www.natgreeneflyfishers.org Email: info@natgreeneflyfishers.org

Nat Greene Flyfishers October 2005

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NAT GREENE CALENDAR

MEETINGS & EVENTS

Tuesday October 11, 2005 - Local flyfishing authority Jeff Wilkins (JeffreyWilkinsFlyfishing.com) will be the guest speaker. As always, Jeff will be glad to offer expert advice on fly tying, casting, fishing tips, and any other questions you might have. Lewis Recreation Center, 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday November 8, 2005 - Meeting topic TBA. Lewis Recreation Center, 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday December 13, 2005 - Nat Greene Flyfishers 2005 Holiday Social. Light snacks and beverages for an evening of socializing, friendship, and door prizes. All are welcome. Lewis Recreation Center, 7:00 p.m.

Saturday March 4, 2006 - Annual Flyfishing Seminar and Spring Banquet, featuring Special Guest Speaker and Author Dave Hughes. 9:00 a.m. (Seminar) and 6:30 p.m (Banquet), Cardinal Golf and Country Club, 5700 Cardinal Way, Greensboro NC

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HELP STOP A BAD ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT BILL

The House of Representatives will be taking action on Thursday on an ill-conceived and unwarranted attack on the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

We need you to contact your Representative today by visiting http://www.tu.org/takeaction to tell him/her to oppose the bill, the "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005" (TESRA), HR 3824.

Background

TU places a high priority on conserving native trout and salmon. It is a sad but true fact that many of our native trout and salmon are listed by the federal agencies as endangered species, including Atlantic salmon in Maine, greenback cutthroat in Colorado, bull trout in Montana, and steelhead in Idaho. TU members and staff are working hard with our state and federal agency partners to restore these great fish. A recent inventory by TU staff showed that members and staff have conducted 175 on-the-ground projects that directly benefited recovery of either listed species of trout and salmon, or imperiled species that could be listed in the near future.

The ESA provides the strongest protection in federal law for these fish, helping to shield them against habitat-destroying activities. Therefore, TU supports the ESA and considers the ESA to be one of the nation's most important laws for protecting and restoring trout and salmon populations.

The Sham of TESRA

TESRA claims to "provide greater results conserving and recovering listed species…" in its opening lines. The following are a few of the major reasons why it fails to deliver on the claim and is a threat to undermine all of our work to restore endangered trout and salmon.

Abandons the Federal Government's Commitment to Recovery of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. TESRA imposes new recovery planning requirements that fail to promote recovery, the fundamental goal of the ESA. The ESA requires that the federal fish and wildlife agencies work toward bringing plants and animals back from the brink of extinction to the point where they no longer need the ESA's protections. TESRA fails to require protection of habitat necessary for recovery. Recovery plans become "nonbinding guidance," not a mandatory requirement.

Sharply Weakens Habitat Protection. TESRA would dramatically limit protections for habitats that endangered trout and salmon need to survive. The ESA requires the designation and protection of areas referred to as "critical habitat" that are "essential to the conservation of the species." TESRA repeals critical habitat without providing adequate assurances that habitat necessary for recovery will be protected.
Cuts Fish and Wildlife-Conserving Experts Out of the Loop. TESRA would cut federal fish and wildlife experts out of the loop in determining whether other federal agency actions would harm endangered plants and animals. Some of the ESA's strongest and most effective provisions require all federal agencies to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ensure that their actions do not "jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered species or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of [critical] habitat…" TESRA would allow federal agencies to avoid consulting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and undermine the requirement of federal agencies to ensure that their actions would not jeopardize the continued existence of listed plants and animals.

What You Can Do

Tell your Representative that the he/she should oppose this bill and go back to the drawing board to make real and useful improvements to the ESA.

Tell your Representative that TU works hard for recovering endangered trout and salmon, and that we don't want to see our good work go to waste if this bill is passed into law.

To reach your Representative by phone, call 202-224-3121 which connects you to the Capitol switchboard. Just ask the operator to connect you to your Representative's office.

To reach your Representative by fax, call or e-mail Steve Moyer at TU (703-284-9406; smoyer@tu.org) and he will quickly provide the fax number.

To reach your Representative by e-mail, please visit http://www.tu.org/takeaction

Thank you for your help.

Sample letter

Dear Representative,

As a member of Trout Unlimited (TU), I am writing to urge you to oppose the badly titled "Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005 (TESRA)", H.R. 3824, which is scheduled for a vote in the House on Thursday.

