FLY FISHING SHOW FEBRUARY 22, 23 AND 24

ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, PLEASANTON

The largest fly fishing show in the west.  Many speakers all 3 days, demos of equipment, fly tying demos, vendor and outfitter booths.  Sort of Christmas morning for fly fishers.

UPDATE ON RUSSIAN RIVER STEELHEAD 

As most of you know, Feb is usually the peak month for the Steelhead run in the Russian River.  Just got back from a thorough 'Recon' of the Russian and its FF prospects.  I checked the venues of Cliff Banks (just downstream from the confluence with Dry Creek), Wohler Bridge, Johnson Beach (in Guerneville), and Ginger's (just downstream from Guerneville).  Also checked with the main Steelhead Guru at King's Sports in Guerneville, and the Warm Spring's Hatchery (at the head end of Dry Creek, just below Lake Sonoma).

Report findings:  Thanks to all the vineyards and the heavy runoff of silt from torrential storms last week, the river is completely brown (maybe a 6" visibility) and is thus unfishable for fly rigs.  It's also running high and fast, although it's dropped a couple of feet in the past 2 days.  The only folks I saw fishing were at Cliff Banks (about 2 dozen gear guys, all using bait).  There have been a number of fish caught (dozens in the past week) thanks to bait's 'olfactory' attraction.  My guess is 10 days to 2 weeks at least before it clears sufficiently for flies, assuming no more torrential rains in that period.  Anyone wanting to try flies had better use huge garish black leech patterns (maybe 5-6").  I can assure you that small orange and black Comets, usually the most productive single fly on the Russian, won't cut it at this time!

There have been just over 800 Steelies return to the hatchery as of today, and 2 of them were wild, which is a bit unusual.  In the next month we should expect returns of over twice that many at least.

(provided by Larry Lack)

WAITING LIST NOW OPEN FOR FEATHER RIVER STEELIES MARCH 8

Feather River March 8- Lance Gray & Associates has reserved three drift boats for Friday, March 8th, 2019, to take six of our members down the river for some "warm weather" Steelhead fishing.  For more information on the Feather River visit http://www.lancegrayandcompany.com/rivers/feather_river

The cost is only $215 per person and since we have limited seating this will be a “first paid-first seat” trip.  To take advantage of this great offer just email us at info@mttamflyfishers.org stating how many seats you want to reserve, and then mail us a check made out to Mount Tamalpais Fly Fishers.  In the memo section write “Feather River."  Please send it to:  Mount Tamalpais Fly Fishers, PO Box 211, Corte Madera, CA 94976

MARCH 19 PRESENTATION: "FLYFISHING FOR GIANT LAHONTAN CUTTHROAT TROUT"

Corte Madera Town Center 7:00 to 9:00pm

We'll be hosting Doug Ouellette, probably the most knowledgeable Guide/Outfitter at Pyramid Lake, whose topic will be 'Land of the Giants'.  This presentation, which includes the fascinating history of the return of Lahontan Cutts to this huge body of water, as well as tips on how when and how best to fish for them, make us certain that members of our club will enjoy it.

Luk Lake 

Bass are active and king-sized trout have been planted in this 65-acre, easily accessed, lake.  Jeff and Roy will look ahead at the weather forecasts and settled on a date when the temperatures are nice and the winds are low.  We would love to have some members join us.  THIS IS A SELF-GUIDED DAY TRIP and the fee will be $145 per person.  Let us know if you are interested at mailto:info@mttamflyfishers.org

We will also have our traditional sponsored Club trip in March!

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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