Fly Fishing Insider Newsletter featuring Steelhead Clinic

Sunday, January 27, 2002 1:00 to 5:00 P.M.
FREE! Fly Fisher's Round Table Featuring innovative fly tier: Derrick Fergus.
Derrick has spent hundreds of days fly fishing Oregon's premier trophy trout lakes.
One summer he spent almost three months straight at Davis lake.
Come and watch Derrick's slide show and join him tying flies.
Derrick is a fly tackle rep for: Waterworks-Lamson, Airflo, Royal Wulff, Dr. Slick, Dyna-King, Riverborn, B.W. Sports, Fish Hunter and Dan Bailey's.
We will get him to spring for some nifty drawing prizes.
Refreshments will be served.

Yellow Fin Tuna.

Yellow Fin Tuna
How would you like to be pleasantly warm, fly fishing for Yellow Fin Tuna?
Scientifically called Thunnus albacares they roam the worlds tropical and temperate Oceans in schools from dozens to hundreds. They are

constantly on the move, each a relentless eating machine, gobbling any squid or bait fish that gets in their way. These foot ball shaped predators are hard to the touch and beautiful to look at with deep blue backs and pearlescent sides of many subtle tones of blues and golds. Yellow Fin Tuna come in a wide range of sizes, many too large for the fly rodder. Fish in the 15 to 40 pound size are matched with 9-13 weight gear. These are babies. But don't let

Patty Barnes fighting a Yellow Fin Tuna.

Patty and a Mexican guide with a Yellow Fin Tuna.

that fool you. By the time you get a 25 pound Yellow Fin to the boat, you will have had enough. They have incredible stamina and usually sound when hooked and can go hundreds of feet deep. Trey Combs in his epic book "Bluewater Fly Fishing" recounts a four hour battle with a fly hooked Yellow Fin estimated at 140 pounds. It was chummed-up off of Hawaii. The fish pealed 1000 feet of backing on the first run that took in nearly straight down. After the third hour the angler was suffering from

dehydration and muscle spasm in his hands arms, back and legs. Finally the fish was all but whipped but broke the tippet 20 feet from the boat. He said it took him months to recover. We connected with several Yellow Fin Tuna at east Cape in the Sea of Cortez. They took 3 1/2 inch long Sardina patterns stripped fast with fast sinking lines. How large a Yellow Fin can be taken with a fly rod, maybe a hundred pounds. Our largest hooked was 40, the largest landed 25. The all tackle world record is 388 pounds.
How would you like to be pleasantly warm, fly fishing for Yellow Fin Tuna?
Good Luck!

Keeper.

Mike Senatra sent us this picture of a hatchery fish he took from one of the high traffic gear fishing areas. It measured out at 32 inches long and 16 1/2 inches around. Proves that chance favors the guy with the fly in the water. Note: 9140-4 Sage and Tibor Gulfstream.

We started our January 8-Hour On the Water Steelhead Fly Fishing School amid some unexpected heavy boat traffic. Most of the traffic was early in the morning and passed though our section of the river very quickly. That left us with a nearly deserted river from late morning on. Treg Owings landed the only steelhead of the day. He got it by dredging the deep water with his spey rod. He brought two fish to the fly in a run that had just been pounded by at least 10 gear fishermen.

Treg with winter hatchery buck.

Loading the boat at dark.

Treg's definitely a team player. He realized early in the day that the real reason that he took "the class" was to make his teacher look good. We all had a lot of fun. The instructors had as much fun as anyone. There are a lot of different fly fishing methods that will produce steelhead. It is fun to explore them all. We used many teaching methods during this school. That's Jay Coalson reeling in the boat.

Because of the overwhelming demand and an extensive waiting list left over from our February 8-Hour School, (filled in one hour) we are offering a March School:
8-Hour On the Water Steelhead Fly fishing School
Take a drift boat ride down the Sandy River with:
Mark Bachmann, Brian Silvey and Ron Lauzon

This is a school that will cover a lot of water and fishing knowledge in one day.
Learn how to locate steelhead water and how to approach it.
Watch an expert guide as he fishes and discloses the secrets and proven methods that put fish on the beach. Get a lot of hands on help so that you too can be productive.
Save yourself five years of experimenting on your own.
Bring your own waders & rain gear. Rods, reels, flies & tackle are supplied.
A quick lunch will be served on the river.
Date: Friday, March 22, 2002 - 9 students only!
First come, first served.

Blondes Ice Fishing
   A blonde decided she needed something new and different for a winter hobby. She went to the bookstore and bought every book she could find on ice fishing. For weeks she read and studied every book, hoping to become an expert in the field. Finally she decided she knew enough and out she went for her first ice fishing trip.
She carefully gathered up and packed all the tools and equipment needed for the excursion. Each piece of equipment had it's own special place in her kit. When she got to the ice, she found a quiet little area, placed her padded stool, and carefully laid out her tools. Just as she was about to make her first cut into the ice a booming voice from the sky bellowed "There are no fish under the ice!"
   Startled, the blonde grabbed up all her belongings, moved further along the ice, poured some hot chocolate from her thermos, and started to cut a new hole. Again the voice from above bellowed "There are no fish under the ice!"
Amazed, the blonde wasn't quite sure what to do, this certainly wasn't covered in any of her books. She packed up her gear and moved to the far side of the ice. Once there she stopped for a few moments to regain her calm. Then she was extremely careful to set everything up perfectly. Tools in the right place, chair positioned just so, everything. Just as she was about to cut this new hole, the voice came again, "There are no fish under the ice!"
   Petrified, the blonde looked skyward and asked "Is that you lord?" And the voice boomed back "No, this is the manager of the skating rink!"

Item	Description	Price
ST-CLASS-3	8-hour steelhead class with Mark Bachmann, Brian Silvey and Ron Lauzon.	$150