I have to start this by saying "Thanks Guys" to a lot of people for their efforts in our having a successful Open House.

Royce Feaster handled the publicity and helped Ronny Julian with the cookout. Hugh Bell and Sid Pierce helped there also. Jay Renken ran the Casting Contest and did a great job. Ronny also handled our Auction. Linda McLendon Coordinated the food and Walter set up a very good display of fishing pictures from some of our members, as well as doing many things during the day that he was asked to do. Jimmy Lee helped in several ways to take up the slack created by the absence of our Secretary/Treasurer. Bill Heugel could not be there because of his illness. We missed you, Bill. Other members available to help when needed were Gene Sullivan, Paul Steinbach, Carrie Hallberg, Randy McBride, Coy Hood, Joel Eshbaugh (who brought in a new member), and George & Denise Reed.

Our guest tyer was Jim Green from BackCountry of Tyler. Jim did a great job tying and explaining tying methods and materials. My only regret is that our members who were not able to be in attendance missed watching and talking to Jim. Several of our auction items were donated by Jim, as well as one raffle item and several Poppers that were given as door prizes. Thanks a lot, Jim.

Several of our members donated both raffle items as well as auction items. A complete list is covered elsewhere in the newsletter, but I want especially thank members Slim Mitchell and Tom Miessler for their contributions to the auction. A special thanks to two nonmembers; Dan Edwards of the Montgomery County Fly Rodders for a collection of streamers and Don Pell of the East Texas Fly Fishers for a beautiful Shadowbox of Sunfish Flies. And a special thanks to our own Larry Copenhaver who donated a beautiful Shadowbox containing a Rainbow Trout drawing and mounted flies. Thanks a lot, Larry and we hope you are catching many, many trout there in Montana. Sid Pierce, Bill Heugel, Paul Steinbach and Royce Feaster also contributed to the auction. Thanks Guys.

And one more Big thanks goes to everyone who bid and bought the auction items.

I know I have probably left someone out, but it was not intentional, so let me say again - Thanks a lot to all of you.

We signed up a new member, Thomas Holloway - wife Dawn- who live at 1501 Fuller Springs Dr. here in Lufkin. His phone is 632-6490. Call him and take him fishing. Welcome Thomas!

Walter McLendon, Royce Feaster and

I spent Monday the 17^th at the Texas Forest Service - Forest Awareness Day - behind Hudson School. It was a makeup day for Hudson students, and we had a good time teaching casting and tying flies and talking to the students. A lot of interest is shown by these students and it brings up a question as to the PWFF sponsoring a time when we could have kids come tie a fly and then possibly cast with it. Something to think about. It would take some volunteers and time.

Bill Heugel is still planning on hosting our outing at his home on May 13^th. We always have fun at this annual outing. We do thank Bill for having us over. More will be said at the May meeting.

Start collecting your garage sale items for the August garage sale at the Expo Center. Especially be on the lookout for fishing items. We would like to have a large table of fishing equipment. Last year, even though it was hot, we made a lot of money and had a lot of fun at the same time.

Remember, our Tag Team Tournament at Kurth Lake on June 3^rd. This is a fun outing, and it will be interesting to see which two members get to keep the Paddle this year.

Hope you are getting to fish. Be sure and bring your fly for our drawing at the meeting. I won the flies last meeting, but gave them to our youngest member, Gabe Reed. One of our newest members, Ann Watson, won the door prize.

Remember, as always (even if the wind is blowing), "A Bad Day Fishing Is Better Than A Good Day Working"!

FLYLINES

From The V-Prez

I am not going to say much this month, except to stress what has been and will be said about the Open House in this newsletter. My column will list the winners and buyers of the Raffle and Auction items. Following that is the President's financial report on the out come of this event.

