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Nat Greene Flyfishers July 2005

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NAT GREENE CALENDAR

MEETINGS & EVENTS

Tuesday July 12, 2005 - Monthly Meeting: Mike Smith of Greasy Creek Outfitters in Floyd County, Va. will speak on flyfishing for trout on private streams and in the Dan River Gorge. Lewis Recreation Center, 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday August 9, 2005 - Annual Summer Picnic. Food, drink, & fishing. Bur-Mil Park, Greensboro, 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday September 13, 2005 - Monthly Meeting: Eugene Schuler from Smoky Mountain Fly Fishing and finalist in last years Fly Fishing Masters Southeastern Division, "Fishing Opportunities in Great Smoky Mtn. National Park," Lewis Recreation Center, 7:00 p.m.

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Casting for Confidence 2005

Introducing the Sport of Fly Fishing

To Breast Cancer Survivors

Why fly fishing? It provides beneficial exercise, relieves stress and is a wonderful way to spend time outdoors in a beautiful setting.

Who can participate? Participation is limited only to breast cancer survivors (especially those beginning to resume normal physical activity after mastectomy or other surgery). There is no cost for the fly fishing instruction and activities and equipment is provided for the day. The number of participants is limited to approximately 20. If you would like to participate, please complete the form below and return it as soon as possible or send a letter or an e-mail with the information requested below. Applicants will be chosen on a first come first serve basis by postmark or e-mail date. If you participated last year please apply again this year and bring along a fellow survivor as your Fishing Friend (see below). Preference will be given to applicants who did not participate last year unless they are accompanying a new participant as their Fishing Friend.

When? Saturday, October 15, 2005

Where? A beautiful mountain lake in north Georgia

Who is organizing the retreat? Local women fly fishers who are members of the Georgia Woman Fly Fishers are providing many volunteers with fly fishing expertise for the retreat. In addition, other volunteers and medical personnel will be present for the event.

What will the retreat day be like?

9:00-9:30 a.m.: Registration, Introductions, Overview of Fly Fishing

9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Three Sessions For Beginners: Fly Casting; Fly Tying, Knots and Equipment.

12:00-1:00 p.m.: Lunch

1:00-4:00 p.m.: Free Time and Fishing (two hours of free time to chat with each other and experts about recovery, or revisit fly fishing topics from morning sessions; each participant will have a one hour “guided” fly fishing session)

4:00-6:00 p.m.: Awards/Supper

PLEASE REGISTER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING LODGING/CAMPING OPTIONS IN THE AREA (AT YOUR COST IF YOU DESIRE TO STAY OVERNIGHT BEFORE OR AFTER THE EVENT) AND DIRECTIONS WILL BE PROVIDED AFTER YOU REGISTER.

CFC 2005, Fly Fishing Retreat Sign-Up Form

Name: _______________________________________

Address: ____________________________________

(City, State, Zip)_____________________________

Home Phone Number__________________________

Work Phone Number (Optional)_________________

Email Address (Optional)_______________________

Mail To:

Fly Fishing Retreat

Suzanne Chalk

3808 Tawny Birch Court

Decatur, GA 30034

call: (404) 429-0250

email: smchalk@yahoo.com

I am from (fill in the blanks) _______ county. It has been _________months since I completed my surgery or treatments.

I (circle one) did or did not ________ participate in CFC 2004.

I (circle one) am or am not ________ bringing along a fellow survivor as my Fishing Friend. My Fishing Friend’s name is ___________________.

(Please also have your Fishing Friend complete and send in a Sign-Up Form)

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Off Island Boathouse

As I write this, I am recovering from a five hour road trip home from the Outer Banks. Molly and I had the pleasure of spending several days with old friends on an island in the Pamilco Sound in the shadow of the Bodie Island lighthouse. Literally. A glance out the kitchen door saw the top three black and white bands of the old structure poking above the low scrub that dominates the undeveloped parts of the Banks. We stayed in a long time rod and gun club called Off Island from the island on which it sits. The structure is an amalgamation of piecemeal construction over the years. We ate at a large table made of wood salvaged from a wreck impaled on nearby shoals. At night we slept in what are loosely termed dormitories or what are realistically bunks crammed into smallish rooms. They were constructed on the premise that exhausted duck hunters didn’t care where they would crash for the night as long as it wasn’t in the wet, cold blind. Despite the charm of the main building what really intrigued me was the boathouse.

The canal adjacent to the main building wound around back into a substantial structure. Three wooden walls were topped with an aging tin roof. The boathouse had three bays, a large, open floor space and a ceiling crammed full of assorted stuff. Several heavy wooden boats, suitable for blasting shotguns from, were hoisted off the floor. An inverted canoe awaited its paddlers. Fishing rods ready to go rested there, too. Multicolored nylon ropes with loops hung from the rafters dangling in anticipation of suspending who-knows- what off the floor.

