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I have to start off this month’s newsletter with an apology. Somehow in passing out thanks to our “retiring” executive members, I missed thanking Brian Donnelly for his work on Membership. The fault is all mine. How that happened I don’t know, because Brain certainly is a memorable person, as is his contribution to the Club over the last few years. I could plead pressure of time trying to get the newsletter out on short notice, but that doesn’t wash. Unfortunately, it’s far too easy to take the efforts of those friends around us for granted. That isn’t the case with Brian as we all greatly appreciate his work and patience, particularly during the difficult transition period. Sorry Brian. We do greatly appreciate your contribution.

While thinking of passing out thanks, our appreciation goes out to last month’s presenters including: Nick Sliwdanich talking about Wholesale Sports, Phil Rowley showing us The New Fly Fisher and talking about Muir Lake, Laura McPherson talking about Culverts, Brian Bleakley for tying Unibobber patterns and Peter Morrison for talking about “Fishing the Far North”. Thanks to each of you for your efforts.

Our program this month starts on March 3^rd with Rick LeBlanc presenting Rick’s Entomology Primer. Week two on March 10^th we’ll have Merv Hassler with a Streamer Spectacular. Week three, on March 17^th will be our Conservation Session. Cal Kullman will give us an update on the Health of the North Saskatchewan River. Week four on March 24^th we will have Peter Morrison back with us, this time talking about Sage Rods. The last week of the month on March 31^st will feature the ever entertaining Iron Fly Tyer. I will run the show this year. We will have three victims, er … volunteers, to take on the task of challenging Rick for the coveted title. It is a fun experience and all they’ll face is a tiny bit of heckling.

Our upcoming events for 2010 can be found in the list on page two. For March, other than the regular meetings, the main events are: The Edmonton Boat and Sportsman’s Show which runs from March 18^th to 21^st at Northlands. We’ll need three sets of volunteers to cover off the kids tying, general demonstration and ticket and membership sales. If you give us a full session, you get free admission and we’ll pay for your parking. A sign up sheet is available at meetings. This is a great way to meet the public and discuss fly fishing as a sport and promote fisheries conservation, so come out and give us a hand. Near month’s end, The Fishin’ Hole Outdoor Show is on at the Mayfield Convention Center on March 25^th to 28^th. Here again volunteers will be needed to set up and man the booths. We’ll have sign up lists at meetings for this event also.

The raffle for the bamboo fly rod donated by Don Anderson is still on. Tickets are selling briskly. We draw the winning number at the Fishin’ Hole Show. Get your tickets soon.

There are workgroups currently planning two main spring events. One, spearheaded by Dave Murray, is working on a “Beginner Tying Seminar “and the other, headed by Dennis Southwick, is working on an “Introduction to Fly Fishing” course. Both are aimed at the general public. We hope to have dates and more information soon.

And final news for the month is a reminder of the upcoming Trout Unlimited Annual Edmonton Dinner and Auction on May 6^th at the Edmonton Crowne Plaza. Tickets are $150.00 each which includes your dinner and a TU membership. We’ll need volunteers to assist with various activities on the evening. So mark our calendar to be either an attendee or volunteer for this major Trout Unlimited fund raiser.

Support our freshwater fishery. Without it we lose our pastime

To encourage folks to give fishing a try, any person may fish without an Alberta Sportfishing Licence on these dates but they must follow all other rules and regulations as outlined in this guide. These weekends coincide with Canada’s National Fishing Week and Alberta Family Day.

For more details, please visit here.

Trout Unlimited Canada
Oldman River Chapter
ATCO Gas Building
410 Stafford Drive North, Lethbridge
map: http://members.shaw.ca/ocl4/ATCO.jpg

General meeting agenda for Tuesday, February 16

7:30 to 9:30 PM
General meeting

7:30 PM
Welcome Richard Burke and Henry Komadowski, co-chairs

7:40 to 8:00 PM
Mike Lamb will give an update on and re-channelling the Crowsnest River between Coleman and Blairmore to its original courses. Brian Meagher, TU provincial biologist will also attend to answer questions

8:00 PM Guest speaker
Matthew Coombs, fisheries biologist with SRD, will make a presentation on the 2009 creel survey on the Crowsnest River.

