
Don’t miss the June general meeting,
Posted on May 17th, 2025
Don’t miss the June general meeting,
Posted on May 17th, 2025
May: Lance Gray – Steelhead………………
My Turn: SCFF club by the numbers……………………………
Fly Tying……………………
May Fly Tying Class: No Mess Mouse
Fly of the Month: Orange Stick
Conservation Concerns……………………
NCCFFI Conservation Advocates
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – May thru July
Sun Protection for Fly Fishers
21 new memberships for 2025
Gone Fishing: Roostercomb Ranch ……………………
Gearing Up ……………………
Fishout Schedule
Cartoon ……………………
Posted on April 24th, 2025
Welcome readers. This month’s “Presidents Letter” is brought to you by Jim Tolonen, SCFF Treasurer. To help spread Scott’s president duties, each of us Board Members has taken over one month’s president’s letter. This month is my turn.
I am going to summarize the “ins and the outs” of our finances; then for anyone who makes it through that, I will also share a couple “good read” paragraphs from a fly-fishing book I recently read.
The SCFF was formed in 1980, and so we are a 44-year-old club, (which is an amazing accomplishment for any organization). We were formed as an IRS section “501- C- 4” fishing club. As such, we are a non-profit organization, but not a charity; so, contributions to our club are not tax-deductible, but generally we file a simple tax return, and we owe no taxes whether we make or lose small amounts of money each year.
We have four major sources of Revenue: Membership Dues (42%), Donations (16%), Annual Fund Raiser Dinner (28%), and all else (14%).
Membership dues are currently running about $9,000 per year, (225 members at $40 plus/minus for Family and honorary).
Donations have been running about $3,500 per year, although the past two years this number has been much higher due to extra donations from the passing of Steve Rudzinski, John Steele and Gil Santos.
The Annual Fund Raiser Dinner generally sells out for $7,400 (185 tickets at $40 each), Auction/Raffle for about $4,100, and Silent auction items for about $1,500. But we have big expenses of Hall rent, $800, Food and supplies $3,200, Raffle and door Prizes $3,000. So, net we bring in about $6,000 for the event.
All else miscellaneous revenue includes; monthly meeting fund raisers net of costs, BBQ and Swap meet events, Film tour net of costs, Yuba fishing trip net of costs, sales of logo-ware (now outsourced so just close-out this year), Sam Bishop’s donated stripping basket sales, etc. Although each year varies, these have generally brought in approximately $3,000 per year.
The net of all the above revenues runs about $21,500 per year, but can vary a lot, (as mentioned, more due to donations the past two years).
We try to run the club so that our expenses run just under this amount. Biggest recurring expense items typically are Aptos Grange rent $2,500 (club, fly tying, board meetings each month), Speakers costs $2,500, web site and newsletter consulting and fees $1,500, Roster/Printing postage PO Box and Supplies $1,500, FFFI Dues and Insurance $1,000, All Other $2,500 (Steele award, Fly tying supplies, computer and Zoom supplies, BBQ supplies, etc.) totaling about $11,500, but these also vary significantly each year.
The revenues less these recurring expenses leaves about $10,000 which we have been choosing to donate for Conservation contributions, $4,000 and scholarships $4,000. (Although this year 2025, due to the large increase in donations the past two years, we plan to increase Scholarships to $5,000 and Conservation Contributions to $5.000). We also expect to incur several thousand dollars in consulting costs to begin moving us onto a computerized accounting system, (we are still all manual and spreadsheet.)
That about does it. Any questions? Give me a text or email. Want to help out? Bill Seaman is stepping up as Treasurer for next year and perhaps sharing the load with a couple of Assistant Treasurers. Let Scott, Bill or me know if you have interest and can help.
Since I have heard that many fly fishers can read, we might consider book reports as a more regular item in the newsletter?
Now for a few good words, taken from the book “River Songs – moments of wild wonder in fly fishing” by Steve Duda (c) 2024:
“Fly Fishing teaches us a few things about a few things. We know which way is north and which direction the winds blows when the weather’s about to turn. We can stop the bleeding, patch the leaks, and always have duct tape handy. We know a few good knots, a few good jokes, and can curse in a handful of languages. We can pitch a tent in the dark and point to a few constellations. We know how to ford a river, build a fire and brew a cup of coffee. We can open a beer with almost anything.
