Catching Members with Fly-Fishing

By Jake Ten Pas

Members always have the power to enrich MAC’s programmatic offerings. It’s just a matter of having a passion and realizing others might share it or be interested in learning more about it. Sometimes enhancing the community just means casting a wider net — or perhaps a longer line.

“Hey, I’ve loved fly fishing almost my whole life, and I’d love to get people involved in that,” former Outdoor Activities Program Committee member Todd Stevenson recalls saying shortly after joining the club. “It’s a very open committee, open to different ideas and exploring outdoor activities. If you had an interest in those, Drew [White] was always like, ‘Yeah, let’s look into that.’”

With that, Stevenson developed and taught a Fly-Fishing 101 class for a few years, as well as organizing trips with the Portland Fly Shop on the Deschutes River and classes around spey casting and fly tying. With fellow committee member Wes Twigg, he worked to bring the International Fly Fishing Film Festival to the club. “I thought that was cool how we brought fly-fishing indoors, even get to go to because they just don’t have time, money, or whatever.”

A former marine conservation biologist of 20 years, Stevenson now smiles and describes himself as an “opportunistic stay-at-home dad.” That leaves him time to travel, and he recently returned from a trip that contained all the aspects of the sport he attributes to its cinematic representation above.

“I just got back from the Owyhee River. That’s Eastern Oregon, but it’s mostly Idaho anglers that fish there. I just had a magical evening,” he says of his pitstop on the way back from fishing Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Idaho.

“I feel blessed that I got to experience it. It was like 103 degrees outside with water temperatures in the 60s, awful in terms of air temperature, but the bugs were just hatching like crazy. There was a feeding frenzy of really large brown trout. I caught in the double digits, and every fish was 17- to 20-inches, which is big for a trout.”

Most of the time, Stevenson catches and releases, a practice he learned when fly-fishing for the first time as a 16-year-old living in Los Angeles. He and a friend found a bamboo fly rod under his buddy’s dad’s bed, and they decided to try their luck on the Big Tujunga Canyon stream. They mostly caught three-inch trout, which definitely didn’t get eaten.

“It was the process, the journey. It’s about getting into nature and experiencing it,” he says of the lesson he learned that day. “I think it was the hunt, too. I think a lot of people have that in their DNA, to chase after something. It’s definitely in my DNA. I was always taken by the complexity of river ecosystems.” though we’re trying to get people outdoors, and doing a mix of both,” Stevenson says. He adds that for those who’ve never seen a fly-fishing film, it’s well worth their time to explore the micro-genre. “It’s adventure, beautiful landscapes and fish, kind of capturing the more philosophical aspect of fly-fishing in these crazy locations that most people don’t

Much like climbing, which practitioners describe as a series of problems to be solved, fly-fishing is an incredibly nuanced pursuit. To be successful, Stevenson says, anglers have to understand the water, wind, bugs, temperature and flow of the water, and so many other variables. “I think it was that multivariant environment that really captivated me at a pretty young age, and I went on to study fishery biology and aquatic entomology because of it.”

Stevenson believes that humanity has moved away from nature, and he delights in facilitating interactions with rivers, mountains, and the outdoors in general. “If I can get more people out there, with their hands in the dirt and water, I think it improves their

Historic Walks & Hikes

Tuesday, Sept. 9, Nov. 4 & Dec. 2 mindsets and humanity’s relationship with nature as a whole.”

These days, Stevenson isn’t as involved with MAC fly-fishing offerings as he was while a member of the committee, but that’s because he’s well set up to pursue them on his own. In his estimation, the purpose of club-hosted educational and recreational fly-fishing programming is to support the greatest number of members experiencing the sport at the entry level, and he looks forward to seeing it continue to expand as the overall community progresses within the sport. He also anticipates more great opportunities being spawned by the OAP.

“It’s great that they do the three-year rotation for the committee members. The person behind me who filled my spot might have a completely different interest than I had, and something new will come up. So, MAC grows, and the offerings grow.”

Chet Orloff, who members may know from his leadership of the MAC History Book Group, is set to begin leading Walking & Hiking outings through the Outdoor department. Known for bringing relevant context to informative works of nonfiction, he promises to proffer similar background about local landmarks and natural areas in the months to come.

Check the Walking & Hiking calendar at themac.com for the opportunity to join him and other keen club perambulators on these educational athletic offerings.

Every MAC member has moments when they shine extra brightly. Know a member who’s won big in their respective sport, been honored for a professional accomplishment, or made a difference in their community? Suggest them to be featured in Faces of MAC by emailing wingedm@themac.com.