN: Sunday June 18th to Saturday 24th. ACCOMMODATIONS: Camping near the lake (no hook ups). Motels are in Shingletown about 14 miles towards Redding on highway 44. FEES: Entrance fee $10, camping fee $24, CA Fishing license required. TACKLE: Rods 4 -6 wt with fl line / second rod with afl line + 5 to 10 ft 1 ips clear sink-tip. Small indicators for chironomids. LEADERS: For dry flies long leaders 12 to 16 ft, tippet included (the last 2-3 ft 6 x fluor) For nymphs 12 to 18 ft, tippet included (the last 4-6 ft 4-5 x fluor leader) DRY FLIES: P Adams / Female Adams /Callibaetis, cripple, dunns, spinner / all in size 14 /16 / 18 NYMPHS: Pheasant tail/Gold Ribbed Haire's ear and flashback/Callibaetis/Birds Nest all in size 14 to 18. Damsels olive size 12 to 14 /Zebra midge and Chironomids in red size 16 to 18 STREMERS: Small w buggers (olive) size 8 to 10 during the day Mid size w bugger / or zonker in size 6 to 8 for the evening PFD’s are required to fish Manzanita Lake RESERVATIONS: Phone 877-444-6777 Loop A and C are for reservations only, loop D and E are first come first serve. Most members are camping together in loop C. Christine and I are in C 1. FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: Bernard Pieters at 489-3085 or bpieters84@gmail.com

(8 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Lake Almanor Outing – June 24th to June 30th

Lake Almanor is already full, and the streams are running strong. Mt. Lassen has a full blanket of snow ready to add more good water to the basin with spring melt. I would expect prime conditions for all the known fishing areas plus some new hidden areas like A frame, Big Springs, Power House, Fish Bridge, and Lost Lew Creek. We will meet again at 9:00am at Lake Almanor Fly Fishing Shop and owner Tom Maumoynier will update us on the best locations to fish that day. Give Tom a call at 530-258-3044 if you want more information http://www.almanorflyfishing.com The Protsman's will host the SLFF Club BBQ Friday, June 30th 5:30pm 929 Lassen View Drive We look forward to a great fly fishing experience with old and new SLFFC members. George Protsman

(9 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Halibut Outing – Port San Luis – July 8th We fly-fishers are all the time in search of (new) fishing waters and have many times overlooked what our coastal waters have to offer. Just a few members have experience in halibut fishing. Considering the fishing location "almost in our backyard" it is surprising we don't see more members tap into this great fishing opportunity! Last July the bite was on and some fish were caught in every fishing trip. Adding to this, we enjoyed for a short period some of the best halibut fishing in the last 10 years with 4-8 hook-ups per fishing tide. Most were in the 18"-20" range with a few of 22"-25". To the novice of our halibut outing: we are fishing the calm waters of Port San Luis Bay where there is little wave action and can be compared almost to a lake, with the exception around high tide when we have an increase in wave action most of the time. This is the opposite of surf fishing were we have constantly the surf movements. Halibut fishing is not a numbers game; it's more like a cat and mouse game. Having the correct line, leader, fly set-up combined with your---patience, concentration, and persistence, and some good fishing tips; can greatly improve your chances to succeed in your effort to catch a halibut. Besides halibut the smelt (like a trout) can also be present in the bay, and is a lot of fun to catch. However the more you focus on catching smelt the less chance you have of a halibut strike! The fishing can be done from shore to 1/2 hour before high tide with this tide of +3.8 ft. it is advisable to bring your pontoon so you can explore more fishing water. It is better to land your pontoon back to shore 1/2 hour before high tide or 1/2 hour after high tide, during this 1-hour the waves can be TURBULENT and can make your landing more DIFFICULT. I can help you with your fishing set-up and flies and get you started on the water. WHEN Saturday, July 8th WHERE Port San Luis – parking lot north of the pier Low Tide 05:24am (- 0.5 ft) High Tide 11:31am (+ 3.8 ft) GEAR UP around 6:30am FISHING around 7:00am WHAT TO BRING

GEAR • Rod 6 – 8 wt • Lines – floating, or floating plus 10ft of intermediate, or full intermediate line, (NO full sink lines)

LEADERS • 9 ft to 10 ft of 8-10 lb line, tippet included

FLIES • Clousers – white and chartreuse, sizes 4-6 halibut, sizes 8-10 smelt

Waders, Jacket, Safety Belt, Sunglasses, Sunblock, Boots or Sandals Note: PFD is required for boating If you have questions contact: Bernard Pieters (by phone after July 1st) 805-489-3085 Email bpieters84@gmail.com SEE YOU ON THE WATER

(10 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

SLFF Annual Picnic and Halibut Fishing Avila Beach

Saturday, August 5th 11am to 2pm

Sponsored by Santa Lucia Fly Fishers Club Catered Tri-Tip and Chicken BBQ

Your club will treat the first 60 RSVP’s we receive (limit 2 per member) additional meals $15 each. Please indicate who will be attending when you RSVP.

