September October 2018 - Hatches and Rises

HATCHES & RISES ONLINE MAGAZINE

September/October 2018

PATAGONIAN SUMMER

Estancia del Zorro & Cinco Rios Lodge pg 10

PWWTU.ORG pwwtu.org September/October 2018

Hatches & Rises 1 

President’s Message PRESIDENT’S BEAT Dale Fogg PENN’S WOODS WEST

T

he autumn wind is beginning to blow now. The leaves are starting to turn, and my mind is reflecting on a great summer, and looking forward to a great fall. I love Autumn, it seems to bring closure to the heat and business of the summer. It also opens up new opportunities for fall fishing. The tactics may change, but the goal remains the same.

President* Dale Fogg 607-742-1177 Vice President* Open Treasurer* Walt Reineman 412-963-2824

Dale Fogg, and Christian Shane netting a healty bow while floating the Yough.

I finished my wood drift boat in the spring, and gave it a few runs this summer. It has been a great project, and proven to be a fantastic fishing tool. I fished parts of the Clarion and Youghiogheny rivers, and launched its maiden voyage at North Park Lake. I am already planning more adventures with this boat.

This year we will be meeting at Christ Church at Grove Farm, in The Barn, which is a separate building from the main building. This venue is at a great location for most, with easy access to I-79 and I-279. We have some great speakers lined up for this year and look forward to settling down at this location for a while.

Cabin Fever is scheduled for Sunday March 3, 2019, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cranberry (same location as last year). We can always use help planning the show, if you are interested in helping with our largest fundraiser, please talk with me. We also are looking to add some people to the Leadership of the Chapter, several positions are open. Please consider volunteering.

I am getting all of my Steelhead fly boxes in order and anticipate a great run this year. I can’t wait to head north and tangle with the chrome once again, but more importantly, I can’t wait to see all of you at our monthly meetings, and catch up with you.

All the best, DALE FOGG, PWTTU President

Secretary* Earl Morgan 412-486-8558 Hatches & Rises Editors Charles Cantella and Joe Birch Conservation Director* Open Program Coordinator* Christian Shane 412-916-2979 Communications Director* Open Women’s Outreach Chair Jodie Minor Nora Cline pwwtuwomen@gmail.com Member Director Charles Buffington 412-388-1666 BarFlies Coordinator: Ron Milavec 412-835-6107 *Also serving on Board of Directors

2 Hatches & Rises September/October 2018 pwwtu.org

Chapter Fundraising

http://www.bobwhitestudio.com/

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The drawing will be at the end of the day of Cabin Fever 2019 and you need not be present to win.

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Fall is here, and that means Christmas isn’t too far behind.

Looking for a great Christmas gift for your fishing buddy? Consider buying one of our raffle tickets for a framed, signed and numbered Bob White print.

They are $5 each, but we only have 200 tickets available so get yours before they sell out! Tickets should be available at October ‘s meeting.

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Tickets will be available at all monthly Penn’s Woods West TU meetings (see any of the board members) or contact me via email, ccantella@hotmail.com.

www.pwwtu.org pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 3

Local Destination

By Charles Cantella

Laurel Hill Creek:

H

igh in the Laurel Mountains of south west Pennsylvania Laurel Hill Creek plays a bit of a dual role routine, boasting two special regulation areas (DHALO), a Keystone Select designated area, a lake, and a mix of cold and warm water fish. The creek above the Laurel Hill Lake the creek is a quaint mountain stream gurgling around boulders, over riffles, under a forest canopy and through the mountain forest before feeding the Laurel Hill Lake. From the outlet of the lake, the stream eventually changes to a slower, warmer creek as it winds its way through a mixture of fields and wooded areas.

Along the way various tributaries feed it giving Laurel Hill Creek more and cooler water as it works its way toward the Casselman River. The Casselman shortly thereafter joins the Youghiogheny River which runs into the Monongahela River, which meets the Ohio River, and ultimately what started as a tiny mountain stream makes it to the Mississippi River. I’m always a bit taken back when I realize that the same tiny mountain stream water that I’ve fished, will eventually reach the ocean.

