Kelly Creek Flycasters

  www.kellycreekflycasters.com                      P.O. Box 2131 Lewiston, Idaho 83501

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE…………………

Zach Funkhouser - Kelly Creek Flycasters President

Greetings club members.  Can you believe that 2006 has come and gone already.  Where did it go?  I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas meeting and congratulations to Ted Selletti for winning the Winston fly rod.  Sorry Ted, but you’re going to have to learn to fly fish now.  That’s too nice of a rig to sit in a closet.  Our January meeting will also be at the IDFG building so we’ll see you there on January 11th.  The club is still looking around for a restaurant with an appropriate meeting room and we’re considering giving the China Inn a try.  They have a nice room that’s separated from the rest of the facility and a decent selection of food including some American dishes.  We will discuss the idea of meeting at the China Inn at the January meeting to see what everyone thinks of the idea.

The Board has received numerous comments about the content of our monthly meetings.  In response to these comments, the Board has decided to change the agenda of our regular meetings.  In an effort to spend our time discussing items that we know are of interest to our general membership and not just one or two individuals, we will only be discussing issues that have been reviewed and approved by the Board.  As a regular club member, if you wish to discuss or bring up an issue at one of our monthly meetings, please plan to attend a Board meeting prior to the club meeting so your item can be considered and approved for presentation at one of our meetings.  This issue will be discussed at the January meeting so that everyone is clear why we are making this change and what the process will be.

The KCF have another interesting year planned.  2007 will have some fun fish-outs and get-togethers, starting with the Lie-N-Tie in February.  Our calendar of events has been updated and is included in this newsletter so please check that out and mark your calendars.  At the February meeting we’ll be asking for volunteers to lead our fish-outs, so please think about it and volunteer if you know you’ll be there.  The fish-out leader is responsible for arranging and preparing the club dinner, but otherwise, the duties are pretty relaxed so don’t be afraid to take on the task.  It’s a good way to give something back to the club and to our membership.  I known I’ll volunteer for one, I hope some of you will as well.

That’s about it for January.  Terry Nab will be conducting the January meeting.  As much as I’d like to be there, I’ll be casting to permit and tarpon on the Yucatan Peninsula the second week of January.  Take care and Happy New Year.  I wish everyone all the best of 2007 and a safe and Happy New Year’s holiday.

…and what happened next, Grandpa?

Article by Fred Trevey - Kelly Creek Flycasters Board Member

One of the privileges of over 6 decades of living, working and playing in the outdoors is Story Telling about past adventures to my Grandkids. Along with the privilege comes the responsibility to pass on experience and instill a love and respect for ‘wild places’.  After all, they are the future ‘stewards’ of our natural resources. 

July 2006 somewhere along the North Fork of the Clearwater River:  Camp is in order--the tent is pitched, dinner was cooked over an open fire, the night air is soft and fragrant, the river is sounding pleased with itself on its journey to the far off sea------.  My 11 year old Grandson, Andrew, and I are reliving our day of casting flies we tied together the day before at home.  The fish were mostly willing and we learned a careful approach was in order, especially on small tributary streams like Moose Creek.

It didn’t take long until I felt a “story” about small streams and spooky trout coming on.  “You know, Andrew, that stream we fished today?   It reminds me of a stream I fished for “natives” when I was just a bit older than you.”  First, I had to explain what a “native” was, which led to contrasting with “stocked” fish and the value of pure clean water that can support fish forever.  I digress, but one rule of story telling to your grandkids is not to pass up the opportunity for a “teaching moment”. 

The teaching moment behind us, I spun the yarn about the first time my Dad let me ‘solo’ our old 1941 FORD JEEP, which had seen better days during WWII.  Even though I had a freshly minted driver’s license, he would not yet let me drive alone on the ‘main highway’—I had to take the Forest Service roads over, rather than the paved road around, The Mountain.  Upon reaching North Creek, I tried to go just a bit too far, and drowned the engine fording the stream.  A learning moment for me—those old flat head engines just didn’t like water on and around the bare spark plugs.  Seems I was going a tad too fast and the fan picked up water and blew it all over the engine.  I just could not understand it---I’d seen plenty movie of clips with Edward R. Murrow talking about our fighting men, and those Army guys were blowing through all sorts of streams with water spraying everywhere! 

