April 22nd meeting - Spring Casting Session

KFF monthly general meeting
Monday, April 22, 2019
6:00pm
Rapides Westside Library, 5416 Provine, Alexandria

** Please note: we'll meet a half-hour earlier than usual **

We finally have some great weather, and before it gets too hot, we'll hold our annual "Spring Casting Session".  We'll start a half-hour early - 6:00pm - and take advantage of the longer daylight to work on our casting skills.  Wear some comfortable clothing.

BRING YOUR FAVORITE ROD.  For beginners and novices, we'll work on our special technique guaranteed to improve your fly casting.  For veterans, we'll work on the "Jerk Haul" - a shorter version of the Single Haul or Double Haul.  If you fish from a canoe or kayak, or simply want to reduce your arm motion from fatigue, this is a great technique to improve your distance and shoot line!

We'll meet in the library, go thru a few basics, then proceed outside to the grass lawn. We'll finish up in the library with a few business items before adjourning.

Mixed Bag Contest update 4/12

Spring is finally here.  And while fishing is far from being "prime time", a few KFF members have added species to their Mixed Bag Contest listings over the last few weeks.  Here are the current standings:

Jim Johnson - 6 - black crappie, bluegill, chain pickerel, largemouth bass, longear sunfish, rainbow trout
Bill Morrison - 5 - bluegill, chain pickerel, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, rio
Gene Taylor - 5 - bluegill, chain pickerel, rainbow trout, spotted bass, white crappie
Glen Cormier - 5 - black crappie, bluegill, goggle eye, rainbow trout, redear
Carlton Townsend - 3 - rainbow trout, bluegill, largemouth bass
Robert Hughes - 3 - black crappie, longear sunfish, rainbow trout
Robert Clark - 2 - bluegill, rainbow trout
Rich Hudson - 1 - rainbow trout
Phil Havener - 1 - rainbow trout
Joel Dinnat - 1 - rainbow trout

As you can see, only a small fraction of our membership has made entries so far into the Mixed Bag. We're hoping that with good weather, everyone will get out and catch some fish! Remember, you only need one (1) entry to be in the Consolation Drawing. But we hope everyone will give Jim Johnson and Bill Morrison some competition!

A variety of flies have been used so far. The Mardi Craw, Taylor's No Name, Rosborough Hares Ear, Squirmy Worm, and variations of the Woolybugger top the list. Others include: Seaducer, Red Dart, Fluff Butt, popping bug, Adams dry, Christmas Tree, SMP Crappie Fly, Meat Whistle and Goobers Bug.

Again, each entry is available online. So you can see what the fish was caught on, where it was caught, and even a photo of the fish. That's the real value of the MBC... a database for members to use to improve their success!

April 9th tying session - Red Dart, Laser Bugger

KFF monthly fly tying session
Monday, April 15, 2019
6:30pm
Rapides Westside Library, 5416 Provine, Alexandria

For April fly tying, we will tie the Red Dart and the Laser Bugger. The Red Dart is the creation of Lance Egan, renown fly tier and competitive angler from Utah. It combines features of several legacy patterns with modern materials.

The Laser Bugger is the creation of our own Bill Morrison and was very successful on the recent Little Mo club trip.

As always, beginners are welcome!  Please bring your tools. If you don't have tools, the club has sets for use during these sessions. Materials are provided.

If you have these color threads, please bring them: red thread, olive or brown thread. Also please bring a dubbing loop tool (we hope to have our "dubbing tools" for distribution at the meeting).

Another successful Fly Fishing 101

Last Saturday, we held our fourth annual Fly Fishing 101 at Booker-Fowler Hatchery in Forest Hill. Predictions for stormy weather came true, but not until after the workshop was long over. The 26 students were our largest group yet. As is our usual practice, we broke the students into two groups, one for casting and one for rigging and tactics.

Thanks to all our helpers, with several key members out, their assistance was vital. Jeff Ferguson, Carlton Townsend, Chris Perkins, Mike Carlin, Roger Breedlove, Bill Morrison, Ronnie Richmond, Steve Templin, Jim Guillory. Jeff - an FFI Master Certified Casting Instructor and Casting Director for the FFI Gulf Coast Council - also helped some of our more seasoned members on their casting. We hope to get Jeff back for a casting workshop later this year.

Eight new member families took advantage of a discounted club membership offered to participants.

- Danny & Janie Deshotels
- Patrick Deshotels
- Chris & Luke Griffin
- Preston Keiser
- Sam Poole
- Patricia Spangler
- John Thibodeaux
- Karen Williams, Bella & Alayna Duruisseau

Welcome to Kisatchie Fly Fishers!