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Wyoming Fly Casters Monthly Newsletter
Drag-free Drifts by WILL WATERBURY President, WFC wwaterbu@yahoo.com The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable,a perpetual series of occasions for hope. --John Buchan
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n the June newsletter I mentioned how nice it is to have all of this extra daylight to get projects done and still have light enough to make a quick trip to your favorite fishing hole. Well, here it is getting late into the summer and I’m guessing few of us have managed to get to the water anywhere near as much as we intended. Daily life and projects, big and small, are incredibly effective at gobbling up time that we might have spent with a fly rod in hand. Now seems like an appropriate time to reaffirm our intention to get our waders wet a few more times this summer. Shouldn’t the hoppers be on the water soon? In a month or so, the fishing pressure should be easing some, school will be starting up and hunting season begins leaving a little bit more elbow room at some of the more popular spots. There also looms the possibility that the river might begin to return to a more normal
flow and allow us access to some additional real estate that we can wade safely. And, if I remember correctly, September is when dry flies are winding down and as October approaches we dust off the streamer boxes. During the last board meeting we discussed options for general meeting presentations and decided to have the August presentation be fly tying. It would be great to have members come to the meeting with their tying gear in hand and be prepared to tie either a dry fly or a streamer that would be useful this fall. Please bring enough materials to tie about 6 flies. I envision the “learners” moving about to see flies and/or techniques they are interested in. If you are a “teaching” tyer you won’t be stuck tying the entire time (unless you want to), so you should have some “learner” time, too, if you would like. We intend to do a bit of publicity for this meeting with the hope of exposing the club to potential members and just getting this well kept secret out there. In an effort to showcase the club, let us not be bashful about showing off our talents (we all have at least one fly that we tie well). At least a dozen folks showing up with gear in hand would be really nice and more would be
even better. I’ll bring some extension cords if you use a light for tying. See you there! At the banquet in April I had the pleasure of giving Bill Mixer and Joe Meyer their Catch a Fish a Month certificates. Since I had caught a fish in January, February, and March I thought it might be fun to try to catch a fish a month, I figured it would get me on the water more often as well. Here it is July, and with only one week left of it at that, and I am fishless for the month. How hard can it be to get to the water for a bit of fishing, for those “perpetual series of occasions for hope?” Harder than it should be, that’s for sure. I even went spin fishing with Joe and Jim a couple of weeks ago. We spent six hours trolling and landed fifteen fish, many of which were released. I need to qualify “we ...” Joe and Jim landed the fish while I watched. Oh, I was fishing for sure and did have one real strike. The fish that did take my lure seemed to want to make a point. It was hooked for all of 5 seconds, came to the surface, did a couple of head tosses and then threw the lure back at me. I barely had time to duck as the lure came zinging back at me, narrowly avoiding a treble hook in the eyebrow. At var-
Cover shot: A brown trout hooked on a size 14 Stimulator on July 23 in the lower canyon of Deer Creek, south of Glenrock.
OFFICERS Will Waterbury, President Vacant, President-elect Vacant, Vice President Casey Leary, Secretary Matt Stanton, Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Terms expire in 2012 Spencer Amend Scott Novotny Neil Ruebush Brent “Smokey” Weinhandl, DDS Terms expire in 2013 Greg Groves Joe Meyer Alex Rose Herb Waterman Terms expire in 2014 John Dolan Jim Johnson Chris McAtee Andrew Sauter
The Backcast is the monthly newsletter of the Wyoming Fly Casters, an affiliate club of the Wyoming Council of Trout Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy and the Federation of Fly Fishers. 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 lifetime 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 Chevy57stalker@aol.com, or call (307) 436-8774.
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 ChevPU57@aol.com. 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 subscribing electronically, you also save the club roughly $17.40 a year in printing and postage expenses.
Wyoming Fly Casters Monthly Newsletter ious times a fish coming to look over the lures being presented would have had time to do an eenie-meeney-miney-mo before selecting the one to bite since they were all the same and were fished at the same distance and depth. With all the fish being caught by Joe and Jim I was experiencing a lot of those moments of “the charm of fishing.” Maybe this Tuesday will be kinder and I can keep the string going. After the August meeting we will be having a “shed lowering.” If you have a handyman jack feel free to bring it along, gloves might be a good idea if you have a pair handy. If we have a few jacks and enough people it shouldn’t take too long. All right now, raise your right hand and repeat after me “I promise myself that I will get my waders wet at least three times a month between now and Halloween.” Here’s to non-discerning fish, a good hopper season (sorry gardeners) and time well spent on the water.
