The Newscaster is the monthly news letter for the Indianhead Fly Fishers. The current President's message will be here and the Newscaster archives will follow.
I find a great deal of satisfaction in “figuring it out”
The morning camp chores were sort of done, and I was anxious to get out for the first time. The wind was calm at the sheltered end ,
but a good, if inconsistent, chop was present outside the inlet channel. The hoped-for relief from the smoke was not there.
I was pretty sure I could find some action working the deep edges of the near shore weed beds, with subsurface damsel or dragonfly nymphs, or scud or leech patterns, but I craved some rowing and distance from camp noises, so I tied one of the Harris Specials (that Royce introduced to us) on the deeper line’s leader and drug it across to the far side. I located some landmark shore features remembered from earlier trips, and trolled the shoreline, looking and listening. By staying over water too-deep-to-see-bottom, I picked up a couple of fin-clipped rainbows, and a pretty brookie, already in spawning colors.
Soon I noticed sporadic surface rises, with bubbles, in one area. I rowed closer, trying to ID the bug. Nothing was visible, so I started “membering”. The point just upwind was populated with lots of deadfall, with younger second growth firs and spruce. I had seen numerous bark beetles on the dead trees around the camp. So I broke out the other rod, the one with floater line. In the stillwater box were some “Half-Sunk Beetles”, a pattern I copied maybe 10 years ago, from a magazine article.
The abdomens color wasn”t exactly right, but a sloppy cast put one somewhere near the most recent rise, and the reaction was rather immediate. I had figured it out.
Bruce Parsons
Coming up in September:
Fall Picnic
When: September 10th—arrive 6:00pm, eat at 6:30 pm.
Where: Weiser City Park—-East Liberty and East Third Streets—at the Pavillion.
Food: Club will provide chicken, water and ice. Pot luck for salads, side dishes and deserts.
Please RSVP to Jim Gulu so he can get an expected head count. renoz300@gmail.com
Fly Tying
September 17—7:00pm
Location—to be announced
Instructor—Ray Perkins
Probable subject—-grassshopper (dry or sunk?)