THE TROUT LINE
Tualatin Valley Chapter News
March/April 2004
____________________________________________________________________________
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
Board of Directors Meetings held just prior to our monthly
Chapter meeting at 5:30pm Round Table Pizza, Beaverton.
Joe Warren Thursday, March 11th
Joe Warren presents fly fishing for Lahontan cutthroat at Omak
Lake. TVTU members who were in the club ten years ago
probably remember the first time Joe Warren did this program.
For many of us, it was our first exposure to these unique, huge
denizens of alkaline waters that are uninhabitable for most living
things. It was very impressive, and many of us put Omak Lake
(and/or its Oregon cousin, Mann Lake) on our hit list. Joe says
he’s added quite a bit to this program since then—knowledge
gleaned over ten more years of fishing Omak, along with new
and improved photos.
Jeff Morgan Thursday, April 8th
Jeff Morgan debuts material from his upcoming book on
hatches. The standard reaction for anyone upon meeting Jeff or
seeing one of his programs for the first time is wonder at how
someone so young can be such an expert, and how freely he
shares the fruits of his research to advance the pursuit of fly
fishing for the rest of us. His first book on fishing the Cascades is
already a classic. The word in fly fishing’s academic circles is
that Jeff’s soon-to-be-released book on aquatic invertebrates has
already earned the praise of fly fishing’s most renowned bug
experts. Jeff is currently teaching and completing his doctorate at
Stanford, so this is a rather special opportunity, not only to see
Jeff in Oregon, but to get a sneak preview of this major work.
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
Editor: David Illig
President’s Column
By Hank Hosfield
Thanks to the January snow, for the first time
in TVTU history we canceled a meeting. We
sent a cancellation notice to our email list the
morning of, but we’ve only heard from one
person who didn’t see it in time who
ventured forth into the icy night to find the church closed. Until
our TVTU web site is up, you can find current meeting
information and announcements on the events page on
Westfly.com. This is a good place to check for our program and
meeting info.
For the rest of you who were merely disappointed about the
cancellation of Jeff Gottfried’s ultimate wilderness fishing
experience floating Alaska’s Kisaralek River, you’ll be thrilled to
know that we’ve rescheduled this program for our June 10th
meeting.
More good things on the way include a full slate of outings in
2004, starting with a combined outing with CRTU April 23-25 at
South Twin Lake. This is just after ice-out (we hope) and it the
best time to hook rainbows over 20 inches. Subsequent outing
destinations include the Deschutes in May, Timothy Lake in June,
Gold Lake in July, East Lake in August, and a week at Fall River
in September.
On the conservation front, TVTU has partnered with US Forest
Service, Estacada School District, Portland General Electric and
Eagle Creek Fish Hatchery on an Embrace-A-Stream grant to
fund an educational program titled “Savvy About Salmonids.” If
approved, this project will introduce salmonids to students in the
Estacada School District and involve youth in activities that
impress upon them the importance of environmental values,
stewardship and the wild heritage that is as close as their
backyards. This project would give students an opportunity for
hands-on experience with salmonids utilizing the classroom and
field environments. The students will rear hatchery salmonids
native to the local Clackamas River in an aquarium to study life
histories, anatomy and water quality. In the field, students would
collect and interpret water quality, macro invertebrate, fish, and
spawning data in Wade Creek (and pond), a tributary to the
Clackamas River—which is home to a small population of
steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout. The data from these surveys
will lay the foundation for future restoration work on Wade
 2
Creek and promote greater return of federal (steelhead) and state
(coho) listed salmonids back to this stream. There will be ample
opportunities for TVTU volunteers to help share their knowledge
with these students. We’ll keep you informed of the project
status as the grant process progresses.

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”