9:00 PM
Raffle draw !!!!

Great raffle prizes:

• Pontoon boat
• Orvis T3, 8-weight
• TBA 6-weight rod

Donors include Daytona Homes and RBC Royal Bank.

Reports are in, and the latest in our series of Seminars was a great success. Gary and Mike were incredible and the crowd in attendance was really treated to some great presenting!

Please drop by Gary’s site and read a few of his comments about the weekend!

http://www.garyborger.com/2010/01/17/edmonton-day-2/#comments

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The annual general meeting saw some changes to the club executive. Our President last year, Dave Murray, has finished his two-year term and moved to Membership. Barry Wright has assumed the role of President with Dennis Southwick as his second in command. Rick Leblanc assumes Barry’s duties as TU Representative. Peter Little takes over from Vince Schembri as Secretary, Carl Johnson relieves Rick Lang as Treasurer and Florin Sabac assumes Librarian duties from Jerry Plastow. Brian Bleackley and yours truly retain our roles as Program and Newsletter guys. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Vince, Rick and Jerry for their service on the Executive and to Dave Murray and Barry Wright for their yeoman service as Club President and TU Representative through the last two years of change. We also approved the change to the Club Logo. Greg Scratchley, with a small group of assistants, has agreed to lead the effort in updating our web presence. Look for changes to our electronic and printed media to appear over time.

The rest of our last month’s program featured Dennis Southwick showing us the proper way to tie Clouser Minnows. Steven Spencer talked about the small fish issue and the final week will find Carl Johnson tying up some salmon flies.

The main January events, other than the regular and annual general meetings, were our January Seminar featuring Garry Borger and Mike Lawson on January 16th and 17th and the Fly Fishing Expo in Calgary January 21st to 23rd. Gary and Mike gave us an outstanding show! I noted in the forum that I came away with more than a handful of great ideas and a face sore from smiling and laughing. Kudos go to our presenters and to those from the club who volunteered in various capacities. Last weekend a number of members went to the Calgary Expo to man the kids tying booth. It was an interesting and successful event.

Our program this month starts on February 3rd with Nick Sliwdanich talking about Wholesale Sports and demonstrating two patterns. Week two on February 10th will be Phil Rowley showing us The New Fly Fisher and talking about Muir Lake. Week three, on February 17th will be our Conservation Session. Laura MacPherson a U of A master’s student will talk about The Culvert Issue. Week four on February 24th we will have Rob Clarke of Superfly showing us some patterns that use the new Unibobber.

On page two you will find a list of upcoming events for 2010. The Edmonton Boat and Sportsman’s Show goes March 18th to 21st at Northlands. The Fishin’ Hole Outdoor Show is at the Mayfield on March 28th to 31st. Many volunteers will be needed to set up and man the booths. See Brian Bleackley if you can help out. He’ll have sign up lists at meetings.

I have two good news items. Firstly Don Anderson has donated one of his bamboo fly rods for us to raffle off. Tickets were selling briskly in Calgary. Many thanks go to Don for his generous donation. Now all I have to do is win.

The second piece of news is that A.K. Best will be coming for a one day fly tying seminar in October or November. We had an “advise us” sheet in Calgary that already has 30 names on it. This looks to be another stellar event.

Here’s a reminder to those who have not yet bought a membership. If you bought a 2009 membership prior to July 1st your 2009 membership is good until your anniversary date in 2011, so you don’t have to renew just yet. Others will get a renewal notice from Trout Unlimited Canada. If you have yet to buy a membership, see Dave Murray.

- Dave Robinson

This 2004 demo is of a great little caddis pattern that I often fish suspended under an indicator on potholes.

It comes with a history, with the form and function of the caddis patterns developed by the legendary Gary Lafontaine. Hope it does as much for your flybox as it has mine…

Please feel free to comment on the pattern below…

Demonstration of the tying of the Doubleback Chironomid. Pattern by Greg Scratchley.

