Pineywoods Fly Fishers
Founded 1988
Chapter of the Southern
Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers
Web page http//freepages.outdoors.rootsweb.com/~wem1
President: Kenneth Baker V-President: Royce R Feaster Sec/Tres: Bill Heugel
February 2002
We have had an interesting month. The final rod building class was held March 12th and I think the class was a real success. Everyone who made a rod did a good job, and Bill Heugel and Jay Renken did a good job in instructing, along with some of the other members who assisted.
The PWFF participated in the Texas Forest Service’s Forest Awareness program at their facility behind Hudson School. Wednesday was rained out, but Thursday and Friday programs were held. We demonstrated fly tying and fly casting to the seventh and eighth grades of Central and Hudson schools. All of the students seemed to show a lot of interest in the presentations. Walter McLendon, Jay Renken, Royce Feaster and Myself presented the programs. Buddy Price came out at lunch one day and gave us some moral support. Of course our own Chris Brown was in charge for the Forest Service.
Saturday, March 23rd , several of our club members assisted in Fly Fish 2002 at Athens. I know of at least 14 of our members were there. We tied flies and assisted with many people who had never fished with a fly rod. We gave some instruction and tied some flies that were used in the actual fishing. We tied on tippet and we tied on flies as the students popped off (or hung in the grass behind them) the flies they were using. I know I enjoyed the day, and I think I can safely say the rest of our club members did also.
At our meeting April 2nd we will try to put some final touches on our coming workshop to be held April 20th at the Chamber of Commerce Building on the East Loop. I hope you are planning on attending. We will have Tom Nixon tying flies and sharing his wisdom with us and there will also be some of our own members tying flies. Jay will have another challenging casting contest. We will again provide a hamburger lunch; and we will finish up that night with the covered dish supper and the annual auction. We have some good items for the auction, and hope to have more of you supply more items for the morning drawings, as well as for the night auction. The highlight will be the raffeling of the guided fishing trip on Lake Fork. Remember, the trip will be guided by Bill Gambill. Tickets are $5.00 each and are on sale now and at the workshop all the way up to the time of the drawing. Whoever wins gets to pick her/his partner for the trip. This may cause a lot of folks to find new friends in our club, especially as soon as the winner is named.
I know some of you have been able to fish some, and I look forward to hearing about it at the meeting. We got to fish some while we were at the Forest Awareness meeting. Royce even caught a 1½ pound bass. By the way, we may plan an outing of some sort at that facility soon. More later about that.
It was good to see Michael Verduin at the Fly Fish 2002. He looked good, and though he still has problems and is about to begin kemo again, he is in good spirits and is tying as good as ever.
There was a good article in the Sunday, March 24th , Lufkin Daily News about the return of Lunker Bass, and it mentions several caught recently at Lake Fork. That ought to whet your appetite for our raffle fishing trip.
Once again as always, remember: “A Bad Day Fishing Beats A Good Day Working”.
By Linda McLendon
Captain
Phillips is a fly fishing guide for the upper Texas Coast and is an expert on
Galveston Bay. He will be doing a slide presentation on fishing the upper
coast. Chris is a winner of the Florida Key Tarpon Classic. This is
our chance to ask an expert about fishing our coastal waters. When
Chris is not fishing, you can find him at Westbank Anglers in Houston.
By W. McLendon
David Womack of the Lufkin PD has just joined
the club. David is new to fly fishing but not to camping and backpacking! With
this in mind, he is searching for a touring kayak for future serious fly
fishing and overnight trips. I am hoping to get him involved with our kayaking
group and outings with other clubs. David bought a new fly rod and is eager to
get into casting and fishing so we need to help him with casting lessons and
practice and take him fishing. Like most police officers, he has a hectic work
schedule but I am sure he will have time off during some weekdays when we retired
guys can take him to a nearby lake during the more peaceful fishing time. David
has a girl friend that I think we can also get into fly fishing. His home phone
is 637-6159. David might get more of the PD guys to join us since several of
them already fly fish. That would make us feel safer with them around! David,
feel free to call on any of us for help and a fishing trip. We hope you will enjoy our club.
Fly Fish 2002 Thanks
By Jimmy Lee
I want to thank everyone who assisted with the Fish Pond at Flyfish 2002. I know everyone has a busy schedule and to take a Saturday off from fishing or other activities, only proves your dedication to our sport. The sun was bright and the wind unrelenting, but you stayed with the visitors who needed assistance. Your work is what makes the flyfish show a success. I hope all your "t" shirts fit and for those who did not get your shirt Saturday, I will have them at our April Meeting. We had club members who worked or assisted in other areas at Flyfish 2002 and they get a big thank you from the Fish Pond Crew. Again, Thanks for all your work and effort, this just goes to show we may be a small club, but big hearted. A special thanks to Walter and Linda McLendon for all the work, planning meetings, and communication they did for Flyfish 2002. They have worked tirelessly since the flyfish shows began to ensure its success. I don't know an area of the show they don't work in or assist with. Thank You Walter and Linda form the Pineywoods Fly Fishers.
