Pineywoods Fly Fishers

                Founded 1988

    Chapter of the Southern Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers

          Web Site http://home.sprynet.com/~waltermc

President: Jimmy Lee             Secretary/Treasurer: Ken Baker

 

 

 

From the Prez

I am looking forward to seeing all our club members and their families at the annual "Work Shop" this Saturday April 9, 2005.   Kurth Lake is a good lake for Bass and Sunfish; the Bass fishing should be very good this year. The staff house is top of the line for this type facility and is situated on a beautiful hill overlooking the lake.  Bill Heugel and his group of volunteers have an outstanding schedule of events that will last all day. I hope everyone will come and join in the activities.  If you want to fish all or part of the day that is fine also, this is an event to enjoy and maybe learn a little more about fly fishing at the same time.  The best part of the day will be the evening meal.  Howard Hinton and James Vest will be supply the main course of brisquet, beans and potato salad so as usual, we ask everyone to bring a side dish or dessert.

We will have some special items to give away and we will have the annual club raffle to help raise funds for the club.  So bring the family and enjoy a great day of fishing, fly tying, casting and other events.   See you Saturday!!!

Welcome New Members

Please welcome Trae and Linnie Scarborough of Nacogdoches to our great club. We hope they will enjoy many years with us. Trae is a geologist for Hydrex Environmental, Inc., they fish, hunt, camp out, compute and do the rock thing that all geologists do. They seem to be novice fly fishers so we will need to invite them to all our classes and help them get on board quickly.

From the Treasurer

There are several things I will mention in this article, some of them may be explained in other member’s articles. First; we have a new member, Trae Scarborough, who has met with us a couple of times before and paid his dues at the last meeting.  We also had an old member pay his dues, George Reed, which brings up a comment.  From now until October, when 2006 dues are due, new members dues will be prorated at $1.25 per month.  Each month, the amount for a new member will reduce by that amount.  For instance, in March the dues would be $8.75, in April, $7.50, etc.  When we did this once before, old members still paid the regular amount.

 

It is hard to believe but the Trout Project is about to end.  If you have not been yet, I urge you to go in the next month. As of March 1, you will be allowed to keep 2 trout. One of the keepers must be the first fish you catch. On Saturday, March 26, we will have an outing on the site, Howard has obtained the Pavilion and we will have a family outing.  We will have a cookout for any fish we catch or bring, plus we will try to have other food.  More will be determined and announced at the March 1 meeting. After Easter we will be taking the remainder of the trout out as the water will be drained for cleaning. More details will be given as the time gets closer. It was suggested by a member that maybe we should stop feeding, so as to make the fish hungry and more catchable and also maybe improve the taste.

 

Fly Fish Texas in Athens, is March 5.  Many PWFF members volunteer to work that day and if you would like to help, Walter may still have need of you so contact him.  Even if you don't want to work, make plans to attend.  It is a fun day.

 

The workshop at Kurth Lake is April 9 so plan to be a part of it. We will have good food, a lot of good door prizes, auction items, and several different fly tying and casting events. Once again, plan to bring the family. Several PWFF members tied flies at ACADEMY, on February 17, at the invitation of the management. We were well received by the management but had little response from the public. The most asked question was, "Where do you fly fish around here?  When we answered “anywhere” and the response before walking off was "OH", but it was a start and we might want to do it again sometime.

 

The program at the March 1 meeting will be a SWAP MEET.  Bring any items you would like to swap, give away or even sell and try your luck at getting rid of items you no longer need or use. Elvin Lewis did a great job telling how he built his canoe and showing his final product.  He is a friend of Royce and I. This was his first attempt at building a canoe and he did a great job. This is about all you can absorb for now so I will close by saying "A BAD DAY FISHING BEATS A GOOD DAY WORKING.'

 

From the Editor

Ken mentioned volunteering for Fly Fish Texas above but we have already produced our nametags, gate passes and lunch tickets. Anyone I submit now will put a burden on TFFC staff to go back to produce more. I ask for volunteers well in advance so we can avoid this but if you want to help then do contact me. As a side note, we will have two outstanding fly tyers sitting together at the roundtable, Jesse Huth, age 13 and Will Travis, age 12, you should make a point of dropping by to see and meet them.

