Vol 42 No 4 The Monthly Newsletter of the Wyoming Fly Casters April 2015

www.wyflycasters.org

What’s inside

2 April 2015

Mission Statement:The mission of the Wyoming Fly Casters is to promote and enhance the sport of fly fishing and the conservation of fish and their habitat.

Description:The Wyoming Fly Casters club was formed in 1974. The membership currently consists of approximately 160 members. The WFC was orga-nized by a group of dedicated fly fishermen and since the club’s inception the Wyoming Fly Casters have strived to further the sport of fly fishing through conservation and education.

Conservation of our water resources is one of our primary goals and in cooperation with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department we have and will continue to carry out worthwhile projects for the benefit of Wyoming fisheries. In addition to conserving Wyoming’s water resources we encour-age conserving the fish themselves. A fish safely released today will live to give sport to others.

Front Cover : Photo by Lee Wilson, 2015 ; Back Cover : Photo by Lee Wilson, 2015

For easy access to digital version of newsletter go to: www.wyomingflycasters.org

Bob Homer, PresidentDerrick Dietz, Vice President

Cheryl Wilson, SecretaryLee Tschetter, Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Terms expire in 2015: George Axlund,

Joe Meyer

Terms expire in 2016: Lee Wilson, Kelly Kukes

Terms expire in 2017: Bob Fischer, John Yost,

Spencer Amend

The Backcast is the monthly newsletter of the Wyoming Fly Casters Editorial content does not necessarily reflect the views of the officers, board or members of the Wyoming Fly Casters.

Annual dues are $20 for an individual, $30 for a family, or $250 for a lifetime individual membership or $450 for a life- time family membership. Visit the club website at www.wyflycasters.org. To pay dues or contact the club, write to P.O. Box 2881, Casper, WY 82602.

The deadline for submission of information for each issue is a week before the end of the month. Make contributions to the next issue by e-mailing material to the Backcast editor at secretary@wyflycasters.org or call (307) 267-1903.

The Backcast is available either in electronic format or through USPS snail mail. To receive each newsletter through a monthly e-mail, you must be able to open .pdf (Adobe Acrobat, a software program available free of charge) documents. Usually, each issue is roughly 1 MB in size, some are larger.

Your e-mail provider may have limits on the size of attachments.

In order to be added to the e-mail list, send a request to secretary@wyflycasters.org. In addition to receiving each issue of the newsletter earlier than your hard copy peers, e-mail subscribers are able to print each copy in vibrant color -- an added plus if the issue is rich in color photographs.

By sub-scribing electronically, you also save the club roughly $17.40 a year in printing and postage expenses.

4 fly fishing film tour

6-8 beanie may

8 casper Star Tribune Article

9 spring banquet

10 fishing highlights

11 canned fish

15 CLASSIFIEDS

CALENDAR

NEW MEMBERS!If you haven’t already, call Joe Meyer at 307-235-1316. He’ll give

you pointers and advice to make sure you catch The big one!

Wyoming Fly Casters 3

President’s letterHello Flycasters,

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for your confidence and support for me as your new President. I will be wrapping up my duties as Treasurer and will do my best to help our club move forward. Please welcome and support Spencer Amend as your Vice-President, John Yost (Secretary), Gene Theriault (Treasurer), and our new board members.

I would also like to thank the members that are stepping down this year. Bob Homer (Pres.), Derrick Diets (VP), Cheryl Wilson (Sec.), and Kelly Kukes (Board). All four have worked hard for the club this past year. We can all breath a small sigh of relief as Cheryl we be staying on as the editor of the Backcast.

Moving on, we WILL be having a general meeting on Wednesday the 8th at 7:00. Blake will be giving us a presentation on how the river is fishing and some casting tips from a guide’s perspective. Don’t forget about our Spring Banquet on the 11th. From what I have seen and heard, Cheryl and her crew are putting together a great one with a lot of fantastic items up for grabs. Please be sure to thank them for all the time and hard work they have put in to make this a great evening. A portion of our proceeds this year will be going to Project Healing Waters. I hope to see a lot of members, families, and new friends there this year. Our spring banquet has always been a great time and I look forward to being part of it again this year.

