Long Casts

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by Mark Van Patten, President

Tracie Maler, the Vice President of Membership for the Southern Council (Mid South Fly Fishers) was asked to take charge of the new, national fund raising chair position. Tracie has done an outstanding job for the Southern Council in reorganizing our membership database and smoothing out some ruffled feathers with clubs that had not been receiving the Long Cast. Tracie has proven herself not only through the outstanding effort she made in bringing our membership database in the 21st century, but, also in chairing one of the most successful conclaves in the history of the Southern Council.

Before national snatched her away from us, I fully expected to see Tracie's name at the head of this column in the near future. We all support you Tracie in you endeavor to make the national FFF financially solvent. If anybody can do it, you can.

The second member of the Southern Council to be taken from us is our own Dave Barron. Dave is past President of theOzarks Fly Fishers and this years Southern Council Conclave Chairman. Tom has asked Dave to accept the responsibility of the National Youth Education VP.

Dave, we know you will make the Southern Council proud and we look forward to hearing of your successes. Good luck in this new and exciting adventure.

I am saddened to report on this next issue. Dr. Jack Wadlin, who has served the Southern Council since God created water, is in poor health. He has asked us to accept his resignation as International Director for the Southern Council. Jack has been one of the shining stars in the history of the Southern Council and has served its membership well. We hope Jack, that God will smile on you and bring back the health of your youth. We pray in doing so, you will enjoy many more years of watching the rise to your fly, and feeling the life in your hand as your line tightens and your reel sings in the joy of fly fishing.

With Jack's resignation, we will need a replacement to fill the position. A nominating committee may be contacting one of you soon. If you are asked, just remember the immortal words of John F. Kennedy. "Ask not what your council can do for you, but, what you can do for your council." Well, he would have said that if he would have thought about it! This year the national FFF has revised their bylaws to be in compliance with state and federal laws. Because of these revisions the Southern Council executive committee has been hard at work revising our by-laws to be in compliance with national and the federal requirements as well as the state requirements in the state in which we are chartered. That of course being the state of Arkansas.

A copy of the by laws is being sent to every club president. As a member of the Southern Council, each of us needs to review the by laws and be ready to advise our directors on the position you want them to take in adopting them at the board meeting in October.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the conclave this year. Dave Barron has set up some great programs and this year promises to be the best conclave yet. I am off to West Yellowstone in a couple of days. So it is off to the tying bench. See you in October.

Please send only editorial comments and material (including submissions for possible printing) to Long Casts editor Steve Fritz, 2100 S. Grant Ave., Springfield, MO 65807 (please note: this is a new address)

Changes of address should be mailed to the Southern Council's VP for Membership, Tracie Maler, 299 S. Walnut Bend, Suite 101, Cordove, Tn. 38018

Advertising inquiries and correspondence should be directed to the Southern Council's Treasurer, Pat Smith, Rt. 2, Box 352B, Mt. Home, Ar. 72653

Long Casts is printed and mailed by ED REED, Reed Printing and Supply Company, Inc. PO Box 605, 619 S. Brindlee Mountain Parkway, Arab, Al. 35016

by by Hod McIntosh, VP for Communication

With clubs electing officers eleven different months of the year, it has been difficult to establish a long term line of communication with one person in each club.

For this reason, we would like to ask each club to appoint one member to serve as a correspondent to assist in the handling of communications with and between the other clubs and council officers.

The main duty of the Club Correspondent will be to receive all of the Club's general communications and promptly direct this information to all the appropriate members of their club. Perhaps the best person for the job would be the club newsletter editor, especially if that individual is on e-mail.

A "Club Correspondent Information Sheet" has been sent to each club president, so that necessary details can be collected on the appointed person. The information gathered from these form will be used to compile a Correspondent Directory, which will be distributed to all clubs and council officers.

If you are interested in such a position with your club, please contact your club president. Let's all work together to build a better information system, thereby making our clubs and council the best in the Federation.

by Tracie Maler, VP of Membership

If you do not see your club listed above, please contact your club officers and encourage them to submit your dues as soon as possible.