The section of Laurel Hill Creek from the Jimtown Rd Bridge (near the Boy Scout camp) down to the Laurel Hill Park Rd Bridge just above the Laurel Hill Lake the creek is a Keystone Select Trout Stocked water affording the angler a chance at catching a substantial trout and is managed as a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only fishery. The stream, a nice collection of riffles and pools, is covered with a thick forest canopy which keeps the water cool and allows trout to carryover through the summer. There is a parking area, and well-worn paths along the banks attest to the pressure the creek receives. Fishing here, and throughout the creek is for stocked fish. But sound management practices keep good numbers of fish in the creek through the year.

Since this section is a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section, bait is prohibited. But spinners, trout magnets, tiny spoons, among other lures should produce for the spin fisherman. Fly fishers may find that patterns of little black stoneflies, cream caddis, and black caddis should work well early in the year while slate drakes, blue-winged olive duns, 4 Hatches & Rises September/October 2018 pwwtu.org

or march browns pick up as the weather warms. Streamers and nymph patterns in appropriate sizes should work for the fly fisher as well. The stream isn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, and a stealthy approach is key.

Once Laurel Hill Creek enters the lake, the water slows and warms before continuing downstream. There is a beach on the shallow sloping side of the lake, and a steep forested hill on the other. Shore fishing access is very limited at the lake. The upside is that if your trip to Laurel Creek involves the family, the beach area is a fantastic place to spend the hottest time of the day. You can spend time splashing with the kids, playing on the beach, or renting a kayak or paddleboard.

Below the lake, the stream picks up again but like many other streams that are fed by top release dams the water is not very cold when it leaves the lake and becomes increasingly warmer in the summer months. Despite this, the Commission does continued to P-7

Book Review

America’s Favorite Flies

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his is a bit of a departure from the standard novel or how-to book. This impressive volume is a collection of art, photographs, and stories from over 200 contributors. And these aren’t just run of the mill contributors, people such as Bob White, Lefty Kreh, and Yvon Chounard, among others, have donated their time and talents, pro bono, to make this book a success. At 656 pages bound between a hard cover, this impressive book was created as a fund raiser for the Native Fish Society and the James River Association. Along with the book, apparel, cups, hats, posters, and more are available at https:// americasfavoriteflies.com/the-book/.

The premise of the book is to find what is, “America’s Favorite Fly”.

Each contributor named a few of their favorite flies, and the stories behind them. Some are very factual and actually describe how to fish a particular fly. Others are a bit more creative and offer fun or enlightening stories behind their choice of fly. Full color throughout, this book certainly catches the eye and at 656 pages will give you plenty to read.

Fly of the Month Gold Ribbed Hares Ear

Gold Ribbed Hares Ear: It was the late fishing great Polly Rosborough that is created for adding the gold ribbing to the original Hares Ear Nymph design. This is a core pattern that belongs in every fly box. The hares ear silhouette imitates some very important Mayflies including; Epeorus pleuralis and E. longimanus (Quill Gordon); Stenonema vicarium (March Brown) Ephemera guttulata; Drunella grandis and D. doddsi (Green Drake). This pattern should be carried in a range of sizes to match the natural.

PATTERN RECIPE: Hook TMC3761, Thread - Tan 6/0, Thorax - Dubbed hares ear, Wingcase - Turkey quill section, Abdomen - Dubbed hares ear, Ribbing - Flat gold tinsel, Legs - Hares ear fibers from abdomen, Tail - Brown partridge barbs.

Email us your creation. We will review all submissions and publish the editor’s choice each issue. Please include your Name, Fly name, all materials used and a photo.

pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 5

One More Cast

By Christian A. Shane

Timing

T

he chirping of the cicada song got louder and louder as we drove down into the Laurel Highlands valley.

This time around, Father Time would smile upon us once again with an epic trip.

We planned the trip perfectly, or so we hoped. The cicadas should be slapping the water with the trout aggressively responding. Signs of cicadas approaching the north were evident in WV and southern Ohio. It was only a matter of time before they arrived on the Yough near the PA border where we would put in below the Confluence. Having tied up more than a dozen cicada patterns, I filled up two Altoid boxfuls and had prepared for the event like a kid waiting for sands of summer.

“The cicadas should be slapping the water with the trout aggressively responding. ”

We began the float by nymphing, hoping the cicadas would come out and play. As we drifted by the low lying areas, we could hear sections of cicada static humming in an encouraging way. We tried the variety of cicadas on the surface, both big and small with no luck. By lunchtime, the cicadas still didn’t make their presence known on the water to the fish, but the Slate Drakes emerged as we had some alternate surface action. Still, we enjoyed the day, hooked fish, drank beer, and remained patiently for the cicada action.

