January 19 - Awards Night
January is Awards Month. Please join us in this opportunity to recognize club members or others who have distinguished themselves through service to the club and the community in 2009. We will be presenting the Letcher Lambuth Angling Craftsman Award to Jesse Scott of the Evergreen Fly Fishing Club. This award is the club’s highest and is presented to a fly fisher within Washington, Oregon, or British Columbia who has made original, significant, and lasting contributions to the art of fly fishing. Among his many accomplishments, Jesse developed the Evergreen Hand, a vise that permits tying flies with one hand, which has been quite significant in the club’s work with disabled veterans. Please welcome Jesse and Doug Nordstrom, President of the Evergreen Fly Fishing Club, who will participate in the presentation. Here is a brief description of the club’s other primary awards: Empty Creel Award, presented to a member for exceptional dedication and contribution to the welfare of the club. Tommy Brayshaw Award, presented to a member for distinctive and meritorious contribution to the general community through furtherance of the aims and purposes of the club. Andy Award, presented to a member who has “suffered most cruelly from the vagaries of Murphy’s Law”. Half-Assed Award, presented to a member for, well, you know. We may also be recognizing other members for their special “accomplishments”—meritorious and otherwise. Please remember to wear a coat and tie for this meeting.

Meeting Tier: Gil Nyerges tying Holbrooks's Needlefly Nymph

February 16 - Jim Klug presents Making of DRIFT and RISE (Behind the Scenes)
Jim Klug has worked in the fly fishing and outdoor industry since the age of 14. Jim is the founder and Director of Operations for Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures, a Bozeman, Montana-based fly fishing travel company that specializes in booking and arranging fishing trips all over the world. Over the past 25 years, Jim has worked in the fishing industry as a guide, sales rep, travel coordinator, photographer, and as past National Sales Manager for Scientific Anglers

 Jim has guided extensively in Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon, and has fished throughout the world in over 35 different countries. With a particular love of saltwater flats fishing, Jim spends a lot of time in the Caribbean, Central and South America. His articles and photos have appeared in numerous magazines, including Fly Fisherman, Fly Fishing In Saltwater, Fly Rod and Reel, American Angler, and several others.

Aside from his work with Yellow Dog and his photography, Jim is also a partner in Confluence Films, where - along with cinematographer Chris Patterson - he teamed up to create the 2008 fly fishing movie DRIFT and the 2009 movie RISE. Jim is the executive producer and writer for Confluence’s project. Jim lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife Hilary, daughter Carson, and son Finn.

Meeting tier: Chuck Ballard tying Two Hump Chuck

March 16 - Dick Streater (fishing comedian) presents Fishing can be funny: The Fishing Humorist
Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame member - Dick Streater - will be our speaker on the 16th. He is a nationally recognized, published authority on antique lures and tackle, and will be giving his popular fishing humor talk based on the gadgets and inventions of the past 50 years.   He has found the "funny side" of trying to outwit all those very smart fishes.   Hand cranked boat motors and spring loaded casting rods are just two of the many wonders to be demonstrated.   "Ole & Sven" will also be telling a couple of fishing jokes.

April 20 - Dave Delisi presents Bamboo: From Shoot to Rod
The progression of bamboo from the cultivated forests in Southern China to finished fine cane rod in Southwest Montana. Discussion will cover a 3 week trip to Aozai, China, where Sweetgrass Rods sourced enough bamboo to keep them building rods for 20 years, as well as a brief overview of the bamboo-rod building process. Dave Delisi is the latest addition to the Boo Boy team. With a strong background in business and finance, his gifts differ from the traditional rod-builder. Responsible for much of the back-office necessities, he may represent your first encounter with Sweetgrass. Building rods is an ethereal art, but Dave brings a sense of organization that anchors Sweetgrass to the necessities of the business world. He is also a student of the rivers and is learning, under Jerry and Glenn's patient tutelage, to build rods in the time-honored tradition.

Meeting tier: None, as we will be voting on entrants in the Boyd Aigner Fly Tying Competition.

May 18 - Chad Jackson & Chris Donley (WDFW Fish Biologists) present Flyfishing Opportunities In Eastern Washington
Chad Jackson has a BS in Fisheries Management from University of Idaho, and 13 years experience managing both inland and anadromous species for WDFW. He has spent most of career in Region 4 as the inland fish biologist for King, Snohomish, and Island counties and as District Fish Biologist for the anadromous fish in the Snohomish and Stillaguamish watersheds, and currently serves as the District 5 (Grant and Adams Counties) Fishery Biologist.

Chris Donley has been an employee of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for 15 years; has worked on bull trout and westslope cutthroat research and restoration projects, walleye, bass and panfish research; for the last nine years has been a District Fisheries Biologist in charge of fish management of the lakes and streams in Lincoln, Whitman and Spokane Counties; was educated as an undergraduate at Eastern Washington University and attended graduate school at the University of Idaho. His educational interests were anchored in physical geography and secondarily biology; as a graduate student, studied fluvial geomorphology as it related to fish habitat restoration. Chris was born and raised in the channeled scablands of eastern Washington and has a personal affinity for flyfishing trout in the lowland lakes of the Columbia basin; also fishes steelhead and hunts deer as much as his wife and kids will let him.

