March 29 Friday Night Fly Tying  

The Club at McInnis 6:30-8:30

Paul Wilson will be demonstrating and teaching a March Brown “flymph” pattern which looks like the emerging Mayfly as it floats in the surface film.

Fish Clear Lake CANCELLED  March 29 - 31

Dur to extensive flooding, Clear Lake campsites are closed through April.  We may reschedule this trip.  For further info, email Jeff at jfranzini@comcast.net

FEATHER RIVER STEELIES RESCHEDULED TO APRIL 26!!!

Lance Gray has three boats for us on Friday, April 26th.  

You must email me by next Tuesday, March 19th, and let me know if you do or do not want to reserve a seat.  Any unclaimed seats will be made available to those who were on the old wait list, and if needed we will open the seats up to the general membership.  

For those going, I will send a follow-up email explaining how to pay and what paperwork if any Lance needs.

Contact Jeff Franzini at info@mttamflyfishers.org for rescheduling.

Bristol Bay and Pebble Mine Update

In southwest Alaska, rivers, lakes and wetlands combine to provide some of the best wild salmon habitat on earth. Bristol Bay continues to produce the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and is one of the most prolific king salmon runs left on the planet. 7500 Native Alaskans who live in the Bristol Bay region rely on strong salmon runs for their subsistence way of life that have sustained them for generations. The Bristol Bay fishery supports over 14,000 jobs and is valued at $1.5 billion annually. Bristol Bay's rivers attract anglers from all over the world who seek the “once in a lifetime” Alaska fishing experience. The proposed Pebble Mine threatens all of this. 
The Pebble deposit is a massive storehouse of gold, copper and molybdenum, located in the headwaters of the Kvichak and Nushagak Rivers, two of the eight major rivers that feed Bristol Bay. If built, Pebble would be one of the largest mines in the world. Because of its size, geochemistry and location, Pebble runs a high risk of polluting Bristol Bay.
Pebble officially filed for their key, phase-one permit application in December 2017. In response, the federal government has laid out an unprecedented, fast tracked 2-year permit review process, which is ongoing today. Following the release of an incomplete and rushed Draft Environmental Impact Statement in late February, the American public will have an opportunity to tell the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the permitting process for this disastrous project beginning March 1, 2019, for 90 days. Far from “just another comment period,” this is potentially the last opportunity to stop Pebble’s most important permit, which, if issued, would open Bristol Bay to becoming essentially an industrial mining district in the next five years.

I

FLY OF THE MONTH

Perdigon Fly (Spanish Fly)

This is a competition fly, designed by members of the Spanish FF Team for use in the World Championships after having been out of the top 5 placers in 2014.  In 2015 in Bosnia, the Spanish barely beat the U.S. to win the World FF Championships, with many of their team using this Perdigon fly.  In 2016, here in the U.S. at the World FF Championships, the Spanish eked out a victory over the 2nd place French team to win it all, with the U.S. placing 3rd.  For 2017, the French team all used this fly almost exclusively in the river portions of the competition, and won the championship over 2nd place Czech Rep. and 3rd place Spain.  The following year, 2018, at the World Championships in Italy, the Spanish Team Captain had their whole team using this Perdigon exclusively and again won the championship over the 2nd place Czech team and 3rd place Italy, with the U.S. in 4th.

This is a small (so trout are less discriminating) but weighted fly (so it gets right to the bottom quickly) which is built on a jig hook (with the weight below the eye, this insures the point rides in an up position, thus reducing snags).  As this international competition has taught us, using small competition nymphs tied on jig hooks = far more fish in your net!

Hook:  Competition Jig hook, size 16

Bead:  Tungsten slotted bead 3.3 mm

Wt:     3-4 wraps of .010 or ,015 lead, shoved up into back of beadhead

Thread:  Red, 70 denier

Tail:   5-6 barbs of Pheasant tail or Coq de Leon

underbody:  small Gold tinsel

overbody:  ribbing of stripped peacock quill, wrapped about 1/2 quill width apart

wingcase:  spot of black Sharpie on same side as hook eye

coating;  2-3 coats of Sally Hansen Hard-As-Nails

Pebble Mine Would Put America Last

In a shocking about-face, the EPA has agreed to drop proposed restrictions that would have banned construction of the Pebble Mine in Alaska.  This move paves the way for Northern Dynasty Minerals, - the Canadian company behind the mine and which has a terrible record of devastating spills and toxic releases – to seek permits for building the massive copper and gold mine in the pristine headwaters of Bristol Bay, where it would imperil the world’s largest run of Sockeye Salmon.    The EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, made this decision after a half-hour meeting with the mining company CEO, and shocked all the remaining scientists in the EPA who have spent years researching this proposal and have unanimously concluded it would be a disaster and would ‘irreversibly’ destroy one of the most pristine and productive locations on the planet.

Just weeks after the EPA reversal, fishermen in Bristol Bay were reporting near-record levels for this year’s Salmon run, a testament to the strength of the $1.5 billion sustainable fishery that supports 14,000 local jobs and is central to the culture of Native peoples in SW Alaska.  The colossal open pit Pebble Mine, which would be as deep as the Grand Canyon and generate 10 billion tons of toxic mining waste, was stopped in 2014 when the EPA study (twice peer reviewed) said the mine posed catastrophic risks to the Bristol Bay watershed.  One of the main problems lies in the fact that the huge earth dam which will hold most of the toxic tailings lies almost on top of an active Earthquake fault.   “In keeping with the Trump Administration’s pro-polluter, pro-extraction agenda, the EPA has utterly abandoned sound science and the people of Bristol Bay”, said Taryn Heimer, a scientist with NRDC’s Land and Wildlife program, which organization partnered with hundreds of grassroots organizations to convince the government to stop it in 2014.   More than 80% of local residents oppose the Pebble Mine.   To push the message, “No Pebble Mine.  Not now.  Not ever.”  go to <nrdc.org/stoppebble

The fish thank you.

Current Fishing Report

http://www.blog.lostcoastoutfitters.com/tagged/fishingreport

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