Our September meeting was a very different and interesting one. We had a swap meet which gave us plenty of time to trade items among each other as well as time to talk about fishing.

We signed up a new member, Chris Brown. He works for the Texas Forest Service. Chris has been attending the tying classes that we have been having. He also won the drawing for the flies.

Ann Watson won the door prize.

Walter McLendon was appointed membership chairman. Hopefully we can come up with ways to better contact our members and to increase the club membership.

We had a good time tying at Ronny Julian's house. Our next session will be at Jay Renken's house at 609 Willow bend on September 28^th.

We had a good turnout at our Club Breakfast at Ellen Trout Park September 16^th.

Everyone got their fill of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy. Jay even cooked his famous pancakes, and everyone got to eat some of them. Hmmmmmmmm Good !!!

We also had a lot of good fellowship. We always have a good time at this annual event.

Folks attending were Ken & Gwen, Jay & Geraldine, Paul & Carrie, Walter & Linda, Royce & Judy, Jimmy, Randy, Ronny, and Bill.

Seven of us tied flies at the Texas Forest Festival this past weekend. We had 3 or 4 serious inquiries about our club and may have visitors at the next meeting. It started off a little rough, but after a little confusion getting set up, we had fun tying flies and talking to the visitors.

The Southern Council Conclave at Mountain Home, Arkansas is October 6-7. Royce Feaster, Walter McLendon and I will leave October 3^rd. We will park my 5^th wheel travel trailer at Bull Shoals State Park and try to get some fishing in before and after the Conclave. Jay Renken will be driving up on the 5^th. Since three of us will be missing the meeting, Jay will conduct the October meeting. I hope we have some fish stories and pictures when we return.

Linda McLendon has reserved the Chamber of Commerce Building for our Christmas meeting on December 2^nd. Get your "White Elephant" gift ready and plan to attend this fun night.

The Toledo Bend Rendevous will be November 3-5. If you attend, you can be assured of a good time. A lot of good fellowship, food and fly tying await you. I know Walter will have more t say about this event.

We will soon have our club's new year's calendar of outings and events prepared. Jimmy Lee, Royce and I are planning to get together and prepare the tentative calendar to present to the club by the first of the year.

Remember Club Dues.. They continue to be $20 regular membership, $30 for new members (if the new member elects the optional new member packet for $10), and $10 for the newsletter only.

The weather should be getting better, so fishing should be getting better also. But, as we always say, "A Bad Day Fishing Is Better Than A Good Day Working".

An editorial thought from the V-Prez:

Our fishing trip give-away has been good as far as it has gone, but I am seeing the same people getting to go again and again. The original idea, as I understood it, was to involve more members. Maybe we need to modify our rules some to include members that do not get to come to the meetings on Tuesday nights. There are several possibilities on how to do this, but I want to see some ideas from other members, particularly from some of the members that can't attend the monthly meetings. If you are on e-mail, please let me hear from you at [email protected]

For anyone who wants to do so, call me at 936-875-3465. Or write me a letter and mail it to the PO Box on the front of this newsletter.

Now don't get me wrong. I have enjoyed fishing with the people I have gone with, and I will gladly go again with them. But I would also like to get to fish with other members that I have not had the pleasure of fishing with. And I am well aware that jobs play a big part in the availability of time in all our lives, but I hope we can all get to fish together at some time or the other.

Contact me with your ideas on how we can get the fishing trips spread around throughout the club members.

Forest Festival Done

by W. McLendon

The 16^th annual Texas State Forest Festival is history. It's funny but I used to attend this event as a kid, I must be a lot younger than I look! Anyway, our club has been setting up a booth there for at least six years that I can remember. We had seven club members to man our booth. Jay Renken, Hugh Bell, Ken Baker, Ronny Julian, Royce Feaster and Linda and I tied flies for some of our upcoming fishing trips. We setup displays of fly fishing history with flies representing the 1400's, 1600's and many 1800's vintage flies. Also a display showing the life cycles of our local aquatic insects and the matching flies we tie for each stage of their cycles. Then we had several aquatic insects in glass jars for the kids to pick up and look over.

Since most everyone unfamiliar with fly fishing continues to ask the question "Where do you fly fishing around here?", Jay and I discussed the necessity of a saltwater display showing the flies we tie and the fish we pursue. If you know of any good websites with good pictures we can print out in color, please contact me. We would also welcome any flies you can donate to the project.

We did not set up our display showing the lakes we fish in East Texas nor did we teach any fly casting this time. The wind was quite strong both days and some of us snuck our vehicles into our designated casting area. The attendance seemed much lower than usual but The Lufkin Daily News said the early estimates were about 30,000 people attending the festival over the total five day period. We should have had half that on a Saturday and Sunday. It has been three years since we last had this booth location but I know we had twice the flow of people back then.

