Scarborough Fly & Bait Casting Association

coachman@pathcom.com
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"The REEL THING" -
Jule 06

Well how about that, we’re already half-way through the warm-weather fishin’ season…..guess that means it won’t be long before we’re ice fishin’ again: no mosquitoes, no black flies, no tourists……occasionally no fish.

           June was interesting: starting off with our Scarborough Open Casting Championships. Although we had driving rain for the entire accuracy games day, amazingly we had a total entry of eighteen casters for the target games……apparently ten more than there were in the so-called ‘Canadian Championships’. I believe there were only three casters in the All Round in that one, whereas there were five in All Round competitors in our tournament. Perhaps we should re-bill our annual Championships as the ‘Canadian tournament’.

Anyhow, congratulations to Harvey Beck, who won all twelve games in Peter’s tourney after dominating in ours the week before and winning that All Round as well. I’ll be surprised if Harvey doesn’t finish as high as third in the All Round in the National, pushing Steve, Henry and Chris for the top notch. Maybe we should proselytise Harvey for our club and have him work with some of our new folks. After all I don’t know what that other club is going to do to muster a team for this year’s event. Oh well, it will only be Sheila, George and I in Long Beach for this year’s National anyhow..…..perhaps next year in Chicago, Lexington, Wisconsin, or wherever, Harv.

           Other winners in our tournament were Bill Burke, John Seroczynski, Sheila Deval, Ron Bolton and George Monroe (All Accuracy “B” Class). New member, Maria Voltsinis easily captured the coveted Best Sport trophy. I might add that if Harvey wins our All Round trophy again next year, we might have to give it to him and begin another as he has pretty well dominated it in the past five or six years. In the ‘good old days’ if you won the thing seven consecutive times, it was yours to keep for good. I remember the tradition fondly.

           Sheila and I are off to Dundee for the Michigan State. We’re taking our trailer because with the tourney in front of Cabelas, we will be able to park the thing right by the pond…….a bit of all right, eh! We were going to take it across the States to Ca. for the big one, but a groin-leg injury has put the kibosh to that plan, as it did to our hopes of doing Zero’s tourney in Chicago last weekend.

           Our club just keeps growing and growing. I believe we are now and have been for some time the biggest and best fly and bait casting club in Canada…..and we haven’t had to merge with any others to get enough members to achieve that status. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest member, Robert Cressatti to our wonderful club. Rob is our thirtieth caster and eager to polish his already considerable skills with the long rods by working with us. With Jurgen, Jim, Paul and our arsenal of skilled instructors, I am certain that he will be one of our best in short order.

           Speaking of Jurgen, he took a couple of lovely 17” brookies from a ‘secret’ stream of his less than a half an hour from his house. Jim, Ray and I worked Limit Lake a couple of times with Jim taking three bucks from me on one occasion, while Ray and I flailed the water fruitlessly on another, but enjoyed the experience nevertheless. As I have written several times (and force myself to believe) it’s the fishin’ were after, not necessarily the catchin’. The highlight so far this year in our Haliburton jaunts was a monster – at least 27” speckled trout that Jim Lloyd had alongside the boat and ready to net…..when, horrors, the knot came undone at his lure. Record gone! Lure gone! Better put another twist in that Double Improved Clinch Knot next time, Jim.

           Big buddy, George Monroe, stole the honours on his first trip ever to the Ganny last week with a fourteen-inch brown while the best I could muster was less than a foot. He had a shot at another much bigger one that he seduced into striking twice, but missed it both times. Not in Jim Chapralis’s league maybe, but the Ganny still produces a lot of fun for our folks and we have permission from the various land-owners to fish the stream on most of the best stretches of river over its hundred miles of watershed. Heh, Jim, we don’t have to fish it at night, too.

