Club Chronicle Since 1972, promoting the sport of fly fishing Southeast Idaho Fly Fishers, 257 North Main, Pocatello, Idaho 83204, Google SEIFF April 2016 President s Message I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E President s Message Club Program Event Calendar Flies of the Month Casting About Another Fly of the Month 24 Mile Club Fishing Event Taylor s Hot Spot March Board Minutes Joining Trout Unlimited Technique for Tying Nymphs Even as the snow is falling outside, I am in great anticipation for this new season to begin Dear Members, Friends and All Interested Parties, Wednesday mornings at our house can be busy getting ready for work, packing a lunch and getting the garbage out. Nothing too eventful here, except that when I took the garbage can out to the curb, I noticed that is was also snowing in a big way. My first thought was yeah, right almost spring and I have to deal with this. Then I mellowed out a bit and decided that there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it anyway and that I had to just embrace this minor meteorological setback as a gift from the fish gods. More snow in the mountains and water in the lakes and rivers will certainly mean better and abundant fishing this coming season. Around here in this semi-arid region of the world, any amount of moisture is a really good thing! Even as the snow is falling outside, I am in great anticipation for this new season to begin. The lakes south of Pocatello will soon be ice free and warming waters means insects hatching and feeding fish. Right now, some of the finest dry fly fishing of the season can be had on such area rivers as The Big Lost, Henry s Fork and the South Fork of the Snake River. Midges and now, to a greater extent, hatches of Blue Winged Olive mayflies can make a cold, blustery spring day turn into absolute fishing magic. While ice fishing Daniels and Chesterfield reservoirs this winter, it became immediately apparent that we have received much more snow in those drainages than in the past 3 or 4 years. I believe and hope that both reservoirs will fill to their fullest capacity and that there will be an abundance of water for both farmers and fishermen. And-as the weather warms (and it will) the fishing will do nothing but get better. My advice to anyone that is waiting for that perfect day-sunshine, seventy degrees and no wind, might be missing some great fishing. Dress for the weather and get out there. You may be pleasantly surprised as to how good the fishing can be. And, in closing-we are truly fortunate to live where we do. Within thirty minutes of Pocatello we not only have spectacular scenery, but outstanding fishing-whether it be for trout, bass or the many other diverse fishes that we can angle for. So, get out there, brave those early season elements and experience all that Southeast Idaho has to offer. I hope to see you on the water!!!! Very Sincerely, Tom Banyas, President-SEIFF Clicking on this icon will connect you to the SEIFF website for more information about SEIFF.
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 2 Upcoming Club Program By Tom Banyas, Program Chair The Southeast Idaho Fly Fishers final program of the 2015/2016 meeting season has always proven to be both extremely interesting and informative. Our annual State of the Fish meeting has demonstrated to be a great beginning to the new season of fly fishing in our area. Mr. Dave Teuscher, Fisheries Manager for IDFG region 5 will be here for the Thursday April 14 th, 2016 general club meeting to give his perspectives on the upcoming fishing season in our area. What is truly interesting about Region 5 is that it encompasses an extremely large and diverse territory. What is truly interesting about Region 5 is that it encompasses an extremely large and diverse territory that contains, from the fisherman s perspective, everything from small streams to large rivers and many reservoirs and lakes. Virtually all of these bodies of water contain fish. Here in Southeast Idaho we are definitely living in a fly fisherman s paradise!!!! Mr Teuscher will speak about many different fishing areas and which of those could fish better due to everything from Snow pack amounts to fish stocking, fish growth rates and other aspects that could give us fishers a leg up on the coming season. He is always open to questions concerning virtually anything to do with fish in our area. This meeting is a great way to get the best information from the man that works for us to make the fishing be as good as it can be. I highly recommend any interested people to attend what will be both an entertaining and informative night. The April meeting will be : Thursday April 14 th, and is held at the new Snake River Fly fly fishing store on 157 North Main Street in Old Town Pocatello from 7:00 PM to 8-8:30 PM. As always, the meetings are free and open to anyone interested in any part of the sport of fly fishing. If you are a newcomer to the area, this meeting would be a great way to get to know other fly-rodders and learn about the many and varied places to wet a line! I hope to see you there!!! Sincerely, Tom Banyas, programs guy for the SEIFF Upcoming Events 4.14.16 7:00 PM, General Membership Meeting. Idaho Fish and Game will present the annual program about the State of the Local Waters, details will be in April s Newsletter. 4.21.16 7:00 PM, Last Board of Director s Meeting until August 18, 2016, Snake River Flies 4.22-4.23.16, South East Idaho Fly Fishing Expo, Shilo Inn, Idaho Falls. 6.11.16, 24 Mile Club Fishing Day, Contact Larry Larsen at Snake River Fly 8.19.16 7:00 PM, Board of Director s Meeting, Snake River Flies 9.8.16 7:00 PM, General Membership Meet and Greet, details to be announced in the August or September Newsletter.
