NEWSLETTER wmflyfishing.com

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1 WMFFC Mission Statement: NEWSLETTER wmflyfishing.com Established 1996 P.O. Box 2187, Pinetop, AZ November 2013 The Mission Statement of the White Mountain Fly Fishing Club is: To assist in the development and maintenance of fly fishing opportunities and to promote and participate in fly fishing in its many forms." We support the practice of Catch and Release. We support the use of barbless hooks and harmless netting-and-release practices. Fish should never be held out of water for longer than you can hold your breath. Tight Lines President's Column Welcome Back Richard!!! We are very happy and relieved to have Vice President Richard Dreyer back in Pinetop and recovering from his mishap. He is currently taking physical therapy and starting to re-establish his normal routine. The Boulder Mountains of Utah.. I once was on a road trip and passed through the Boulder Mountain region of Utah. It was an impressive area with high mountains and massive colorful sandstone landforms locally called slick rock. I didn t take the time to investigate the great fishing that was close by. When John Marvin and Dan Tuttle from San Pedro Flycasters Club out of Sierra Vista Arizona came and gave their presentation for our October Club General meeting about fishing in that area, I wanted to go back and give it a try. They talked about fishing the heavily vegetated Boulder Creek where the guide used pruning shears to open casting lanes that was a new one. And they described hiking to remote lakes to catch cutthroats, tiger trout and Brookies. Lakes fished included MrGath, Green, Bullberry and Pine. Their group hiked to all the lakes. They had made two trips to this area. Timing was essential because the cuts hit best in the spring and the Brookies hit in the fall. Fishing in that area is somewhat of a big secret, the locals do a good job of keeping the honey holes undisclosed and getting good fishing tips is difficult. They even talked about how their somewhat eccentric guide would camouflage forks in the access trails to confuse outsiders. Or have them hike to lakes when there actually was vehicle access. They really liked the guide and he put them onto lots of big fish. The guide was Steve Stoner, Boulder Mountain Fly Fishing (check out his web site). Considering how hush-hush this area is to local fishermen, the first-hand knowledge and the experiences they shared is a wealth of information for that area. We hope to have more club programs like that which will open up more fishing opportunities for our members. Dennis Jones, President 1

2 WMFFC Board Members President: Dennis Jones (928) Past-President: Bob Bowers (928) Vice President: Richard Dreyer (928) Secretary: Ellen Hofmann (602) Treasurer: Sparky Snyder (928) Board Member #1: Steve Hofmann (623) Board Member #2: Gary Miller (602) Board Member #3: Jaime DeZubeldia (928) Membership Chairman: Dick Davis (480) & Steve Hofmann backup (623) Conservation Chairman: Gary Miller (602) Newsletter Chairman: Steve Hofmann (623) (Club needs a back-up) Outings Chairman: John Stoner (928) November 20 th Monthly Meeting- at 6:30PM Lakeside Firehouse Agenda: - Social Hour (5:30PM) (Buy your Raffle Tickets!!!) - Call to Order -- (6:30PM) - Pledge of Allegiance - Introduction of Guests and New Members - Committee Reports - Business & Raffle - Fish Tales - Speaker The November Speaker s will be Steve Hofmann and Dave Buecler. Subject: The Making of a Bamboo Fly Rod. Come out and hear how a local resident makes beautiful, custom built bamboo fly rods. Last Club Event of the Year. The Christmas Dinner Party!! Will be held at the Torreon Cabin / Restaurant on December 14, Cost is $14 per person. Door prizes included. Menu: Smoked Chicken Rib Buffet Baked Potato & trimmings Green beans. Bread & butter Desert Non-alcoholic beverage The club needs a head count, so if you are planning on attending, please send an to Steve Hofmann at sdieseldoc@cableone.net or call Steve at ( ). Directions to the Torreon Cabin/Restaurant will be forthcoming. Also, if you have a nice donation for a door prize, let Steve Hofmann know. 2