There were ample work benches against the walls and in the middle of the floor. One held tools in various stages of rusting decay because the salty, humid air was not kind to steel. There were sufficient tools there to plug a hole in a boat, repair a dripping faucet or replace a failed electrical socket. I also saw perhaps the most ancient sets of Allen wrenches in existence. They would need a heavy dose of lubricating oil and wire brushing before being considered for use. An assortment of boating-related debris was scattered around including worn–out propellers and a number of ancient red gas tanks. Recalling how the boatyard mechanics have been lecturing me about the danger of old gas, I wondered just what those tanks held.

The island is not large but home to numerous raccoons and small deer. They were represented as well. Small bleached antlers and animal traps festooned with clumps of raccoon fur hung from the rafters. A new nylon fishing net lay across a bench next to an older model with cork floats. The previous evening I enjoyed puppy drum snared in similar nets so I knew why these pieces were prized and not discarded.

The bays themselves held two boats and a small, floating bait trap. The two boats were also heavy, wooden affairs whose aging outboards were well maintained. My host preferred the Johnson 40 horse and it started without fanfare. We ran around the south end of the island and emptied the crab pots, first into a collective receptacle and later, after much preparation, into our collective bellies. The heavy craft skimmed over the waves wind-whipped into small whitecaps. I never questioned the seaworthiness of the craft and enjoyed myself immensely. Both boats showed the wear and tear of hauling sportsmen and their gear over the years. Multiple cracks and holes were patched with epoxy filler and fresh coats of paint made the old boats look shipshape.

The final bay was empty except for the bait trap, which upon inspection, contained about two dozen blue crabs. These captives were maintained for the magic time they shed their shells and became soft shelled, or “peelers” as the local called them. As much as I love soft shelled crabs, they are lucky I didn’t discover them until the end of my stay. I probably would not have disturbed them anyway, knowing someone else had placed them there in anticipation of that same special meal. Later that day, two crabs in a Manteo restaurant weren’t so fortunate.

This weekend was a special time shared with friends old and new alike. We laughed, fished a bit, yakked for hours and just plain relaxed. Molly said she never saw me so relaxed. I have to admit I didn’t care if I fished or not, especially after seeing how much work it would be to throw my eight weight into the wind. I brought enough fly tying stuff to guide two friends through a Merkin crab and a Clouser minnow. They loved it and asked for more. I will certainly set aside time in the future to delve more deeply into the art form with them. Although these few days were but a brief break from civilization, this weekend will be cherished for a long, long time. I’ve often gazed at the grayish, worn structures along the shore and wondered what they looked like close-up and what kind of people stay there. Now I know, from the inside out, they are ramshackle buildings straining to keep up with the vagaries of wind and weather. I also found the people are friends, who just like me, appreciate the salty air, the cry of birds riding a stiff breeze and the sudden tightening line that signals life on the other end. These are universal experiences that I hope will draw Molly and me back again.

Jim Brady

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Saltwater Fly Fishing

Guys, I have learned in the past couple of years that you do not have to go far to find great saltwater fly fishing. In fact, only about 5 minutes from an extremely busy boat ramp in Southport, NC that I have used all of my life. A short boat ride to a secluded bay, that virtually all of the fishermen ignore because it is too shallow and too hot, has yielded some of the most exciting fishing trips that I have ever taken.

Late last May I booked a trip with Fisher Culbreth of Capture Charters to fish my home waters near Southport. I asked what we could pursue on the fly, and almost jokingly, if we could sight fish like we were in Florida. He said, "No problem, I have got just the spot". Ten minutes later, I am staring in disbelief at an entire school of tailing redfish 25-28" long in 8 inches of water!

The first cast of the day resulted in me seeing my backing shoot through the rod tip for the first time ever thanks to a highly upset 28" redfish! As the tide dropped and the water became too skinny for his boat, we staked out in a channel and waded for the schools of reds that were still feeding. I managed to land 3 while wading and 5 from the boat during that trip.

I repeated my late May trip with Fisher this year without the numbers of fish (here is where letters to legislators would be appreciated regarding estuary netting), but we did find 1 school of reds and several monster singles. Only one would eat, but it was a pig of a redfish, 29" long and about 10-12lbs.

Stalking the fish, seeing the fish, casting, watching the red beat out another 10 pounder to eat my fly, and two runs into the backing made the whole day...and gave me memories that are make me grin "like a mule eating briers" as my grandpa would say.

Fisher was kind enough to donate a half-day guided trip to our banquet this year. It was won by Joe Craig, and I can't wait to hear how they did. Fisher may be reached at 910-262-1450 for inshore fishing from Southport to Topsail Beach.