As a courtesy, a quarterly copy of Long Casts has been sent to club members whose clubs have not paid their 1996 or 1997 Federation dues. It has been decided that we can no longer provide this service. therefore, this will be the last issue for members of delinquent clubs.

If you are a member of a club that has not submitted dues for the past two years, and you would like to continue receiving a copy of Long Casts, there are two things you can do, to get your copy. The first would be to contact your club officers and encourage them to submit the dues. The second would be to join the Federation (if you are not already a member). If you are already an individual member of the Federation of Fly Fishers, you will continue receiving your newsletter, regardless of whether club dues have been paid or not.

Please also keep in mind, that only those clubs in good standing will be permitted to attend the business meeting at the 1997 Conclave in Mountain Home, Arkansas, on October 5.

Many thanks to all clubs in good standing. Your support helps to keep FFF conservation and education efforts continuing.

Editor's note: VP Membership Tracie Maler has performed a great service to the Southern Council, by correcting our membership list, thereby getting a copy of Long Casts to each Council member. VP Communication Hod McIntosh has performed another great service to the Council by tracking down all the council's clubs, getting the names and mailing addresses straight, and communicating with them about Council business, such as their standing as to whether they have paid their yearly dues or not. The four clubs whose dues are delinquent for 1997, are showing no dues paid for 1996 either. As a loyal member of both your Club and the Southern Council, please lobby at your club level to get your dues paid in a timely manner, each year. It makes the job of the above officers much easier.

Thanks, in advance.

from FFF ClubWire

DISTRIBUTION OF WATER:

-- Water covers nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface.

-- The overall amount of water on our planet has remained the same for two billion years.

- -The five Great Lakes form the largest fresh surface water system in the world.

-- If all the water in the Great Lakes was spread evenly across the continental US, the ground would be covered with almost 10 feet of water.

--Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty.

--Over 90% of the world's supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica.

--The average person needs 2 quarts of water a day. Most people drink less than this.

--A person can live without food for about a month, but only about a week without water.

-- The average single-family home uses 80 gallons of water each day in the winter and 120 gallons in the summer. Showering, bathing and using the toilet account for about two-thirds of the average family's water usage.

--Per capita water use in the western US is much higher than in any other region, because of agricultural needs in this arid region. In 1985, daily per capita consumption in Idaho was 22,200 gallons vs. 152 gallons in Rhode Island.

--About 6,800 gallons of water is required to grow a day's food for family of four.

--Eighty percent of the fresh water we use in the US is for irrigating crops and generating thermoelectric-power.

-- While dining in restaurants last year, Southern Californians drank enough water to fill more than 12,000 swimming pools.

-- It takes about 6 gallons of water to grow a single serving of lettuce. More than 2,600 gallons is required to produce a single serving of steak.

It takes almost 49 gallons of water to produce just one eight-ounce glass of milk. That includes water consumed by the cow and to grow the food she eats, plus water used to process the milk.

Each day almost 10,000 children under the age of 5 in Third World countries die as a result of illnesses contracted by use of impure water. About a billion people in the world lack reliable access to water.

from FFF ClubWire

Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers

In the north, panfish are called just that, "panfish." Head southward however, and you'll find bluegills, sunfish etc. lumped under a category called "bream. Southerners though, being wily, pronounce the word as Brim. They do this to keep from being infiltrated by Vermont Yankees. "Say there, could you-all please direct me to some breeeem ?" Right away that sneaky Yankee cover is blown.

For panfish, or bream, one of the best flies I've ever found is the simple foam bug. I got the basic recipe for this fly from Buckeye United Fly Fisher member Joe Ellis who published the recipe on TriState Online.

MATERIALS: Dry Fly Hooks (8-12...or smaller if you wish)Craft Foam (available at craft stores, this foam comes in varying size sheets (10 x 14 or 11 x 17") and several colors. It's about 1/12"thick. I use black, brown and white. A sheet costs around a buck.Black rubber Leg Material (thin).Waxed tying Thread the color of the foam.

