| The Central Oregon Flyline
Online Newsletter of the Central Oregon Flyfishers |
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November Program Meeting Date and Location Random Casts September Outing Tips and Tricks Egg Deliveries Attention Fly Tiers! Klamath River Deep Creek Trout Creek Nominees Internet Stuff Support Our Local Flyshops Officers and Board Members COF Committees |
November ProgramAs always, prior to the featured speaker, there will be a business meeting for the purpose of elections. The nominees are listed, for your convenience, in another section of the Newsletter. Also, thanks to Don Johnston for the idea for the following program for this month.STEELHEAD RETURN TO THE DESCHUTES BASIN !!Steelhead and Chinook Salmon may soon be in the Deschutes, Crooked and Metolius Rivers above Round Butte Dam. Don Ratliff, PGE fisheries biologist, will discuss efforts to reintroduce anadromous fish above the Pelton/Round Butte Project. This is a part of the 50 year relicensing of the Project, and could have a major impact on sport fishing. Think about going to the Crooked River and catching a steelie instead of a whitefish. |
COF Meeting Date and LocationThe Central Oregon Flyfishers meet on the third Wednesday of the month at The Central Oregon Association of Realtors, 2112 N.E. 4th Street, Bend,Oregon. The Monthly gatherings start at 6:30 PM and the program begins at 7:00PM. Everyone is welcome to attend. Invite a neighbor or friend to join us at the next meeting. |
Random CastsAnother month has slipped by, the weather has begun that great change and the big Brown’s are in the spawning stages that close most of the lakes on October 31st, but it has been fun while it lasted. Wickiup, on the Davis Creek arm, was real interesting when it came to the Brown’s, especially the ones that break 6 lb. tippet without hesitation. Now on to other things.Those that have email have received a new survey that was put together by the Board following the 2 day retreat we did for the October Board meeting. At that retreat it was decided that we need the input from each member if we intend to supply what you really want from the Club. The email responses we have received so far have been most enlightening, but we need more. Believe me; we will pay attention to your answers for the upcoming years in planning activities, programs and classes provided by the Club for the Club members. As a matter of fact Tom Philiben, Earl Rettig and Mark Reisinger all agreed to do two more years on the Board (if you elect them) to make sure we follow the plans we made. Don’t worry, those that don’t have email will receive a copy of the survey and we ask that you please respond to it. You can mail it in, or bring it to the November meeting. At the October meeting, for those that couldn’t make it, we had a summary of the retreat on the walls to give an idea of what we looked at, what we did and what we are looking to do in the future. We’ll have that typed out and available at the November meeting. Speaking of the November meeting reminds me, you DO NOT want to miss this one if you have any interest in the possibility of Salmon and Steelhead fishing in local waters. Our guest speaker, Don Ratcliffe, a Biologist with PGE, has been working diligently on determining if the ladders at Pelton and Round Butte should be opened up so the runs can return to the Metolius, Deschutes and Crooked River. (Until the dams were built there were runs all the way up to Suttle Lake, in the Deschutes up to Steelhead falls and part way up the Crooked.) Be there!
See you at the meeting.
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September Outing ReportGreat weather, great group, good food and mixed results pretty much surmises the day at Miller Lake, which is considered by many to be one of the more beautiful lakes in the region. Fifteen people made the outing and the results ran from “nada” to maybe two dozen. The majority of those caught were Browns in the 8” to 16” range with a few 10” to 14” Rainbows thrown in for good measure.Harry Harbin began catching on a regular basis and, during the lunch break, handed out about a dozen of his “K-mart specials” to “those in need”, plus some of the Blue Killers he had with him. Even those had mixed results with some catching regularly while others suffered the “no-hit” syndrome. Other flies that seemed to work pretty well were Callibaetis nymphs, size 16 Elk Hair Caddis recovered sub-surface and size 16 or 18 Pheasant tail nymphs. The only problem was there was no real consistency in which flies might work in which areas. The good part about Miller Lake is its easy access, especially since the best fishing tends to be along the shelf edges that run around the lake, and in the shallows near shore. The bad part is the 12 miles of gravel road in to the lake that tends to shake things apart with the washboard surface that’s there. If you want to try it out you might want to use other than a boat to float around, put in at the day use area and work that cove. Most of the fish were caught along the shelf edge in that area with the best results coming from slow recovery of the Wooly style at about 20’ in depth. |
Tips and TricksLine CareAs the temperatures begin to drop lots of those that fish tend to look for other things to do and set their fly rods to the side until it warms up in the spring. Unfortunately many don’t take the time to unload their reels and allow the line to dry out before storing it because they don’t have a line drying rack. That’s easy to take care of. Take a piece of plywood, about 24” x 24”, and draw a circle that’s about 22” in diameter. Now drill some small (3/8”) holes every 6” around that circle and glue wooden dowels about 6” long in each hole and mount the unit on a wall or inside a cabinet. This will give you a place to “hang” your line and let it dry by wrapping it loosely around the dowel circle. Wash the line with a mild detergent before you hang it up to dry and treat it with line treatment as you remount it on your reel.Remember to pull the backing from the reel also and let it dry. Over time the moisture gathered in the backing can cause it to mold and lose its strength.
Cold HandsWhen fishing in the winter wet hands can get painfully cold with just one catch and release. This is an easy problem to overcome with little effort.Stop by the local store and get a soft dishwashing cloth. These are usually very absorbent, work great for drying the hands rapidly after getting them wet, and you don’t need a large one to do the job. Simply cut a 12” x12” cloth in half, tie a small knot in one corner of the cloth with a string tied into the knot, add a small ring to the end of the string and connect it to your vest or waders belt. This makes it easy to grab and dry your hands immediately when you get them wet.
