Kelly Creek Flycasters

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

***IMPORTANT NOTICE***

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE    

Saker Medevarapu - Kelly Creek Flycasters President

Hello Folks,

By all accounts, steelhead fishing has been very productive until recently.  Although I have not had much opportunity to fish, this year I have hooked and landed several small B run fish.  I heard from Terry and Craig that the Snake has been fishing good way up high, and the crowds at the mouth state that the Grande Ronde have been productive as well.  But word is that this past week catching fish in those three rivers has tanked!  Oh well that’s the breaks of steelhead fishing.  Although my fly boxes are starting to feel the pinch; I have finally turned my attention back to my work bench!  I have started my next split cane project.  The straightening process has always been quite a chore for me.  The last bunch took me several months to straighten because I would get frustrated and abandon the task after about 15 minutes, but now I am starting to find the subtleties that make the process go faster.  I anticipate that this next batch of rods should only take 2 months compared to 4 months for the first batch.  Maybe after that I will find some time to replenish my fly boxes but then again trout fishing should just be starting in to it again by then…

This is my first official message as the new club president!  It has been several years since I have been on the board and I look forward to it.  I would like to give a special thanks to Zach Funkhouser, Fred Trevey, and Bruce Young for their years of service to the Board; enjoy your break guys because I’m sure you will be back on in no time at all!  Tim Gifford and Laura Hildebrant have volunteered to replace our departing members.  This is their first term of service to the Board of Directors and I would also like to extend a thank you to them as well. 

I look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting!

Saker 

Kelly Creek Flycasters NOVEMBER Program

Thursday, November 8^th at 7:00PM

China Inn, Lewiston ID

Program:  Fly Fishing for Northern Pike with Buck Goodrich

Fly-fishing for northern pike is loads of fun and most of the time it is the most effective method of catching pike.  Buck Goodrich has been engaged in fly fishing for pike for over 20 years and teaches fly fishing for northern pike at the Federation of Fly Fisher’s International Fly Fishing Show.  In his program all aspects of pike fly fishing such as the characteristics of the pike, fly fishing equipment (including special equipment for these toothy critters), flies, fishing techniques and places to fish are discussed.

If you are tired of dainty flies and dimpling takes, pike fishing may be for you.  These freshwater barracuda attack a dry fly with a viciousness that you can’t believe.  Tying pike flies doesn’t require a 10x magnifying glass and expensive materials.  Come to the meeting and learn about fly-fishing for these great fish.   

Buck Goodrich has been an active member of the Federation of Fly Fishers for over 25 years and has been fly fishing and tying for over 60 years.  He has held many offices at the local, regional and national levels. He has received many fly fishing awards including FFF Man of the Year, Western Rocky Mountain Council Fly Tyer of the year, Dick Nelson Fly Tying Award for teaching, the Lew Jewett Memorial Award, the Lapis Luzuli Award and the East Idaho Heritage Award to name a few. The Western Rocky Mountain Council’s  “Buck Goodrich Lifetime Achievement Award” is named for him. Fly fishing for most anything that swims is his passion but northern pike are one of his favorites. Fly tying specialties include pike flies, different techniques for tying nymphs and he also enjoys tying Atlantic Salmon flies. He is also an FFF certified fly casting instructor and teaches fly casting for fly shops and the local club.

Kelly Creek Flycasters’ Fish Outs Are Fun!

One of the best things about being a member of the Kelly Creek Flycasters is the chance to go fly fishing with club members!  This summer I got to on two club fish outs.  The Locsha River fish out in July was fun filled, if not fish filled!  This summer the water temperature was pretty high, even in the rivers at a higher elevation.  The fish were not as active as usual, but some were still game to chase a tasty dinner of one of their favorite flies.  The turnout of club members for this fish out and Hwy 12 cleanup was good.  We had warm days and nice evenings. 

On this fish out we had some unexpected folks join us.  A friend of a friend of Matt Van Vleet’s, was visiting our area from the east coast.  Keith stayed up at the Locsha Lodge, but joined us for meals and fishing.  He was good company and we enjoyed meeting him.  Another special person joined us Saturday evening.  He is an author who knows the Locsha River inside and out.  Bud Moore, author of The Locsha Story, was browsing the food shelves at the Lodge when Linda Vance and I were there.  The store clerk mentioned Bud was in the store and I bought a copy of his book and asked him to autograph it.  He did and we found out that he was staying at the same campground as us.  So, we invited him to join us that evening and he wandered by after dinner. He is a wonderful story teller and many of the club members had read his book.  Follow this link to read about Bud in an IPTV article http://www.idptv.state.id.us/outdoors/shows/twentieth/budmoore.html  We all thoroughly enjoyed Bud’s lively conversation and fabulous memory of the Locsha area over about 70 or 80 years.  The real treat was when he said “I’d love to give the woman who cooked this cobbler a great big hug!”  We all laughed as we pointed out our very own chef Zach.  Zach had a big smile on his face!  Complements like that he doesn’t get every day.

The second fish out was the Kelly Creek fish out in August.  Three of us carpooled up on a Friday afternoon: Renee Krokos, Linda Vance and me.  We arrived just before dark and the club members who had arrived earlier had saved us a campsite.  The campgrounds were filling up fast that weekend.  There had been fires in the area and the smoke had prevented some members from joining us.  But it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

The fishing was good on Kelly Creek and the other tributaries that weekend.  This was the first time that Renee, Linda and I had fished together and we are all in various stages of fly fishing experience.  It was great fun!  We practiced reading the water, wading, selecting and tying on our flies, and catching and releasing fish!  Everyone caught some fish that weekend and Bill Lillibridge who organized the trip, caught lots of fish!  We all appreciated Diane’s help too setting up the outing.