Meeting tier: Scott Hagen tying Caped Crusader Skater

June 15 - Simon Gawesworth presents Fly Line Design
So you think the fly rod is the most important part of your tackle? Most anglers do! Simon's fascinating and in-depth talk on fly line design will prove otherwise. Any fly rod can come alive and any size or weight of fly can be cast with the right line. Do you want to know what type of taper gives the best presentation? or what weight distribution is best for fast rods..... or slow rods? How about the best taper design for deep wading, or for fishing in a boat, or distance casting from the shore, or mending when nymphing? The right fly line design can enhance any fishing or casting situation and Simon's talk goes a long way to educating anglers on what to look for in a line to get the very best performance.

Simon's father taught him to fish at the age of 6. Now 45, he has been teaching fly casting professionally since he was 16. He has both cast and fished for England in British, European and World Championships, and was elected Captain of the England team for the 2003 World Fly Fishing Championships. Simon is A.P.G.A.I. and S.T.A.N.I.C. certified in the U.K. and C.I., Master and T.H.C.I. certified in the U.S. He also sits on the F.F.F. board of Governors and the T.H.S.I. committee. His website is www.speyborn.com.

Meeting tier: Dick Brening tying Moose Hair Up-right / Sub-shank Parachute

July 20 - The "Home Waters Ribbon Cutting, Take-the-Day-Off-of-Work" party/outing takes the place of the monthly WFFC meeting.

The WFFC has reserved two 50 passenger buses, three guide boats, and five drift boats for this event in beautiful Ellensburg, WA. This will be the inaugural Home Waters outing, but it will also be much more. The cost to attend is $30 and includes travel by bus to and from the Home Waters site just outside Ellensburg; beverages and Top Pot Donuts on the bus; appetizers and beverages at Reds/Canyon River Ranch; and Mexican food from the best Taco Truck in Ellensburg at the Home Waters.

All reservations will be held through June 20th, and then released if not needed. If you are planning to attend, whether by taking the bus or just coming to the ribbon cutting for dinner, you will either need to pay online via the member area of the WFFC web site, or send a check for $30 (per person) made out to WFFC to Keith Robbins.  The address is 2585 Magnolia Blvd West, Seattle 98199.  Online payment or mailed checks must be received by June 20th.

The five drift boats and three guides are reserved at Reds Fly Shop. Like the others, they are being held until June 20th, at which time they will be released if not needed. If you are interested in renting/hiring one of the boats or guides, you must contact Reds Fly Shop directly at (509) 933-2300 or www.redsflyshop.com. When you do, indicate that you want to make arrangements for one of the guides or boats that are being held for the WFFC on July 20th. The club will not be paying or signing for boats or guides due to liability reasons.

The schedule of events is as follows:
    · 7:30 am: Bus pick up in Seattle (location yet to be determined)
    · 8:00 am: Bus pick up in Issaquah (location yet to be determined)
    · 10:00 am: Home Waters
    · Hang out and/or go fish
    · 3:00 pm: Meet at Reds for cocktail (beer) party
    · 4:45 pm: Depart to Home Waters for ribbon cutting ceremony
    · 5:00-7:00 pm: Home Waters ribbon cutting. Enjoy dinner with a ton of food from
        Ellensburg's favorite Taco Truck.
    · 7:00 pm: Bus departs for SEA/ISSA
    · 8:30 pm: Arrive in Issaquah
    · 9:15 pm: Arrive in Seattle.

All of the above information is subject to change. If you have suggestions for pick up locations where we can park all day in Seattle and Issaquah, please email Capt. Keith at flymooch@aol.com.

Meeting tier: Ed Sozinho tying Sand Lance Clouser

August 17 - Tom Pero presents The Magic Language of Fly Fishing; also our Annual Garage Sale

Nationally known fly-fishing writer/editor/publisher Tom Pero will speak at the Tuesday, August 17 meeting of the Washington Fly Fishing Club. Tom will read from stories he has written on exotic fishing destinations—from Russia to Cuba to Guatemala to the Amazon— and discuss his many adventures and colorful characters he has met along the way. He will also read uncensored excerpts from his book, Till Death or Fly Fishing Do Us Part, a collection of humorous essays about what happens when one person’s obsession for the sport collides with his or her romantic relationship.

Pero was born and raised in New England. At 18 he became the youngest chapter president in Trout Unlimited, the fishery conservation organization, history when he started the Southeastern Massachusetts Chapter of TU. During the 1970s his early writing helped focus attention on the neglected salter brook trout fishery and the developing sea-run brown trout fishery on Cape Cod. In 1977, at age 23, Pero was named the first full-time editor of Trout Magazine, the national publication of Trout Unlimited. He used his 16 years at Trout to make the magazine exciting and influential. Twice it was named Conservation Magazine of the Year, beating out magazines with substantially larger circulations and reputations such as Audubon and Sierra. He introduced the legendary trout biologist, Robert Behnke, to readers of Trout in a popular column. In recent years he founded the magazines Wild Steelhead & Salmon and Fish & Fly, both of which also won critical acclaim for excellence in journalism and graphics.

