fly fishing

April 22nd Fish-A-Long

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This month’s Fish-A-Long will be at the Oregon Fishing Club’s Rainer Lakes. They consist of 5 lakes holding trophy sized Rainbow trout, Bass & Panfish. These lakes are perfect for float tubes & pontoon boats, but there is ample bank access available.

When- 8am Saturday April 22. Meet at Cabela’s parking lot in Tualatin and carpool to the lakes.

Where- Rainer Lakes, Oregon Fishing Club Cost- $25 dollars per rod, these are private lakes. Equipment – 4 to 6wt rods with matching reel – floating & intermediate sinking fly lines – float tube or pontoon boat – waders – rain gear, layered clothing, it’s spring time in Oregon – lake flies, I’ll have extra

The plan: we’ll meet Saturday morning at the car pool location. Maps will be provided for those who would like one. The menu is Coffee & donuts for breakfast and Deli Sandwiches for lunch. Email Dave@kbi-ins.com with questions or catch me at the April 18th meeting.

Henry at last years Rainier Lakes fish-a-long:

April 18 Speaker – John Smeraglio

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John Smeraglio will be the CFF’s guest speaker Tuesday, April 18th. John has owned and operated the Deschutes Canyon Fly Shop since 1985. A long time guide and speaker, John’s presentation is always entertaining and informative!

We will also have a couple short presentations; one from Jim Coulthurst telling how the club was formed about 25 years ago and another by Brad Jonasson and Tom Flannery on a new program our club is sponsoring called the Fly Fishing Challenge.

It will be a great meeting you won’t want to miss!

Meeting details: https://clackamasflyfishers.org/meetings-events/

March 25th Fish-A-Long Report

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There seems to be a pattern with our winter fish-a-longs this year; just like last month I’m typing this report on a windy, rainy Sunday and feeling thankful we had much nicer day yesterday for the Sandy River fish-a-long.

With the higher water conditions we had a light turnout. Thanks to everyone for coming. A special thanks to Cheryl Kilhefner for her delicious lunch.

We started out the morning by enjoying hot coffee and telling fishing stories for about 45 minutes before wadering up and hitting the water. The stories were good and there didn’t seem to be any good reason to rush to get out there.

The water was running a little high; right at 12’ on the Sandy River gauge. The color was better than we guessed it would be, a nice winter steelhead green with about 2 feet of visibility. The current in the center of the river was too fast to make a good presentation so we concentrated on the slower water lane on our side of the river.

The fish gods were smiling and we landed a nice native winter steelhead about 11 pounds; a health hen steelhead that was perfect except for a sea lion bite down by her tale.

Our next fish-a-long will be at the Oregon Fishing Club for Stillwater trout fishing.

 

February 25th Fish A Long Report

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I’m typing this report on a windy, rainy Sunday morning and feeling thankful we had such a nice day yesterday for the Fish-A-Long at McIver Park.

We had a great turnout. Thanks to everyone for coming. A special thanks to Paul Brewer for the hot coffee and good food and Dave Kilhefner for spey casting instruction.

The water conditions were perfect for winter steelhead fly fishing. We fished every nook and cranny within sight but it has been a slow year and no fish were caught. Andrew reported seeing a fish jumping upstream but could not get it to take.

It was fun to help some of the clubs beginning spey casters with their casting and we made good progress! The theme of the day was to work on getting the anchor set. Once this is done the rest of the cast becomes much easier, but it takes a little time and practice to get used to the feel of a spey rod. Keep at it!

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CFF February Fish-A-Long

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This month’s Fish-A-Long will be held Saturday, February 25th on the Clackamas River. The location is yet to be determined but will likely be at McIver Park at the lower boat ramp. The wading here is easy and fish have been caught.

What- Winter Steelhead

Where- Clackamas River

When- 8am until lunchtime, Saturday, February 25th

Equipment-

  • Spey or Switch Rod
  • Skagit Line & sink tip(s)
  • 15lb tippet material
  • flies, bright patterns and dark patterns
  • waders & wading staff
  • rain gear
  • warm, layered clothing

Directions- go to McIver Park. Take the 1st left and drive down the hill. There will be a few turn outs—just keep to the left until you reach the lower boat ramp area.

We will have coffee, donuts and lunch. This fish a long will focus on spey casting and swung fly presentations. Questions; email or call Paul Brewer or Dave Kilhefner. Hope to see you there!

