Volume 13 • Issue 5 • May 2008

Mother Earth and the FFF

Some regions scorched; others flooded unmercifully; tornadoes twisted, and hail pounded. Recently, Mother Earth has been pulling some stunts that have thrown us human creatures into somewhat of a dither. Maybe it's just her way of calling attention to vulnerabilities we knew existed but were usually spaced in time periods more kindly with less intensity.

Well, perhaps some changes within our own world of fly-fishing offer a gentler aspect and a bit of relief in contrast to what, on a larger scale, a stern Mother Earth has been dealing out recently. The truth is that change on many fronts has presented itself and called for attention. Our sport has not escaped its call.

Now, give a sigh of relief. Despite the somewhat daunting introduction to this article in order to arouse our readers' curiosity, more fascinating changes are occurring within our Federation of Fly Fishers that are not of a scary nature but rather of a fascinating and engaging form. Let's get down to the specifics.

If you are a member of the FFF, perhaps you have been reading the most recent issues of its quarterly Flyfisher magazine and find that there is a definite move taking place that will almost assuredly result in moving the organization's national headquarters from Livingston, Montana, to a more central location. Often mentioned is Loveland, Colorado. FFF chairman of the board, Ron Cordes, seems to be the individual most enthusiastically motivating such a relocation. Cordes shares some recent comments he has received in the spring issue of Flyfisher. Both pro and con observations reveal some of the considerations that have been brought forth. Here are a few that give the drift of thought taking place:

". . . having the FFF more centrally located place would be a plus. . . . Loveland is only about 50 miles from Denver (a major airport, 23 miles from Fort Collins, about 25 miles from Boulder and about 30 miles from Estes Park. How could anyone not be happy if FFF moved to Loveland?"

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"The move to Loveland would only do great things for FFF! . . . The fly shops along the Front Range are booked with tying demos, casting and tying lessons and fly-fishing contests with participation from around the world. . . . There really should be no dead time for the FFF in Loveland, especially right off Interstate 25."

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". . . Let's face it–Livingston is not Denver or any other modern, progressive city. You only get one chance to make a first impression and we have to wonder what people think when they come to the current offices. Livingston is quaint, but quaint is not what FFF needs to grow its membership and to bring any form of philanthropy. It's little more than a whistle-stop and a nice place to kick back and do a little fishing, but it's not a destination to draw large numbers of conclave attendees and to house them once they get there."

Other locations mentioned included Tulsa, Oklahoma; Derby, New York; and Springfield, Missouri, where the original Bass Pro Shop is located right next to the American Wildlife Museum. FFF's Discovery Center could possible find a new home in such a center.

A lengthy letter from Ron Steinberg of Livingston, Montana, basically argues that moving the FFF headquarters and its Discovery Center to Colorado or some other location is more political than practical. The letter contains too many objections to quote in this article, many of them bluntly sarcastic with regard to Chairman Ron Cordes' efforts. One brief quotation is an example.

" This is not the first move for the FFF. It once was located in West Yellowstone, Montana. The headquarters portion was then moved to Bozeman, and the museum portion was moved to Livingston. The headquarters was later moved to Livingston to consolidate the operation, and the whole thing was renamed FFF Headquarters and Fly Fishing Discovery Center. . . . At the time it seemed to make sense. I hope that Loveland does not get too used to having the FFF around. Judging by the history of the FFF, it will be about five to ten years before it moves again. The FFF brings to mind the cotton weevil of an old song, 'just looking for a home.' "

Stay tuned to see how all of the above unfolds. It would appear that a move is on the immediate horizon, perhaps offering a burst of fresh energy into the veins of this essential fly-fishing organization.

Though Mother Nature often brings devastation, positive results may occur in the long run. Damaging floods may make up for some of their evil temper by bringing life to valuable land and crops crying out desperately for drought relief. With regard to our fly-fishing activities, in less dramatic fashion but with some threatening conflicts, another move has resulted in a change directly affecting our club shortly following the establishment of the newly formed Gulf Coast Council FFF headquartered in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The development proceeded more smoothly than anticipated. It seems that our Hill Country Fly Fishers has made its move after many years of membership in the Southern Council without losing that council's monetary support to the Guadalupe bass stocking project. If what your editor hears is correct, the national FFF office has absorbed the Southern Council's previous monetary commitment. Here's hoping that some fresh new enthusiasm will spring forth from our association with an entirely new beginning.

A half dozen or so of our club's officers and members attended the first conclave of the Gulf Coast Council last year along with a number of other Texas fly-fishing clubs. For its first important effort, the conclave, though taking some shaky steps, turned out to be encouragingly successful. This year's conclave will take place this month, May 16th-17th. Again, it is anticipated that a group of our members will be in attendance. Well worth mentioning is the naming of our own Dr. Guy Harrison as conservation chairman for our new FFF council.

— M.A.

Xcalak, Mexico Fishing Trip

April 15th to the 22nd Roy Hickman, Dianne Williams, Bill Elgin, John Sheffield and Charly Boyle and friend stayed at Tierra Maya Lodge in Xcalak, Mexico and fished. Xcalak is located 5 hours south of Cancun on the Belize border. We flew into Cancun and were met by a van and driver who drove us to the lodge.

The lodge was very comfortable and the food excellent with abundant seafood served and homemade deserts such as fresh coconut pies. From our room we looked out at the second largest natural reef in the world. It runs from north of Cancun to Honduras. The guides picked us up every morning from the dock at 7:00 A.M. for 8 hours of fishing.

Everyone caught fish in abundance, including tarpon, mangrove snapper, jack fish, barracuda, snook and over about 120 bonefish. What a thrill! If you've never caught a bonefish, it can't be described adequately. I can't wait until next year.