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 3 Fly of the Month Slumpbuster (Olive) John Barr, Contributor Submitted by Roger Thompson Hook: Dai Riki 710 sizes 4-12 Thread: Olive 70-Denier (this can be Danville 6/0 Peacock or Uni-Thread 8/0 Olive Dun) Cone: Gold tungsten for hooks 4-6, medium for hooks 8-12 Rib: Chartreuse Brassie Size Ultra Wire Body: Peacock Sparkle Braid Wing/Tail: Olive Pine Squirrel Collar: Olive Pine Squirrel Place cone on hook, place the hook in the vise and start the thread. Wrap thread to the bend and return to starting point. Tie in both sparkle braid and wire. Pull sparkle braid and wire toward the rear of the hook as you wrap thread back over them at the same time, anchoring both with several tight wraps of thread. Select squirrel strip and part the hair about a shank length from its end. Place the part in the hair above the anchor-in point and tie the squirrel down with several tight wraps. Pull the squirrel back out of the way over the back of the hook and advance the thread to behind the cone at the starting point. Take a single turn of the sparkle braid behind the squirrel strip, then continue to wrap it forward to make a smooth level body. Tie off at the starting point. Pull the squirrel strip forward over the to of the body, part the hair at the starting point and tie it down tightly, being careful not to trap any fur beneath the thread. Evenly spiral wrap the wire forward through the hair and over the hide of the squirrel strip wing. Tie off the wire at the starting point and cut off. Put the remaining end of the squirrel strip in your material clip or hold it out of the way over the back end of the hook. Place a drop of Zap Gel into the back of the cone. Wrap the front end of the squirrel strip forward, right up to and into the cone. Tie off with a couple of thread wraps. Shove the cone back onto the collar so the Zap Gel will hold and lock everything into place. No need to whip finish as the glue will keep everything together! Fly of the Month Pullover Emerger PMD Brant Oswald, Contributor Brant Oswald, Livingston, Montana has great success using two-tone emergers on the Paradise Valley Spring Creeks. If any of you have fished those spring creeks, then you can verify that the patterns must be exact and presentations well executed. I have had good results with this patter on Silver Creek, Harriman, Henry s Fork and the South Fork (For the South Fork, the thorax should be pink). Oswald s flies closely resemble mayflies that are breaking out of their exoskeletons. With its dark brown abdomen and tail, and its yellow thorax, the PMD Pullover is another great pattern for this realistic fly-tying effect. The Pullover also uses a hackling method where a length of hackle is wrapped on monofilament and then pulled forward over the thorax like a wing case, also called paraloop style of tying. If you hare having difficulty with the paraloop, then a gallows tool for your vice will provide assistance. The resulting ball of hackle, which rides on the surface while the abdomen hangs realistically below, can be easily incorporated into other patterns. Hook: Tiemco TMC2487 or equivalent, sizes 14 to 22. Thread: Light Cahill 8/0 (70 denier). Tail: Dark brown mallard flank. Abdomen: Brown goose biot. Post: 4X monofilament (two strands). Hackle: Medium dun. This is a very good pattern and the key to its success is the hook style and paraloop.. I have also developed a caddis pattern off this fly that works well as an attractor. A real effective fly..tom dial, ed. Slumpbuster Pullover Emerger PMD
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 4 Casting About Tom Dial, Newsletter Editor The annual Fly Fishing and Tying Expo is next month in Idaho Falls at the Shilo Inn, April 22-23. Admission is free. Fun time for lots of folks. If you have children thru teens, ladies, there are special workshops for them. Lot s of fly tiers and the newest and nicest stuff for your AMEX Card to drool over. The workshops cost $35 and the children s programs are free, as are many of the programs. A listing and syllabus for each of the programs is set out in the Expo website, srcexpo.org. I would recommend signing up for some of the workshops soon, rather than showing up at the Expo and trying to get in. There is a workshop on intermediate tying streamers that is starting to fill. Some great tiers will be teaching at the workshops, Bucky McCormack and Scott Sanchez to name some. The video theatre will be free and is always a big hit. You can sit in it all day and watch some of your favorite tiers tying their favorite flies and giving you notes on how to fish them. The Expo ends with a dinner and auction on Saturday night. During the day each day, there are also tiers from all over the United States each day. Some Buzack award winners and there will be silent auctions and raffles throughout the day. This is a great event our club has supported for several years. We are involved in the Youth programs for tying and casting. Some come and join many of the SEIF members and other fly fishers from all over the valley for a great time. Just finished Dave Hughes 2 nd edition titled Wet Flies. Great book, if you like fishing wet flies, nymphs, and soft hackles. Instructions on the different tying techniques, materials, and