After years of training our members to renew their TU
memberships through Erle Norman (TVTU membership chair), in
order to take advantage of chapter rebate offers, we’re sad to
report that TU national is no longer offering this program.
Hence, it is now easier for members to renew directly with TU via
their web site, TU.org. However, you’ll still want to remember
our 633 chapter number when filling out your online renewal
form.
Our next big fundraising effort will be a banquet auction in early
2005. We are combining forces with CRTU to put this on and will
be calling on TVTU members to join the banquet committee
forming early in the fall.
Lastly, but most importantly, we are still looking for volunteer(s)
to help us design and publish a new TVTU web site. There will
be a budget and some compensation available for this task. If
you’re interested, or know a likely candidate, please contact me
at hankh@imagina.com, or 503-228-6553.
Tight lines, Hank
We Want Women!
The Tualatin Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited is not an all male
fishing/conservation club by design. Approximately one-quarter
of the clubs members are women. However, it is unusual to see
woman at our meetings or on outings. If there is a lady member
who is interested in becoming more active in the organization,
please contact any board member for more information. This is
your chapter and we want to hear your voice. Andy Andrews
Remember to Sign up New Members to Trout
Unlimited. It’s a great bargain for what you get. Lots of
people aren’t members who would enjoy it.
National has removed the token we received for renewals.
However, we still get something for new member signups. So
please have people sign up through Erle rather than some other
method.
.
UPCOMING Newsletter Material
We need material for upcoming issues. We would enjoy having
some other guest FLY-of-the-Month tying and using articles of
your favorite flies. I would also like some GEAR opinions about
various rods, reels, lines, leaders, gadgets, etc., of fly fishing and
what you like and dislike. Opinions are all we ask for. It doesn’t
have to be scientifically tested, just your experience and opinions
are worth hearing.
How about some interesting Salmon recipes? Hatchery of course.
How about an article about some fishing experiences that are
somewhat unique to women? Or how about an article about a
child’s fishing experience? Or a mother’s day or fathers day
tribute to fishing?
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
3
How about a fishing report on the Williamson Rivers and
vicinity?
Or just send some nice digital pictures you have. We need your
input, please. Dillig1@aol.com 296 9050
Internet Resources for the Angler
Rod Lundberg
If you’re like me, you want to know “How’s the fishin’ been?”
It’s often convenient enough to call up one of the fly shops, but
say it’s 8 o’clock in the evening and you’re trying to decide
between a pre-dawn jaunt for coastal steelhead or a trip east for
redsides. If you have access to the internet, it is a treasure trove
of information if you know where to look. Here’s a few of the
sites that I’ve found useful:
Weather
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/forecasts/ORZ006.php?warnco
unty=ORC067&city=Portland
It’s always wise to know what you should wear to the party. This
gives you the Portland conditions and forecast, and you can enter
a town near your destination to get more local information.
River Levels http://waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/rt
Because if it’s flooding, you don’t want to go there. If you’re
interested in Washington rivers, replace the ‘or’ with ‘wa’ in the
address.
Fly Shops
Creekside Fly Fishing (Salem) -
http://www.creeksideflyfishing.com/fishingreport.htm
Creekside’s report covers the northern coastal rivers as well as
the Deschutes, Metolius, McKenzie, North Santiam, Crooked, and
Fall Rivers.
Welches Fly Shop - http://www.flyfishusa.com/about-our-
waters/our-waters-home/river-report.html
Welches covers the Sandy and Deschutes.
There are others, of course, but these sites are particularly reliable
with regular updates on fishing conditions.
General Forecasts
Westfly - http://www.westfly.com/cgi-
bin/entryPage?state=OR
Westfly’s Scott Richmond provides a monthly summary of what
to expect on a selection of the state’s most popular waters in
terms of run timing, hatches, flies, etc.
 4
There are many, many other sites out there if you’re interested in
hunting them down, but this is a pretty good start if you’re just
beginning your search. Rod

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”

