Kelly Creek Flycasters

Riffles, Runs & Lies                                      SEPTEMBER 2009

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

Regular monthly meeting for Kelly Creek Flycasters:            DATE:            Thursday September 10th 2009          WHERE:         Quality Inn, the Stern Wheel or the Mahogany Room          ADDRESS:     700 Port Drive,  Clarkston WA  99403          WHEN:           Dinner will start at 6:00pm.  Meeting and Program to follow at 7:00pm.          FOOD:            $15 Buffet – see article below

 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE    

Saker Medevarapu - Kelly Creek Flycasters President

 

Greetings Folks!

 

What a busy and great summer!  I was happy for school to start last week so Lucinda and I could actually slow down a little!  This summer was also a banner year for me in terms of rattlesnakes.  Seems like I have almost stepped on more rattlers this summer (that did not buzz me) than I have since moving to the valley eleven years ago.   I have had the opportunity to fish for trout a lot this summer and I look forward to hearing fish stories at the next club meeting!

 

Next weekend was supposed to be our scheduled fish out up on the Lochsa but we have changed the location Kelly Creek.  The Women’s Fly Fishing Class started last week and Ginny wanted to change the location to the Kelly Forks campground on the North Fork, in anticipation of the Women’s Group fish out.  With more club members up there, we can have a few more seasoned flyfishers that may be willing to take a newbie out with them and show them the ropes.  Ginny will be the camp host for the weekend and she requests that your potluck item be large enough to serve 10 individuals.  The weekend outing is always a great experience and this course always generates one or two new members a year so please plan on attending the fishout!

 

I am sure all the members on the e-mail list have received the notifications regarding the change in location of the club meetings to the Quality Inn.  For those of our members on snail mail;  the general meeting will take place at the Quality Inn on our regular meeting night from September through December.  At that point we will decide to finalize the location if the membership is pleased with the service.  Please refer to the general information included in the newsletter, from Will Godfrey, for the specifics regarding dinner as there are a few changes since we last met at the Quality.  Leann has been working hard to make us happy so I hope that everyone will be supportive and attend the next 4 meetings.

 

Hopefully we will have a few guests from the Women’s class at the next meeting so please bring some decent flies, baked goods, or some other quality item for the raffle.

 

Saker Medavarapu

 

 

 

Dear Kelly Creek Flycasters Club Member:  

 

After considerable investigation, negotiation and discussion the Board of Directors has voted to hold our next four club meetings at the Quality Inn, Clarkston, Washington.  Beginning with the September 10^th Club meeting we will meet at 6 PM for a Chef’s choice buffet meal that will include a meat dish, potato or rice, vegetable, salad, roll, and house drink (water, coffee, ice tea, lemonade).  The price to each club member is $15 with youth under 6 free and under eating free. Beer, soda, wine are extra. The club will have a table set up at the entrance to the Stern Wheel Room where each member will pay as they enter.  It would be good to have the correct amount in cash or you may pay with a check payable to KCFC.  In turn, and on the honor system, the club will pay the Quality Inn for the number of people eating at the Club meeting.  You are not required to eat the prepared meal at the Quality Inn in order to be a member or to attend the meeting, but if you do, please pay at the door.  The Board has decided to try this system for four months which will include our Christmas party, December 10.  We will either meet in the Stern Wheel Room or the Mahogany Room at the Quality Inn over the next four months.  We should have plenty of room and an atmosphere that is highly conducive to presentations.  The Board does hope that the members specifically and at large will support this program as we test it for the next four months. Please come to the Club meetings, bring your friends, enjoy a top notch presentation, enjoy the companionship of the fly fishing community; and enjoy a good meal.  We will see you October 10^th at 6 PM, at the Quality Inn in Clarkston, --- The Stern Wheel Room.

 

Dinner specifics:

 

The charge is $15 for adults per plate.  LeeAnn is working on a kids deal. At the present anyone under 6 but not including 6 is free.  I have asked her to consider 12 and under as free.  She will get back to me soon with an answer.

 

The food is served buffet style chef’s choice.  We will always have the following:

                Entrée   (meat dish of some kind)

                Starch   (potato or rice dish)

                Vegetable

                Salad

                Roll

                Drink   (water, coffee, ice tea, lemonade)

                Note: Beer, soda, wine are extra and are ordered and paid for by the club member separately.

                Gratuity — is included

                Extra charges — none

 

Will Godfrey

KCF Board Member

 

Kelly Creek Flycasters SEPTEMBER Program

 

Thursday, September 10^h at 7:00 PM

Quality Inn, Clarkston WA

 

Program:  DVD Presentation “The Hatch”

 

Imagine and insect three inches long, with six gangly legs and a generous wingspan, creeping around your neck.  Now imagine thousands of such flies milling overhead, crawling up your sleeve and pant legs, and even flying into your open mouth.  Sound like a Hitchcock movie?  If you’re a rabid fly fisher, such a writhing bug-fest is actually nirvana!  And if it’s the famed salmon fly hatch on western Colorado’s Gunnison River, you’d happily scramble down some 2,000 feet of treacherous trail to a canyon floor to cast a dry fly to the ravenous rainbow and brown trout feasting on these insects

 

KELLY CREEK FLYCASTERS TREASURER’S REPORT

 

Account Balances through SEPTEMBER 2009

 

 

Kelly Creek Flycasters

2009     EVENT  SCHEDULE

 