I pointed out one lone cicada fluttering in an eddy, the first we observed on the water. We rowed over and sat there for a bit to watch it struggling in the water’s film. Its wings spread out fully, twitching and jerking, though the orange and black bug was not eaten. I leaned over, allowed the bug to crawl up on my hand. Making note of its glowing red 6 Hatches & Rises September/October 2018 pwwtu.org

eyes, I pulled out one of my patterns to match. It took off in the wind and headed for the trees. There was still time for these cicadas to start flying, but we were running out of time. We floated cicadas all afternoon in slow eddies and fast runs, not one trout came up to investigate.

By late afternoon, lines like, “You shoulda been here yesterday!” and “Maybe they’ll be here tomorrow!” snuck

TIMING, continued from P-6

into our brains like so many other mistimed fishing adventures. I recalled the time we tried for the Green Drakes and actually observed the females swarming overhead, never to mate with the males and drop. Or the time we tried to hit the reds on the Kenai in Alaska and missed them by mere days. This would be another footnote in the long line of missed hatches and misjudged trips.

Three quarters of the way through the float, the sun sunk between the hills, the coolness of the river air swooped in, and the cicada static died off a bit. We knew that it would have to be another day, time which we didn’t have to fish.

Silence fell upon the valley.

From the back of the boat, with his own ideal timing, my buddy murmured, “Remember last summer we hit the Tricos on the Big Hole? That was crazy.” How could I forget? We had the river to ourselves with pods of trout responding to every cast of our spinner imitations; the big ones ever so subtly slurping our patterns and leaving us with jaws wide open.

“Yep, you caught that monster brown at the take-out.” I

still owed him a fishing shirt for the last-cast bet.

Then the memory floodgates opened to the past outstanding trips we encountered. On the Green River in Utah, the caddis were so thick the fish gulped mouthfuls.

Or our trip to the Madison, when we thought we missed the salmon flies, but they just happened to still be hunting below Quake Lake. Or the trek down through the Powder River canyon in Wyoming. The cutties took every bug we offered.

So no, it wasn’t the momentously timed trip that we had wished for, but the micro-moments themselves were perfect: watching the bald eagle battling the mergansers and her babies for space on the river, observing the Slate Drakes and stoneflies buzzing overhead, laughing at the beefy brown that nearly pulled my rod in. These are the moments in time we would remember that day.

Often, the snapshots in time of our adventures display us holding that final reward, but it’s the moments in between which make a rewarding time and bring us back for new opportunities.

LAUREL HILL CREEK, continued from P-4

helps the trout in Laurel Hill Creek withstand the often brutal summer temperatures.

stock the entire 30 miles of the creek along with numerous other stocked tributaries such as Jones Mill Run, Allen Creek, Blue Hole Creek, and Sandy Run. The creek runs through various terrains from wide open areas to thicker forests. These other creeks all provide cool water which

There is a second DHALO section, this one is from State Game Lands 111 the bridge at Humbert downstream 1.2 miles to the confluence of Paddytown Hollow Run. This section has limited road access and an angler has a better chance at escaping the crowds if he or she is willing to walk a bit. Here the creek gets wide and shallow and smallmouth bass, rock bass, crappie, and other warm water fish, along with trout, may wind up on the end of your line.

pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 7

Meet the Artist

By Charles Cantella

Meet the Artist: Bob White

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t’s a safe bet that most outdoors people have, at one time or another, entertained the dream of living the sporting life. A life where (in our fantasy anyway) the daily agenda is dictated more by the bugs that are hatching and water flows than by something as mundane as a time clock. I also think it’s a safe bet that most of us never quite attained that goal. However the subject of this year’s Meet the Artist has been able to pursue this dream and see it come to fruition.

However to hear him tell it, “I never really had a plan to end up here it just sort of happened and I feel very lucky and blessed to do what I do”. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to introduce this year’s Meet the Artist: Mr. Bob White.

