Fly Fishing Insider Newsletter featuring Alaska, Smallmouth Bass

	Sunday, February 23, 1:00pm to 5:00pm Slide Program: Fly Fishing in Alaska Alaska is a wilderness paradise where rivers are world renowned for their runs of wild Pacific Salmon and thriving resident populations of Rainbow Trout, Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, Northern Pike, Lake Trout and Dolly Varden. Come see what its all about.
Group leaders: Tyrell Johnson & Travis Wren owners of Bear Bay Lodge Following the slide presentation there will be a fly tying demonstration. Learn to tie the flies that catch fish in Alaska. Bring your tying stuff and tie along. Refreshments will be served.

Smallmouth Bass Fishing Tips by Marty Sheppard Marty Shepard guides for Little Creek Outfitters.
	Bass fishing On the John Day River is a lot of fun. Catching 75-100 fish per day is not uncommon. Most of them average between 8"-12". Every day we catch a fair number in the 13"-16" range. Trophy 18"-22" smallmouth bass will come to the fly, but only with the right approach. These older, more experienced fish have given me a challenge. I am committed to the art of landing more of these
monsters. Here is a list of flies and techniques that have proven most effective for trophy smallmouth bass. First of all bass have pecking order, especially in the morning, and prime feeding stations can produce the big one. We will strip a popper or a diver at the top of a back eddy or a foam line with results. Size 4 and 6 has proven effective in a variety of colors. When the sun comes up these large fish seem to disappear. This is the time to go to the sink tip and fish a wooly bugger deep and slow. Letting the fly sink to or near the bottom. Strips should be short and aggressive with long (5-8 seconds) stalls between. These mid-day big bass sulk deep and save there energy for easy prey, usually the small bass that get comfortable mingling around this predator that acts uninterested in chasing them, thus fooling them into becoming a meal. One of the most productive methods fir big bass comes in the late afternoon. Find the basalt walls that protrude into deep slow moving pools. With the shade on the water these giant smallmouth will cruse along these walls. I have found Chernobyl Ants and Hoppinators to be most effective. The technique is to cast inches from the wall and give the fly very small twitches. The secret here is to not move the fly far and be patient. Leaving the fly on the water for as long as you can stand it. These heavy fish are slow movers and are not interested in the chase. These methods are my best secrets to solving the mystery of taking the bigger fish on the John Day. The biggest problem comes from the smaller bass getting to your fly ahead of the 20 incher. Not a problem though because smallmouths of all sizes are all great fighters. Sometimes as that 8-incher is tiring from battling your rod, it will get swallowed up by some bass that could easily be the next state record. More Information on Catching John Day River Smallmouth Bass.

Flies For Smallmouth Bass It's never too early to plan your next smallmouth expedition.
Mega-Whammy	Olive Bugger	Peacock Chernobyl

Neon Slime Mega-Wammy is a color that blends with duck weed and algae. It is a color that is will entice timid bass. These popper heads are Epoxy coated for shine and extreme durability!
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
01147-06	Mega-Whammy Bass Popper, Neon Slime	6	$2.95

Black ChewyPop with rubber legs, marabou and silver Flashabou is a winning combination over the widest range of conditions. This popper is especially effective in low light conditions. Chuck this popper up against the bank or into holes in the weeds on a full moon night and see what happens. Use a short, stout leader.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
CHEWYBL6	Chewy-Pop Bass Popper, Black	6	$2.95

Flash-A-Bugger, Olive A wise man once said that if you want to catch trout from alkaline lakes your best fly would be inch long & green. In some lakes and rivers inch and a half long and green is an even better option. This is a must have fly no mater where you fish in fresh water.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
11888-04	Flash-A-Bugger, Olive	4	3 for $5.25
11888-06	Flash-A-Bugger, Olive	6	3 for $5.25

Flash-A-Bugger, Peacock This is a very good early season fly for many lakes which contain trout or large mouth bass. Troll is slowly across the bottom.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
11899-04	Flash-A-Bugger, Peacock	4	3 for $5.25
11899-06	Flash-A-Bugger, Peacock	6	3 for $5.25

Peacock Chernobyl Why do you think that big John Day bass position themselves tight to steep rock walls? No doubt there is the shade factor during certain parts of the day. Also the cliff faces often funnel and trap food. Terrestrial insects such as crickets, beetles, ants and bees that get trapped anywhere in the currents will eventually wind up sliding along some rock wall. Stone flies crawl from the river one rock walls. Some John Day River cliffs are plastered with stone fly shucks.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
00116-08	Peacock Chernobyl	8	3 for $5.25

