Penticton Fly Fishers Journal November, December 2011

PENTICTON FLYFISHERS

JOURNAL

Sept / Oct 2011

— Presidents Report Page 4 & 5—Equipment Review— InvisaSwivel Page 6 & 7— My Feather Hair Extensions Page 8 & 9— Cutthroat Trout Page 10 & 11— Fishing the Kettle River Page 12— The Mayor is Stepping Down Page 13—BTRA Page 14— Fishout Dates and Places Page 15— Photo Gallery Page 16— Classifeids and Calendar Page 17— Tying and Fishing Techniques

PAGE 2 PENTICTON FLYFISHERS

Vol. 08 Number 05, 2010

Sept / Oct 2011, Edition

Penticton Flyfishers

Box 354, 113-437 Martin St., Penticton, B.C., V2A 5L1

Editor

Bruce Turnbull

Home Ph:250-493-7386 Work Ph:250-487-2000

Fax 250-487-2049 Email: [email protected] (or)

[email protected]

President Phil Rogers

250-403-8832 [email protected]

Vice President

Ryan Winstanley 488-8757

[email protected]

Treasurer Ken Baker 493-2926

[email protected]

Secretary Peter Kruse

494-0071 [email protected]

Membership Director

Tom Knight [email protected]

The Penticton Flyfishers are members of

BC Federation of Fly Fishers (BCFFF)

BC Wildlife Federation (BCWF)

Federation of Fly Fishers

(International FFF)

Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance (OSCA)

Contents

Red Side—© by Bruce Turnbull

Penticton Flyfishers New Website is

www.pentictonflyfishers.ca

PENTICTON FLYFISHERS Presidents Report by Phil Rogers

We finally got some good fishing weather in August. Since the spring and early sum-mer weather was so bad most of our normal fishing expectations were pushed back two or three weeks. This meant that the expected caddis hatch on Idleback Lake did not occur in time for our June fishout and higher than normal water levels pushed our Kettle River float back into August. It also meant that the summer doldrums did not hit until late August. The Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) tag-ging project on the Kettle River was also affected by the higher than normal water flows. This project was cut from 6 days down to 2 days. We were able to complete the West Kettle River portion of the project but the main Kettle River portion was can-celled until next year. My apologies to those who signed up but were cancelled. I have been assured that you will have first choice next year. A big thank you goes out to all the members who contributed to the Weekly Fishing Re-port. We had 20 members who contributed at least one report this year. A spe-cial thanks goes out to Tyler Aoki and Tim Baxter for contributing the most weekly reports. I hope this report continues next year with an even bigger contribution by our members. It appears that most mem-bers that did get out this summer have caught fish, although, not in their usual numbers. Thank you to Jim Duncan for for-warding the reports on to our mem-bers. Larry Martin and I attended the Min-istry of Transport meeting in Kere-meos regarding the closure of two of the three access points along Yellow Lake. On Aug 21 MOT advised that they would only close one of the access points and would expand the

parking capacity of one of the access points. I have also been advised that MOT is looking at redesigning the north-bound approach to the Keremeos side rest area. While the change of access points does not af-fect most of our club mem-bers, I felt that it was im-portant to show support to the Cawston-Keremeos Sportsmen Association. By the time this report goes out, the club will have looked after preparing Penticton Creek for the fall Kokanee spawning run. The FLNRO has advised that we do not need to add gravel to the spawning beds this year and a light raking of the beds are needed. They also advise that the concrete barriers need to be reset to assist the ko-kanee reaching the beds. I would like to address the club’s future stewardship of Penticton Creek at the September meeting. Do we carry on as in the past? What will be the costs? How do we obtain the fi-nancing?