If you’ve leafed through any of a number of outdoor magazines, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ve seen some of his work. In 1992 Fly Rod & Reel paired John Geirach’s column, “Sporting Life”, with Bob’s art. Since then the two have paired up on many projects including the Sporting Life columns until Fly Rod & Reel closed shop in 2017. Bob also provided the art for the covers of John’s books, A Fly Rod of your Own, and No Shortage of Good Days. Working so closely the two developed a close friendship, so when FR&R hung it up there was concern it was the end of an era. Enter TROUT magazine, the TU publication which reached an agreement with Bob and John and in September of 2017 the two became regular contributors to TROUT. 8 Hatches & Rises September/October 2018 pwwtu.org

“I first encountered Bob White’s work when I started writing the Sporting Life column for Fly Rod & Reel magazine in 1992 and the editors wisely chose Bob as the illustrator. You always wonder how your work will look in print in a new publication and I was delighted by Bob’s quiet, evocative paintings.

Since then I always turn to my column in the back of the magazine whenever a new issue arrives to see what Bob has done this time: a lush landscape, a still life, a small brook trout in the hand. Sometimes a painting visually summarizes the theme of the story and other times it picks out a pertinent detail, but it’s always a pleasant surprise. We never discuss it beforehand and I never see preliminary sketches. Bob doesn’t tell me how to write and I wouldn’t presume to try and tell him how to paint.”

John Gierach, Author But the Bob White story is more than just illustrating articles. As a young boy he was enamored with hunting, and fishing, and trapping and he spent his days running around the woods. So he grew up with his nose in the pages of Sports Afield and Field & Stream and it was the artwork that illustrated the issues that caught his attention. He grew up always wanting to be “that guy” who did the paintings for the articles in the magazine. So he went away to college and found himself studying Art History. Then one day in his senior year he “woke up” and realized he “liked to eat on a regular basis and the chances of getting a job as an art historian were probably zero”. So he switched majors and became a family counselor for a few years until he burned out on it.

Undeterred and unwilling to give up on his love of the outdoors, young Bob took a gamble and sent a resume to a lodge in Alaska. No big deal, until you learn that the resume was completely fabricated. He made up a “glowing review” of his skills and abilities, and got hired

on and learned on the fly, which led to his career as a guide. Of course he never gave up on the painting and eventually the fishing paid for the painting, and the painting paid for the fishing. The art he sold helped him get through the lean times between seasons, which is every guide’s challenge.

Today, aside from being a world known artist, Bob still guides fishermen in Alaska, he guides and hosts trips to Argentina to hunt birds, and he and his wife Lisa run Bob White Sporting Travel to book and arrange fly fishing and wing shooting packages. He was inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Artist in 2009, he was Fly Rod & Reel’s Guide of the year in 1988,and he was the 1994 Alaska State Parks Foundation Artist of the Year. Aside from all this he still continues to grow as an artist and the Summer 2017 issue of The Drake featured Bob with several other prominent artists gathered at Blackfly Lodge in the Caribbean to paint, fish, and push each other beyond “his comfort zone.”

“Bob White is an artist and author whose work expresses a misspent youth. Instead of doing his homework, his nose was constantly in the outdoor books and sporting magazines of the day. Consequently, he has wandered between Alaska and Patagonia for over three decades as an itinerant fishing guide, looking for gainful employment. He now paints and writes for a living; which is to say, he’s still searching.”

FROM THE WEB SITE http://www.bobwhitestudio.com To hear more about Bob , check out, http://www.remotenopressure.com/podcast.html episode #2 To see more of his art check out his website: http://www.bobwhitestudio.com pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 9

Destination

Patagonian Summer Estancia del Zorro & Cinco Rios Lodge.

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n the southern hemisphere, Patagonia to be more specific, January is mid summer. While we are bundled for winter, and busy with the snow shovel, the Chilean population is enjoying extended daylight and warm days. A perfect time to visit this wonderland. A few of our staff members had visited Chile in the past few years, but this was our first hosted group for a week long fishing adventure.Â

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“It was nothing short of spectacular.

From small spring creek streams with monster browns to crystal clear blue lakes with hungry trout eating big beetles…they had it covered.” ~ Mike S.

Our trip started with 3 days at Estancia del Zorro, a working horse and sheep ranch that belongs to Sebastian Galilea’s family. Sebastian owns and manages the lodge.

