www.wyflycasters.org
Vol 40 No 5
The Monthly Newsletter of the Wyoming Fly Casters
May 2013
2
May 2013
President’s letter Is it spring yet? Snow. Sun. Snow. Sun. I am holding out for some sun. Well this month, whether snow or sun, has gone by quickly. Our Banquet had a great turn out, wonderful conversation, and fun. Our treasurer’s report should give the details, but I did want to thank all of the volunteers, banquet committee members, and participants for making it an enjoyable function once again. Congratulations to our new MacTavish Award winner, Matt Stanton, our trusted treasurer. We are still looking for a volunteer to manage the “Backcast.” Also, A reminder that “Free Fishing Day” is only a month away, and we would like to see a lot of folks out there trying to induct a new generation into our beloved sport. I had hoped to get out this month to clean up our section of the highway out towards Alcova, but I am thinking I will plan for later in May, as we have had some fantastic snowstorms recently. I had the pleasure of getting out on the river once last month, with Derick Deitz and Colin Tierney and was able to catch my biggest fish yet, a rainbow. Thanks to them, I was actually able to land a few fish that day.
I have found that the competitive nature I thought I lost so long ago has begun to creep out of me now that I am fishing. On the aforementioned fishing trip, I was unable to pull in the largest fish (that went to Colin), but I, without fail, was able to land the first fish! And by golly I’m taking it. Our speaker this month is from Game and Fish, Sherril Rahe. Sherril is the Aquatic Invasive Species Program Assistant. This will be a very informative presentation about the importance of being a responsible water user, and the devastating effects zebra/quaga mussels, and other invasive species can have on Wyoming if they reach its waters. She will be discussing some of the procedures that we should all follow (even if we don’t use a boat), as well as can answer technical questions regarding any changes in regulations, or procedures. For each of you, I hope Spring is beginning with great wonder and awe, as only Mother Nature can provide. Make sure to stop and smell the tulips along the way and snap a picture or two for the “Backcast!” Happy Fishing and Tight Lines to All!
Kelly
Read about Icelandic Fly Fishing for Char Page 10
This record breaker was over 24 lbs and probably the largest fly-caught char in history.
Wyoming Fly Casters
3
What’s inside ... Kelly Kukes, President Lee Tschettert, Vice President Casey Leary, Secretary Matt Stanton, Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Terms expire in 2014: Spencer Amend, Bob Fischer, Jim Johnson, Chris McAtee Terms expire in 2015: George Axlund, Bian Bayer, Derrick Dietz, Joe Meyer Terms expire in 2016: Cheryl Alexander Lee Wilson 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 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 marketingmavenaha@ gmail.com or call (708) 997-2071. 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 marketingmavenaha@ gmail.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 sub- scribing electronically, you also save the club roughly $17.40 a year in printing and postage expenses.
4
Brag Time 5 New Members 6 Banquet Highlights 8 PHWFF Update 9 Banquet Summary 10 Fly Fishing in Iceland 11 Classifed/ Member Notes 12 Calendar Photo by Bob Veverka
The WFC May front cover was shot in Iceland - Hvannadalsa© Stephan Gian Dombaj Junior Thank you!
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 organized 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 encourage conserving the fish themselves. A fish safely released today will live to give sport to others.
For easy access to digital version of newsletter go to: www.wyomingflycasters.org
4
May 2013
BRAG TIME with FISH KISSES!
Kelly
Alex
Joe
Sydney
Wyoming Fly Casters
Derrick
New WFC Members If you are a current member enjoying the benefits of being in our group, please remember to share those great experiences you’ve had with others that might be interested I’ve enjoyed learning about fly fishing from all of you and I know that ya’ll would love to move on to easier pupil. Take a look at Kate. She’s got on whopper of a fish and she and her husband Matthew just joined. Hmm, Joe are you bringing in “ringers” to the WFC? Ha! Just kidding. Looks like Kelly and I will have our work cut out for us this spring and summer. Welcome Matthew and Kate! We are delighted that you joined our group. I can promise you’ll have a great time with some truly wonderful fishing buddies and friends.
Kate
5
6
The WFC Spring Banquet highlights!
May 2013
Wyoming Fly Casters
7
8
May 2013
PHWFF Recaps and Updates on Activities this Spring Subway Sandwiches, Mills. They had a ball! Good catching all day. Several good size fish. Rainbows mostly. One Cutt Bow. Last Saturday, Joe and Spencer once again led the PHWFF group to Pathfinder and Alcova. They reported that all the reservoir ice has melted. Six vets went with Joe and Spencer. Fishing was slow at first but the new guys were abe to get a good start and the day was an all around success.
The local chapter of Healing Waters and the Wyoming Fly Fishing Guide Service teamed up the local professional healing waters fly fishing group on April 23rd for their first annual fly fishing trip. Picture from Wyoming Fly Fishing Guides.