Then----here they came, those magic words----“—and what happened next Grandpa?”

Now that I know I have his attention, I ask him, “What do you think I did?”  Secretly looking for another teaching moment about caring for equipment.

 “Well, you probably got out and tried to push the jeep out of the water.”

Now I didn’t know what to do!  My Grandson thinks I did the responsible thing and tried to undo my mistake before fishing.  So, I ignored the potential ‘teaching moment’ and told him the truth.  “I couldn’t go forward and couldn’t go backwards; I’m in the middle of the creek so I naturally started fishing!”

He asks, “Did you catch anything?” 

I said, “Remember talking about the spooky trout up on Moose Creek?  The Jeep landing in the middle of a pretty nice hole had spooked them pretty bad.  So I got out, waded ashore and snuck up on the next hole upstream.”

As luck would have it, there were Mayflies out that day, a rarity on the small feeder streams of the Blue Ridge in Virginia.  But I had read all about Mayflies in Outdoor Life and Field and Stream.  Al McClane was one of my heroes—he had fly fished in Idaho!  Maybe even Kelly Creek.  And I had a HERTERS #1 fly tying kit guaranteed to tie the best flies on earth.  Problem was the only feathers I could get my hands on came out of the pillow on my bed.  My Mom never did understand how my pillow kept getting thinner.  Andrew thinks this is hilarious.

As the day went on I caught a number of fish and explained how I built a small lunch fire and cooked a couple of fish—just like Jack O’Connor did out in Idaho while hunting Chukar Partridge—probably the most exotic sounding bird name I’d ever heard.  If Jack O’Connor could cook a partridge for lunch, I figured I could make do with a couple of nice Brookies.  After explaining about Jack O’Connor, I promised to take him to the Hell Gate display next time he visits.

I could tell he was waning a bit on me so I had to get on with the story.

I explained as I was hiking back to the Jeep I felt like something was watching me.  Sure enough Andrew was all eyes and ears—I had him back.  “I was walking along a little stretch of trail just under a cliff like overhang and the hair was starting to stand up on my neck.”  I asked if he had ever had that feeling and he said he had and it was a little spooky.  I said, “I looked up and I was staring straight into the eyes of a Mountain Lion.”

 “----and what happened next, Grandpa?”

Annual Club Dues Increase

At the December 2006 KCF meeting, the proposal to increase the club’s annual dues was discussed.  Costs are rising everywhere and even though our club appears to have a large savings account, this can dwindle down pretty quickly in a year.  Often if our monthly speaker is from out of town, it can cost $300-400 or more with travel expenses.  A vote was taken and the motion passed.  The new annual membership dues are now: INDIVIDUALS = $ 35 and FAMILY = $40.

Kelly Creek Flycasters January Program

Thursday, January 11^th at 7:00PM

Idaho Department of Fish & Game Building, Lewiston ID

Program:  An Overview of Idaho Anadromous Fisheries with Larry Barrett

Larry Barrett from Lewiston’s Idaho Department of Fish & Game will be talking about salmon and steelhead fisheries.  He will give a brief overview/review of Idaho salmon and steelhead life histories and then talk about the big issues that drive our fisheries and fishery management.

Looking for donations

Ed Schriever would like to let KCF know about the annual Idaho Chapter American Fisheries Society meeting will be held in Boise this February. As part of their fund raiser they auction a “fish-o-flies”.  It is a Styrofoam fish form that is covered with donated flies and auctioned off.  It usually has about 100 flies (of all varieties) on it.  Would the KFC be interested in donating flies to help them cover this auction item?