— Bill and Dianne

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A Worthy Endeavor

Warren Wolf, one of our recent members, is actively promoting a worthy project, Reel Recovery, whose stated mission, put forth on their website "is to help men in the cancer recovery process by introducing them to the healing powers of the sport of fly-fishing, while providing a safe, supportive environment to explore their personal experiences with cancer, with others who share their stories."

"A second goal is to provide expert fly-fishing instruction that enables the participants to learn a new skill, form a healing connection with nature, and participate in a sport they can continue throughout their recovery and lifetime."

Lastly, "to provide participants information about cancer-related resources, both in the local community and nationally, to facilitate networking and enhanced management of their recovery."

A Reel Recovery event is on tap for October of this year as the group's first scheduled event in Texas. Twelve men will participate at no cost for them, led by professional facilitators and expert fly-fishing instructors. Reel Recovery provides all meals, lodging and fly-fishing equipment. No previous experience is required.

Any of our members wishing to get involved with contributing or assisting Reel Recovery may gain further information from Warren Wolf by e-mail: warren@kabinfever.com. Warren suggested that interested persons might enjoy reading the local newspaper article when the retreat held its retreat last June in Colorado. Go to http://aspentimes.com/article/20070630/recreation03/106300063&SearchID=73286162876160

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"Fishing seemed to be the one sport which best gratified that innate craving for an intimacy with those forces of which I knew so little. Is it any wonder that I made the study of fishing my life's work?"

 –Ray Bergman from Gone Fishing, compiled by Marc Anello. New York: Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 1996.

 

A Call for Instructors and Classes at the 2008 Texas Fly Fishing & Outdoor Show

What? The 5th (not so annual) Texas Fly Fishing & Outdoor Show

When? October 10th -12th, 2008

Where? River Star Arts & Event Park; Kerrville, Texas (Pavilions, electricity, and air-conditioned rest rooms, adjacent to the river)

Why? (A) It's fun. (B) It's the best rivers and bay outdoor show in Texas. (C) It's on the water (Guadalupe River). (D) It's for the whole family with classes in all aspects of fly fishing, canoeing, and kayaking.

How? The show is a fun affair and a great chance for the fly-fishing world to meet, make acquaintances, see all sorts of demonstrations and displays, and be exposed to instructional opportunities.

This is a call for clubs and instructors to become involved in the show. In the past, several of the clubs did classes on fishing their particular rivers of interest; some club members were involved in the sport on a commercial basis and gave classes on their particular skills and services. Dave and Emily Whitlock will be returning as our headliners for the fly fishing show this year.

If any clubs would like to participate, or if there are any club members who would like to teach at the show or if any or in a business aspect of our sport wish to exhibit at the show, please contact the producers: e-mail rbm@hcamp.org or write to

R.B. Miller and Corey Miller
Texas Fly Fishing & Outdoor Show
1214 Oriole
Kerrville, Texas 78028

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From FFF ClubEd. . .

Less Can Be More
By Jay Forrest–Taken from the
Alamo Fly Fishers Club Newsletter

One of the things that seems to appeal to many fly fisher persons is the diversity of gear, gadgets, and thingamajigs that are available. Forty years of observing fly fisher people leads me to the conclusion that most of us display a definite pattern in the amount of stuff we carry with us when we fish. From one rod, one reel, maybe one fly box, etc. we accumulate nippers, knot tools, fly floatant and fly sink, leaders, tippet, fly boxes of dries and nymphs and streamers and (one for each, of course) other stuff, vests, chest packs, backpacks, spare reels, spare lines, and on and on. While this hoard tends to grow throughout the life of a fly fisher person, the amount actually carried need not.

Rather than carrying everything you own–a common phase that typically ends with the fisher person looking like a walking store display–the habit gets established and fisher people often carry far more than they will ever be likely to need. At some point the fisher person begins to get smart. At first the fisher person will probably strive to remove things that aren't needed, say pulling shorter bass leaders and flies from the vest for a trip to the Guadalupe. That can work reasonably well, to a point, but I know members of the club (author included) who have arrived at the Guad and rigged up only to find that they have only 0X and 1X saltwater leader material to use to tie on a size 22 nymph. (If you can figure out how to get a 0X tippet through the eye of a size 22 hook or to get a size 12 Nymph to drift properly on 0X tippet, you are a wizard and don't need to read this!)

The answer many of us arrive at is to assemble gear bags with appropriate tippet, flies, etc. for each type of fishing we do, say on bag for trout, one for bass and sunfish, and one for the coat. While this does tend to encourage multiple nippers and such, it has the advantage of simplifying life. One can simply grab a bag for the right type of fishing and be ready to go.

Perhaps more importantly, it begins to simplify what one carries as well. And that is one of the typical signs of more experienced fly fisher people. While more experienced fishermen often have more junk, they often carry less–only what is needed.

Over the past few years I have increasingly focused on simplifying my gear. On the coast I strive to carry on my person no more than nippers, a spare leader, tippet (10 pound and 12 pound test) and no more than four to six flies. I will have more in the boat or kayak, but that is all I will typically carry. For bass and sunfish the list would be similar but with say 8 and 10 pound tippet and a few more flies, possibly one box. For trout, I typically carry a similar kit with 4X and 5X tippet on the Guad and two fly boxes–one with a variety of dry flies and one with wet flies.

I find that carrying makes my life simpler and lets me find things faster. Even better, it encourages me to get rid of those shoddy, ratty old flies I tied years ago and that I carried for years. Try it! Try paring down your gear and see if simplifying will make your life easier and fishing more fun!

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