| President's Pen: Catalogs and Sunshine |
Greetings!
When the fly fishing catalogs fill the mail box and the sunshine lingers until almost 7:00pm, I begin to feel winter is loosening its grips and spring will soon be on the way. This is always a good time of year to fill those depleted fly boxes, build leaders, clean lines and reels and generally clean and organize gear.
As you are looking over your gear and if you find more than gear than you need, save the date for the AFF Auction scheduled on April 15, 2011 to sell some of your excess gear or shop for those items needing to be replenished.
Fly tying will be the topic of our March 7, 2011 meeting presentation. Peggy Brenner a recognized fly tier and fly tying instructor will travel from the east coast to be a guest judge in our fly tying contest, hold fly tying demonstrations and make a presentation.
 The 2011 Fly Fishing Film Tour will stop in Anchorage on March 24 at 8 PM at the Bear Tooth Pub and Theater. The Anchorage showing is sponsored by World Wide Angler. Tickets are available at the Bear Tooth. You should Google the "fly fishing film tour" and you will find some awesome trailers of the fly fishing movies included in the tour. A larger version of the tour poster is here.
Early spring also brings the time of year to renew your membership in the AFF. Your membership dues allow AFF to host our monthly programs and support our conservation and education efforts. To get an application you can download it from the membership tab on the AFF website at www.akflyfishers.net or see a board member at a monthly meeting.
You will also note that we have updated the newsletter format to an electronic format delivered by email or by downloading it from the AFF website. We are moving to this electronic format to be earth friendly, make it easier for you to get the newsletter and to save the considerable cost of printing and mailing newsletter editions. We believe the electronic format will also enhance the newsletter with color photos and hot links. Please be patient as we make this transition to our paperless newsletter.
See you at the March meeting.
Mark
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Fly Tying Workshop with Peggy Brenner Saturday, March 5 at the BP Building
2:30 to 4:30 p.m. |
 Demonstration and
Tie-Along Room 134
This coming Saturday, Peggy Brenner, noted fly tyer and presenter at the March 7 general membership meeting, will host a two-hour workshop and "Tie-Along".
Here is what Peggy has planned for the workshop:
"Let's cover New England feather wing streamers, and the new Fish Skulls. Our, Jerry and myself favorite streamer is the Supervisor, a attractor smelt pattern that has taken trout all over New England and your very own Montana Creek. Fish Skulls, I've got sample packs for a small group coming from the vendor. So let's take a look at this hot new product, they won the dealers award in Denver and are the talk of the Fly Fishing Shows. Any level tyer can come up with a winning fly to fish with using the skulls."
Ms. Brenner has been tying for a decade and a half now; her specialty is flies that fish well in New England and the Florida Keyes. She had the good fortune of becoming a member of United Fly Tyers' and received instruction from some of the finest tiers in the industry. Several years ago Peggy began teaching ladies, kids and beginners, leading to demonstration tying, a stint as Editor of the Roundtable, and is a past President. Currently Peggy is on the Board of the FFF Fly Tying Group and Vice President of International Women's Fly Fishing.
While her program will be great to watch, a small group of members - eight to ten people - will tie along with Peggy as she demonstrates. Sign-up early to secure a spot - send an email to Jolynne at jhoward@alaska.net. Tying or not - everyone is welcome.
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Fish Biologist & Author Bill Hauser
Due to some technical glitches, we rerun last month's column from Bill Hauser. In "Home Again Home Again", he tackles how scientists discovered salmon homing abilities through stream scent. Click here for Bill's column. |
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Fly Tying Contest 2011 |
Another reason to come to the March 7 meeting is to see the entries in the 2011 Fly Tying Contest and vote for your favorite fly. Frank Stevens, contest coordinator, reports we have some very talented tyers in the club. In addition to the People's Choice, prizes will be awarded in the following categories: Dry fly, Wet Fly, Terrestrials, Streamers, Steelhead/Salmon/Hair Wing and Open Class. The contest also has youth categories, so this makes for an opportunity to encourage those all-important young fly fishers.
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2011 Alaska Fly Fishers Photo Contest |
At the regular monthly meeting, February 7, the People's Choice voting took place and prizes were awarded. The judges had made their selections the week before in a session lasting over three hours. The number and quality of photos was exceptional and the judges had to work for their picks. Click here for a full report and list of the winners.
