SCATTERSHOTS

From The Prez

If you were not at the Christmas meeting, you missed a good time. We had good food - good fellowship - and, as always,

a lot of fun with our Christmas gift exchange. And the famous "oil filter" made an appearance and most certainly will return next Christmas. Pam Lee was the lucky person this year.

An award was presented to Jay Renken. This will be covered in an additional article.

Several members have not paid their annual dues as of now. If this is not taken care of soon, this will be your last newsletter. Please mail the dues to our PO Box 153651, Lufkin, Texas 75915, or better yet, bring it to the January meeting. We need you and your in-put in the PWFF. Regular dues are $20.00, and Newsletter Only dues are $10.00.

Speaking of club in-put, I would be interested in knowing what you want out of the PWFF. We try to have programs that are of interest to the members. We also want to keep any business to a minimum, mostly concerning the mechanics of conducting the next club function and/or reports of activities connected to the FFF or Southern Council, etc. We also try to have plenty of time for fishing trip reports.

What do you desire in the line of Outings? We usually schedule 4 club outings and then have other activities such as tying classes, an Open House, Club breakfast, etc. Is this enough? Do you want more?

Last year we asked for someone to plan and manage a saltwater outing. I know a couple of members talked about it. Would you sponsor one this year? We asked for some impromptu outings during the year. How many of you would participate this year?

We had drawings for club fishing trips. I gave one and Jared Satterwhite won it. He and I went to Kurth Lake and had a ball! I know Jay Renken gave one and Randy McBride won it. They had a good time also. Are you interested in giving one or winning one this year?

As the year goes on, we will be having emphasis on several things:

1) The Fly Fish 2001 show at Athens

Are you interested in participating?

Teaching casting?

Tying flies?

2) Our Open House

What would you like to have there?

Will you be there?

All members that attend always have a good time. We would like to see more members attend, even if only for a hour.

3) The Texas Forest Festival

Do you want the club to participate?

About 6 or 7 members usually tie flies or teach casting. Could we count on you to help?

There are other things that come up during the year that we need to decide on whether to participate as a club. Let us know what you think we should do. This is your club. It is not just for two or three members. Let us know what the majority of you, the club members want to do.

We have a new supply of door prizes for our monthly drawings. Be sure to bring a fly or a dollar and participate in the two drawings each month.

I hope each of you had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I look forward to seeing you at the first meeting of 2001 on January 2^nd.

And as always remember: "A Bad Day Fishing Is Better Than A Good Day Working!"

FLYLINES

From the V-Prez

Christmas is over... New Years is coming up....... Are you ready?????

I am ready for anything that happens as long as it doesn't cause me to break another arm, get tendinitis again, have my boat break down again..... Whoa!!! To paraphrase a line from the movie "Kelly's Heros", To Many Negative Vibes!! So let me start over:

I received a new book for Christmas called "Bass Bug Fishing" by William G. Tapply. I had it read by the time a week had pasted. It has a lot of things that I already knew, but it has all the items is one book, and I now understand better why they are good ideas. I have some new ideas on making deer hair bugs. I have also got the names of a couple of out-of-print books that William Tapply's Dad "Tap" Tapply has written. That is a good excuse to go searching thru used book stores and book catalogues.

But I don't want to spoil a good book for those of you who may decide to purchase a copy. As you can tell, I do highly recommend it.

In fact, that is the only thing I got this Christmas that could be directly connected with Fly Fishing, or even fishing. But that is probably because I am one of those weird fishermen that seems to have all I really need to continue enjoying the sport and I didn't ask "Santa" for anything else. After 35 years, I still have a good rapport with my "Santa" connection.

As for this coming year, I am looking forward to fishing with more of the club membership. I think I will go back to fishing Lake Sam Rayburn again, although Houston County Lake and Lake Nacogdoches both still hold their attraction for me. I also hope to go north to Lake Fork a few times. I am looking forward to the club outings, also. I was looking over the requests that the president has made in his article at the first of this newsletter. I would like to request that y'all respond to as many of the questions as you can.... even if you may not be able to make the outing..... and give us some good ideas on what would interest the club membership. So let Jimmy Lee or Ken Baker or myself know of any and all ideas you have.

See you at the January meeting.

Man of The Year Award

by Ken Baker

At the Christmas Meeting, Jay Renken was presented the PWFF Man Of The Year Award. He was given a plaque and a $100 gift certificate. He earned this award by always serving the PWFF to the best of his ability.

