Volume 10 • Issue 7 • July 2005

Summer, La Junta and the Four Winds

The heat is on. It's summer. It's a season that brings changes for our club each year. The worthy project of teaching young chaps at Camp La Junta about our sport dominates both our activities and our energies. Throw in the travel season that scatters our fellow anglers far afield, and you have a rather ambiguous couple of months–a mix of satisfaction of teaching the boys mixed with a yearning for cooler weather and a reunion of our angling clan.

It was thus that some dozen or so of us gathered on the third Thursday for our regular monthly meeting during camp time at La Junta. Under the shade of several trees, our faithful few journeyed through some odds and ends of business, mostly reviewing ongoing projects and looking to the future. The high point of the meeting may have been Brad Love's account of fishing with his son, Max, at the "Bud" Priddy Memorial One-Fly event. These two apparently had a grand time with the younger Love catching a monster bass that won first place as his father looked on. When prodded to describe his catch, the successful young angler passed up his bragging rights and with sort of an "aw, shucks" manner and mostly just smiled. Proud father Brad, sort of a mild mannered guy who strongly suggests a modern day Will Rogers with his wry wit that creeps up on the listener and eventually prompts some real belly laughs followed with the realization that there is some keen fly-fishing knowledge blended in. This rod-building angler knows his stuff and is prepared, when prompted, to go into detail on about any aspect involving fly-fishing that crops up in a conversation. Not to be overlooked, was mention that other HCFF members took first places with their catches at the "Bud" Priddy event. Brad himself might have taken a prize if he had not lost his fly early in the day. Keith Masters took the award for biggest sunfish.

By the way, Brad later made a post on our website suggesting a float trip before the July meeting either at Ingram Lake or from Brinkman's Crossing to Center Point. He had mentioned the idea at our June meeting. Michael Brown responded on our web site message board that the Central Texas Fly Fishers were interested in fishing the area on Saturday, June 25^th. Your editor intended to get with these guys but was sidetracked into a trip to Phoenix to see family out there. Upon return, I had a message from Michael saying, "We had a successful outing near Ingram . . . . Many fish were caught, including a 5 lb. largemouth from above the dam at Lake Ingram." It's good to hear of successful outings such as this one.

Another topic that went around the circle was the possibility of stocking trout at La Junta this coming season. Two dams on the property having been rebuilt have significantly changed the makeup of the river along the camp's fishing area. The bottom line is that the water is significantly deeper and the banks noticeably more limited for casting areas. Floating devices offer the best possibilities for fishing success, it would seem, if the river continues to remain pretty much in its present condition. Doc Harrison, Walter Saunders, and your editor walked the full stretch of water and found ourselves hard put to find places for casting from the bank The positive news is that the location is convenient to reach from Kerrville, and the water would offer some fine possibilities for fishing from pontoon craft, float tubes, small boats, and kayaks. This topic is bound to be on the agenda for the near future.

There is talk of some changes possibly taking place at this year's Texas Parks and Wildlife EXPO 2005 in Austin, October 1^st and 2^nd , that may affect the fly-fishing sector. More information on this topic will emerge as the situation unfolds and will be discussed at upcoming meetings before the event occurs.

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From FFF ClubWire . . .

Size Does Matter
by John Berry–taken from Tight Lines &
Tall Tales –Mid-South Fly Fishers

You are out there on the Norfork, the fish are rising, and you just captured an insect. You want to match the hatch. When you took the Berry Brothers Fly-Fishing Class, Dan told you to match the insect with a fly from your fly box based on size, shape, and color. For some reason you do not have an exact match. You think real hard and remember that Dan said the most important factor is size. If you just have a fly the right size but wrong shape and wrong color, it would be more productive than one that is the right color and the right shape but too big. I have found myself catching fish on and Elk Hair Caddis during a sulphur hatch just because that was the best size match in my fly box.

If size is important, what sizes should we carry? I pump the stomachs of the first few trout I catch every time I go fishing. Based on these observations, I have found that most of the insects we will encounter in this area are much smaller than we thought. When I first started fly-fishing, I only carried 4X tippet. Now I regularly fish 6X and sometimes 7X. If you have ever tried to push 4X through the eye of a size twenty fly, you have been challenged. One of the tricks I discovered was to cut my tippet at a 45 degree angle. This creates a point on the end of the tippet that is easier to insert in the hook eye. I have also found that if you are dealing with small flies and tippets, you are going to need help in the form of some sort of magnifying lens. I wear bifocal polarized sunglasses whenever I am fishing and that does the trick for me. Dan wears a flip focal.

When you choose a rod, you base your selection on the size fly you will be fishing, not the fish you expect to catch. The ultra stiff meat stick you bought to cast extreme distances will not protect small tippets. My brother Dan and I regularly fish four weights with a sensitive tip while Lori fishes a five weight that also has a sensitive tip. Why not get a two or three weight or even smaller? Don't forget that you will be casting in the wind or that there are some really big fish around here. If you hang a trophy on a small rod, it will take a long time to land that monster and you may be stressing it unnecessarily.

Finally, you need to get a small fly mentality. My wife Lori is intense and when she sets the hook, she does so with great vigor. As a result, even though her fly rod has a very sensitive tip, she cannot fish tippet smaller than 5X. You need to keep in mind just how strong the tippet is and set the hook accordingly.

