Lessons Learned by Ed Rapisardi

I do not believe today's fly fishermen realize the significant changes in this form of fishing made over the last decade or two. Fly fishing was designed to cast an imitation fur and feathered hook to trout whose diet consisted mainly of aquatic winged insects in their early stages of life, it was thought, hence the name, fly fishing. In short time, sub-surface stages of these insects became popular as wet flies. They represented those creatures which were emerging and preparing to get to the surface to dry their wings for flight. Then fishing even deeper, called nymph fishing, became even more popular as imitations of the nymph stage of these, insects were found to be the true main diet for trout. These nymph flies were not all made of fur and feather, but wire and beads of brass entered the picture mainly to give them weight to get to the bottom of the stream. At about the same time, some pioneering fellows wondered if they could get other species of fresh water fish to eat an artificial creation. Again, starting with fur and feathers but gradually adding the use of other materials, the new flies were found effective on bass. The next progression was to try it in saltwater and that started with fur and feathered creations imitating bait fish. “Are these flies?” the trout purists asked -- they are more like conventional fishing lures instead, but less heavy and fairly easy to cast with a fly rod.

The point of this being that when we read an article on fishing it need not be a fly fishing article at all as it might be an article written for conventional fishing. So what? Read it and learn from it as the habits of fish are the same for all types of fishing. The tactics for catching are the same; the only difference is the lure we choose to use. You tyers out there, take a tip from the other fishing guys -- design a “fly” that resembles the lures baitcasters use and fish it the same way. You can learn from these articles and expert fishing guides who write them. We are not casting flies; we are indeed casting lures or variations of lures. A short Clouser with lead eyes can double as a jig-- learn to bounce it off the bottom as the jig is normally used. The long soft plastic streamers can be duplicated with bucktail and feathers on a lightly weighted hook. The spinner blades can be used with the addition of a clevis to tie onto to prevent fly line twisting and, better yet, a wobbler blade invented by none other than our friend and fly fishing expert Jon Cave. Think about it, if we go that route why not use some of those conventional lures on a fly rod, we are almost there any how -- unless you are a purist, which I doubt. It is not a mortal sin to tip a “fly” with a hunk of Squid -- you still caught that lady fish on your fly rod.

Experiment, folks -- that's how we got here to begin with, or we would all be saving our money to go north for some pure trout fishing every time we had the urge to fly fish.

By the way in closing, please send me a short essay on how and why you got into Fly Fishing. There are some interesting stories out there.

Until next time, Tight Lines and keep your Fly dry. Ed , Soggybottom, Rapisardi
(All Lessons Learned archived here.)

Minutes of the TCFF Breakfast Meeting -- January 4th

President Frank Matousek called the meeting to order at 8:39 a.m.

Frank then introduced the new officers for 2012:

President Tom Green
Vice President Ed Rapisardi (appointed by approval of the Board of Directors)
Treasurer Bob Strunc
Secretary Joe Manjoine

Frank then turned the meeting over to in-coming President Tom Green.

Tom’s first order of business was to have Mike Winter turn over the role of membership director to Tim Fahey. Tim will start tracking event attendance and present a yearly award to the most active member.

Minutes from 12/1/11 meeting were read and accepted.

Warren Rasmussen provided the Treasurers report. Final balance as of 12/31/11 is $2763.49 which was moved and accepted. George Hintz said an audit needed to be done and Warren said he was ready.

New member Tom Noble from PA was introduced, and Bob Strunc volunteered to be a mentor and show Tom how to fly fish in FL.

Tom Green then presented awards to the outgoing officers and once again thanked outgoing President Frank Matousek for his accomplishments while in office.

Fresh Water fishing trip will be Thursday Jan 12th on the St. Johns River. Meet 7am at the Blackwater Inn where they will also have lunch afterward. Call or email Bob Strunc to sign up.

Bob also said flies are needed for the fly box.

Ed Rapisardi reviewed the upcoming programs:

Jan 14th – Grand Oaks Resort grand opening at the former Carriage Museum.

Jan 18th Program – Joe Mahler is an FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor and an illustrator for the world of fishing. His work appears in magazines such as Salt Water Sportsman, FLW, and American Angler. He also wrote
“Essential Knots & Rigs for Trout” and “Essential Knots & Rigs for Salt Water”. Visit his site at http://www.markerjockey.com.

John Cave, fly casting instructor from our Nov. program will do a tune-up casting program for 4 to 8 people for a reduced rate of $75 pp. Contact Ed Rapisardi to sign up.

Tom Green said that the club needs to become more than a social group and start helping at programs such as Casting for Recovery, a woman’s group for Cancer Survivors, Healing Waters, Wounded Waters, etc.

Ed Rapisardi proposed a fly tying/fishing program for recovering veterans in the area. A committee consisting of Ed, Tom, Mike Winter, Steve Lusen and Felix Nieves will work on this program.

The Salt Water fishing trip will be Jan 26th at Picnic Island.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:41.