Welcome New Members

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Kellie Christensen
Bill Elliott
Vince Tweddell
Cy LeGare, Sylvia Miller
Mike Barnum
Paul Franklin
Joe, Barbara Henry
Stephen, Helene
   Richards
Ladd Zastoupil
Carol Corbridge
Lisa Greif
Mike Masters
Mark Swisher

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Coming Soon !!
Steelhead Tournament
2008
September 13, 2008

   Get ready for Rogue Flyfishers' annual Steelhead Tournament & Fundraiser, Saturday, September 13th. The Steelhead Tournament kicks off the day's events with volunteers, oarsmen and contestants meeting at Tou Velle State Park at the covered picnic area across from the entrance kiosk at 6:30 a.m. After having a continental breakfast the Tournament contestants and oarsmen head for their selected launch sites and then the shuttle volunteers move the vehicle-trailer rigs to the selected takeout ramps. Volunteers will be setting up the breakfast and doing the cleanup choirs. If you would like to be a volunteer, we can use your help. Call Chick Parsons at 541-778-0147.
   The fishing hours for the Tournament contestants are 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., giving oarsmen and contestants sufficient time to head back, cleanup, and be at the Red Lion Hotel in Medford at 6 p.m. for the Tournament banquet-fundraiser auction, awards ceremony and guest presentation. There will be sufficient time to purchase banquet tickets, examine the items donated for the silent auction, and then enjoy the evening's banquet and guest presentation, the announcement of the Tournament winners and the presentation of their awards. [I need information on the guest speaker & topic].
   Banquet tickets, at $27 each, can be purchased upon your arrival. There will not be a raffle at this year's event.
   The Tournament-Fundraiser announcement letter has already been mailed to all of our members and to other interested persons. If you need additional entrant or donation forms, please contact Lee Wedberg (541-826-3718) or Bill Rittenhouse (541-858-5981) and we will mail you the announcement letter, which includes all the forms needed for entering the Tournament or making an auction item or cash donation.
Please remember that this special evening is open to club members, community members, and to your friends and relatives. We hope to have your support of our annual fundraiser, which provides the funding to carry out the work that the Rogue Flyfishers' Board of Directors have elected to accomplish for the enhancement and protection of the fish and their environment.

• The Southern Oregon Fly Tiers invite you to attend their next meeting, Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 6 p.m. at the Madrone Hill Mobile Home Park community building near Gold Hill. Guest tier will be David Roberts who will teach us two steelhead patterns, one nymph and a traditional. Tiers need not be experienced, and those with all levels of skill are welcome. Participants are asked to donate a fly to the free raffle held at the end of the meeting. Each meeting a member is encouraged to demonstrate a new or different skill, from simple to difficult. For more information, call Dan Kellogg at 773-4724. Directions to the community building: Take Gold Hill Exit 40 off I-5 and head west towards Jacksonville for 1.3 miles until you reach the brick entrance to the Madrone Hill Mobile Home Park on your right. You will pass a golf course parking lot on your left shortly after leaving the freeway. After you turn right into the mobile home park, proceed to the community building, located about 100 yards ahead on the left. The address is 8401 Old Stage Road. Please park your vehicle on the access-road side of the parking lot to avoid the septic cover on the far side.

Special workshops being offered by Rick Hafele and John Smeraglio. Classes are being offered on fly-fishing western lakes and on fly-fishing western rivers. Pre-registration is required: contact Deschutes Canyon Fly Shop, toll free at 1-866-647-4721 or at john@flyfishingdeschutes.com to register.

What: Two-Day Class on Fly-Fishing Western Lakes
Where: Five Lakes Ranch, Grass Valley, Oregon
Dates & Time: Saturday, September 20, 2008 from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday, September 21, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: $250 (Includes instructions, fishing on private lakes, lodging on Saturday night, Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast and lunch.)