This video was taken from a live presentation to the Northern Lights Fly Tyers and Fishers in 2007. Several edits were required to fit into the time frame required by YouTube – however, no steps were altered.

To tie in the gill at the head – strip a few barbules off the base of the Emu feather, and tie in on the top of the head, after completing the wing case.

This is a pretty good indication of the types of demonstrations we offer at NLFTF-TU Edmonton. If you’re in the area – please drop in for a meeting!

We’re just shaking the dust off a new look and feel for NLFT.org – Please feel free to visit our forums while we get things together!

Happy New Year to all Fly Fishers Tyers and TU Edmonton Members
I have not been out fishing since the cold weather arrived. I keep hoping for a break in the temperature so I can make one last pilgrimage to the Red Deer River before the season closes, but no luck so far. As a fitness option I shovel snow (yech). Santa only brought me one fishing related Christmas present, which was a new hat with a special feature. If you want to see what it is, you’ll have to come to the meeting on January 6th. What did Santa bring you in a fishing theme? Come out Wednesday for a show and tell.

One thing that did happen over the Christmas break was that a few of us have booked a trip to Cuba in May to go bone fishing. Rick Lang’s glowing reports of his trip last spring convinced me, Bill Gouge and Ross Chow to join him this spring. I’ve also heard via the grapevine that Doug Como has booked an April fishing trip to Crooked Island, Bahamas. He’s looking for company, so if you hanker for an early spring start to the fishing season, let Doug know.

Our program last month featured Michael Dell continuing the beginner sessions by showing us how to tie a Bead Head Brooks Montana Stone. Week two, we replaced our conservation meeting with a session on dying materials. Prez Dave Murray took charge and had us all dying burlap in the QMP kitchen. Week three was our Christmas Wind-up, with pizza and pop provided. It was a good, but short, month.

Our program this month starts on January 6th when we have Dennis Southwick showing us how to tie a Clouser Minnow and Stinger Hook Flys. Week two, on January 13th will be our Conservation Session. Steven Spencer from Sustainable Resources Development will talk about Adaptive Management to Address the Small Fish Problem. Week three on January 20th will be our Annual General Meeting. See page two for details. Week four on January 27th we will have Carl Johnson do his first presentation which will be Three Stoneflys.

Our winter fly swap hosted by Dennis Southwick is almost done. The theme of this swap was Burlap. I’ve finished my “Hay Jute” patterns (aw come on, you gotta permit the odd pun) and will be giving them to Dennis on the 6th. It was fun to try a new material out and I’m looking forward to the next swap. I might even demo the Burlap Boatman I tied as bonus flys. On page two you will find a list of upcoming events for 2010. The main items of note are our January Seminar featuring Garry Borger and Mike Lawson on January 16th and 17th (see the box on page three for details on that event.) and the Annual General Meeting on January 20th. We need you to participate to ensure a successful start to the New Year.

January 22nd to 24th is the Fly Fishing Expo in Calgary, Once again a number of members will be going down to man the kids tying booth. If you want to join us, let Brian Bleakley know so we can coordinate schedules. The Edmonton Boat and Sportsman’s Show goes March 18th to 21st at Northlands, this year is in a new venue, with a new spacious location for us .We’ll need to start thinking of how to configure it and how many volunteers we will need. Ditto goes for the Fishin’ Hole show at the Mayfield on March 28th to 31st. Can you help out?

Lastly, for those who have not yet bought a membership, now is the time. For those who did buy a 2009 membership prior to July 1st , thanks to the generosity of Trout Unlimited Canada your 2009 membership is good until your anniversary date in 2011, so you don’t have to renew just yet. Others will get a renewal notice from Trout Unlimited Canada.

A final piece of good news, club members now get a discount at Wholesale Sports. You’ll need to show your membership card. The discount will vary depending on the type of goods. The Northern Lights New Year starts January 6th! Hope It’s a good one!

-Dave Robinson