Fly of the Month
All-Purpose Floating Nymph A.P. Floating Nymph
Dick Rohrbaugh
With the spring Baetis hatches soon to begin on the Deschutes
this is a good time to start filling the boxes with killer flies. Like
many Oregon fly fishers this is one of my favorite times of the
year. If you hit a cloudy day and are on the river in the middle of
the day, chances are you will enjoy some of the best dry-fly
fishing of the year. So our pattern this month is one I cooked up
for just this occasion.
In his masterful book, The Dry Fly, Gary La Fontaine
demonstrated that during a hatch you will often catch more fish
on a floating emerger than on a full-blown surface dun. That is
especially true in the early stages of a hatch, but often remains
consistent for the duration. Hatches that produce a lot of cripples
like the Pale Morning Dun or Baetis make this especially
important.
Of course there are dozens of patterns to match this stage of a
hatch but I am always looking for patterns that are generic.
Generic flies save clutter on both your tying desk and in your fly
boxes. If you learn to tie them well all you have to do is vary the
size and color to match a wide variety of hatching insects. If they
are durable and easy to tie, so much the better.
There is nothing especially fancy or new about this pattern, in
fact there are many patterns tied in this style. I simply adapted it
to the Baetis (I also use it in different colors for a PMD emerger)
we see on the Deschutes. Since spring Baetis are larger than their
fall cousins, we will tie this one in size 16. Here is how you tie it.
Hook: Tiemco 900 BL or equivalent – size 16
Thread: 8/0, olive
Tail: Pheasant tail fibers
Rib: Fine copper wire
Body: Pheasant tail fibers
Wing Case: Gray, closed cell foam (1/8” thick)
Thorax: Olive superfine dubbing (or equivalent)
Hackle Dark olive (or dark dun)
1. Tie in the pheasant tail fibers, making the tail about the
length of the hook shank. Do not trim the excess. It will
be used to form the body.
2. Tie in the fine gold wire, keeping it out of the way once
tied in. Then wrap the pheasant tail fibers forward to
form the body of the fly. The body should occupy no
more than the back half of the hook.
3. Reverse wrap the copper wire for forming the rib.
Reverse wrapping is necessary to prevent the wire from
disappearing into the body fibers.
4. Cut a thin sliver of the gray closed cell foam (a little less
than 1/8” wide) and tie it in just in front of the body.
Tie it in pointing back toward the bend of the hook and
leave it there, out of the way, until the final step.
5. Tie in a good quality, dry-fly hackle with the shiny side
of the feather facing forward. The hackle fibers should
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
5
be slightly longer than the shank of the hook. Leave
the hackle standing upright and out of the way.
6. Dub the thorax, making it fairly bulky compared to the
body. Be sure to leave yourself room for the head of the
fly. Superfine dubbing works well here both because it
is easy to dub on smaller flies and because it floats
reasonably well.
7. Palmer the hackle forward (open wraps) over the thorax.
A few wraps are all that is necessary. Then trim the
fibers on top of the hook, leaving only those on the sides
and bottom.
8. Pull the foam forward over the thorax forming the wing
case of the fly. Let it form a lump rather than pulling it
down too tightly. Tie the foam down well and then as
you get ready to trim the excess, stretch the foam a bit
before you cut it. This way you get a cleaner cut.
9. Wrap a small head on the fly and whip finish. Cement
the head.
10. Finally, trim the hackle fibers on the bottom of the hook,
leaving only those on the sides.
Fish the fly with a traditional dead-drift float. There is no need to
grease it because the foam will keep the fly in the surface film.
You do not want it floating too high. Will you be able to see this
fly very well? No, but it does not matter. Fish the rise. But do
watch the area in which the fly is floating carefully, because often
you will see little more than a flashing side. When tied as a PMD
(same size, but yellow body and thorax) and fished over that
hatch it will often be taken so subtly that no rise ring will appear.
They just suck it down. On Baetis the rises are usually more
apparent. If you are obsessed with wanting to see the fly, tie it
with white closed cell foam. It will make no difference to the fish.
Baetis hatches are of course a bit unpredictable. Cloudy days are
best, though I have occasionally seen them in bluebird days. If it
is raining, they can be spectacular. I have seen them as early as
March (the earliest I usually show up) and as late as early June
(and, of course, again in the fall). One of the best I ever saw was
during the salmon fly hatch near South Junction. April and early
May, however, are the prime times. If you hit the hatch during
that time, give this one a try. It will out-fish a traditional dun
pattern every time. Dick
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“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
 7
Fly Tyer’s Corner Dick Rohrbaugh was a ‘family vacation’, I would be required to ‘ride a horse’.
Now I enjoy a John Wayne movie as much as the next baby
Tips for Fly Tyers! Over the years tyers have accumulated a lot of
boomer but I’ve noticed that horses are always bigger than I am.
creative ideas. In tying, like everything else, experience is always
They seem to know that I know nothing about them or their
the best teacher. Here is a new set of tips to try the next time you
ways, and they end up using that knowledge to humiliate me. On
tie.
other expeditions, I have left horses at an inappropriate moment
and probably uttered a few ‘X’ rated words about the nag that I
Materials
had recently been sitting on. Viewing the animal from the
It is always worth checking your local sewing store for
ground, they always seemed to be smiling at me. But I could see
fly tying materials. A good example is rubber legs. The elastic
that I was again going to have to sit on a biting, foot flattening,
waistbands sold in sewing stores can provide a hefty supply of
constantly moving, flea infested nag over which I would had no
legs in different colors at very little cost. Some of the rubber
control. Oh God, I’m gonna die!
strands in waistbands is very fine and therefore makes excellent
legs on very small patterns. I once found some in black that
After finding the somewhat remote ’63 Ranch’, we settled in to
provided me with a lifetime supply of small diameter legs for
our cabin. Most of the guests we met had returned year after year
beetle and ant patterns. You can even touch them up with a
to the ‘63’. A good number of the guests were foreign and seemed
permanent marker if you need legs in a variegated pattern.
to be enjoying their first American adventure. My hopes rose that
I would not be the only horse - stupid guest in attendance, or the
Techniques
first to die.
One of the hardest things to learn when beginning to tie
is to keep stray hackle fibers from getting caught in the head
The next morning after breakfast, all 30-some guests met at the
wraps of the fly. The problem is made worse if you crowd the
stables to learn about horses. It was later explained that the
head, something almost all beginning tyers tend to do.
lengthy introduction to horsemanship was a requirement of their
In the next issue we will share a tip for preventing this
insurance carrier. Oh Goodie! That piece of information was truly
from happening, but for now here is one tip for dealing with the
encouraging. Shortly before lunch we were introduced to the
problem if it has already occurred. Use a hackle guard to cover
horse we would ride for the week. My daughter was given a light
the hackle fibers at front of the fly. Allow only the stray, unruly
strawberry colored horse with a flowing golden mane, named
ones caught in the head wraps to protrude. Then singe off the
Bridger. My wife saddle up a horse akin to her personality named
stray stuff with a lighter. The result won’t win you any tying
‘Sassy’. I waited for my tall, steady mount that would surly be
awards, but the fish don’t care and it will give you unobstructed
named Sir Winston. Near the end of the introductions, a small,
access to the eye of the hook.
fat, black and white pony was lead from the barn and I was
introduced to my mount…Bubba! All kidding aside, the folks at
Tools and Equipment
the ‘63’ were very patient, knowledgeable and understanding
Have trouble keeping spools of floss from unraveling all
with those who were new to horses. I was able to enjoy the little
over the place? The niches cut in the ends of the spools work
time I spent on Bubba, who also seemed to understand my plight
fairly well, but they tend to fray the floss and often come undone.
and built my confidence by never making a miss-step. Now if I
You can buy plastic spool covers that will keep things neatly in
could just learn to enjoy trotting….
place and they work very well. An inexpensive source for lots of
these is a plastic bookbinding strip that can be found at the local
When not fishing, Bubba and I accompanied a number of other
office supply store. Just cut the plastic strip into sections and you
‘dudes’ in moving cattle from one pasture to another. I truth is, I
have a nice supply of spool covers. The strips are available in a
gave Bubba his head and squeezed the saddle horn into a post. It
number of sizes to cover whatever spools you have on hand.
was obvious he knew what to do and I was just there to enjoy the
view, which by the way, was grand.

