Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Important Details About the Phil Rowley Workshop on Saturday February 3rd!

The Phil Rowley Workshop will be located at:

MacKenzie Light Industrial Park, just south of the City of Red Deer Landfill. The Gun Club is also in the same area! In the Industrial Park, we will be at The Wheel House 484 McCoy Drive. See below for a map!

Coffee will be on at 8:30 am!

If you want to order pizza for lunch, bring $10, Karen will chase it for everybody!

Snacks and drinks will be available for everybody!

We will also be at Tiffany's pub on the south hill after 7 pm on Friday night, see you there! Bring your spouse or significant other and have a visit!

Lastly here is a list of materials you need to bring to the Phil Rowley All Day Workshop on February 3rd:

Fly Tying Vise
Portable Lamp
Scissors
Bobbin 
Dubbing Spinner
Dubbing Wax
Black Sharpie (Fine Point)
Red Sharpie (Fine Point)
Olive Prismacolor Marker or similar
UV resin, thick
UV resin, thin (flow)
Ultra Wire, Gold, Small
Ultra Wire, Chartreuse, Small
8/0 or 70 Denier Black Thread
8/0 or 70 Denier Olive Thread
8/0 or 70 Denier White Thread
Peacock Herl
Pearlescent Crystal Flash
Pearlescent Flashabou

How to get to the location of the Phil Rowley Fly Tying Workshop on February 3rd

Fishing' in the Dark with Taryn and Karen


Taryn and Karen love to chase the hatches in Central Alberta at dusk on our home rivers. Whether it be brown drakes, PMDs, caddis or the fabled hexagenia hatch, these two adventurous gals are always ready for an adventure in the dark! Crashing around in the dark when the mosquitoes are out doesn't bother either Karen or Taryn!

Tonight TC Outfitters was filled to capacity to try their hand at tying a foam hexagenia and Craig Matthew's, X-Caddis. Karen showed the gang how to tie a foam hexagenia and Taryn showed everybody how to tie the X-Caddis! Great job ladies.

Next week Dan Reaman is our guest tyer. See you then!


Karen Vanderwater


Taryn Bowman



X-Caddis (Craig Matthews)

Hook: TMC 100 sizes 14-18
Tread: 70 Denier Olive 
Trailing Shuck: Z-Lon
Body: Olive Super Fine Dubbing
Wing: Deer Hair


Foam Body Hexagenia

Hook: TMC 100 size 6 or 8
Thread tan or yellow 6/0 or 140 denier
Tail: Pheasant or moose
Body: 2 mm cream or yellow foam
Post: Macrame yarn
Hackle: Cream or yellow saddle








Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Crab Flies with Steve Luethi


We are very fortunate to have several talented fly tyers within our club. Steve Luethi is an exceptional fly tyer. His flies are realistic and accurately tied. Steve is noted for his gigantic streamers that he loves to throw at big bull trout, musky, lakers and pike. ....but Steve loves the salt water and he has developed a passion for chasing permit and tarpon!

Tonight Steve shared two challenging flies, a fleeing crab and the kung-foo crab. The 25  fly tyers really had to concentrate to construct both the fleeing crab and kung-foo crab!

Steve also showed everybody how to tie the eyes of a crab using 25 pound mono, a lighter, nail polish and UV resin!

Fantastic session Steve!

Next week we have a very cool presentation called "Fishing in the Dark!" Karen, Taryn and Bob have some fun flies to share with you. Bring along some white 8/0/-70 denier thread, olive 8/0- 70 denier thread and yellow or wood duck 8/0 thread.

The Phil Rowley Workshop will be located at:

MacKenzie Light Industrial Park, just south of the City of Red Deer Landfill. The Gun Club is also in the same area! In the Industrial Park, we will be at The Wheel House 484 McCoy Drive. I will be sending maps along shortly to all.

Lastly here is a list of materials you need to bring to the Phil Rowley All Day Workshop on February 3rd:

Fly Tying Vise
Portable Lamp
Scissors
Bobbin 
Dubbing Spinner
Dubbing Wax
Black Sharpie (Fine Point)
Red Sharpie (Fine Point)
Olive Prismacolor Marker or similar
UV resin, thick
UV resin, thin (flow)
Ultra Wire, Gold, Small
Ultra Wire, Chartreuse, Small
8/0 or 70 Denier Black Thread
8/0 or 70 Denier Olive Thread
8/0 or 70 Denier White Thread
Peacock Herl
Pearlescent Crystal Flash
Pearlescent Flashabou


Steve Luethi


Making eyes for shrimp and crab flies.



Fleeing Crab
(video below)




Kung Fu Crab
(video below)











Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Two Flies that Work at Jurassic Lake



Dr. Bill Young was our presenter this week. Dr. Bill spent the first half of the evening doing a presentation on his trip to Jurassic Lake. Afterwards we tied two flies. The first was a hybrid of Nano's Leech. Nano Peralta is a guide on Jurassic Lake. Bill constructed several leech patterns based on this pattern. The second fly was a BIG chubby chernobyl. Dr. Bill used this pattern extensively as a hopper dropper set up during his stay at Jurassic Lake Lodge!

Next week Steve Luethi is our guest tyer. Please bring white, orange or tan UTC 140 thread! Steve is a very skilled tyer and you will not want to miss his presentation!

Finally we still have 5 spots available for the Phil Rowley Workshop on February 3rd! Drop me a note to sign up. We have a great location for the workshop too thanks to Garnet Clews! (bob.vanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca)










Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Another Amazing Jurassic Lake Adventure with Dr. Bill Young


There is a latin expression, "Carpe diem" that essentially says, "Seize the Day!" Dr. Bill did exactly that. He had the opportunity to travel to and fly fish Lago Strobel, aka Jurrasic Lake, for a week thanks to his brother-in-law not being able to go! Well why not, what an opportunity!

After meeting with Rick Myauchi from our club, a veteran  of the Jurrasic Lake experience, and doing some research, Dr. Bill had the right rods, lines and flies ready to go. Flies and equipment are not readily available so you better be prepared.

Bill started his journey on American Thanksgiving. That is the time of some very busy travel in the USA but he fortunately was able to get on his way to Buenos Aires and then on onto El Calafate. The plan was to fly from there but they had to drive because of the high winds. Once at Jurrasic Lake Lodge it was game on. The lodge is located quite close to the Barrancoso River where many of the gigantic rainbows were staging for spawning. The rainbows in the river were lots of fun to catch. Many of them gigantic!

Dr. Bill related that a size 12 baby damsel was amazing. It was scud like and that is the main food that makes these rainbows gargantuous. A lot of the lake and river fishing was sight fishing. That makes everything so exciting. A size 12 Glen's Leech and a Bruised Balanced Leech worked great out on the lake as did a hopper dropper set up with a big Chubby Chernobyl and a Copper John below. The dry fly fishing was sporadic but Bill did catch some on his big black foam chernobyl.

Wind, yes there is wind and at times it is crazy strong. That will make casting tough and will test your creativity! But the wind is all part of the experience!

Bill's largest rainbow topped out at 17 pounds. That is impressive. Yes, there are rainbows to 30 pounds in this system. Bill had days where he caught 40 of these super sized rainbows. That would definitely be an amazing experience!

At the end of the trip, the twin otter was able to fly in and get the guests back to El Calafate.

Below is a photo essay of his great adventure. Enjoy!

Note: The photos are courtesy of Dr. Bill Young and Llewellyn Claven (from the lodge).








How many gigantic rainbows can you see?





Yep, there is wind alright!




The guides are tracking the rainbows by tagging them.





















A baby damsel is a great scud pattern!




Time to head home!