I am very concerned about the bill's effect on the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The ESA has been useful in preventing the extinction of many species of trout and salmon, and it helps to provide a solid foundation for the more than 175 projects that TU members and staff have completed to restore endangered trout and salmon in recent years.

I am concerned that this bill could actually lead to more fish and wildlife extinctions and undermine our national commitment to protecting endangered fish and wildlife by sharply diminishing habitat protections, allowing federal agencies to ignore their responsibility to protect endangered species, and weakening the federal government's duty to recover listed species.

I urge you to oppose this bill and instead work with your colleagues to develop a bill that would improve endangered species recovery rather than weaken them.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your views on this matter.

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WOULD I RATHER GO FOR ONE BIG FISH OR A BUNCH OF SMALL FISH?

I missed the opener last year for the first time in many years, so this year I was determined to make the most of it. My plan was to leave for Bishop on Wednesday night and return Saturday night of the following week. That would give me ten fishing days. My general plan was to fish the Owens Gorge, Hot Creek, and the Kennedy Meadows area for Golden Trout. I am a beginner at fly fishing and I have learned a lot about the sport from many of the club members. One word of advice that I have heard repeatedly is that you have to put the time in on the water. I had vacation time available, but I was a little short of cash. My solution was to go low budget, camp in the back of my pick-up and live out of ice chests. The trip turned out to be quite an ordeal.

I left home Wednesday after work and by sunset I was in Palm-caster. It was a pretty evening with two layers of clouds in the sky. The top layer was high altitude and stretched all across the sky. I could not help but think of one of Don Lee’s pink salmon filets. The lower mass was a gathering of dark angry-looking clouds just hanging over the mountains in the southwest. It looked like a big storm was right behind me.

I made it to Bishop, encountering no weather problems and sacked out in the back of my truck. Thursday morning my plan was to meet Ron Morita at Jack’s for a cup of awful coffee. While sipping mud and waiting for Ron to arrive, I contemplated the question of whether I would rather utilize my fishing time trying to catch one big fish with a low probability of success or angle for smaller fish with a greater probability for success. If you have ever been in Jack’s, you have no doubt seen the trophies mounted on the wall. Just fantasizing about hooking one of those babies on a fly line is enough to get my motor running.

Ron arrived looking like one of those fish on the wall. He left home at some ungodly hour and paid the price of driving through the storm. After several more cups of mud and breakfast we headed up to the Owens River Gorge. The turn-off from 395 is the road leading to the Control Gorge power plant. Once making the turn off 395, the road comes to a “T.” As a point of reference, if you go to the right, you will follow the penstock to the Control Gorge power plant. From the parking lot, you can walk up stream and fish the bottom end of the gorge or you can go down stream and fish Pleasant Valley Reservoir. I suspect it was a bureaucrat that named that reservoir, because it looks anything but pleasant. However, it does hold a lot of fish and attracts a lot of bait fishermen.

Ron and I did not make that right, but instead went left, up-hill, and followed the penstock. There are a couple of paved roads that veer off to the east, the first goes to the Middle Gorge power plant and the second goes to the Upper Gorge power plant (both roads end with a locked gate at the top of the gorge and from there it is a long walk down to the stream). Ron and I fished along the road going to the Upper Gorge plant.

It was very slow fishing, no fish were rising, and by noon I think we had only caught one fish apiece. You’ll have to check with Ron for his lies. We broke for lunch, admiring the beauty of the gorge and saying stuff like, “even if the fish aren’t biting at least we are at a beautiful location.” You know the routine. With my level of fishing expertise I have come to admire the beauty of a lot places, even Pleasant Valley Reservoir. Well, during lunch the weather took a turn for the better. Up to that time it had been partly cloudy but now we had light rain mixed with snow flurries. Back on the water mayhem was breaking out. Fish were rising to a mayfly hatch. I used a size 20 BWO and fish were smacking them like it was candy. The action was frantic for about an hour and a half and then it tapered off. It has been my observation that if I am doing well, the average fisherman would have a killer day. I have been on many streams where fellow fishermen would catch two, three or maybe four fish to my one. So when I rack-up a good set of numbers like I did on Thursday, I know that it would have been a good day for just about everybody. I landed 6 from just one pool and had many rises and takes throughout the different sections of water I fished. Like I said earlier, you’ll have to talk to Ron to hear his lies.