how to fish them. The color plates and descriptions are well done. It is definitely an update on his original standard. I recommend it. It is published in soft back rather than hard bound as his first book. This will be my last Newsletter for SEIFF. I have really enjoyed doing it the past 5 years. It has provided me the chance to get to know the members and the club. It has also provided the opportunity to learn a lot about fly fishing. I hope to see all of you on the stream. Remember to be safe and keep the wind at your back. ************************************************************** The Stimulator Fly of the Month The Stimulator Submitted by Tom Dial Although this fly may seem complicated, if the tier portions the hook shank appropriately, it will come together quite nicely. Without a doubt, it is one of the most attractive dry fly patterns invented. It can represent an adult stone fly, caddis fly, or terrestrials such as grass hoppers or crickets. The fly should be tied with lightweight non-absorbent materials so that it will float high on the water surface. This fly can be tied in almost any color combination. Orange, yellow, brown, olive, and rust are common colors. Add rubber legs or foam to create you own version. Hook: Size 6-18 Nymph Hook Thread: Olive Thread #8 Tail: Olive Deer Hair for the Tail Body and Abdomen: Olive Dubbing for the Body,Olive Hackle Palmered over Abdomen Wing and Thorax: Olive Deer Hair for Wing, Grizzly Hackle Palmered over Thorax Pinch the barb and wrap on a good thread foundation. Tie in the tail by attaching a small clump of deer hair (about 1/3 rd the body length) and wind the tying thread over the hair ends to form an nice underbody about 2/3rds the length of the hook shank. Attach an olive hackle to the hook, at the front of the abdomen, and then wrap your thread back of the hackle to the rear of the hook shank. The tip of the hackle should now be pointing over the rear of the tail. Wrap a fine noodle of olive dubbing on to the tying thread, then wrap the dubbing forward to about the 2/3 mark of the hook. Leave plenty of room for the wing and the thorax. Palmer the olive hackle over the abdomen and then tie it off at the end of the abdomen. Take a small lump of deer hair and stack it to even out the ends. Attach it to the top of the hook taking care not to let it flare. Pinch the hair tightly between your fingers. Make two soft loops followed by a couple of tight wraps to bind it down tightly in place Attach a feather of grizzly hackle in front of the wing. Smooth out the thorax with the tying thread in preparation to add the dubbing. Form a good-sized thorax for the fly. Keep the dubbing a bit loose so that the grizzly hackle will sink into the dubbing securing it in place. Wrap the grizzly hackle forward in a palmering fashion with 3 to 4 wraps. Trap the grizzly hackle with the tying thread. Pull the hackle back with your fingers and form a nice head. Finish with a drop of head cement on the fly. See: http://goldenstone.ca/fly_tying_the_stimulator.php for additional illustrations for this pattern. Another good website for this pattern is: http://copperfly.net/stimulator.php
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 5 24 Mile Club Fishing Event Darrell Brown, Newsletter Contributor Mark your calendar for SEIFF s 4th annual Twenty-Four Mile Reservoir outing on Saturday June 11th, 2016. More information will be given in my summer programs article. One should attend for no other reason than being able to have a high quality lunch at the lake. Back by popular demand will be gourmet bratwursts coupled with a variety of condiments direct from the French section of one of our local grocery establishments! The participation increases each year. The club furnishes the sodas, eats. All you have to do is show up, with your gear. We will meet in the Thai Restaurant parking lot in Lava Hot Springs at 9:00 AM. Just stay on highway 30 and you will almost run right into the restaurant parking lot. Or, if you choose, you can meet us at the reservoir. Children are certainly welcome and are encouraged to come, as long as an adult accompanies them. Please be aware that 24 Mile Reservoir is managed as a trophy trout fishery. Flies and lures are the ticket, with no types of bait or scented tackle permissible. Also, hooks are to be barbless. Watercraft is highly recommended, but the use or motors of any kind are illegal. Float tubes, Fat Cats and pontoon boats make great fishing platforms to fish this little gem of a reservoir. Remember, all watercraft should carry a coast guard approved personal floatation device for each person! Five or six weight fly rods are ideal and floating and intermediate and type II sinking lines will all work. A floating line used with an indicator rig can be, and often is, a very deadly way to fish on this reservoir. Flies can include anything from your favorite leech pattern to damselflies (nymphs and adults), chironomids (midges), Callibaetis nymphs, and even streamers. I know that other styles and patterns will also catch fish. Bring along some dry Callibaetis patterns and some dry Damsels, also, as there can be some excellent dry fly fishing on the reservoir also. Taylor s Hot Spot John Taylor, Newsletter Contributor The Big Lost River is about 120 miles (190 km) long and has two main tributary forks, the North Fork Big Lost River and the East Fork Big Lost River. The river originates in the Pioneer Mountains in Salmon-Challis National Forest, flows northeast then turns southeast, with the Lost River Range to the east separating the Big Lost River Valley from the Little Lost River Valley. A dam impounds the river and creates Mackay Reservoir. Near Arco the river enters the Snake River Plain, curves east and then northeast and enters the depression where the water flows into the ground, called Big Lost River Sinks, hence its name. With the new rules opening catch and release water, the Big Lost River will be great dry fly fishing. Some dry fly suggestions would include midges, BWO s and quite possibly caddis and even some Skwala stoneflies. Hopefully this river won t blow out until early May! There is plenty of access and one should be able to stay within the high water mark easily. Other flies could include CDC emergers, griffin gnats, BWO s sparkle duns, small stimulators in dark colors, x- caddis, elk hair caddis are other real dry fly possibilities. Don t forget about going with subsurface flies if the dry action doesn t produce. Glasshouse caddis, ultra zugs, prince nymphs, Copper Johns, along with the usual suspects are all excellent nymph selections. Good Luck and Good Fishing! For more information contact Larry Larsen at Snake River Fly in Old Town. Larry will be happy to answer any logistic questions you might have.
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 6 March Board Meeting Minutes Board Members Attending: Tom B, Tom D, Anne, Peter, Denny, Clyde, Bud, Larry, Tim Location: Snake River Fly 1. Last month s minutes: Tom Banyas read the minutes of last month s meeting. Corrections were made to the minutes, with Board Approval, particularly, Item 5 BLM. The minutes were corrected to provide that Bud Smalley wrote the letter not Tom Banyas. 2. Financials update: Clyde reported that the balance in out checking account is$13, 596.87. 3. Volunteer status for the IF Expo: Tom Banyas sent a list of volunteers to the IF club. 14 have offered to work the expo. 4. Programs: Tom Banyas reported our last program of the year will be the state of the waters by Dave Teuscher, the fisheries biologist from the IDF&G. 5. Position search update: Larry said that Dave Raisch and Tim Haskett and Rob Lion are interested in taking on leadership positions. Tom Banyas said we need a strong president and program coordinator. Dave said that he didn t think he was ready to be in charge of Programs, but Larry and Tim said they were willing to take it on. Tom Dial made a motion to accept Larry and Tim as Program Co-Chairs. Clyde seconded. The motion passed. Larry also announced that he got our new Facebook page up and it already has 80 likes. 6. Twenty-four Mile Reservoir Outing: The group has had an outing at 24 Mile for several years and Tom B will no longer be doing this. Larry said that he spoke to Greg McReynolds from Trout Unlimited and that Dave offered to sponsor an outing. Tom B said he would email him. The best date might be June 11 th. 7. September Meet & Greet: This first meeting of the year will fall on September 8 th. The club pays the bill. We had a great turn out last year. We talked about holding the September Meet and Greet at the fly shop. Larry liked the idea and was going to check on food prices. Minutes - Continued 8. Other: Clyde discussed having a second person to sign checks. Larry offered to have his name on the account. Clyde and Larry will go to the bank to get him registered. Tom Dial has stepped down from editing the newsletter as of the April newsletter. He suggested that we obtain a bulk mailing stamp. There may be a minimum number involved. He can t understand why no one has stepped up to take it over. He also said that we send more newsletters out by email. If anyone is interested in being the editor, please contact Tom Banyas or Larry Larsen. The Board acknowledged all of Tom Dial s hard work in producing a quality newsletter with a round of applause. The meeting adjourned at 8:07 pm Joining Trout Unlimited As most of you know, South East Idaho Fly Fishers is a subsidiary organization of Trout Unlimited. To be a member of SEIFF, you need to be a member of TU. Your TU membership automatically qualifies you to receive the SEIFF Newsletter. We update our SEIFF membership rolls periodically and use the TU information for our club Newsletter mailing list. We just completed and updated a current mailing list for the Newsletter. If you are not a TU member, then you will not be receiving the Newsletter. To give those members whose TU membership may have expired, we will send you this month s Newsletter, but you will need to renew your TU membership to continue to receive the Newsletter in the future. Your membership can easily be renewed on the TU website. If any of you have any questions about it, please contact our President Tom Banyas, (208) 241-5733. As stated above, if your TU membership has expired, you need to renew or join as this will be the last hard copy mailing of the club newsletter. Future copies will be emailed when you join TU and provide your email address. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A MEMBER TO ATTEND THE PROGRAMS.
