Western Massachusetts Fly Fishermen

We will conduct our September meeting at 7:00 pm right after the Fly-Tying Demo, at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.  We will adhere to current Virus Practices. Masks, distance, sanitizer etc. It’s been a while since we had our last meeting! (May Cookout)  We hope that you are all in good health and trying to live your lives as normal as possible given our extenuating circumstances.  One thing that I look forward to is getting back to our meetings and enjoy the interaction, comraderies, and sharing fish stories that we can all relate to.

Meeting Minutes:

Our last meeting was the annual cookout.  We all thank Dan Trela and his wife, plus Roy Britton for pulling off a successful event.  It was a good time to see all the folks and enjoy the good food and friendships at the event. If you want information on the status of our funds, please see our treasurer (Don Vacon) for the info available at the meeting.

Welcome our newest member, Thomas (Tom) Rzasa who joined our group at the cookout.

Working on getting WMFF Club letterhead if you need some.  Can send it by file via email or I will carry some in my bag.

Fly Tying Demo:

Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following flys at our meeting on Monday night beginning before (6:30) the scheduled meeting.  Thanks Dan.

Guest Speaker:  None so far but we are open to your sharing of a topic or experience!

See Harold to set the date.

Field Notes from Our Local Fly Fishers: Be careful when you venture out onto the water.  Levels are high with all the rain we’ve been getting

Hope to see you at the Annual Cookout in the Elks Pavilion!  The meeting will be held outdoors. Dan Trela will be grilling some mighty fine burgers and hot dogs for us.  There will be some deserts, chips and other fix ins for us to enjoy.  Our meeting will be held on Monday, May17, 2021 at 7:00 PM, right after the cookout that starts at 5:30 at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow, we hope you can make it there.

No Fly tying demonstrations will take place because Dan is tied up with other duties.

April Meeting: Minutes:

• Our first indoor meeting since the Covid attack!  We had 22 members and one guest show up.  (guest is now a new member! Thank Harold!)
• Dan Trela demonstrated his superb fly-tying abilities on various Caddis flies that are productive on the Swift.  The “Wicked Pissa” is really hot on the Swift River!
• Our Raffle was a tremendous hit!  Many multiple winners of some nice prizes!  Wish you had been there to share the winnings! been there…

TREASURERS REPORT:  We are holding our own until we renegotiate our hall rental contract this month! 

Speaker:

There will be no scheduled speaker for this meeting.  If you are interested in giving us a demonstration or short talk at a future meeting, please give Harold Norman a call to schedule your talk.  We all appreciate learning more about Fly Fishing and other related interests.

GREAT NEWS! WE`RE GETTING TOGETHER AGAIN!

First, we hope that you all survived this immense ordeal in good health and spirit.  Many of us are still adjusting to the new environment, whereby we have all gone “viral” with all the changes in our lives.  Restrictions have been reduced to allow groups to gather with limits of 40% of the facility’s capacity.  Our max club meeting attendance has stayed at 30 members/guests.  The Elks Club hall accommodates several hundred people.  Therefore, we fall way under the 40% limit.  ALL COVID MEASURES ARE STILL IN AFFECT DURING OUR GATHERING!  Masks, attendance register, hand sanitizer, and social distancing.

We will conduct our club meeting at 7:00 pm beginning with the Fly-Tying Demo portion of the meeting. Located at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA.  We miss gathering as a group of people who love this sport/hobby/passion and love sharing experiences, knowledge’ and support of our fishing environment for all to enjoy.  See you at the meeting.

Meeting Minutes:

Our last meeting was during the Fall when we got together in the Pavilion.

Treasurer’s report will be available at the meeting.  See Don Vacon.

Fly Tying Demo: 

Dan will be demonstrating how to tie the following fly’s at our meeting on Monday night beginning before the scheduled meeting.  Thank you, Dan for tying some terrific flies and describing their unique features and “fishability”!

TIPS: When tying the CDC and deer hair caddis on a size 14-16 hook select a CDC feather about 1 1/4 inch long. Tie it in over the hook barb and twist the feather into a rope. Wrap the CDC to form the body at about the 3/4 point wrap the feather as a hackle.  Then tie in the deer hair or elk. Short and fine deer hair is distributed by Wapsi and is available at fly shops.

Guest Speaker: None scheduled.  If you know of someone, please contact Harold Norman.

Field Notes From Our Local Fly Fishers: Be careful if you venture out on the ice, some spots are not as safe as they look!  The Swift is seeing some good activity!

With the pandemic in full swing here in January of 2021 and our meetings canceled, I wanted to find ways to keep us together virtually. In the video link below Dan is going to show us how to tie five fly’s. Four of the fly’s are variations on the Pheasant tail nymphs and the last one is a dry fly.

I am fairly new to fly fishing/fly tying and found it interesting that by changing in most cases one material in the fly pattern that you now have a different fly that you are making. The opposite of that is you already are using four items on your bench and by changing out one you can practice tying a different fly!

Here are the fly fly patterns to accompany the video.

Pheasant tail nymph

Hook size: Standard nymph hook size 16 NW1 16 hook n

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread black

Body: Natural pheasant tail

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax/legs: Peacock herl

Hendrickson nymph

Hook size: 12-14-16 hook

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread

Tail: Pheasant tail dyed brown.

