Sunday, September 27, 2020

12th annual Rio Grande Rodeo this Saturday

12th annual Rio Grande Rodeo
Saturday, October 3, 2020

7:00am to 8:00am - registration
8:00am to 12 noon - fishing
Shelter #2, LaFreniere Park, Metairie
$15 entry fee includes lunch & refreshments

A reminder that this Saturday, it's the annual Rio Grande Rodeo sponsored by the New Orleans Fly Fishers Club. This is a fly fishing only tournament for the Rio Grande cichlid that inhabits the waters of Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Two categories will be awarded: Longest Rio and Most Rios.

While most fishing events have been cancelled since March due to Covid-19 or more recently, tropical storms, the Rio Rodeo is set to go on. Weather should be ideal, and participants are asked to wear masks when gathering and maintain proper distancing.

Although the early registration is passed, onsite registration is available from 7:00am to 8:00am at tourney headquarters at LaFreniere Park. Look for the NOFF signs at Shelter #2. To speed up registration, please print and fill out the registration form below and bring it with you that morning.

Registration Form

After registration, you may branch out to any PUBLIC accessible fishing waters in the boundary area (Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines parishes). Just make sure to be back for the 12 noon weigh-in deadline.  

Raffle.  We'll be holding a raffle to help Casting For Recovery. The prize is a TFO fly rod. Tickets are $10 each, or $20 for 3 tickets.
 

Saturday, September 19, 2020

Sept 29th Virtual Tying Tuesday - Countach Plus

Virtual Tying Tuesday
Tuesday, September 29th
6:00pm 

www.zoom.us (see email for meeting id)

VTT is open to all members of recognized fly fishing clubs. Join the meeting at www.zoom.us using meeting ID and password. Members of Kisatchie Fly Fishers, Acadiana Fly Rodders, and Red Stick Fly Fishers should receive this by email.If you did not receive the ID and password, email Bill Morrison.

For this session, Catch Cormier will lead us in tying the "Countach Nymph Plus".  Or "Knuckle Dragger Plus".  The story is that Clark "Cheech" Pierce created the Countach Nymph while John Newbury created an almost identical fly called the Knuckle Dragger. When the two were both named to the Fulling Mill Pro Staff, they learned of each other's fly. And had a good laugh. Great minds think alike!

Whatever you decide to call it, definitely include the "Plus".  The plus is the addition of antron in the abdomen and a tiny marabou tail. Catch says the original is a killer for trout and bream, but the "Plus" version is 🔥

Materials to be used:
- hook: barbless jig, size 12 (Gamakatsu J20-B, Fulling Mill 5045)
- bead: 1/8" tungsten, black nickel
- legs: grizzly flutter legs, rootbeer (1 strand)
- abdomen: antron dubbing, color Rust or March Brown
- thorax: micro pine squirrel zonker, color Rust
- ribbing: midge diamond braid (twisted), color tan or pearl or rootbeer

* To request a bag of sample materials (ties 2-3 flies) please fill out the form link. We will mail out on Thursday prior to the meeting. Future tying sessions are included. Materials Request Form

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Red Stick joins Virtual Tying Tuesday

Members of Red Stick Fly Fishers are now invited to participate in "Virtual Tying Tuesday", an online fly tying session held every other Tuesday.  VTT was started by the Kisatchie Fly Fishers of Alexandria back in April. In July, VTT was expanded to members of the Acadiana Fly Rodders of Lafayette.  Since then, individuals from other areas have requested and joined in on occasion.

The sessions are conducted using the Zoom video conferencing application. Zoom meetings can be attended on a computer (PC or Mac), smartphone, tablet, or other device with internet access.  From a participant standpoint, Zoom is free, and fairly simple to use.  

The Kisatchie club purchased the Zoom Pro Plan, which has unlimited number of sessions, unlimited time duration, and can accept up to 100 participants.  Participants can go directly via the web to the Zoom site at www.zoom.us.  However, it's recommended that they download the Zoom app to whatever device they will use (again, it's free).  The Zoom app gives a better user experience.

To join in a meeting, members of clubs are sent an email with the meeting ID and password.

Bill Morrison, VTT Coordinator, has created a couple of videos on using the Zoom application for this meeting. He then created a document with links to the videos as well as other helpful information. You should receive a copy of this document by email, if not already, soon!

Tying sessions are held every other Tuesday at 6:00pm or 7:00pm, depending on the best time for the lead tier.  Anyone wishing to lead the group in tying a particular pattern, are strongly encouraged to submit their suggestion to Bill Morrison. As you will see, we need about 4 weeks notice before the session is held.

Because in-person tying allows materials to be handed out, going online presented a challenge to the KFF Tying Committee.  The solution has been to mail out sample materials for each tying session, enough to tie 2-3 flies.  Bill created a "Materials Request Form" that allows participants to request materials for future sessions. If you would like to recieve a sample bag of materials for an upcoming fly, please click on the Form link and enter your name and mailing address no later than Wednesday 11:59pm before the session.

Bill states that it was their hopeful intention to invite other clubs, other tiers, once most of the technical issues were resolved and a few learning curves were overcome. One of those "curves" was videography. Bill and Catch Cormier have adapted some simple setups to provide a clearer, closer view of the fly during the sessions. Anyone wanting to learn of these setups, Catch has a video on YouTube.

Another "curve" was recording. The Zoom Pro allows recording of the session. At first, the tying sessions were split into two segments. One with a quick tie that was recorded, and the second segment where everyone followed along and asked questions.  It was soon realized that many of the questions were important enough to have been included in the recorded segment.  So now, it's back to one session where everyone ties along, and then later, the tier records a video of the fly separate from the session.

The video is then placed on each website. Bill notes it's importance. Prior to Covid-19, Kisatchie was averaging around 30 participants at their monthly tying sessions. The Zoom sessions are only averaging about half that many club members, around 15. However, the videos are getting dozens of hits a week. Many members have acknowledged that, while they've missed the Zoom meetings, the videos have been extremely helpful.

Again, if there are any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We look forward to seeing many of you online.

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Fall Concordia, Catch-n-Eat club trips cancelled

Warmwater Chair Emmitt Simmons has announced that the club's annual Fall weekend outing to Lake Concordia, scheduled for September 25-27, has been cancelled due to low number of members willing to attend.  With Covid-19 still a major concern for some members,  the prospect of sharing the lodge with several other participants caused them to opt out of this trip.

Lakeview Lodge was notified of the cancellation.  According to Emmitt, we are still booked for Spring of 2021 for the annual Spring weekend trip to Concordia.

Shortly after, Saltwater Chairman Randy Leonpacher announced that the club's annual Fall Catch-n-Eat marsh fishing weekend, scheduled for the last weekend in October, was also cancelled.