by Mike Alwin | May 20, 2022 | Kiap-TU-Wish Events, Rip Rap
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 virus, we’ve decided to take a chance and conduct another Fly Fishing for Trout clinic in River Falls. We will make every effort to ensure everyone’s safety by providing masks and hand sanitizer, but it will be a challenge to conduct hands-on casting instruction. Even so, we need your help as volunteers to act as guides, mentors, and instructors.
This year’s Fly Fishing Clinic, sponsored jointly by Kiap-TUWish and River Falls Parks and Recreation, is set for Saturday, June 4, from 1:00-9:00 in Glen Park. We’ve been conducting this clinic for years and we know that it’s always popular; we expect about 20 students. The clinic will cover casting, knot tying, entomology, fishing strategies, and wading safety.
Kiap-TU-Wish will provide supper during a break at 5:00, and guided fishing in the evening. Our chapter members are invited to join us as instructors, mentors, guides, and supper servers.
Mark your calendars for June 4 and volunteer by contacting Mike Alwin at mikealwin@gmail.com or Brian Smolinski at brian@lundsflyshop.com. I guarantee you’ll have fun.
Mike Alwin
by Mike Alwin | Feb 26, 2022 | Rip Rap, Stories
Let’s begin by recognizing that Trout Unlimited is not a fly-fishing club, it’s a conservation organization dedicated to trout and cold water fisheries. It’s motto could be, “What’s good for the trout is good for the trout angler.” Founded in 1959, TU accepts any trout angler who wants to help conserve and protect trout and the cold-water habitat they rely on. Angling methods, whether bait, fly or spinner, are less important than your desire to protect and conserve.
Among Great Lakes steelhead anglers there’s a technique that calls for a fly rod fitted with a fly reel loaded with monofilament. The advantage of this rig is twofold: the fly rod, generally longer than a spinning rod, extends the anglers ability to lengthen the cast and control the drift, and the thinner mono allows the spawn sack, egg, or fly to sink deeper faster because it is less subject to the vagaries of the current.
Years ago, there was a debate in the Fly Shop about what actually defined fly fishing. At that time a veritable hoard of guys would crowd the shop every Wednesday to drink coffee, trade the same old stories, and debate various issues, one of which was what defined fly fishing. We called them “the Lost Boys.” Gordy was the one member of this unofficial club whose life had purpose; he fished every day, no excep- tions. While he had explored every method of catching trout on a fly and was an excellent caster, his favored method of trout fishing was with mono because he recognized its advantages. With a weighted nymph or two, split shot, and a wood strike indicator, Gordy relied on the weight of his rig to make the cast. The Lost Boys rejected this method as “spin fishing” with a fly. And therein lies the debate.
If you want to practice your spin casting you need your rod, reel spooled with mono, and a lure or plug because it’s the weight of the lure that pulls line from the reel. If you want to practice your fly casting you need your rod, reel, fly line (which supplies the weight), and something that could pass as a leader. You wouldn’t need a fly because a fly weighs nothing. So, what defines fly casting, as well as fly fishing, is the fly line.
Bruce Maher and Bob Trevis wrote an excellent article in the January RIPRAP about Tenkara and Euro Nymphing as trout fishing techniques. Tenkara relies on rods that are long and willowy and a short “line.” What they describe is either level fluorocarbon or braided or furled nylon. Both are described as roughly the length of the rod, 10′ to over 14′. Approximately 3′ of tippet is attached to the end and a fly attached to that. I’ve frequently thought that Tenkara, because the rods telescope to 20″, would be an ideal lightweight outfit for backpacking into those small mountain streams I love. But to make a point, the authors admit that the “line” rarely touches the water and in fact is not cast in the traditional sense. Likewise, in their description of Euro Nymphing, they explain that the fly line, usually only a foot or two beyond the tip top, also rarely touches the water. With a 20′ leader and heavily weighted nymphs the angler is actually casting the weighted nymphs, not the fly line, copying Gordy’s tech- nique. If you think a 20′ leader is kinda long, brace yourself; I found a leader formula that was 45′.
