My favorite month in Alaska is July. The rivers and lakes are full of eager fish, everything is green and blooming and the summer sun warms us in the long evenings. My brother and his son arrived over the 4^th of July weekend and we will spend the next two weeks catching fish, catching up and generally enjoying the Alaska summer. This is the second year my brother and his son have come to visit in July. If this year's trip is as successful as last year, we may have a new family tradition in the making.

Our July meeting will feature Jeff Milton ADF&G Regional Hatchery Manager. Jeff will provide an overview and update on the new Anchorage Sport Fish Hatchery nearing completion. We will meet on Monday July 11, 2011 at the Millennium Hotel 7 PM.

You should also note that we will suspend our regular monthly meeting at the Millennium in August and September. Our regular programs will pick up again in October on the first Monday of each month at 7 PM at the Millennium Hotel. You can find the meeting schedule for the remainder of the year later in this newsletter.

On August 1 we will host the AFF picnic at Mirror Lake and on September 10 & 11, AFF will host our annual Kenai River Cleanup in Cooper Landing. I heard nothing but silence on my call for volunteers for the 2011 Kenai River Cleanup. We need your in planning and coordinating this event. Please contact me to volunteer and help out.

If you attended the June meeting, you were heard an interesting and informative presentation by Bruce Richards on fly lines and fly fishing and how choosing the correct fly line can improve your fishing experience and success catching fish. During his visit, Bruce also held fly casting clinics for AFF members. We had twenty five beginning and intermediate fly casters attend in three separate casting clinics. Thank you for those attending for your support of the club. Bruce travelled from Montana and AFF was able to offset a large portion of his expenses through the casting clinics.

A belated Happy 4^th of July to your families and please remember those serving our country in the military.

See you on the river.

Mark

Nearly two decades ago the Alaska Fly Fishers published the second edition of the Fly Patterns of Alaska. It has performed extremely well at the tying bench, on the water, in the market, and it continues to sell. It is probably safe to say most members have seen the book and many tie patterns from it regularly. But fly tying has changed significantly in the intervening years and it is time to update the image of our fly boxes as seen by the folks using our book. The update will actually be a new volume entirely, both to allow the current book to continue to be printed and to allow the use of the full book for new patterns. There will be no repeats in Volume II, all patterns will be new.

To do it right we need your input. We need to know the patterns you fish and what has worked for you. If you have proven original patterns or twists on older patterns we need them, too. There are 228 patterns in the current book and Volume II needs at least as many. We also need information on the flies in the current book that you continue to use.

Many flies are obvious and the first large group of flies like the Dolly Llama, Frankensculpin, Intruder, and Pick-yer-Pocket is being assembled now. A number of new and unique flies have been submitted, but we still need yours. If you want to tie the fly we photograph and can tie a fly designed to satisfy the magnified and critical eye of the camera there are skilled tyers ready to help. And if you do not care your fly will be retied to presentation standards for photographing.

There is also a section planned on the best flies for different parts of the state, perhaps in chart form, to help folks assemble a worthy fly box that will produce in waters all across Alaska. And that is another place where you come in. Your flies are needed as we asked before, but information is needed on how and where you fish your chosen flies and what you expect them to work for. Anecdotes about your favorite flies are also valuable as it may be the perfect piece of information to fill out a particular pattern write-up. Tips on techniques for various flies, waters, or conditions are also needed.

With this email there is a form for submitting flies for the book in a Word and a PDF format. The Word form should allow you to fill it in on the computer and email it back. The PDF form can be printed and then filled in by hand, whichever is easiest for you. Or contact a willing committee member and deliver the information directly.

The best way to contact the committee is through affpatterns@gmail.com a new email address just for book communication. Regular mail to the club PO Box is slower, but reliable:

The Cosmic Squid is a wonderful saltwater pattern developed by Justin Hendrick. It will fool just about any saltwater fish from silvers off the beach to halibut on the bottom. It is also a great choice for surface-feeding rockfish. This is a must have fly for those planning on attending the annual Kodiak trip.