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Stepping down as SCFF Newsletter Editor

by Scott Kitayama

Just spent a few minutes looking at old emails when I became the SCFF Newsletter editor back in April 2020. Covid19 was closing the world down and the SCFF board was trying to figure out if we would have an April meeting. The club had recently started working with a tech consultant, Vicki Winters, who was creating a new website for SCFF and we were wondering if our club members would be able to read the newsletter online and use something new called Google Groups.

It is amazing where we have all come in less than three years. Our newsletter is only available online, Google Groups lets us share information with each other all year, and the website has beautiful pictures due to your submissions to Jerry McKeon for our Instagram account.

As of now, the Newsletter Editor position is unfilled and Vicki Winters is stepping in as a consultant to make sure that we do not miss a month. In February, I will become the new President for SCFF and am excited to see how we can work together to improve our fishing club no matter what the future brings.

Happy New Year to us all! – Scott Kitayama

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March Fishout Schedule

mobile scrollable table 

EVENT NAME EVENT DATE SPECIES FISH MASTER
Pyramid Lake Fish-out April 1 – April 7, 2024 – New InfoApr 01 - Apr 07Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Mike White - (831) 706-5556

Apr 01 : Pyramid Lake Fish-out April 1 – April 7, 2024 – New Info



Pyramid Lake (Click for address and map)
Fishmaster: Mike White - (831) 706-5556

Pyramid trip starts the Monday after Easter in 2024.    SCFF will have 5 trailers which means lots of folks will be attending.  This is a bucket-list fishery.

The Pyramid Lake trip is one of the best-attended fishouts the club has, and for a good reason. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout cruise parallel to the shore in easy casting distance from shore. Cost for the week including meals and lodging and is around $300+ per person depending on the number in attendance. You need not fish all six days as there may be openings (usually later in the week.) Contact Mike for more details (831) 706-5556, to check on openings, or be put on a waiting list. First come first served.

You can also make your own arrangements either by bringing your own RV (Pyramid Lake Lodge has hook-ups and sells permits to park on the any of the beaches along the lake) or staying in Reno. Reno is 45 minutes away. Call Pyramid Lake Lodge to inquire about last minute cancellations in their cabins as well (775) 476-0400 and check out their website to see what the cabins look like at www.pyramidlakelodge.com. The General Store in Sutcliff offers meals on selected nights only to those who call in before 2:00 PM. Check at the General Store for details.

Equipment: 6-9 weight rods with hi-speed, hi-D shooting heads or fast sink integrated lines to fish the bottom in 6 to 9 feet of water, and a floating line for indicator fishing. You should bring a stripping basket and a ladder that will accommodate it. A ladder helps to get you up out of the cold water and enable you to cast out to where the fish are. You can still catch fish without one but not with near as much consistency.

Flies: Woolly buggers in black, white, purple, olive, midge, caddis and mayfly nymphs to name a few. If as in years past the Confab in February is offering the opportunity to see how some of the best Pyramid patterns are made plan to attend and bring a vise and tie some yourself. Flies may also available from club member Jim Hall who ties some very good flies specific to Pyramid cutthroat as well as other species at reasonable cost. His number is (831) 713-6835. There is a general store with provisions as well as tackle and an assortment of flies.

How to get there: Take US 80 to Reno-Sparks, take the Pyramid Blvd. off ramp and go north about 35 miles. Crosby Lodge is at Sutcliff, near the Ranger Station.

 If you have any questions about equipment or how to get there, check the “Gearing up” columns in the March 2007-2009 archives on our great club website, or call Mike White at (831) 706-5556. 

If you are considering going to Pyramid again this year with the club and you have not already done so, please contact the person who is booking the trailer you stayed in last year. Trailer-masters, if your trailer has gaps or cancellations, you can call Mike so he can pass the names of members who don’t have lodging to fill the empty spots. 

Fishing, Camping, and New Ladder Regulation:

Fishing and camping permits can be purchased online prior to the fish-out. We would highly recommend doing this. Go to www.plpt.nsn.us to obtain your licenses. There is also an RV Park available at (775) 476-1155.

As with any great fishery there are always a long list of rules and regulations. We would recommend you review them on the website above. Suffice to say those of us who have been going to Pyramid Lake for many years are a good source of information as well. We will help inform and guide all newcomers.  15.6 USE OF LADDERS, ETC. Any ladders, milk crates, boxes or other objects used in the water as a fishing aid must be occupied or closely attended (i.e. remain in the area) by fishermen at all times. Any person who leaves such objects unoccupied in the water for more than one hour will be deemed guilty of littering. 15.6.1 Fishing aids described above must have a permanent tag affixed that has the name, address, and phone number of the owner of the fishing aid. If the permitted angler using the fishing aid is not the owner, the owner will be the responsible party for any infractions by the permitted angler. 

