Newsletter of the Truckee River Flyfishers TRF Mission Statement We are dedicated to: improving and promoting the sport of fly fishing in Nevada. Promote and encourage the conservation of game fish, especially wild trout, through the betterment of the streams and lakes everywhere. Encourage and assist our youth to become fly fishers and true sportspersons. Inside this issue: Presidents Message Meet the Board August Prospects Membership Form Upcoming Events: August 27 th Swap Meet September 4 th BOD Meeting 24 th General Meeting 27 th River Cleanup p.2 p.3 p.4 p.5 President s Message August 2014 by Mark Warren It finally cooled down a little. Fishing Reports have found some scattered fishable locations. I assisted Ed Smith the other day in casting his new intermediate rod at Little Washoe Lake it was 11 ½ feet in length. With minimal instruction, Ed was able to cast 80 feet, which put a big smile on his face. The trick with Spey type casting is to keep the right arm stationary and use the left arm to move the rod. I m working on getting a Spey class on the Truckee. Ed has been catching large carp out of his kayak up to 30+ inches in length. I talked with some fly fisherman who fished Frenchman yesterday (July 23) and managed to catch 7 rainbows between 16 and 19 inches in length across from the boat ramp while stripping (the anglers were stripping, not the fish). And, of course the Truckee River has been producing some nice fish. The Healing Water s event on July 12 was well received, with help from Wes Ong, Cheri Pierce and Jim Kwasny (Thanks go to you three for giving your time). Jim emailed me that the event, held at Idlewild Park, saw about 20 to 25 people drop by our station to pick up some literature, watch a fly being tied and/or receive a casting lessons. There were simultaneous events occurring that held the participants attention including kayak lessons in the pool and a rock climbing wall. Additional Healing waters events included a Team River Runner coinciding with the Wounded Warrior Project. The event was held at Rock Park. Activities involved fly tying, casting and a Fishing the River demonstration. The next event was July 29th at Squaw Valley Resort s private ponds. Tentatively, two groups of wheelchair Veterans fished from 2 to 4 PM and 5 to 7 PM. Thanks to the Healing Waters crew for working on all this. Full details of the events will be published in next month s newsletter..continued on page 2 Always catch big fish Mark Quote of the Month Learning to catch fish is not difficult, but becoming reasonably expert at it does require time and study A.J. McClane
The Angler s Anglers Line Page Page 2 2 President s Message (cont) by Mark Warren Kim Toulouse from NDOW requested help in salvaging fish from the ditches around Reno on August 6 the Verdi and Washoe ditches. Trout were salvaged and restocked into the Truckee River (or somewhere where there is water). This is a great project involving stunning the fish with an electrofisher backpack and then transporting them via buckets to a fish truck that will later restock them into the river. Tom Smith usually sends all club members an email with the web site that you can sign up for these projects. Keep your eye out for the next opportunity. Activities planned for August include Cabela Days, which will be in August on two weekends August 16 17 and August 23 24. More information on this at a later date. Our swap meet general meeting is planned for August 27. Bring anything you want to get rid of (it doesn t have to be fly fishing related). Ice cream will be served. Mike Sevon, our conservation chair, has informed me that he will be unavailable for this year s Truckee River cleanup scheduled for September 27 from 8 AM to Noon. It s a worthwhile project to keep our river trash free, at least for a short time. Drop me an email if you are interested in being the man or woman in charge. I always love new ideas in fly fishing. In the last month I have learned three: Robert Ketley writes in the California fly Fisherman that micro fiber clothes that you use to clean your electronic gadget screens work great for cleaning your floating line at the end of the day. While teaching the Fly Fishing Basics Class at NDOW, two of the students offered up two more new ideas one was to save the silica gel packets from food (jerky) and pill containers. Pour the powder into a small plastic container can and use it to dry off your wet flies (you can also buy the same thing) and three, use UV Knott Sense to cover up connections in your leader or tippet connections so that they slide easily through the guides. Alex Penney, our wonderful newsletter editor, has decided to move on. He has done a great job for the past three years and we all appreciate him. If you, or anyone you know, are interested in becoming the new editor, please let me know. Board of Directors & TRF Officers President: Mark Warren 775 972 5942 markeraw@charter.net Vice President: Doug Ouellette 775 722 2267 calvadaflyfishing@sbcglobal.n et Secretary: Tom Smith 775 741 8825 edsontiger@aol.com Treasurer: Cheri Pierce 775 329 7627 fufupierce@aol.com Conservation: Mike Sevon 775 857 9814 mikesevonphotos@yahoo.co m Web Master: Curt Kamada 775 376 9453 fishncurt@hotmail.com Biologists on Staff: Mark W. and Mike S. Newsletter Editor: Alex Penney 775 737 1327 alexpenney1@gmail.com Board Member Mike Hoffman 775 750 6900 smshof3@att.net Board Member Wes Ong 775 530 0725 weswinnot@aol.com Project Healing Waters: John Imsdahl 775 622 3076 fishingimsdahl@gmail.com