The ’63 Ranch
Andy Andrews
I have often spoken with fondness of the Livingston, Montana
area to my wife. She took my words to heart and decided that a
‘family vacation’ to the area was in order. From the Internet she
selected the ’63 Ranch’, a dude ranch so named as the ranch was
started in 1863.
I had visions of fishing the Bolder and Shields River (but would
pass on the Yellowstone) while my wife and daughter rode
horses. The truth is that I’ve never been impressed with the
Yellowstone having fished it long and hard with guides, only to
be skunked. Somewhere on the road near Butte, I talked of my
fishing plans to my wife and discovered to my dismay, that this
I met a guest from the East Coast who invited me on a trip cross-
country to the Bolder River. The day was overcast, windy and
somewhat cool. I did not take my waders to Montana and so I
was wet wading. I had caught number of whitefish but the trout
seemed to allude us. After crossing an area that was belly –
button deep, I rounded a corner to find I was standing eye to eye
with a large black bear. I grasped my fly rod firmly figuring that
if all else failed, I take a shot at whipping the big sucker to death.
The bear looked me up and down, then turned and ambled off. I
slowly backed away, keeping an eye to the bear. I felt I had made
a gallant and dignified retreat. Later a witness testified that I
could have bested his sons track team time for the fastest 50-yard
dash back to the car.

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”

