2024 Annual Dinner & Fundraiser………………
General Meeting……………………
Fish stories from our members
January Raffle……………………
President’s Line……………………
Fly Tying……………………
January Class: Trout Nugget
Thank you to instructors
Fly of the Month: Loop Wing Leach
Conservation Concerns……………
The Tidewater Goby
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – January
Gearing Up…………………
Fishout Schedule – January
2024 Mammoth Fishout
Cartoon ……………………
Posted on December 27th, 2023
followed by
557 1/2 LAKEVIEW RD. , WATSONVILLE
ANNUAL. FUND RAISER COORDINATOR: DAVID SOUTH (831)713-5866 (831)234-0196
DINNER TICKETS: Are $40 and have already sold out..
VOLUNTEERS: Many long-term club members say that the best part of our event is the time volunteering, and working with others to put the whole event together. Contact Elaine Cook at (831)231-6515 or (831)-251-4741, or coookin@gmail.com (no text please) to find out how you can best help.
DONATIONS: Our club would be grateful for donations to be used as raffle prizes at our annual fundraiser. Examples: flies you have tied, other handcrafted items, business services, personal services such as fly-tying lessons, casting lessons, etc. If you have such a contribution, please contact our annual raffle coordinator Rick Chace, at (831)234-9200.
RAFFLE TICKETS: Can be purchased online when buying your dinner ticket (which will be issued at the door),or at our event. Two door prizes of 50 raffle tickets will be awarded, which should increase your chances of winning. There will be silent auction items as well.
ABOUT THE ROD AND GUN CLUB: it’s located in a rural setting overlooking Kelley lake. The parking lot is gravel so not a problem if it’s raining. Their insurance doesn’t permit us to bring alcohol. However, there is a cash bar where drinks and sodas can be purchased.
SO ALL IN ALL, COME SUPPORT YOUR CLUB, AND DON’T MISS OUT ON THE FUN.
Ticket purchasers : (as of Jan 25, 1:00 pm)
Asterisk means that the person paid by cash or check. Did not purchase through website.
Pajaro Valley Rod & Gun club is located 14 miles south of the Aptos Grange.
Posted on December 27th, 2023
Date: January 3, 2024
Time: 6:45 pm
Place: Aptos Grange and Zoom
Posted on
Let’s start the year by hearing some fish stories from fellow club members. Stories will be about a 50 year fish hunt, chasing native fish in the west, blitzes in the bay and more. Hope to see you there!
For those of you who want to see what people did in 2023, please spend time looking at the pictures and captions on the club’s website: www.santacruzflyfishing.org . Viewing is best done on a full screen computer and when you click on the picture, you get a larger image and the full description. Images are sorted chronologically and hitting the ‘Load More’ button at the bottom of the page will show pictures from earlier in the year. Also, please share your pictures with others by sending them to Jerry at metropolitantrout@gmail.com.
Posted on December 27th, 2023
Happy New Year! What better way to start the new year than winning a great raffle prize at our first Fly Club meeting of 2024? Take a look at these great prizes we have, buy a bunch of lucky raffle tickets and be a winner!
Those of us planning to catch our personal best fish this year should be reminded of the sage advice, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight”. Take a look at this great 8 Wt V-Access 9 ft 4 piece rod. This rod featuring hard chrome guides, AA cork handle with a fighting butt, and a K Carbon tube aluminum reel seat coupled with a matching Anatono large arbor CNC machined reel puts you in charge of the game be it San Luis stripers, Pyramid Lathontans, or our local surf.
Winter weather got you stuck at home? Why not spend some time tying flies for when the sun does come out? Two things you need to do: first, attend one your clubs monthly fly tying sessions and second, win this White River fly tying kit. It includes a sweet little vice and an assortment of all the high quality brass tools needed to create your own flies. Also makes a great gift!
How about a slick way safely stash your rods and reels on your next out of area fishing adventure? This semi-rigid padded case will hold two to four rod tubes, that many or more reels, a drop kit and a small bottle of single malt. What more do you need?
Don’t miss out on these great raffle prizes. Tickets are a dollar each, $20 bucks gets you 25. Click on the following link to purchase your lucky raffle tickets:
The online ticket sales office will close at noon on Wednesday the day of the Fly club meeting. The drawing will take place at the monthly meeting (1/3/24) held at the Aptos Grange. Club membership is not required to participate, need not be present to win
Participation in the monthly raffle helps support your Fly Club and is greatly appreciated.