Bill Heugel, Buddy Price and I attended the Little Missouri Fly Fishing Festival this weekend. It did not snow like last year and we had 85 attend. Bill and I gave our Rod Technology program and they loved it!!! We also tied flies. Buddy got to fish and here is his report “I met a couple of guys from Longview and we fished together for a while. They had done really well earlier and the fishing wasn't bad while I was there. I quite counting at 10 and probably caught 20-30 fish this morning (that doesn't count the ones I missed or lost!). By noon, I could barely feel my toes and decided to come off the water and warm up. Just as I got out, I met the Game Warden and had to show my license. Once I got a little feeling back in the feet, I decided to go ahead and turn for home. I was catching the fish on beadhead nymphs of various kinds, size 12 & 14. The March Browns were coming off sporadically with a number of midges coming off as well but I couldn't do anything with dry flys so went back to the nymphs. There is an amazing amount of fish in that river right now!

 

Fishing with Bruce Sublett

I got back to Tonk today, and had about 30 minutes of really good fishing when I first got there.  This is the second fish I caught; probably the biggest one I've taken up there.  Fly
is size 10 black/grizzly bugger with red flash and red thread head, fished dead under an indicator.  Last time, olive was the hot color.  Also caught a couple of trout smaller than
any I've caught there before (still parr marked).

 

 

Went down to Boykin Springs today and had better luck than the first trip.  Water was pretty clear given the rain we've had, and fish were hitting slow - stripped wooly buggers (10s and 12s) along the far shoreline. Fish are still awfully small, but careful culling got me 5 in the 9 to 10 inch range. Water feels awfully cold sitting out there in a float tube, even with good insulation. 

 

     I made a quick trip to Beaver's Bend Valentine's day and the day after to take advantage of the great weather. Pressure was pretty light, but the fish were pretty sparse as well, except in one spot.  The generators had just shut down when I got there, so I tried to fish Zone II.  There was still too much water backed up to fish, except right below the second dam and down on the first shoal.  There were sporadic rising fish, and a few March Browns coming off, but I didn't do anything there.
   About noon, I parked at the Skyline trail lot and talked to a fellow who had just caught a bunch (he said 80!) on #24 gray midge pupas.  I went up the creek and caught nothing on midge pupas, but did take a couple of fish coming back down.  The first was a decent 'bow on a #12 olive beadhead, the second was a really nice (16"?) brown on a black rabbit fur bugger--out of a hole I had just fished with the olive. This is the biggest brown I've caught at BB, but it seems like I get one a little bigger each trip.  They seem to finally be doing well there.  I've attached a picture--tough to get without taking the fish out of the water.

     Later in the afternoon, I fished the bluff holes with no luck, then closed out the day between the first bridge and the Skyline footbridge.  I took two fish on midge pupas, where the other fellow said he did so well--obviously just stocked fish that haven't moved out yet.
     Tuesday morning I went back up the creek and took three nice fish on a pearl beadhead midge pupa (#18) and hooked another good fish.  I get the impression that the upper creek hasn't had any new fish in a while--all I caught were bigger and healthier looking than new stockers.  If they could ever get that area off limits to bait fishermen, we'd have a great fishery. What I don't get is given the amount of money going into that fishery from the state of Oklahoma why enforcement is so lax.  I see bait dunkers violating limit laws every time I go up there, but enforcement seems minimal at best.
    There's still a little time before the spring break crowds start showing up, so it's a good time for a trip.

Programs

Our annual Swap Meet will be at our next meeting. Please bring all the good stuff and junk you want to trade or sell. Most fly tyers have some materials they will never use or a fly rod or two that they are not happy with. It is a fact that one man’s junk is another man’s treasurer in fly fishing, we cannot agree on what makes a good rod or reel so we all own something different. The club has several new fly lines that will be available for you to purchase at a discount so hold off until then. Come set up your stuff in an area where everyone can see it and start wheeling and dealing. It should be fun if you will bring what you have. 