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Fall Egg Deliveries 2002We have just completed the fall Rainbow Trout egg deliveries to local and eastern Oregon schools for incubation in the classrooms. Jeff and Terri Grimm went to the Oak Springs Hatchery in Maupin to pick up the eggs and brought them back to Bend on Sunday afternoon. Terri asked some other volunteers to make the deliveries to the local schools and to Lakeview and Silver Lake.We packaged the twenty bundles of 200 eggs each in special trays, in coolers, with non chlorinated ice from the hatchery dripping water through them. Special care was taken so that an accumulation of melted ice water would not smother the eggs and they would remain cool enough for delivery over the next four or five days. Of course there was also paperwork for the teachers to sign, special hand outs for the classes, displays etc. to go along with the deliveries. In the class room the eggs are kept in an aquarium with a chiller unit, an aquarium in an old Coke machine or even with plastic jugs frozen and placed in the aquarium to achieve the proper temperature. The students predict the hatching date by keeping careful records of the temperature units they accumulate, records of the mortality rate of the eggs and the fry, and finally, place the fry in a pond or area that has no outlet designated by their district Biologist. Bob and I set out early Monday morning for the first of our deliveries to 20 schools. This had meant setting up a route and scheduling specific times for each of the schools – we needed to be there during school hours. It was also necessary to have a map showing the exact location of each school because some of them had nothing but a P O Box number and, without a map, would have been impossible to find. The trip this year – we have been doing this for seven years – was just about perfect. It was the only time that the weather was really good to us. Previously we had traveled in rain, icy conditions and even snow in some areas. This time we were able to enjoy the fall colors of the Hood River valley, a warm comfortable drive throughout the 1000 miles, seeing old teacher friends and two new schools. The chance to interact with the kids is a very important part of the trip to us. Bob makes a short presentation to each class wherever possible. We had two new schools to find this year, the high school in Elgin, population 1750 and the grade school in Drewsey, population 22. Actually they are our two new favorites. Elgin, in Indian Valley, between the Blue Mountains and the Wallowas, is a tiny seemingly well to do, high tech wheat farming and timber industry community and this is apparent in the old three story school building. I believe that it was built about 1890 and has about 150 students. The young people are proud of the education they are getting and of the school. Nowhere else have we seen such respect for other students and for the teacher. The Drewsey school has two rooms, 12 students in first through eighth grades and two very dedicated teachers. The teachers are making certain that all of the children receive as broad an education as possible. We traveled from Bend to Mitchell – we also left the eggs for Mt. Vernon here - and then drove up through Condon to 2 schools in the Hood River area. Then, after seeing a teacher friend and her new school in the Dalles, went along the Columbia River to Hermiston, met the teacher from Milton Freewater and drove up to a new school in Helix the next day. From Helix we went over to Elgin and back down the east side of Oregon through La Grande and Baker City. We drove through Willow Creek, Vale and back along Highway 20 through Drewsey, Burns and Hines. We didn’t make the trip out to Halfway this time but left their eggs with the teacher in Baker City; nor did we go down to Crane but left their eggs with the teacher in Burns. We returned home on Thursday evening, tired but exhilarated from the adventure and ready to do it again next year if all goes well with the ODFW and with us. Bob and Tommie Speik
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From Faultline MagazineBush Administration charged with mismanaging river flow to placate upper basin farmers. ... As adult Klamath River salmon die by the thousands from low river flows and a river system too hot and too polluted to support them, coastal commercial salmon fishermen, joined by Congressman Mike Thompson, filed legal papers September 26 in US Federal District Court in Oakland, challenging the federal government's ten-year plan for managing irrigation in the Klamath Basin. Litigants claim the plan fails to assure that enough water will be released to the Lower Klamath River to keep from devastating its commercially valuable Klamath River salmon runs. The suit was joined by The Wilderness Society, WaterWatch of Oregon, Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Klamath Forest Alliance, Headwaters and others.
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Trout Creek Swamp Restoration Well Underwayby Scott Cotter Trout Creek Swamp is a 28 acre year-round wet meadow located about 10 miles west of Sisters. The Swamp provides habitat for a unique variety of rare plants and animals, and is also an important source of clean water into the Trout Creek system. . An isolated population of Interior redband trout inhabit Trout Creek and ditches within the swamp. Unfortunately old ditches meant to drain the swamp to improve grazing have changed how water flows through and is stored in the swamp. The first phase of a project aimed at restoring the swamp was completed this year. Phase one of the project utilized hand crews to remove and pile lodge pole pine that were encroaching on the swamp. Piles will be burned on top of reed canary grass patches to help control the spread of this invasive species throughout the swamp. Phase two of the project is scheduled for next year and will involve re-establishing historic channels and filling in created ditches. The project, once complete, will restore hydrologic function to the swamp and to Trout Creek. Interior redband trout will benefit from the increased supply of cold, clear water from the properly functioning swamp. Meadow habitats will be increased, headcutting of ditches will be stopped, and the spread of reed canary grass will be slowed. For more information contact Forest Service Fisheries Biologist Mike Riehle at the Sisters Ranger District – (541) 549-7702. |
Nominees for 2003 COF
BOARD OF DIRECTORS – Terms: January 2003 to 2005
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Internet StuffSome interesting links
COF Links:
WEBSITE is:
BULLETIN BOARD is:
E-MAIL is:
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Support Our Local FlyshopsBEND:
CAMP SHERMAN:
REDMOND:
SISTERS:
SUNRIVER:
MADRAS:
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2002 COF Officers & Board MembersOfficers
Board Members
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COF Committees
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