This year we have five trailers reserved. (6,7,8,9, and 10) As of September 1st 2021 we have 5 openings available. These openings will fill up quickly, so contact Mike immediately at (831) 706-5556. Last year was an incredible experience with many fish over 15 lbs brought to the net. If you cannot commit early and make it into one of our reserved trailers you can always make your own arrangements by contacting the Pyramid Lake Lodge at (775) 476-0400.

Mike White (831) 706-5556, lumberguy73@hotmail.com

NOTE: Due to insurance regulations, all attendees must be paid up members of Santa Cruz Fly fishermen, so get your membership paid up if you haven’t done so yet.

 



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November 2021 Table of Contents

General Meeting……………………
  April Vokey – Spey Casting for Steelhead
  November Door Prize
President’s Line…………………….
  Rain! Steelhead! April on November 2nd. December and January BBQ Slide Show
Fly Tying……………………
  Bug Eye Nymph – Instructor: Dan Eaton
  Kilowatt Fly
Conservation Concerns……………
  Fish Handling–Best Practices
  November River Cleanup Days
Membership Notes…………………
  2022 Membership Renewal Oct/Nov/Online
  A gift suggestion
Fishout Schedule…………………
Gone Fishing……………………….…
  ForeBay FishOut results
Reel News……………………….…
  Smith River now has a fisher Monitoring Program
Cartoon…………………………..…

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April Vokey – Spey Casting for Steelhead

April Vokey - Spey Casting for Steelhead

April Vokey will be talking about the British Columbia  waters where she grew up chasing the salmon and steelhead migration that frequented BC’s coastal waters.    She began her guiding career on the Fraser and Harrison rivers for sturgeon and salmon, but left after several season to found her own guiding operation, Fly Gal Ventures, in 2007 at age 24. The company was built on the basis of the promotion of education and encouragement to those who looked to chase their dreams. She has since established herself as a respected authority in the sport and has traveled the globe in pursuit of gamefish on a fly rod.

Her writing has appeared in numerous industry leading publications including Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod & Reel, and Fly Fusion magazines. In July 2012, April became the first fly angler to be featured in Outside magazine for their “XX-Factor” segment. She is in the process of authoring her first book.

Also a popular TV personality, April has been featured on the Outdoor Channel’s Buccaneers and Bones series, 60 Minutes Sports, The Steve Harvey show, Discovery Channel’s Refined, Discovery’s/OLN’s Close Up Kings, and WFN’s Fly Nation TV.

Most recently, Vokey proudly wrote and hosted her own exclusive series, ShoreLines with April Vokey, as shown on the World Fishing Network. The series focuses on fly-fishing’s rich history and the people it consists of. Feeling limited by airtime, she has since branched out with her podcast, Anchored with April Vokey, an uncensored series dedicated to archiving the stories and personalities from some of fly-fishing’s most influential people. The show is one of the only fishing podcasts solely recorded in a face to face environment where April ensures to ask questions apart from the norm. It evolved into Anchored Outdoors in January, 2020.

In 2013, April chose to pursue her passion for saltwater species (and a blue-eyed Aussie bloke), and therefore surrendered her Canadian winters for Australia’s & New Zealand’s summers. She now resides in Canada for six months of the year, and in Australia for the other six. Her dog, Colby, travels with her between countries, keeping her safe from grizzlies and kangaroos alike.

She is a FFF certified casting instructor, a fly-tying instructor, traveling speaker and an eternal student of life, love, and conservation. Please contact info@aprilvokey.com to enquire about bookings.



Future Speakers. Dates and speakers may change, please go to URL to see the current information.

Monthly SpeakerDateExcerpt
Gordon Tharrett – fishing the Green river in UtahDec 01 6:30 PMGordon Tharrett will be sharing with us the remarkable fly-fishing around Utah and the Green River, where what some of the members call “The 20/20 club” – a size 20″ trout on a size 20 fly”
Annual SlideshowJan 05 7:00 PMIn January, we’re going to be back at the Sherriff’s Posse Hall for another BBQ and our annual Club Members Photo Slide Show.    Submit your photos today to Tommy Polito  thomaspolito12@gmail.com then come join us the first week of January – in person!!!

Posted on October 28th, 2021

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Bug Eye Nymph – Instructor: Dan Eaton

This fly is my number one choice for bass subsurface. I normally use an intermediate sink line and trail this fly 24”-48” behind a green or black Woolybugger. I’ve also caught trout and Stripers using the same system. Use a slow retrieve . Don’t be without this fly!