           There are another couple of folks who have indicated that they, too, will be coming onboard our ship shortly, therefore it’s going to be mighty interesting next September when we begin our shop activities, fly tying, rod building and so on. We may have to rent a bigger facility or something, somewhere or another, as we were already getting as many as a dozen or more working on the bamboo and feathers at the same time in my garage-shop. It’s going to be busy and fun for sure. I would appreciate knowing before summer ends who else intends to begin working on the bamboo as we will probably have to order new culms in before September.

           Our Broadback River crew is set for this year, the plane and permits booked and itinerary and menu all worked out. The crew this year includes two new folks joining Paul Kennedy and me, Lee Pantridge and Tas Candaras, both already established, skilled anglers eager to test their knowledge and skills on the world’s biggest Brook Trout.

           My new book, MEMORIES OF MAGICAL WATERS, is moving quite well and I have mailed out quite a few to A.C.A. folks who asked for them, but will take a dozen or so with me to Long Beach where I would certainly be pleased to sign one for anybody asking. I may even have a few of the special ‘Numbered Collector Editions’ left. If you haven’t picked one up, or had it mailed and want the collector edition reserved please let me know and I’ll put it aside for you and see you in CA.

           To finish the July Reel Thing, here’s a little piece that good buddy and club V.P., Jim Lloyd wrote for us that should have gone in on the June bulletin, but better late than ever, here it is:

                        May 6, Ray and I on the Ganny

Ray and I got back from a quick trip to the " picnic grounds" at 10:00. Ray picked me up at my place at 5:00 and we were on the river shortly after 6:00. We walked down the hill to where the concrete pump pad has fallen into the river then went right through the bush to the normal "first hole". A couple of new cedar trees have slid down the undercut bank and fallen across the river providing new shelter for trout. We could see at least 20 good fish holding in this pool. I hooked into the first fish after about 10-15 casts. The sky was overcast and there were a few sprinkles of rain. The fish were not spooky but they were not attacking the Mepps #3 until you got them a little annoyed. It took 10-15 min to land a 24" 4.5 lb hen rainbow. She tried to run downstream under the fallen cedar tree twice but failed to tangle the line in the branches. Ray caught the next fish from the bend of the river just up stream from the 1st pool with a little coaching to move the fish out of the fast water and into a calmer backwater, landing a very energetic 20" rainbow. He said that was the first "good sized" fish he had ever landed. A few minutes later I hooked into another, larger than the first. I took my time and kept constant pressure on the fish to keep it in the pool and not let it run down under the trees. As I was bringing it to the shore my rod broke just above the ferrule. The fish was already played out and had her snout on the sand and didn't move, so I was able to pick it up and throw it up onto the bank. I worked on the rod for a few minutes while Ray started to work up river. He hooked into another very aggressive fish but it threw the hook with some very impressive jumps. I gave up trying to repair the rod and picked up our 3 fish and moved up river to meet Ray who was now at the next big hole. The big tree that was across the bottom of the hole is now gone and there are no obstructions at all. We could see 30-50 fish resting in this pool. After a few minutes Ray managed to annoy one enough and hooked a nice rainbow that ran and jumped all over the pool making 3-4 runs up stream to the top of the pool then circling and running back. Ray kept constant pressure and was patient, so after about 15-20 minutes landed a very pretty 26" 6lb hen. It was now about 7:45 A.M. and we had all the fish we wanted. We decided to call it a morning as we both has other things to do at home. After cleaning the fish I picked up Ray’s rod and said I would fish for a few minutes for one more to give to the kind folks at the farmhouse. It took about 5 minutes and I hooked into another good fish and another 15 minutes to land 28" 6.5 pounder. We cleaned this fish also and headed up the hill. There was no answer at the house but we found the lady of the house (forgotten her name) at the barn. We expressed our gratitude for allowing us access through their property and gave her the largest fish and had a nice chat for a few minutes. Hopefully with a few similar gestures we will maintain our access for years to come.

Jim

           Thanks for the lovely account of another great day on the Ganny, Jim. Hopefully it will inspire some of our other fishermen to put a few words down for us all to enjoy after their fishing excursions.