The next Club Fishout will be at Harmon Lake in early September. We will confirm numbers of members attending and location at the September meeting. Our season windup fishout will be at Salmon Lake on September 23 to 25. Tom Dellamater will be preparing his famous ribs for this event. We need to know how many members, family and friends will be attending so Tom can prepare the correct amount. I hate to see someone go hungry (it won’t be me). Please contact Tom before or during the September meeting if you plan on attending. We also need you to advise George Graw what you can bring for the dinner. He can advise you on what dishes are needed or if we have too much of a certain dish. Please check your

reservations before heading up to Salmon Lake as some of our mem-bers heading up early have found that their reservation dates were wrong. It looks like this is going to be a well attended function but there is always room for more. I hope all of you have had a great summer and are prepared to do some serious fall fishing. I have just received a preliminary email today on a new fishing project for us by FLNRO for September. I will have the details available for the September meeting.

2011 Executive

Pres: Phil Rogers Vice Pres: Ryan Winstanley

Secretary: Peter Kruse Treasurer: Ken Baker

Membership: Tom Knight

Past Pres: Angus Cameron

Phil


Equipment Review- By Mike Holliday

Aquateko InvisaSwivel

Given the invisibility,

strength and hardness

traits of fluorocarbon

lines, it's not surprising

that someone came

out with a swivel made

entirely of fluorocar-

bon. To me, it seems

like a natural attrition

that the most visible

link to your fishing suc-

cess (or lack thereof)

become a targeted

improvement for fish-

ing tackle manufacturers.

That's where the Aquateko InvisaSwivel

comes into play. Built entirely of fluorocarbon,

the Aquateko InvisaSwivel is strong, yet also

flexible, able to bend 180 degrees. Most im-

portantly, because it's made entirely of fluoro-

carbon, it's clear, and just about invisible in

the water, thus eliminating a detectible link to

your tackle. Available in eight sizes from 12-

to 200-pound strength, these swivels are

similar sized to the normal steel or titanium

swivels common in inshore and offshore fish-

ing.

We started out throwing gold spoons, a great

lure for both species, and one that is known

for creating a lot of spin in the line because of

the wobbling/spinning action of the spoon.

We rig it with a swivel for just this reason-to

keep the spoon from twisting the line, and

the Aquateko InvisaSwivel worked out-

standing, keeping the line from kinking up

or tangling. We had no wind or reel knots

over a two week period.

But the real test is in the strength of the

swivel. I used the Aquateko InvisaSwivel

over two weeks with my charter customers,

and we had no failures, and outstanding

catch rates, which are typical of late April

and early May in my region. The only prob-

lem I had with the swivel is that the holes to

run the line through are small, and because

the swivel is clear, old guys like me have a

hard time seeing the hole to run the line

through, so it takes several tries.

We also see some great application options

for fly fishermen to use the InvisaSwivels

with either wire or class

tippet material. Any time

you're joining hard wire to

a leader, the link is bound

to be suspect, but the

InvisaSwivel would be the

perfect solution for those

who like to use standard

fishing wire when target-

ing toothy species on fly.

We had snook to 18

pounds, and seatrout to

11 pounds-all great

catches on this light

tackle. Obviously, the swivel had no detri-

mental effects to the rig. Interestingly

enough, we were using a white braided line

which tends to go invisible in the water as

well, and when you reeled the spoon to the

boat, you often saw nothing but the spoon,

so there was a tendency for a few of my an-

glers to reel the swivel into the rod tip until

they got used to the distance from swivel to

lure.

One of the big detractors to standard steel

swivels is seen in fishing for Spanish mack-

erel in my area. The mackerel are feeding on

minnows, and will often strike the swivel

(thinking it's a minnow) when you're trolling,

working a lure or reeling in a fish. Because

the Aquateko InvisaSwivel is not visible like

the steel products, it has some preferred ap-


plications in this fishery.

While the Aquateko InvisaSwivel did excep-

tionally well in the light tackle test, it the was

the close quarters slug out that I was most

interested in. In this case, I used the 55-

pound Aquateko InvisaSwivel with heavy 7

foot spinning rods, 6000 size reels and 50

pound braided line and 60-pound fluorocar-

bon leader.

