THE TROUT LINE

Tualatin Valley Chapter News

March/April 2003 Editor: David Illig

There’s Still Time! Make plans to Join TU at Eco Trust to

Help Save Wild Fish through the 2003 Tualatin Valley
Trout Unlimited Banquet/Auction.
Come on out for a great time and great Cause.
And Shop for Great Bargains for the entire year

Saturday, March 15th 5:30-9pm at the EcoTrust Conference Center

Building in the historic Pearl District. 721 NW 9th Ave

Please also invite other people who support our cause and like to
donate money to a great organization and get fishing equipment,
guided trips and much more in return besides feeling great about
giving. Yes, wealthy people are helpful.

Great Food in a sit-down dinner provided by Bon Appetit. Tickets are $40
each, or $75 per couple. 90 total seats. Call soon! 30 left.

Great Guided Trips and Merchandise. Silent and oral auctions include fishing
and outdoor recreation items. Fly rods and reels. Art work. Dining. Lodging.
Guided trips. Clothing. Get-a-ways, And much more Great bargains
available. A great place to spend your fishing money. Guided trips on the
Madison River, McKenzie River, 1& 3 days on the Deschutes, Willamette
River, Lake float tube trip. Guided sturgeon trip. And more. Over $9,000 in
value. And Random drawings.

Tax benefits for ALL. Suggest this fund raiser to people who believe in putting
their money into good causes and good organizations that make a local
difference. This is a good place to put charitable donations with tax benefits. A
Great shopping opportunity for the entire year’s recreational activity.
Bargains. Life is short, have more fun.
 How to Get Tickets: Contact Seth Isenberg at sbisenberg@attbi.com or call
him at 503 293 3290 evenings
Protect our Rivers and Our Fish: Our Future
CHAPTER MEETING
Methodist Church - Wesley Hall
12555 SW 4th St. Beaverton
Chapter Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each
month at 7:00 pm with a social get-together and the formal
meeting at 7:30 unless otherwise noted in the newsletter
. places fishing. Simply enjoying a pleasure of this short life. We
Board of Directors Meetings held just prior to our monthly
Chapter meeting at 5:30pm Round Table Pizza, Beaverton.
Thursday, March 13 7pm
Carson Lord, Oregon Trout &
Brian Wegener, Tualatin River Keepers.
Two organizations that are extremely important
to the protection of Oregon and Portland rivers.
Thursday, April 10 7pm
Rick Hafele, DEQ biologist and bug
expert, back by popular demand. Presenting
his brand new Video!
A very valuable speaker for the fisherman as
well as the fly tyer!
Editor’s Column.
During these turbulent times it is easy to get distracted by the
troubles of the world and to forget about the simple pleasures of
fishing. With World War a topic, it is easy to ignore more simple
topics of concern such as a clean stream or an ancient salmon or
steelhead run.
However, the sudden unexpected death of a supposedly healthy,
fit friend, recently clarified for us that life is short, there is no
guaranteed future, and one should invest in their most important
priorities. These priorities probably do include becoming active
about national and international concerns of global concern
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
But a heightened awareness of the shortness of life does seem to
encourage us to put more emphasis into enjoying life and
recreational passions. It does encourage you to work to preserve
things of value that will last long after your passing. Those at
Nick’s memorial seemed most impressed with how much time he
invested in his passion, sailing, even though he did contribute
greatly as a school teacher. So trout, steelhead, and salmon
fisherpersons made promises to spend more time in wonderful
also promised to do more to protect and preserve the incredible
fishery resources of our region so that all future generations will
have the benefits of their magic regardless of the crazy nature of
the world and its possible futures. We promised to not waste the
learning from Nick’s leaving. But to make it work for our benefit,
our health and helping the world.
As Nick knew, peace in the world starts with peace inside each
and every individual. So celebrate and invest in your priorities
this year. Enjoy and contribute David
NEWSLETTER TO GO ONLINE
We are moving off of the US mail list so you
will receive your newsletter Online. For three
reasons: ONE, this saves the chapter a bunch of
money we can use for other things. TWO, you’ll
get to see pictures in color. You can read on
screen or print out your own color copy.
THREE, we use less paper and ink. That helps
fish, right.
Please get your email address to Seth in order
to get your newsletter at the TU web site. It will
be posted every two months as usual along
with old copies archived. We’ll send out an
email when each issue is posted.
You also need to contact Seth if you must
remain on US mail. We will maintain a limited
mailing list. Seth is at sbisenberg@attbi.com.
503 293 3290 eve.
5838 SW Vermont St. Portland 97219