3 2013 Outings & Meetings Schedule: Date Location Sponsor November 20 th Monthly Meeting November 23th Silver Creek Steve & Ellen Hofmann December 14th Holiday Party Torreon Cabin Restaurant Need Volunteer Fly Tying Schedule: Nov. 12 Rick Tesinsky. Nov. 19 Bob Bowers.. General Monthly Meeting Minutes for October 16th.Submitted Dennis Jones Call to order: 6:30 pm at Lakeside Fire Station Welcome everyone. Welcome new members and guests-- Dick Davis returned to valley, Bob Bowers filling in for this meeting. Guests: Paul McGovern from Irving Texas; Gerry and Jilli Good Minutes of last August club meeting in newsletter. Motion needed from the floor to approve the Sept General Meeting Minutes as published in the newsletter. Motion made, seconded and voice approved, none opposed. Introduced speakers for program: John Marvin and Dan Tuttle, San Pedro Flycasters Club, Sierra Vista. Talked about fly fishing the Boulder Mountain area in Utah. Richard Dryer (Club Vice Pres) update. Sunday I received a phone call from Richard. He sounded good, considering the situation, and will be moving to rehab soon. He is walking some but a little wobbly, which is probably normal seeing as he has been bedridden for a while. He expects to be back in town in a week or two. I hope he can make that schedule, seems like he is well on the road to recover. Skip Eshelman: Is out of the hospital recovering from back surgery. He had two titanium rods installed and reports that the pain is less (hopefully gone shortly) and is doing well. Capt. Bill Harris: Is on chemo and waiting for bone marrow transplant match. John Switzer is maintaining phone contact with Bill and will keep us informed as Bill is weak and wants to minimize the amount of time on the telephone. Thanks. Steve (newsletter chair) and Ellen Hofmann (Sec) on vacation. We can news articles to Steve. TREASURER report: Sparky Snyder: Club is in good financial order. Chairpersons reports: Membership: Dick Davis is in the valley for the winter. If anyone needs a name tag contact the membership chairman. Outings: John Stoner Saturday 19 th Outing: will be at Hawley Lake. Due to low expected turnout no one will bring the trailer. Bring your own lunch. We will meet at CDC launch ramp. Conservation: Gary Miller absent. No report. Librarian report: Gail Allgood: video library available for check out at Pinetop Sporting Goods. Casting for Recovery: Gail Allgood, Sparky Snyder, Johnna Switzer coordinating. Will be Sunday; Oct. 27th at Greer Peaks. BBQ lunch if you want to participate contact Gail. Dennis, Doug Bobb, Robert Harrn, Michael Styavert, John Stoner, Bob Bowers, Rick Tesinsky, and Jamie DeZubeldia will be river buddies. Fly Tying Program: Rick Tesinsky coordinating: 1 st class last Tuesday-Gary Hall- streamers. 2 nd class last night- Mike Styvaert Articulated leech, Lon Ellington special, and black gnat Next class-me- Oct 22 --hoppers 3

4 Nov 5 John Rohmer Nov 12 Rick Tesinsky Nov 19 Bob Bowers PEAK fly tying vices: purchase update - Industry Promotional Purchase Program-form sent-waiting for order form. Old Business: Silver Creek Wounded Warriors Project Oct 1. Bob Bowers gave a verbal report. Troops First Foundation San Juan trip October 7th through the 10th. Bob Bowers gave a verbal report. New business: Board meeting- none yet for Oct. because there are too many Board members out of town. Christmas party: Will be at Torreon Dec 14. Request for volunteer to organize entertainment. No volunteer. The 2014 Annual Banquet will be at Torreon June 7. Request for volunteer to organize a committee to plan banquet. No Volunteer. Shelving for club storage unit was bought and installed. Fish tales: Several reports were made. Raffle: Was conducted. Program: Presented by Dan Tuttle and John Marvin. Meeting completed and adjourned. Notice - The Club is looking for a non-board member volunteer to help review the clubs By-Laws in the next several months. If interested call Dennis Jones or Steve Hofmann or let them know at the next monthly meeting. Hawley Lake Fishing Outing.. by Dennis Jones The October Club fishing outing at Hawley Lake on Saturday October 19 was attended by Doc Dockendorf, Don Gage, Bill Langdon, John Stoner and me with Nick Cuilty stopping by occasionally to check out our progress. The weather was good and fishing was hot and heavy for inch rainbows in the area off the CDC ramp where we launched and also out around the island. The lake water level was down about 3-4 feet due to the drawn-down conducted by the Tribe to do some maintenance on Davis Dam. After our shore sack-lunch most all of us went back out for some fishing in Earl Creek cove. Results were about the same with several inchers caught. Some bait fishermen released an injured fish which made it about 100 yards off-shore before it was scooped up by a Bald Eagle with a classic swooping dive and talon grab. Bill Langdon told me that he had earlier caught a fish right at the CDC launch area immediately after launching his boat. So when I was starting to think about leaving for the day I decided to make a few passes through the launch area. Some larger (13-14 ) fish had moved in and I caught several on a black and orange Halloween bugger. When I was about to leave I decided to make one more pass in slightly shallower water about six feet deep. I had snagged bottom in this cove several times, each time requiring me to sharpen my hook, and I thought I was snagged again but I quickly realized I was into a nice fish. It turned out to be a beautiful spawning colored 20 male rainbow with a hook jaw. I always thought there should be some good fish in that lake and now that I finally managed to catch one I have a better outlook for Hawley than before. Fly Fishing Quote of the Month. "Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn.".. Chuck Clark 4