He has served as club president, club librarian, on many committees, taught a number of tying classes, taught many individuals casting, etc. He has printed the newsletter on his own copy machine for free for a number of years. He is also well known for his "Banana Pudding" and his "Hot Cakes".

While on a fishing trip to Broken Bow, Oklahoma with Jay this last summer, I saw a young boy come up to Jay and ask his help in putting the boy's fly rod together. Jay not only helped him do that, but also gave him some casting instruction.

In a word, Jay is always ready to do what the PWFF needs him to do.

Jay is a very valuable club member, and I am proud to call him my friend. Congratulations Jay!

Fly Fish 2001

by W. McLendon

Remember March 3^rd will soon be here! Pineywoods Fly Fishers will be in charge of the "Fishing Pond" under the guidance of our own Jimmy Lee [email protected] . Jimmy needs volunteers whose function will be to maintain a safe and productive adventure for the many newcomers to fly fishing. You will be expected to show them how to safely cast a real fly, make a good presentations, retrieve the fly and set the hook. Kids and grownups will be taking the free fly rod casting classes presented by Al Crise and will no doubt choose to try their hand at catching and releasing some of the 7,200 trout that are stocked there presently.

We need you to volunteer to spend some time helping each visitor to properly rig up and cast the fly into the pond. You can best do this by example. You can take their rod and show them how to shoot line, present the fly, strip and retrieve the fly and set the hook; then hand them the rod, step back and assist as needed. You can then show them the proper method of handling the fish and releasing it.

You will receive a free entrance pass and will be given breaks to visit the helper's booth for refreshments and probably pizza. If we have enough volunteers, you will be allowed to attend some of the many shows and programs available during the day. Visit

http://freepages.arts.rootsweb.com/~wem1/index.html for more details on our show. The website will be under heavy revision during the next few weeks so keep revisiting.

Please contact Jimmy Lee at [email protected] to volunteer for the Fishing Pond. Please send me a copy so I can keep up with volunteer activity.

We are presently asking Sage Rods to provide enough rod sets for the entire pond and maybe a Sage Pro to oversee it with us.

This activity should prove to be not only a fun detail but should be rewarding to see the eyes of the many first time catches on a fly rod.

We also are asking all our Texas clubs to provide a club booth or area with an educational subject for the show visitors. There will be electricity available and a tent if the weather requires. We do not want this to interfere with our fishing pond effort for we will need many volunteers there. If you have an idea for something the club could present to educate the public, please contact me. [email protected]

Allen Crise [email protected] needs volunteers to help in his casting classes. Al and Dan Houchin are Certified FFF Casting Instructors and are volunteering their time to oversee all casting classes. You need not be an expert to teach the kids. No matter what your casting level, they need the help.

Last year's show drew a crowd of over 900 people from all over Texas and we expect more this year, making this the biggest one day show in Texas. We already have 20 speakers requesting to take part presenting their programs. Chico Fernandez will be presenting his expert programs and demonstrating some casting techniques during the day. These programs promise to be well rounded in freshwater and saltwater fly fishing.

So think seriously about volunteering your Saturday to be with us. If you have never attended a fly fishing show, you will be in for a treat! If I remember correctly, last year we had 13 club members attending. It would be nice to have everyone there if possible this coming March.

Get That Fly Line Ready!

From the newsletter of the Fort Worth Texas Fly Fishers, by Al Crise, The Rod and Reel Doctor

It's time to clean your fly lines.

If you have one of those new type lines, the care is easy. (1) Remove the line from the reel and cut off the nail knot. Yes, the nail knot. (2) place the line in a plastic pail or tub to which you add a couple drops of liquid soap (Ivory works good). Fill to half full. (3)

Agitate gently for a few minutes (Hum Dixie four times). (4) Pour out soapy water, add fresh water and rinse (for three choruses). (5) Dry by hanging on drying spool or in a net bag but do not tangle. Let the line air dry. (6) when dry, apply a good line dressing per manufacturer's instructions. (7) Retie the nail knot to the line/backing and wind the line back on the reel. This is a good place to store the fly line. (8) Now take the reel and the rod to the closest fishing hole and make sure it works. Enjoy it even more and take someone fly fishing.

The Mystery Of The "X" In Your Tippet

By Jim Smoragiewicz of the Black Hills Fly Fishers in South Dakota

It was a passing thought that I had many times over the years but never took the time to look into it. What does the "X" on packages of tippet and leaders stand for? This was one of the things that I thought every fly fisher but me knew. As I came to discover, however, most other anglers didn't know the answer to this either, and prompted some research on my part.