I spend a lot of time fishing around docks and

bridge pilings for trophy snook-fish over 25

pounds, and the only way to catch these fish

on a regular basis is to present baits around

the structure they frequent and then pull the

fish from the structure once they eat. We're

essentially fighting over 10 feet of line. If the

fish get you into the dock or bridge pilings,

the barnacles will cut you off.

I don't do this type of fishing with all my cus-

tomers. You really need to be a strong and

aggressive fishermen and be willing to lean

hard of heavy tackle. I fished this style three

times over the two week period, and caught

snook to 22 pounds (no real trophies), and

the swivels performed flawlessly. Snook are

known for their short, powerful bursts of

speed, and many of the fish we caught were

bruisers that wouldn't be landed on 30-pound

tackle, so we got a good feel for the strength

and durability of the InvisaSwivels.

The one issue I had was when retying

leader or line to the swivels and removing

the old leader or line. Because the top of

the swivels are designed much like a goal

post in football which allows the line to

tighten or lock into place at the top of the

swivel, it can be difficult to cut the line free

and clear the swivel of your old line without

snippers, nail cutters or a good pair of scis-

sors. But that's pretty minor stuff.

Conclusion Overall, the Aquateko InvisaSwivels did

what they were advertised to do, prevent

line twist and create a strong, less visible

link from line to leader. They really held up

to the strength and fishability tests, and I'll

keep using them to see how they stand test

of long-term durability. These are out-

standing swivels and a great product that

modernize a long-standing tackle hardware

tradition.

Price tag for these is about $5.00 per pack

of five swivels and they come in a number

of different sizes

Source: Aquatekjo.com and Larry Martin


Flip through any fashion magazine these days, and it’s apparent that feather hair ex-tensions, those colourful, clip-on plumes worn by celebrities from Steven Tyler to Selena Gomez, have become the latest, hot hairstyle trend. But the popularity of feather extensions has taken off so dramatically and unexpectedly that salons and rooster farmers are struggling to keep up with demand. At Earth salon in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood, stylists can’t keep them in store, as customers eagerly snap them up, says colour technician Stephanie Murphy. “It’s crazy,” she says, explaining that just last fall, staff members could easily order feather extensions from suppliers. Then, a few months ago, as the trend became main-stream, they suddenly found their suppliers’ phone lines constantly busy. “By the time we finally got to speak to someone, they just said that there’s not enough to go around and the supply was really limited,” Ms. Murphy says. That’s because until feathers began appear-ing in celebrity hairstyles last year, the mar-ket for them was mostly limited to the world of fly-fishing, where they’re used as lures. Now, the demands of the fashion industry are driving up prices in what was once a niche trade. While fly-fishers previously paid pocket change for feathers, salons like Earth charge around $45 for the application of multiple strands of feathers, and $20 for single strands. While stylists may use a variety of feathers, such as peacock or hen, it’s rooster saddle feathers, or the plumes that grow on the birds’ backs, that are most coveted because of their versatile, thin, silky strands. “You can curl them or you can straighten them,” Ms. Murphy says. “They can be as subtle or as freaky as you want them to be.” The global supply of quality rooster feathers, however, is dominated by a single farm.

Whiting Farms in Delta, Colo., claims to have an estimated 75 to 80 per cent share of the world market, and harvests feathers from 65,000 birds a year, all of which have specifically been bred for the fly-fishing market. About a year and a half ago, fly fishing shop operators began reporting a strange up-tick in sales, the farm’s president, foun-der and poultry geneticist Tom Whiting, says. “They told my sales guys, ‘Yeah, the crazi-est thing happened. These ladies came in and bought all these saddles,’” he says. By the fall of 2010, the trend exploded. Salons across North America began calling his farm directly to request feathers, while fly shops started offering to buy saddle feathers back from customers at double the price to resell them to the fashion world. “It’s truly nuts,” Dr. Whiting says, noting he was selling rooster pelts at about $36 U.S. wholesale a year ago. Today, the same pelts go for about $300 to $400 each. Roosters only grow one set of quality sad-dle feathers in their lifetime, and to mini-mize any pain or discomfort, Dr. Whiting says he euthanizes the birds before harvest-ing the feathers. While he describes his birds as “the most pampered commercial chickens in the world,” animal rights activ-ists have criticized the feather hair exten-sion trend. “Would you support the slaughter of thou-sands of animals each week just so that you could jump on board with the latest fashion trend?” asks an article posted on the website of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “That’s exactly what girls are doing when they purchase feather hair extensions for their locks.” Dr. Whiting, however, says since his roost-ers are specially bred, they wouldn’t exist if people didn’t want them for their feath-