Will Ten Sleep and North Tongue outings set The annual outing at Ten Sleep, once the most popular WFC fishing weekends during the year, is scheduled for Aug. 12-14 at Deer Park campground. To get there, take I-25 to Buffalo, turn west and travel up the Bighorn Mountains, across Powder River Pass and past Meadowlark Lake. At Deer Park, turn right and venture seven miles on a gravel washboard road to Deer Park campground. Matt Stanton is the streamkeeper again this year. The Tongue River outing is scheduled for Sept. 16, 17, 18, and Andrew Sauter is the streamkeeper. This will be a “minimalist” outing since lodging and camping abound. Andrew volunteered to fry some burgers at the head of Tongue River Canyon picnic area on Saturday. Bring a side dish or dessert. To get there, take I-25 north. Turn at the Ranchester-Dayton exit and go up the mountain. There are developed campgrounds available, or you can bivouac anywhere in the forest. The best fishing is in the no-kill stretch of North Tongue, upstream of Bull Creek.
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Tailing Loops by RANDY STALKER Backcast editor chevy57stalker@aol.com "Slump? I ain’t in any slump ... I”m just not catching any fish.” - Yogi Berra
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When I string up my 4 weight Sage at the Ten Sleep outing during the weekend of Aug. 13-14, I will be tying on a dry fly plucked from a wooden fly box. And a month later, at the outing at North Tongue, I will be reaching for a small adult caddis imitation with a caddis pupa trailer, both from a wooden box. Sure, I have some of the ubiquitous C&F Design plastic boxes, but I prefer to store my dry flies in heavy, cumbersome rectangles made from walnut, cocobollo and zebrawood. When I’m out in the drift boat, most of my nymph patterns, especially those small size 24 midge and baetis imitations, are tucked away in C&F boxes. I became hooked on wood when I bought my first one many years ago. I liked it so much I bought another. Then they disappeared from the two local fly shops. These light and handy boxes were crafted by Dick DePaemelere. One of these boxes contain small mayflies, the other caddis. Both will certainly be carried in a fanny or chest pack next month at the Deer Park campground. The boxes were handy because one side features foam for dries; the other a magnetized strip to hold small nymphs. I could certainly fish all weekend with these two boxes, but we fly tossers have this irresistible urge for gadgets and quantity. Two other boxes which will make the trip are much larger. They were made by Mark Young, then of upper New York state. I struck up a friendship with Mark, and he sent me a couple of boxes made from rare, exotic and highly figured wood. These boxes contain stimulators, size 16 through 24 parachute Adamses, Barr’s emergers, copper Johns and a selection of hoppers. When I cast a fly on a small stream, I almost always use a two fly rig. A dry and a dropper. I always start the day with a size 14 stimulator with a soft hackle hare’s ear dropper.
If the fish are rising, I will switch to a single fly on the top, most often a small parachute Adams. But on North Tongue, about 6:00 p.m. when the water starts boiling with surface feeding fish, I will switch to a small elk hair caddis. Several fishermen have visited the Bighorns this summer, and the reports indicate the small streams are several weeks tardy in reaching dry fly quality. Snowdrifts still pack the summer of Powder River Pass, and Burgess Junction is still battling gushing water from snowmelt. That might be good news by the time of the two next club-sponsored outings. The middle fork of Ten Sleep Creek should have higher water than in the last few years, which hopefully translates into bigger and more active fish. Based on these reports, I have not visited the streams of the Bighorns yet this year -- quite a departure over the last few years. Instead, I have chosen not to stray far from home. For example, on July 23, Chef Ptomaine and I fished the mouth of the lower canyon of Deer Creek. What was nice about it, other than the convenient public water just 12 miles south of town, was that we enjoyed the morning in total solitude. Not even a snake chose to interrupt the serenity. The water was low, the fish were feeding, and we were rewarded with some strikes. The fish are in there, some of them of decent size, but you have to be stealthy in your approach and cast. And yes, true to his reputation, Ptomaine cooked some terrific bacon hamburgers with the fixins. We left when the heat of the day reached the 90s. We’ll be back. The place offers a nice meadow with a lot of cottonwoods and willows for shade, and plenty of room to pitch a tent or set up tables for a BBQ. Sounds like a good destination for a club hosted outing. Any volunteers? Tight lines,
Scoop P.S. Dick, if you ever contemplate tooling up for another run of fly boxes, I’d like to put in my order for two.
