News and Updates

Opening Day

Don’t forget that the Opening Day Outing is at the end of the month on Saturday, April 27th. It takes place at the LaBar farm on Dowagiac Creek. The location is a great place to celebrate the first day of trout season and we are very fortunate to be able to invade
Bobbie’s farm for the day. The turnout is always very good as well as the food. Terry’s deep fried turkeys are like eating candy – once you have a taste you can’t stop!

Also, don’t forget to buy your tickets for the beautiful bamboo fly rod that is being raffled off this month. Craig Myers will be selling tickets at the auction and at the Opening Day Outing where the drawing will take place at 1:00 p.m. This rod was made by our own Winston Binney and is the perfect fly rod for fishing our area streams. Buy lots of tickets!!!

April Meeting/Auction

In case you haven’t heard, our Annual Fundraiser is on April 17th, Wednesday night. The doors will open at 5:30 PM at the Waterford Estates Lodge, 52890 State Road 933, South Bend, IN. The Waterford is just north of the Cleveland Road/933 intersection. The event includes a grab bag raffle, silent auction, a chance to win a a new Scott G2 8’8” 6 weight rod with a Galvan reel and a general auction run by professional auctioneer Dave Goodrich.

Dinner will be served at 6:30 PM. Admission is $25 per person and includes dinner, a bid card and a special fly box. And if you find the lucky “Okie Drifter” inside your box you win a cool basket of neat stuff. The auction is always amazing. Some of the items donated include fishing tackle, fly tying equipment and supplies, photographs, paintings, gear and hand crafted items, even a hand carved Greenback Cutthroat Trout. Some last minute items include a guided Musky trip for two  anglers in Wisconsin next fall
with Jordan Carter, a carp fishing trip with guide Brian Pitser, and a chance to be an
honorary assistant manager of the South Bend Silver Hawks for a day. Tim Scott will offer his legendary day of smallmouth bass fishing with lunch and 36 flies. We added another item to the silent auction table, a discount certificate for Chota waders and boots. That brings the items on the silent auction table to 10, all great discounts on top quality items.

Kevin Thomason

Kevin Thomason, a longtime member of the KVCTU and the Michigan Fly Fishing Club, will be our featured speaker at our March 20th meeting. Kevin has served as fly-tying and fly-casting instructor in a variety of venues over the past 30 years. He is a life long fly fisherman and joined the competitive fly-fishing community in 2006. Kevin has participated in 3 Fly Fishing National Championships in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Mostly, he loves to fly fish…any place, any time, any species…and hopes to pass along some useful information this evening.

Kevin Thomason

Got Fish?   It’s the time of year when we’re planning and dreaming of the fishing and fish to be had in the coming months. Kevin intends to share a variety of techniques and tips to make you a more successful fisherman. We’ll bounce through a number of topics including preparation, tackle, casting, line control, fly design and choices, reading water, etc. Basically, how many “secrets” can he pass along in one evening’s program.

Opening Day Outing 2013

The SJRVFF Opening Day Outing will take place on Saturday, April 27th at Bobbie Labar’s farm on the Dowagiac Creek. This is an all day event-there will be coffee and donuts for the early birds at 8:00 am and lunch will be served at noon. Lunch will be provided by the club along with water and soda. The club will not be providing beer or wine…you’ll have to bring your own.

WinstonBinneyRodThe Opening Day Raffle for the Winston Binney 7′ 3″ 3wt will be drawn following lunch (1:00 -1:30). See Craig Meyers at the Club Auction or at the Opening Day Outing prior to drawing to purchase tickets.

This year we are very lucky to be able to offer for this year’s Opening Day Rod Raffle a 7 ft. 3 in, 2 piece/2 tip, 3 weight, bamboo fly rod crafted by club member Winston Binney. As many of you already know Winston builds a beautiful cane rod, and several club members are the proud owners of cane rods built by him. Eric Wroblewski was lucky enough to get Winston to make a rod in 2008, and it is his prized fly rod. This rod is a Para 3 taper, which is a taper Winston came up with. He described it as being his take on a Paul Young – Driggs taper which he lightened to a 3 weight. He said the action is parabolic. The rod is beautifully flamed, and has a mahogany reel seat.

The drawing will be held at 1:00 pm at the Opening Day Outing, Saturday, April 27.

Ticket prices:
One for $5.00
Three for $10.00
Seven for $20.00

If you have thought about a fine bamboo fly rod to fish Dowagiac Creek, then buy some tickets for this rod. It is the perfect small stream rod!

The Dowagiac Creek runs through Bobbie’s property so there will be fishing on-site, however, there are also several other possibilities within a few minutes drive of Bobbie’s farm. If you are not sure where to go, stop by Bobbie’s first and someone will available to help with any questions.

To get to the Labar farm from South Bend, take either m-60 or m-62 to Cassopolis, MI. Then take O’Keefe Rd north out of town to Engle St. (approx. 3.5 miles). Turn left on Engle St. Labar’s farm is about a 1/2 mile west of O’Keefe Rd. The address is 23683 Engle St. Cassopoplis, MI for those with GPS. (map)

SJRVFF AUCTION 2013

St. Joseph River Valley Fly Fishers is having our Annual Fundraiser on April 17th. Doors open at 5:30 PM at the Waterford Estates Lodge, 52890 State Road 933, South Bend, IN. (map) The Waterford is just north of the intersection of Cleveland Road and 933.  The event includes a grab bag raffle, silent auctions, a chance to win a new Scott G2 8’8” 6 weight fly rod/Galvan reel combo and a general auction run by auctioneer Dave Goodrich.

The Waterford will serve dinner at 6:30 PM.

Admission: Includes dinner, a bid card  and a special gift is $25 per person.

Details

6th Annual St. Joseph River Watershed Council Meeting sponsored by Friends of the St. Joseph River

Here is a great organization with a mission that mirrors ours pretty closely (if you would exclude the fishing).

If anyone is looking for a worthwhile and interesting program that may be just a little different check out the annual annual meeting announcement below.

The program is entitled : “Living Water: Teachings of the Water Walkers” and will be presented by the Pottawatomie Grandmothers.

Monday, March 18th. 5-9pm. In Sturgis Michigan. Check out the link below for more information and to register.

http://www.fotsjr.org/upcoming_events?eventId=629891&EventViewMode=EventDetails