Raffle Items

Item Winner

Deer Hair Poppers by Bill Heugel Ronny Julian

Leeches by Ken Baker Linda McLendon

Classic Fly Shadow Box by W McLendon Ronny Julian

Walter's Favorites by W McLendon Ronny Julian

Dame Juliana's Flies by W McLendon Randy McBride

Bream Flies & Fishing Trip by J Renken Ronny Julian

Freshwater Fish Poster Jimmy Lee

Bream Fly Assortment by Jim Green Joel Eshbaugh

Fly Assortment by Royce Feaster Sid Pierce

Clouser Minnows by Hugh Bell Ken Baker

Saltwater Flies by Sid Pierce Jay Renken

Fly Assortment by Paul Steinbach Sid Pierce

Auction Buyers

Item Buyer

Wasps by Slim Mitchell Jimmy Lee

Grasshopper by Slim Mitchell Paul Steinbach

Bluegill by Slim Mitchell Coy Hood

Mouse by Slim Mitchell Pam Lee

Sunfish Shadow Box by Don Pell Denise Reed

Nymph Sculpture & Trip by R Feaster Randy McBride

Trout Shadow Box by L Copenhaver Geraldine Renken

Popper Shadow Box by Bill Heugel Jimmy Lee

Mouse & Wounded Minnow by Heugel Pam Lee

Bluegill Assortment by Jim Green Jimmy Lee

Saltwater Assortment #1 by Jim Green Jay Renken

Saltwater Assortment #2 by Jim Green Randy McBride

Wooly Worm Assortment by Jim Green Walter McLendon

Musky Assortment by Tom Miessler Ken Baker

Streamer Assortment by Tom Miessler Royce Feaster

Saltwater Streamers by Sid Pierce Randy McBride

Lead head Leeches by Paul Steinbach George Reed

The Club Rod, a 4 weight...2 piece, hand built, with PWFF labeled bag, was won by Bill Jacobs. Bill has been with our club about 4 months. Use the rod in good fishing, Bill!

Open House Financial Report

K. Baker

This is a breakdown of the money taken at the Open House.

We sold 75 tickets @ $5.00 on our club rod, making a total of $375.

We received $177 @ $1.00 per ticket for the 12 raffle items.

We made $682 on the auction and had 17 items for auction.

We had an expense of $80.06 for the food items used at the Noon Cookout.

The initial cost of the rod parts was $104.79.

We will have additional expenses for two shirts that were to be presented, that we did not have at that time. These two shirts are to go to Ronny Julian as winner of the Casting Contest and Jim Green as our featured guest.

We had 15 members register and 9 visitors register. One of the guests became a member.

The total amount taken in from the rod, the raffle, and the auction was $1234 (minus the two shirts and the other expenses listed)! Good Going Members!

Women's Fly Fishing Outing

September 16 & 17, 2000

The location will be on the Llano River at the Homer Martin Ranch in the heart of the beautiful Texas Hill Country. You'll stay in furnished cabins, dine in an old historic lodge with long family style tables for group meals and a giant stone fireplace to warm the night chill. The ranch has been in the family for over 5 generations, the river water is crystal clear - great for fly fishing and the scenery spectacular. There will be a slide show on "Women and Fly Fishing" on Saturday night, a big campfire and lot's of fish

talk. There's room for 20 women inside the various cabins and infinite space for camping. Bring your canoe/kayak, & fly fishing gear and let's go!

For more information email:

Constance Whiston

Vice President of Austin Fly Fishers

Coordinator of the Austin Chapter of Texas Outdoors Woman Network

Llano River Fly Fishing Guide

[email protected]

Fishing Tale?

As told to W McLendon

We are known to stretch our catches sometimes but we never fib! This is from our friend who has the fly fishing touch! He was fishing two ponds right across the pasture from his home! I thought you would enjoy it!

Walter

Hey Guys,

Man, Are you guys gonna hate ME! But.....I got to tell ya..What a lake........!!!!!!! My son-in-law and I have caught the "FISH'IES"!!!!!!!!Caught some more monster bass and the crappie are unreal...And today, this evening ,,,of all things...I caught a 2 lb.. catfish....!!!!!!!!Is there any other species of fish in this lake????????