           Tight Loops and Lines,

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	coachman@pathcom.com www.pathcom.com/~coachman
"The REEL THING" -	Jule 06
Well how about that, we’re already half-way through the warm-weather fishin’ season…..guess that means it won’t be long before we’re ice fishin’ again: no mosquitoes, no black flies, no tourists……occasionally no fish. June was interesting: starting off with our Scarborough Open Casting Championships. Although we had driving rain for the entire accuracy games day, amazingly we had a total entry of eighteen casters for the target games……apparently ten more than there were in the so-called ‘Canadian Championships’. I believe there were only three casters in the All Round in that one, whereas there were five in All Round competitors in our tournament. Perhaps we should re-bill our annual Championships as the ‘Canadian tournament’. Anyhow, congratulations to Harvey Beck, who won all twelve games in Peter’s tourney after dominating in ours the week before and winning that All Round as well. I’ll be surprised if Harvey doesn’t finish as high as third in the All Round in the National, pushing Steve, Henry and Chris for the top notch. Maybe we should proselytise Harvey for our club and have him work with some of our new folks. After all I don’t know what that other club is going to do to muster a team for this year’s event. Oh well, it will only be Sheila, George and I in Long Beach for this year’s National anyhow..…..perhaps next year in Chicago, Lexington, Wisconsin, or wherever, Harv. Other winners in our tournament were Bill Burke, John Seroczynski, Sheila Deval, Ron Bolton and George Monroe (All Accuracy “B” Class). New member, Maria Voltsinis easily captured the coveted Best Sport trophy. I might add that if Harvey wins our All Round trophy again next year, we might have to give it to him and begin another as he has pretty well dominated it in the past five or six years. In the ‘good old days’ if you won the thing seven consecutive times, it was yours to keep for good. I remember the tradition fondly. Sheila and I are off to Dundee for the Michigan State. We’re taking our trailer because with the tourney in front of Cabelas, we will be able to park the thing right by the pond…….a bit of all right, eh! We were going to take it across the States to Ca. for the big one, but a groin-leg injury has put the kibosh to that plan, as it did to our hopes of doing Zero’s tourney in Chicago last weekend. Our club just keeps growing and growing. I believe we are now and have been for some time the biggest and best fly and bait casting club in Canada…..and we haven’t had to merge with any others to get enough members to achieve that status. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest member, Robert Cressatti to our wonderful club. Rob is our thirtieth caster and eager to polish his already considerable skills with the long rods by working with us. With Jurgen, Jim, Paul and our arsenal of skilled instructors, I am certain that he will be one of our best in short order. Speaking of Jurgen, he took a couple of lovely 17” brookies from a ‘secret’ stream of his less than a half an hour from his house. Jim, Ray and I worked Limit Lake a couple of times with Jim taking three bucks from me on one occasion, while Ray and I flailed the water fruitlessly on another, but enjoyed the experience nevertheless. As I have written several times (and force myself to believe) it’s the fishin’ were after, not necessarily the catchin’. The highlight so far this year in our Haliburton jaunts was a monster – at least 27” speckled trout that Jim Lloyd had alongside the boat and ready to net…..when, horrors, the knot came undone at his lure. Record gone! Lure gone! Better put another twist in that Double Improved Clinch Knot next time, Jim. Big buddy, George Monroe, stole the honours on his first trip ever to the Ganny last week with a fourteen-inch brown while the best I could muster was less than a foot. He had a shot at another much bigger one that he seduced into striking twice, but missed it both times. Not in Jim Chapralis’s league maybe, but the Ganny still produces a lot of fun for our folks and we have permission from the various land-owners to fish the stream on most of the best stretches of river over its hundred miles of watershed. Heh, Jim, we don’t have to fish it at night, too. There are another couple of folks who have indicated that they, too, will be coming onboard our ship shortly, therefore it’s going to be mighty interesting next September when we begin our shop activities, fly tying, rod building and so on. We may have to rent a bigger