Tri-County Fly Fishers

	Tri-County Fly Fishers
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August, 2008 Edition

Welcome to the Tri-County Fly Fishers website. This Federation of Fly Fishers affiliated Club is made up of about ninety members from rank beginners to those with 50+ years of fly fishing experience. Fishing interests range from bluegills and bass to redfish and tarpon, with an occasional rainbow trout from up north thrown in. Membership is drawn from permanent and seasonal residents of those in and around the Florida counties of Lake, Marion and Sumter.	Website Updates:
	8/3	Monthly update to the Home Page. Calendar Page updated. 12 photos added to the Photo Album. One fly recipe added to the Fly Tying Page. 5 links, 10 books and 2 videos added to the Links and Library Page.
	6/29	Monthly update to the Home Page. Calendar Page updated. 19 photos added to the Photo Album. One fly recipe added to the Fly Tying Page. 5 links added to the Links and Library Page.
	6/1	Monthly update to the Home Page. Calendar Page updated. 37 photos added to the Photo Album. Two items added to the Classifieds Page.

July Adopt-A-Lake Clean-up Participants

Program Chairman Tom Green reported that the inaugural workday for the TCFF Lake Griffin Adopt-A-Lakes project was on July 8th with eight TCFF volunteers coming out with four boats. Their relentless efforts netted us six bags of trash weighing approximately thirty pounds and one Michelin radial tire. The three-hour work session was topped off with a hot dog luncheon.
August Fly Recipe
The August Featured Fly Recipe is a fresh water favorite, the Bead-Head Woolly Bugger tied by George Shillington. Woolly Bugger Recipe (To submit a fly recipe of your own, contact Ed Russell.
Fly Fishing With Jack -- Largemouth Bass, Part 9
Bass bugs -- which ones to use where. When the wind is stirring up the water in small ripples, tie on a large, popping bass bug. This will attract the bass to the surface despite the ripples. Conversely, when fishing in still water, a large popping bug will spook the bass when it lands on the surface with a splash. Best bet here is to use a small soft-bodied fly with a rounded face. When casting to holes between lily pads, overhanging brush or felled trees and branches where the fly can only be moved a short distance, use a pattern with a lot of legs and feathers. By design, the fly will vibrate and wiggle at the slightest twitch. When fishing over grass beds or deeper water, use a fly with a long trailing tails which mover under water. Bass bugs will will cause strikes if there is some type of movement of life to it. Color does not seem to really matter as the bass are looking up at the fly and can only see the bottom which is in silhouette. If you are having trouble seeing the fly in low light conditions, then use brighter colored flies. One of the biggest detriment to a bass striking a bass bug is if it has an unnatural smell. This can be the result of secondary transfer of suntan lotion, beer, insect repellent, etc. One bit of advice for those who have boats is to gas up at the end of the fishing day -- that way you won't have the smell of gasoline and oil on your hands when you are rigging up you fly rod. (Past articles archived in Jack's Notes.)

Backwoods Alaska

In late June, TCFF Member Bob Strunc and his brother took a side trip from a cruise to hop a float plane to get into the Alaskan wilderness to catch Sea Run Dolly Varden (a.k.a. Dolly Varden Trout). They look like a trout, but they are related to the Char family and are hard fighters as several jumped clear of the water. The flies used were Red Clouser Streamers and the fish were caught on both a fresh water stream (glacial runoff) and on the salt flats. The fish on the salt flats were bigger and fought harder.

After four hours when the float plane came back to pick the fishermen up, they had to walk about a mile further out on the flats because the tide had went out -- they caught the biggest fish waiting for the plane. The plane ride itself was as exciting as a thrill ride -- with such high differential tides, and large volumes of glacial runoff in the summer weather, the pilot is never sure where the sand bars are. (See Photo Album for more pictures.)

July Breakfast By The Lake

TCFF President Ed Russell addressing the
Membership at the Lake Miona Park Pavilion.

"If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right (fishing) you'd have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each." -- John Gierach

TCFF Member Bill Kugelman fishing the Unicoi River
at the first North Georgia Club Fly Fishing Trip in 2006.

Do you want a chance to either catch your first trout on a fly rod or to get back to catching the fish you originally learned fly fishing for? The TCFF is putting together its second trout fishing trip for its Membership to the Unicoi State Park in North Georgia.

Here are the details:
When: November 10th to 13th. Travel up on the 10th (Monday), fish on the 11th and 12th and travel home on the 13th.

Lodging: Staying at the Unicoi Lodge at Unicoi State Park. We have reserved three loft rooms which can sleep four, but we are planning on only two people per room. Expect about $60 per night per person for double occupancy. (Each room has two double beds plus two mattresses in the loft which is up a 10 foot ladder. More people per room would reduce the per person room cost.)