But the real story is yet another phenomenon. Last night, we were fishing at about dusk..and a huge Beaver comes swimming out of his lodge and up the creek which feeds these ponds. He swam about 10 feet from me,, and then he did the "unusual"...He swam up to me and walked up to me out of the water and just set there at MY FEET...and visited for a while!!!!!

The beaver acted like a pet dog or something....He wasn't a bit apprehensive or scared in any way!!!!! It is almost like he had never seen a human before and therefore had not the least fear of us at all!!!!!! Then he swam back out into the pond and crossed under to the next pond that connects the two and did the very same thing with my son-in-law...just visited and then went about his business.!!!!!!!!!!! It had to be the darn'est thing I have ever seen... Glad I got a witness... No one would believe it... What can I say...... It only can be "The Legendary Cos Experience".......See you soon.....Got to love it!!!!!!!!!!!

Open House Casting Ring

by J. Renken

I had the assignment of setting up a casting contest for the 2000 PWFF Open House. To expand from years past, I borrowed from the '99 Southern Council Conclave -- added was a vertical 4 foot ring on top of a saw horse - 2 &1/2 feet high, with 8 ft. between the legs. From 30 feet it all looked easier than it turned out to be. There were also 3 ft. ground casting rings at 30, 40,

and 50 ft., also from 60 to 70 ft. Casting was done right and left-handed, overhead and sidearm. Next year I will add back-handed. See, you are getting an early warning. The top three competitors were as follows:

(1.) Ronny Julian

(2.) Walter McLendon

(3.) Sid Pierce

Congratulations to Ronny for finishing in the top spot. The scoring was very close between the top three. Next year will be a hard fight. Bring the rod you want to cast with. You might get to use it,,,, Maybe not!

Outings And Fishing

by Jimmy Lee

Now is one of the best fishing times of the year, bass are in the post-spawn mode, crappie are on the move, and bluegill should be in pre-spawn and/or spawning mode. We as flyfishers should be on the water enjoying the fun. We have many places to fish and this should be a good spring for all types of fishing, especially since it has finally rained. Our club has outings planned to let us enjoy fishing and the company of our fellow club members.

Heugel Haus outing May 13:

I have been in contact with Bill Heugel about the annual "Heugel Haus Outing". Bill and Conni are ready and looking forward to all the club members coming down and fishing with them. Bill is doing much better, he still has a ways to go for complete recovery, but is feeling much better. Bill and Conni have sponsored an outing at their lovely home and

lake front property for several years. I, for one really appreciate the time and effort they put in for the club to have an outing at their place.

Last year the fishing was good, the food was too good, (ate too much), and this year should be just as enjoyable. Maps are in the newsletter to direct you to the "Heugel Haus" if you don't know the location. Bill said if you want dessert, bring it; if you drinks other than tea, bring that. He also said float tubing and wading will be real good around his place. So come prepared to do some fishing.

Annual Tag Team Outing:

The Pineywoods Flyfishers annual tag team outing will be Saturday, June 3^rd , at Kurth Lake. This has developed into an annual event that is a lot of fun. The object is for you and your team mate to catch and release as many fish as possible in the time frame allowed (honor system). The winners get the grand prize, keeping the tag team champion paddle for one year. Our editor has been on the winning team each year and the goal of all club members should be to not let him keep it forever! This will all began at 7:00 AM, Saturday, June 3, 2000, at the boat ramp on Kurth Lake. We will discuss at our May meeting the possibility of have lunch at the lake or maybe having lunch together at some other location.

I hope all club members can be at both outings. There is no greater pleasure than fishing and sharing that experience with friends. I would like to see our club have some type fishing outing each month from now till October. There is an outing and club meeting July 8 at Houston County Lake. In August we have our garage sale, so maybe we can have a couple of informal outings in August and September.