The lodge at EdZ is over 100 years old, which is both rustic and unique. Very comfortable with an extremely friendly and attentive staff. The cuisine is exceptional, and plentiful. Running through the property is a spring creek that boast very large brown trout to rival spring creeks of Idaho or Montana. Also, the area is in close proximity to a variety of freestone streams and rivers full of beautiful trout willing to take our dry flies. Our trip coincided with an incredible beetle hatch. (Similar to our 17 year Cicada emergence)

For the remainder of the week, we fished from Cinco Rios Lodge. Cinco Rios is a modern building with a ski lodge feel in the great room, overlooking the scenic Simpson River valley.

Again the impeccable CR staff made you feel comfortable and at home. Our 3 days fishing included gorgeous glacial lakes and larger freestone rivers, via comfortable catamaran rafts. Each day while driving to our next fishing destination, I would wonder why we didn’t stop the vehicle and start fishing all the spectacular streams we passed by. But at the end of the journey I was amazed to see the abundance of fishable water with no one else around. Sebastian explained to us that ahey have access to an incredible amount of private water for their clients enjoyment.

TRAVEL INFO AND RESERVATIONS If fishing large dry flies for wild trophy trout is your thing, Chile in January should be in your near future. The 7 night/6 day package cost $4,375.00 each (double occupancy). We have already reserved the same great week for next year. If interested, International Angler has spots available for the week of January 19-26, 2019, at Estancia del Zorro & Cinco Rios Lodge. http://www.internationalangler.com pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 11

Techniques

By Domenick Swentosky, Troutbitten

Modern Streamers: Too much motion?

And are we moving them too fast?

I

s a big, articulated streamer with marabou, flashabou, rubber legs, polar chenille, rabbit strip, hen hackle and a lazer dub collar actually moving too much? Are there too many elements in motion for a trout to reject? And might we do better with streamers that incorporate less motion?

Likewise, are we moving our streamers through the water too much? Are we stripping, jigging, twitching and pulling so fast and so often that we’re turning off more fish than we attract?

I have far more questions than answers about the streamer game. It’s hard to form conclusions without consistent feedback — and streamer fishing is hardly consistent. I think there are a lot of questions left to be answered, so I keep asking them. And while I have some strong thoughts on streamers, my theories come with lots of maybe’s and I-don’t-know’s. Even the best streamer junkies start talking that way after a couple beers. But the unanswerable questions are also what make the game intriguing.

Materials in Motion I believe trout are looking for reasons not to take a fly — they move to investigate, then look for any element identifying our fly as a fake. Bigger flies have a lot more for trout to reject. Likewise, a streamer with a dozen different materials has seven more elements for a trout to dismiss than a pattern with five. That’s just my way of looking at it.

Don’t add anything to a fly that isn’t necessary. Don’t add anything that you aren’t certain improves it.

Many streamers are built from head to tail with materials that breath, wiggle and flow, even at rest and even in slow water. But with so much motion, do they start to look less like the baitfish they should imitate? A sculpin flares its gills, wiggles its fins and kicks its tail. When swimming fast (e.g., fleeing, trying to escape) they put out a lot of motion, so maybe the heavily-dressed streamer is a good look for that. But what about the dawdling sculpin or one at rest?

The majority of their lives, sculpins and other baitfish move slowly. They generally aren’t darting around unless

provoked by danger. Even a dying sculpin doesn’t move much between its short fits of erratic twitching. But the heavily-dressed streamer never stops moving, pulsing and wiggling. Even in a gentle current, those materials expand, breath and wiggle — maybe too much to imitate a resting and slow-moving baitfish. Maybe big, overdressed streamers full of lively materials aren’t always the best look.

I think it primarily depends on how and where you present the streamer — so let’s get to that.

Predator or Opportunist?

All trout are opportunists. Only the largest ones are predators. But even those large ones are still opportunists.

Old-school streamer philosophy was about showing the trout something good and easy to eat: a hapless, unlucky baitfish is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the opportunistic trout strikes. Then along came the modern streamer code with an idea to elicit the predatory instinct in a trout — to piss him off and make him defend his territory.

We started imitating fleeing baitfish with jerk strips. And to keep the trout’s interest in such a fast moving target, the size of the flies got bigger.