A little history on some of our first mass produced tippet material. For some time early in the century, leaders were tied out of a

silk strand that came from a caterpillar in Spain. The caterpillars were killed and then processed in chemicals to toughen their silk

sacks. The silk sacks or "gut" were then removed from the caterpillar ( usually two caterpillar). This packet of silk was then

stretched out, usually reaching a length of 12"-15". Lengths of silk longer than this were scarce, and brought a premium price.

The silk strands were uneven in diameter and needed to be uniform in diameter for use in building a leader. The way this evening process was accomplished was by using diamonds to cut away the excess material. The diamond had a round hole drilled in it and was polished on one side to form a cutting edge on the hole. The silk strand was then soaked in a solution to soften it, and then

drawn through the hole in the diamond with all excess silk being cut away.

This uniform piece of "silk cat gut" (gut from a caterpillar, and not a house cat) was considered to be 1x in size because it had

been drawn through a diamond one time or 1x. Next it was drawn through a diamond with a smaller hole to reduce the diameter even further. This piece of silk was now a 2x in diameter, or drawn through diamonds 2 times. This was continued until a 5x tippet size was reached, the smallest most flyfishers felt was usable at the time.

For Sale

I am selling my Ride kayak. Its go two rod holder bases, one rod holder, rod clips, anchor cleat and paddle. I'm asking $550.

Bruce Smith, Brazos Valley Fly Fishers. My phone number is (979) 775 4304.

Casting Pains For Fly Fishers

by Jim Abbs of FFF

Most of us are aware of carpal tunnel syndrome, from too many hours or years of repetitive hand tasks, with the problem made worse by bad arm and hand postures. This is an "over-use disorder" and like most of these problems, including swimmer's shoulder, tennis elbow and other maladies, the cause is too much, too fast, too hard, too long. These disorders can end a promising athlete's career, end a cherished hobby, or even worse destroy a livelihood.

Many also know that there are similar joint and connective tissue problems associated with fly fishing. Aside from being cramped in a drift boat all day, or exposing your lower extremities to the ice cold water of a northwest (or Great Lakes) steelhead stream, the greatest source of joint pain and distress is

due to casting.

If you fish only spring creeks, with 3 wt rods and 35 foot casts, you probably have little to worry about. However, the fly angler who chases saltwater or warmwater species, with big rods, heavy lines, long casts and substantial flies is in more danger. Almost as bad may be the steelhead angler who often makes hundreds of casts for a single fish, often with a hefty rod and sinking lines.

In general, casting related pain develops because we are not professional fly fishers and our shoulder, back, forearm and hand muscles are not conditioned for all day use in this way. Additionally, some have developed idiosyncratic casting techniques that put unnecessary stress on muscles and joints.

Finally, many of us are getting older and without focused and active exercise at some point we all experience loss of arm-shoulder muscle strength and stamina, loss of tendon and ligament elasticity and some worn cartilage. So, if you want to keep fly fishing, especially for warmwater and saltwater

species or steelhead, there are some steps you may want to take.

If you already experience pain, there are some ways to minimize the discomfort like standard treatments using OTC (over the counter) anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin to ibuprofen (Advil) and applying ice. It is also critical that when you feel the first twinge of pain, slow down, shorten your casts and cast less often. If the pain get worse, stop fishing and seek help.

For those who are now pain free, but are concerned about past or future shoulder or elbow pain from casting, the most important steps must be taken before you go fishing again. There are some specific exercises you can start doing to strengthen muscles and increase blood supply to those critical areas.

It also may be well to consider a visit to the casting doctor to improve your technique as well as to the medical doctor for a proper evaluation. The worst thing is to do nothing.

While more specific anatomical information and preventive exercises are too detailed for this short report,, interested readers will find two related articles on casting problems of the shoulder and elbow in the on-line version of the FFF Steelhead Committee's Osprey, as well as some conditioning exercises for casters with casting pains or concerns about future problems.

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

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

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

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

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May 1^st PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in

the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp

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

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

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

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September 4^th PWFF Meeting in the Lufkin Room in the Lufkin Mall. 7:00 PM sharp

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

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

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December 8^th ???? Christmas Meeting

Chamber of Commerce Building 6:00 PM.

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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

Membership: Walter McLendon

Editor: Royce Feaster

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Art work used by permission of Dave and Emily Whitlock

WET A LINE.... SOON!