Yakima River Fly Fishers FFF Club
Meeting Announcements

YRFF is having their quarterly membership meeting Saturday, March 1st at the Ellensburg Inn. There will be an auction following the dinner and guest speaker. Below is an approximate timetable for the meeting:

5:00 - 6:00 p.m. - Board Meeting
6:00 - 7:00 p.m. - No-host Social Hour
7:00 - 7:45 p.m.- Buffet Dinner (cost tbd)
7:45 - 8:15 p.m.- Guest Speaker
8:15 - 8:30 p.m.- Questions / YRFF update
8:30 -?- Auction

There will be a raffle to go along with the 15-20 auction items. All YRFF members in attendance will receive one "free" raffle ticket for a chance to win a Ross Gunnison G3 reel. Extra raffle tickets will be sold at the Social Hour. You must be an YRFF member at least 5 days before the March 1st meeting. A list of auction items will be sent out to all YRFF members after they are finalized. A few of the items to be auctioned off are fly rods and guided fly fishing float trips on the Yakima or Blackstone Lake in Ellensburg.

The guest speaker for the March 1st meeting will be Jay Robeson, who will speak about the leopard rainbows, kings, cohos and chums of Alaska. Jay has worked in the fly fishing industry for 13 years. Most of his work experience in the field has been with Fishing Pursuits in either sales or guiding. Jay has put together packages for anglers to fish from the Kanetok River for rainbows and salmon, to Ascension Bay for bonefish and tarpon, to Patagonia in search of trout. His fishing trails have lead him over that trail as well, as he has spent a considerable amount of time on the Kanetok as the head guide for Alaska West. YRFF members are encouraged to bring their significant others and to invite friends to attend.

Plans are underway for the club's "sign project" along the Yakima River from the headwaters to Roza Dam. Forty sites have been identified and now the exact wording and costs are being worked out. We hope to have a sample of the sign at the march 1st meeting. In addition, we hope that the Washington State Council of FF will help with the cost of the signs.

Plans are also in the works for the May 3rd meeting. It looks like Steve Probasco will be speaking to YRFF members and guests on the Yakima River. There is a "single fly" contest being planned for August 16th. It will be limited to the first 12 two-person teams. The costs will be $700.00 per team. More info will follow on these two events as it is finalized.

Some of the education projects in the planning stages are "An Intro to fly fishing" workshop. It looks to be a 2-3 hour class with a breakdown of the curriculum as follows:

I. Fly fishing is not just for trout (about 30 minutes)
a. Origins of fly fishing
b. Fly fishing evolution
c. Fly fishing today

II. Fly fishing equipment (about 30 minutes)
a. One can never have enough fly fishing equipment
b. Rods, reels, lines
c. Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets

III. Hands on equipment and knots (about 30 minutes)
a. Equipment display
b. Learning knots

IV. Fly casting video - The essence of fly casting by Mel Kreiger (about 30 minutes)

V. Fly casting (about 30 minutes)

More info will be sent along as we get it. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Greg Moore- YRFF Secretary
gdm43@charter.net