Warm Water Fly Fish Clinic - Pechmann Ctr - Fayetteville 06-21-08

Started by Al, June 23, 2008, 17:45:12 PM

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Al

The Pechman Fishing Education Center hosted 20+ fledgling fly fishermen (and women) on Saturday, June 21, 2008. It was thundering and starting to rain when I left the house and in my haste to load all my goodies into the back of my truck I placed my digital camera on the back bumper and (Yep, you guessed it), drove off with it still laying there. I didn't miss it until we had broken the clinic into small groups for rotating through various stations such as "knots & rod assembly, healthy habitat, fly tying and basic casting". Took me awhile to figure out what happened to it, but at that stage there was nothing to do but smile and continue to orchestrate what turned out to be a very successful fly fishing clinic.

Fellow volunteer and good fishing friend Paul loaned me his camera about half way through the event so I do have a few photos to share. Here is a photo of Paul holding a small gar which was caught by one of our participants - No we don't stock gar in any of the ponds. Our guess is that it came through the gravity feed pipe which fills our ponds from nearby Lake Rim. We also don't stock any crappie but a few of them always show up every year via the same pipe.
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We divided the participants into small groups and scattered them throughout the many one acre ponds. Everyone caught fish and most of them caught a variety of fish. We recommended they move from pond to pond to try for different species, most of which required a different fly and presentation.  The bream pond was the most reliable.
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We really had a good group of participants. Some had been to our trout clinics earlier in the year, however at least a third of them were fishing with a fly rod for the first time. Lots of smiles today.
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Catfish are very catchable with a fly. Woollybuggers are a good choice, but if you really want to get some action hang an Allieworm about a foot under a bass size foam popper.
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The hybrid striper pond and the largemouth bass pond also produced well. (Sorry no photos). The big disappointment was the shellcracker pond. About 2 weeks ago I helped "shock up" some of the largest shellcrackers I have ever seen. At the time the biologist said, "You know these might be hard to catch with a flyrod". I replied, "No problem - I can catch most anything on a fly". How wrong that boast turned out to be. I experimented with about everything in my fly box in the days leading up to the clinic and could not figure them out. Turns out shellcrackers are pretty much bottom feeders and love snails - hence the name "shellcracker". I am going back this week and try dragging a scud or telico nymph along the bottom to see if I can catch at least one on a flyrod.

And so ends the Pechmann Center  2008 Fly Fishing Clinics. We started out with one clinic seven years ago. The following year we doubled that and also added a Boy Scout event. Since then it has grown and grown. This year we offered three basic clinics, an advanced clinic, a warm water clinic and three Boy Scout Merit Badge clinics. We also offered  abbreviated clinics on a monthly basis to Ft Bragg's Wounded Warrior Transition Battalion. The Pechmann Center and it's very small staff provide the venue and most of the equipment while the fly fishing expertise comes from a very dedicated cadre of volunteers. These volunteers give unselfishly of their time. Some drive long distances, and many reach into their own vests for that "special fly" to help our participants catch their first fish. We absolutely could not hold the fly fishing clinics without the help of our volunteers. To each and everyone of them - THANK YOU FOR A JOB WELL DONE.

Post Script - I found my camera. When I arrived home Saturday evening I had a call on my answering machine from a fellow saying he had picked it up at the intersection of Reilly and Morgantown Road at about 9:30am. It had gone about a mile before falling off my bumper. This is one of the busiest intersections on this side of town and Lord only knows how many cars ran over it in the hour and half it lay there. It was still in the case but the lens was shattered and the gate to the battery compartment was broken. The only thing salvable was the case, the SD card and the neck strap. My name was on the camera and the fellow offered to bring it back to me. I ended up meeting him half way. I share this with you because it renewed my faith in my fellow man. There are still some just plain good people out there. Probably a lot more then we think.