ers. (Because there is no market for their unpalatable meat, he turns their carcasses into compost.) “Some people have an issue with that, and I say that’s fine,” Dr. Whiting says. “I’ll re-spect your views if you respect mine.” His more immediate concern is how to cope with the frenzied demand. It takes about 14 months between the time he starts breeding new roosters till their feathers can be har-vested, and Dr. Whiting recognizes the boom may not last. “The very nature of fads ... is they change. Something new comes to supplant it, then it’s gone,” he says. Fly shop manager Jim Bernstein was warned that hair stylists would come banging on his door, but he didn't listen. Sure enough, less than 24 hours later, a woman walked into the Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop in Maine and made a beeline toward a display of hackles — the long, skinny rooster feathers fishermen use to make lure. "She brought a bunch up to the counter and asked if I could get them in pink," he said. "That's when I knew." Fly fishing shops nationwide, he learned, are at the center of the latest hair trend: Feather extensions. Supplies at stores from the coasts of Maine to landlocked Idaho are running out, and some feathers sold online are fetch-ing hundreds of dollars more than the usual prices. "I'm looking around the shop thinking 'Hmmm, what else can they put in their hair?' " Bernstein said. Fly fishermen are not happy, bemoaning the trend in online message boards and sneering at so-called "feather ladies." Some also blame "American Idol" judge and rocker Steven Tyler, who began wearing the feath-ers in his long hair.


"It takes years and years and years to de-velop these chickens to grow these feathers. And now, instead of ending up on a fly, it's going into women's hair," said Matt Brower, a guide and assistant manager at Idaho An-gler in Boise. "I think that's the reason a lot of people are a little peeved about it," he said. The feathers are not easy to come by in the first place. They come from roosters that are genetically bred and raised for their plumage. In most cases, the birds do not survive the plucking. At Whiting Farms, Inc., in western Colorado, one of the world's largest producers of fly tying feathers, the roosters live about a year while their saddle feathers — the ones on the bird's backside and the most popular for hair exten-sions — grow as long as pos-sible. Then the animal is euthanized. As hair extensions, the feath-ers can be brushed, blow dried, straightened and curled once they are snapped into place. Most salons sell the feather strands for $5 to $10 a piece. The trend has become so popular a company online even sells feather extensions for dogs. The craze has also left hairstylists scram-bling to find rooster saddle feathers, as fly shops hold onto a select few for their regular cus-tomers. The businesses will now ask if the feathers are for hairdressing, said Shel-ley Ambroz, who owns MiraBella Salon and Spa in Boise. "If you go in and you're a woman, they won't sell to you," said Ambroz, who started to eye her husband's fly fishing gear after stores ran out. "He told me to stay out of his feathers," she said. Whiting Farms is harvest-ing about 1,500 birds a week for their feathers and still can't keep up with its current orders, said owner and founder Tom Whiting, a poultry geneticist. The company has stopped taking on new accounts.

"I've tried to withhold some for the fly fishing world because when the fash-ion trend goes away, which it will, I've still got to make a living," he said. The company was the one that told Bernstein in Maine several months ago

that rooster saddle feathers had some-how become the latest coveted hair accessory. Bernstein said he scoffed at the notion that it could reach his shop along the coast of southern Maine. "This is Maine, it's not California. We're a little behind the trends here,"

he said. "I screwed up. I should have said: 'Send me everything you've got.' " Sold out Bernstein's inventory of rooster saddle

feathers has long been depleted. About three weeks ago, he dusted off a rooster neck with feathers that had been set aside for fly tying classes at the shop. The neck would have normally cost $29.95, but the shop sold it for $360.

