Hello IFFF ,
Spring has sprung! Oh wait... only for a few days every other week or so. We have been lucky to receive these rare days of above average temperatures that have allowed us to make it out of our Winter domains and shed our cabin fever even if only for a few days at a time. Surprisingly though, the river hasn't been very crowded on the warm days when they weren't running water. We have had several good fishing reports at the meeting and on the Facebook page from our diehards who have fished the good weather and embraced the frigid temperatures.
As many of you know, we have a very special speaker at this month’s meeting. We have been honored to have many knowledgeable guest in the past who have each brought their insight and expertise to help educate our members. But when you have a fly fisherman like Dave Whitlock who will share his knowledge of our sport in an intimate setting, you listen, you learn and you hang on every word he says. Because the knowledge he shares with you will hopefully stick in that unused spot in the back of your brain that suddenly comes out when you've made that curve cast in front of that hard to reach rock. Or you remember to change back to a fly that was hatching last month to see if the fish still remember that they were feeding on that nymph not long ago.
To me, Dave Whitlock is the Michael Jordan of fly fishing. He is a personal hero of mine and has continued to improve our sport over the years by constantly challenging us to rethink everything we know about fly fishing. I hope that you take this opportunity to come listen to one of the most influential anglers that our sport has ever seen.
I want to give a special thanks to a few of our board members this month who have taken the lead to help setup this event. George Margalski and Pat Daly have both gone above and beyond the call of duty to help get this event under way. They had very short notice to find a venue that would hold the capacity in which we needed to accomodate the turn out that this event will see. And like the rest of the board members, all of their time is on a voluntary basis. We could not function as a chapter without the well-oiled gears that make up our board members and our membership. Thank you for making my job easier than it should be...
John Sellars, President of Oklahoma Trout Unlimited & Tulsa Fly Fishers
Dues Are Due
Tulsa Fly Fisher dues are established on an annual basis. Your $15 (or $25 sustaining member) helps pay for our speakers throughout the year. Cash or check at the general meetings is the easiest way to pay. Or send you check to: TFF, PO Box 54108, Tulsa OK 74155.
Fly Fishing 101
Is there someone in your family or circle of friends that wants to learn to fly fish, but that someone is a person that you'd rather have someone else do the teaching?
Here's your chance. Oklahoma Trout Unlimited and the Tulsa Fly Fishers is holding a FLY FISH OKLAHOMA FLY FISHING CLINIC on Saturday, February 28th. People can sign-up for the clinic at;
https://jenkscommunityed.com/index.asp ... look under Sports for FLY FISHING CLINIC.
The program is held on the Jenks High School campus and cost is $15.00 for the day long clinic. The morning session 10:30 am to 12 noon focuses on the terminology of fly fishing, the equipment, where and what to use to catch fish on a fly rod across Oklahoma, fish identification and more. The after lunch session, 1 pm to 3:30 pm is "hands on" with a fly casting clinic, on the water, indoors at the Jenks High School Aquatics Center,
as well as a knot tying workshop, and fly tying demonstration.
Participants should expect to come away from the clinic with all the basics needed to begin fly fishing anywhere.
This program can also be a good place for beginners wishing to sharpen their area knowledge of places to fish and gain some help with their casting skills
Did you know that at every OKTU/TFF meeting we offer a great raffle prize? We do and you can read about this month’s raffle prize elsewhere in this month’s newsletter.
But, what you really need to know this month is that once again this year we will collect all the sold raffle tickets after each meeting and place them all in a single jar and keep them until next November's meeting. Then, just like we did this year one lucky raffle ticket will be drawn.
Last year we failed to mention that all along we planned to award a wonderful travel fly tying kit ... valued at over $350. Shame on us for not making that known to everyone earlier in the year!
NOT THIS YEAR ... PAY ATTENTION NOW BECAUSE THIS YEARS END-OF-YEAR SPECIAL RAFFLE PRIZE IS A
BRAND NEW ORVIS HELIOS2 5 WGT FLY ROD ... NOW, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO WAIT TIL NOVEMBER TO WIN IT YOU CAN SHELL OUT ABOUT $800 FOR IT AND BUY IT RIGHT NOW.
Check it out for yourself ...
http://www.orvis.com/p/helios-2-5-weight-9-fly-rod-mid-flex/7a8c Suggest you never miss a meeting and you never miss a chance to buy a few raffle tickets. $5 for 5 tickets and $10 will buy you 12 .
Outing
The February outing will be Saturday February 21st on the Lower Illinois River near Gore, OK. We plan to meet at the lower parking lot below the Tenkiller dam. This event is being held in conjunction with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing OK.
Chris is looking for volunteers to fish with his participants. If you've been there once, you probably know more than some of these veterans, so don't be shy about volunteering. Check the PHWFF article for a link to the pictures of a similar event at Roaring River last month.
Let him know if you can help.