This weekend! Saturday July 12th

 

Downey Fly Fisher members Todd Suttle and Zino Nakasuji will be presenting an eye

 opening program on Southern California carp hot spots and the techniques used to

 catch these fun and challenging fish. 

Saturday July 12 at 1pm at Marriots, 2700 W. Orangethorpe Ave.
Fullerton, CA 92833

Monthly Meeeting July 8, 2014

July 8th Guest Speaker Kevin Bell

Downey Fly Fishers is honored to have Kevin Bell as our July Guest Speaker. Kevin has been the General Manager at Bob Marriott’s Fly Fishing Store since 1998 and is the GM after the change in ownership of the shop in 2013.

Kevin started fly fishing at the age of 13 with the guidance of his father.  He learned how to tie flies at the Long Beach Casting club and spent many summers fly fishing the Eastern Sierras with his family.

Kevin started out at Bob Marriott’s as a part time sales associate while attending school to be an advertising photographer. He secured a position with Rockwell International as an advertising media person that lasted five years, and returned to Marriott’s, managing the satellite store in Irvine.   Kevin started out thinking that his Marriott’s carrier would be a short stint, but it blossomed into a 25 year career, with the last 16 years at the helm.

Kevin will talk about the history of Bob Marriott’s Fly Fishing Store and new classes that are available to the public along with how anglers can participate with Marriott’s social media with pictures and angling updates.  He will gladly answer and questions you may have about the shop’s history and present direction.  Kevin will bring in some new products for display and will answer any questions you may have regarding these products.

There will be a tying demonstration from six to seven.  

Monthly Meeting June 10, 2014

The Corbina Diaries…
The fish you may or may not catch but will hook you for life! 

Presented by Al Quattrocchi

Are you up for a fly fishing challenge? One of the most understood fish that inhabits our local beaches during the summer months is the California Corbina. For years they were prized by bait fisherman not only as fine table fair but for their finicky behavior and explosive runs once hooked. They were always considered a by catch by fly rodders, mainly in deeper troughs that ran parallel to the shoreline. The past ten years have been a corbina sight fishing renaissance amongst a handful of dedicated anglers. We now target these fish in shallow water and get them to consistently eat properly presented flies under the right conditions. Al Q will discuss the techniques, tides and tackle you will need to learn to begin your new adventure to a world class fishery that exists only a few months each year for those up for the challenge, right at our feet on our local beaches. Stay thirsty my friends...

Al will be doing a tying demo from 6 to 7, the main meeting will start at 7. 

Monthly Meeting May 13, 2014

Fishing the Kern River

 By Joe Margiotta of the Kern River Fly Shop

Joe's fishing biography;

I was born and grew up in Chicago. As a young boy my Mom and Dad would take me fishing at the city's lakefront on Lake Michigan. I remember the day I turned 3 and was allowed to hold the long cane pole on my own.

I caught a fish that day, it was a Yellow Perch; I was hooked for life.

When I was 16 I bought my first fly rod. I knew nothing about fly fishing except for an article I had read in Field and Stream magazine that got me interested. It was an 8' fiberglass rod with an automatic reel and a level line. I bought a small selection of dry flies, wet flies, and some small bluegill poppers based on nothing in particular; I knew nothing about what I was doing. In spite of the struggle of learning how to use my new outfit on my own I managed to catch some fish. I found Bluegill to be very cooperative and my first trout was on a dry in a river in northern Wisconsin. That little Rainbow was only about 6” but it was one of the most memorable catches of my life; I can still visualize that spectacular strike with the fish coming clear out of the water, my fly in it's mouth.

While I fly fished often in my early years I still turned to spin and conventional casting because I was more familiar with those methods and I was still learning to fly fish on my own. After moving to California, meeting people that fly fished became more frequent so I gradually turned more to fly. I haven't fished any thing but fly in the last 25 years.

I guide in the Southern Sierra and other parts of California. I teach beginning fly fishing classes and was one of the instructors of the first Youth Academies pioneered by the Santa Barbara Fly Fishers. I have taught “learn to fly fish” classes at the Artful Angler Fly Shop in Carpinteria and the Kern River Fly Shop in Kernville.

I have fished in many parts of the US and Canada, moving water, still water, fresh and salt. I have lived in and extensively fished the waters of Inyo and Mono counties. I now live in Kernville, home of the Kern River which I have fished for over 45 years.

Don's Lake Arrowhead Adventure

Submitted by Don Mulder

Tax season is over so I finished building a new 5 wt. rod and went fishing.  I caught a couple of Perch in the surf and then went on an after tax season get- away to Lake Arrowhead.  From the shore and a dock I caught a personal best Crappie, four small mouth bass and some trout.  I caught my biggest fish ever – twelve pounds on the Boga!  I was planning to release everything and didn’t even take a net along.  The people at the dock said I had to keep the planters because they won’t live.  I don’t know if this is true but I took it. 

Lake Arrowhead is a great fishery but it is private, you need  the Lake Association card to fish or be some ones’ guest as I was.  It is strictly monitored, the lovely patrol lady will ask you very politely but firmly and make sure you leave if you don’t have a card.

A late addition to the auction list!

Just donated a used Tibor Riptide reel.  Great condition and
great reel for 8 - 9 wt line.

April 8, 2014 Monthly Meeting

DFF Movie Night “Once in a Blue Moon”

New Zealand is the setting for this award winning 2009 DVD. What happens when mice get a banner year of seeds to feed on? Those mice aren’t rabbits, but their population explodes to a point of igniting a mass migration. They have to cross moving waters and New Zealand’s streams and rivers are home to beastly trout that don’t get that way being a vegan!

Gorgeous videography both above and below the water punctuates an unbelievable natural occurrence that is the dream of any angler that has ever caught a fish. This isn’t just a big fish fishing video by any stretch of the imagination. You will be asking for more after the 45 minutes are up. New Zealand is a spectacular setting for this amazing story of what can happen in nature when certain separate events converge.

Tod Suttle will be doing a fly tying demo from 6:00 – 7:00; pizza and beverages will be served.

We will have Joe Margiotta of the Kern River Fly Shop at our May 13th meeting.