Central Alberta Fly Tying Club: 2015

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Article About Our Club from Red Deer Express

(Click on article to make it larger and easier to read)

Monday, December 21, 2015

All Day Workshop with Philip Rowley

Friday, December 18, 2015

Some Lake Aeration Questions Answered

...from an inquiry from Don Andersen

On 16/12/2015 10:48 AM, Todd Zimmerling wrote:

Don,

Here is what we have going on, as of this past week when we had our Board meeting.

We are still installing and tweaking the aeration on the original 8 lakes we had committed to:

Beaver Lake - bubble diffuser - ACA

East Dollar Lake - bubble diffuser - ACA

Fiesta Lake - bubble diffuser - ACA

Ironside Pond - bubble diffuser - ACA

Millers Lake - bubble diffuser - ACA

Mitchell Lake - bubble diffuser - ACA

Muir Lake - bubble diffuser -ACA

Sulphur Lake - bubble diffuser ACA

Spring Lake (near Grande Prairie) - this is lake normally aerated in the fall to have it turn over and then we shut down the aerators. This process was been complete for 2015/16.

There are a group of lakes that are expected to be aerated using surface aeration by other groups.

Figure Eight Lake – surface aerator – local AEP

Swan Lake – surface aeration - MD of Greenview

Moonshine Lake – surface aeration - local AEP

Spring Lake – surface aeration - local group

Cecil Thompson Pond - surface aeration - still talking with a local group, but will install bubble diffuser if no agreement reached.

Based on conversations with AEP and the fact that we are projecting a levy surplus (because of an increase in licenses sold this year) the Board has agreed to move forward with bubble diffusers systems on additional lakes this winter:

Birch Lake - bubble diffuser - ACA

Coleman Fish and Game Pond - bubble diffuser - ACA

Hansen Reservoir - bubble diffuser - ACA

So as things stand now we have enough equipment to cover off all lakes except for Birch, Coleman and Hansen, but the equipment is now ordered and we will have it the first week of January.

Police Outpost is an issue that I don't think will be solved this winter. ACA has not historically aerated this lake and it sounds like Parks may not have been aerating for several years. We are going to be meeting with AEP and determine what their plan is for the lake and determine what our role should be. So may be next year it will be on our list, but as of today it is not.

You are more than welcome to share this info. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Todd

Todd Zimmerling, M.Sc., PhD, P.Biol.

President & CEO

Alberta Conservation Association

101-9 Chippewa Road

Sherwood Park, AB., T8A 6J7

phone 780-410-1990 cell 780-903-3377

Monday, December 14, 2015

An Evening with Evan Ritchie

Evan Ritchie, one of the original members of our tying group, was our guest tyer tonight. Evan showed 30 keen fly tyers how to tie three very unique patterns. The first pattern was a polar bear streamer. If you were real lucky, you could also add some jungle cock eyes. Now that makes for a very cool pattern. Our second fly was an emerger pattern called Once and Away. This is an excellent emerger pattern that has a shell back of CDC feathers. The final fly was called The Hornberg Special Streamer. Now this cool pattern can be fished both as a dry fly and a streamer. Evan has had some success using it as a streamer at some of our local trout lakes. Thanks Evan for an educational evening of fly tying.

This is our last session until after Christmas. We get going again on January 4th. Reid Stoyberg, guise at Plummer's Lodge, will be our guest tyer. See you then!

Just a reminder that the Philip Rowley Lake tying session already has 19 participants for January 30. We hope to get 30 participants for the all day workshop. Send me an e-mail to get signed up (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca).

Merry Christmas everybody! Enjoy the holiday season.

Evan Ritchie

Polar Bear Streamer

Hook: 3xl or 4 xl streamer hook size 2 to 6

Body: Diamond Braid

Throat: Red Flash

Wing: Polar Bear

Over Wing: Peacock Herl

Hackle: Grizzley

Eyes (optional): Jungle Cock

Six in a row tonight for the Oilers!

The library was filled to capacity!

Doug preparing polar bear for the wing for his streamer!

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Cuba is a Salt Water Delight

Hi Everybody! Troy Langelaar and Steve Luethi headed down to Cuba for an amazing salt water fly fishing trip. Steve wrote up a report of the week which you can read below. Special thanks to the photographers for the images!

...click on the images to view them full size!

On November 28th Troy Langelaar and myself (Steven Luethi) along with five other anglers including Courtney Neal, Kathryn Nugent, Akasha Bopp, Steve Gardiner and his dad George teamed up with Josh Nugent of Out Fly Fishing Outfitters for one of his hosted trips to Cuba. We flew from Canada landing in Cayo Coco, Cuba and from there had a two and a half hour drive away from the all inclusive resorts to where we would spend the next 7 nights. Hotel Casona De Ramano, is located in a small town called Brasil. It was built in 1919 originally as a house for the owners of the town's sugar cane factory but was renovated a few years ago to accommodate today's traveling angler. The hotel staff are friendly and the food is excellent. Each bedroom has two double sized beds, a full bathroom and much desired A/C .