Please call Dan Eaton at (831) 336-2933 to sign up and I’ll get your packet of material together for you at my front door. There is no charge for the class and all materials are provided except olive 8/0 and 6/0 thread. Or at least 8/0. If you need to borrow club thread, let me know. Beginners are welcome but you will have to contact Elaine Cook at (831)688-1561 well ahead of time to borrow vice , and  tools.

If you would like to tune in to watch, that’s fine.



Future tying classes. Dates and subject may change, please go to URL to see the current information.

Monthly SpeakerDateExcerpt
X-CaddisDec 08 6:30 PM– dry fly for trout – streams and lakes throughout the West – Olive 8/0 thread.
Red Bead Cone HeadRed Bead Cone HeadJan 12 6:30 PM– large trout and bass – appropriate for Pyramid , Los Banos Creek Reservoir, Delta and like waters – black 6/0 thread

Posted on October 28th, 2021

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Suggestions and guidelines for submitting SCFF Newsletter

by Scott Kitayama

Thank you for being a volunteer contributor to the award-winning Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Newsletter.  Without effort and content from the membership, there would be no newsletter at all.   Below is information to make it easy to get your article into the newsletter.

Timeline:

3rd Sunday of the month:  Articles need to be submitted.

4th Wednesday of the month:  Newsletter editor has reviewed all articles.

4th Friday of the month:  Online and print newsletter is created.

Newsletter is sent out over the weekend.  

Article Submission:

Articles are submitted online at:  https://www.santacruzflyfishing.org/newsletter-submit/

There are specific fields in the form and below are explanations of what they are and what to do.

First & Last Name  (Mandatory fields)

Email (Mandatory)

Indicate which month the article should be published:

You can submit an article ahead of time and we will put it in the correct newsletter.  If you do not indicate the month, we will put it in the next newsletter.

Note for newsletter editor

Please let us know if there is anything, we need to get your article to look correct on the online and print newsletter.  For example, if you could not find a picture, you could describe what kind of picture you think would work best.


Article Category:

Helps us determine where to place the article.  Take your best guess of where if it’s based on the categories below.  (the editors reserve the right to move an article to another category).

Section

Description

Monthly Meeting Program

Speaker info.

Fly Tying Class

Information on the monthly fly-tying class.

Fly of the Month

Instructions on how to tie a fly.

President’s Line

Monthly musings from the club’s president.

Reel News

Newsy items like upcoming fly shows, other organization fund raisers, lost and found, press releases of interest, reminders of getting fishing licenses at beginning of year, etc.

Membership Notes

Information on new members, board update (i.e. treasurer’s update).

Conservation Concerns

Information on conservation issues that affect fly fishing waters and fish stock.

Gearing Up

Full description of the fish out and some information of what you need.

Monthly Raffle

Items that will be raffled off at the next club meeting.

Cartoon

Fishing funnies.

Bait for Thought

Quotes. life lessons, and inspirational stories.

Lifelines

Survival and safety tips.

Recipe of the Month

Cooking recipe of interest to members.

Fishy Tales

Letting the membership know about individual’s fishing trips.

Gone Fishing

Reports from official club “fish out” trips.

Cast of Thousands

 items for sale, looking for items, free giveaways

Article title:  (Mandatory)

Catchy titles are best

Author byline:

Enter your name as you would like it to appear as the author byline in the newsletter. For example,  “Conservation Director Jo Smith.”

Article Text:

This is where you paste in the story as simple text.   Text bolding, underlining, font type and size will not be seen by the editors.  If you want to have specific formatting, please let the editors know in the above field:  “Notes to the editor”.    Finally, please try and paste the article without a paragraph/carriage return at the end of the article.

Article Summary:  (New Field)

We are trying to work around email length limitations imposed by Gmail.  To allow all articles to appear in the email, we are limiting the email text of the article to the first 40 words OR a brief description of the article in less than 200 characters or about 40 words.   This field is where you would put in your description.  (Note:  On Windows, I use a free text editor Notepad++ that counts characters as you type)

Source: (Option, rarely used)

If the article submission is from another website, here is where you would enter the URL address.

Featured Photo

Please try and include a photo/image for every article.   The editors have been spending a lot of time trying to find an appropriate photo for the articles.  I would be best if you could submit the article with an image.  Here are some

  • Please try and provide an image with permission rights for us to use.  
  • The image looks best if square.  
  • The image should be more than 640 by 640 pixels (i.e. more than 100 kb in size).
  • Should be a JPEG, PNG or GIF.
  • IF you cannot find an image, then in the field “Notes to the editor”, let us know what kind of image you would like to see with the article.  This will help us try and source one.

Additional Photos

More photos are great!  May not use them all in the printed newsletter, but all of them in the online version.   If the photo is supposed to be located next to specific paragraph, please let us know that in the field “Notes to the Editor”.

Again, thank you for making the SCFF newsletter a “must read” every month!