Posted on December 27th, 2023
The week before Christmas, I attended Alex Ferber’s Spey casting class. Quite a few members attended including, Mike DiCiano, Barry Burt, Mike White, Scott Anderson, Bob Garbarino, Fred Farias, Greg Finney, Ricardo Cortes, and others. What I learned at the class was that the basics are more important than learning a new fangled cast. Spey casts are used on larger rivers where the fly line is directly below you in the river and you want to roll cast about 60 degrees upstream without smacking yourself in the head. Therefore the “basics’ is to be able to roll cast and with some instruction and practice, I was able to extend my roll cast with little effort in the cast. Still working on the Spey cast, but the basic roll cast is where I am spending my time.
Post-class, I went to lunch with Alex, Bob, Fred and Tom Hogye and the discussion shifted to the plans for the upcoming 2024 casting classes. Surprisingly, despite the influx of new members, the monthly single-hand casting clinics wasn’t highly attended . Reflecting on my own sporadic participation in 2023, I recognized the missed opportunities for improving my skills. As fishing scenarios from the past year replayed in my mind, the potential for greater enjoyment became obvious:
Fortunately, we have monthly clinics with fellow club members offering support and guidance for anglers at all levels. I am going to make an effort to attend them and hope to see others out there.
Another basic for 2024:
This one is hard to admit. Another goal in 2024 is to eliminate lost rigs due to pigtails. Retrieving rigs and seeing the telltale curls is really frustrating. So I am practicing my clinch knots and loop knots using a forcep. There are lots of videos on Youtube that show how to tie knots faster with a forcep and I like using the handle to cinch down on the knot to make sure it is secure.
I hope you take a few minutes and think about your fishing goals for 2024 and what you can do during the winter to help achieve them.
See you in the new year,
Scott Kitayama
Posted on December 27th, 2023
Jan 10 6:30 PM @ Aptos Grange
| Trout Nugget was supposed to be in the December class, but the material did not arrive in time. So it will now be part of the January class.
We welcome beginners and provide them with tools, thread and advice. It’s always helpful to bring magnification and a table lamp. Some lamps are always provided, but not enough to go around usually. Elaine Cook will be teaching. Sign ups are important and can be done at the September club meeting or calling Elaine at 831-234-6515. Please allow at least 24 hours notice ahead. |
Posted on December 27th, 2023
Date: NA
Time: NA
Place: NA
Posted onTo all of you who have attended the fly tying classes in 2023, so glad you attended and enjoyed the camaraderie and fun of tying flies. A special thank you goes to those who instructed classes for me: Tom Eckert, who tied a damselfly nymph, Greg Foy who tied a red copper, Jerry McKeon, who did a chubby Chernobyl and Kathy Powers who offered a wiggle tail. I look forward to providing fly tying classes for all of you who are interested in want to attend in 2024. Lots of great fly patterns are being planned.
Posted on December 27th, 2023
A simple fly to tie for trout in primarily still water. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it for largemouth bass or bluegill. Fishing the fly is most successful using a sinking line, a loop knot in your tippet and pulling with a short slow retrieve.
HOOK: TMC 5263 or other 3X long hook.
Crimp barb.
THREAD: 6/0 wine, maroon, rusty brown (or similar). Use black if tying a black leach.
Attached behind eye.
Touching wraps to rear of shank (Covering the shank is very important).
TAIL: marabou (Type without long pointed tips. Usually found at the side of the stem.) Burgundy or wine color. Black for black leech.
Cut a small bundle from the side of the stem.
Tie in butt ends in at rear of shank.
Cut excess short and tie down.
Pinch tips off so tail measures the length of the hook.
BODY: Semi-Seal dubbing. Arizona, Semi-Seal blood leach color OR Troutman Enterprise, Semi-Seal bloody leach color.
While holding a small ball of fibers, hand stack them and put aside.
Make a dubbing loop and lock thread together at top of loop.
Advanced thread to one eye length behind eye.
Insert sparse amounts of dubbing into loop, close loop, twist forming a chenille.
Wrap chenille forward using touching wraps, stroking fibers backward with each wrap, up to one eye length behind the eye.
Tie off, cut access.
Brush some of the fibers straight up, and some straight down.