We’re good sports and gracious winners who are used to long odds and making friends with failure. We are blessed with a vast reservoir of hope, and we trust that better outcomes and brighter prospects – the next cast, the next run, the next day – are around the next bend.
We’re a family of enthusiastic activists, weirdos, obsessives, and odd balls exploring the peculiar back alleys, sidetracks, and secret rooms of our sport. Fly fishing isn’t just one thing: it’s a whirling ball of bamboo rods, blue-lining, and bass. It’s poetry, permit, and plotting to bring down dead-beat dams. It’s tarpon, tenkara, and the alchemy of old fishing caps. It’s carp, conservation, and keeping a cigar lit in a sideways gully washer. It’s steelhead, shore lunches, and the beauty of native fish. It’s strange and beautiful – beautifully strange – and it’s what we do.
Most of all, this is a family that understands and appreciates the enormity wildness and wonder of the outdoors. Together, we stand in its light with humility, appreciation, and the determination not to lose what we love.”
Posted on April 23rd, 2025
What could be more fun than 11 bass-fishing enthusiasts spending 3 days at the Roostercomb Ranch situated within the Henry Coe State Park. Sprawled among its nearly 6,000 acres are 8 ponds filled with bass and blue gill. Those present were Mark Traugott, Keith Munger, Michael Sherwood, Angela Johnson, Elaine and John Cook, Bill Seaman, Scott Kitayama, Dan Eaton, Jon Wolfe and Cecilia Stipes. So many fish were caught, it was one for the records. By Saturday Dan said it was the best fishing day he had ever had at the ranch. Hard to stop when it’s so good. He and Jon were the last to show up for dinner that evening! Scott was personally escorted around the ranch by Cecilia and discovered it was way too much fun sight-fishing the bass from shore to get into his float tube. He nailed a whopper (aka “toilet flush”) on his first cast at “Shadow” pond and before that, a series of aggressive large bass at “Secret” to start his day. By 3rd day, Elaine was gleefully teasing a series of bullfrogs (I believe 15) with her homemade poppers at “Buzzard”. Keith pulled out a bass measuring 20 in. (afraid no photo) from “Mustang”. Angela and I spent 5 hrs at “Harvey”, the farthest pond from ranch house driven by ATV over hill and dale to get there, where we caught countless bass with girth and weight. I found that the bigger popper I used (deer-hair mouse or frog), created a bigger incentive to encourage the largest bass to attack. My theory worked!
All in all, 3 days at the Roostercomb was a great success. Great fishing, wonderful camaraderie, delicious food, and of course, a great trip into the back country surrounded by Nature’s beauty and wildlife.
Posted on April 24th, 2025
April: Rob Anderson – Bucket list fish………………
Temporary Suspension of Raffles……………………
F3T Film – Santa Cruz, April 23……………………
My Turn: Let’s Talk Fishouts……………………………
Conservation Concerns……………………………
Fly Tying……………………
April Fly Tying Class: Cicada
Fly of the Month: Mosquito
April Lost and Found
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – April thru June
2025 roster available at April Meeting!
Gearing Up ……………………
Fishout Schedule
Cartoon ……………………
Posted on March 26th, 2025
We will be pausing raffles at our monthly meetings. This is a precautionary measure as we work with the State of California to address the club’s tax-exempt status. We have been actively working on this matter for over thirteen months and expect to resolve it well before the end of our fiscal year on January 30, 2026.
Posted on March 26th, 2025
March Meeting: Jim Cox – Western River Conservancy………………
Temporary Suspension of Raffles……………………
My Turn: Fly Fishing & Conservation……………………………
Fly Tying……………………
March Fly Tying Class: Poppers
Fly of the Month: RS 2
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – March thru May
2025 Fundraising Dinner Was a Success!
225 Members and Growing
Pleasanton Fly Show
Gearing Up ……………………
Fishout Schedule
Cartoon ……………………
SCFF Advertisers ……………………
Posted on February 27th, 2025
We will be pausing raffles at our monthly meetings. This is a precautionary measure as we work with the State of California to address the club’s tax-exempt status. We have been actively working on this matter for over thirteen months and expect to resolve it well before the end of our fiscal year on January 30, 2026.