Tualatin Valley Web Site
www.oregontu.org/tvtu
TU-TV Website is up and Going! Thanks to Brian Genge
and Seth. Seth will consolidate info for review. Send photos etc.
Fish this fly just sub-surface with slow foot-long pulls. If you are
using light tippet don’t hold too tight when you strip the fly back
since the takes are often very strong. The pattern probably works
best in lakes that have traveling sedges and/or termites of which
Three Creeks has both. We fished it in September, but the
traveling caddis is a late June pattern. I hope to get over and fish
it that time of year as well. This pattern has also worked for me
on the Deschutes, fishing it on the swing Give it a try. It
deserves a spot in your flybox. Alex

Fly of the Month: The Sunken Caddis

Alex Barkume
This month’s pattern is a pattern I call the Sunken
Caddis. This pattern was a result of information given to me by a
friend who often fishes Three Creeks Reservoir out of Sisters.
My friend had described how the late season hold-over rainbows
and brook trout came readily to a dry caddis, but only after it
started to sink. Eager to unlock the secrets of this lake, I tied up
several Sunken Caddis and joined up with my friend. Once I got
paste taking in the magnificent scenery, I started to pay attention
to the lake. It was fairly calm and I strained to see if anything
was hatching. Nothing much seemed to be happening but my
friend assured me that the caddis would bring fish. I tied on a
Sunken Caddis and started to work my way out into the lake. I
hadn’t kicked more than 10 yards out when I had my first strike
and a hefty 16 inch rainbow soon came to the net. We worked
our way across the lake taking several more good fish. On the
far side of the lake are some weed beds. The caddis pattern really
started to come on. We ended up doing quite well that day and I
now carry this pattern with me all the time. I am quite confident
using it when caddis are around.
This pattern is another “working fly”, i.e., it is easy to tie, durable
Sunken Caddis
and yet effective. Here’s the recipe:

Sunken Caddis

Hook: Tiemco 5212 – sizes 12 & 14

Thread: Brown, 8/0 Uni-thread
The fly tying round-up at the last meeting was very successful.
Body: Burnt Orange Hare’s Ear dubbing (could
There was some very successful teaching and learning as well as
also use other colors as needed
tall tales spun. I didn’t know flies came with guarantees! Plan for
Hackle: Brown saddle hackle palmered up to the
next year.
thorax. (you can use poor grade hackle here)
Wing: Small clump of Partridge fibers.
Thorax: Brown or black hare’s ear dubbing.
Collar: One or two more wraps of the brown saddle
hackle.

1. Tie in a saddle hackle by its tip just above the barb.

2. Dub in a tapered body with the hare’s ear dubbing
3. Palmer the hackle up to the thorax (about 1/3 of the way
back from the eye of the hook) and tie off.
4. Tie in several Partridge body feather fibers in for the
wing. Extend to the point of the hook.
5. Dub in the thorax and then put in 1 or 2 more wraps of
saddle.
6. Tie off a small neat head and whip-finish.
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”