facility or something, somewhere or another, as we were already getting as many as a dozen or more working on the bamboo and feathers at the same time in my garage-shop. It’s going to be busy and fun for sure. I would appreciate knowing before summer ends who else intends to begin working on the bamboo as we will probably have to order new culms in before September. Our Broadback River crew is set for this year, the plane and permits booked and itinerary and menu all worked out. The crew this year includes two new folks joining Paul Kennedy and me, Lee Pantridge and Tas Candaras, both already established, skilled anglers eager to test their knowledge and skills on the world’s biggest Brook Trout. My new book, MEMORIES OF MAGICAL WATERS, is moving quite well and I have mailed out quite a few to A.C.A. folks who asked for them, but will take a dozen or so with me to Long Beach where I would certainly be pleased to sign one for anybody asking. I may even have a few of the special ‘Numbered Collector Editions’ left. If you haven’t picked one up, or had it mailed and want the collector edition reserved please let me know and I’ll put it aside for you and see you in CA. To finish the July Reel Thing, here’s a little piece that good buddy and club V.P., Jim Lloyd wrote for us that should have gone in on the June bulletin, but better late than ever, here it is: May 6, Ray and I on the Ganny Ray and I got back from a quick trip to the " picnic grounds" at 10:00. Ray picked me up at my place at 5:00 and we were on the river shortly after 6:00. We walked down the hill to where the concrete pump pad has fallen into the river then went right through the bush to the normal "first hole". A couple of new cedar trees have slid down the undercut bank and fallen across the river providing new shelter for trout. We could see at least 20 good fish holding in this pool. I hooked into the first fish after about 10-15 casts. The sky was overcast and there were a few sprinkles of rain. The fish were not spooky but they were not attacking the Mepps #3 until you got them a little annoyed. It took 10-15 min to land a 24" 4.5 lb hen rainbow. She tried to run downstream under the fallen cedar tree twice but failed to tangle the line in the branches. Ray caught the next fish from the bend of the river just up stream from the 1st pool with a little coaching to move the fish out of the fast water and into a calmer backwater, landing a very energetic 20" rainbow. He said that was the first "good sized" fish he had ever landed. A few minutes later I hooked into another, larger than the first. I took my time and kept constant pressure on the fish to keep it in the pool and not let it run down under the trees. As I was bringing it to the shore my rod broke just above the ferrule. The fish was already played out and had her snout on the sand and didn't move, so I was able to pick it up and throw it up onto the bank. I worked on the rod for a few minutes while Ray started to work up river. He hooked into another very aggressive fish but it threw the hook with some very impressive jumps. I gave up trying to repair the rod and picked up our 3 fish and moved up river to meet Ray who was now at the next big hole. The big tree that was across the bottom of the hole is now gone and there are no obstructions at all. We could see 30-50 fish resting in this pool. After a few minutes Ray managed to annoy one enough and hooked a nice rainbow that ran and jumped all over the pool making 3-4 runs up stream to the top of the pool then circling and running back. Ray kept constant pressure and was patient, so after about 15-20 minutes landed a very pretty 26" 6lb hen. It was now about 7:45 A.M. and we had all the fish we wanted. We decided to call it a morning as we both has other things to do at home. After cleaning the fish I picked up Ray’s rod and said I would fish for a few minutes for one more to give to the kind folks at the farmhouse. It took about 5 minutes and I hooked into another good fish and another 15 minutes to land 28" 6.5 pounder. We cleaned this fish also and headed up the hill. There was no answer at the house but we found the lady of the house (forgotten her name) at the barn. We expressed our gratitude for allowing us access through their property and gave her the largest fish and had a nice chat for a few minutes. Hopefully with a few similar gestures we will maintain our access for years to come. Jim Thanks for the lovely account of another great day on the Ganny, Jim. Hopefully it will inspire some of our other fishermen to put a few words down for us all to enjoy after their fishing excursions. Tight Loops and Lines,