Headwaters. President s Message. December Holiday Dinner. December By Pat Roe

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1 December 2015 Headwaters Newsletter of the Stanislaus Fly Fishers A CHARTER CLUB OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FLY FISHERS MEMBER OF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF THE FEDERATION OF FLY FISHERS December 2015 Holiday Dinner December 8, :00 PM Mill Creek Church, 147 Auto Center Court Modesto, CA Click here for a map President s Message Seasons greetings, Well, the cold weather sure came in fast this year. Can't wait for spring. This month proves to be a busy one already for me and our club. We have the holiday dinner this coming Tuesday. Reservations were due by December 1st however. It will be your last chance to get a raffle card for the car rod holders and Lamson reel. Hopefully you responded to the Evite and plan on attending. I wouldn't mind either and would put them to good use. These raffles we do, really do help fund things that we do for you in the way of speakers, rent, meals, etc. As with any club, that's what helps keep them going. Good donations for the raffle are always graciously accepted. I've been remodeling my fly tying room/grandkids romper/ stay-over room so I haven't been By Pat Roe at the vise lately. I think I have enough flies for the 6 fly give away for Tuesday's meeting though. All members and guests will be eligible. I've also been following the reports from Pyramid which have been fairly good. There are some big fish being caught there. We have a great trip planned there this April with two days guided as a group with Rob Anderson for those who care to join in. We also have speakers lined up through March. March's speaker will be our own Bob Nakagawa on his stay in Montana near Yellowstone. I went there twice this year and can't wait to go back. The Yuba River trip is also scheduled if you want to put it on your calendar for Saturday, February 27, So, I hope to see you this Tuesday. If not, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Pat Roe

2 Stanislaus Fly Fishers Membership Information Membership dues are $36 per year for members. Members must also join the International Federation of Fly Fishers. Dues vary, but do not exceed $35 for a single, one-year membership. SPONSORS sierraanglers.com Trident Fly Fishing 765 Roosevelt Trail Suite 8 Windham, ME tridentflyfishing.com Visit our Club Forum We re on the Web! Visit us at: stanislausflyfishers.org Club News No December Program Holiday Dinner Remember, the Holiday Dinner was by reservation only. Please don t show up thinking you ll be able to fit in if you didn t make a reservation. Since this is a catered affair, we needed a firm head count by this past Monday. We didn t want to repeat last year s problem of not having enough food when extra heads showed up. Officer Elections It s that time of year again when we need to look ahead to choosing officers for next year. As per the bylaws, which are taken from IFFF s recommendations, we need four elected officers. Our club elects a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. And, as usual, volunteers and nominees are not pouring out of the woodwork. So far, the current nominees for elected offices are: President Jim Bowen (last year s VP) Vice-President Open Secretary Mike Hewitt (last year s Membership) Treasurer Arvis Haskins (last year s as well) The other board positions needed and that are always open to volunteers: Membership Open Programs Open Outings Open Conservation Open Raffles Open At-Large Open Hospitality Open You ll notice that there are a lot of jobs to do and few people doing them. For the most part, we ve been relying on the same core group of guys for the last eight years to keep the club running, and as much fun as it is, it begins to wear on them after awhile. We need new blood at the helm if we re going to continue to be a vital, healthy organization. Please, please, please consider running for an elected position or volunteering for one of the other appointed positions. If everyone would step up periodically and take a leadership role, it would help prevent leadership burn out. It s YOUR club! What can YOU do to help keep it alive?

3 Stanislaus Fly Fishers 2015 Board of Directors President Pat Roe Vice-President Jim Bowen Secretary Bob Ramos Treasurer Arvis Haskins Outings Derald Lahti Membership Michael Hewitt Conservation Eric Coles At-Large Dave Moreno At-Large Mark Pieczarka At-Large Thomas Goodwin At-Large Bob Nakagawa Board Meetings are held on Thursdays two weeks before a General Meeting. Wish to attend a Board Meeting? Contact any board member for time and location. Dinner No regular meeting scheduled. Holiday Dinner is by reservation only. No tickets at door. Raffle News Club News (Cont.) When held, the small item raffle is $5 per ticket or 3/$10 and only for members in attendance the night of the meeting. The items will be on display and the raffle tickets sold prior to the meeting. The raffle will be held at the end of the meeting time. DOOR PRIZE The monthly door prize is for members only. When you arrive and sign in at the meeting, you will receive a ticket for the door prize raffle of a half-dozen flies tied by one of our members. Members who donate flies for the door-prize drawing, will receive two regular raffle tickets. LARGE RAFFLE The large raffle drawing will be held at the dinner whether all of the cards have been sold or not. Need not be present to win. The large raffle features two Sumo rod holders/transporters a new Lamson Liquid 2 5wt reel.