The Cayo Cruz fishery is an enormous system of flats, lagoons and pristine estuaries. Commercial fishing within this area is forbidden and strictly enforced. The sportfish only area is 366 square kilometers in size, meaning each day, every skiff has over 50 square kilometers to itself. The fishing area is virtually untouched compared to the rest of the Caribbean and the fish are plentiful and aggressive.

The guides here are excellent, knowledgable, hard working and enthusiastic. It was incredible listening to the stories from fellow anglers throughout the week of how hard the guides worked to get them either their first permit or their 100th bonefish. Troy and I had a guide, Nelson, who poled into 30km/hr winds for 15 minutes just so I could get a cast to a permit.

The bonefishing here is absolutely spectacular. Tailing bonefish are common, you'll find large singles and doubles, all the way up to large schools. Your average bonefish we found to be about 4-5 pounds which would be considered a big fish anywhere else in the Caribbean, as well there are sightings of fish upwards of 10 pounds daily. If you're an angler who is only after a quality fishery for bonefish than this is your place. As for permit, it's common to get a good number of shots almost daily. It was rare when a skiff did not get a cast to a permit in a day. You'll find permit tailing as well as following rays waiting to ambush any food kicked up by the ray. There were a total of 6 permit caught all week with a few of us who either pulled the hook or broke the tippet on 5 others. On the second day I was lucky enough to hook a permit on a flexocrab but my trout knot connecting my tippet to the leader slipped, so remember to brush up on your saltwater knots before you embark on your next flats destination. There are also plenty of barracuda and sharks if you're looking for predatory fish and at the right time of the year the migratory tarpon come through, this happens in the months of May and June.

There was quite a diverse number of species caught including: bonefish, permit, snapper, barracuda, cowfish, jacks and shark, some of which were firsts and some personal bests. For both Courtney and Kathryn they were able to land not only their first bonefish but several after that. Kathryn was also able to land her first barracuda and got to witness first hand at how hard and acrobatic the fight is. Kathryn tied her first ever fly one evening at the Casona and the very next day caught bonefish on it! Courtney definitely caught the most odd fish out of anyone in the group, a cowfish. Akasha was able to not only land his first permit, but he got a second one during the week! Though Josh has a leg cast it didn't slow him down as he landed a personal best permit for himself but came up three inches short on a leader touch with a tarpon that day, the closest anyone came to a Grand Slam. Both Steve and his dad George hooked and landed their first permit on the very first day! After that day George was lucky enough to catch the biggest barracuda out of the whole group for the week. Troy also had a great trip by getting his first barracuda, his personal best bonefish and probably his favorite of the trip, his first nurse shark. My trip was incredible and like most, I've already been asking Josh about his next hosted trip. I was able to get a permit to eat my fly but unfortunately didn't land it and will have nightmares for weeks. I caught my personal best bonefish and also my first lemon shark. If you have the desire to catch a shark and bring it into the boat be careful. These are powerful fish that can actually bite their own tail. As I found out while we were wrestling the squirming shark on the deck it actually whipped around and scraped it's teeth against my toes. A close call and I'm lucky I didn't lose any toes.

Looks like the lemon shark left his mark on Steve! Ouch!

If you're looking for a salt water destination trip then contact Josh Nugent at Out Fly Fishing Outfitters. He has the knowledge and experience to make every trip smooth and enjoyable one with memories that will last a lifetime.

Josh Nugent!

The average sized bonefish is very impressive!

Snapper!

Nurse Shark

Troys First Barracuda!

A few elusive permit were caught during the week!

Monday, December 7, 2015

Flies for Bonefish. Permit and Tarpon with Brandon Fawcett

Brandon Fawcett, Head Guide, of Fly Fishing Little Corn Island in Nicaragua was our guest presenter tonight. The theme was flies for bonefish, permit and tarpon. The library was filled with 22 tyers that took in his presentation! We tied the famous Avalon Permit Fly. This is a very unique fly because of the beads that make a "clacking" noise while the fly crawls along the sand or turtle grass. We also tied a great little shrimp pattern and the popular tarpon toad!

It was fun to hear all the stories from the guys who went to Cuba with Josh Nugent and Out Fly Fishing Outfitters.

We are already taking registrations for the all day Phil Rowley Lake Workshop that will take place on Saturday January 30th. The workshop will cost $30 with a $10 material fee. Contact Bob Vanderwater (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca) to get on the list. This workshop will fill quickly!

Next week, Evan Ritchie is our guest presenter. See you then!