Posted on February 27th, 2025
The Salmon was great, the raffle tables were overflowing with stuff and everyone seemed to have a good time.
Posted on February 27th, 2025
The Santa Cruz Fly Fishing club will have booth B6 at the Pleasanton Fly Show. Club members will be staffing the booth and will have our new club signage at the show.
Posted on February 27th, 2025
Starting a new section of monthly advertisers which will be of nominal cost for club members . Will also have a section for advertisers on the website. If you would like to advertise or have your business listed on the club website, send an email to info@santacruzflyfishing.org
The Aquaz company has agreed to offer the club a discount on all purchases of waders and wading jackets.
The Deal: Club members will receive a 10% discount on all waders and wading jackets. At the end of the year, Aquaz will return 5% of all club purchases back to the club!
If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact me – Tim Loomis, and we can discuss this fantastic discount on top quality fishing gear.
Regards,
Tim Loomis,
Aquaz Nor Cal Fly Fishing Account Mgr.
C 831-345-8411
H 831-426-4683
bigsurstyles@att.net
Posted on February 27th, 2025
2025 Annual Fundraiser………………
February Monthly Meeting: New Member Orientation and Hangout……………………
My Turn……………………………
Fly Tying……………………
February Fly Tying Class: Gino’s Midge Emerger
Fly of the Month: Copper Top
Conservation Concerns……………
Profile: The Osprey
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – February thru March
Membership Renewal
Gearing Up ……………………
Fishout Schedule
Cartoon ……………………
Posted on January 23rd, 2025
As a repeated reminder, the January Fly Club monthly meeting is being held on Wednesday the 8th of January rather than the normal first Wednesday of the month which in this case is New Years Day. Anyone who shows up on the first, have fun in the parking lot.
On the bright side is we all have an extra week to save up a few more bucks to buy lucky tickets for our great raffle.
Take a look at this Vector 1000 Amp portable jumper with 120 psi compressor. Deep in the boonies, low tire or dead battery, no problem. It even will keep your cell phone charged!
How about this 42 0z. Rambler mug from Yeti. Keeps cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot. Environment friendly reusable straw.
We will also have up for grabs winners choice of a 6wt, 7wt, or 8wt V-Access 9 foot 4 section Rod with matching reel.
Includes zipper top courdra covered tube hard case.
And don’t forget, we will have some great door prizes. Everybody gets a free ticket!
Raffle tickets are a dollar each, 20 bucks gets you 25. Raffle monies help support our conservation efforts and our scholarship program. Must be present to win.
Posted on December 27th, 2024
2025 Annual Fundraiser………………
January Monthly Meeting: Fish Stories from our members……………………
January Raffle……………………
My Turn……………………………
Fly Tying……………………
No Fly Tying Class in January
Fly of the Month: Quigley Cripple BWO
Conservation Concerns……………
Profile: California Sportfishing Protection Alliance
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – January
Making our Annual Fundraiser the best ever
2025 Membership renewal is winding down
Gearing Up ……………………
Fishout Schedule
Fishing Partners…………………
Project Healing Water 2025 schedule
Cartoon ……………………
Posted on December 27th, 2024
The holidays zipped by, and here we are in 2025! Before diving into the hustle of the new year, take a moment to think about a few things you’d like to explore on your fly fishing journey this year. I prefer the word “journey” over “goal” because fly fishing offers endless chances to learn new skills and embrace fresh experiences.
For our club, the journey is about fostering fellowship among members through education, promotion, and the enjoyment of fly fishing. We’re kicking things off with an exciting dinner event on February 1—I hope it’s on your calendar! Be sure to grab your tickets soon; we’ve already sold half of them, and they’re going fast. Throughout the year, we’re aiming to adapt and create more events that help members connect, meet new people, and find others with similar interests. These include gatherings at general meetings, fly-tying sessions, or fishing outings. If you have suggestions for ways to encourage socialization, please let us know.
On a personal note, my fly fishing journey this year includes visiting my brother in Hawaii and catching a bonefish. I’ve heard that bonefishing in Hawaii is particularly challenging, so I plan to ease into it. First, I’ll fish for bonefish in a location known for easier success, and before that, I’ll practice sight fishing for carp to sharpen my skills. This step-by-step journey is not just about fishing; it’s about learning, discovering new places, and connecting with other people along the way. I can’t wait to see where it leads.