September 10th, 2009	2nd Thursday, Regular Meeting, Quality Inn, Clarkston WA       6pm dinner, 7pm meeting & program.
September 12 - 13, 2009	2nd weekend, KCF Kelly Creek Fish-Out and Women’s Fly Fishing Class
October 06, 2009	1st Tuesday, Board Meeting, 5:30pm at Roosters Restaurant, Clarkston WA
October 08, 2009	2nd Thursday, Regular Meeting, Quality Inn, 700 Port Dr, Clarkston WA  6:00 pm dinner, 7:00 pm meeting & program.  KCF Board Nominations
November 03, 2009	1st Tuesday, Board Meeting, 5:30pm at Roosters Restaurant, Clarkston WA
November 12, 2009	2nd Thursday, Regular Meeting, Quality Inn, 700 Port Dr, Clarkston WA   6:00 pm dinner, 7:00 pm meeting & program.  KCF Board ELECTIONS
December 01, 2009	1st Tuesday, Board Meeting, 5:30pm at Roosters Restaurant, Clarkston WA
December 10, 2009	2nd Thursday, Regular Meeting, Quality Inn, 700 Port Dr, Clarkston WA   6:00 pm dinner, 7:00 pm meeting & program.  KCF CHRISTMAS Party

 

Kelly Creek Flycasters Board of Directors

 

 

TYING CORNER – Peacock Spider

By John Newbury and Bob Bates, FFF Clubwire

 

 

John Newbury tied this great steelhead pattern at the 2009 Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave in Loveland, Colorado.  He wrote the following history and tying instructions.

 

John said:  “The Peacock Spider was first tied during the winter of 1985/1986 after receiving a complete India blue peacock skin. I really liked the blue neck feathers, and when I saw the peacock blue embroidery tinsel in a fabric store, I knew the two were made for each other.  My steelhead flies are fairly simple, quick, and easy to tie.  This is because I am always losing them or giving them away!!!  I believe steelhead flies are all about color, size, and sometimes silhouette.  The Peacock Spider, Tangerine and Plum Crazy have been my most productie steelhead flies now for several seasons.  (Descriptions of the Tangerine and Plum Crazy follow the tying instructions.)

 

In the steelhead rivers of British Columbia, I use a 2/0 hook and in the rivers of Washington, Idaho, Oregon; I use a #2 and sometimes a #4.”

 

John is not alone in praising the Peacock Spider.  Fenton Roskelly, outdoor writer, tried the fly and wrote about it for The Spokesman Review, November 8, 2000.  His headline was:

 

“Peacock Spider was winning ticket to catch steelhead.”

 

  “… The next time I visited the Ronde, the water was low and clear. However, there were few steelhead that day. I fished the Shadow drift, one of the best producers, but didn't touch a fish. Then I fished the first bend.

 

As the Peacock Spider started to straighten out below me, a steelhead took the fly. A few minutes later, after the 6-pound fish had jumped a couple of times, I eased the fly out of its mouth and watched the steelhead vanish into the deeper water.

 

The Clearwater River was clear and low when I arrived at one of my favorite drifts a few days later. I pulled on my chest waders, rigged up my 9 1/2-foot graphite rod and tied on a Peacock Spider. Two men carrying 15- or 16-foot Spey rods were working their way down the drift.

They seemed to be experts and I figured they wouldn't miss any steelhead as they worked the water. However, a few minutes after starting down the drift, a steelhead took the Peacock Spider, jumped three or four times, took out all my line and some backing. I was trembling a little as I released the 10-pound fish.

The two men walked back upstream about half an hour later. One of them told me they had fished the drift for three hours and hadn't hooked a fish. …”

 

Most steelheaders use a floating line and a quartering downstream cast.  However, some use a sink tip or full sinking line to fish a little deeper.

 

Materials & Equipment:

Hook:  Tiemco TMC 7999 2 & 2/0

Thread: Monocord, red 6/0

Body:  Embroidery tinsel, Plastic Canvas 10, color PM 62 (peacock blue)

Hackles: Peacock neck or breast feathers    

 

Step 1: Put on a thread base on hook and leave thread near front of hook.

 

Step 2: Attach embroidery tinsel and wrap thread over it to the rear and then forward again to about two eye widths behind the eye.

 

Step 3: Wrap embroidery tinsel forward, secure and trim. If one likes, some loon hard head product can be applied to the tinsel, and set aside to dry, before attaching hackle.  This makes the tinsel indestructible, and also adds weight throughout the shank.

 

Step 4: Tie on peacock feathers.  I use 3 large peacock breast feathers on the # 2/0 hooks, and on the #2 and slightly smaller hooks only 2 feathers,  I tie these in by the base, as you only get about two and a half turns out of each feather.

 

Step 5: Begin winding the feathers.  When winding, stroke fibers back, and while winding, slightly twist the stem to keep the fibers perpendicular to the hook shank. It is important to stroke the feather back with each wrap forward and twist the stem as needed.  Basically, you are folding the feather as you wind it.  Tie off feather, and ends will become part of the collar.

 

Closing Comments: These great steelhead patterns are easy to tie.  The bodies of the Peacock Spider and the ones below are all tied using embroidery tinsel or metallic needlepoint yarn or ribbon, available in most yarn shops.  However, you might have to look around for the blue peacock feathers.  Most fly shops do not stock the blue neck/breast feathers.  However, usually you can have the owner to order them for you.  Sometimes it will take a little time because most suppliers require a minimum order size, and your fly shop owner might not be ready to reorder.  If you have a friend with a peacock or two ask to be permitted to pick up the drops or do preferred plucking.  My daughter sent me a bunch of dropped peacock feathers from birds wandering around her apartment building.  Sometime you luck out.  (Bob)

 

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@gmail.com or by phone at (208) 743-8970.