Downey Fly FishersSeptember 2011

Ray SugiyamaAlaska to British Columbia

Building a Fly Dryerby Bob Stuart

An Evening with Joan Wulff a true legend in fly fishing

Casting for Recovery Trout Unlimited

Tejon Ranchby Jerry Phan

At our September meeting Ray Sugiyama will show a power point presentation of some trips he has taken to fish for three species of salmon and large rainbow trout on the Alagnak river in Alaska. His trip was in July and during early July the King, Chum and Sockeye salmon all enter the river at the same time. This begins the feeding season for Alaskan Grizzly Bears whose diet consists mainly of Salmon. Grizzlies usually eat mainly the parts with the highest nutrition which would be the skin, brain, eyes and eggs in the females.

from Alaskan King Salmon

They gorge themselves to put on body fat to survive the long winter hibernation from Oc-tober to June.

Ray will also show photos of BC steelhead caught with spey rods and using tube flies and dry flies. After many tries, he finally caught a 20 plus pound steelhead last year. Last month Ray experienced one of his best trips ever fishing for Cutthroat Trout on dry flies on the Elk river.

to Cutthroats of British Columbia

Dr. Ray Sugiyama

Casting for RecoveryDATE: Monday, Sept.12, 2011 at 6pmLOCATION: Duck Club, Irvine, CA

The South Coast Chapter will be featuring Ms. Lori Simon, Executive Director for Casting for Recovery (CFR) as this month’s speaker. CFR is a non-profit, survi-vorship organization that provides opportunities for breast cancer survivors whose lives have been profoundly affected by breast cancer to gather at retreats in beauti-ful, natural settings. TU has partnered with CFR in many areas of the country and Ms. Simon will talk about the possibilities of collaboration for a southern CA based retreat.

Kids Intro to Trout FishingDATE: Monday, October 10, 2011 at 6pmLOCATION: Duck Club, Irvine, CA

Fall is absolutely one of the best times to be outside and on the banks of your favorite trout streams. The crowds have thinned, the water is lower and hungry trout are gorging for winter. It’s also a perfect time to introduce your youngster to the joys of getting outside in a beautiful setting and getting “unplugged” for a while.

To that end, the South Coast Chapter is hosting a Kid’s Day Intro to Trout Fishing featuring fly tying, practice casting and learning about outdoor ethics & fish conservation, all in a natural setting on the Duck Club grounds.

A free complimentary BBQ starts at 6pm and program starts at 7pm, to run until 8:30pm or dark. All members and youth are invited and welcome to bring a friend or two. Please RSVP via email (if coming to BBQ) to: Drew Irby at irbysan@hotmail.com or Dick Maynard at rpmaynardjr@att.net.

Please visit the South Coast Chapter Trout Unlimited website at: www.southcoasttu.org for more info & a map to the Duck Club. Click on “Downloads” and “Duck Club detour map”.

We will be offering a free complimentary BBQ starting at 6PM followed by Ms. Simon’s presentation at 7PM, with a raffle at the end. All proceeds to go to CFR. You are encouraged to bring friends and loved ones. Look forward to seeing you and hearing about the healing stories coming from this program. RSVP to Ms. Kesley Gallagher via email: steeliechick@yahoo.com.

Please visit the South Coast Chapter Trout Unlimited website at: www.southcoasttu.org for more info & a map to the Duck Club. Click on “Downloads” and “Duck Club detour map”.

Joan Wulff Dinner Reservations Dinner reservations for An Evening With Joan Wulff on Oct. 15 are available three ways:

1. Contact your club FFF representative or whoever is in charge of your club tables; 2. Go to www.southwestcouncilfff.org and follow the prompts to purchase dinner tickets; or 3. Phone 818.757.3474.

Dinner tickets with a choice of entrée are priced at $75. Funds from the event will be used to fund Trout in the Classroom, casting and fly tying programs and ongoing support for local clubs.

For those “new” to the sport, Wulff – widow of Lee Wulff – is one of the world’s most famous fly fishers. From 1937 as an 11-year old tournament caster in Patterson, New Jersey to 1960, she won numerous International and National tournament casting titles. In 1951, she captured the Fisherman’s Distance event while vying against an all-male line-up. Joan cast a fly 161-feet in one competition.

I was surrounded by so many white guys, it felt like I had died and gone to Vermont.

Let me just jump right into it. Steve and Allen parked their trucks and along the shore of the Tejon Lake as a paddled fiercely across the lake. If a person was on the other side they would only see the trucks and a minority on a raft and would reasonably assume, “hey that guy is being chased by border patrol” all I remember was George Gush yelling “Secure our borders!” while Bud gleefully cheers “Hey that guy is Asian, must be one of Angelina Jolie’s kids.”

After I was racially motivated to cross the lake to my favorite spot I saw that bass were jumping everywhere. I quickly yelled out for Allen to get to the shoreline. This really paid off as the two of us caught bass with just about every cast. With a video camera running I caught 7 bass in less than 14 minutes. Allen and I kept count and within the hour we’ve landed more than 20 fish each. Allen stopped counting at 20. Was it because he went to public school in LA? Nope, it turned out he was having too much fun and so was I. In fact after so many catches, Allen’s hopper had lost a leg and my spider lost 2 legs, but both flies continued to do well.