Galloup and Linsenman’s excellent book, Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout changed the way most fishermen approach streamer fishing these days. Modern Streamers is about looking for predators — about big fish and big flies. It’s a

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imitations, and most of these anglers fish them like frightened bait — stripping line in like hell and moving the flies erratically across the currents, not WITH the currents and on the bottom.”

Later, Humphreys writes: “Stream minnows such as redfins and sculpins don’t streak around. Sure, a small sucker under attack may dart or dash for safety, and any minnow may dash for safety; but by and large there isn’t much chasing going on down there.”

That last quote has always stuck with me.

What materials then, Jim? fast game with chasing fish. Until Modern Streamers, most of the literature I read on streamer fishing was more about bringing the fly to the trout. Instead of asking trout to chase the streamer, it was about giving them an easy opportunity to eat a bunch of calories. The retrieves were usually slower and more … natural or common.

After decades and phases of experimenting, I keep coming back to the streamer-as-easily-available-food camp. I like hunting for opportunistic trout and bringing the fly to them. I catch more fish that way, and some of them are pretty big.

But I do it the other way too — a lot — because it’s fun.

Fishing for predators with big flies and fast retrieves is more visual and more exciting. It covers water quicker, and it moves more fish to the fly. It’s also a hell of good time from a boat!

I’m not arguing that one way is better than the other. No. I’m suggesting that the easily-available-food tactic is too often overlooked. It has somehow become an old-school method. But old-school is cool.

The first fly fishing book I owned was Trout Tactics by Joe Humphreys. And the way I fished minnows as a kid lined up perfectly with Humphreys’ philosophy on streamers. It’s a mostly upstream, mostly low and natural presentation, often with a dying or injured baitfish look.

Too much stripping. Too fast.

Ultimately it comes down to how you want to present the streamer. If you are jerk stripping or using another fast-fly tactic, then maybe incorporating a lot of moving elements in the fly works well, because fleeing fish move a lot. Fins, gills and tails are churning, trying to save a life and escape a predator. Building a lot of motion into the fly, therefore, might be a good plan.

But if you use a more natural presentation — one of available food, one with slower retrieves, upstream drifts and lazy strips — then maybe fewer materials in motion is a better imitation. If you’d rather imitate a dying, injured and vulnerable baitfish than imitate a fleeing one, then a pattern with less built-in motion may be the best bet.

The push to create more motion in streamers is probably best for the fleeing baitfish approach. And in those big articulated flies, using marabou, flashabou, rubber legs, polar chenille, rabbit strip, schlappen, etc. to create a churning, breathing and swirling fly can work wonders.

For the streamers-as-easily-available-food approach, I think including only a few elements of motion is more effective.

The venerable Wooly Bugger has two: marabou and hackle.

My favorite sculpin has just one: a rabbit strip tail that attaches at mid shank and flows over a dubbed body.

I’m still a fan of Ed Shenk’s White Minnow. I dub the bodies with rabbit fur. And to me, there’s no better tail action than a nice clump of blood quill marabou. Sometimes that seductive motion alone is more than enough.

Trout Tactics is a book that I go back to over and over and still learn from. Humphreys has about five different way of presenting streamers in there, and none of them are based on getting a trout to chase a fleeing baitfish. Humphreys writes:

No doubt, the extreme motion of an overdressed streamer is a specific attraction that catches fish. And fast, fleeing fish presentations work. But simple and subtle can be just as attractive at the right time.

“The speed of the drift is important: most streamer fishermen have a tendency to overemphasize streamer action. A twitch, lift or pull can move the fly too fast, so that it travels too far off the bottom. SLOW DOWN! ….. I’ve watched hundreds of fishermen work sculpin

Domenick Swentosky is a fly fishing author, guide and speaker from central Pennsylvania. You can find more of his work at www.troutbitten.com.

Enjoy the day.

pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 13

Support

Standing With Casting for Recovery

P

aula Adamerovich mother, daughter, and owner of Competitive Angler is like many of the hardworking women in the fly fishing industry. All except for one life-changing circumstance, that was thrown at Paula completely out of the blue as it is for many women. Paula was diagnosed with Stage One breast cancer in 2014 and joined the hundreds of thousands of other mothers, daughters, aunts, and grandmothers among so many loved ones who are affected by this disease.