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Sandy River Steelhead Trip

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Our February auction is for a seat on a full day Sandy River Steelhead float trip with Mark Bachmann of The Fly Fishing Shop in Welches.  Nobody knows the Sandy like Mark and he will put you on prime waters!

The auction winner will be joined by the winner of the raffle to be held at the Feb. 21 club meeting.  The 2 of you will then get to negotiate dates with Mark.

Minimum opening bid is $140.

To make a bid send me an email at bartschp@gmail.com

Be sure to include a return email, a contact phone number, your full name, and of course, your bid.

Bids will be time stamped so earliest bid breaks the tie.

The auction closes at 5:30  p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

Please note the change in time to 5:30!

Let me know if you have questions.  Good Luck!

Thanks again to The Fly Fishing Shop in Welches for being a gold level sponsor of CFF! 

Phil Bartsch

gold-sponsor   The Fly Fishing Shop  http://flyfishusa.com/

Jan 28th Fish-A-Long Report

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Fishing was good, weather was good, camaraderie was good, food was good but the catching was not good. That’s winter steelhead fly fishing!

Thanks to everyone for coming and making this a fun fish-a-long!

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Jim Adams showing us the right way to spey cast & swing the fly slowly across the current. If there was a fish in there, he’d a caught it!

Metal Head Christmas Party and Annual Winter Steelhead Clinic

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Metal Head Christmas Party and Annual Winter Steelhead Clinic at The Fly Fishing Shop

Saturday, December 10, 2016 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Please share the day with us at The Fly Fishing Shop! A new winter steelhead season is here for celebration!

Free Food, Prizes, Programs, & Demonstrations!

Factory reps and fly fishing experts will share their knowledge:

Mark Bachmann—Patty Barnes—Hawkeye Hawkins—Tony Barnes—Bruce Berry—Garry Sandstrom—Brian Silvey—Dick Sagara—Marty Sheppard—Charles St. Pierre—Nick Rowell—Tom Larimer

Planned Presentations & Demonstrations:

9:00 – 9:45 am – Mark Bachmann – Winter Steelhead Fly Fishing from the Beginning 10:00 – 10:45 am – Hawkeye Hawkins – How Spey Components Work Together 11:00 – 11:45 am – Marty Sheppard – Oregon Trout, Bass & Steelhead

11:45 am – 1:00 pm – Free BBQ Lunch

1:00 – 1:45 pm – Tom Larimer – Modern Trout Spey Fishing 2:00 – 3:00 pm – Rob Crandall – Winter Spey Strategies

All Day – Fly Tying Demonstrations By Brian Silvey, Bruce Berry, Charles St. Pierre, Hawkeye Hawkins, Nick Rowell Featuring the region’s most experienced steelhead guides tying their favorite winter steelhead flies.

See you there!

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October 18th Speaker – Josh Linn

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Clackamas Fly Fishers is pleased to welcome back Josh Linn as our October speaker. His presentation will be on fall Trout and Steelhead fly fishing.

Josh’s bio:

Growing up I started fishing with my family, learning from my father and grandfather and we had a lot of good experiences. 

As I got older I started going to the Deschutes and met a guide over there, Doug Cook. He was an extremely good fly tier and an amazing fly fisherman. At that time I didn’t really know that much about fly fishing but that changed when Doug took me under his wing.

He and taught me everything he knew; the art of tying flies, fly fishing and rowing drift boats. I became his chauffer for about 5 years, learning the Deschutes river like the back of my hand.

During this time I was kindling a relationship with my best friend Marty Sheppard. Marty and I started fishing together and in the late 90’s Marty introduced me to the Spey rod and It has been downhill ever since!

I have guided all over the Northwest; Bass and Steelhead on the John Day, Trout and Steelhead on the Grand Ronde, Whitewater rafting in Hells Canyon, Steelhead on the Sandy, Clackamas and Klickitat.

My main passion is catching anadromous fish on a swung fly, most recently in remote Alaska on the infamous river X and the Sandy River for Steelhead and Kings. The waters I guide are perfectly suited for a Spey rod.

Like most fisherman and guides I have a passion for photography and developing flies, so Fly fishing has become a hobby inside of a hobby. There are many aspects of Fly fishing. You can get as much out of fly fishing as you want to put into it.

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