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax: Mahoney super find dubbing

baetis nymph

Hook size: 18 standard

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread

Tail: Pheasant tail dyed brown or olive

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax: Gray olive super fine dubbing

Pheasant tail soft hackle

Hook size: 14

Thread: 6/0  Uni-Thread

Body: Natural pheasant tail

Ribbing: Extra fine copper wire

Thorax: Hairs ear dubbing (Note: European rabbit has more brown than gray)

Hackle: Hungarian Partridge feather

Dry Fly – Charlie Craven Mole fly variation

Hook: Scud emerger – Dieche 1130

Thread: 8/0  Uni-Thread

Wing: CDC (Cul de Canard)

Body: Natural pheasant tail??

Ribbing: extra fine copper wire

I want to thank Dan Trela for tying the fly’s and Tom Panaccione for his video work!

Here is the link to the video:

Pheasant Tail Nymph Variations by Dan Trela

In watching this video here are some other links I found of interest:

Deciphering thread size

How to select CDC feathers

Aquatic insect Encyclopedia

**ALL MEETINGS ARE CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE**

We all realize that 2020 is going down as a sad, crazy, and “hectic” year with some of us loosing family and friends to this crazy virus.  Plus, the constantly changing Virus related information, guidance and rules that keep us from living normal lives with freedom of mobility, freedom to gather, Freedom of choice, etc.  These restrictions have directly affected our club members and our club organization.  Even when we did attempt to legally restart our meetings, the attendance was never over 16 members.  Many of us have not seen each other for almost one year!  This has created a negative impact in our membership. Currently we have a total of 24 out of the 62 members who are “In Good Standing” (current dues paid, membership card with an expiration date of March 2021). 

The WMFF club Board of Directors held an emergency meeting to address the current and future mandatory changes of the Massachusetts COVID Virus restrictions on our ability to conduct club meetings and group activities.  These restrictions directly affect our ability to conduct meetings, Fly Tying Classes and possibly, the March EXPO.  The changes also impact many other organizations like the Ludlow Elks Club where we conduct our activities.  The WMFF Board of Directors decided to approve two opportunities for our members.

1. All members currently in Good Standing during 2020 will be issued new Membership cards upon return of the old card with no new fee for the new cards that will expire in March of 2022.
2. Granted an extension to all the members who were not able to update their membership in WMFF by the March 2020 renewal deadline, to do so by March 2021 ($20.00).  The new expiration date will be March 2022.

November 2020 Meeting Minutes: 

*Potential for more COVID changes down the road impacting our meetings such as, sign in log, RSVPs via email or telephone for snail mail users, attendance limits, currently we social distance, wear masks, and sanitize our hands and multi us items.

*Thanks to Dan for demonstrating some nice looking flies.

*Thank you also to Tom Panaccione for an excellent presentation on his African Safari and all the terrific photos

*There were many multiple raffle winners!  14 members, 36 items!!

We miss you, the comradery, and staying connected while sharing the passion of our sport/hobby/craft!

We are looking at the upcoming MARCH EXPO 2021 as our target date to hold the event and as the start date to conduct our meetings.  Please consider signing up for club leadership positions.  This will promote continuity, growth and variety for our club.  If you are interested, please let one of the officers know.

Field Notes To & From Our Local Fly Fishers:

FROSTBITE and Hypothermia alert!  Please remember to cover bare skin during these low temperature days. Try to stay dry and stay warm.  It doesn’t take long for frostbite or hypothermia to set in! 

We will hold our November meeting at starting at 7:00 pm at the Ludlow Elks Club, 69 Chapin Street in Ludlow MA. The Fly tying demo portion of the meeting begins at 7:00.  We look forward to seeing you at the meeting and always appreciate your support.

Meeting Minutes:

• Our October meeting was well attended with 14 members and 4 interested guests.
• Please welcome our new members James Carvalho, Tom Bankman, Kevin McClure and Clay Tsaursnik (sp)
• Treasurer’s report is available at the meeting.  See Don Vacon.
• Our new club bylaws/Standard Rules are almost ready!  Our president and secratary need to sign the copies and will have them for distribution at the meeting.
• The COVID Flu has thrown everyone off their regular schedules.  If by some chance you have forgotten to make your current dues payment, (several members) you will be in Good Standing when you make payment.  We ALL appreciate your support for our club. 
• Please keep Manny DaSilva in your thoughts and prayers as he continues on the road to recovery from cancer. 

** COVID UPDATES ON MEETINGS AT THE ELKS LODGE: 

1. We MUST all practice SOCIAL DISTANCING
2. We MUST ALL WEAR MASKS or FACE SHIELDS
3. Indoor gatherings at all venues and locations are limited to 25 people (we usually hit around
4. 25 to 30)
5. We will have sanitizer for all to use whenever you need or items are handled by more than one person.
6. All meeting attendees must sign the ATTENDANCE LOG WITH NAME, AND CONTACT NUMBER
7. ALSO, IF YOU’RE NOT FEELING WELL OR HAVE SOME DOUBTS ABOUT YOUR          CONDITION—Please consider seeking medical attention or staying home.

Fly Tying Demo: Dan will be demonstrating the following flys at our meeting on Monday night beginning before the scheduled meeting.  As always, THANK YOU DAN for all your amazing support.

Hook- DAIICHI 1640 16-20

Thread- black  8/0 UNI

Body – COATES & CLARK THREAD NO. 454 A  Summer Brown   (Available at Walmart or Joanne’s )  

• 

DEER HAIR CADDIS

Hook – standard dry fly hook12-24

Thread – 6/0 uni tan Body – Tan , grey dubbing ( I like Wapsi Dark Tan synthetic )

Wing – fine deer hair ( On northern deer its the hair from the mask)