Downey’s First Outing to Tejon Ranch

George explained to me the Los Angeles Ex-Wives/Attorney theory. I was intrigued, “do explain George.” George explained scientifically, that these fish are like ex-wives/attorneys in that they both have big mouths and are bottom feed-ers. George couldn’t stop catching; even while he was chatting with us from his pontoon just setting his fly down there would be hits and big ones at that. This guy couldn’t stop catching; even while he was chatting with us from his pontoon just set-ting his fly down there would be hits and big ones at that. Furthermore, not only did this bass catch-ing machine keep pulling up bass, but some of us witnessed George break a fly rod trying to pull a fat monster. No not Oprah, but a giant largemouth bass.

My final thoughts on George Gush, he is like the Huell Howser of fly fishing. He makes everything and I mean everything incredibly exciting. That being said, he is one of the most fun guys to fish with.

Then there is Bud Spresney. The elder of all of us and one of the finest engineers of his time. In fact we could all remember some of his great inven-tions such as the Catapult, the wheel, and fire. Just kidding, about fire. Bud has got to be one of the most generous guys around. There is one thing everyone should admire about Bud and that is his willingness and sacrifice to take his grandkids fly fishing. On this trip Emma was the star fly fisher-man of group. This pint sized guppy of a girl land-ed some of the largest bass in the lake with screams of “Grandpa I got another one!” that could be heard across the lake. In fact this little girl caught something none of us could catch. Emma caught a frog, which eventually died when she stuffed it in a plastic container to take it home.

Steve Coudry, a true Downey fly fisherman, a man who skipped his anniversary to be with the guys. You can also tell he’s missing out on his anniversary since he was the only guy there fishing in waders over his tuxedo. Steve fished all along the shores and had a blast. Fortunately we all helped him get the smell of moss and bass off be-fore he took off home and before his wife smells him and ask, “Who is she!” Just before Steve left for home, we told him not to forget some flowers for his wife. Steve re-plied “Not to worry, I saw a cemetery on the way back.” That man truly cares, Mrs, Coudry should be so lucky.

George Gush floated around the water like a Cuban seeking refuge. George had a different approach and used a sinking line to fish the bottom and was success-fully getting hit left and right. I asked George, “If these fishes are on the top, why are you fishing on the bottom?”

I can go on and on about each individual, but I need to keep it somewhat brief.

10 members showed up and everyone caught big bass in the range of 25-70+ a person. The temperature rose to 88 degrees, but a lot of us were kept cool thanks to Allen’s Awning. Total cost $35 for the lake and for a 2 person carpool $20 for the gas, which brings us to a total of $55 and 1.5 hours drive time from Downey.

Here’s how I make a fly dryer: The materials are a empty film cannister with cap, a 4 in. x 1 3/4 in. piece of nylon window screen and a 16 in. length of old flyline. The flyline should be cut with a taper at each end. I use a candle to heat a home made bodkin, with which I make holes in the cannister. Homemade bodkin because the holes must be big enough to let the fly line pass through. I made mine from a piece of stiff wire and a dowell.

First make 2 diametrically opposite holes in the cannister cap, about 1/8 in. from the edges. Put the cap on the can-nister (for the 1st one you make) and put 2 holes, about 1/4 in. apart, in the cannister directly under each cap hole. See the cannister on the LEFT of the picture. The fly line will go through these holes.

See the 2nd cannister from the LEFT in the picture. The 4 holes in the middle of the cannister are at the corners of a rectangular “window.” There will be 2 windows, one on each side of the cannister. These holes are also made with the heated bodkin. I cut the windows with a utility knife, starting at the holes and trimming to get about a 1/2 in. x 5/8 in. window. See the 2nd cannister from the RIGHT.

Now place the screen inside the cannister. It will overlap a bit. Position this overlap at 2 of the flyline holes. Push one end of the flyline thru the bottom hole and thru the overlapped screen from the outside of the cannister. This is a bit tricky, the taper cut should help. Push about 2 inches thru and tie an overhand knot in the line. Then pull it back so the knot stays inside. Now thread the line thru the top hole and overlapped screen into the cannister. Thread the line up thru a cap hole and down thru the other cap hole. Thread the line thru the screen and top hole (from inside) of the cannister, then thru the bottom hole and screen into the cannister. Tie a knot. Pull the line back and the fly dryer is finished. Slide the cap down the line unto the can-nister.

Loop the line unto your vest and use the dryer instead of the wool patch. - by Bob Stuart

Hope to see you guys at the next outing. - Jerry Phan

Create Your Own Fly Dryer Made from a film cannister, a piece of nylon window screen and a length of old flyline. I got the idea for this from the March/April, 1993 is-sue of The American Angler. Charles Byers of Fairview Heights, Illinois had an article on making these fly dryers in the Tying Tips section of the magazine. I use Mr. Byers’ method with a couple changes. I use nylon screen, old fly line in place of monofilament and smaller windows.

Downey Fly FishersP.O. Box 516Downey, Ca 90241

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Renewing Individual and Family Memberships- $40.00New Individual or Family Memberships add $5.00 Initiation Fee- Total $45.00

Club Objectives and Purpose

1. To promote, maintain and enjoy all phases of fly fishing.

2. To maintain a high standard of true sportsmanship and promote socialrelations among it’s members.

3. We, individually, undertake to take at least one youth fly fishing annually;instructing them, to the best of our ability, in the art and responsibilities thatare soon to be wholly theirs.

4. To fraternize and cooperate with organizations whose aims and purposes arefor the protection and betterment of California fisheries, to preserve ourwaters and to promote our sport.

5. To promote instruction and information in fly casting, fly tying, rod building,and entomology. These classes will be open to the public and free of charge.

Downey Fly Fishers Supports;Federation of Fly Fishers, California Trout, and Trout Unlimited