PWFF Workshop
By Bill Heugel
The workshop is just around the corner. Tom Nixon will be our tier and speaker for the evening. Make sure you come to the workshop and learn some techniques that are really different. Tom has developed flies for competing with the bait casters. We saw some examples from Dan Edwards. Tom has a whole different set that are fun to tie and easy to fish.
We will also be setting up a table for tiers from our club. Come and demonstrate your favorite fly. Buddy Price, Walter and I were sitting around at BB and we all learned something watching each other tie flies. Bring your gear and join in the fun.
For those of you interested in learning about tanning and dying materials, we will be demonstrating and if you are interested participating in the dying activity. I will have rabbit and bucktails to work with and of course Walter’s now infamous saddle. If you have something you want to try dying you will need to soak it in a degreasing solution the night before.
One gallon of hot water and 1/4th cup of Downey and 1/8th cup of joy will work for necks and feathers. Tanned materials need to be soaked in 1 gallon of hot water and a capful of Downy. See you there.
The Outreach Committee of the
Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Council invites you to submit a recipe for
our upcoming cookbook.
Attached are copies of the forms required for recipe submittals for the cookbook. We need your recipes. Please take a few minutes to fill out a few. You may do this several different ways. You may retrieve the form, fill it in and send it back to me attached to an e-mail. You may mail it (address below). You may fax it (870-424-7100). You may also just type it into an e-mail document and send it to me that way and I'll put it on the form.
We need all kinds of recipes. We need lots of
recipes. The categories are Appetizers & Beverages, Soups & Salads,
Vegetables & Side Dishes, Main Dishes, Breads & Rolls, Desserts,
Cookies & Candy and This & That. I'm sure you've got a few recipes that
you enjoy and can share with us. Please do. This may be your big change to get
"published."
The attached forms are in formats that most people can use - MS Word and WordPerfect. There is also a pdf format available on the Council website at www.southerncouncilfff.org.
The deadline is May 1. We must have them by that date in order to have a completed cookbook for the National show the first week in August. If you have questions regarding the cookbook please contact either me or Sheryl Knight ([email protected]).
Thanks, Pat Smith
Managing Director, FFF-Southern Council
2603 Buford Spur Road
Mountain Home, AR 72653 877-664-4401
By Walter McLendon
April 12-14 at Lake Bistineau near Shreveport is the site for our first Spring Rendezvous. Visit our website http://freepages.travel.rootsweb.com/~wem1/index1.htm for all the details. We currently have about 27 signed up and we can accommodate 48 all total. As in our Fall Rendezvous, fly tying is the thing to do but this time we are situated right on the water so fishing will be desirable, especially since this lake is known for good fishing. Be sure and contact me if you want to attend. I hope you can.
By Walter McLendon
Don’t forget our first workshop to be held all day, April 20th at the Chamber of Commerce. Tom Nixon will be our guest host. Get your flies tied for the raffle items! Lunch will be provided by the club and you bring a covered dish for the evening social where Tom will also make a presentation.
By Walter McLendon
You are invited to join the Brazos Valley Fly Fishers on April 25-28th to chase redfish and specs. Contact me if you are interested.
By Walter
Saturday, May 4th, we will have our fishing outing on Toledo Bend Lake in a beautiful little park. Then we will meet at Bill Heugel’s house for our annual feast at lunch. Willow Oak Park is on your left as you travel down Highway 87, which runs through Hemphill, Yellow Pine and Six Mile Creek. It will be a couple of miles or so past Six Mile before you get to 3315, which is your left turn to get to Bill’s house. The cove at Willow Oak is a perfect spot for fly fishing, it is fed by a creek.
By W. McLendon
Ever seen a "moose sized buck tail"? We have a new friend
Patty Heibel owner of www.flyhooked.com
Drop by her website to see a large database of some great looking flies.
Patty is going to add fly tying materials to her website soon. This
Moose tail is listed in her "new flies and specials"
section. She wants to know what kind of fish we can catch with a fly tied
from a 14 inch monster? I know of at least three or four of you that would
welcome that challenge. I also added her site to the commercial section of our
website.
By Walter McLendon
We finally got decent weather in Athens! All sun with plenty of wind to assist or inhibit your casting. All of our club volunteers attended except one. I thought everything went well. I only heard positive comments. We could see that Al Crise’s casting classes were full all day. I only wish I could have got in on Brian Gambill’s special lessons.
Linda and I got to spend some time with Charlie and Barbara Cypert where we made two new friends. Charlie is donating dying materials for our upcoming classes at our workshop. Charlie has a big supply of 200 yard spools of threads, many different colored grizzly necks and saddles to sell if you would like to order some. He is cutting back on his commercial tying and quitting guiding to spend more time enjoying life.