It's not uncommon to find a package of rooster saddle feathers that would have cost around $60 at a fly shop now priced from $200 to $400. A package of the most popular fly tying hackle for hair extensions, a black and white striped feather called grizzly saddle, would normally retail any-where from $40 to $60. It sold for $480 on eBay last month after 31 bids. At the Boise salon, Am-broz has stowed away enough feathers to last about six months. On a recent Tuesday eve-ning, Emilee Rivers, 16,

sifted through a pile of rooster saddle feathers looking for the perfect strands to frame her face. She picked out four and handed them to the stylist, who bonded them together with hot glue before clip-ping them into Rivers' blond hair. Brandi Wheeler, 16, was next. There's

only one other girl at Borah High School in Boise who has the feather extensions, the teenagers said. Now, they were joining the select few. "I've wanted to get them for quite a while," Rivers said. She went to the salon with her mom, Kristi, who totally gets it. "My dad on the other hand, he's so confused," Rivers said. "I told him what I was doing and he said: 'Why would you get feathers in your hair?' "

Source for this article is the Internet. Pictures from Images MSN.


Simple pleasures once came with fishing for westslope cutthroat trout. The brightly coloured fish, dotted with black speckles and so-named for the red-orange streak that runs under its mouth, swims and spawns in the cold freshwater rivers in some of the prettiest and most rugged places in Alberta. Cutthroats were once so plentiful that they could be carted away by the wagonload. “They are pretty eager to hit a fly – dry fly or wet – they are easy to catch,” said Dale Meier, a long-time fly-fishing guide in the Rocky Mountains around Canmore, Alta. “We fished for them all the time back in the ’80s – the good old days,” he added. But the truly good old days went back even farther than that. When the railway came in 1885, so did over-fishing by irrationally exuberant anglers who employed everything from nets to dynamite. Industry soon saw the

potential to harness the region’s water-ways, and hydroelectric dams were built throughout the trout’s native range in southern Alberta, including the Rockies. But that flooded trout habitat and wiped out spring spawning grounds. Meanwhile, misguided attempts to re-stock the province’s water bodies with exotic species such as rainbow and brook trout have muscled out and cross-bred with the native cutthroat popula-tions. “It’s extremely, extremely dire for them,” said David Mayhood, an aquatic ecologist Freshwater Research Ltd., who has reported on the cut-throat’s plight to both the federal and provincial governments. Currently under way is a federal-provincial species recovery plan, which is expected to be completed this fall. But saving the cutthroat from

oblivion won’t be easy, when man-made hazards lurk everywhere. A faulty hy-droelectric generator, for instance, has left one cutthroat population in peril. According to Mr. Mayhood’s research, thousands of kilometres of rivers and streams were once teeming with hun-dreds of populations of cutthroat. There are now perhaps a dozen – each with 30 to 200 adult fish – of genetically pure specimens passing through maybe 100 kilometres of Alberta’s waterways, he said. (The provincial government esti-mates up to 40 native cutthroat populations left in Alberta, but notes those fish may not be 100-per-cent genetically pure.) “The really sad thing is that these fish were extremely abundant,” Mr. May-hood said. “… Now, it’s really ridicu-lously small and it’s extremely sad.” That makes every population important for the overall survival of the species. A

Cutthroat Trout

Species Recovery Plan in Motion for Alberta’s Cutthroat Trout Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Aug. 05, 2011