Steps:

A) Cut a piece of the craft foam in a rectangle, about 1/3 longer than the entire hook's length and about as wide as the hook gap. You need to shape the foam rectangle like a necktie, with a long and short taper.

B) One-fifth from one end of the foam rectangle, cut the sides to give about a 45 degree taper.

C) One-half from the other end of the foam rectangle, cut the sides to give a gradual taper (about 10 degrees).

D) Having wrapped your thread down the hook shank from just behind the eye, tie and/or super glue the wider end of the foam (bottom of necktie) to the hook shank just above the curve.

E) Wrap the thread halfway back to the eye. Then bend the foam forward down the shank. Wrap tightly with several wraps of thread to create "waist."

F) Hold leg material (cut in sections 1.5-2" long) parallel with hook shank. Tie in at waist with 3-4 turns, then do same on the opposite side. Adjust legs by wrapping in front of or behind legs to get desired spread. Takes some experimentation.

G) Wrap thread forward to just a bit behind the eye. Tie foam down there, leaving a "head." Tie off thread. Dot with cement. Put a dot of cement at the waist. Snip off any extra material so hook eye is clear.

Smaller sizes are killer on bream/panfish. In larger sizes they can attract bass. They're also extremely rugged when well-made (use super glue to help secure the body and they can last through dozens of fish). Experiment with body shapes, colors and sizes. For extra visibility of the dark foam bugs, glue a tiny piece of white foam to the top.

by by Steve Fritz, Long Casts Editor

At a conclave, it is possible to get answers to questions that will increase your fishing enjoyment many-fold. You want to know how to fish streamers? There is someone there, - someone you can pull up a chair in front of, - ask your question, - and get the correct answer from. It will be an answer that you can understand, - an answer that is spoken in your language, - not words in or from a book, but, just plain old talk that you will understand.

What about programs specifically for women? Sure! The Women's Outreach Activities offer a great day's worth of interesting things to do. Participants will have a Saturday full of excitement!

Is there fishing at the Conclave? Oh boy, is there!! The Fall is a favorite time to most White River anglers. The fish in the Norfork and White Rivers are active, and feed throughout the day. It is normal to have low water flow this time of the year, and when that happens, the fishing is great.

Okay, Fritz, so I go to this "conclave." You say it is "magic." You say I'll learn a bunch, and that it will cause me to have a better time fishing. What else you got?

Well, There's the raffles, - you will probably win something. Then, there's the auction, good stuff, at great prices. The Saturday night banquet, and the Friday and Saturday Night Programs are always great. This year we have speakers Gary Borger and Dave Whitlock. These two guys know fly fishing, and freely share their knowledge with beginners and those who have advanced in the sport, alike. Gary and Dave are the Best!

Want more? Try sitting down in front of some of the best fly tyers in the country. Watch one of the salmon fly tyers create art. See a trout fly that is not in any pattern book, yet, because it was just invented last week, tied before your very eyes, by the inventor of the pattern. Are you convinced yet? YEA! Okay! See you there!

There is nothing like the Southern Council Conclave. Words defy description of the feeling you have when it is over, and you have to go home. The event is a happening, and so much FUN!!!

If you're lucky enough to have a day or two to devote to something worthwhile in early October, you can't miss with the Conclave of the Federation of Fly Fishers Southern Council, to be held Friday, Oct. 3, and Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Ramada Inn, with a general members meeting and board meeting on Sunday, Oct. 5, in Mountain Home, Arkansas.

by Steve Antonic, Conclave Raffle/Auction Chairman

Steve Antonic 5612 Greenton Way St. Louis, MO 63128

314-892-3792 fax-314-530-2576

If you would rather bring your donated items with you to the Conclave, please let me know what you intend to bring, so I can catalogue what is coming. It will also help me sleep better for the next few weeks.