Both of these methods, Tenkara and Euro Nymphing, are legiti- mate and excellent fish catching techniques. Maher and Trevis should be applauded for introducing us to these techniques, and we could all stand to adapt some of these ideas into our fishing repertoire. Absent a fly line, however, is it fly fishing or is it spin fishing with a fly? Therein lies the debate.
by Mike Alwin | Mar 18, 2020 | Latest News
UPDATE! Due to the insidious nature of the COVID-19 virus, we made the decision to cancel this year’s
Fly Fishing for Trout clinic in River Falls. Originally scheduled for June 6th, we’ll make another
run at it next year. Thanks to the many folks who volunteered to help; it’s a huge source of
pride for me to know that Kiap-TU-Wish steps up. Thanks for you patience during these weird
times. —Mike Alwin
This year’s clinic, an all-day affair that K-TU has been running for a couple of decades, is scheduled for June 6th. Sponsored by River Falls Parks and Recreation and Kiap-TU-Wish, the clinic invites citizens in the immediate area to learn to fly fish for trout on the Kinnickinnic River. The River Falls parks and rec department does all of the marketing for this event, and all we have to do is show up and teach it! We teach the students casting, some entomology, a little knot tying, stream strategies and wading safety. Plus, we feed ’em supper and take them fishing in the evening. It doesn’t get any better.
We usually have about a dozen volunteer guides/mentors from the Chapter but the cast is always changing so there’s always an opportunity for you to get involved. Contact Brian Smolinski at: brian@lundsflyshop.com or Mike Alwin at: mikealwin@gmail.com. Mark your calendar for June 6, and I promise you’ll have a good time. —Mike Alwin
More Clinic information can be found here>
by Mike Alwin | Dec 27, 2019 | Stories
Every year our Chapter gives away dozens of flies for various events. We include flies at our Fly Fishing for Trout clinic in the spring. We offer flies at the Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo. We give away flies at almost every membership meeting. Last year Bob (the Fly Wrangler) Trevis told us we were tapped out on flies so we organized the first TIE-A-THON with the goal of replenishing the Chapter’s fly library. We were successful beyond our wildest expectations as the assembled tiers churned out hundreds of wet flies, nymphs and dries. Plus, we ate well and had a load of fun.
How much fun you ask? Last year we had nine or ten tiers and seven of them have already signed up for this year’s events. And the dates for this year’s TIE-A-THON are Saturday, February 22 and Saturday, March 28. The meeting place is Lund’s Fly Shop in River Falls and the meeting time will be from 10:00am until sometime in the mid afternoon. Lunch and coffee will be provided. The emphasis in this first session is on nymphs, wet flies and damp emergers. Tiers should bring their tools, hooks and materials; you’re donating your results to the chapter. If by chance you’re short on something (a hook, beads, a tool) rest assured Brian probably has it. . .it is a fly shop, after all.
Interested? To register for the seats still available contact: troutchaser@msn.com — Mike Alwin
by Mike Alwin | Apr 17, 2019 | Latest News
A couple of decades ago the Chapter was facing an uncomfortable challenge; with the completion of the WI 35 bypass around River Falls, the new four-lane highway promised Wisconsin commuters easier access to jobs in the Twin Cities. Almost immediately developers started lining up to purchase development rights on hundreds of acres surrounding River Falls and the city was expected to almost double in size.
Recognizing what might happen to the Kinnickinnic, a number of initiatives were started to combat the threat. When the farm at the Swinging Gate came on the market, the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust (KRLT) organized enough donors to be able to outbid a prominent developer at the public auction. Kiap-TU-Wish initiated a temperature study on the Kinni to demonstrate the effect that River Falls had on the lower river. The Chapter also funded and produced a beautiful instructional video to illustrate what development would do to the river. And our Education Committee, recognizing that the Chapter had few natural allies in River Falls, decided to acquire some and the first Fly Fishing for Trout clinic was born.
It’s inarguable that progress has been made over the ensuing decades. The Swinging Gate is safely in the hands of the WDNR, the KRLT continues to acquire and protect parcels throughout the watershed, the city of River Falls has decided to remove the dams on the lower Kinni…and the Fly Fishing for Trout clinic is still rolling along, making friends and allies for the Kinnickinnic River.
This year’s clinic will be held on June 1 (free fishing weekend) in Glen Park. The clinic will run from 1:00 to 9:00 PM and will include instruction in casting, entomology, fishing strategies and wading safety. Plus, the Chapter provides supper and guided fishing in the evening. The cost is a mere $20 and registration is as easy as contacting River Falls Parks and Recreation.
We have eight or nine volunteers so far. These folks will walk around and help people with casting, show them the contents of their fly boxes, help them tie a knot and mentor them during the evening’s fishing. It’s a good time, and if you’d like to join us, contact: mikealwin@gmail.com or brian@lundsflyshop.com.
June 1 (free fishing weekend)
Glen Park, River Falls, WI
1 PM -9 PM
Supper provided
Guided fishing in the evening
$20/Register with River Falls
Parks and Recreation
To volunteer:
mikealwin@gmail.com or
brian@lundsflyshop.com