See you at 7:00 PM, May 2.

Open Letter From Larry

Copenhaver

Ken and all the members.....

I am honored by your friendship and am happy the shadowbox was a hit....they were all patterns I've developed and successfully tried when I was in MT once before....I miss you all, I never expected the kind of affection and comradery that I found there...I'll never forget my time in East TX, and hope each of you will consider a MT trip this or any other summer....

I am already catching rainbow trout in their spring spawning attempts....I finally landed my first two trout from CutBank Creek, here in northern MT , where I live now....they went 19" and 17" on an olive egg-sucking leech...a wooly bugger with bright orange woolhead... I had only caught one fish previously, a 16" 'bow on a girdle bug... perhaps you recall me telling you how the rainbows mass in the spring. I fished in the Missouri River below Hauser Dam and caught and kept my limit....1!!!...only 1 fish over 18" was legal limit and 4 under 16"...I totaled 10 fish all between 20" and 24"...all on a wooly-bugger tied with blood-leech yarn, so 1 was my limit!!.... you should see the fish on

the redds, hundreds and hundreds of large rainbows... there are fish that get to 10# or more. Once upon a time brown trout to 30# would be hooked but seldom landed from this water. The following day I fished Canyon Ferry Reservoir on the same river system, caught and kept my 5 fish limit. These fish, rainbows, averaged 17".... again a school of 400 fish, roaming in search of spawning areas.... lotsa fun and a number of fly fisherman...the most obvious to me included a tall, leggy girl with long red hair and a Loomis flyrod!!!! Some things never change, I hope I don't!!!!

So, I am looking to fish the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. I've done some, unsuccessfully so far, but I'm pushing the season. It will prime up quick, maybe this week. 15-20# fish, 'bows, are caught on a regular basis in Duck Lake. The scenario is the same....big fish looking for spawning, so they are easily spotted and cast to from shore. The wind howls cold here, so it isn't a cake walk to fish this country, but I'd be happy to show you around. Later in the summer, many good fish are caught from float tubes. Many, many other good lakes and good stream fishing too.

I have been substitute teaching history and science courses at the local high school, but start work in Glacier National Park, where there is excellent fishing, in 2 weeks as a Sous Chef...and I'm there until October. Any and

all are welcome....

I can get messages at 406-873-5997 and 32-8th Ave SE, Cut Bank, MT 59427

So drop me a line.....

Ken...thanks for the letter...I hope you know how much I appreciate it... I'll certainly need to visit and fish someday...

Larry

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Remember!

Mark your calender for our club meetings, Every First Tuesday of each Month,

7:00 P M in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall.

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Calender

Outings and Events

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May 2^nd. PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp

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May 13^th. Heugel Haus Outing on Lake Toledo Bend

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May 19^th thru 21^st Texas Fly Fishing Show in San Marcos, Texas

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June 3^rd. Tag Team Tournament at Kurth Lake.

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June 6^th. PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp.

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July 8^th. Meeting and Outing at Houston County Lake

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August 1^st. PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin

Room in the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp.

*********

August 4^th thru 6^th Garage Sale in the Expo Center

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September 5^th PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp.

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September 16^th Zoo Breakfast 8:00 AM till ?

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October 3^rd PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall 7:00 PM sharp

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October 5^th thru 7^th Fly Fishing Conclave, Mt. Home, Ark.

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November 3^th thru 5^th North Toledo Bend Rendevous, North Toledo Bend State Park

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November 7^th PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp

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December 2^nd Christmas Meeting

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More Club Calendar to follow as dates confirmed

(Check your calender, There have been several dates that have been changed)

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Outings: Jimmy Lee

Library: Jay Renken

Conservation: Gene Sullivan

Programs: Linda McLendon

Editor: Royce Feaster

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Art work used by permission of Dave and Emily Whitlock

WET A LINE.... SOON!