| Monthly Newsletter of the Central Texas Flyfishers | February, 2001 Vol. 7 No. 2 |
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President: Terry
Blackwell
Vice President: Joel Chavez
Conservation: Billy Wofford
Outings: Kevin Duren & Johnny Quiroz
Secretary: Kim Heaston
Treasurer: Bob Blagg
Meeting held on January 9, 2001. The announcement that the club now has a web site was made. A motion was passed for the club to spend $12.00 per month to maintain the site.
Plans were laid for the Annual Banquet which was held on the following Saturday.
Ronnie Ray was our guest speaker and he lectured on fishing the Colorado near Smithville.
The Central Texas Flyfishers Web Site
The club now has a web site that you can visit at: http:\\www.ctff.org.
It has some really nice features like a message board, which has been well used so far. You can see the club calendar, read the latest newsletter and link to some other web sites dedicated to fly fishing. We encourage all to visit the site regularly and provide feed back about features or give content.
Because the newsletter is now to be published on-line we would like to survey how many people would like to still receive the newsletter by regular mail.
Please respond to the secretary, Kim Heaston by e-mail (kc-flyfisher@ctff.org) or by phone (512) 451-2042, or verbally at the meeting on Tuesday. Since we spend about $40.00 per month the club would like to cut the cost of copying and mailing.
An additional benefit to the web site is that paid members will have an e-mail address associated with the club.
On January 13th we had our annual banquet. There was an excellent turnout and Mike Brown gave up the presidency to become, once again, ubiquitous. His change in status will be discussed later.
This year we tried a new method of raising funds for the club. A silent auction was held for some of the door prizes. The idea went over well and we raised some much-needed funds for the club. There were many good raffle prizes but the grand prize went to Kim Heaston this year. It was an SW Outfitter's vest pack and he was duly grateful.
Thanks to all who helped out in the planning and doing for this event. We all had a good time.
Kid Fish Day
We desperately need all the volunteers we can get for the Kid Fish Day which will be held at the AE Wood Fish Hatchery in San Marcos beginning Friday, February 9, at 9:30 a.m. tol noon and from 1:30 until finished.
We need someone to bait hooks, help kids cast a line, remove fish if necessary, gut the fish and bag it as needed. Also need a few to teach fly tying and casting. A good opportunity to try out our donated rods. Please let Matt or Kim know who can come. Matt or Kim will notify Christi Schmidt at the Parks Dept with a count of how many can make it. We need all the help we can get.
Web Site Triggers Spontaneous Fishing Trip to Kerrville
The new web site message board spawned an impromptu trip to Kerrville at the invitation of Mike Andrews of the Hill Country Flyfishers. Here are some of the comments and observations made about that trip.
Six CTFF members journeyed to the Kerrville area on Sunday, January 28, 2001 to fish for trout on a section of the upper Guadalupe River. We were most graciously hosted by Mike Andrews of the Hill Country Flyfishers.
In a word, the trip was awesome! Everyone caught trout including some over 20 inches, with a few perch and bass thrown in for added spice. The weather was variable from drizzle to showers, to dappled sunshine, but on the whole pleasant for a winter's day.
It was great to be able to see fish actively rising to the wide variety of Caddis and Mayflies.
We hope to host members of the HCFF Club on the San Marcos River, soon.
Michael Brown
The fishing was at least as much fun as I have found on the Guadalupe below canyon and the hatches were much better. I think with all the cheap lodging in the Kerrville are at this time of year we need a club sleep over outing type trip. This is a no brainer for our outing guys. There are miles of undisturbed bass fishing here also. I think we could even bring the families if we wanted to and they would have a good time since its right in town. I don't think Mike Andrews or Bob Miller would mind showing us where the best bass fishing is around there. If you have never heard a three or four pound trout slurp a mayfly off the waters glassy surface, or felt a truly big fish sing line off your drag, or had to bow your rod to a cartwheeling eighteen incher you will never have a better chance so close to home. I mostly want to go back to see if I can finish my mission of recovering all the flies Kim left in Kerrville.
Matt Jennings
My own personal views were that this was the best trip I've had in a long time. Several unusual things happened on this trip (not the least of which is that I caught a trout). A few lessons in tippet selection are in order too.
This is the first time that I have ever caught a trout greater than four inches long on the Guadalupe River. I think that I can claim the first hit of the day. I cast to where I had seen some rises just after we arrived. There was a bump, I set the hook and came up empty. I had lost the #14 bead headed nymph and about eighteen inches of tippet. Carefully I retied a new tippet using a surgeons not and drew it tight under water. I tied on a #14 Adams and started casting about. A certain ubiquitous person claimed that the first person to catch a fish should buy lunch and shortly after that that same person caught a fine trout (at lunch time he was less than ubiquitous because we all bought our own lunches [webmaster's note: everyone forgot about that at the time including the ubiquitous one] ). Soon after that I caught about a fifteen inch rainbow trout that actually sent my reel singing. With no net I finally landed it and admired the color and size and released it. She had given a fine fight and was worthy of release.
People were catching and releasing fish to either side of me when Matt hooked into a similar sized male. He reeled the fish in but needed help to unhook it. I waded over and pulled a nymph out of the fishes mouth and Matt let it go. As the fish swam off Matt's rod bent again. I had taken a bead headed nymph out of the fish's mouth but it was not Matt's fly! It was the nymph I had lost after that first bump! It's interesting that a week later at another fishing spot I snagged on the bottom and pulled up a fly I had lost three weeks earlier. This has certainly been my month for wierdness.
Back on the Guadalupe We broke for lunch and decided to try the same section of river in the afternoon. I had exhausted my dry flies with no takes so I switched to a #12 olive wooly bugger with a bead head. Since the fish were rising with no splash I cast down stream and slowly stripped in the line to keep the fly just under the surface. I was rewarded with a major bump so I set the hook lightly and came up empty. Tippet and fly were gone. A new tippet and fly were tied on and the exact same scenario happened. Now, I pride my self in my knot tying ability and am the first to blame myself when they break but on the third attempt this happened again. The only things that I can think of that caused me to lose four fish during that day were that I used too small a tippet (5X), bad knot tying, or the tippet was of bad quality. I am going to review knots and knot strength and maybe use a larger leader when fishing these waters again.
Kim Heaston
Our winter weather has been typical for small corner of the world, torturing us with brillant spring-like days one day and a wintry chill the next. The high water levels have greatly diminished our current ability to enjoy the Canyon Lake tailrace fishery on the Guadalupe River, but have brightened our hopes for an awesome white bass run in the waters above the lake.
One of this winter's highlights has been to enjoy the company of fellow club members on a very impromptu trip to the Kerrville area to fish with Mike Andrews of the Hill Country Fly Fishers. The caddis and mayflies filled the air, the stomachs of willing fish, and our hopes for dry fly action. It was a day I won't soon forget, having looked at the pictures from both the morning and evening of the same day -- everyone looked tired in the a.m. but happily content just prior to the drive home. What a way to spend the day. I applaud Kim for his innovative way to share flies, without having to go around the next bend.
Trying not to include club management details in my writing is proving to be tougher than I imagined. But I think I will grow to like not having to do so. I will go only so far as to encourage everyone to check out our new website at http://www.ctff.org. I think it will be a great tool for everyone club member or not. If you have suggestions or comments, please let me know. (Okay, I feel better now, and will make a mental note to leave the bureaucrat at the office).
See you at the meeting and feeling otherwise ubiquitous,
Michael
© 2001 Central Texas Flyfishers
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