Our ticket sales at Sportsman’s went very well. In the 4 hours that we were set up, $1180 worth of tickets were sold for the gun raffle. Thank you to all that helped that day. As an aside, be careful around George Axlund. After watching him work at the ticket sales I believe he could sell ice in the Arctic.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour is going to be held on Wednesday, April 1st at Studio City East starting at 6:00. There will have a table available to us and it would be great to have volunteers there to represent the club. Tickets are available at the Ugly Bug for $15. This will be a great opportunity to promote the club and I’d bet we can sell a few raffle tickets at the same time.

On to fishing, the weather is making a valiant attempt at spring and with the flushing flows over I hope that many of us can take advantage of both the warm weather and low water to find some of those honey holes that are harder to get to when the water is up. We should have a month or two before the levels are up for the irrigation season. Anyone that has been involved at all with the club knows about Fishing with Joe (FWJ) and from what I’ve been hearing the fishing at Alcova has been pretty good. It’s also time to start thinking about the Ten Sleep outing this summer. I have talked to Matt and he will again be handling Stream-Keeper duties. It looks like the outing will be held the weekend of Aug. 8th & 9th. Stay tuned for more info on that. I’m also hoping that there will be a Tongue River trip in Sept. again. Last year attendance wasn’t very good and I hope we can make up for that this year.

In closing, thank you again for your confidence in me as your new President. I look forward to working with all of you in this new capacity and I welcome any suggestions/advice or ideas that you may have.

Tight Lines & Long Drifts,

Lee

4 April 2015

Casper, WY | Wednesday, April 1, 2015 | 7:15 p.m. | Studio City Stadium East

Fly Fishing Film Tour. F3T will be here on April Fool's day. Keep the evening of April 1st open for a fantastic night of fly fishing porn, door prizes, 50/50 drawings, and raffles. Let's not forget your favorite adult beverages. Tickets available soon. More information to follow.

The original and preeminent exhibition of fly fishing cinema, The F3T is a one of a kind experience. Each year fishy folk of all ages gather at premieres to soak up films from around the world, spin a few yarns amongst friends and dream about casts still unmade. If you’ve been, you know what we’re talking about. If you haven’t, we hope to see you soon!

Since its inception in 2007 The F3T has grown more than 30% each year; reaching nearly 50,000 anglers across North America last season. To keep up with demand we’ve added new towns to the 2015 schedule and increased our capacity in the communities that have been supporting us for years.

In addition to showcasing world-class fly fishing films, The F3T is dedicated to supporting the local fly shops and conservation groups that form the backbone of our sport’s educational and environmental efforts. Discount F3T tickets are available at more than 150 fly shops across the country. A portion of those ticket sales go directly to support fishing and habitat-related conservation groups. In 2014 we raised over $300,000 for our conservation partners and have used our voice to bring greater attention and support to groups like Trout Unlimited, Wild Steelhead Coalition, Bonefish Tarpon Trust, Utah Stream Access Coalition, Stop Pebble Mine and many more.

Tickets can be purchased in advance from the Ugly Bug Fly Shop for $15. Tickets at the door the night of the film tour will be $20.

Check out http://www.flyfilmtour.com/ for information on the film tour, to watch trailers, and enter contests to win some really great prizes.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Wyoming Fly Casters 5

Attention Fly Tyers!We are working on getting new members ready to hit the water, and we need your help! We are currently asking for the following flies so that Joe can add these to the new member packets. Each member will receive a few flies to welcome them to the club and get them started in the right direction. Here are a few of the flies we are looking for:

Pine Squirrel LeechHalfbacksStimulator (See next page)Elk Hair CaddisMidges

RenegadesSan Juan Worms (various colors)Rock WormsEggsPheasant Tail Nymph

Flashbacks (pg 9) Bead-headed flashbacks

Beanie MayCredit for this pattern, and images below go to Charlie’s Fly Box. Go check him out on Facebook, and on his website - http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/

Continued on page 7

6 April 2015

The Two Bit Hooker (formerly known as Beanie May) has been in the works for quite some time. For a couple seasons now, I have been trying to come up with a small, heavy fly that doesn't have a disproportionately large bead or weight stuck on it. Mike Mercer's MicroMay is a great pattern and I have caught tons of fish on it in the last few years, but that damn oversized bead just looks so out of place on a small, slender fly! After months of tinkering, it finally occurred to me that it would be a good idea to use TWO small beads rather than one large bead...DUH! What I have done here is used two 1.5 mm tungsten beads, one hidden in the thorax of the fly and the other placed like a traditional bead head, albeit much more streamlined because of it's small size. These tiny beads are proportioned to these small hooks and when added together make three millimeters of tungsten bead...which spells out H-E-A-V-Y!! I finally got it, not it's your turn to try the best small dropper fly ever.

