WVFF Supports the Fly Fishing Academy
June 11th ‘Beehive Basics Day’
We drove from Wenatchee up to 4,000 ft. to practice casting and do some fishing at Beehive Reservoir. WVFF club members were on hand to assist people that were new to fly fishing or just a bit rusty. We had fun, shared some knowledge and caught a decent number of fish considering that it was a little windy under that blue jay sky.
On April 9th & 10th our club provided a Free Casting Clinic in Wenatchee’s Walla Walla Point Park to fortyfour non member beginners as well as seasoned club veterans.
Aaron Culley, a Certified Master Casting instructor lead the classes that ranged from introducing beginners to the standard method of casting to Aerial Mending and Non-Dominant Arm casting techniques.
In conjunction with the Inland Empire and Dry Side Fly Clubs, the WVFF donated funds and the time to install new ‘Catch and Release’ information signs at a popular fly fishing destination near Ephrata, called Rocky Ford.
We provided a cadre of casting instructors for a 2021 Casting For Recovery event at Mountain Springs Lodge in Plain. Fourteen ladies, had a great time casting flies and some even caught and released their first fish caught on a fly. Elaine Thompson Photo
Club members have for years supported and set up an educational booth at the Leavenworth Salmon Festival. The booth covers two topics; One features Gary Andersons aquatic entomology zoo and the other half is set up to teach anyone interested, how to tie some basic flies.
To earn a Merit Badge in Flyfishing, local Boy Scouts completed our three day class. The scouts attended class and learned about fly fishing equipment, fish food and how to cast their creations. Independantly they caught and cooked their fish in order to claim their badges.
Fly casting and fly tying classes have been taught to high school students in Leavenworth.
We created and located, in conjunction with local WDFW, eight laminated signs at various locations on the Entiat River drainage to educate fisherfolks about the differences between trout species.
Apparently we need to develop an educational program that reviews the various launching techniques available to fly fishers.
WVFF has provided multiple tying demonstrataions and educational booths for the Sportsman Show at the Town Toyota Center.
For two pre-Covid years, and hopefully more in the future, we’ve organized a cadre of fly tying instructors to teach adults how to tie flies at the Wenatchee River Institute.
Pat really got this one hooked on tying at the Ellensburg Conclave.
Demonstrations of tying techniques have been provided to groups from Leavenworth to Conconully.
For close to thirty years. members Gary Anderson and Tom Whiteside have taught an ‘Introduction to Fly Fishing’ class at Wenatchee Valley College. Graduation day, pictured above at Beehive Reservoir gives the students a chance to catch fish on the flies they tied.
Every year our club donates funds to send at least one middle school aged child to the the fly fishing academy in Lacey. The young adults return home with an armload of fly fishing gear plus a head full of information about, the fly fishing sport, aquatic invertabrates ( aka fish food) stream etiquette, fly tying, casting, stream safety and more in the one week camp. This year a gentleman from Wenatchee will be our guest.