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 7 Technique for Tying Nymphs Buck Gooddrich, Newsletter Contributor Most nymphs end up with a large head due to the way legs are put on or as a result of the wing case. Leg placement on most nymphs has never made sense to me. Also reverse wrapping ribbing has always gone against my grain. Granted traditional nymphs have always caught fish. But you know us fly tiers. We are always trying to improve our flies with the goal of catching more fish or a nicer looking fly. So in that spirit I started a pursuit of improving nymph design. I researched old tying techniques and played around at the vise and came up with the following. The nymph greats (Skues, Hewitt, etc.) worked to create flies that were translucent so thread selection was used to help create this effect. This approach has been lost by most modern nymph tyers. They made a fly more translucent by using orange or yellow thread. Hot or flame orange was the preferred. When you dub on orange or yellow thread you can see the thread through the dubbing when it becomes wet hence a 3D effect is created. So I start with orange or yellow thread and switch to the color of the abdomen to finish the fly. I will always dub with orange or yellow thread. Tying Nymphs-Continued Tie the rib off and cut or break off. Note, if you are dubbing tie in a short piece of orange or yellow thread and dub on it. Whip finish and then cut off the excess material at the bend of the hook. This completes the fly. Skeues tied some of his fly by finishing in the middle of the hook but his method was different. An added benefit using this technique is that you don t have to worry about cleaning the eye after you are done. This technique can be applied to any nymph that uses a thorax and wing case. Variations of Live Nymphs Let s tie the fly. Remember, the goal is to end up with no thread at the eye of the hook so we will finish the fly in the middle. Use hot orange or red thread except for finishing the fly. This will increase the translucency of the fly. You can either start in the standard way, i.e. tie in the tail and the rib or wait until you have completed the thorax. We will start in the standard method. So tie in the tail and rib. Next go to the eye of the hook and tie in the wing case with the waste material facing the bend of the hook. Next tie in the hackle, if you are using hackle for legs, and then either dub or tie in the material to be used for the thorax. If you dub the thorax you may leave the guard hairs in the dubbing for the legs and skip the hackle. If you use hackle for the legs palmer it through the thorax. Then bring the wing case over the top and tie down at the midpoint of the hook. Taper the waist material to give a tapered look to the abdomen. Wrap the colored thread as an under body and then change to a tan thread. Next tie in the material for the abdomen behind the thorax with the waste material facing the bend of the hook. Leave the thread at this midpoint. Wrap back to the end of the bend and secure by bringing the rib forward to the middle of the hook. Note: leaving a small space between wraps so the hot orange thread is slightly visible will help achieve the translucent affect.
SEIFF Club Chronicle April 2016 Page 8 South East Idaho Fly Fishers (SEIFF) 257 North Main Pocatello, ID 83204 A PUBLICATION OF Google SEIFF or go to: http://www.orgsites.com/id/seidahoflyfishers/index.html SEIFF Board Officers Tom Banyas, President Pete Griffin, Vice President Clyde Lowther, Treasurer Tom Dial, Newsletter Editor Darrell Brown, Webmaster/Newsletter Layout SEIFF Board Meetings Club members are welcome to attend the meetings on the third Thursday in February, at 7:00 pm in the Snake River Flies at 257 North Main in downtown Pocatello. Website: Google SEIFF or http://www.orgsites.com/id/seidahoflyfishers/index. html