Hook: TMC 921 #14-18 Beads: 1.5mm Copper (Brass or Tungsten), two of themThread: 14/0 or 10/0 BrownTail: Mottled Brown India Hen Back fibers Abdomen: Brown tying Thread Rib: Black 14/0 Tying threadWingcase: Medium Opal Mirage TinselThorax: Rusty Brown Superfine DubbingLegs: Mottled Brown India Hen Back fibersCoating: 5 Minute Epoxy.

Pinch the hook barb (so the small beads will fit over the barb) and slide two 1.5 mm tungsten (or brass if you're cheap;-) beads onto the hook. Slide the beads up to the eye and start the thread behind the second bead. Wrap a smooth thread base back to the bend.

Even the tips of four hen back feather fibers by pulling them out at a right angle to the stem of the feather. Strip the fibers from the stem, measure them against the shank so they are one half a shank length long and tie them in at the bend of the hook.

Wrap forward over the butt ends of the tail fibers to the beads and clip the excess tailing. Tie in a six inch length of black 14/0 thread at the back of the bead on either the top or the near side of the hook.

Wrap back over the black thread to the bend of the hook, then return the thread to the back of the beads, building a slight taper as you go.

Spiral wrap the black thread rib forward over the abdomen up to the back of the bead and tie it off with a couple turns of thread. Clip the excess black thread.

Move the thread back over the front of the abdomen to approximately the 50/50 point on the shank. Tie in a piece of medium Opal Mirage tinsel so it lies flat on the top of the fly at the fifty-fifty point.

Wyoming Fly Casters 7

Dub the thread with a VERY thin strand of dubbing and build a small ball, about the same diameter as the bead, from the fifty percent point to just short of the back edge of the bead.

Reach in with your fingernail and slide the second bead back tight to the front edge of the dubbing ball. Jump the dubbed thread forward over the bead to the space between the beads. The thread should cross across the bottom of the bead to help hide this bead in the thorax.

Make several light turns of dubbing between the beads to build the shank diameter up a bit. It doesn't need to be as big as the beads are, but close to that is about right.

Peel a generous clump of hen back fibers from the feather as you did with the tail, again, making sure the tips are even. I try to keep these fibers laying parallel to one another in a "sheet".

Use the tips of your scissors to divide this "sheet" of fibers equally in half. Keep the fibers pinched in the tips of your thread hand fingers, just use the scissors to separate the bunch as shown.

Now, place the sheet of fibers on the top of the shank with one half the fibers on either side of the shank. I like to tilt the fibers slightly toward me a bit to counter-act the thread torque when I tie them down so they stay centered.

Measure the tips of the hen fibers so they reach back to about the hook point, then grab them with your material hand and hold them in place on either side of the hook (keeping them slightly off center toward you).

Now, without removing your fingers from the fibers make a wrap over the hen fibers to bind them down behind the first bead. The thread torque should pull them a bit to center them on either side of the thorax. Anchor the fibers in place with several more tight turns of thread.

If needed, pull the butt ends of the bibers evenly to shorten the legs.

Continued on page 8

8 April 2015

Carefully clip the butt ends of the hen fibers as close to the bead as you can.

Pull the Mirage Flash over the top of the thorax and tie it down tightly with two turns of thread.

Pull the remaining butt end of the flash back over the top of the fly and bind it in place again with another couple of tight thread turns. Folding the flash like this really anchors it down.

Whip finish the thread and clip it. Now, nick the edge of the flash with the tips of your scissors and tear the flash across the top of the fly, rather than just cutting it off. Nicking it will make it tear along the radius of the bead and make a clean smooth edge.

Place a drop of 5-Minute epoxy on the back of the fly, coating from the back edge of the front bead all the way back to the bend of the hook and base of the tail. Only coat the top surface of the fly, don't go down around the sides I only use epoxy to coat flies nowadays...Loon's UV Knot Sense has proven unreliable and comes off the fly too easily. Go to the extra bit of trouble now so you don't have to re-do it later.