Did I say it was a long way down into the gorge? Well it’s a long, long, long way back out. Ron and I shared a room that night and I was out cold before my head hit the pillow. On Friday, Ron and I went our separate ways. He was meeting friends to fish on Crowley and I was just going to play it day by day.

Fishing in the gorge was so good on Thursday that I spent the next three days in that ravine. The mayhem of Thursday was not repeated but each day that followed was both different and good. On Sunday I counted how many fish I actually landed and by quitting time I had brought 15 to the net. The number of fish that I farmed was probably close to that number.

A few notes about the gorge are warranted. The road along the stream provides for easy walking, but the actual access to the stream can be a challenge. Some of the banks were a struggle for this 57 year old because of their steepness and because they were over-run with a wild rose that had some pretty sharp stickers. Along the stream, nettles were six inches high and were abundant. The gorge is not the easiest place to fish, but that’s why it is a good fishery. For anyone planning to fish this area in the summer, keep in mind that the nettles will be three to four feet high and it will be hot. I have been told by many that rattlesnakes are abundant in the summer; however, I have never seen one there.

On Monday, I gassed up the Chevy, and headed up the grade to Hot Creek. It was about 11 when I drove past Hot Creek, but there were nine cars in the first parking lot, six in the second and fifteen in the big lot where the hot tub people park. I saw several guys with fly rods in that lot and it did not appear that they were going to partake of the mineral baths. I didn’t stop, but just kept going to Long Ears, which is a section on the Upper Owens.

I first learned to fly fish on the Upper Owens. I like the river because there is plenty of room to cast and no trees, which makes it an easy place to fish. Over the years I have caught some nice fish in this river and it’s rarely crowded. The big disadvantage is the wind. It was late afternoon when I got on the water and the winds were already blowing. I got lucky with a couple of mayfly hatches and was able to score a number of small browns before the sun set behind the mountains.

On Tuesday morning I again pondered the big fish / little fishes question. So far, I had already had one of my better trips. I caught my share of fish and some were pretty good sized, but there were no trophies in the bunch. In times past I ran into a fellow on the Owens River who only fished for the big ones. He would flip a large dry fly about 2 to 6 inches away from the far bank and try to entice the fish hidden under those banks. He was a good caster and could maintain a good drift. My skill level is not there yet so I decided to try and drift a fly on my side of the bank. I committed myself to try for a big one. I used an assortment of size 10 dries with no success until I put on an elk hair caddis. I have no idea what it represented because there were no caddis flies along the banks or grass hoppers in the pastures. However, I started to get rises and they were big fish -- probably between 14 and 20 inches. They rose up really slowly looking at the fly and sometimes sank back into darkness while at other times took off with a dart. I suspect the darting fish saw me looming over the water and made the appropriate decision to get the fin out of there.

It was slow fishing, with long gaps in time between rises. I placed the fly up stream, let it float by and then picked it up and did it again. I covered an area with at least three drifts, varying the distance from the bank, and then walked upstream two or three feet to do it again. Bend after bend and bank after bank, I worked that river. I think I walked and fished 50 miles that day and to be truthful it became somewhat monotonous. The rises were so infrequent that each time it happened I would be completely surprised. The rises occurred just frequently enough that I had to keep fishing. It reminded me of a Vegas slot machine.