recent mishap at TransAlta Corp.’s Spray Lakes hydroelectric plant located near Canmore, on the edge of Banff Na-tional Park, has led to widespread flood-ing, stirring up debris and turning cut-throat habitat winding through provincial and federal lands into a big, fast-moving mucky soup. The situation is friendly neither to fish nor anglers. “We’ve been kicked in the guts here,” said Nick Schlachter, owner of Wapiti Sports & Outfitters in Canmore. The short-lived tourist season for the rod and reel set is almost a writeoff, he said. But his concerns don’t end there. “We’re just worried about the fishery and their spawning grounds down the road,” he added. The area where TransAlta operates was once a world-famous draw for anglers, with picturesque waterways flowing into Banff, but construction of the Canyon Dam outside national park boundaries more than 60 years ago nearly wiped out the indigenous cutthroat population. In May, TransAlta shut down one of two units at that hydroe-lectric plant for main-tenance, but not long after, the second unit failed. To complicate matters, heavy winter snowfall followed by relentless rains cre-ated an unusually large spring melt. As a result, water lev-els rose, began spill-ing over the dam and gushing at up to 50 times its normal rate when flows peaked last week into a pair of tributaries that run through Banff and feed into the Bow River. The Bow flows east to Calgary, and it is where fishing guides take tour-ists. TransAlta spokesman Robert Klager said the company hopes one unit will be back online in September and it is working around the clock to fix the malfunction-ing unit. Meanwhile, TransAlta is report-

ing to government officials to monitor the impact on the ecosystem. “We take any situation of this nature seriously,” said Mr. Klager. Parks Canada, meanwhile, is trying to make the best of a bad situation. This week officials started dropping logs by helicopter into the swollen river in a bid to create new pools where the cut-throat could thrive. “If we’re lucky this will help mitigate some of the impacts of this environ-mental event,” said Bill Hunt, Banff’s resource conservation manager. In 2006, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada rec-ommended that the cutthroat in Alberta be listed as “threatened,” but to date the species has received no status un-

der Ottawa’s Species at Risk legisla-tion. Under Alberta’s Wildlife Act, the cutthroat was listed as “threatened” in 2009, which triggered work on a re-covery plan. Mr. Mahood suggested the “threatened” listing doesn’t go far enough. What’s more, saving the species from

extinction is complicated by jurisdic-tional issues. Of course, cutthroat don’t abide by boundaries of national parks, provincial parks, Crown land and private property. Both the provincial and federal govern-ments are already taking steps, such as attempting to remove non-native fish from traditional cutthroat habitat. Parks Canada is contemplating using gill net-ting and electrofishing – essentially shocking the fish to swim towards nets – to remove brook trout from strategically selected sites where pure cutthroats have the best chance at survival. An attempt to remove all exotic fish from every water body in the park, Mr. Hunt pointed out, would be like “trying to scoop salt out of the sea.” The new recovery plan will also look at land-use rules for forestry and oil and gas companies, and whether anything different can be done to prevent damag-ing silt from being pumped into the wa-ter, noted Jennifer Earle, co-chair of the recovery plan committee and fisheries

biologist with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. Controversial concepts, such as cutthroat fishing bans, are being talked about, she said. And then there are also “socially unacceptable” ideas, such as removing all the dams along the Bow River, which, she said, will never fly. “We all wish we’d done something a lot earlier,” Ms. Earle said. Still, she remains “cautiously optimistic”

for the future of the westslope cutthroat. “We’re never going to recover the spe-cies to its original range. It’s too late. Too much is gone,” she said. “We can concentrate on what we have left.” Globe and Mail Published Friday, Aug. 05, 2011

PENTICTON FLYFISHERS PAGE 10 PENTICTON FLYFISHERS

Phil Rogers, Dave Carlton (Summerland Club President) and I, Tom Dellamater, went to the Kettle River at the end of July and the water was running high so if you did not make a great cast into the holding hole you did not get a second chance. Many of the smaller fish in the bottom of the hole were very active too and it did not take long to learn how to shake off the small ones so you were ready to cast again. We stopped at Baker’s hole with Phil catching a fish just ahead of Dave as is the code of the Kettle.

In trying to get these pictures for you, Dave hooked me in the head as I tried to walk behind with a fly I tied and had given to him. Dave drifted is his u-boat which was a little harder than our pon-toons but he did very well and with my flies had very good success. He was only able to fish the one day and having heard our stories of the trouble with the take out he brought along his work truck to make it safer loading pontoons. To show what a good sport he is he loaded Phil’s boat first,

Thanks, Dave, Phil appreciated the help. Phil and I stayed for a second day of fishing but the evening was filled with friends and all of them wanted our blood. I brought along my mosquito refuge and we both enjoyed sitting inside with a beer.