If you take all this into consideration and think small, you will catch more fish.

Loop Article

[The Loop is the FFF quarterly publication sent to all certified fly fishing instructors. The following article from The Loop was included in the latest FFF ClubWire for approved publication in FFF club newsletters if desired. It seemed appropriate for The Back Cast since so many of our members are involved in instructing young people.]

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Suggestions for Your Next Casting Class
by Chris Menadier from The Loop (Winter 2000 issue)

There is a big difference between giving casual pointers to friends while fishing and teaching structured classes to larger groups. I have found the following to be valuable in the classes I teach and I hope you'll keep them in mind as you refine your curriculum.

Motivation

In 1996, the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission ran stream side surveys which revealed that 2% of the fly fishers averaged over 12 trout per hour, while the other 98% averaged less than one trout per hour. The North Carolina study was not an aberration: studies by other states have had very similar results. Can you imagine a more compelling argument for taking fly-fishing instruction?

Tackle Audit

The more you teach, the more you work with students who arrive with rod/reel/line combinations that are either badly mismatched or are badly matched to the student. Too often, a well-intentioned parent or spouse will give their loved one an outfit they no longer use. This may result in a 12 to 13-year-old girl trying to learn with a heavy, fast-action, 9-foot, 8-weight rod when she would be more comfortable and effective using a medium-action 8-foot, 4-wight. Remember that rod selection is not always driven by fly size, wind condition, or size of the quarry. It is sometimes a function of the caster's size or strength, however transitory that might be in the case of a rapidly maturing teenager. Another tackle problem you will see sometimes is when a student shows up with Granddad's 3-piece, 9-foot bamboo rod, badly in need of restoration, matched with an HGH or HDH braided silk line. It takes a certain amount of diplomacy to guide such a person into the modern tackle era.

These instances can be turned around by what I call an "audit" of the participants' tackle, done in such a fashion as to minimize embarrassment. Keep generic rod/reel/line outfits on hand to allow for ongoing class participation of those who need to replace their initial outfit.

Casting Other Outfits

I was teaching a clinic at Squam Lake in New Hampshire several years ago when it struck me that the 10 or 12 students had quite a diversity of gear. Their outfits ranged from 3-weight to 8-weight, and rods from 7 feet to 91/2 feet. Midway through the morning session, with appropriate prefacing comments, I had the students lay down their outfits and move one position to the right. They were told to pick up the outfits in front of them and resume the exercise. There was an immediate chorus of commentary on how the feel of the new outfit differed from that of their own. They kept moving, trying one outfit after another, and developed a heightened sense of the meaning of "fast", "medium" and "parabolic". They were able to feel the great difference in energy required to effectively load a 3-weight versus an 8-weight.

Something else that came out of the rod swapping was that light-line casters with chronic tailing loops didn't have such tendencies in the heavier line weights. They learned to energize their rods over more of the casting arc, instead of resorting to the abrupt application of power so many beginners use in their forward cast.

Sit-Down Casting

Here's an exercise for those who try to load the rod with body English instead of with their arm and hand. Have them false cast while sitting down cross-legged or in a chair. This simulates being in a float tube or canoe and takes the lower body completely out of the equation.

Motivating your students, auditing their tackle, having them swap outfits, and having them practice while seated have much practical value. Try incorporating some or all of these ideas into your next lesson.

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Caring for the River

As much as we fly-fishers love our river, so does the public at large, whether residents of the area or visiting from afar. We all literally bask in its beauty and recreational opportunities. Yet it seems human nature to often accept such blessings as part of our rewards for being members of the human race, not noting that said race owes something in return–preservation of nature's gifts not only for our own generations but for those yet to come. We tend to look away when duty is attached to enjoyment.

Recently, our Hill Country Fly Fishers received recognition by the Federation of Fly Fishers in their quarterly publication, the FFF Flyfisher, along with a handsome sign to post along the Guadalupe River for taking on responsibility by participating in the Adopt-A-Stream program that is also being undertaken by other FFF member and associate clubs across the country. We are among the limited list so far in the ongoing project. The requirements involve monitoring the clarity and condition of the water by regular testing, participating in clean-up operations when necessary, working with appropriate governmental groups such as our UGRA in efforts to provide adequate conservation, and any other activities dedicated to the welfare of the river, in our case, the north and south branches of the upper Guadalupe.

Enough cannot be said in recognizing the role that our own Dr. Guy Harrison has played in pursuing our club's involvement not only in this project, but--as practically everyone in our club knows--in almost any positive opportunity that crops up regarding the health and welfare of the Guadalupe River and its fish, but also in numerous educational endeavors offering advancing in our sport to youth and adult groups, and to individuals. Trusting that the good doctor's eyes will scan these words, it would perhaps not be out of line to say–Doc, sometimes you "bug" us unmercifully to participate in admirable pursuits that seem beyond our capabilities but, due to your efforts, they raise us to a higher level that with rare, if any, exceptions, contribute to our sport and to our beloved river.

You may find several pictures either in this issue of the newsletter or in the picture section of our web site of the FFF sign placed near the dam upstream from the Guadalupe crossing just outside of Hunt, Texas, along with Doc testing the water.

–M.A.