It was another good turnout of KCF members and the evenings were spent telling stories and sitting around the table playing Rummikub. There were no fires allowed because of the dry conditions, but there was much laughter and the food was really great – again! 

Sunday we fished the North Fork of the Clearwater and caught a few more feisty fish.  It was just beginning to rain as we put our rods away.  We were grateful for the sunny days of fishing and the rain to come and help put out the fires.  Everyone had a great time that weekend! 

I hope that you all will take advantage of our monthly fish outs throughout the fishing season.  It is always a good time, good fishing, good food and great company!  Happy fishing! 

Ginny Foote

KELLY CREEK FLYCASTERS TREASURER’S REPORT

Account Balances through OCTOBER, 2007

                          Savings CD:                                         $10,088.22

                          Checking Account Balance:                    $4,251.24

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

                          Total Funds:                                        $14,339.46

Kelly Creek Flycasters

2007  EVENT  SCHEDULE

Kelly Creek Flycasters Board of Directors

TYING CORNER – LADY McCONNELL

Article by Bob Bates, FFF Clubwire

Here is a pattern that every stillwater angler should have in the fly box. Brian Chan, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada developed this pattern in 1979 to represent an almost completely emerged adult chironomid (midge). He named it after McConnell Lake just south of Kamloops, B.C., Canada where he tested it. Trout in McConnell Lake and elsewhere have an eagerness to feed on adult chironomids.

Just about every lake and many streams have chironomids, and fish willingly feed on the larva, pupa and adult stages of the insect. Some anglers note that fish seem to prefer the larva or pupa stages over the adult. However, you should always look for an opportunity to fish the adult. Best times to fish it are early morning and late evening. Chironomids are a nice insect for fly anglers as they might hatch any time there is ice free water. I have seen fish rising to chironomids in the only ice free water at the outflow of a lake. Unfortunately it was before the start of fishing season.

One late spring day a visitor to my part of the world talked me into taking him fishing. A difficult task to say the least. After dinner we went to a nearby quality lake. We drifted around a while enjoying the evening, but we were seeing only a few fish. When the evening rise started I had him put on a size 16 Lady McConnell, and he started catching fish immediately. He was amazed at how fast he hooked (and carefully released) so many nice rainbows.

That evening all we had to do cast our floating lines, and let the flies sit quietly on the surface for a few seconds. The fish attacked them with abandon. At other times it helps to move the fly with a little jiggle or strip it at a moderate speed to imitate hatching or egg laying insects.

Materials & Equipment:

Hook: Tiemco TMC 100, Mustad 94840 or other dry fly hook, sizes 12-18
Thread: Black 6/0, 8/0 or 14/0
Tail: Grizzly hackle tip over white Zelon
Shellback: Deer hair
Body: Gray polypropylene, dubbing or tying thread
Hackle: Grizzly

Step 1: Wind thread on rear 2/3 rds of hook shank, and leave thread at bend of hook (near barb). Attach a few strands of white Zelon on top of the hook. (This is a new variation of the pattern coming out of British Columbia. It is only on a few of my flies.) Make the Zelon about a shank length long.

Step 2: Tie a grizzly hackle tip on top of the hook longer than needed and pull it to make a shank length tail.

Step 3: Cut a small amount of deer hair. How much depends on hook size. A clump about the diameter of a wooden match stick is about right for a size 12 hook. Clean out under fur and short hairs, cut tips and place tips on hook at a point about 1/3 rd shank length back from the eye. (Butts should be pointing to the rear.) Bind the deer hair on top of hook without spinning it, wind thread backward to the bend of the hook, and spiral it forward to front of the deer hair.

Step 4: Attach poly yarn, wind thread over it to the bend and spiral thread forward to front of deer hair.

Step 5: Wrap poly body to front of deer hair, secure and trim. (The body may be dubbed to match the color of local insects.) Keep the body slim to be like a chironomid.

Step 6: Bring deer hair forward and bind it down forming a shellback. Take care to keep the deer hair on the top half of the body and that it isn't twisted out of position from thread torque. Trim excess hair and wind thread over butts. Return thread to front of body/shellback.

Step 7: Select a grizzly feather with barbs that are about 1-1/2 gap widths long. Strip off the fuzzy fibers and other unwanted barbs. Attach it to hook with the dull side of the feather facing forward. Leave a little bare stem showing above the thread, bind down and trim excess stem. Leave thread about one eye width back from the eye. (Some tiers use two feathers to produce a fuller hackle.)

Step 8: : Pull hackle forward over eye to kink the stem. This and the bare stem help the hackle wrap properly. Wrap hackle forward to thread, secure and trim excess.

Step 9: Wind thread to make a small head, whip finish, trim and add a drop of head cement.

I tie this pattern with light and dark poly and light and dark grizzly. It takes a lot less time to tie a Lady McConnell than it does to write or read about it. Those mean trout tend to shred them so tie several.

I almost never leave home without a bunch of Lady McConnells in my fly box. It has been my consistent producer for many years. Now when the fish start rising and I don't have my Ladies with me I am lost and feel I should go home.

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.