Editor's note: It is much easier to get a donation from a guide or fly shop if you personally have spent money there. Every year, a plea must be made by the raffle/auction chairman for items, and every year we must respond, since it is easier for us to get these items than it is for the chairman. Of note is the fact that each of us has some brand-new thing that we will never use (it may have been given to us) that we could easily send or bring for the raffle or auction. Come on, do the right thing, help out the 'old Southern Council' and donate something to the cause.

from FFF ClubWire

Bob Bailey, President of the Puget Sound Fly Fishers (out of Tacoma, Washington) recently described a college professor who wrote a book that offers another view. While the qualifications of that professor were not provided, his findings really struck home. He found that individuals have a critical need was to get involved in satisfying solo activities that are so absorbing that everything else is blocked out. This blocking, the professor reports, gives your mind and body a chance to recover from activities that you have to do to survive, but that you don't really enjoy that much. How many times have you spent a day on the water, and only on the way home remembered, for the first time all day, that very tough problem (employee, boss, customer) that had been preoccupying you for the whole previous week? Moreover, as a result of this mental break, the problem now seems easier to handle. Most of us find satisfaction and even some joy in our jobs, but as time goes on the challenge often fades and the excitement becomes displaced by drudgery and usually some stress. In these days of downsizing, closings, takeovers and insecurity, the joy of work is reduced for many more.

But why fly fishing? Very simply, fly fishing demands our full and continuous physical and mental attention! No two casts are the same and you must be actively involved in trying to avoid drag, manipulating the line in the air, planning your next cast, and ever watchful to detect a strike. Likewise, if you get a strike, unlike live bait or soft lure fishing, fish seldom hook themselves, but require you to actively set the hook , often within fractions of a second! If you are day dreaming about your problems, your reaction time simply will not be fast enough. There simply is no time to let your mind drift, because intense and continuous vigilance is absolutely necessary.

But what about those offseason times? Well, as Bob Bailey points out, the other major aspect of our sport is fly tying. Unless you are a professional production tyer, most of us find creating our own flies as demanding as the fly fishing itself. If you do not pay full attention to the choices of each exotic materials, or the sequence of tying steps, or the fine twists and pulls, failure is usually the result. In fact, a dedicated, but not thoroughly efficient novice tyer (which most of us are) is likely to get more rejuvenation out of this activity than a professional.

So, consider this. Fly fishing, especially because it absolutely demands our full attention, is most of all, a rejuvenating break that lifts the stress and cares from your shoulders, if only briefly and in so doing probably helps you keep on going. There is the very famous fly fisher and fly tyer who took early retirement and began to make his living tying Atlantic salmon flies, at very good profits. To everyone's surprise, he then started painting with water colors. When questioned, he replied that he needed something that would help him relax and fly fishing did not provide that anymore. This person was not the first fly fishing fanatic to find that being involved in fly fishing full time, as an occupation, just does not have the same joy as doing it periodically for recreation.

One is reminded of the fabled fly fisher who finds himself in the great beyond and must spend his whole day catching 20 inch trout. But that is another story with another moral.

Call Chuck Easterling at: 501-578-5334 for more information.

by Tom Jindra, National FFF President

Today, you have that opportunity by simply getting a friend to join the Federation of Fly Fishers. We're sure you'd want to sign up your buddies, even without prizes. The Federation is, after all, the world's only organization dedicated to conserving, restoring, and educating through fly fishing. That means we're the only organization which represents your flyfishing interests regardless of whether you're a warmwater, coldwater or saltwater angler.

So, why not sign up a friend today, and earn that free chance on an exciting fishing trip, while helping your club at the same time.

Here's how it works.

The big prize is an incredible two-day guided trip with three nights of lodging. The Federation will provide the winner's round trip air fare from anywhere in North America. Just to make sure you get the trip you want, we're going to let you choose from three great destinations, - trout fishing in Montana; a saltwater trip in Louisiana; or a saltwater trip in New England.