David Dow

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Polarized Sunglasses Explained

Outdoors, light, the radiant energy from the sun, stimulates the retinas of our eyes. Our brains translate the visual sensations of light brought to it by the optical nerve. Two kinds of light, ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR), can't be detected by the human eye but are present in large quantities in the light spectrum. Both can damage our retinas (eyes) unless a proper filtering lens is used. Also, there is a shorter-wave blue light which the human eye focuses imperfectly. It causes "blueblur" which in time can damage the retina. The effects of blue light are intensified by haze, fog, rain and snow.

Proper sunglasses should improve vision in a wide variety of light conditions, as well as protect from UV and IR rays, glare, and blue light. Polarized lenses block glare and help us follow a tiny dry fly down a riffle through hundreds of wavelets reflecting sunlight back at us. A good polarizing screen in our sunglasses help us see that tiny fly.

What is a polarizing screen? The polarizing screen is a special film encased (sandwiched) between layers of optical glass or plastic lenses.

Before sandwiching, this film is stretched and dipped in an iodine solution. As the film stretches, microscopic ridges within the film elongate, allowing them to absorb iodine in a series of very closely spaced ridges, making them "polarized." The lines are something like the very narrow banded and closely spaced Venetian blinds.

Trouble occurs when cheap plastic lenses have open spots where the ridges didn't hang together during stretching and sandwiching. The better, harder, plastics and optical glass don't. Glass, with the sandwiched film, is the best and most durable, but hard plastics now dominate the market. Much of it is a carbonate. CR-39 provides lenses with up to 99% effectiveness in blocking UV and IR rays; they're often advertised as 100% effective. Cheap plastics offer only slightly more than 50%. The good stuff can cost to $IOO-plus, but you can pay a lot more for fishing gear, and even more for travel and lodging. Your trip could be all but ruined if you couldn't see fish or fly due to cheapies.

Polarized sun glasses that you might use for fly fishing come in a variety of tints. Tints filter out light wavelengths that may be undesirable or generally reduce the intensity of light in very bright settings. It should be apparent from the following discussion of tints that no single pair of sunglasses are adequate for all your fishing needs. Available tints include:

YELLOW/AMBER is a very high contrast tint with considerable color shift. As such it changes the colors your eyes see by a considerable degree. It filters the most blue light and increases contrast and is thus an excellent choice for sight-fishing in overcast, flat or low-light situations in fresh water.

MEDIUM/DARK GRAY reduces the maximum amount of visible light and is the best choice for sensitive eyes and extremely bright fishing settings. Gray allows for full and true color transmission and therefore all colors are reduced to the same degree. Saltwater fishing offshore might be such a situation.

LIGHT BROWN offers the greatest amount of visible light transmission, allowing for the glare-reduction and protection of polarization in very low light and making it an ideal tint for early morning, late evening or any low light condition. This is a favorite among anglers who fish evening hatches and in the winter. Light brown is also very effective on saltwater flats at sunset.

MEDIUM BROWN is a good choice for an all-around tint for fresh and salt water fly fishing. Medium brown improves contrast while retaining most colors, except unwanted blue light.

VERMILLION OR COPPER tints heighten visual acuity, increase contrast, enhance colors, and are extremely soothing to the eye and comfortable to wear over long periods of time. Ideal, all around, average light tints for both fresh and salt water.

In high-quality glass lenses, the tint is. contained in the film and doesn't change during prescription grinding. Plastic lenses are dipped into a hot dye and the pigment is then absorbed into the plastic. In time, UV rays can bleach and fade tints. In the case of prescription plastic lenses, the prescription adjustments are done first, then the lens is dipped in the dye, to eliminate any variation in the tint. Happy choosing to you.

By Bob Wisner – From the San Diego Flyfishers Newsletter

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Float Tube Liners Available to FFF Clubs

The FFF has float tube liners available to FFF clubs. The liners feature horizontal rod holders, two armrest pockets, back storage pocket, Lash tabs for accessories, adjustable seat, inflatable backrest, anti-slip seat top, quick-release seat buckle, and orange safety panel. Clubs may obtain one box containing six float tube liners. A $30.00 fee will be charged for shipping and handling charges. Contact Matt at educate@fedflyfishers.org or call 406-222-9369 ext 103.

Hook Assortments Available to FFF Clubs

Available now are hook assortments to FFF clubs to use for their fly tying programs. Because of a generous donation from the Mustad Hook Co. the FFF is able to make a pack of 500 various size hooks available for the cost of $5.00 each to cover shipping and handling. Contact Matt at the Fly Fishing Discovery Center to obtain these hooks for your club. Email Matt at educate@fedflyfishers.org or call 406-222-9369 ext 103.

FFF ClubWire, May 2005

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