Well Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing group has certainly gotten the year off to a great start. Early this year they got some great instruction on fly tying with WFC’s own Lyin’ and Tyin’ group of experienced tyers. Joe Meyer, Spencer Amend, Lee Tschuetter and an occasional visit with other local legend tyers have provided some wonderful instruction to our honored vets. PHWFF members have also had some great casting instruction and several outings with The Wyoming Fly Guides lead by Ryan Anderson. Recently on April 23rd, PHWFF went out on a float trip with The Wyoming Fly Guides. Six vets went out on the float trip. They went in at Lusby and pulled out at White Tail. Five out of the six were first timers. They were: Stan Becker, Griffith Sea, Tyer Strickland and George Rooney. Joining them were Derrick Dietz and Bob Renz, both of whom have been on numerous fishing trips. See picture above. Events with WFC members have also been great experiences for PHWFF members. A few weeks ago, eight vets were out for a casting clinic and fishing day with Joe and Spencer and some other WFC members at 33 Mile Pond. Most of the guys caught fish, but it was really windy. A lot of them were first timers, so needless to say, they had a great day. Lunch was provided by
They’re all looking forward to a great Spring and Summer. May 11th another float trip is scheduled between the PHWFF , Ugly Bug and Crazy Rainbow. The Crazy Rainbow is providing three boats and some of the PHWFF members are bringing their own boats as well. The amount of boats will ensure that the volunteers get plenty time to fish too, said Derrick, PHWFF’s local coordinator. It’s important that we’re not the only ones fishing during these trips, he said. This will be the second float trip that the Crazy rainbow has organized for the PHWFF. Derrick remarked that the education the vets get from the local guides and WFC members is fabulous. The guides share those special spots with the vets on where to land some great fish. As a result, fish fever is already growing among the vets who have only been out a couple of times. In the past month, there has been a couple of rod building classes, where the vets are build their own fly rods in anticipation of catching the “big ones!” As an experienced rod builder, Derrick is the instructor for his fellow vets. What’s up for the summer? So far, Lyin’ and Tyin’. classes for the vets and they’ll be scheduling some summer time classes from here on out too. Once again the PHWFF have acknowledged some great support from Joe Meyer, Spencer Amend, Colin Tierney and Lee Tschuetter.
Wyoming Fly Casters
2013 Banquet Income summary Income Ticket Sales Ticket sales Sportsmans ticket/raffle sales ($130 -‐ 3.59 = 126.41) Live/Silent Auction Cash/Checks Live/Silent Auction CC sales night of banquet ($2475-‐ 68.09 = 2406.91 Bucket/Bamboo rod sales Ticket Sales Gross Income Expenses Office Max -‐ Banquet Posters Wy FF Guide Service -‐ Walleye Exchange trip AD Maddox -‐ Banquet Prints Redington -‐ Waders & Boots WGFD -‐ Conservation stamp print Merback Awards -‐ Engraving Vases and flowers Office Max -‐ Banquet Programs Ramada -‐ Meals Finishing Touch -‐ Framing Marvin Nolte -‐ President & MacTavish flies Total Expenses Net Income
$ 75.00 $ 225.00 $ 126.41 $ 3,430.00 $ 2,406.91 $ 1,584.00 $ 360.00 $ 8,207.32
$ 15.59 $ 390.00 $ 125.00 $ 264.39 $ 17.50 $ 28.93 $ 79.46 $ 79.21 $ 2,914.76 $ 447.41 $ 315.00 $ 4,677.25 $ 3,530.07
9
10
May 2013
Personal Experiences about fly fishing in Iceland Sea run Arctic Char fishing in Iceland www.icelandangling.com The Arctic char is a strong and hard fighting fish. Not long ago the fishing for sea run Arctic char in Iceland was booming. These beautiful silver fish used to run almost any trickle of water connected to the sea all over Iceland. Here we call them silfur nál, which can be translated to silver needle. Those creatures not only taste terrific they also contain some massive amounts of healthy fatty acids and so they are a very popular fish to eat by the locals. When I was young I used to visit a farm and stay there for the summer every year and on the farm we used to put a net or two on the beach at the farms land. We used to catch a lot of char and I remember it being a real treat to get boiled char with fresh potatoes for dinner. My first guiding job was guiding a group of three Swiss anglers on a char river in the north-east of Iceland. These guys had strict orders from their better halves at home to bring back smoked char. At that time the catch rates for sea run char in Iceland were going down. Everyone had their own theory about why this was happening but one fisheries scientist I know told me that one of his theories was that it was due to the change in climate and the higher temperatures in the rivers. Fishing on April 1. on Brunna River So with the knowledge in the back of my head that the numbers were on a downward spiral I felt bad knocking each and every single char these guys caught on the head for their wives to get their smoked fillets upon their arrival back to Switzerland. Perhaps it was the cost Iceland as a destination needed to get these guys to come over. They‘d come and spend some money here and in return their wives got some smoked char fillets. At least that is what they told me; no char, no trip! On this trip we hit the jackpot and well over 50 sea run char ranging up to 5 pounds in size were caught and each and every one of them killed under orders from the clients. This being my first ever guiding job I did not dare protest. A few years later I was involved with the filming of The Source – Iceland. A fishing DVD that showed fishing in Iceland
through the eyes of a visitor travelling in our country. One of the things he was most surprised about was the char fishing. He and his mates found that the fish was a very fun fish to catch with a fly rod and that it gave a great fight. Following the release of the film I started getting loads of requests about fishing for sea run char but as the numbers were decreasing so much and that the rivers we‘d been fishing were very inconsistent we could not service these requests properly. Until now! The wonderful Brunna River Brunna is a beautiful river. For a few years I‘ve heard about a small river in the north of Iceland called Brunna. I remember reading about it once as being the most beautiful river in Iceland. I also read that it was leased to a fishing club notorious for killing everything they caught so I was not very interested in sending my clients there. But September 2011 I got a text message from my uncle saying it was amazing and I had to start sending clients there. I called him up and he told me they fished it and fell in love. The char were hard to catch in September but his wife had landed an 8 pound brown trout. I was intrigued to say the least and I got in contact with the current lease holders. Turns out they‘d taken over the lease from the club and had implemented strict quota rules where only one fish could be killed each day but also commented that killing was frowned upon. Today over 90% of the fish caught there is returned safely.