Pero is now busy creating books. His Wild River Press company published A Passion for Steelhead by Dec Hogan, widely acknowledged as the new bible on fly fishing for the iconic Pacific Northwest game fish. And this summer, after four years in development, Wild River has released the much-anticipated A Passion for Tarpon by Andy Mill, featuring a special foreword by the first President Bush.

During the last three decades nearly all the famous fly-fishing writers have written for Tom Pero’s publications—including Thomas McGuane, Nick Lyons, Lefty Kreh, Dave Whitlock, Lee Wulff, Joan Wulff, Datus Proper, Steve Raymond, Ernest Schwiebert, Art Lee, Paul Schullery, John Gierach and others. Once, when working on a story about Atlantic salmon restoration during the 1980s, he approached Red Sox great Ted Williams on the banks of the Miramichi River in New Brunswick for a quote. The notoriously gruff Williams said, “I don’t like writers.” “I know,” replied Pero, “but I fish.” He got the interview. Pero’s lengthy talk with the reclusive Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate of England and an avid angler, caused a sensation in the British and European press when published just after Hughes’s death in 1998.

This is also garage-sale month. We will have some tables set up to display your wares at the Wet Fly hour and break. All we ask is that 10% of your take goes back to the WFFC.

Meeting tier: Leland Miyawaki tying Miyawaki Beach Popper

September 21 - Palmer Taylor & Justin Coupe present Rivers of a Lost Coast
Justin and Taylor will talk very briefly before the film about its content and what went into it. Then after the film the will take questions and answers. The film is about turn of the 20th Century, when a handful of pioneers carried their fly rods into California’s remote north coast and gave birth to a culture that would revolutionize their sport. For a select few, steelhead fly fishing became an obsessive pursuit without compromise.

Justin Coupe is a sixth generation Californian, living in the greater Sacramento area. Justin is a board member with the Capital Film Arts Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and development of Northern California's film-making community. Justin first fly fished for steelhead at the age of 12 on Southern Oregon's North Umpqua River. Justin received his B.A. in Film and Digital Media along with Literature/Creative Writing from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In October of 2008, Justin finished principle photography on Cloud's Rest, a documentary that follows Austin Taylor, an inspirational man disabled by cerebral palsy, along his amazing, off-trail journey to the top of Cloud's Rest Peak in Yosemite National Park.

Palmer Taylor is 27 years old and received his B.S. in Applied Physics with a minor in Electronic Music from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Palmer currently works with audio production and sound design, recording audio in the Bay Area and composing music for various projects. Working with the latest audio hardware and software, Palmer enjoys combining synthesized sounds with acoustic instruments to create unique sounds and scores. Palmer is currently working on the sound design and score for the documentary Cloud's Rest.

Meeting tier: Jim Higgins tying Ally's Shrimp

October 19 - Conway Bowman presents Fly Fishing the Ragged Edge: Mako Sharks on the Fly
Conway Bowman’s name is synonymous with extreme fly fishing. For Conway, home base is San Diego, where he guides for Bluewater species on the fly – most notably killer Mako sharks. His exploits have been chronicled in various books and magazines, including Field & Stream, Men’s Journal, Saltwater Sportsman, and Wild on the Fly. But Conway’s fly fishing prowess doesn’t stop there. As former host of ESPN’s In Search of Fly water, Bowman has traveled the world in search of Atlantic salmon, wild trout, bonefish, and tarpon. Conway has also hosted ESPN’s cornerstone adventure series on sharks Primal Predator and is now the host of Dollar Wise Fly on the Versus network. Conway has appeared as a guest host on Cabla’s Adventure Quest, Versus’s Escape to the Wild, Shaw Grigsby's One More Cast, and ESPN2's Going Coastal. He currently holds the IGFA world record for redfish caught on the fly. Bowman is now principal owner of the Ragged Edge Fly Fishing School, and his website is www.bomanbluewater.com.

Meeting tier: Bob Burdick tying Sculpin

November 16 - Heritage meeting: Steve Raymond is "The American Sportsman"
Remember the old "American Sportsman" ABC-TV series back in the 1960s and '70s? If you don't, this program should refresh your memory. WFFC member Steve Raymond was a guest on a 1974 "American Sportsman" show about dry-fly fishing for Kamloops trout. Steve will tell about rubbing shoulders with the stars and trying to catch trout on demand in front of network TV cameras, then show the heavily edited episode that finally aired on ABC.

Meeting tier: Joe Kristof tying Sunrise

December 21 - WFFC Annual Christmas Party and Auction

Meeting tier: (none, buy raffle tickets for fantastic flies tied by your fellow members)