Upcoming Speakers 2003 Speakers:
May 8 Derek Fergus, Lake fishing strategies
(followed by two day workshop on
the water)
June 12 Henry Hoffman, Shad on a fly
July 10 Ron Lauzon, Two handed casting
clinic at Cook Park on Tualatin River
August No meeting Vacation
Gambling for Steelhead
Rod Lundberg
I started praying early this year. It’s one thing to schedule a trip
to the coast for the weekend for winter steelhead, then bag it
when storms roll in and bring the rivers to flood stage. It’s quite
another to book a flight to the upper Midwest for the week of
Halloween - two months in advance. All you can do is pray.
“There’s always the risk of getting frozen out,” my dad would
say, for the fourth time in as many years. For the record, ‘frozen
out’ means that while the river may still be a fishable 38 degrees,
the air temperature is something less than that, enough so that
the ice forming in the guides and on the fingertips tends to
complicate things. “Or blown out.”
During the fall, anything is possible in northern Wisconsin. Some
days it’s been so warm that I’ve ended up stripped down to a t-
shirt, with neoprenes rolled down to the waist and caches of hats,
fleece, and rain gear strewn along the riverbank.
“But historically the peak of the run occurs just before that, so it’s
a good time to be on the water.” And he had been right, all three
years. The weather had been a mixed bag, but the river had been
blown out only one day between those three trips. And there
were fish. And not once had we been frozen out.
“But it’s your call,” clearly intending to exonerate himself. For
some reason I was worried about this fourth one. He seemed to
be, too. I rolled the dice.
I rationalized that the trip was more about spending time with
family, that it wasn’t about catching fish so much as fishing, that it
would be a nice break from work, that we could find other things
to do if we couldn’t fish. All bs, of course. This was about big fish
on small water. OK, maybe a little bit nostalgia; you know,
‘fishing with Dad in the old stomping grounds’…
‘Dread’, ‘horror’, and ‘trepidation’ are all really good choices to
describe my reaction to the extended forecast as mid-October
arrived. A cold front – a seriously cold front – was gathering
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
forces in the Arctic, poised to pounce on the Great Lakes.
Overnight lows in the teens. Highs maybe hitting the freezing
point. My luck had finally run out.
Or so it seemed. There appeared to be a brief opening during
which fishing might actually be possible at the beginning of the
week as warmer air was predicted to push its way north. Did I
say ‘warmer’? Thirty-six degrees is tropical when compared to
the rest of that forecast. As my departure date neared, this
window narrowed, widened, disappeared, shifted, and delayed
often enough that I was having nightmares with weather maps. A
more practical type might have said, “Why worry? It will be what
it will be…” Very funny. Mr. Practical hadn’t dropped $300 for a
plane ticket and a week’s vacation on a gamble for steelhead.
Finally, the time was near enough that I knew I would at least get
some fishing in, though I also knew that I would get some
suffering in, too. The ‘character-building’ kind where your hands
and fingers are so cold and numb for so long that when they even
begin to think about warming up they ache. This is caused, of
course, by the self-loathsome refusal to take enough breaks
during the day to ensure that there is in fact still warm blood in
the limbs. Some of us hit that threshold later than others.
We drove up Monday morning and arrived on the river at noon
to find overcast skies, air temperature in the mid-30’s, blessedly
little wind, and five fishermen who truly believed there wasn’t a
single steelhead in the system. They trudged into the parking lot
or we crossed paths on the trail. Bait, yarn, flies, and lures. At
least that’s what they told us. I was a bit disheartened, but my
dad was pretty excited. Apparently that’s when he catches fish.
When the other guys have been hammering steelhead, he doesn’t
do a thing. Timing, I guess. Plus, we would have the river
virtually to ourselves.
He was right. In the last three hours of the day, I hooked and
landed three fish up to 25 inches. A nice way to break in my
virgin 7-weight. My dad hooked - but lost - three as well. Oddly,
I had my barbs pinched and he didn’t. The water temperature
was either 38 or 41, depending on whose thermometer you
trusted. We fished the deep, slow runs and pools thinking that
the fish would be settling into their winter lies, dead-drifting
large rubber-legged peacock hearl nymphs as near the bottom as
we could get.
I hooked and landed a fourth fish the next day around noon, and
at four-for-four I was feeling invincible. Steelhead number five
took care of that a few hours later when it cleared the water
looking all of 30 inches – so it was probably more like 28, but still
huge for this river – and started digging into the hole under a
snag. As I maintained pressure and calmly, maybe even
nonchalantly, began reeling up the stripping loop, the line went
slack and I found myself facing serious disappointment for the
first time of the trip.
The weather factor finally entered the fray on Wednesday. The
puddles were starting to ice over, and on the river that day wet
skin = bad. Lots of hand-warming breaks. My dad actually
hooked a fish right away but it jumped once and shook loose. I
went 6 hours without a trace of a steelhead, but was still
confident as the ice began forming in my guides as late afternoon
settled in. After all, I’d hooked three fish on Monday and two fish
on Tuesday. Certainly I could manage just one fish on
Wednesday?
Sure enough, I finally hooked into steelhead number six in a deep
and narrow run. It grabbed at the very end of the drift, just as the
fly was lifting off the bottom. My last fish was the most
memorable because I felt it only twice. Once when I set the hook,
and once when it snapped my line. In the painfully brief, frantic
moments in between, it shot out of the deep pool straight at my
feet, as evidenced by my strike indicator approaching at mach-1
speed beneath the water surface. It then did a 180 as it neared the
sand bar I was standing on and torpedoed back into the pool. My
motor skills were rather depressed at that point and I couldn’t
flip the switch from “strip really really really fast!” to “NO – let
line out really really really fast!” quickly enough and, well, you
get the picture. They are amazing fish.
The next morning, puddles were frozen solid with clear skies and
wind that was blowing at about 20. With only a token debate
about trying to fish, we packed up and headed south, grateful for
what opportunity we had been given.
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
One interesting observation I had while fishing was that my dad
was using the more typical pea-sized split shot under his strike
indicator, while I was using two of the much smaller BB size. My
reasoning was that in the low water, the fish might be more wary
of something so noticeable bouncing along next to the fly so I
wanted to minimize the lead profile. Results? He seemed to hook
most of his fish in the morning, while I hooked all of mine except
one (at noon) no earlier than mid-afternoon. I suspect that he was
getting deeper and into the strike zone right in front of the fish, so
it was just a matter of them opening their mouth for a convenient
morsel as they were ‘waking up’. Breakfast in bed, so to speak. I
must have been getting a more natural presentation, but the fish
were having to move further to take my fly, something they
would be more willing to do after the water temperature had
risen some later in the day. But also a time when they might be
more alert to a big chunk of lead drifting towards them, since
they seemed to avoid his presentation more than mine. Hardly
scientific, but definitely some food for thought for next year. We
already have the cabin booked for Halloween Week 2003...
Rod
Antelope Flat Reservoir Outing
May 30th – June 2nd Friday – Monday
Andy will be leaving around noon on Friday, May 30th for
Antelope Flat Reservoir. Take the Paulina Highway out of
Prineville to Pine Creek Road, a distance of about 25 miles.
Follow Pine Creek Road to the campground and the reservoir,
another 8 – 10 miles. The red TU flag with white lettering will be
flying in Andy’s site.
The reservoir is an early desert fishery that holds 12 to 15 inch
rainbows, with the occasional 18-inch fish that can be caught
while tubing. If the wind comes up making tubing unsafe, fishing
from the shore can be productive.
On Saturday night, Andy will fire up the barbecue and cook
some meat and have a green salad. If you would like to bring
chips, a desert or other goodies to blend in with the meal, it
would be appreciated.
Please join us for one day or several days of fishing and
socializing with TU members.
Special One Day Clinic.
Fishing and Tying Western Hatches with Skip
Morris and Rick Hafele
March 9, Glenn Otto Community Park, Troutdale, OR
9:30-3:30
Two of our favorite speakers are presenting this clinic. Fly fishing
and fly tying writers and experts. Excellent teachers present on
how to recognize, fish and tie patterns for some of the key
hatches of the West.
Contact Rick Hafele in Portland

