Happy New Year! I hope everyone was able to enjoy some festivities even with the unusually stormy weather. I had my power knocked out for a few days but that didn’t slow me down too much.
I’m looking forward to the New Year and have a couple “fishing resolutions” to share. First is to go on 4-5 cool fishing trips and I already have 3 on the calendar. Second is to use my boat more. I have a pretty cool little boat that is good for chasing Steelhead on the Clackamas and Bass on the Willamette. Lasty, I’m going to make a half dozen fly tying videos & maybe even a few fishing videos.
It’s time to think about paying your 2023 membership fee. However if you joined as a new member in 2022 it will be good for 2023 too; we are on the honor system so please let me know. Here is the membership link plus I will be sending membership notices out to everyone. If you participate in the club I will guarantee you’ll get a solid value for the $35 you pay to be a member.
The “big 3” activities our club focuses on are meetings, fly tying and fish a longs (the 2023 schedule is on the website).
Just like last month, everyone that comes to the January 17th meeting at High Rocks will get a free beer on me. The speaker will be Michole Jensen. A couple years ago he gave us a presentation on Kayak fly fishing and he’s also the new communications director for the Deschutes River Alliance.
Our January 21st Fish A Long will be at my place on the Sandy River for a “steelhead school” with some hands on instruction on Spey Casting plus swung fly and nymph fishing presentations. In the past we’ve had this Fish A Long at Oxbow park but it gets pretty dang cold, so we’re having it at my place so we can warm up by the woodstove if the fishing is slow, and lets face it Winter Steelhead fly fishing is always slow!
As I’m typing this the water conditions are good but the steelhead are little scarce. Still, fish are being caught and nobody can cast far enough to get one from the couch, so you gotta get out there and pound the water! For several years now we have been posting monthly fishing reports. Looking back on them is a good way to get ideas for local fly fishing opportunities currently happening or coming up. I’ve tested it out; type the word January or February in the search box and you’ll get all the past reports for that month.
January is a great month to get good deals after Christmas so get out to your local fly shop buy all the stuff that Santa forgot. Please remember our sponsors, they are the lifeblood of the club. Stop by their shops and let them know your appreciate their support. Better yet buy something or book a trip.
Dave Kilhefner