What expenses are excluded? (a) The cost of food. The lodge has a dinning room, which serves buffet style. Breakfast is $8.50, lunch is $9.50 and dinner is $13.50. There should be other fast-food and restaurants near by. (b) $3.00 vehicle fee for park. (c) The cost of transportation [i.e. gas]. (d) Guide service, if desired, for the public streams or the more expensive private streams is available.

What if more than six people sign up? As of the first of August, there are additional rooms available. If more people sign up and pay than the rooms already reserved, efforts will be made to obtain more rooms. If the number of rooms needed is not available, a lottery will be held at the September 17th Wednesday Evening Meeting to determine who will be going. Additional names will be pulled for an alternate list.)

When to sign up? Last day to sign up (either by phone call, email or at the Breakfast or Evening Meetings) is the August 20th Wednesday Evening Meeting. Payment for lodging is due not later than at the September 3rd Breakfast Meeting.

For information or to sign up: Paul Goorjian, Telephone: (352) 245-1042, Cell Phone: (415) 515-6645, e-mail: paulgoorjian@hotmail.com

For payment, make check payable to Paul Goorjian. Either pay at one of the August Meetings or mail to him at:
12947 SE 90th Court Road
Summerfield, FL 34491

2nd Renzetti Fly Fishing & Rod Building Fair

Mark your Calendars! If you only attend one fly fishing event a year, this should be the one! The legends of fly fishing are gathering for the 2nd Fly Fishing & Rod Building Fair at the Renzetti Factory in Titusville on Dec 5 and 6, 2008. There will be workshops for fly tying and rod building as well as seminars in casting techniques, equipment and rigging, factory tours among others. Each seminar will be taught by some of the finest instructors and leading experts in the field. Special guests and instructors include Lefty Kreh, Bob Clouser, Bob Popovics, Pat Ehlers, Jon Cave , Tom Kirkman, Jim Uptown, Jay Murakoshi, Ken Hanley and many others.

New to this year's event is a one-day fly-fishing clinic during the day on Friday December 5 conducted by Bob Clouser, Bob Popovics and Jon Cave. This event will be limited to only 15 participants, so signing up early is essential.

The evening of the 5th, a fundraising cocktail party, will be held to benefit Casting for Recovery and the Kid's Fishing Clinic at Port Canaveral. Make reservations early.

For more information or to make reservations for either fly fishing clinic or the cocktail party on December 5th, please call 321-267-7705. For the full corporate announcement, click here.

The Club welcomes any questions, comments, complaints, ideas, whatever -- just contact us at contacttcff@aol.com.

--------- Fishin' Buddy Program ---------

Based on a program set up by the Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers to encourage its boat owners to go fly fishing with those who do not have access to boats, the TCFF is modifying its Fishin’ Buddy Program to be less restrictive as to when and where members fish.

The Captains signing up will be acknowledged at the Breakfast and Evening meetings and on the TCFF Website. It will be up to the Club Member (the Mate) wanting to fish to contact the captain, compare fishing styles, etc., and, by mutual agreement, whether or not to fish.
(As always, it is appropriate to share expenses.)

Captain Gary Christie	Days available for fishing: Monday and Friday
352-347-5735	15' bass boat
Areas Fished: Local Lakes

Captain Bill Kirchner	Days available for fishing: Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday
352-751-1895	16.5 ft Fisher
Areas Fished: Harris Chain of Lakes

Captain Ed Russell	Days available for fishing: All week
352-751-2384	Pontoon Boat
Areas Fished: Ocklawaha River and Lake Griffin

Captain Bob Strunc	Days available for fishing: Tuesday and Friday
352-787-6449	Grumman 17' bass boat w/50 HP
Areas Fished: Lake Harris

For information or to sign-up as Captain, contact Ed Russell at 751-2384.

--------- Fresh Water and Saltwater Fishing Trips---------
Cancelled for August because
of the heat and unpredictable weather.

Near Term Calendar (For long term calendar with full details, Click Here.)

August 20 (Wednesday) -- 3rd Wednesday Evening Meeting. 7:00pm at the Oxford Community Center. Captain Earl Waters will speak on inshore fishing covering all major inshore saltwater fish. Every attendee that brings in a fly to give to him, Capt. Waters will give them a fly in exchange. The featured fly will be the Foam Beetle Fly.
September 3 (Wednesday) -- Monthly Breakfast Meeting. Taste Tempter Pancake Inn, Leesburg.
September 9 (Tuesday) -- Adopt-A-Lake Cleanup Workday. Lake Griffin.
September 11 (Thursday) -- Club Fresh Water Fishing Trip. Location to be determined.
September 17 (Wednesday) -- 3rd Wednesday Evening Meeting. 7:00pm at the Oxford Community Center. Topic to be determined.
Week of September 25 -- Club Saltwater Fishing Trip. Location to be determined.
September 27-28 (Saturday and Sunday) -- Florida Sportsman Fishing Show. Tampa. The TCFF is looking for Members to staff the Florida Council Booth and to tie flies.