“President’s Message” Tracy “Decoy” da Silva

2014 Board

Members

Tracy da Silva 229-9568

President

Rod Sanchez 809-7499

Vice President

Richard Wilson 758-5313

Treasure

Scott Naylor 214-3870

Secretary

Roger Caton 633-4659

Board Member

Mike Gilroy-(425)418-8164

Board Member

Chuck Humphreys

951-3454

———————————————

Rick McCombs (209)

267-8088

Newsletter Editor

Jay Jefferson– 809-0290

Mascot

FFLYLY TTIMESIMES

SALINAS VALLEY FLY FISHERS December 2014

President’s message 1

Fly of the Month 2

Monthly Program 3

Sponsors 3

Outing Schedule 3

Articles 4

Maps 5

Events 6

Inside this issue:

Christmas Gift Exchange in December It’s that time of year. Time to get into the Christmas spirit and what bet-ter way then stealing your buddy’s Christmas gift: a bottle of bourbon, a new fly reel. It doesn’t matter...If he’s got it, you can take it, see the Of-

ficial rules on page 2. Come one come all, bring a wrapped gift with a value of about $20 and you’re in. 6:00 for dinner 7:00 meeting time.

Bulletin….Bulletin….

President Decoy is missing

Foul play is suspected

If you have information

Call someone who cares

If you don’t have

Informations:

Call someone who doesn’t

If he had written a

President’s message it would

say:

Be sure to make this

week’s meeting and don’t

forget the bring a wrapped

present with a value of $20.

He’d also be telling you that

you should be fishing for

Steelhead and that he really

cares about each and every-

one of you and furthermore

he would be sending you

Holiday greetings and telling

you to hug your momma. I

not real sure about that last

one. He’d say come early if

you want to join in on dinner

and be sure to get your

money in for the annual din-

ner

T’ll then faux DeCoy

Page 2 Fly Times

What’s going on in the world of fly fishing and tying?

No Fly Tying this month Hexagenia Mayfly

Salinas Valley Fly Fishers

Annual Dinner

Saturday, January 17th.

@

Balesteri’s

At the Laguna Golf Ranch

10520 York Rd.

off Highway

Hook: TMC 200R #4-8

Thread: Danville Yellow 6/0

Ribbing: Copper Wire

Abdomen: Pale Yellow Haretron

Tail: Gray Marabou

Back: Mottled Oak Turkey Tail

Gills: Gray Pheasant aftershaft

Wingcase: Mottled Oak Turkey Tail

Thorax: Pale Yellow Haretron

Legs: Mottled Natural Brown Hen-

back

Burkes Hex Nymph

Hook: TMC 2312 #6-8

Thread: Danville Yellow 6/0

Extended Body: Yellow Elk Hair

Tail: 2 Stripped Yellow-dyed Quills

Hackle: Yellow-Dyed Hackle

Wingpost: Yellow Elk Hair

Milt’s Hex Para Dun

Hexagenia

Page 3

Salinas Valley Flyfishers**2014 Outing Schedule and Programs

Special thanks to Geoff Malloway for his ongoing support of the Salinas Valley Fly Fishers and for his many efforts on behalf of stream habitat and the preservation of the fish that we all seek to catch.

Next time you’re out his way, stop by and say hi .If Geoff doesn’t have exactly what you’re looking for in stock he’ll be happy to order it. Geoff can also help you outing with you casting.

Geoff Malloway

Central Coast Fly Fishing

7172 Carmel Valley Rd.

Carmel, CA (626-6586)

Dec. 10th General meeting Landing Zone

@ the airport

Christmas gift

exchange

Tracy da Silva 229-9568

Cancelled this

month only

Fly Tying Bill Pshide

Dec. 17th. Board meeting Landing Zone

@ the airport

All members

welcome

Tracy da Silva 229-9568

Outing To be

determined

January 17th. Annual Dinner Balestarie’s Laguna Seca Golf

Ranch

Tracy da Silva 229-9568

For all the latest info. in what’s happening in the wide world of fishing, go to:

salinasvalleyflyfishers.org

Upcoming Events

Gift Exchange Official Rules (study closely)

When you come to this month’s meeting, please bring, one wrapped gift with a street value of about $20.00.

We’ll try to have a few gifts there for anyone who forgets. These gifts can be purchased for $20.00.

Rules:

1. All gifts will be placed on the table.

2. Each participant will draw a number.

3. The person with ticket # 1 will select and open any gift from the pile.

4. Each person will take their turn in numerical order and have the option of either opening a new gift

or “stealing” a gift that was opened by a previous player.