Top View.

Bottom View. Side View.

Wyoming Fly Casters 9

Wyoming Flycasters 40th Annual Spring Banquet

Saturday, April 11th 6:00 p.m.Live and silent auctions!

Bucket Raffles!

50/50 Raffle!

Prizes include float trips, rods, firearms and gear!

Tickets available at:The Ugly Bug Fly ShopPlatte River Fly Shop

Or call Cheryl @ 267-1903

Proceeds from this year’s banquet to

benefit Project Healing Waters

10 April 2015

Fishing Highlights

Andrew Maxwell

Brian Ames

Joe Meyer

Bruce Lessig Joe Meyer

Wyoming Fly Casters 11

CANNED FISH

Directions:

1. Go fishing!

2. Once you get your fish home, clean them as usual. Remove the heads, and remove the skin (optional).

3. Fillet the fish. Don’t worry about the small bones- they will cook down and dissolve or be soft enough to eat, like in canned salmon.

4. Cut fillets into smaller pieces and pack into pint sizes jars. Wide mouth jars work the best but any will do.

6. Leave an inch head space at the top of the jars, but don’t add any liquid.

7. In each pint jar, add 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp BBQ sauce (any brand), and 1/2 tsp salt.

8. Put on lids and rings and put the jars in the pressure canner.

9. Process in pressure canner at 15 lbs for 90 minutes.

10. Enjoy!

Recipe by Joe Meyer,

Submitted by Lee Tschetter

12 April 2015

*All votes on motions are unanimous unless mentioned otherwise.Members in attendance: Bob Homer, Bob Fischer, George Axlund, Spencer Amend, Lee Tschetter, Joe Meyer, Derrick Dietz, Lee Wilson, John Yost, Gene Theriault, Wilbur YankeyPresident Bob Homer passes the honor of conducting this meeting to President-elect, Lee Tschetter who calls the meeting to order at 1901.The minutes from the last board meeting were published in the Backcast. George made a motion to approve those minutes and the motion was seconded and the motion passed.Treasurer’s Report: Lee T. hands out report of $1,168.37 income and $0 expenses since last meeting with a club balance of $27,610.30. Discussion: Lee T. reported that the Christmas Party caterer reduced the fee by 50% to 536.75, which was paid and the issue closed. It was reported that 74 members are paid up. Joe recommended making a list of the unpaid, and then calling them. Spencer inquired if our insurance covers the Cabin Fever Clinic. A general discussion of our insurance coverage ensued which led to a decision to see if a representative of the insurance company could come and go over our policy at a future meeting. “Fishing With Joe” outings are assumed to be covered since they are considered official WFC Club activities. Spencer made a motion to approve Treasurer’s Report, Wilbur seconded and motion passed. Business: -Banquet Committee Report: John reports the Nature Conservancy came through with their auction item of the Sweetwater Preserve trip. Lee W. will go to Sportsman’s to pay for the raffle guns. Next meeting 3/24 at the Bug. -Lee W. will come up with design ideas for the club table banners. New Business: -Platte River Trails Organization requested the club to renew our mile marker 0.0 signpost for $600. George made a motion to renew again, Spencer seconded and motion passed. -Lee T. mentioned May 16th as the date for the Platte River Clean-up and the club usually participates as a group. -Spencer mentioned our Wyoming Wildlife Federation membership of $50 is due, but they want our member email list. Spencer made a motion to renew, but not to provide our email list. George seconded and motion passed. -Joe mentioned that Alicia, a writer for the Casper Journal, wants to do an article about our club to help promote our banquet. She wants to feature Wilbur catching his first fish on his own hand-tied fly. This met with great approval amongst the board members. -The Izaak Walton League requested our club provide a speaker and casting instructions at their potluck on May 8th. Spencer volunteered to speak and Joe will bring rods. It starts at 1800 with the meal.-We should email the Backcast to both Alicia and Christine Peterson. -Derrick reported that he is going to the VA to talk and recruit to our PHW chapter. He would like to offer more day trips. The Beacon fundraiser grossed $9,265 for PHW and the 2-Fly Foundation has designated PHW as a recipient this year. Derrick requests additional help with trip planning and phone calls and Joe and Spencer agreed to assist. -Spencer asked for an update on the Commissioner’s License the WFC used to get for fundraising purposes. President Bob wrote a letter but got no response. Gene mentioned that we probably did not get the license at one point due to a lack of a specific project. Derrick made a motion to put Spencer in charge of contacting the Commission in order to try to re-acquire license. George seconded and motion passed. -A general discussion of possible general meeting speakers ensued. Mentioned were: Al Conder on electrofishing data, Steve Shearin on hatcheries, Jolene about Platte R. Clean-up and long-term plan, the BuRec head, and Blake about whatever tickles his fancy. -It was mentioned that board members should be called prior to each board meeting so attendance will be better, especially since there are new board members. Also, we should make a definitive list of board members, officers, and the length of the terms of office. -Spencer mentioned the upcoming Fly Fishing Film Tour on April 1st at Studio City. Scott Novotny says we have a free table to use for WFC. We should have the club history letter and membership forms there. Joe made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Gene. Motion passed at 1959.Respectfully submitted,John Yost