Fishing the Kettle River 2011 Week One

All Dave could do was watch and learn.

Then he brought it back to the camp site.


The second day the river was down a little bit but at times you could get a second cast at a holding hole to pick up some fine fish. Phil had a 15 “ trout as I caught up to him as I was landing this one.

The river was late this year but it was very nice it waited until after I returned from Fort Steele to start fishing.

By Tom Dellamater

www.bcwf.bc.ca

www.pentictonflyfishers.ca


Did you ever notice how as you travel through your outdoor life the many different people one runs into if on just stop to talk and have a beer with them? My first fishing partner was Trapper John who my wife introduced me too. He needed a bath, did not work all the time, could cast a broken fly rod repaired with duck tape a country mile and would go fishing at the drop of the hat. Some how we became friends, he always caught fish, always his limit and one or two extra for when he was short the day before. Trapper died and I lost a fishing partner. I moved to Penticton and would you know it The Mayor of Peterhope Lake lived on my block. George Taylor and his dog Howdy lived just up the block and the tales of Peterhope Lake he had. George and his brother owned Taylor’s Sport Shop and upon his retirement he spent summers with Howdy in his motor home at Peterhope Lake. His garage was filled with items of all kinds from the store, his travels, car collections and his toys. We spent much time listening to his stories and pulling out the items he was talking about. He said I will never meet and another person like him for his was born in the house he lived in and he was going to die in that house. George did just what he said would. Paul, “The Mayor of Idleback Lake” is going to step down from his position after 9 years of camping he is calling it quits. Between Forestry making him move on every two weeks, the rude campers, late parties, dirt bikes and atvs it is time to move on. He planning to set up in an apartment in Penticton hunting and fishing when the moods strikes. He spent a lot time cleaning up the lake, checking abandoned camp fires, attempting to control the motorized toys and re-porting violators to the Forestry. An era will come to end and for those of us who enjoyed sitting as his fire with a beer, he will sorely missed. We want to say thank you Paul for all of your hard work and friendship.

The Mayor is Stepping

Down

By Tom Dellamater

The BTRA (Bruce Turnbull River Association) was formed to answer the worldly questions that are present around a campfire late into the evening after a day of fishing the river and an Old Milwaukee or two. To be a member of the BTRA one must display the principles of ethics of its founder Bruce Turnbull.

Bruce has mentored many of us with his love of river fishing (especially on the Kettle River), information on the stars, space stations, satellites and general all around knowledge of the great outdoors. He passes on many family stories of how he and his brothers survived, “The Early Days”. The BTRA recognizes members who stand out during the fishing season with the BTRA Man of the Year Award. George Graw was the first recipient for his ability to get to the best fishing hole first even though he has to cut off a fel-low fisherman who is working the run. Membership in the BTRA is a selective process and once a prospective member has paid his 24 pack of Old Milwaukee to the membership committee his selection will be reviewed. If a prospect has paid his 24 pack and has not been invited to join the first year he can pay another 24 pack and have his application reviewed. Individual 6 packs paid to the mem-bership committee members will be allowed to assist in the review. Once you become a member, you are a member for life.

The BTRA has a charity fund which members contribute to annually or monthly to send Bruce and Tom on dream fish-ing trip of their choice. The fund had reached $10.00, but $7.00 was taken out for doughnuts for the last meeting. Visa and Master Card are accepted but cash is best. Expulsion from the Association is automatic if a member;

Out fishes Bruce Owes a 24 pack of Old Milwaukee and does not bring it to the meeting Gives out the names or phone numbers of any of the Old Milwaukee Girls

The BTRA has helped many of our members become interested in river fishing, taught them how to read the river, look out for one another and good river etiquette. If you are interested in river fishing please contact Bruce with your 24 pack for an interview.