Then it happened: a jackpot. A monster came out of the depths with the slow assurance of an alpha fish. It was a big fat rainbow that moved with no wasted energy. He was headed for that elk hair with elegance and grace. I suspect his intent was to grab a quick bite and then just as gracefully sink back into the murky darkness of his well protected grotto. I on the other hand was in a state of shock. Right in front of me was the biggest trout I had ever seen. It was huge. The world was suddenly in slow motion. He took the fly and leisurely attempted to make his descent. However, the instant he felt resistance, the descent turned into a submarine crash-dive. He was hooked hard and all I had to do for a good ride was to hang on. Or shall I say, that’s all I could do. He peeled line and headed up steam. All that potential energy he had been storing up was now unleashed. I screamed out for help. This was the biggest trout I ever hooked, and that includes some big fish I hooked trolling on Bridgeport Reservoir. After swimming up stream, he raced down stream and my confidence rose. Down stream was a shallow riffle and I figured if I got him in shallow water I might actually have a chance to land this big boy. No such luck! As soon as the water started to thin out he raced back up stream and headed for some submerged plants. All I could do was run along the banks and hang on. Owens River has a lot of weed formations that look like cones facing upstream. The monster headed into one of them with only his tail fin sticking out. The fin was so big it looked like a small Japanese hand fan. This gave me a chance to reel in line, which provided a brief reprieve for both of us. I had no idea how I was going to land him. I looked around for help but there was no one else on the river as far as I could see. I knew my small trout net would not hold him. I thought that as long as he was in the weeds, he would feel safe, and not go anywhere, but once he had time to rest, my chances for success would diminish. I slowly walked up stream taking in line and not allowing any slack. I pulled gently, applying pressure with the utmost care, fearful that my 6X tippet was going to pop at any moment. He took off again and my rod bent like a bow. I was using a 4 weight, “steel head” rod that I won in a raffle in fly tying (thanks again, Kazy). It’s a stiff rod, but it bent into a “U.” My reel zinged as he charged down stream. Like a clown, I ran after him. When he reached shallow water, he screamed back up stream, but this time he headed right for me. I was starting to panic because I could not bring line in quickly enough and the line would momentarily go limp then tighten up and then go limp again. He headed for the area along the bank where I had hooked him -- his undercut bank. When he stopped, I recovered and this miraculous fish was still tethered. But now, how would I get him out from under the bank? He did not want to budge no matter how much pressure I applied so I had to take drastic measures. I got down on my hands and knees and started poking under the bank with my walking stick. It freaked him out. He peeled more line as he screamed up stream and then back down stream. Once again I ran along the bank, yelling and screaming like a maniac. He charged toward me and again took refuge under the bank. Well, if it worked once, it just might work yet again. I got on my hands and knees and started poking with my trusty stick. He took off like a rocket. However, this time was to be the last. He headed directly up stream underneath the bank, peeled line for about 20 feet and as unexpectedly as it all began it was over. Limp line, a straight rod, a pounding heart and a wonderful memory were all that was left of my experience with a trophy. It was the biggest trout that I have ever seen in a trout stream.

It is a tough question, take a chance for a big one or improve my odds and go for a number of smaller ones. I got skunked that day. I did not land a single fish. A few rises and a few takes, but nothing landed.

On Wednesday, a storm was moving in. I met several nymph fishermen who were having a banner day (by the way, they were using egg patterns) but few fish were rising and there were no hatches taking place. It was a slow day – fish weren’t taking my flies. It gave me time to admire nature and nature did not disappoint me. All up and down the stream fish were spawning. The wind blew me off the water by two o’clock, which was okay since I wanted to fish the Little Kern in the Kennedy Meadows area on Thursday.

I have fished up and around the Little Kern a couple of times in search of Golden Trout and last season I found a good spot. Thursday morning I went up Nine Mile Canyon and was pleased to find wild flowers in bloom. I appreciate the subtle beauty of the desert in bloom, and this nine mile trip was worth it.

The Kennedy Meadows area was drab and depressing looking in comparison to Nine Mile Canyon. Burned-out forests, gray wet skies, and a lack of flowering vegetation created a mood appropriate for an Alfred Hitchcock movie. When I got to the Little Kern, it was raining and the scenery was not the only thing that was depressing. The river was overflowing its bank and looked like the coffee from Jack’s. Further exploring revealed that all the streams and creeks in the area were in the same condition. So, after a week on the road, sleeping in the back of my truck, the fish gods were telling me it was time to go home. I had a chance at one big fish and I caught a lot of small fish. I had a good time. All time spent on the water is good time.

Taken from Sierra Pacific Flyfishers newsletter - FFF Affiliate Club
By Gary Pintar

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Dave Hughes to Speak at 2006 Annual Spring Banquet!

Great News! Nationally known author and fly tying expert Dave Hughes will speak at the Nat Greene Flyfishers Annual Spring Banquet and Seminar on March 4, 2006. Dave has officially retired from public speaking, but we've twisted his arm just a bit. He'll present a morning seminar on flies and tactics, followed by a casting demo after lunch. The evening banquet presentation will feature a presentation appropriate for for a broad audience.

Dave is one of the most respected and widely published writers in fly fishing. He is the author of 20 books, including Wet Flies, which has become an acclaimed reference on the subject, the popular Fly Fishing Basics, as well as four books in Stackpole's Dave Hughes Library: Handbook of Hatches, Reading the Water for Trout, and Tackle and Techniques for Trout. He contributes to the all the major fly-fishing magazines and is a regular columnist for Fly Rod & Reel. He was the founding president of Oregon Trout and received the Lew Jewett Memorial Life Membership from the Federation of Fly Fishers. He lives with his wife in Portland, Oregon.

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