Jay allowed Linda and me to take a short break and see the Fort Hood 1^st Calvary perform and cap off the festivities on Sunday evening. They are the only active horse mounted unit in the country and they dress out and man weapons from 1873 in their demonstrations. We really enjoyed them.

I want to personally thank each and every member who gave up his or her weekend to help us educate Lufkinites and children about fly fishing. Maybe we influenced someone in a positive way and will meet them on our local lakes to fish with in the future.

Fly Fishing Quiz

from DFF newsletter

1. What is the advantage of a circle hook?

A) Most fly patterns are easier to tie on circle hooks.

B) Circle hooks are less expensive than standard hooks.

C) Circle hooks reduce mortality in released fish.

D) Circle hooks reduce the need for weed guards.

E) All of the above

2. What does the weight designation of a fly line refer to?

A) The weight of the first ten feet of line taper

B) The weight of the first thirty feet of line

C) The sink rate of the line

D) The type and size of rod needed to cast the line

E) The weight of the running portion of the line

3. Baetis tricaudatus is a species of:

A) Stonefly

B) Caddisfly

C) Brook trout

D) Midge

E) Mayfly

4. Which of the following statements about fluorocarbon tippet is true?

A) Fluorocarbon has a density greater than monofilament

B) Fluorocarbon does not absorb water

C) Fluorocarbon has a refractive index close to water

D) Fluorocarbon is abrasion resistant

E) All of the above

5. Fish that spend part of their life in salt water, part in fresh water and mate and produce offspring in fresh water are called:

A) Ichthyologists

B) Catadromous

C) Amphibians

D) Anadromous

E) None of the above

Answers following Calender of Events

Texas Watch Training

by W. McLendon

Just to let you all know, we are planning another Texas Watch training session for water monitors for Saturday October 21,

at the office of Angelina & Neches River Authority (ANRA), downtown Lufkin. So far we have people from Lake Palestine and John Tyler High School in Tyler coming. We have a limited number of monitoring kits to teach from so we must coordinate with everyone interested in attending.

For the few of you who do not know much about Texas Watch, our club already has eight certified monitors and we monthly monitor water from 4 area lakes and streams. We check the quality of the water for its ability to support aquatic life. We measure the dissolved oxygen, pH level, temperature of both air and water and submit this data to ANRA where it is tabulated and forwarded to divisions of EPA.

We would like to support area schools in their efforts to educate students about conservation, so we try to adopt each group or class to help them perform their own monthly monitoring of sites in their area. I know it is hard for the teachers to maintain their programs along with all their other duties and I have not been doing enough to make it any easier. For you teachers who need more help, please contact me. I should be able to visit with you and even talk to your students if you want. I am working on my certification for Quality Assurance so I can help you ensure proper monitoring techniques and procedures

throughout the year. If you need new teachers certified to monitor, please contact Brian Melancon at ANRA, 409-632-7795, or [email protected] .

For our club members who would like to become certified, please contact me at 409-875-3726 or by email.

Texas Watch is a vital part of accumulating necessary data in Texas to protect our fisheries and our drinking water. I am proud to be a small part and I hope you will all consider volunteering your time to becoming involved and helping.

Orvis Changes

by W. McLendon

Just wanted to announce a few changes in our favorite shopping areas. Our friend, Bill Costanza, assistant manager of Jones Creek in Tyler, has taken a new position in the insurance industry. My old friend, Marcos Enriquez, manager of the Orvis store in Austin, is taking over the Houston Orvis store in October. Joe Robinson, after 16 years with Austin Angler, is replacing Marcos in Austin. Our old friend, Dave Hayward, retired from Orvis in Houston a few years ago, is back as a regional Orvis representative calling on non-Orvis owned stores like Jones Creek. Be sure and look up Marcos when you visit the Houston store. You might get a local fishing trip with him. Marcos is eager to come fish with us at our favorite lake sometime after he gets situated in Houston.

###################################

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.

###################################

Calender

Outings and Events

*********

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

*********

October 5^th thru 7^th Fly Fishing Conclave,

Mt. Home, Ark.

*********

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

*********

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

*********

December 2^nd Christmas Meeting

*********

Answers: 1 (C) ; 2 (B) ; 3 (E) ; 4 (E) ; 5 (D)

More Club Calendar to follow as dates confirmed

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

*************************

Outings: Jimmy Lee

Library: Jay Renken

Conservation: Gene Sullivan

Programs: Linda McLendon

Membership: Walter McLendon

Editor: Royce Feaster

************************

Art work used by permission of Dave and Emily WhitlockWET A LINE.... SOON!