Headwaters. President s Message. January 2019

Transcription

1 January 2019 Headwaters NEWSLETTER OF THE STANISLAUS FLY FISHERS President s Message A CHARTER CLUB OF FLY FISHERS INTERNATIONAL MEMBER OF THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF FLY FISHERS INTERNATIONAL 2019 General Meeting Tuesday January 8, :00 p.m. New Location! Grace Lutheran Church 617 W. Orangeburg Modesto, CA It s New Year s Day and at 7:00 a.m. I m standing on the Merced River in 27 degree outside temperature. The start of a new year usually means chasing trout on either the Merced or Tuolumne Rivers. We put in the boat and start drifting down the river. I ve got a bead on a new indicator rod and soon we are into Eish. Stopping to Eish the rifeles and Eloating along the Elat stretches we start to notice the lack of salmon carcasses. I have not paid attention to the number of returning salmon on the Merced River, but all the way to Snelling Road I only saw one carcass. After pondering why this may be, I think back on what happened four years ago and when we were in the middle of a severe drought. Now that we have gotten back to a more regular rainfall, we can t forget what it was like when we were not getting much rain and how this affected our Eishing, not only during the drought, but the years after. Like most of you I m sure you received the reminder to report your Steelhead Report Card to DFW. It s due before the end of the month so don t forget. With the start of the new year it s also time to pay your club dues if you didn t pay them at the Christmas dinner. For those of you who missed the dinner,i think all who came had a wonderful time. I hope we will go back to Gervasoni s this year! I look forward to seeing all of you at this month s meeting and hearing any other Eishing reports for those of you have ventured out. Jim

2 Stanislaus Fly Fishers Membership Information Club News January Program Captain Maury Hatch: Delta Stripers Membership dues are $40 per year for members. Members must also join Fly Fishers International. Dues vary, but do not exceed $35 for a single, one-year membership. SPONSOR WE SUPPORT Rivers of Recovery FacebookFacebook We re on the Web! home page Maury Hatch of First Hatch Guide Service returns for our January general meeting. Maury has been Ely Eishing the western United States and Mexico for 30+ years. After honing his skills with trout, he hooked his Eirst striped bass in 1995, and has been chasing, catching, and releasing stripers ever since. As a Captain, he guides both out of the San Joaquin Delta in a center console bay boat in the fall and spring, and then on a jet sled on the Feather and the American Rivers in the summer for stripers, smallmouth bass and shad. All trips include top of the line equipment as well as custom tied Elies. He is an ambassador level pro staffer for the following products: Costa sunglasses, Simms clothing, Sage rods, RIO lines and Galvan reels. Contact Info for Captain Maury Hatch: First Hatch Guide Service Phone: (916)

3 Stanislaus Fly Fishers 2018 Board of Directors President Jim Goodwin Vice-President Jeff Bakker Treasurer Bob Ramos Secretary Michael Hewitt Membership Dennis Stambaugh Conservation Lonnie Moore RafEles Jim Bowen Webmaster Mike Hewitt At-Large Bud Heintz At-Large Pat Roe At-Large Bob Nakagawa Board Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 5:00 p.m. at Me & Ed s Pizza on Pelandale Ave. in Modesto. All members are welcome to attend. Raffle News Club News (cont.) SMALL RAFFLE 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 (52 Playing Cards + 2 Jokers) There is no current large raffle. Tundra Comics

4 Upcoming Outings and Events FLY FISHING SHOW - February Pleasanton, CA TROUTFEST - March 13, Moccasin Creek Hatchery (Status TBA) PYRAMID OUTING - April, 2019 (Dates TBA) FLY FISHING FILM TOUR - April 18, The State Theater SALMON FESTIVAL - November 9, Knight s Ferry 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Membership Informa0on Membership Dues ($40) for 2019 are due. For your convenience, we can accept a credit card for your dues, but there will be an addi7onal fee of $1.00 to cover the cost of the transac7on. Membership fees for new, first-bme members joining mid-year will be pro-rated at $3.50/month. All memberships are Family Membership status. Spouses, significant others and children are all included in every membership. Reminder: These are the club dues and DO NOT include FFI dues. FFI dues are paid directly to the FFI and must be maintained regularly since the SFF is an FFI Charter Club. If you are not an FFI Life Member, or do not pay for three years at a 7me, you must renew your membership yearly! Also, remember to list the Stanislaus Fly Fishers as your Affiliated Club. This is important due to our Charter Club status. The online applica7on for FFI membership is linked below. FFI Membership Applica7on Conservation Notes By Lonnie Moore Conservation Director Water Board Votes on Flow Requirement Plan In December, the California State Water Resources Control Board ( Water Board ) was Einally able to make a decision by voting 4-1 to provide increased water Elow to our rivers and the Delta. The increased, more natural, water Elow is needed to save and revive salmon and steelhead trout viability in California. Additionally, the water Elows are also needed to help preserve the health of surrounding plant life and wildlife, and even migrating wildlife that visit the rivers and lake areas.