They are also looking for any other donation items to the AFS fundraising event.  Would KCF consider being a contributing sponsor?  Ed can send a formal AFS request letter that talks in detail about AFS and the fisheries related projects AFS is involved in if that would be helpful. Maybe KFC would like to help the Chapter provide some scholarships to students so they can participate in the state chapter meeting.

Kelly Creek Flycasters

2007  EVENT  SCHEDULE

KELLY CREEK FLYCASTERS TREASURER’S REPORT

Account Balances through December, 2006

                          Checking Account Balance:                       $848.25

                          Savings CD:                                          $9,816.14

                                                                                   ----------------

                          Total Funds:                                        $10,664.39

Kelly Creek Flycasters Board of Directors

TYING CORNER – Whitefish Morsel

Article by Eric Schubert - North Idaho Fly Casters Club

Illustrations by Adrian Jund - North Idaho Fly Casters Club

The mountain whitefish is familiar to most North Idahoans. This widespread native fish is primarily a stream-dwelling species, but populations are also found in reservoirs and lakes. The mountain whitefish is found in abundance in most, clear, cold rivers in the western drainages of the United States. Their range extends from Nevada to the Yukon, British Columbia border. The typical whitefish is about 10-12 inches in length, but they can reach a weight of five pounds under the right growing conditions. Trout fly fishers frequently catch several whitefish for every trout that is taken. They are considered a nuisance by some anglers, and are sought after by others. Mountain whitefish are usually bottom feeders, eating food such as aquatic insect larvae, small mollusks, eggs and sometimes small fish. In streams, drifting invertebrates and terrestrial insects are also eaten. Since spawning generally occurs between the months of October and February, the colder months of the year can make for some exciting whitefish fly fishing.

This month's fly, the Whitefish Morsel has been a favorite of mine for not only Whitefish, but also for trout. It resembles a caddis pupae that has been released from its gravel case and is drifting downstream. The genesis of the Whitefish Morsel fly pattern was in the dental office of, now retired Coeur d' Alene dentist Mark Nason. While waiting to have some dental work done, Dr. Nason used a small piece of dental dam during a routine dental repair. Since I am always on the look-out for unusual materials to compliment my fly tying arsenal I was intrigued by this unusual material.

Dental dam is a rubberized sheet material that is available in a variety of colors. Because of its flexibility I now rely on it for constructing a variety of my favorite patterns. One of the difficulties of using dental dam is trying to cut it into thin strips. After some extensive experimentation, the only tool that does an acceptable job is a fabric wheel cutter that can be found in most fabric shops. A word of caution: be extremely careful when using this tool; it is very sharp and can easily remove a part of your finger if not used properly. Use a metal straight edge when using the cutting tool in order to maintain a straight cut.

A hook used for the construction of "Stimulator" type patterns works best for this fly; it gives the pattern the elongated body profile that is necessary to match the natural. Use a black metal bead behind the eye of the hook for added weight. When constructing the body, simply wrap a tan colored 1/8" wide strip of dental dam from back to front of the hook shank until you achieve the desired body shape. Remember that the body should be larger near the front of the hook shank, than at the back. Over-wrap the body with thread to give the fly a segmented look, followed by some black hackle to replicate legs. Finish the thorax portion of the fly with peacock herl, then apply several coats of clear fingernail polish to the dental dam portion of the fly.

Your best bet in presenting this fly to the fish is by suspending it about 2-3 feet below a sight indicator. This should cover most local fishing applications. In deeper, moving water, place the fly as close to the bottom of the stream as possible. Since whitefish are bottom dwellers, you will increase your chances of hooking more fish by using this technique.

Riffles, Runs & Lies is edited by Diane Lillibridge on behalf of the Kelly Creek Flycasters.

All club members are welcome to submit articles for inclusion into the club newsletter by contacting Diane

at KCFNewsletter@cableone.net or by phone at (208) 743-8970.