Perhaps you'd like to explore the amazing Louisiana coast while chasing redfish and spotted seatrout with Orvis endorsed Capt. Gary Taylor as your guide. Maybe you'd rather enjoy classic New England while fishing for stripped bass with Orvis endorsed Capt. Fred Christian. Or, you might prefer fishing the world-famous Yellowstone area with the Federation's International Fly Fishing Center Director, Bob Wiltshire. They all sound wonderful, don't they? Fishing dates will be chosen by the guide and client-winner. Air and room reservations will be made via the FFF office. The winning prize is not redeemable for cash and is to be used in the calendar year 1998.

The drawing will be held December 31, 1997, at the Federation's office in Bozeman, Montana, which means you could be planning your trip on New Year's Day.

All it takes to enter this sweepstakes is to send in a New Federation membership, and we'll include both the new member and the sponsoring member in the drawing.

Did you say you want more than one chance to win?

By now, you're probably asking how entering this fabulous sweepstakes can earn your club a new rod or reel.

It's easy. Every time you or your club sign up 15 new FFF members, between now and June 1, 1998, the Federation will send your club its choice of a quality rod (maker to be announced later) or a reel (Ross will provide), to use any way desired. Or, if you prefer, you can keep the tackle for yourself. That is your choice.

You have until the end of the year to recruit your 15 new members. The office will keep track of the totals. You may purchase 12 prepaid memberships to qualify for your incentive award.

So, start recruiting those new Federators and get the chance to win a great fishing trip. Sign up 15 friends, and you or your club will get a new rod or reel, while you earn 15 more chances for that trip. Sign up 20 friends and you double your chances for that trip.

All that, and you have added satisfaction of knowing you're supporting the only conservation/education group dedicated to promoting the sport of fly fishing.

Chairwomen: Judy Stall, Joan Meyers

Louisiana Cooking School, with Joan Meyers and Judy Stall ("famous" Louisiana girls, or infamous, actually). We'll show you how to cook scrumptious but easy-to-do Louisiana fare, and give you these recipes, along with several other that we won't have time to cook but think you will enjoy when you do. Cost - $5.00 per person

11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Women's Outreach Luncheon, with speaker Joan Whitlock. Casual and informal, Louisiana style $10.50 per person. There will be a Chinese Raffle (you put your tickets toward only the items you want [you'll want them all] ), an auction, with the definitely infamous Johnny Chamness, and door prizes.

1:30 pm - til -

Joan Whitlock will hold casting clinic, right outside the luncheon room, on a beautiful grassy yard. Exhibitors will be present throughout the day - from local shops, and fly fishing concerns. Please bring your own wonderful items for the raffle and auction. We'll see you there!

by John Berry, VP of Conservation

The M-SFF decided early on, that the way to protect our fragile fisheries was to involve our youth. as a result, the club has quickly expanded it's commitment. First, it was sponsoring one WET team on the Little Red River. Then, it was A WET team on every river in their 'Home Water' book. Now, they have introduced the concept from Arkansas to Tennessee.

They began by convening a meeting at the University of Memphis, that included every state agency that might be interested. Then, they sponsored three WET teams in Tennessee, so that anyone interested could see what happened. The outcome was more than expected. The Tennessee wildlife Resources Agency, the University of Tennessee, and others are very interested and it looks like the program will go state wide.

The person responsible for this success is Bill Pickens. Bill has single handedly carried the ball and had the vision to see the full potential for this program. The rewards have been great. The Mckenzie Cup and the Conservation Educator of the Year award from the Tennessee Conservation League are just a few of the accolades received.

All this from the simple concept of involving kids in water.

from George K. Hobson, Southern Council Secretary

The meeting will be at the Ramada Inn, Mountain Home, Arkansas. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the general business of the council.

Immediately following the general membership meeting, there will be a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Council at the same location. The purpose of the meeting will be to conduct the general business of the council. A new by-laws will be presented to the Board, to bring the Council's by-laws into conformity with the new by-laws of the Federation.

Only members of the Federation are eligible to vote at either of the above meetings.