5. Any person who has their present stolen will have the next turn and will again have the option of

either selecting an unopened gift or “stealing” a gift.

6. You may steal a gift that you previously had from anyone except the person who stole it from you.

7. Trading of gift is allowed at anytime during the game.

8. Any gift that is Stolen three time will be considered “frozen” and can not be stolen again..

9. The game ends when the last gift is unwrapped.

Potpourri

Page 4 Fly Times

Approaching Fish

Lefty Kreh wrote six principals for approaching fish in his book, "Flyfishing Techniques and Tac-

tics". These approaches pertain to both lakes and streams. His cardinal rule is "...make sure you

approach so the fish are not aware that you are there".

Slowly - Fish can feel your presence though their sensory organs, try not to wade into pools but if you

must, do it slowly. Spooked fish will alert the others within the pool.

Quietly - Sound can quickly give you away. Try to wade with felt sole sandles or boots without the metal

cleats. Also use a rubber tip on the end of your wading staff rather than a metal one. Try not to get into

the water.

Lowly - Fish can see you from the front and side. They have a paralax vision due to the water surface

that they can't see low objects. Try to approach from behind but if you must approach from the front or

side, do it with a low profile.

Darkly - Wear dark clothing, hide highly reflective tools in your pocket. Stay in the shade.

Patiently - Don't rush. Observe and then plan your approach.

Direction - Think about where to make your best presentation. Where do the fish lie with respect to

your approach? If you have a fish on, where is it going to run? How is the wind and the current going to

affect the presentation? What are the covers available to you; foliage, rocks? Keep in mind the many

different factors that can affect your presentation just by selecting the direction of your approach.

Does it matter if the fish “know” you’re there? After reading the above comments, I thought back to the whole idea of how we as human so often attribute hu-

man characteristics to fish and other animals. Most of the time, I suspect that this does provide us with a useful tool for understanding and predicting the fish’s behavior, but on the downside, it can lead us astray with a whole set of misconceptions. First, based on the fishes brain structure we know that fish don’t “think” or retain knowl-edge in the same way humans do. So what I’m saying is that fish don’t stop biting because they “know” you’re

there. They stop biting because you have violated one of their “stimulus boundaries”. Here’s an illustration: You walk slowly up to the koi pond at your favorite Japanese restaurant you bend down and offer the fish some food and they take it without hesitation, but when you stand back up too quickly they all scatter. Clearly, they knew

that you were there, if the fish were capable of “knowing”, but that information didn’t keep them from eating. What stopped them was your sudden movement. So it seems pretty clear that fish tolerate certain levels of a whole

host of environmental stimuli without a significant change in there eating habit so long as you don’t exceed the threshold of there tolerance at that point in time. On the stream, do you really think the trout make a distinction between you and a deer of a raccoon, does the fish say: Oh there’s a fisherman and I have to hide, but there’s a

man walking his dog, so I can keep on eating? I think not. ed

Pyramid Fish Report

Fishing is good, but numbers are down. The fish are slowly coming to shallower water, but concentrate your

efforts on the deep drop offs with sinking line until more are seen in the shallows. Stripping is always better

early in the season, but some success on indicator rigs in 25 feet. Shoreline anglers are finding a bit more

weed to deal with, compared to guys in tubes or boats. Most guys are reporting a fish every hour but they are

6- to 10 pounders.

Lake Almanor

This is a great time of year to start planning for next trout season. And Almanor Lake is a great place to put on

your calendar for late June and early July. Almanor has some terrific lakeside camping and is the home of the famous

Hexagenia Mayfly. The “Hex” is the largest mayfly, measuring upwards of one and a half inches long. These bugs draw

savage topwater action when then they make their late evening migration to the surface. Along with the Rainbows, Al-

manor has a large population of healthy browns and some of the nicest Smallmouth fishing you’ll find in California.

Bill Pshide or Rick McCombs can help you out if you’d like more information for tying both the dry fly and nymph

forms of the Hex. They’re fun to tye and even more fun to fish. ed.

Salinas Valley Fly Fishers

Christmas meeting Dinner @ 6:00

Meeting @ 7:00 December 10th.

P.O Box 1793

Salinas, CA 93912

Editor: Rick McCombs

Email: rickmcfly@sbcglobal.net

"All You Need to Know"

Mailing Address Line 1 Mailing Address Line 2

Mailing Address Line 3

Mailing Address Line 4 Mailing Address Line 5

Annual SVFF Dinner

Balesteri’s

January 17th.

Board of Directors Meeting

at the Landing Zone Dec. 17th. @ 6:00

Fly Tying \

No Fly Tying

this month due to the holiday

schedule