Friday, December 31, 2021

2022 Mixed Bag Contest goes Live!

Our Mixed Bag Contest is back for a sixth year! The MBC kicks off tomorrow Saturday, January 1st at 12:01am.

Mixed Bag is a members-only, months-long tournament where the goal is to catch as many different species on fly rod. It's CPRE which means catch-photo-release encouraged. And best of all, there is no entry fee!

Are you ready?  Here's what you need to compete:

  • Be a 2022 member of KFF
  • Go to the Mixed Bag Contest page and review the rules
  • Have your camera or smartphone available when fishing
  • Take photos of your catch and include either the fly rod or fly, or both
  • Log them in using the links on the Mixed Bag page.
  • Bring your enthusiasm!  Remember, while the members who catch the most different species win prizes, all other participants are eligible for several consolation prizes.  Each entry gets you one ticket into the consolation drawing.  

Check out our website and Facebook page during the year for frequent updates.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Here's wishing our members and friends, and all of their families, a most blessed holiday season. Hope everyone finds something under the Christmas tree they can use for their piscatorial pursuits in the coming year.

While Christmas is a season of festivity, let's not forget the reason for the season: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….” John 1:14. Please be giving to those in need, and pray for those who are less fortunate, for those in suffering, and for those away from their families this season.

We also wish everyone a prosperous and healthy New Year.  With much emphasis on healthy!  The new year brings many traditional club activities, in addition to our monthly meetings. Those include our 4th biennial Cenla Fly & Light Tackle Festival (Jan. 29), our Spring Picnic (Mar. 28), Fly Fishing 101 (Apr. 23), Summer Workshop (TBA), and several club fishing trips. Check out our Calendar page for these and other regional events and activities coming in 2022. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Club honorees, Mixed Bag winners recognized at banquet

At our annual Christmas banquet on December 6th, the club honored those members who have had an outstanding year, either in service to the club, in their accomplishment and/or contribution as fly tiers, or with individual achievement. Each received a custom-designed coffee mug with their recognition, featuring artwork by famed fly fishing artist James Lady.  

The club also recognized the winners of our 4th annual Mixed Bag Contest.

Member of the Year - Bruce Shockley
Awarded to that member who has made great individual strides in our sport, and/or whose efforts have benefitted the membership, or furthered the mission of the club. Bruce participated in nearly every meeting and activity the club had, and personally made great strides as a fly angler in 2021.

Fly Tier of the Year - Flip Siragusa
Awarded to that club member who has dedicated themselves to the art of fly tying, either through significant improvement in their tying skills, or in enhanding the education of others. Flip has helped lead a couple of our tying sessions, as well as individual tying instruction to a couple of our members. He also teaches tying clinics for our friends at Pack & Paddle.

Presidents Award - Chris Williams
This award is chosen by the president. It goes to someone that he or she believes has helped the club internally. Chris participated in just about every meeting, and helped lead a couple of our tying sessions.  He also has been a great ambassador for our club, promoting our events and activities.

Mixed Bag Contest

Our annual Mixed Bag Contest is a months-long CPRE (catch-photo-release encouraged) tournament where size doesn't matter, but diversity does. This year, six places were awarded. In addition, every member who made at least one entry had their name placed in a drawing for several prizes.

Bill Morrison, MBC Chairman, provided statistics for this year's contest at our recent Christmas Party. We had 22 participants (slightly up from 2020), a record number of entries (164) and a record number of entries by a single participant (30).

Among the most common species registered were rainbow trout (16), bluegill (12), longear sunfish (11), largemouth bass (10). New species registered for 2021 included carp, mangrove5) snapper, hardhead catfish, whiting, atlantic croaker, striped mullet, flier, wiper, redfin pickerel, silver perch, and jack crevalle.

By state, Louisiana had the most entries (90) followed by Arkansas (41) and northwest Florida (13), Texas (13) and Oklahoma (6). The most common waters for entries were the Little Missouri River in southwest Arkansas (20), White River in north Arkansas (14), and Cotile Lake (10).  

The most common fly patterns were Clouser Minnow (20), Squirmy Wormy (13), EP Shrimp (10), Woolybugger (7) and Bully Bluegill Spider (5).

Here's the final standings for the 2021 Mixed Bag:
1st - Jerry Patton (30 entries)
2nd - Chris Williams (27)
3rd - Bill Morrison (18)
4th - Jim Johnson (10)
5th - Carlton Townsend (9)
6th - Robert Hughes (9)

The 2022 Mixed Bag will kickoff on January 1st. The form will go active shortly after midnight. There are a few rule changes for next year, so be sure to read them (changes in red text).