NOTE: In 2025, the column “President’s Line” is changing to “My Turn” where each month a member of the Board of Directors can share his/her thoughts.
Posted on December 27th, 2024
NOTE: If the schedule is not displayed, please click link to open it.
Posted on December 27th, 2024
Monthly Meeting: Fly Fishing in Chilean Patagonia – Live Speaker………………
2025 Annual Fundraiser………………
December Raffle……………………
President’s Line……………………
Fly Tying……………………
December Class: BWO Thorax Style
Fly of the Month: Barbed Wire Midge Pupa
Conservation Concerns……………
Profile: Friends of the Eel River
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – December
Member Spotlight – Elaine Cook
2025 Membership Renewal Reminder
Gearing Up ……………………
Safely Wading Rivers
2025 Fishout are going to be good!
Fishing Partners…………………
Project Healing Water Update
Cartoon ……………………
Merry Fishmas!
Posted on November 27th, 2024
‘Tis the season to be jolly, you will be jolly when you win one of these great raffle prizes!
Posted on November 27th, 2024
Since “a picture is worth a thousand words”, I’ll just let the pictures tell the story of 2024. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season and start thinking about where your fly fishing journey will take you in 2025.
Scott Kitayama
This year, we donated $3,600 to worthy conservation groups and we highlighted some in the newsletters. But our conservation efforts didn’t just stop with handing out money. Club members rolled up their sleeves and put in the work to help. This included volunteering at the MBS&T hatchery, Save our Shores, fish transfer with the Carmel River Steelhead Assoc., cleaning up the Arthur River with Trout Unlimited, cleaning the Salinas River with SVFF club and doing our own river cleanup on the San Lorenzo.
In 2024, the club had 19 fishouts on the calendar with 15 of them hosted. Plus innumerable ad hoc trips to the surf, forebay, local streams and lakes. We hope to have more than that in 2025!
Posted on November 27th, 2024
We may never master fly fishing -it tends to master us- but the club member who may come closest is Elaine Cook. The length of her membership alone -more than 36 years- is a testament to her patience, perseverance, and love for the art and science of this beautiful sport, and a healthy dose of all three for her fellow club members.
Elaine started fishing with her dad as a five-year-old, in the streams and waterways of the Eastern Sierra. Until she left home at age 17, Elaine fished the Sierra and the Pacific Ocean with her father, acquiring a deep love of the outdoors and the rich memories she treasures today. Three of her father’s bamboo rods arc gracefully across a wall in the cozy Aptos home she and her husband and fellow club member John have shared since 1972.
Among other prized artifacts are her dad’s well-loved wicker creel and fishing licenses from the ’40’s, and the 30’s-era green fishing vest that belonged to her mother, also an accomplished fisherman and enthusiastic fly-tyer who nevertheless didn’t teach her daughter the first thing about tying flies, Elaine said. Across the room from her father’s bamboo rods, in a corner flooded with natural light, is the spacious desk where Elaine ties favorite flies and masters the new ones she’s preparing to teach, like clockwork, on the second Wednesday of every month.
For the past 20 years, Elaine has been a poised, patient, meticulously-prepared fly tying mentor to members and non-members alike; the near- and far-sighted, the hesitant and the old hands, the know-it- alls and the know-nothings who come together to listen quietly as she demonstrates each painstaking step in tying the fly of the month, perfectly timed for the next excursion or upcoming hatch, or an all- purpose archetype that’s a must-have in every fly box. Beginners know; she is never disparaging; always warm and encouraging. “This is a complicated fly, so good for you for getting it done. I’ll bet your next one will turn out great.”
Elaine has been an integral part of the club in every way possible. Before taking over the fly tying classes she served from 1988 to 2022 as the editor of the newsletter. She’s been membership chairman, sponsored countless fishouts, and is even a cartoonist, like her father, whose work was nationally syndicated.
Elaine recounts that her pastime became a passion while in her 40’s. With their three kids grown, she and John were on a summer trip through the west in their Volkswagen bus, checking out streams, fishing here and there, “and having absolutely no success at all,” Elaine said. During a one-night stop at a KOA campground to do laundry, she saw a sign for free group casting lessons and private lessons, for a price, in casting or fly tying. “I literally ran back to the car and said to John, ‘Give me some money!'”
