A friend is no longer with us.

  • Pat Herdt March 17th 2018

          Many of you remember Pat. She was the first VP of Education while I was President.   She passed away on March 17th. Carl Johnson She will be missed.   Pat was a [...]

President’s Column, …the rest of the story

  • President’s Column

           Welcome to the Washington State Council of Fly Fishers International website. If you did not hear earlier in April 2017 the organization changed the name from International Federation of Fly Fishers to Fly Fishers International. We will be developing a new website this summer (well after our Fair in early May). If you have any suggestions as to what should be included please contact either myself or Jim Maus. I hope you find the website easy to use and informational. As we get ready to enter 2017 and look back on 2016, I hope many of you had some wonderful fly fishing memories. For me, my wife and I spent the summer (2 1/2 months) in Alaska. We had a wonderful time seeing the sights and doing a little fishing. I also had the opportunity to visit the Alaska Fly Fishers, attending their meeting in July and Spey Clave in August. My wife and I enjoyed ourselves and hope to go back some day. I have posted a few pictures in the photos gallery if you are interested.   Right now the Council is beginning the preparation and promotion of the 2017 Washington Fly Fishing Fair, our 11th year [...]

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Summer 2018 Covering the Drift newsletter

  • Leader Lines July 2018

    Leaders Line Building Community For 12 Years   I have been giving this column a lot of thought since it is my last one. The next time the newsletter comes out Bill Wheeler will be the Council President. I know you will continue to give Bill your support as you did for me.                   Looking back over the past 12 years as Council President made me Colorado and joined a fly club in LA, thelook back at how I got involved in fly fishing. I started fly fishing in 1966 in Acadiana Fly Rodders. Along the way I joined the FFI then the FFF. After my first wife passed in 2001 I joined the Evergreen Fly Fishers. I became the club’s FFF representative and then became Council Treasurer in 2005 and President in 2006. The Council put on the first Fair in [...]

  • FFI Outreach

    Fly Social extends welcome to a younger generation of fly fishers By Len Zickler FFI President Over the last couple of years, FFI leadership has been exploring a variety of ways to attract a younger and more diverse group fly an-glers to our organization. Membership oriented organiza-tions are generally in decline and we need to examine ways to more effectively reach a more diverse demographic. Other organizations and a few clubs have tackled this goal successfully and are do-ing a great job of attracting younger fly an-gler’s through more informal events. Clubs are finding success reaching new mem-bers through events such as brew ties, wine tastings, hackles and hops tying gath-erings, and pint night events. People in general are rejecting the old “service club” _model of monthly Club meetings. While the old style meetings may be comforta-ble for the more mature crowd, they are not appeal-ing to the younger fly fishing community. The [...]

  • Ellensburg Grants and Education

      The Washington State Council FFI raised funds in Ellensburg for three efforts that aim to help fishers over-coming disability and illness to better enjoy our sport. Washington State Council Presi-dent Carl Johnson shared the benefits.      Diane Sears and Dana Chambers (above) of Casting for Recovery receive a donation to support those recovering from cancer. As more women survive breast cancer Casting for Recovery seeks to give them the en-couragement and confi-dence to tackle an outdoor                Project Healing Waters is a national effort to provide physical and emo-tional rehabilitation through fly fishing to veterans and active service mili-tary. Chuck Tye (above) has been in-strumental in offering those services in Washington. Jesse Scott and Chuck Tye (center) of Olympic Peninsula Fishing Innovations manufacture adaptive one-handed fly fishing and fly-tying products. The non-profit offers products to anyone with physi-cal challenges free of charge.  [...]

  • Fair Celebrates the Art of a Well Made Fly

    Schimpf Named to Tying Hall of Fame    Janet Schimpf of Montesano was inducted into the Washington State Council FFI Fly Ty-ing Hall of Fame at the Ellensburg Fair, the first woman so honored. Schimpf, who esti-mates she ties “a couple of hundred dozen flies a year” for her commercial tying business, works at her bench most days. She teaches tying at the annual Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy and freely shares her ty-ing knowhow at FFI events. After 40 years of commercial tying she still enjoys the process and the sturdy beauty of flies like the olive willie and her crawdad with its feather claws.              Masuda Uses Novel Materials for Precise Wings  Kuni Masuda of Vancouver uses mate-rials from tea bags to polymer packing materials like the sample he holds to make the delicate wings for his mayfly patterns. He uses metal forms [...]