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| 2011 AFF Auction - Coming Soon! |
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 Mark your calendar for April 15, 2011! The 2011 Alaska Fly Fishers (AFF) Auction will be held at the Millennium Alaskan Hotel with registration starting at 4:30 p.m., and Cash & Carry and the Silent Auction opening at 5:00 p.m. The Board and members of the Auction Committee are constantly searching for great reels, rods, trips, and other items geared to make your next fishing trip successful and enjoyable. Come see what we've found! And if all the great fishing-related items whet your appetite, club members can obtain a great dinner from the Millennium's Bar during the auction.
AFF obtains funding through membership dues, donations, and the annual auction, the main source of funding. Auction monies raised must first cover the cost of the rooms and set up, refreshments, and auction items. The reminding funds are used for AFF operations the rest of the year. Over the last two years, the club's income has been declining due to increased costs. In an attempt to increase the club's operating budget for the next year, we are asking each club member to donate an item for this year's auction. By donating an item to the club for the auction, all the proceeds from donations goes to the club for operating expenses for the next year. Donation forms will be available on-line and at our meetings. Details and rules can be found at this link.
Please volunteer! During the March meeting, please look on the tables for the volunteer sign-up sheets and sign up to help. Please remember that volunteers do have the ability to preview all the items offered during the Auction. We are looking for individuals to chair the "Cash & Carry" and the "Silent Auction" sections of the 2011 Auction.
If you have any questions on volunteering, how to place an item into any of the three Auction venues, or to donate an item, please contact Keven Kleweno at 277-1907 (home)/360-9990 (cell) or talk to him at the Fly of the Month Table during any General Membership Meeting. |
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Fly of the Month February 2011 Rich Johnson |
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Gorman's Bead Head Egg pattern was included in last month's FlyLines, but odds are you didn't see it. Let's try again to show this pattern and instructions provided by Rich Johnson.
His introduction to the fly explains, "An
acquaintance of mine called a last fall to ask me about a pattern that was taking dollies on the Parks Highway streams. After describing the fly over the phone, I told her that I'd need to see the fly as I'd never heard of an egg pattern that had a bead head and a green butt. As a result, a little asking around produced this pattern which now has a compartment in my specialty egg box. I wouldn't use this pattern on any stream that gets a lot of pressure, but for streams that are off color and on the swift side, it's a safe bet that the Gorman will fish well." Click here for recipe and intructions for Gorman's Bead Head Egg.
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Fly of the Month March 2011 Riley Peck |
Russian Flesh Fly
With spring just around the corner, the need to re-fill fly boxes has come. Although there are many go-to patterns which seemingly always produce, it is fly tyers's second nature to hunt for the holy grail of fly patterns. Even though your old standbys work just as well as the new ones; new flies are always better. Fly pattern popularity fluctuates like the stock market and fly tyers are always buying and selling stocks. One major Alaskan trout food source often imitated, but never perfectly imitated is salmon flesh. This fly is a major step closer to the perfect flesh fly. Click here for the recipe to tie the Russian Flesh Fly.
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2011 Alaska Fly Fishers Membership |
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$25 Individual Annual
$30 Family Annual
$250 Lifetime
Be sure to get your membership card - it will save you money on fly tying materials. Details are on the back of the card.
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| Get Fly Lines Sent to Your Inbox |
We have email addresses for about 80% of our active members. If this email was forwarded to you, kindly help us get your correct email address into the system. A note to jhoward@alaska.net should get you squared away. |
| Coming Events | |
Spring is a busy time for the Alaska Fly Fishers.
The Great Alaska Sportsman Show is coming up March 31 to April 3. See Jolynne Howard at the March meeting if you can put in a few hours to promote our club at the AFF booth.
Sign-Up sheets can be found at the Ghillie Table. Volunteers are working on the 2011 Annual Auction scheduled for April 15. Keven Kleweno is chairman of this event. Auction night is always exciting. Plan to come - and bring a friend!
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| Fly Tying Clinics at KTUU Building - Only 2 left before summer break!! | |
Our last two Saturday clinics for this season are March 19 and April 23. The clinics run from 10am to 4pm. Expert tyers are on hand with lessons and demonstrations. Bring your own tools and materials or use ours. The building is at 701 East Tudor Road - second floor east end.
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Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing | |
The program is growing by leaps and bounds, and as a result we have moved the tying classes to a larger space at the VA Facility just outside the Muldoon gate. We have also changed the day we meet to Thursdays and the new time is 4-6 pm. It is our hope, that by moving off base, it will make it easier for volunteers to come out and get involved. We appreciate the continued support of the AFF....THANK YOU!!
Laura Orr
Media POC/Public Relations
Project Healing Waters
"Healing those who serve"
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