4 Upcoming Outings YUBA RIVER OUTING Saturday, February 27, PYRAMID LAKE OUTING Friday-Sunday, April 8-10 KISTLER RANCH April TBD depending on water status EARTH GRACEADA PARK April Date TBD FLY FISHING FILM TOUR/RIVERS OF RECOVERY FUNDRAISER April Specifics to be determined Photos 2015 Salmon Festival Knights Ferry, California November 14, 2015

5 Recommended Reading 6 Easy Tips to Help Fly Anglers Catch Educated Trout By Kent Klewein Back in 2012, I wrote an article titled The Best Way to Improve Your Trout Game which talked about how beneficial it was for fly fishermen to not shy away from fishing technical trout water. And that the increased challenges of such water was one of the best ways for anglers to take their fly fishing skills to the next level. Today s article is sort of going to be a complimentary piece that falls into the same category. Specifically, I m going to provide 6 easy tips that fly anglers of all skill levels can use to help them be more effective at catching educated trout. 1. NEVER WADE INTO THE WATER IF YOU CAN EXECUTE A GOOD PRESENTATION FROM THE BANK. Educated trout are extremely good at picking up on the tell-tale signs of danger. When they re alerted of danger, trout often will stop feeding and put up a guard. By taking extra effort to fish from the bank when you can, you ll be positioning yourself farther away from the trout, which will help you stay off their radar and make your approach much more quiet. I tell my clients all the time that a trout that doesn t know your there is much easier to catch than one that has you spotted. Keep this in mind when you re on the water trout fishing. Just because you re wearing waders and boots doesn t mean they always need to be wet. 2. FISH EARLY AND LATE WHEN YOU HAVE THE OPTION. When I look back on all the big trout I ve caught over the years, the vast majority of them have come early in the morning or late in the evening. Educated trout that are highly pressured during the fishing season will often respond like trophy deer do during the hunting season, opting to hide out during the day and spend the majority of their time feeding during the cover of darkness or in low light conditions. Low light usually makes trout less wary because they know it s much harder for predators to spot them. Another instance when it pays to fish early and late is during the warmer months of the year when water temperatures are significantly cooler. If you want to increase your odds at catching educated trout, make a point to hit the water before the crowds arrive or arrive when most are heading home for dinner. Doing so you should find the fishing to be less technical and the trout will scrutinize your flies less. 3. TRY TAKING THE PATH LESS TRAVELED There s been several instances guiding over the years when I decided to break away from what every one else was doing, and in turn, it provided me twice the success. Sometimes it can be as simple as approaching and fishing a hole on the opposite side that everyone else fishes (low traffic side). I believe trout grow accustom to looking for danger in areas where it regularly confronts them. By you taking the extra effort to cross and fish

6 water from a side that gets far less traffic and poses less danger to trout, it usually will give you an edge on catching educated fish. Furthermore, by all means hit the most productive and popular water (it usually will always hold trout because of the great habitat) but it can really pay off if you search out secondary water that other anglers bypass because it s not the prime holding water. Quite often the big fish will search out areas that don t get harassed by fisherman as long as it provides a steady food source and reasonable cover. 4. TRY LENGTHENING YOUR TIPPET FOR BETTER DRIFTS, DEPTH CONTROL AND STEALTH Sometimes you ve got the correct fly on and all you need to do is modify your leader to catch educated trout. Lengthening your tippet can help you in three areas. One, when fishing dry flies it will help you get a longer drag-free drift which often is the key when you re dealt with managing tricky current seams. Two, if you re fishing a nymph rig, the extra tippet will allow your flies to sink quicker into the strike zone. Three, the extra tippet will lengthen the over leader and will provide you a larger buffer from the noise of your fly line landing on the water. If you re not catching trout, don t automatically think the problem is the fly pattern. Sometimes all you need to do is lengthen you tippet. 5. TRY DOWNSIZING YOUR ROD AND FLY LINE I had a client in the past that always insisted on fishing his 3-weight fly rod, even when he knew we were going to be fishing for big fish and casting big dries and heavy nymph rigs. The first couple trips, I suggested that he use one of my five or six weight fly rods instead, but he never took me up on my offer. So I d let him fish his finesse rod and I d hand his buddy one of my larger fly rods. The funny thing was, he not only consistently caught the most fish during the each trip but also the largest. This happened over and over, for about five years, until I stopped questioning his judgment. One night I found myself trying to figure out why his success was always higher than his buddies when their was not noticeable skill levels difference. The only conclusion that I could come up with, was that the 3-weight fly rod and line allowed him to make quieter presentations because the 3wt fly line was much lighter (than a five or six). If you know you re going to be fishing to educated fish that are keen to picking out the sound of fly lines hitting the water, it may be a smart choice to try downsizing your fly rod and line. It may allow you to get a couple more drifts before the fish catch wind of you. 6. TRY USING A DOWNSTREAM PRESENTATION AND DRIFT Sometimes the only way to fool the smartest of trout is to position yourself so you can present and drift your fly downstream to your target fish. It won t work for all fly fishing situations but I ve found it can be the ticket when you can t afford the slightest micro-drag on your fly and the fish are leader shy. The best way to position yourself for this kind of presentation is to stand upstream and slightly off to the side of the feeding trout. November 11,