Elaine’s fascination with the art of fly-tying was immediate. John ordered fly-tying magazines for her, and on her first visit to Ernie’s Casting Pond, Ernie -who spent his 90th birthday at our meeting this month- told her to ‘pick out a fly in this book and I’ll teach you how to tie it.’ Elaine was equipped at home with her mother’s vise and a few of her tools. “Ernie told me, ‘Come back in a week and we’ll do another one.’ He’s the one who told me about the club.”
It was tough balancing her budding hobby with her job as an RN, running a hospital’s busy maternity department. “But I really wanted to get into it,” she said. At her first club meeting she was welcomed very warmly, she recalls, and being the only woman there hardly registered.
“I was so excited when I came home from that meeting. I told John I was going to go back every single month.” She jumped in, soon a fixture at board meetings long before she joined the board. “It was great. People were giving classes, teaching casting, knots, fly tying, having outings…I was participating in everything. I couldn’t get enough.”
John wasn’t interested in fly fishing then, “but he would take me on the outings and come to the club meetings and somehow got encouraged to be the president, not even a fisherman!” she said. By following Elaine on their trips John learned how to read a stream, and from talking to others he picked up the lingo. Then came the trip when he turned to Elaine and said, “give me that rod,” she said, and he was hooked.
Asked to share a favorite fishing experience, Elaine doesn’t hesitate. “It’s a lake in Wyoming that we go to in the Spring when the damsels are hatching. It’s a medium-sized lake, so I get in my float tube and it takes me 20 or 30 minutes to paddle to the far end. The rainbow in that lake average about 16 to 18 inches, and at the far end there are reeds and brush, and they love to be down in there. You can see the fish feeding. You put a fly out in an adult damsel pattern and wait for them to come around. It’s tricky to get a fly in to them. It’s very exciting. I’ve been there many times.”
Not surprisingly, she doesn’t share the location. “Oh, I never disclose that,” she said with a smile. “It isn’t easy to get to, way out on BLM land, dirt roads, gravel roads, a dry camp, no running water…” So how the heck did she find it? “A librarian friend found it on a map in the library.”
Elaine is energetic and admirably fit, and until a year ago nothing slowed her down. But last fall she sustained a serious foot injury (“I was doing some very aggressive fishing”) which has been frustratingly slow to heal and remains painful. This summer, to their great disappointment, John and Elaine had to scrub their annual 3-month swing through the western states to fish and well….pretty much to fish.
She rejects the suggestion by some that she’s the best fisherman in the club. “I am not. I am skilled and I do very well. I am persistent. I will put in more time. And because I have joined a club with so many outings; ocean, river, stream, pond, high in the mountains, in the desert, in the San Joaquin Valley….I’ve learned a lot of varied skills. Most tend to focus on one or two kinds of fishing. I will fish for anything that swims.”
At 82, Elaine still personifies that spirit.
“Next year, in my head, I want to do exactly what I had planned for this year, which involved largemouth bass fishing in northern California, and up into Oregon for largemouth and trout fishing, and then into Montana, Yellowstone, into Wyoming, then south into Utah. From there if we’re tired or it’s smoky we may meander back, maybe around August. So the plans right now are up for grabs.”
Posted on November 18th, 2024
At the November club meeting, Rich Rubin, recounted a story of recent drowning of experienced fishermen on the Skeena river. He wanted to keep club members safe by making sure they know basic stream safety and what to do when swept down river. Here is an article from Fly Fisherman magazine How to Wade Safely and Get Out of Dangerous Situations Below is part 1 of 6 videos on safe wading.
Posted on November 27th, 2024
2024 has proved to be a great year for the clubs Fishouts. Fishouts were hosted from the warm waters
of Loreto Mexico hunting Roosters to the high desert of Nevada searching for Lahontan Cutthroats. We
had 19 events on the calendar and of those 15 were hosted.
The club is lucky to have a great membership of anglers who enjoy sharing their fishing adventures and
carrying on traditions of fishing excellence.
As of the publishing of this Newsletter, we have 11 trips confirmed for 2025 with dates to be confirmed
and additional information to be updated on the Clubs Fishout web page and calendar.