B. T. R. A . By Tom Dellamater

2011 FISHOUTS

Salmon Lake

Sept 23,24, & 25

Kettle River July every weekend


Link Lake May 27 to

29

Idelback Lake June 24 to 26

Harmon Lake Sept 9 to 11

Planned Fish Out’s

for 2011


Picture Gallery Sawmill Lake Full Pool


CLASSIFIEDS CALENDAR of EVENTS

September 1—First General meeting of the fall semester. Come out and see what is planned for the fall and coming winter months. Sept14—Executive meeting at Phil Rogers home or per-haps somewhere else. We will leasrn more at the General meeting. Sept 9, 10 &11—Harmon Lake Fishout Sept 23, 24 & 25—Salmon Lake Fish out. Oct 6—General meeting. Nothing as yet has been planned and I’m sure there will be something of interest. Time 7 pm. Oct 13—First fly tying session of the fall/winter season. Come out and tie a few flies, learn to tie a new pattern or perhaps re-learn an old pattern. Time 7 pm. Oct 19—Executive meeting Time 7 pm at Phil Rogers house.

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-HUNTING -FISHING -BOWS -SUPPLIES

Will Carnell

Ph 250-492-4963 2012 Main St.,

Penticton, BC, V2A 5H4

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Tying and Fishing Techniques

The Penticton Flyfishers meet the first Thursday of every month except July and August when we meet at nearby fish-outs. Club meetings begin at 7 pm at the “OLD CPR” Train Station on Hastings St., and everyone is welcome. Membership costs $40 per year (Junior membership is free) and includes membership in the B.C. Federation of Fly Fishers, the B.C. Wild-life Federation, The Federation of Fly Fishers (International), and the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance (OSCA). The club is registered as a society and its function is to promote the sport of fly fishing, to educate, and to conserve and protect the environment. The club is actively involved in conservation projects throughout the Okanagan and surrounding areas. If you would like more information about the club, its membership, projects and programs, please call any member of the Executive (see inside front cover).

Bruce Turnbull Bruce Turnbull

The Salmon Lake Fish Out is soon upon us and I thought that I would share a few fly patterns that I and many others have found to be successful on Salmon Lake. You can see from the above pic-tures that the flies are all wet flies as that is what works for late September fishing on this lake. Leeches are a good choice and with the algae laden water a green bead head leech pattern is productive. You must get the fly down below the algae layer and that alone can be tricky. You need to get it through the algae without getting the pattern all scummed up. Next up is a simple Black Spratley. Use the same strategy as above but when the algae layer is not so thick or deep. You should also have available Maroon and Red bodied Spratley’s. Another fa-vourite is a Pink Carey or the newer ver-sion a Pink K-Mart Special. This pattern is affective on the sunny days in rela-tively algae depleted water. The last pat-tern is a chronomid pattern called the Bloodworm. This is a very productive pattern and its fished at the shallow ends

of the lake in water in the 8 to 12 foot depth using the standard chronomid technique of sitting and watching your bobber. Fly lines for these patterns are full sink type III, sink tip, and floating line. One has to constantly check his fly for gobs of algae. You may also want to clean your lines before each days outing with the standard fly line cleaner one can get at most fly shops. Areas on the lake that tend to be suc-cessful vary but it’s safe to say the lake end’s are better producers when one wants to still fish from an an-chored spot. The leech patterns are bet-ter suited for trolling and down the far side along the drop off can generate nice fish. Timing is important as well. In past years towards the end of September one does not need to be the first one out there as the sun comes up, but set-ting up on your spot by 9/9:30 gets you

ahead of the usual fish-on time. That can last till early afternoon. Of course fish can be caught at just about any time of the day but the mid day action tends to be the better time. Salmon Lake can be a bit moody so its never a sure thing. If it is sunny with cool nights and warm days it is usually very productive. The best part of the fish-out though is the food and the companionship we all get from this great and last of the season outing. Have fun.

Penticton Fly Fishers Journal November, December 2011

Documents

Transcript of Penticton Fly Fishers Journal November, December 2011