Paula’s story starts off as many others do. She was living a normal happy life in Paula Adamerovich, Owner of Competitive Angler and Casting for Recovery participant. small town Latrobe PA. A mother to two sons who worked at a local Doctor’s office. After her diagnosis, Paula continued to work while going through radiation treatments. The majority of us will be lucky enough never to have to go through radiation. For those of you who have had to deal with these treatments, you know how detrimental radiation can be to someone’s everyday quality of life. After going through 33 treatments, taking some time off from work, Paula decided she wasn’t going back. A bold move by a woman who decided to spend her new life doing something more fulfilling. She would retire and figure things out from there. Her oldest son Jake was an avid fly fisherman.

Since he was a boy, like many of us, a love of fly fishing and the outdoors was instilled in him by his grandfather.

Jake pursued his passion for angling and cultivated his fly fishing skills. He went on to join the U.S Fly Fishing Team and compete at the national level. Years later Jake found himself at the world-renowned publication Field & Stream.

In conjunction with his mother leaving her job, Jake felt like it was time to start anew as well. It was time to make fly fishing a full-time job. Jake convinced his mother to help start Competitive Angler. An online fly shop focused on European tight line nymphing, selling both tying materials and nymphing set-ups.

The shop brought many other aspects of the sport into Paula’s life. For example, events, like attending fly fishing shows and expos to promote the shop and establish a

presence within the community. It was at the Cabin Fever Fly Fishing show where Paula stumbled across a Casting for Recovery booth.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Casting for Recovery, this is a volunteer based; donation-funded nonprofit that supports women who have or have had breast cancer. TheirCasting for Recovery goal “is to enhance the quality of life of women with breast cancer through a unique retreat program that combines breast cancer education and peer support with the therapeutic sport of fly fishing. The program offers opportunities for women to find inspiration, discover renewed energy for life and experience healing connections with other women and nature. Casting for Recovery serves women of all ages, in all stages of breast cancer treatment and recovery, at no cost to participants.”

Some may call it a wonderful coincidence and others will call it fate. Either way, Paula was intrigued. She was told to apply for a retreat spot and that even if she was not initially chosen to apply as an alternate. In many cases, women will be chosen, but are unable to Casting for Recovery Retreat Participantsattend. The chapter will then pick a new candidate from a list of alternates. Paula applied to the Western Pennsylvania Casting for Recovery chapter and lucked out when she got the call saying she received an alternate spot. Nervous, slightly intimidated and excited Paula accepted.

Paula joined 13 other women at the prestigious HomeWaters fishing club in Spruce Creek, PA. The women who embark on these retreats are from all walks of life and in all stages of breast cancer. In addition to the participants, the retreat consists of guides, nurses, psychologists, lodge staff, and previous participants.

All of which are dedicated to providing a top-notch experience for the retreat participants. The weekend kicks off with a few different icebreaker activities to get everybody comfortable with one another. This is the start of a bonding experience unlike any other. The volunteer staff provides entomology classes, casting clinics, Q&A sessions, yoga sessions, and other continuous

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opportunities to be together, learn from one another, and share your story. No matter what activity you’re involved in at the moment, the discussion usually transitions back to breast cancer. “The experiences we have are all different, but the same,” says Paula.

When it comes to being out on the water, each participant has their own guide dedicated to helping and teaching them fly fishing skills. Most of the women are completely new to fishing and end up catching fish. In Paula’s case with the previous fly fishing knowledge she has she was hooking up left and right. At one point another participant told her to leave some fish for the rest of them to catch!

Speaking to the experience “the entire weekend is about us, and the volunteers do everything they can to reinforce that.

We were waited on hand and foot and made to feel special at every opportunity.” One of the reasons the retreats make such an impact on the participants is because they are mothers, daughters, wives, and women who are caretakers for many others besides themselves. Having a weekend off from being a caretaker, where you’re being waited on for a change is something many women aren’t able to experience despite what they have gone through or are going through.

In addition to the experience, Paula mentioned the impressive swag provided by Casting for Recovery and many other brands involved in the industry. “Every night when we returned to our rooms there was a bag of goodies on the bed. It was a fun surprise, and we were so thankful to everyone.”