   The RFF steelhead tournament was spawned in 1999, which means that 2008 completes the first decade of our most important fund raising event of the year. Originally it was a single fly contest sponsored by Oregon Trout, but beginning in 2000 it has been an RFF event. Each contestant’s fly was checked and approved by a contest official, and that fly was the only fly the angler was allowed to use for the contest. If an angler had a “secret” fly, perhaps of his own design, it was entertaining to watch how he kept to himself as much as possible so as not to let the secret out. Think about that for a minute, and yes, it really happened. One contestant lost his fly on his first cast, if you can believe it. A big old salmon grabbed hold and went south, and at last report he was still going. The angler was allowed to fish for the remainder of the day, of course, but it was strictly for pleasure, not business. All was not lost, however, because he won the Unluckiest Angler Award for his troubles.
   Doug McGeary rode in my boat that first year and we enjoyed the day very much indeed. Doug’s “secret” fly was a standard old ordinary everyday Green Butt Skunk, and he caught a steelhead with it too. Now in 2008 Doug is running for Judge of the Circuit Court, all of which proves that success in the RFF steelhead tournament can lead to greatness.
   Since 1999 the rules have changed so that today’s contestants can use as many flies as they like, so long as they stay within Fish and Wildlife’s Regulations. But the thrill and excitement of taking part in a great event for a worthwhile purpose has not changed. The anticipation, the great camaraderie of a day on the river followed by a fine banquet, and finally the fond memories, all for about half the price of today’s guides’ fees, or a couple of fill-ups at the gas station. You’ll look long and hard for a deal like that. Come join us on Saturday, September 13th.

Lee Wedberg

• Jim Harleman needs your catch results from your fishing trips at the Holy Water. Survey forms should be submitted electronically via the club’s website, ROGUEFLYFISHERS.ORG. Survey results link directly to Jim Harleman who is tabulating the data as part of the Holy Water Taskforce-ODFW effort to improve the fish catch at the Holy Water. Be sure to check each fish you catch to see if it has been fin-clipped – this is important information to report on the survey form. The survey is available by clicking on the Holywater link in the upper left of this home page.

•The Fifth Annual Bear Creek Salmon Festival is going to be held in Ashland at the North Mountain Park Nature Center on Saturday, October 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. This free event will offer activities for people of all ages to explore their connection with salmon through this year’s event theme: “Salmon People – Remembering the Past, Working for the Future.” This theme reflects the importance of salmon to the lives of people of the Pacific Northwest, both now and in the past, and their responsibility to ensure the survival of salmon for the future. Through hands-on experiences with a variety of local organizations, participants can explore how salmon benefit people as a part of the food web, as indicators of healthy watersheds, as a cultural and artistic inspiration, and as a focus of recreational activities. Also, participants can learn some ways in which they can help protect and enhance salmon habitat - including water and energy saving ideas, eating sustainable salmon, planting native plants, cleaning up streams, stopping storm drain pollution. Additionally, participants can purchase a wild salmon barbeque and enjoy live entertainment, Native American demonstrations include traditional salmon cooking around an open fire, traditional uses of plants, weaving, drumming, storytelling and much more!
The Rogue Flyfishers and many other local organizations are supporting this event. Our part is to supply instructions and demonstrations of fly tying and fly-casting. We have a complete set of tying equipment and fully rigged fly rods to use for these kinds of events, BUT WHAT WE REALLY NEED ARE VOLUNTEERS TO HELP BOTH KIDS AND ADULTS WITH FLY TYING AND FLY CASTING. This is a good way to provide positive publicity for our club and to recruit new members. We need at least six volunteers. Can you help? Contact John Ward (482-2859) or Bill Rittenhouse (858-5981) to volunteer. You will need to bring your own lunch and beverages or you can purchase food and beverages from Food Service at the Festival.

•Free fly-casting instructions continue to be offered at 6 p.m. on Wednesday evenings at Hawthorne Park, Medford. One or more instructors from RFF will be available to help you improve your casting stroke. Contact John MacDiarmid (664-8391) or Otis Swisher (772-9755) for more information. Club fly rods are available to borrow; contact Bill Rittenhouse (858-5981) if you need to borrow a completely rigged fly rod. Please call ahead to make sure someone will be at Hawthorne Park because of Board meetings on the first Wednesday of the month and club meetings on the third Wednesday of the month (except for September where the Steelhead Tournament of Saturday, September 13, will replace the regular third-Wednesday club meeting.)

•There will be a training session on September 27, 2008 for prospective ODFW Angling Education instructors. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer instructor should contact Steve Ostrander (772-0749 or sostrand@us.ibm.com). Training will require an all-day session to be held in Grants Pass.