5 Legally, this return to more natural water Elows was to aid conservation of salmonid Eish (salmon and steelhead trout) in California, but it will also help preserve Eish and wildlife of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Foothills, Central Valley Delta, San Francisco Bay, and even the PaciEic Ocean. The Water Board voted to adopt new in-stream Elow standards for the lower San Joaquin River and its three main tributaries, the Merced, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne Rivers. The Water Board approved the staff recommendation for 30-50% of unimpaired Elow between February and June, starting at 40%. The Water Board also expressed a strong interest in continued negotiations on voluntary settlement agreements. The Water Board s position has always been that they have jurisdiction over Elows, but can only incentivize non-elow measures, such as habitat restoration and controlling non-native predatory Eish. This is where the range of Elow requirements could play a major role. If non-elow measures are proven to be effective, Elows might decrease to as low as 30%. If they are unsuccessful, Elows might increase to as high as 50%. Voluntary settlement agreements could help identify the best combination of Elow and non-elow measures to achieve the greatest results, while also addressing issues, such as how to handle extended droughts. While tremendous progress was made, the campaign for a strong Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan is far from over. I expect there to be lawsuits. Indeed, it has been reported that the impacted Water District s, fearing this decision, have been sharpening their litigation knives for quite some time. Meanwhile, the Water Board will continue to focus on Phase 2 of the Plan, that will address the outelow of the Sacramento River Basin and Delta (how much water must Elow through the Delta to the Bay versus getting diverted at the Delta pumps to the southern part of the state). So stay tuned, while we have a major victory to celebrate, this Eight is not over! Thank you for all your cards and letters to the State Board, to make this possible! Operation Operation is an ongoing clean-up effort along the Tuolumne River in Modesto between the 9th Street bridge and the 99 Freeway. The Project s website has a project overview, photos, sign-up form, a map of the clean-up locations, calendar of monthly clean-up events, and some videos of past clean-up efforts. Click on the links and Eind out how you can help reduce blight in our community by volunteering or partnering with our effort. There is always need for more volunteers, partnering, and donations. This is a local grass-roots organization and totally non-proeit. They have achieved some amazing results, and usually have a sizable group of enthusiastic volunteer teen-agers, adults, and organizations helping during the cleanup events! See the webpage at Operation or contact Chris Guptill at guptill.c@monet.k12.ca.us). Next Clean-Up Event is scheduled for Saturday Jan. 19, 2019 Thanks for information sharing from: Peter Drekmeier, Policy Director, Tuolumne River Trust Chris Guptill, Operation

6 Suggested Reading How the Shutdown Affects National Parks & Wildlife National Wildlife Federation Priorities for 2019: Gearing Up for the Next Governor of California Friends of the River January River of the Month: Sandy River, Oregon Western Rivers Conservancy Six Easy Tips to Help Fly Anglers Catch Educated Trout Gink & Gasoline Daniel Pauly and George Monbiot in conversation about shifting baselines syndrome Oceana.org Recommended Videos Trout Spey Setup with Simon Gawesworth Anglers All on Vimeo History of the Adams Orvis.com History of the Muddler Orvis.com The Madison Eli Harris Live the Stream: The Story of Joe Humphreys Nomadic Studio, Trailer on Vimeo A Cast from the Past (Reprinted from the May 1982 newsletter of the Stanislaus Fly Fishermen) NEW OFFICERS: New ofeicers for 1982 will be as follows: President Gordon Hollingsworth, Vice President Jim Broome, Secretary/Treasurer John Hardie [sic], Bulletin Editor Bob Nakagawa, Conservation Chairman Raven Bullard, Board Members Ed Ballinger, Frank Candito, Cliff Noblet, Dirk ScolEield, and Lloyd Wreden. RAFFLE: This month s rafele will include a Cortland glass 8-1/2 ft., #6 rod. OUTING: Martis Lakeouting, Saturday, May 22nd. Don t forget to sign up at the meeting or call me at 524-XXXX or 578-XXXX. This will assure you of a steak dinner and beverages. there will be a $10.00 charge for all guests. Time and meeting place will be announced at the meeting. The Eishing should be excellent, hope to see you all here. PROGRAM: We will have short slide program on Martis Lake along with a Ely tying demonstration on popular Elies to use at Martis Lake. NEW MEMBERS: The Club would like to extend a warm welcome to new members, ED CROSBY, RANDALL STEELE, and DARREN ABBEY.