The Angler s Line Page 3 Meet the Board by Doug Ouellette I have a lovely wife Jenny, five children and five grandchildren. I was born on July 19, 1956 in San Jose, California being the third child of seven. My mother, who was tough, loving, and fair, had six boys in a row then a girl at the end. I grew up as a country boy in the oak tree covered golden hills of Morgan Hill, Calif. As a youngster I scouted these hills looking for anything that crossed my path. The mountain springs were a great place to find snakes, frogs, and lizards. The cattle ponds were a bonanza for bullfrogs. We caught minnows with jars and my first blue gill I caught with my hands! One of the most traumatic times of my life was when I HAD to wear shoes to Kindergarten. At the age of 10 we moved to Sunnyvale Calif. where my dad had transferred from Santa Clara High School as an Athletic Director and Head football coach to Peterson High School for the same positions. He was a very successful coach winning several championships. He achieved many honors, one being The Key to The City of Santa Clara. Don Ouellette Day is April 25th, 1978. My brothers and I were all athletes competing in football, basketball, and baseball, I also wrestled for 7 years achieving many awards. As for ornery me, since I missed my distemper shots as a kid, I was just a little chimp but loved to hillrassel" anybody, especially the biggest guys, just having fun! In 1980 I was a high school wrestling official in Nevada and coached high school football and wrestling for many years. My brothers and I trained and flew Birmingham Roller Pigeons starting in 1962, two of my brothers still fly them. One of my brothers is in the National Birmingham Roller Hall of Fame. I started fly fishing in 1969 at 13 years old. During most of the lunch periods at school from Jr. High through High School I spent my time in the library reading and studying all that I could on trout and fly fishing for them. I couldn t get enough of it. As a sophomore I shocked my friends and biology teacher with a comprehensive report named Trout, The Thoroughbred of Fishes. The teacher kept the report for his personnel library. I went fishing as much as possible learning the habits and mannerisms of wild trout in small spring fed creeks in the Central Coast Mountains. I first started sight fishing Lake Davis and Eagle Lake in 1970. In 1971 I learned to tie flies from Hall of Fame fly tier Bob Quigley who was a friend of mine. In 1976 I moved to Reno transferring to Nevada Bell from Pac Tel. I knew the Truckee River from fishing it as a kid and started to fish it like crazy after arriving. I met Millard Fox right away and visited his fly shop frequently. I fished mostly the Truckee River Special, Western Coachman, and Yellow Humpies. In 1978 a local group of flyfishers got together and started the Truckee River Flyfishers (TRF). We were a small group but had many famous anglers as speakers for our banquets. Around this time Jim Jackson and Dave Stanley opened the famous Reno Fly Shop. Dave owned and operated this fine fly shop for nearly 30 years winning Fly Shop of the Year honors. In 1985 I started doing slide shows for the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) and still continue to do digital Keynote shows today throughout California and Nevada. I retired from Nevada Bell in 2001 and started guiding in 2004. I am now a Nevada Master Guide and a California Guide. Information about me can be found at www.calvadaflyfishing.com. I am also a professional contract Fly Tier for Umpqua Flies with three patented fly patterns (Stonedaddy, Peaches & Cream, and Sweet Pea). Perhaps my favorite accomplishment with the help of retired NDOW Head Biologist Mark Warren and the TRF was the VIBERT BOX Project. After the Truckee River dried up in 1992, we planted hundreds of thousands of trout eggs in the river producing thousands of high quality WILD trout. I am appreciative and humbled by being a recipient of the Truckee River Flyfishers Awards the Mid Lipera Award and the Cal Bird FlyTying Cup. Thank you TRF. I love to teach and share whatever I know in fly fishing, holding back no secrets!!
The Angler s Line Page 4 August 2014 Prospects by Wes Ong Weather: Each August I talk about the heat and how it affects us as fishermen. This year we are in a severe drought. The only lakes I know that have any cool water are Spooner and Milton, unless of course you want to hike in to Marlette. Truckee River: The flows have dropped to 210 cfs at Farad and NDOW is now doing fish rescues on the ditches. Question is where are they going to put the fish? If they put them back in the river it should be good fishing until the water drops and warms and they all die! I expect this to happen late this month if we get a stretch of double digit days. Little Truckee: The last time I checked the water was at winter flow levels but the water here comes out of the bottom of Stampede Reservoir and should be cold. Fish above Boyington Mills campground for the cooler water. I like a black ant this time of year instead of a hopper. I think the fish have too long to look at a hopper and refuse it. East Walker River: Same low flows, warm water, and a ph problem will affect the fishing here in a not so positive manner. Spooner Lake: Lots of small willing fish with maybe a 14 inch Brown hold over. Lots of stuff works here. The key is to get in a floatation device and work the edges of the weeds and the deeper center of the lake. Milton Res. Water here can be too cold at times. I ve been here in the middle of summer and the temp is 46 degrees. If they stop letting water out of Jackson Meadows Reservoir the water will warm quickly. The most consistent method is a small PT and indicator fished in the channels. Rye Patch Res. I would not say this is a prospect for August, but keep in mind that it will have very low water levels and fishing could be like shootin fish in a barrel. Whipers, carp, and walleye here. Carp: Harmon Lake is low but still fishing well. No water is coming in so there are some spots with clear water. This is an irrigation lake and could go dry if they use all the water out of it. Little Washoe has a new boat ramp on it so the Jet Skiers are here on the weekend and put the fish down. I heard that at Washoe the fish are up on the surface early and go down when the wind comes up. Others: Silver Fork of the American; West Walker, upstream of 395 to the Marine Base; Carter Lake, north of Susanville; or Yellow Creek West of Almandor. Or stay in the A/C and tie for the fall fishing.
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