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
Trout Unlimited buys renewable energy …And
so can YOU. Trout Unlimited has purchased-through the
Bonneville Environmental Foundation's Green Tags program-an
amount of energy from renewable sources sufficient to power its
five national field offices in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. About
99 percent of energy purchased through BEF's Green Tags comes
from new wind power generated within the region, with the
remainder from solar. "This is our small attempt to demonstrate
the positive link between clean, affordable energy and
sustainable salmon and steelhead runs to counter the false
impression many folks seem to have that they're mutually
exclusive," said Alan Moore of Trout Unlimited. "We hope that
others vested in the future of this region's salmon and steelhead
heritage will recognize that link and follow our lead."
2. Oregon Wilderness- There is continued work on developing
plans for protecting many Oregon road less areas. Right now the
coalition groups are developing plans for each area. TU will
working on 4 areas (John Day, Clackamas, Rogue, and Middle
Coast) and is developing plans now. Stay tuned.
3. Goal 5- Metro is working on the ESEE( Economic, Social,
Environmental, Energy) part of the Goal 5 process. They have
developed Economic and Environmental studies with the other 2
on their way. Public testimony will begin this summer.
Developers and businesses will be working hard to remove the
protection of the significant habitat.

In fact, for a small monthly increase in your PGE bill, you too can
designate that most of your consumed power will be generated
by renewable sources. This simply requires filling out a simple
form and submitting it. It then shows up on your monthly bill. (I
made the switch myself several months ago. The salmon
appreciated it. TV Ed.)
4. ODFW Hatchery Management plan- ODFW is currently doing
workshops, which TU is involved in, on their proposed Hatchery
Management plan. After they process feedback from these
workshops they will take public testimony with final decision
before the Commissioners in August. More later. Tom Wolf