Hoppinator, Brown/Yellow Smallmouth Bass are a lot like trout in that they will station-up under over hanging grass and wait for grass hoppers to fall into the water.
Item	Description	Size	Price	To Top
00106-06	Hoppinator, Brown/Yellow	6	3 for $5.25

Marty's Smallmouth Bass Fly Collection
Item	Description	Price	To Top
JDSMALL-1	(3) Mega-Whammy Bass Popper, Neon Slime (3) Chewy-Pop Bass Popper, Black #6, (3) Flash-A-Bugger, Olive #4, (3) Flash-A-Bugger, Olive #6, (3) Flash-A-Bugger, Peacock #4, (3) Flash-A-Bugger, Peacock #6 , (3) Peacock Chernobyl #8, (3) Hoppinator, Brown/Yellow #6,	$48.95

THE WOODEN BOAT (part one)
J. Morgan Jones
For all of the years that I have been learning (does the learning ever stop?) and practicing the genteel art of fly fishing, I have resisted the siren song of the drift boat. I have been using the one person pontoon

boat on the water for quite some time. It fits my style. It's portable, easy to operate, easier to transport and store. The list that I have made goes on and on. But I have an eye for boats. I always have. The sight of a well made boat on the water never fails to evoke a pleasant feeling somewhere deep inside.
The last few seasons on the river found me accepting rides from a few friends with drift boats, and, I grudgingly admitted that there were a few advantages...... And they were pleasant to drift in, after all. I am sure that most of you know how it goes after that. Next thing that I know I am selling the pontoons and looking for a drift boat. I asked a lot of questions and looked at many different boats. I settled, at last, on an aluminum model boat . While gathering the money, I happened to come across a few wooden boats, and, thought, just for the sake of being through, that I would gather some information on this type of boat also. Most of what I heard was that the maintenance was never ending and the structural strength was less than that of fiberglass or metal. One of the guys that I know reminded me that Ray Heater (a fellow fly fisher that I had come to know) was the Ray of Ray's River Dorys. I contacted Ray and, of course, he invited me up to his shop to look at a couple of boats that he had on hand. What I saw was furniture. Fine furniture. Except that it was made to float. After talking with Ray over a period of weeks, I Iearned a lot of things about drift boats and was able to discern facts from many of the more popular myths about wood. The structural strength of some woods is as strong as anything available today. The structural integrity of the assembled boat, when done correctly is the equal of other materials. You can always build a boat quickly and cheaply, but it won't last and the upkeep will be a major part of owning it... beware. The wooden boat is quieter and warmer than other types. The appearance of the finished boat is, well, unequaled. Period.
Ray convinced me that I could build my own drift boat from one of his kits, but it took a while. I have some skills, but making furniture has never been one of them. Ray persisted. I weakened. I stepped up. The same day that I went to Ray's to put a deposit on a kit, I ran into another fellow that was picking up his kit. I could tell that he was looking at that pile of wood and having some difficulty in seeing a boat in there. Exactly what I was thinking myself. I persisted, however, and completed the transaction. It was not long before I was wearing a pair of rubber gloves and placing part "A" on part "B". I found myself very impressed with the building process and the manner that the boat is to be built. Very few screws. Every fastener was to be pre-drilled, including nail holes (Ring shanked bronze nails have more holding power than screws). Every joint is epoxy coated, allowed to dry, re-coated and then assembled. The bottom of the boat is, well, stout. The bottom consists of a layer of African Mahogany, epoxy (twice), a filler coat of the same, a layer of Marine plywood, epoxy again (twice) and then very heavy glass cloth, epoxy soaked. After drying, a mixture of epoxy and graphite is applied to the bottom, three times. Ray really does not care much for UMW or one piece bottoms as the shrink/expansion ratio of wood is quite a bit different than other types of materials. This will cause the bottom to loosen over time and trap moisture underneath. This can cause your lifetime boat to convert itself into a yard planter after a few years. By the time the bottom is finished you will begin to understand that you are assembling a really well built craft. There are other shops that claim one of their kits can be assembled in a week, and there is one who claims that they can build a kit in three days. The bottom of my Ray's boat alone took more than three days to dry. Hmmm?
Through the course of building my boat, I have learned a great deal about different types of woods, adhesives, fasteners and finishes. I have been treated to a history of wooden boats and the rivers they run.
As yet, I am not really a seasoned river pilot with a drift boat, but I am learning. I have discovered a few things about wooden boats. The biggest thing is this: If you are pleased each time that a fish takes a fly that you tied, imagine what it's like to float to the next hole in the boat you built.

ChewyPop	Peacock Bugger	Hoppinator
	Full Set

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