 

WORKSHOP TIME!!!!!!

Our annual workshop is just around the corner

 

April 9, 2005

Kurth Lake Staff House

7:00AM Until ???

 

Activities Galor

 

Fishing

The fishing should be really good in April, bring a boat or canoe or kayak.  Don’t plan on wading as the gator has claims on the shoreline.  Bass, bream, catfish and stripers are all in this great little lake.

Fund Raising. 

There will be raffles, silent auctions, and live auctions.  Items will include flies, books, videos, rods, fly lines and other fishing gear.  This is our major fund raising activity so plan to come and participate.

 

As a special raffle we have a guided saltwater trip with Captain Ron Begnaud for shallow water reds and whatever else he can find.  You can buy tickets for the trip raffle at the next meeting.

 

Food

For those early arrivers there will be coffee, juice and donuts.

 

Lunch will be prepared by the Burger King’s Ken Baker and Jay Renken.

 

Dinner will be prepared by the BBQ boys James Vest and Howard Hinton.  Bring a side dish for the evening meal.

 

Lots of other activities.

Fly tying demonstrations will be conducted during the morning and afternoon by our local club members.  Come tie along or just watch.  We will be covering a complete range of fly types, Saltwater, Bream, Bass and Trout.

 

Jay Renken will be holding the casting games.  This activity is always a challenge.

 

A swap table will be provided for those of you who have things to sell or just want to get someone else’s special items.

 

A two handed rod demo will also be available.  Come try your hand at the latest rage.

 

Family and Friends

This is a family event so bring your spouse, significant other, kids and friends to be a part of this special day.  There is no charge for the daily activities.  Just come and have fun and learn a little.

 

Donations Needed

Donations of flies or other items are needed for the auctions and raffles.  These will be integrated with items we have received from vendors and other clubs.  Bring your donations to the meeting or to the workshop that morning.  Howard Hinton is collecting all the materials.

 

Remember this is one of our major fund raising events so come and participate.

 

Library

Bring your book or video in and check out another.

 

Monthly club meeting are held in the Lufkin Room, Lufkin Mall at 7 PM, the program for the first hour and then door prizes and fishing discussions until 9 PM.

Club Calendar

2005:

Feb 5         Fly Tying Festival, Houston I-59 @ Kirby Holiday Inn 9-5pm

Feb 18-20  Little MO’ Fly Fishing Festival   Murfreesboro, AR

Feb 26-27  Lower Mountain Fork River Foundation Outing with Fly Tying & Rod Building

Mar 1        Swap Meet meeting

Mar 5        Fly Fish Texas  Athens, TX

Mar 12      RedStick Conclave, Baton Rouge

Mar 17-19 Sowbug Roundup  Mt. Home, AR

Mar 26      Tonkawa Springs Outing & Cookout

Apr 5        Ken Richards, guide from Ark to speak

Apr 9        Workshop, Kurth Lake Staff House

Apr 15      Spring Rendezvous  Lake D’Arbonne State Park, LA

Apr 25-29 Forest Awareness Week

May 3       Meeting night

May 6-7   Smallmouth Rendezvous  Tahlequah, OK

Jun 2-5    Southeastern Conclave  Calloway Gardens, GA

Jun 7       Dave Hayward to speak on something Orvis interesting.

Jun 10-12 Purtis Creek Outing with Dallas Fly Fishers

Jul 5        Jerry Loring to speak on Wade Fishing & Kayaking on the Coast

Jul 15-17 Grand Isle Outing  LA

Aug 8-13 FFF Conclave  Livingston, MT

Oct 6-8    Conclave  Mountain Home, AR

Nov 4-6   Rendezvous  North Toledo Bend State Park, LA

Dec 3       PWFF Christmas Party

Newsletter

Send your articles, photos and other material to waltermc@sprynet.com or mail to Walter McLendon 139 Lancewood Circle, Lufkin, TX 75904. I can scan your photos and return them at the next meeting. If you know of any future events or activities of interest, please send them to me. Monthly article deadlines are set on the 25^th of the month so the newsletter can be completed by the Thursday preceding our Tuesday meeting.