Pinch the fly with your thumb and fore finger, then stroke all the fibers to the rear forming a narrow body.
Posted on December 27th, 2023
The California golden trout holds the well-deserved status of being California’s state fish. It’s arguably one of most beautiful fish…and it’s a trout, which we fly anglers hold in high esteem. There is another lesser known fish that is only found in and around coastal lagoons along California’s coast. Some of us fisher-types that know a little about our local streams have probably heard of the tidewater goby. Tidewater gobies only grow to about 2 inches in length. They are adapted to surviving in large variations of water salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen level. While their reproduction cycle can occur all year long, peak success takes place during the summer when the estuary sand bar is intact. In spite of the their resilient nature, a number of environmental changes have led to the tidewater goby to be listed as endangered. Coastal development that alters the natural formation of estuaries is one primary example. Over a span of about 60 years beginning in the early 1950s, the goby was not found. The reason is thought to be the discharge of poorly treated sewage, extensive levee construction and channelization. In 2013 and 2014 FISHBIO did surveys at the Salinas lagoon and found that the goby was the second largest number of fish counted. Fish surveys have been taking place annually with encouraging results. Although I was not able to find what specific recovery measures were enacted for the Salinas River Lagoon, I expect some action was taken following the release in of the “Recovery Plan for the Tidewater Goby” published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2005 to mitigate the above-mentioned stressors. Hopefully the improved conditions in the Salinas River lagoon will help other species populations grow as well! For more details and information go to:
https://fishbio.com/a-true-but-endangered-californian-the-tidewater-goby/
And an interesting video on the survey on the Salinas river:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Qsfl06NoQ&t=5s
Posted on December 27th, 2023
| Date | Activity Link | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 30 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm | Fly Casting Meetup | All are welcome from beginners to experienced casters. This is a good time to continue working on and enjoying your progress with effectively casting your fly-line -whether it’s 25, 35, 40, or 50 feet – 90% of your fishing casting. We will continue to work on this foundation for everyone who wants to successfully and enjoyably pickup their fly rod and cast exactly where you want – time after time. Bring your rod and reel if appropriate, and I will also have the nice club rods we have so you can toss one of those around too. | Jade Street Park baseball field |
| Jan 20 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm | Fly Casting Meetup | All are welcome from beginners to experienced casters. This is a good time to continue working on and enjoying your progress with effectively casting your fly-line -whether it’s 25, 35, 40, or 50 feet – 90% of your fishing casting. We will continue to work on this foundation for everyone who wants to successfully and enjoyably pickup their fly rod and cast exactly where you want – time after time. Bring your rod and reel if appropriate, and I will also have the nice club rods we have so you can toss one of those around too. | Jade Street Park baseball field |
| Jan 23 12:00 am | Spey Casting Class (Time and Location TBD) | A Spey casting class will be held on Tuesday, January 23rd . Alex Ferber would like this class to be open to those that have either taken one of his classes or for those that have some experience with Spey Casting with Skagit or Scandi. This class will not be geared for complete novices to Spey casting. Keep an eye out for updates from Alex on Google Groups messages the time and location. For those interested, email Alex (alex.ferber74@gmail.com) so he can get a rough estimate of those that will be attending. The Jade St. map is provided in case the class takes place there.
| Jade Street Park baseball field |
Posted on December 18th, 2023
Dates: This Fishout will take place over two consecutive one-week periods. You may sign up for one or both weeks. Week 1: Sept 21 – Sept 28 . Week 2: Sept 28 – Oct 5
Location: The town of Mammoth Lakes is located on the eastern side of the Sierra, 6 or 7 hours drive from Santa Cruz. There are many lakes and streams in the area to fish.
General: We will be staying in condominiums in the town of Mammoth Lakes. Condo has a lovely hot tub, so bring your suit. Two people per bedroom. Most people bring a sleeping bag to share queen size bed or a pad and sleeping bag to sleep on floor. A private room option is possible at an increased fee.
More information and updates are available in the Fishouts section of the newsletter
Posted on December 27th, 2023
The newsletter provides brief fishout info. For full detail, go to the website menu and select EVENTS -> Fishout Schedule
| EVENT NAME | EVENT DATE | SPECIES | FISH MASTER |
|---|
Posted on December 27th, 2023
This one is for the steelhead fishers, who tell us all the time how much fun they’re having!
Posted on December 27th, 2023
