President’s Column……… Prime Lies

  • Prime Lies

    New President, New Column By Bill Wheeler   This is my first column as the new President of the Washington State Council (WSC) of Fly Fishers International (FFI) and the first thing I want to do is thank Carl Johnson for his 12 years of service as president, plus the time he donated to the council before that. Boy, does he deserve a break. Carl has been assisted by his wonderful wife, Maura, in so many things and I thank them both. Carl assembled an effective board of directors, but Carl did an incredible amount of council work in the background.  Although there will be some changes at the board level as people rotate off, there is a very strong contingent to continue the great work WSC has done.  Carl is going to stay involved with the board and the Fly Fishing Fair to provide continuity as we move along.  You’ll learn more about our board as time progresses.   We will be changing the name of this column to a term I have commandeered from Gary Borger, Prime Lies. Although that refers to a spot where fish can rest from the current, be protected from predators and allow ample flow of potential [...]

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2018 Fly Fishing Fair Sponsor

Frank Amato Publications

Fall 2018 Covering the Drift newsletter

  • Conservation…….. Not too Hot, Not too Cold

    By Nick Chambers and John McMillan  The greater Juneau area is home to several rivers that host wild steelhead runs. Auke Creek is perhaps the most important of these feeder streams, as scientists at the Auke Bay Marine Station have been operating a weir here for many years, which has allowed them to census returning adults and out-migrating juveniles for several salmonid species. This detailed level of data is relatively rare and can be extremely valuable to scientists who are trying to understand the biology of Pacific salmon and steelhead.             A long term data set beginning in 1963 showed a gradual warming trend in sea surface temperatures in Auke Bay leading researchers to wonder whether this would have implications for adult and juvenile migration timing. A paper published in 2017 by Christopher Manhard and otherslooked into this specifically. How did variations in sea surface temperature affect the migration timing [...]

  • Conservation Judge Rules to keep it cool

      A U.S. Federal Court in Seattle, last month issued a ruling intended to protect salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River from rising water temperatures that can exceed 70 degrees in lakes created by hydropower dams. The Clean Water Act bars the temperature in the river from exceeding 68 degrees. Cold water species such as sockeye and steelhead become stressed at temperatures over 68 degrees and stop migrating when the temperature exceeds 74 degrees. The ruling instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with a plan to address the dam’s impact on water temperature. The ruling comes at the same time EPA and state officials are trying to address a request from the Trump Administration to increase water deliveries to farms and cities.

  • 2018 Project Healing Waters Gets Veterans into Yakima Trout

    by Mike Clancy, Proud Navy Vet Volunteer, PHW       Again this year, the annual 2 Fly PHW event took place on The Yakima River with headquarters at the KOA camp grounds in Ellensburg, WA. on Saturday, September 8th. Chuck Tye, PHW coordinator for the NW, (Past President of PSFF) put 22 guided boats (all guides were volunteers) on the river from different launches.  Each boat had a vet, rower/referee and volunteer. Fishing could have been better, (of course) out of the 22 boats, one boat had a fantastic day, catching around 19 fish, the Vets had a great experience on the river with super weather.  No smoke, no wind, the river level was okay, just a beautiful day. The winning vet landed a 19” trout and he was presented with a custom made bamboo rod. The evening event was started by a wonderful dinner of prime rib with trimmings, [...]

  • 2018 NW Youth Conservation & Fly Fishing Academy

    By Mike Clancy and Jim Brosio – Co-Directors, The Academy  Twentyone enthusiastic boys and girl graduated from the 2018 NW Youth Conservation and Flyfishing Academy this past summer.          After a week of classroom study, classes in fly tying, knot tying, conservation, stream side ethics and etiquette, water safety, stillwater fly fishing techniques, matching the hatch, exploring a stream to learn about “Living Waters”, principals of ecology and disecting a fish, they were tired. A couple days we started at 5am to go to the ponds or rivers to learn how to fly fish.  It’s not about catching, it’s about learning how to catch and how to read the waters, how to walk in a river, learn to mend.  They fished both morning and evening This event is not for the faint of heart, we kept them busy.  They do an amazing job of keeping up with the program. The [...]

  • A Casting Novice starts the journey

    By Steve Jones I’m going to become a certified casting instructor. This time I really mean it. I’m going to make it happen like Robert Gerlach in these photos. I’m going to stick to a plan. My cast isn’t terrible, or at least that’s what my friends say and we usually take every opportunity to ridicule one another so I’m pretty sure my cast is Ok. I can deliver a fly 40-feet  that can fool a Deschutes red-side into a strike. I did that just a few weeks ago. And then there was a cast later, on the same trip, that landed on the water like a frying pan and that trout vanished. My cast isn’t consistent. It’s not good enough often enough. That’s the case with a lot of things about fly fishing. I’m going to change that with my casting. I’m getting new gear, a Ballistic TK, TK [...]

FFI Newsletters

Club Affiliation

Welcome, our newest Affiliated Club in Palmer Alaska:

Wasilla Fly Fishing Club

President – Gary Eichhorn

Phone – 907-250-1020

Email – trigar@gci.net

More information to come!!!!!!

Important Dates 2019

January 23-27

Washington Sports-men’s Show, Puyallup

February 16 & 17

The Fly Fishing Show, Lynnwood Convention Center

www.flyfishingshow.com

March 8 & 9

NW Fly Tyer Expo, Linn Country Expo Center, Albany, OR

www.nwexpo.com

May 3 & 4

WSCFFI Ellensburg Fly Fishing Fair, Kittitas Valley Event Center County, Ellensburg

www.wscffi.org

June 23-29

NW Youth Conserva-tion and Fly Fishing Academy, Gwinwood

Conference Center

www.nwycffa.com

July 23-27

Fly Fishers Internation-al Fly Fishing Fest,

Bozeman, MT

www.flyfishersinternational.org

Copyright ©2013, The International Federation of Fly Fishers, Washington State Council. All rights reserved. Do not duplicate or redistribute in any form. IFFF Charter and affiliated fly fishing clubs or regional councils may use web site material (with source credit) for their conservation, communication, and education efforts.Copyright ©2017 Fly Fishers International, Washington State Council