5 San Juan River / Troops First Trip Report.. Submitted by Bob Bowers The WMFFC was proud to host 6 Wounded Warriors on a club trip to the San Juan River on Oct 7th through Oct 10th. Our guests were Don Harbin, Eric Clark, Josh O Neil, Jacki Barton, Jeremy Burns and Mike Proscia. The trip included two days of guided drift boat fishing on the San Juan River with professional river guides. Each solider was accompanied by a guide and a club member. Our club member s responsibility was to assist our guests with learning how to fly fish. Arrangements were made by the Troop First Foundation to fly 4 of the troops from Bethesda Maryland to Albuquerque New Mexico. The WMFFC arranged for our troops to stay overnight in Albuquerque and a rental car was ready for them the next morning. The other 2 troops were driven by club members from Phoenix to the San Juan. A generous Texan donated the use of his 3 bedroom home for some of our troops to stay. The home was located just down the street from Fisheads of the San Juan River Lodge. The rest of our group stayed at Fisheads San Juan Lodge right on the river. The WMFFC provided all the meals at Fisheads, transportation, fishing licenses, equipment and accommodations for our soldiers. Items that were donated by Bass Pro were packed up by our club members the night before, including Bass Pro Chest Packs, Fishing Tools, Bass Pro Hats and WMFFC Hats. These were presented to our troops for their use on the river for the next two days. On Tuesday morning the guides picked us up at Fisheads and we were off for our first day of fishing. Needless to say everyone caught lots of large Rainbows and Brown Trout. Jackie Barton was with Dawn Hewitt and their guide put them on fish right away. You could hear them screaming as they netted Rainbow after Rainbow. The rest of us were not as vocal, but all caught lots of nice big fish. Our guides put everyone on fish within the first hour. It was a perfect Day. The weather was nice, no wind and lots of fun for all. We all went down the river and were at the take-out by 5:00 in the afternoon. The second day was a repeat of the first with the same soldiers with their guides and different club members with different soldiers. Again everyone had a great trip down the river. A final gathering on Wednesday evening was a held at Abe s Restaurant to celebrate the culmination of another wonderful event with our troops. It was a very rewarding experience for our members and our soldiers. Two full days of guided fishing, lodging and meals were provided to give each of our troops a special and healing experience. Bob Bowers with 5 five warriors Thank you Bass Pro for your generous donation and helping make this trip special for our troops. Thank you Feherty s Troops First Foundation for providing air transportation for 4 of our troops. Special thanks go to our host club members: Eric Ortegren, Alan Hunt, Chris Hunt, Bob Sorsen, Barry Curseaden, Bob Bowers, Mike Smith, Dawn Hewitt and Jerry Wiemelt. All these members spent time helping our troops have a wonderful experience on the San Juan River. We are all looking forward to supporting future wounded warriors projects. 5

6 Jackie s big fish Eric Clark with fish on; Eric Ortegren the guide Jeremy with fish.. Josh s big brown. Mike s fish Don s fish 6

7 .. Meet and Greet Last Supper The Silver Creek / AZ Fishing & Game / Wounded Warriors day.. By Steve Hofmann On October 1st a special event was held at Silver Creek, AZ to help Wounded Warriors of Arizona learn how to fly fish. The event was hosted by AZ Fish and Game, Old Pueblo TU, Cabela s, Bass Pro Shop, Boy Scouts of America, and the White Mountain Fly Fishing Club. The food was supplied by Cabela s and Bass Pro. The White Mountain Fly Fishing Club, as well as other fly fishing clubs from the valley helped the warriors with fly fishing lessons. Actually, by 6:30 in the morning when the fishing started, each warrior/veteran had at least 3 or 4 people helping him. Therefore, I regulated myself to be the official WMFFC photographer / fish netter. It was a beautiful morning. The Boy Scouts presented the colors at the beginning and the fishing began in earnest. Many large trophy fish were netted that morning. A great time was had by all. The pics below reflect this. I lost my clip board with names on it. So some pics are un-named. A many thanks to the following club members who volunteered and to Gary Miller who donated the use of the shade canopies. Steve Hofmann Barry Curseaden Bob Bowers Gerry Wiemelt Kitty Wiemelt Bob Sorsen Ted Lambert Bud Mast Jim White Charles Rosser Skip Culbert Joe Wolf John Rohmer Mike Smith Boy Scout Color Guard The other opening day fishing crowd. 7

8 Brian Tobin Jr. /Vice Commander/Disabled American Veterans Brian s Big Fish..... Cutie Granddaughter with Grandpa Brian Tobin Next Month we will have a Report of the Casting for Recovery Event. Initial reports have it that it was a fantastic experience for all. 8

9 SHOP AND SUPPORT THESE WMFFC ADVERTISERS. If you have an Ad or Article that you would like featured in the next Newsletter, please contact Steve Hofmann at or 9