You must RSVP to Sheri Bryant 805-474-8950 or SPNB@aol.com

In Quest of the Elusive Surf Perch – Andy Malovos I have been checking beaches from Morro Bay north this late winter/spring, and have actually caught a few perch in the surf, both barred surf perch and walleyes. However the successful days were most always followed by days/weeks of rough water or rainstorms that made the surf unfishable for flycasters. Some of the beaches that had consistently produced perch had the sand bottom structure changed close to shore erasing holes and trenches. Where did the fish go? Fishing a beach near Hearst Castle, which contained both open water and rock clusters, I found that while fishing after high tide the walleye perch bit for a short period in open water. They decided that the water was getting dirty and rough and the bite quit. My fishing partner using conventional spinning gear marched down the beach to a rocky area very close to shore. He under- handed his cast into a small open space amidst kelp and rocks. His lug-wormed hook brought an immediate bend to his rod. It didn't quit until he had landed 6 every nice 1-2 pound barred surf perch and assorted walleyes. I tried it but the rock and kelp ate my flys and leaders. Final score: spin fisher 6 - fly fisher zero. Having won my share of surf battles, congratulations were in order. I fished Toro Creek beach at low tide in early May in clear water and low surf. The under water visibility revealed a new north-south trench close to shore with its own south flowing current. At the south end of the beach there was a waist high rough shaped just like an old boot complete with seaweed dressing. The water was a darker green, but the bottom structure was very clear. All we need is hungry fish! Post Script: I would recommend reading "Fly Fish The Surf" by Lee Baermann. The chapter on Beach Structure is very informative no matter what your surf fishing experience.

(11 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Santa Lucia Fly Fishers Support the 2017 Scout-O-Rama

For the first time this year, the Boy Scouts of America approached the Santa Lucia Fly Fishers (SLFF) with a request for our club to participate in the 2017 Scout-O-Rama. The Scout-O-Rama is the annual “trade show” of Scouting in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties that is attended by over 500 participants. Scouts, their families and friends interested in learning about Scouting enjoy a fun-filled day of exhibits, competitions and displays. Saturday May 6th a group of SLFF club member volunteers met at Waller Park in Santa Maria to support the event!

We had an Easy-up with tables of fly fishing equipment, four (4) casting stations and a fly tying table. Boy Scouts, men, women, boys and girls came to our area to see what fly fishing is all about! Many said they had seen fly fishing on TV or in a movie – but had never seen the sport in person. Interestingly, SLFF club members seemed to have as much or more fun as the public! Lew Leichter, Catherine Harper, Allan Pena, Robert Masaoka, Ned Brant, Joe Framm and Randy Dobbin helped participants with fly casting. Jim Snodgrass managed fly tying; while Catherine Harper explained the equipment we fly fishers use. Thank You volunteers! All in all, it was a great day for SLFF volunteers, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, men, women and children! Please take a look at the SLFF website (Home, About, Photo Gallery, 2017 Scout-O-Rama) to see more pictures and to really get a feel for what transpired. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So now I’ll be quiet!

Thank You, Randy Dobbin

(12 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

PRIVATE CASTING LESSONS AVAILABLE While our six IFFF certified casting instructors generously put on a series of free casting clinics for our club members each spring we wanted you to know they are available for private casting lessons throughout the year. If interested please contact them directly for additional information. Bernard Pieters Arroyo Grande 489-3085 bpieters84@gmail.com Eric Sherar Atascadero 423-0170 esherar1@gmail.com Bob Hurd Arroyo Grande 550-9071 rbrthurd@gmail.com Todd Tose Grover Beach 904-5288 trtflyfisher@charter.net Chad McPartland Paso Robles 441-0744 chadmcpartland@gmail.com Sally Stoner Halcyon 550-9509 fishsal44@gmail.com

Do you want the SLFF Club logo embroidered on any garment?

Contact R & T Embroidery… current cost $7.75 each.

Support IFFF and your local Fishing Outfitters

(13 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

Announcing the SWCIFFF Riptide Rendezvous! Calling all fly anglers! On Saturday, October 21, 2017, the SWCIFFF will hold its first annual “Riptide Rendezvous”, a fly-fishing-only surf fishing contest. The event will be held at Rincon Beach Park in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County There is no cost to enter the event, which will follow a format similar to Al Quattrocchi’s previous One Surf Fly events. Anglers are restricted to the use of just one fly during the allotted fishing time, and all fish will be measured, photographed, and released. In addition to awards for first, largest and most fish caught, there will be a great raffle of fly-fishing and outdoor gear, with all proceeds benefiting the Southwest Council, International Federation of Fly Fishers and their related outreach programs. Past surf fly fishing events have been a great place to see old friends, make new friends, and share a tale or two, on top of helping raise money for a worthy cause. Make sure you mark the date on your calendar! More details to come. We’ll be launching a website and social media page soon with the details as they are announced. John Loo Rendezvous Director

SLFF MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION An individual regular membership is $35.00 per year

For 12 months (January through December). Enrollment after July 1st is $20.00 for the remainder of the

year. To join, please download the Membership Form from our

Website: http://www.santaluciaflyfishers.com/membership-3

Send completed form with a check for dues to: Santa Lucia Fly Fishers

c/o Secretary

(14 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

(15 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

OFFICERS President Lew Leichter Vice President Art Chapman Secretary Sheri Bryant Treasurer Judy Chubon Directors Bernard Pieters Ron Bryant Rich Chubon Mark Shelton Jim Snodgrass Tom Nickelson Committees Conservation Tom Nickelson Website Art Chapman Ron Bryant Robert Benassi Doug Daniels (TIC) Newsletter Greg and Mary Lugo Education David Holmes Programs Rich Chubon Casting Bernard Pieters Mark Shelton Eric Sherar Membership Mark Shelton Fly Tying Jim Snodgrass SECFFF Coordinator Lew Leichter Rod Building Mike Powers Rich Chubon Fresh Water Outings Art Chapman Rich Chubon Library Steve Soenke Salt Water Outings Andy Malovos Banquet & BBQ Sheri and Ron Bryant Lew Leichter Nominating Rich Chubon Fundraising Bob Bayer Lew Leichter Lew Leichter Bernard Pieters Rich Chubon George Protsman

(16 SLFF NEWSLETTER – June 2017

P.O. Box 166

San Luis Obispo, CA 93406

Come wet a line with us! Thank you for supporting those who help support our chapter.