fun method to use on the river, especially early season. When the summer progresses the char are willing to come up to the surface and take big bushy attractor dry flies. The lodge on Brunna River The scenery is breathtaking and the location of the lodge is perfect, snuggled in between some birch. The river is fished with three rods at the same time and there is plenty of room for each angler. There is much diversity in the fishing conditions from top to bottom and each pool requires different approach. The prime time for the fishing on the Brunna River is from mid-July – mid August, although personally I was quite fond of those dates in late June as I found there were not as many fish in the river as later in the season but they were bigger. I came back in August with some clients and then the pools were literally black with char. So now we‘ve done our trial year on the river and we‘ve secured some dates for the 2013 season as well. The river is only 20 minutes away from one of our best brown trout rivers, the Litla River and so it makes the perfect combination. Numbers on the rise again
I booked the opening of the river for April 1. 2012 even though I knew the fishing was going to be tough at that time but I also took a chance and booked all available dates on the river for 2012. For the three days we fished the opening days in April we landed over 40 fish including a 6 pound brown trout, some sea trout and a lot of char. My first sight of the river was with frozen ground and snow but I could see that it must be beautiful in the height of summer.
For the last two years we‘ve seen a positive development in the catch rates of sea run Arctic char in the rivers of Iceland. 2012 was one of the best seasons on the Brunna and the same applied to many of the char rivers in Iceland. My clients and I had some wonderful char fishing on both the Brunna and Litla Rivers with fish ranging up to about 9 pounds in size. The locals seem to be more and more conscious about the fact that we need to protect this fantastic fighter if we are to keep chasing it in Iceland for the coming years. More and more rivers now have a catch and release rule on the sea run Arctic char and that development is one to admire.
In June I returned with clients and the fishing was fantastic. Again we had over 40 fish in two days with two of the char we caught reaching 7 pounds. That is one hell of a fight on a 4wt rod. The water is crystal clear making sight fishing with nymphs the most
info@icelandangling.com and tell me what you would like to do. For more information on the Brunna River including more pictures please visit: http://icelandangling.com/brunna-river.html
Wyoming Fly Casters
Classifieds
Member Notes
Classifieds
Volunteers needed!
Member Notes Large selection of framed, signed and numbered
Before you know it June 1st will be here along with a need for volunteers to help at the
Vivi Crandall and Terry Redlin prints (contact me for names/prices)
Annual Kid Fishing Day Harry Yessness Pond
and
Contact Scott Novotny gscottn@gmail.com
COLMAN FLEETWOOD COLONIAL POPUP CAMPER
Remembrances
Scott Novotny gscottn@gmail.com 307-315-3534
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) 234-4278 or e-mail her at faith10@bresnan.net.
11
http://www.roadslesstraveled. us.Popup.html
Classifieds Member Notes Classifieds Member Notes
Men’s Chaco Z/1 Sandal. Size 13. “Matrix color” New in box $45 OBO Matt Stanton 307-258-9915
INDOOR DRIFT BOAT STORAGE on the river $50/month or $500/year. Outdoor storage $40/month. Call Clarke 307-262-3306
All Patagonia SST jacket XXL $300.00 2011 model NIB; SST jacket women’s older style XL $125.00 NIB SST jacket Small; older style used $50.00 Scott Novotny 307-315-3534
The Backcast Newsletter www.flycasters.org
May 2013
Photo by Andrew Sauter
8 WED 15 WED
General Meeting Izaak Walton Lodge 7 pm Board Meeting Izaak Walton Lodge 7 pm