Wyoming Fly Casters 13

Letter fromthe EditorFlycasters,First of all I have a few corrections/mentions from the March issue. Steve Kurtz was kind enough to pass along the article about the Fishing section at the Natrona County Library. The article was originally posted in the Casper Journal.

Just a few things to mention for this month:

The Spring Banquet will be coming up in just two weeks! If you don’t have your tickets by now, please do so as soon as possible. The cut off for giving the hotel the head count for dinner will be Monday April 6th. Tickets are available at the Ugly Bug Fly Shop, or you can call me at 267-1903. There will not be tickets available at the door unless you have RSVP’d by April 6th.

We are looking for some donated flies to help us out with the banquet. As you all know, we usually get quite a few fly boxes donated to us for the banquet. We like to put at least a few flies into each box, and we depend on flies donated by club members to make this happen. These can be purchased flies, or flies you have tied yourself.

The Fly Fishing Film Tour will be Wednesday April 1st at Studio City (East side). I hope to see everyone there!

I want to thank everyone who has submitted pictures for the newsletter this month! Pictures and submissions like this really help me out a lot. Next month’s issue will feature highlights from Cabin Fever (March 14th), and the Spring Banquet, as well as an update from Healing Waters.

If you haven’t paid your membership dues so far this year, please do so at your earliest convenience!

Thanks for reading,

Cheryl Wilson

WFC Treasurer’s Report February 2015Date Vendor Item

Income2/6/15 Deposit (Jan. Raffle) $ 108.002/6/15 Deposit (Membership) $ 500.002/27/15 Deposit (Feb. Raffle) $ 90.002/27/15 Deposit (Membership) $ 470.002/28/15 Interest $ 0.37

Total $ 1,168.37

ExpensesN/A

14 April 2015

RAFFLE TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT THE UGLY BUG FLY SHOP!

Wyoming Fly Casters 15

INDOOR DRIFTBOAT STORAGE

on the river $50/month or $500/year.

Outdoor storage $40/month.

Call Clarke307-262-3306

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See your ad here! Just send in your ad informa-tion and any picture you have

to accompany it and we’ll run it for you!

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Lander, WY

PHONE 307.332.0210EMAIL:info@zachevenart.com

CLASSIFIED

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info@jamielangartist.com

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For Sale: 2013 Outlaw Assault XXX frameless raft. New, unused and original shipping box. Includes extra set of composite oars and cooler for inside front seat. See at northforkoutdoors.com Cost $2100 but asking $1200. Has never been in the water.

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For SaleSt. Croix Legend Ultra9 foot, 3 weightTwo pieceNearly new$125St. Croix Legend Ultra8-1/2 foot, 4 weightFour pieceNever used$150Ross Reels Evolution 1Smoke ColorLike new$175 436-8774

1 April Fool's Day 2 3 Good Friday 4 Passover

5 Easter 6 7 8 9 10 11

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March 2015

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May 2015

Calendar April 2015

BOARD MEETING7:00 P.M.

GENERAL MEETING7:00 P.M.

BANQUET COMMITTEE MEETING5:30 P.M.UGLY BUG

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Kid’s Fishing Day: June 6th

SPRING BANQUET 6:00 P.M.

FLY FISHING FILM TOUR 7:15 P.M.

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Wyoming Fly CastersP.O. Box 2881Casper, WY 82602