When speaking with Paula about the retreat the excitement was easily heard in her voice. “It was the best thing I ever did.” After having such a wonderful experience she desperately wants to give back in any way she can to Casting for Recovery. She wants other women affected by breast cancer to have the opportunity to experience what she did. One thing Paula noticed while attending the retreat was that all the fishing gear used was borrowed or demo gear on loan. Paula offers Thomas & Thomas rods on the

Competitive Angler website and has had a relationship with our company for the past few years. When thinking of ways in which she can directly help this program she immediately knew that if the chapter had their own gear, this would take a huge logistical weight off of the retreat coordinators and hopefully lead to more opportunities to bring participants out on the water.

Paula reached out to Thomas & Thomas with her story and was gracious enough to share her experience with us. After speaking with her, it was without a doubt in our minds that we knew we wanted to be involved with this program.

Paula’s point of contact here was Joe Goodspeed. Joe has been putting together a collection of Thomas & Thomas fly rods to send to the Western, PA chapter of Casting for Recovery. These aren’t rods they’ll be borrowing or giving back. These are rods they’ll be keeping forever. It’s our hope that they will enhance the experience these women have for many years to come. We’ll be following up with this chapter of Casting for Recovery at their next set retreat date in August of 2018. We’re hoping to build upon our relationship with the organization and help in any way we can. If you or someone you know is being affected by breast cancer, please pass this along to them.

Fly fishing as a sport is inherently therapeutic, a retreat is a chance to form relationships with those who can relate to what they’ve gone through, and that could make all the difference in the world to someone going through the stages of breast cancer. For more information on Casting for recovery head over to their website here Castingforrecovery. org. We urge you to get involved in any way you can whether that’s volunteering for a retreat, donating your time, old gear, a monetary donation, or even offering insight or advice for retreat locations and guides. Anything you can do to help this amazing organization will make a big difference to the people involved.

We thank you, Paula Adamerovich for sharing your story with us. pwwtu.org September/October 2018 Hatches & Rises 15

The Last Page

By Walt Gasson

Where do TU members go for fishing information?

W

e do surveys at TU. We ask questions and TU members give us answers. We use those answers to guide the things we do. That’s a good thing. TU is a membership-driven organization. That’s one of the things I love about working here.

But once in a while, we ask a survey question that seems pretty mundane and get an answer that knocks your socks off. So it was recently when we asked over 800 Trout Unlimited members about where they go for fishing information. The question provided a number of possible answers: the TU website, magazines, friends, etc. The respondent could check all the ones that he or she typically goes to for information on fishing.

The No. 1 answer? Fly shops – by far. Over 71 percent of the respondents indicated that they went to fly shops for information on fishing. Ahead of friends, ahead of magazines, ahead of everything else – we go to fly shops for intel on our passion for fly fishing. At first, I was surprised.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Where do I go when I fish unfamiliar water? To the local fly shop. Where do I go when I fish my home water and don’t do very well? To the local fly shop. You go to people you know and trust.

So I decided to go to someone I know and trust. I called John Herzer, the owner of Blackfoot River Outfitters in Missoula, Mont., and Flint Creek Outdoors in Philipsburg, Mont. I’ve learned that John will always shoot straight with me. Naturally, he was delighted to hear the results. But what he said was interesting: “Disseminating timely, accurate information is literally the essence of our business,” he said.

“Seriously?” says I. “I thought you were in the business of selling gear.”

John was undeterred. “More than any time before, fly anglers have endless choices when it comes to getting information.

We’re convinced that the commitment we make in time and expense incurred maintaining fishing reports, multiple social media platforms and personal interactions in our shops comes back in spades through customer loyalty. More importantly, we truly enjoy gathering that intel—both on the water and from chatting with fellow anglers. There is hope for the small independent fly shops if we just keep true to our core.”

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I’ve been in John’s shop. I go to a lot of fly shops. I watch and I listen. What I see and what I hear are great. But more important is what I feel. I feel a sense of community – a spirit of being with great people, engaged in something we really love.

If I’ve learned anything in 42 years as a conservation professional, it is that all of us need one another.

Conservation needs fly anglers and fly shops. We need good information. Not just about where the fishing is hot and which flies are knocking them dead, but about why a mine on the Smith River is a bad idea, and why we ought not to keep those fish out of the water too long and why we ought to be taking a kid fishing. We’re a community, and those shops are a vital part of the community.

That’s what I would call a blinding flash of the obvious.

Walt Gasson is TU’s business partnerships director. He lives and works in southern Wyoming.

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