Below is a taste of what is to come.
January –
Yuba River Private Access (Sold Out)
April/Early Spring –
Roostercomb Ranch Private Waters
Upper Sac / McCloud
Green River, Utah (Sold Out)
Kelly Lake Private Water
June
Pyramid Float Tubing
Fall River
Santa Cruz / Monterey Surf (Monthly for the summer)
July
Loreto Mexico
Sept./Oct.
Mammoth
Oct.
O’Neil Forebay
We are always looking to add to our Fishout destinations and of course Fishmasters. So, if you have an
idea of a place to fish or are looking for information. Send out an email to the club’s Google Group
address and a Fishout may develop from that. It can happen that easily (2025 Green River, Utah).
The club is better and best served with your help!
Justin Ice
Fishout Chair
Posted on November 26th, 2024
Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a leading national nonprofit in the area of therapeutic outdoor recreation, using the sport of fly fishing as an intervention. The restorative healing powers of nature and the outdoors are well-documented: for our Veteran and military participants, the Camaraderie, Connectedness, and community found in our programs, alongside the symbiotic relationship between veteran and volunteer, directly correlates to increased sense of belonging, resilience, and post traumatic growth.
Started in 2024, the Monterey Chapter has grown beyond expectation ending the year with 22 participants/vets and 14 volunteers. Many of the volunteers have come from the Santa Cruz club and their leader, Brian Steckler, strongly encourages their participants to join the Santa Cruz club.
NEW Q4-2024 newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/mubju9zc
Follow them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PHWMonterey and on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/PHWMonterey
Opportunities to volunteer with PHW Monterey: Sunday December 15 from 9-12 at Carmel River State beach lagoon. PHW Monterey’s casting clinic in the water with waders to get experience water loading.
If interested in helping contact Brian Steckler at Brian.Steckler@projecthealingwaters.org
Posted on November 27th, 2024
November Monthly Meeting: Geoff Malloway of Central Coast Fly Fishing………………
November Raffle……………………
President’s Line……………………
Fly Tying……………………
November Class: Colorado King Caddis
Fly of the Month: Wits Foam Emerger–Pearl
Conservation Concerns……………
Profile: restore the Delta
Membership Notes…………………
Club Activities – November
Celebrating Gil Santos
Time to Renew
Ernie’s 90th Birthday!
Fishing Partners…………………
SCFF Partners with Monterey PHWFF
Gone Fishing ……………………
Report from Check 13
Gearing Up ……………………
Can you help with a Fishout in 2025?
Cartoon ……………………
Posted on October 30th, 2024
SANTA CRUZ FLY FISHERS
Posted on October 30th, 2024
by Scott Kitayama, President, SCFF
2025 Annual Fundraiser is on Saturday, Feb 1, 2025: I know, I know, it seems so far away, but it is really just round the corner! Tickets are now on sale on our website and we will be sold out before the end of January. Also, you may get a phone call from one of our board members recruiting volunteers for the event. Please be nice to them, they have lots of roles to fill and please try and find a role where you can help.
Review a quick tutorial on SCFF Event Calendar: A few months ago, we improved the Events Calendar on the website and made it easier to quickly see what events are happening, ways to sign up for future events and how to add future club events to your personal calendar. It is only 4 minutes long and will help you get more out of the club website.
Sign up to volunteer for the San Lorenzo Cleanup on November 16th!: If this sounds interesting to you and wonder how to sing up, then scroll back up and watch the tutorial. Ha! Jesse Collins will be leading the cleanup and it gives us a chance to help our local waters before the rains come.
Also our neighbors, Salinas Valley Fly Fishers will be doing their annual Salinas River cleanup on Sunday, November 24th.
Partnership with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing: Please take a look at the article regarding our new relationship with the Monterey chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. I think this is going to be a good union for both PHWFF and SCFF and I have seen the enthusiasm from our volunteers such as Jesse Collins, Alex Ferber, and Wilson Taguinod. If you are interested in volunteering with their monthly activities or are a an injured veteran who would like participate in the program, I strongly encourage you to send an introductory email to Brian Steckler at Brian.Steckler@projecthealingwaters.org. Brian is the head of the organization and is looking to significantly expand it in 2025.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted on October 30th, 2024
At the September SCFF board meeting, we unanimously voted to collaborate with the Monterey chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) program. The Monterey chapter began earlier this year and there already has been great cooperation between the two organizations. SCFF’s members have become key instructors for clinics and fish outs that PHWFF have conducted this summer and SCFF have six new members that have come through the relationship with PHWFF.