The Shield River was very good to me in the number and size of
trout, while the Yellowstone was producing few fish for anyone.
But my most memorable fish came while
fishing a small creek on the ‘63’ property. I was given directions
to the creek by the ranch hands and later parked the car in the
location they described as productive. After walking a few feet in
the creek, I started looking for the film crew from ‘America’s
Funniest Video’. This waterway was twelve feet across and
inches deep. Trees hung overhead and on both sides. Casting a 9-
foot rod was going to be a challenge. I finally came across a small
pool and my first cast back cast was rewarded by hanging up my
fly in one of the finest little alders you ever seen. This was going
to be tough! I finally did develop a few techniques and managed
to pull a good number of native cutts in the 12-inch range. As I
stood casting into the tail - out of a larger pool, a good size fish
sucked down my Adams Irresistible and sped downstream
between my feet, which were in less than 8 inches of water. As I
tried to step back over the line with my right foot, my left foot
lost contact with the bottom and I ended up sitting on my butt in
the middle of the creek, holding the rod high still fighting the
fish. America’s Funniest missed a good one there. I soon netted a
very pretty 15 - inch native brown that I quickly returned to the
pool from which he had come.
. interests, it’s a little hard to understand how they can support
The meals at the ‘63’ were very good and there was always plenty
of food. Meals were served family style with 6 or 8 people at a
table. In the evening there was entertainment. In a covered
outside arena, bands would play, or there were country /
western signers. One night while trying to learn a few square
dance moves from the staff (most of who were Polish), my
daughter got up and started teaching line dancing to the guests!
My daughter, a closet line dancer! Who knew? If you found the
entertainment boring, there was a pool table, or there was a cozy
room loaded with books covering a variety of interests.
At some point, we made the decision to return one day to the ‘63’.
And if the type of vacation I described appeals to you, you will
find that spending a week at the ‘63’ to be well worth your time
and money. Andy
Fishing Outings
April 23rd, 24th and 25th
South Twin Lakes (Deschutes County)
May 15th and 16th Deschutes River
(Trout Creek)
June 26th (and 27th) Timothy Lake
July 10th (and 11th) Gold Lake
August 21st and 22nd East Lake
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
8
September 16th - 22nd Fall River
October 9th and 10th Crooked River
Pesticides, Farmers, Salmon, and the EPA
A recent court ruling restricted the use of 38 pesticides near
salmon streams and required point-of-sale warnings on products
containing pesticides that may harm salmon.
The Judge ordered the EPA to consult with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to establish
permanent restrictions needed to protect salmon from 54
pesticides, over a two and a half year timeline.
The court’s ruling puts in place no-spray buffers of 100 yards for
aerial applications and 20 yards for ground applications, with
exceptions for certain uses that are unlikely to pollute water. The
court order also requires warnings for products containing seven
pesticides that have polluted urban salmon streams. Farm interest
groups have been crying foul about what economic impact this
will have on them and society. Even being sympathetic to farm
pouring pesticides into rivers. Surely there is a model of farm
success that doesn’t require poisoning the rivers. It makes
farmers look bad if that’s their position.
However, the decision did not go without response. Nine days
later, the Bush administration issued regulations to cut wildlife
agencies out of the loop on EPA decisions regarding pesticide
use, a move that threatens endangered species and their habitat.
Currently, the EPA must consult with the federal fish and
wildlife agencies to assess the effect of new pesticide use on
endangered wildlife prior to approving their use. The new
regulations eliminate that requirement, leaving endangered
wildlife impact assessments up to the EPA, which has a horrible
track record of protecting species from the harmful effects of
pesticides.
The new Bush regulations will do the following:
* shut fish and wildlife experts out of endangered species
protection by allowing EPA to assess the impacts of pesticides on
endangered species alone
* allow outdated science to be the basis for determining how
endangered species should be protected from pesticides
* give the chemical industry special participation rights not
shared by the public.
The EPA has repeatedly failed to protect endangered species such
as salmon. For example, the EPA continues to authorize use of
pesticides such as diazinon that fish and wildlife agencies have
found can harm endangered species.
Members of Oregon state boards and commissions are vital
participants in policy making, regulation, advisory and advocacy
efforts for a wide variety of issues affecting all Oregonians.
Governor Kulongoski makes direct appointments to
 9
approximately 200 boards and continuously recruits qualified
applicants.The website for executive appointments is
http://www.governor.state.or.us/exec_apnts.htm. The site
includes a summary of the appointment criteria for all boards and
commissions, a vacancy list and an expiration list, and a list of
websites for boards and commissions.

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
 10

Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

March/April 2004

Officers
President: Hank Hosfield
228-6553 hankh@imagina.com

Vice-President Kevin Connolly

Kevinconnolly1@aol.com
860-6355
Alex Barkume - 642-7024
alexbarkume@comcast.net
Treasurer: Rod Lundberg
291-5308 rplundberg@hotmail.com
Andy Andrews
Raddicio@aol.com 646-2375
Board of Directors:
Erle Norman 293-6006
Eric Thompson 297-0718
caddis2000@hotmail.com
anglingeric@msn.com
Membership Chair

Dick Rohrbaugh
Jerry Heppell
rbaugh@lclark.edu 636-3877
jheppell@teleport.com
639-9408

Seth Isenberg 293-3290

sbisenberg@comcast.net