Moore said that Trout Unlimited is promoting alternative sources

such as wind and solar in the interest of diversifying to a broader
set of energy resources, not in the interest of making hydropower
obsolete. "This isn't about replacing the Columbia-Snake
hydrosystem with windmills," said Moore. "This is about
encouraging the demand for clean sources like wind and solar to
diversify our energy portfolio." Originally from the Portland
Business Journal.
Some news on the Cold Water Conservation
Front in Oregon. Tom Wolf
Membership Renewals. I urge everyone to let Erle
process your renewals. Our chapter (#633) receives $5 for every
renewal that we process. Some chapters around the country are
making thousands of dollars doing this. If just half of our
members did this,
we’d make an extra $1200 a year. Send the renewal form with
your 8 digit ID, name, address, and check to our Membership
chairperson, Erle Norman: 6152 SW Nevada Ct, Portland, OR.
97219 Phone number is 503-293-6006
Ask Board members for membership applications.

Salem events- Things are already heating in Salem. Two bills

of concern to TU are HB 2376, which would eliminate OWEB and
take the money on use it for maintaining hatcheries. It has not
made it to any committee yet.
The ODFW fee increase, HB 2260, will go before committee on
Thursday. ODFW wants to use the fee increase primarily for
hatcheries-not what they promised us at the budget meetings.
One thing that could ruin ODFW's plans is that the legislators
don't like the fee increase-they see it as a tax. Also they feel that it
will cause less people to buy licenses. I will have more on this
later.

On another front, conservationist's are still upset about former

ODF chief Jim Brown's appointment as Governor Kulongoski's
Natural Resource advisor. This has caused some resentment
against the governor and doesn't bode well.

Also, Oregon Department of Forestry has announced temporary

rules that would suspend restrictions against logging on steep
slopes above streams. They are not taking public testimony on
this but TU has signed onto a letter protesting this with other
conservation groups.

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
 What I learned convinced me even more to purchase my
feathers ‘on-the-skin’ whenever possible.
Book information: Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New
York, 2002
ISBN: 0-375-70966-5 Price: $15.95

Seth with Winter Giant

Book Review by Jerry Heppell

Sibley’s Birding Basics
By David Allen Sibley

A book review on a birding book might seem unusual

for a fly fishing newsletter, but this book is not a species
identification reference. This book is interesting to me because I TU Outings: Lets Go Fishing
am a birder and a fly tyer.

“Sibley’s Birding Basics” is about the process of bird May 9&10 Derek Fergus: Private Lake
identification, about bird taxonomy and about how birds are put Fishing Clinic at Wild Winds
together. Though the book uses mostly song birds (passerines)
for discussion examples, it also includes waterbirds, shorebirds
and raptors. What it does not cover is chicken-like-birds May 30th through June 2nd
(pheasant, turkey, quail and grouse), which are important to fly Antelope Flat Reservoir Andy
tyers, however, much of what is included on other birds can be
applied to the chicken-like-birds.
June 14 &15 East Lake Alex
What interested me was that almost one-third of the book is
devoted to feathers. Feather specific chapters include: Saturday, June 28th Hide Away Lake .
Understanding Feathers, Feather Arrangement and Color
Patterns, and Structure of Tail and Wings. These chapters are Andy
thorough and detailed. They discuss types of feathers, structure
of feathers, color patterns and characteristics of feathers (or Saturday and Sunday, July 19th and 20th
feather groups) from different parts of the bird. For example,
feather groups on a bird are separated from each other by borders Linton Lake Andy
of bare skin on all but waterbirds. Feathers on ducks and geese
below the water line are continuous and dense for insulation. September 18th through the 24th

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
 Thursday through the following Wednesday
The Fall River Andy

October 18th and 19th Saturday and Sunday

The Crooked River Andy

Contact Andy at Raddicio@aol.com

Tualatin Valley Trout

Unlimited Chapter
2002 Officers
President:
Open
Position

Vice President: Hank Hosfield

228-6553 hankh@imagina.com

Treasurer: Rod Lundberg

291-5308 rplundberg@hotmail.com

Board of Directors:

Eric Thompson - 297-0718

amterm@aol.com

Tom Wolf - 640-2123 Tmilowolf@msn.com

Dick Rohrbaugh
rbaugh@lclark.edu 503-636-3877

Jerry Heppell jheppell@teleport.com March/April 2003

503.639.9408
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
 Andy Andrews
Raddicio@aol.com
503-646-2375
Seth Isenberg (503) 293-3290
sbisenberg@attbi.com

Alex Barkume - 642-7024

alexbarkume@attbi.com

Membership Chair
Erle Norman - 293-6006
caddis2000@hotmail.com