For 2025, SCFF will try and identify Veterans and Active Military members who could be well served by participating in PHWFF’s monthly programs. We will also let our club members know about volunteer opportunities to help Veterans during the year. The Monterey chapter of PHWFF will strongly encourage their participants to join the Santa Cruz club to take advantage of our clinics, speakers, and fish outs.
Background: Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, a leading national nonprofit in the area of therapeutic outdoor recreation, using the sport of flyfishing as an intervention. The restorative healing powers of nature and the outdoors are well-documented: for our Veteran and military participants, the Camaraderie, Connectedness, and community found in our programs, alongside the symbiotic relationship between veteran and volunteer, directly correlates to
increased sense of belonging, resilience, and post traumatic growth.
In 2025, Monterey chapter’s program will benefit 25-35 disabled veterans and active duty personnel who are in need of
healing from injuries and ailments sustained while serving our country. As of 2023, Monterey County has an estimated veteran population of approximately 7,700 individuals aged 18-64. Among these, a significant portion are disabled veterans. Specifically, around 6,800 disabled individuals aged 18-64 are active in the labor force, which includes veterans with service-connected disabilities. Some are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), hearing and sight degradation, and other service-caused injuries and ailments. Our veterans are at risk from the dramatic recent uptick in suicides in Monterey County and the country. Our program addresses this. Some of our disabled veterans have service animals to help them cope with life. Almost all of our disabled veterans are served by the local Veterans Affairs Clinic in Marina. PHWFF has a great working relationship with at least 5 recreational therapists on the VA Marina Clinic staff. These recreational therapists regularly point their disabled veterans to our organization due to the therapeutic and healing nature of our program. Some of these recreational therapists attend our classes with their disabled veteran patients. We have utilized the VA Clinic for meetings and classes in 2024.
Posted on October 30th, 2024
by Kevin Murdock
Posted on October 30th, 2024
Greetings club members,
As the year of 2024 comes to a close I wanted to say thank you to all of the generous members who have taken time to host and or help organize the Fishouts of 2024.
We in the club are very fortunate to have such a great group of people who are willing to share their experiences and help introduce others to some of their favorite places. With the ever shrinking world due to instant messaging and social media, it seems the trend is to hide or secret what’s left of our wild spaces. So again it is so refreshing to have a place where generosity and information flows freely.
So enough of that, what’s the plan for 2025? Right now we have a hand full of trips to be published and we are looking for more! If you have hosted in the past or are looking to share a special place, please let me know.
Becoming a Fishmaster
Fishmaster is a title we all stride to achieve, even if it’s in our own mind’s eye. A lofty goal to say the
least! But becoming a Fishmaster in the eyes of the Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club is easier than you may
think.
As a Fishmaster with the Santa Cruz Fly Fishers, you are not expected to deliver the weather, fish or
lessons. We only hope that you share your joy for this great sport, general information you know
firsthand (or research in preparation), time, date, type of water and quarry. The Fishout can be as simple
or extravagant as you wish (see Fishmasters Log for details).
If you are interested in becoming a Fishmaster or have a suggestion for a future Fishout, contact Justin
Ice (justin@schwagerdavis.com) for more information. Once all the details are in order, your Fishout will
be promptly posted in the next issue of the club’s monthly newsletter.
Please consider becoming a Fishmaster or recommending a future Fishout location.
Posted on October 30th, 2024
October Monthly Meeting: Local Surf Fly Fishing………………
October Raffle……………………
President’s Line……………………
Fly Tying……………………
October Class: Adachi Clouser
Fly of the Month: Black Smut Midge
Conservation Concerns……………
Profile: Eastern Sierra Land Trust
Gearing Up…………………
Upcoming Fishouts
Outside Club Events…………………
Yubafest 2024
NCCFI Hall of Fame Dinner
Cartoon ……………………
SCFF Advertisers ……………………
Posted on September 24th, 2024