Entries by Lee Funkhouser
WSCFFI Club Conservation Award
The Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club of Spokane wins the Club Conservation Award from the Washington State Council of Fly Fishers International for 2021 for its outstanding leadership acquiring and permanently conserving 8 acres of public fishing access on the Grand Ronde River. Known as the Ebsen Fishing Access site, the private lot had been […]
WDFW Regional Director’s Award
At the Faha Ebsen Access dedication ceremony, Jim Athearn received the “Regional Director’s Award” from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for his work on Faha Ebsen project. Jim worked closely with Josh Mills of the Wild Steelhead Coalition, Bob Dice, Chris Donley, Greg Heingartner, Jerrod Ploof and Jeremy Trump to successfully purchase the […]
Frank Faha-Ebsen Access Dedication
A large group gathered on October 15th, 2021 to dedicate the Frank Faha Ebsen Fishing Access Site near the mouth of the Grande Ronde River. The group included numerous members of the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club. Among those present were the many members who generously donated to the project and IEFFC member Jim Athearn, […]
Fall Fin Clipping
A mighty group of IEFFC warriors headed to the hatchery on September 27th and 28th to perform adipose fin-ectomies on thousands of tiny fish. This is one of our most difficult projects and the extreme weather didn’t make it any easier. The rain on Monday was an absolute downpour, but our members stayed the course […]
Bayley Lake Spawning Channel
Our annual trip to repair the Bayley Lake spawning channel was another success story. We were unable to clear the channel last year due to Covid concerns so the need this year was extreme. An able crew of ten members was assembled on September 25th and the transformation was spectacular. The group included five veterans […]
Fall Projects Listed – By Jerry McBride
Bayley Lake Spawning Channel Cleanup September 25 Background Many years ago the IEFFC put in weirs (low dams) and laid down gravel in the ponds formed by the weirs to create spawning beds in the short, channel-like stream that flows out of Potters Pond into Bayley Lake. The idea was to enable rainbow trout to […]
Grande Ronde – Ebsen Access Preserved
The final step in preserving the Ebsen Fishing Access on the Grand Ronde closed last week when WDFW took control of the property. Thanks to the hustle of the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club of Spokane, an acquisition plan by Seattle’s Wild Steelhead Coalition and the generosity of fly fishers statewide, eight acres of prime […]
Amber Lake Project 2021
To quote Tennessee Ernie Ford: “You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” On Monday, May 24, 2021 a work crew comprised of Dan Dzieken from WDFW, four members of the Spokane Fly Fishers and four IEFFC members spread and compacted 16 tons of crushed rock at […]