  • Elections 2018

           In coming weeks you will receive a ballot for election of officers for the Washington State Council of FFI. Please fill out the ballot and return it. The officers aim to keep the state Council on track and growing and your vote helps them meet those goals.       In addition, two council officers were appointed to new positions to fill the terms of departing directors. JoAnn Allison is retiring as Treasure after many years supporting her husband’s fly fishing career. John Roskopf will take over the position from JoAnn after July 1. Also, Jim Maus has taken over as Treasure for the national office of Fly Fishers International. To dedicate more time to that he is turning over his role as VP Communications for the state council to newsletter editor Steve Jones.  The Candidates  President  Bill Wheeler had been fly fishing about 10 years when he [...]

  • Academy Student Sends Notable Thanks

            Hayden Williams, age 13, knows the value of a well written letter and he knows a lot about art too. Hayden was a student at the Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy this spring. He was sponsored thanks to donations from Clark-Skamania Fly Fishers and the Fidalgo Fly Fishers, both FFI affiliated clubs. Hayden wrote this note of thanks to the clubs and Mike Clancy, co-chairman of the academy, took note as well. Several kids have written thank you notes, but Hayden’s stands out for its crea-tivity, says Mike. Hayden said that he met “tons” of interesting people at the academy and skills acquired at the academy are “giving me an ex-cuse to go fishing almost every week-end this summer.” In both the draw-ing and his words, Hayden illustrates that the FFI investment in this academy is worth every penny. Tight lines to you Hayden. 

  • Norm Norlander 1939-2018

       Norman Norlander, one of the preeminent fly fisherman of his time, died peacefully at his home in Kelso, Wa, on Monday, May 14, 2018. Norm was 79.    Norm changed the world of fly-fishing by inventing and developing the first rotary fly-tying vice, called the Norvise. He was featured in countless articles, numerous videos, television appearanc-es, and public appearances around the world, teaching others practical techniques and sharing his vast knowledge on the secrets of catching fish. He was extremely generous, and always took the time to talk with people and help them through their challenges, either personal or with their flytying techniques. He enjoyed cooking, laughing, and sharing time with friends.    Norm was a loving father, husband, grandfather, and friend to all.    Norm is survived by his wife Ruthe of 23 years, his son Brent Norlander, daughter Gwen Porter, stepdaughters Lauree Placencia and Julee Bryce, stepsons Jeff [...]

  • Bamboo Rod Builder, Author, Honored

    Tom Fulk Receives Washington Fly Fishing Club’s Letcher Lambuth Award    Tom Fulk (center) was presented the Letcher Lambuth An-gling Craftsman Award from the Washington Fly Fishing Club’s Past President, Gary Berquist (right). Danny Beatty (left) representing the Fidalgo Fly Fishers, introduced Tom to the WFFC.  The ceremony was held on January 16, 2018 during the WFFC’s Annual Awards Meeting at the Se-attle Tennis Club. Cathy Schaefer drove the group to Seattle. Sandy Fulk also joined the trip.  The opening criteria state-ment for award reads in part:  “This award shall be made to outstanding individuals who have made significant con-tributions to the knowledge, art, philosophy and techniques of fly-fishing, and to encourage and recognize significant similar con-tributions by others. “  The Award is not given unless there is a worthy candidate. Since the first award to Roderick Haig-Brown in 1975, Tom is the 29th recipient. The list includes authors, bamboo [...]

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  • FFI Outreach

    Fly Social extends welcome to a younger generation of fly fishers By Len Zickler FFI President Over the last couple of years, FFI leadership has been exploring a variety of ways to attract a younger [...]

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