Member Matters – October 2019

Welcome New Member!

Mike Green of Happy Valley is our newest FCO member. He enjoys fly tying, rod building, and “tricks and techniques.” Mike, this month’s guest speaker’s discussion of Tactical Fly Fishing will be speaking your language. Hope to see you at the October 8th meeting!

Fishing Reports

ja brown

Janet Arenz with Spearfish Creek brown

Janet Arenz and Curt Marr engaged with Spear Creek Fly Shop and High Mountain Outfitters for guiding service, in Spear Creek, South Dakota last week. Our guide was 23 year old Ryan Driscoll. He was previously with the South Dakota Fish, Game and Parks Department, focusing on the “Fish” portion of the agency. He was an energetic, knowledgeable angler who loves fishing and guiding in the Black Hill waters.

We spent the day focusing on two completely different sections of Spear Creek. One section was in the long, climbing creek up a narrow canyon in the mountains; and the other in the creek running along the edge of a neighborhood park back in town.

Browns and Rainbows were the majority residents. The water was late summer shallow, knee to hip high. We tied on hoppers with a dropper, often a tiny beaded hares ear. Fish primarily took the hoppers, thrown in the expected shallower edges of the creek, and on the edges of currents.

There were periodic pools of water where you could see tens of fish who would snub every fly we presented. But in pieces of the creek that our guide selected, there were beautiful fish who were not so shy. We both caught fish, with the two nicest specimens in the photos here. The Rainbow was caught in the canyon and the big Brown in the neighborhood park section.

Janet Arenz

More Hook-ups

Check out the Gallery to see fish that members Rick Pay, Mark Seligman, and Steve Willhite have successfully enticed by their special tactics – or luck?