If you have any ideas for a better show, please send them to me so we can begin planning for next year.
Thank you for your contribution of your time and expertise. I hope you enjoyed everything. I am sure you made a difference to many people who now have a better idea of why we fly fish.
By Bill Heugel
We must be having fun! Several members have asked me when we will have our next fly tying session and others have talked about building another rod. We have all learned something in the rod building activity. It’s been fun for me and the rods I have seen are looking great. Many of the members decided to do the final step of applying the thread wrap finish at home. I can’t wait to see the rest of the work.
I was amazed at some of the handy work that you all put in developing the tools to make the rods. Well done everyone. The success of any venture is dependent on the interest of the participants.
I keep thinking about what has made these efforts a success. In addition to the people participation I think the facility has a lot to do with our success. I don’t believe we would be experiencing the interest and fun in a location that was not large enough for us to work comfortably.
Many thanks to Hugh Bell and St Cyprians for allowing us to come there and have our classes. Its been a great place from which to work. I think now its time we gave St Cyprians something in appreciation for allowing us to use the facility. I propose at the next meeting that we make a donation to the church in recognition of their support for our club.
By Walter
Linda and I built new rods in our recent class. I tested both rods and actually casted both into their backing. I did not measure the distance until after I bragged to Heugel about it and he asked how far? Well I measured and one was 60 and the other, 65 feet. Today while packing the FFF rods for return shipment, I decided to try a FFF reel with 5 weight line on Linda’s 10 foot, Orvis PM-10, 6 weight rod. I placed the reel on and casted it to the backing. I measured the line at 75 feet plus 7 feet of leader. Then I remembered Hugh Bell telling us that if we wanted distance to put a much smaller line on a rod. I got out my new 9 foot, 9 weight rod with extra guides, placed the same reel and line on it and came up 5 feet shy of the backing. I must point out that my yard is impossible to cast in, I had to use a side arm cast to miss all the limbs and cast into some small pine trees at the street. I bought titanium guides for both our rods and maybe that is making a difference.
Casting a 10 foot rod is not fun, I bought it for saltwater and since Linda is weird (likes heavy rods), I thought it might fit her. She likes my 9 weight so I imagine I had better get used to fishing a 10 foot rod. Both rods have fighting butts.
By Walter
Unfortunately, the weather made us cancel Dan’s class twice in a row so you still have time to sign up when we can reschedule. Please contact me if you would like to attend. It will probably be in May.
Temporary Editor’s Note (Royce is out of town): On our website http://freepages.outdoors.rootsweb.com/~wem1 , you will find a Fly of the Month, contributed by Bill Heugel. I want you to know that these flies, just don’t magically appear there each month, it takes a lot of work to do this. Bill has to photograph each stage of tying the fly as he is actually tying it. Then he compiles the photos into digital format and lays them out to add the text which has to be in HTML format for uploading to our website. In case you have not been checking each month, there are 9 flies there for you to tie. I am the lazy one who needs to add more fly tying links there. I have had the headings there for sometime but have not got around to updating them for you. Thank You Bill, you are doing a great job of sharing and we all owe you a pat on the back, a cup of coffee or a guided fishing trip to our favorite waters!
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Remember!
Mark your calendar 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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Calendar Outings and Events
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April
2 PWFF meeting 7:00 P M Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
4-7
SE
Conclave Gulf Shores State Park, AL
13-14 Spring Rendezvous Lake Bistineau, LA bass & bream
20 PWFF Annual Workshop, Chamber of Commerce
May
4 Willow Oak Park/Heugel Haus
Lunch Toledo Bend bass & bream
7
PWFF meting 7:00 P M Lufkin
Room of Lufkin Mall
June
1 Tag Team Event Five Fingers, Sam Rayburn
4 PWFF meeting 7:00 P M
Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
July 2 PWFF meeting 7:00 P M
Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
August
6 PWFF meeting 7:00 P M
Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
September
3 PWFF meeting 7:00 P M
Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
21-22 Rockport reds & specs
October
1 PWFF meeting 7:00 P M
Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
3-6
Conclave Mt. Home, AR
19 Red
Hills Lake Breakfast bass & bream
November 1-3 Rendezvous North Toledo
Bend State Park
5 PWFF meeting 7:00 P
M Lufkin Room of Lufkin Mall
16-17
Caney Creek Park Sam
Rayburn bass
December
7 Christmas Meeting Chamber of Commerce
14 Tyler
State Park trout stocking
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More Club Calendar to follow as dates
confirmed
(Check your calendar, there have been
several dates that have been changed)
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Outings: Walter McLendon assisted by Jimmy
Lee
Library: Jay Renken
Conservation: Gene Sullivan
Programs: Linda McLendon
Membership: Walter
McLendon
Editor: Royce Feaster