NVFF members,
Meeting Reminder
This Thursday evening July 10, at 7 p.m., is our next scheduled meeting. I'm working on getting us a larger space because we are outgrowing the space we are in, but we're still in 1518 Jefferson Street, the house in front of the Bocce Ball courts. If you aren't out fishing, come on by, it's going to be a fun meeting!

Board Meeting
Wednesday evening, July 9th, 7 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel is an opportunity for us to have a board of directors meeting if that works for people, so for the purpose of this notice, plan on it, and if too many people can't make it I'll send out a cancellation notice. Membership on the Board of Directors gives you a chance to help our club to achieve it's goals. We must be serious about our commitment as a club to expand awareness of our sport and the plight of our fisheries, and to ensure that young people come into the sport to carry on in our stead, or we could very well be the last generation to enjoy the freedom to fly fish for our top west coast fish species.

I was interviewed recently for an article in the Napa Register, and the reporter asked me why people should be concerned about the health of our fisheries, implying why be concerned just so a few of us can enjoy fishing. I answered that it is human survival at stake. If we don't care for the quality of water and adequate water flows, we end up with unhealthy aquatic vegetation, which yields low insect populations, which means the fish don't flourish, the birds and animals that rely on the fish don't flourish, and we are at the top of the food chain, either suffering or enjoying the consequences of our effort. Be a Napa Valley Fly Fishers Board Member, and know that your voice is an important part of our survival process, both for our club, and for all life.

This Month's Meeting Program
This month's scheduled activity is Thread, String, and Rope. We will have a presentation, with hands on practice available for all attendees, on Things of Thread: basic fly tying and rod wrapping; Things of String: knots to tie flies, leaders, lines, and backing with; and Things of Rope: knots for hiking and to tie loads on the car with. We will be inviting the essay finalists to come, so those of you who know some of these things please be prepared to help share your knowledge. I think the rod wrapping portion will be interesting. As with many aspects of our sport one can turn rod building into a highly skilled art form, but the techniques demonstrated Thursday night are simple and fast and create perfectly fishable rods while saving a lot of money.

I have a contact with one of the Rotary groups in town and they have expressed willingness to support our Youth and Veterans Programs if I come do a presentation with a formal request, so hopefully we'll have a good turn out and some youths so we can get some more pictures for a Power Point presentation.

Last Month's Meeting
At last month's meeting we had three of the top essay contest entrants come and read their essays. What a lot of fun! The kids put a lot of effort into their stories. It was a tough call, but Gerardo Aguiniga, age 10, a fifth grader at Napa Valley Language Academy went home with a Redington Starter Kit fly rod and reel, and all four youths received a membership in the Federation. There are links on the front page of our web site for a picture and the essays at http://www.napavalleyflyfishers.org.

Also at last month's meeting Carlo Bongio from Western Sport Shop in Santa Rosa gave tips on gaining access to local ponds and on fishing the Mt. Lassen area. It was a valuable education that I'm sure will get those who follow his advice into more ponds and more fish! Luckily his presentation was full of pictures of fish and people fishing, so it was very entertaining for the youths as well as educational for the adults.

New Member Cards
By now you should all have your new club membership cards (if you didn't get one in the mail last week let me know). At the beginning of the year we used the last dozen or so of the old cards, and it took me a while to make new cards with our new logo, but we now have it done, and the Photoshop PDF file is one that anyone in the future can change and print. Next year we'll be able to get them out right away. Show them at the sales counter at Sweeneys to let them know you are a member so you can get your discount!

Need Equipment for our Youth Program
We need some fly rods and reels so we can take our few youths fishing. Just three or four right now would be perfect. Kevin at Sweeneys offered the parking lot rods, but in my opinion they are too nice for the purpose. They need to be the kind of equipment we won't care about getting broken. I have promises from Hook and Hackle and the Federation, but everything good takes time, and we've got kids that want to go fishing now! If you have any old equipment to loan or donate please let me know. I'm looking for rods, reels, and lines in 4, 5, or 6 weight. Beat up, thread coming off, broken reel seats or handles are all good; I'll fix them. Old Medalist reels or a cheap Okuma you bought and then realized it's too cheap even for you to use would be perfect. Even just some old lines would be a step forward. We could also use some fly tying vises if you have an old vise you've retired we'll put it in the club locker for the kids to use.

Our Members Accomplishments
Federation membership gives us as a club and individually as members lots of opportunities to expand our involvement in our sport. For example, Bob Paoli has completed the Federation's Certified Casting Instructor Program, and is now a FFF Certified Casting Instructor! The other Bob, at Sweeneys, says the effort is as hard as getting a college degree! Congratulations Bob Paoli!

Sharon Parda has found the photography aspect of fly fishing to be fun and challenging, and has entered a number of photos in the FFF National Conclave's photography contest. Printed large and matted, they look great! Good Luck Sharon! Look for some of her photos on display at the Napa Town and Country Fair. Sharon added a new species to her life list with an Atlantic Salmon on her recent trip to Massachusetts!

CFR and Healing Waters
Several months ago we had Peg Miskin from Casting for Recovery come speak to our club about the program that takes women who are battling or have survived breast cancer fly fishing. They put on weekend retreats where they have councilors that do sessions on physical and mental health, as well as fly fishing experts that teach the women fly fishing skills. The last day of the retreat is spent on the water. Sharon and I will be representing our club as River Helpers at this year's first retreat Aug. 24 on the Powerhouse Riffle at Hat Creek. The Northern California chapter of Casting for Recovery is severely underfunded and understaffed and can not take all the women that apply for the program, but our club is proud to have sponsored them with donations, and in August, with our time.

Another program that the Federation supports is Healing Waters, a program that takes injured returning veterans fly fishing. We continue to make progress in exploring the possibility of doing our own similar program at the Veteran's Home in Yountville, and there are some very exciting ideas that are coming from these discussions.

Rod Contest
The club has purchased a rod kit from Hook and Hackle to be built for the contest to be held at the Northern California Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave to be held Oct. 10 in (I think) Lodi. The rods built for the contest will be used as fund raisers and for youth programs. If ours is built by August 1, our members can buy more of them to enter themselves. Please let me know if you would like to build this rod! We could even have several people work on it, or if no one speaks up I don't mind wrapping it, just bear in mind when I'm done it'll be a great fishin' stick, but probably not prize winning quality, so speak up if you want to do it!

Fish outings
I have word that the smallmouth pond at Payne Ranch is fishing! 18-20" fish jumping out of the water to grab giant dragonflies from the air and biting on any wiggly thing you throw at them. A bit of a hike, but you can benefit from the sweat of those that went last year and found the way making the hike this year not so mysterious. Let me know if you're interested. If not....I'll fish anywhere! If there is a consensus to go a particular place, we'll call it a fishout!

Club Opportunities
There are many tasks associated with an effective club and we are still looking for interested members to participate in things like newsletters, planning fishouts, planning programs, raffles, membership management, and more. There are many tasks Sharon and I are doing that we'd be more than happy to assist someone else with. Fly fishing as a hobby pushes the limits of our skills in many ways, and by participating in a club we get to push our boundaries in surprising ways, from becoming more involved politically to helping manage the very club we belong to. Speak up if there's the slightest task you think you'd like to try.

I hope to see many of you who aren't on fishing trips this Wednesday and Thursday, and those that are out fishing....tight lines!
Michael

Michael McKeown

President, Napa Valley Fly Fishers
Director, Northern California Council Federation of Fly Fishers
michael@napavalleyflyfishers.org
http://www.napavalleyflyfishers.org
707-337-9410