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Wyoming Fly Casters Monthly Newsletter
WYOMING FLY CASTERS BOARD MEETING MINUTES
CLASSIFIEDS
GOOD STUFF FOR SALE (CHEAP!) Patagonia SST jacket, XL, Brand new. $175 (list $315). Scott Novotny 266-3072 • 2003 low profile Hyde drift boat G-4 bottom; deluxe trailer and spare tire; bow storage; front/rear storage; tempress seat and adjustable foot brace; rower's compartment; oarlocks; passenger knee Brace; 9 ft cataract oars; side anchor system with 30 lb. spike anchor; aqualon cover and tie down strap. Garaged, only 3-4 trips. Excellent condition. Price reduced to $5600 Jim Hoag 265-2254 • Drift Boat - '97 Hyde (pre dove tail) With all the stuff you would expect AND an extra front seat with storage. $3500.00 Andrew Sauter 307-265-3932 • Three used fly tying vises Two regal vises with pedestal mounts, $50.00 each One Renzetti cam Traveller vise, pedestal mount, $50.00 also, one Regal midge vise head (no mount), $25.00 and 1-Orvis 905-2piece TLS Power Matrix Rod, new. $150 Regular price $325. Art Van Rensselaer 307-262-7655 Classifieds are a free service to WFC members. To advertise your item for sale, drop a line to chevy57stalker@aol.com.
July 20, 2011 The meeting was called to order by President Will Waterbury at 6:59 p.m. Members present were Matt Stanton, Alex Rose, Greg Groves, Herb Waterman, Scott Novotny, Joe Meyer, Will Waterbury, Spencer Amend, and Neal Ruebush. To the best of my knowledge, none of those missing had excused absences. All actions were unanimous unless reported otherwise. Approval of last minutes. The minutes of the May 18 meeting were approved. There was no board meeting in June. Treasurer’s report and budget. Matt presented the current treasurer’s report (which was approved) and the current budget. He mentioned regarding the budget that he had removed items of expenditure for which there were no expenditures in 2010. Matt pointed out that we spend ~$400 more than we make on raffles during a year’s time. After some discussion, it was the consensus that we should continue our gratitude to Jamie for handling the raffles, and should leave the details up to him. Perhaps with a little encouragement to seek volunteer donations from members. Conservation Committee. Matt reported no action by the committee. He went on to indicate his need for someone else to take leadership of this committee (his treasurer duties taking precedence). He indicated that he will not resign, but would prefer someone to share chairperson duties with him. A question was raised about an item shown as “banquet tickets” for ~$200; the response was that this was actually an income item. Memorial at Speas. Herb reported that he has been in touch with Gordon Townsend and making inquiries elsewhere about information for the plaques – which he will have made. He is still working on gathering information and is about done. Outings. There was detailed information on the Ten Sleep and N. Tongue River outings in the July Backcast. The other official outing scheduled is for the
Miracle Mile (Casey Leary streamkeeper), and will occur Oct.r 15. More details later. Alex Rose will be holding a nightfishing outing at Grey Reef sometime in September. More details later. Cheryl Keffler, former WFC president, will be doing a Labor Day weekend campout. Backpacking will be the order of the day. Contact her if you are interested. Joe is considering a spontaneous FWJ outing sometime in the near future, weather permitting. Vacant leadership positions. Will mentioned, again, the need to recruit for the vacant vice president and presidentelect positions. Anyone interested contact Will. John Yost expressed some interest in the VP position, but hasn’t come to closure. Membership. Joe Meyer mentioned that about five new members were signed up at the recent film festival. Joe makes good use of personal contact and instructions as follow-up to recruitment efforts. Upcoming programs. In lieu of a presentation, the August program will consist of a fly tying clinic, widely advertised throughout the community. Alex will handle the news release. September will be the annual picnic – Y’all Come! Casey will cook (assisted by other board members), and Andrew will purchase the food. Other details in other places. Lowering the shed. Now that emergency water flows are behind us (we hope), it is time to lower the shed. This will be done immediately following the August meeting by as many volunteers as we can muster. It will take about 30 minutes, so shouldn’t cut into beer time too much. Additional items. Carp fishing can be great at Glendo in times of high water. Some disappointment was expressed at the low turnout of members for the film festival. At the same time, the Reef Fly Shop was complimented for their participation. Perhaps this is a group WFC should nurture. The meeting was adjourned at 7:31 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Spencer Amend on behalf of Casey Leary. July 21, 2011.
Our members are very special to us and we want to remember them in times of adversity. If you know of a member or their spouse who is ill or is recently deceased, please contact Donna Diesburg at (307) 2344278 or e-mail her at faith10@bresnan.net.
Wyoming Fly Casters Monthly Newsletter
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Brag Board AUGUST Club Calendar SUNDAY
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Ten Sleep outing
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Ten Sleep outing
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WFC Board Meeting, 7 p.m.
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Deadline for Backcast info
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