To quote Tennessee Ernie Ford:
IEFFC Legacy Committee Scholar: Collin Hendricks
The recipient of the IEFFC Legacy Committee scholarship for 2020-2021 is Collin Hendricks.
Collin is 22 years old and currently a senior at Eastern Washington University and plans on continuing his education to get his masters in fisheries biology following graduation.
Collin is from the small town of Chelan, Washington where he grew up doing just about anything you could think of outdoors. For as long as he can remember his father would take the family camping, hunting, back-packing, and, Collin’s favorite, fishing. This is where he grew to love everything about the sport, as well as the animals that he was catching.
His interest and respect for fish started when he was young and being able to work with and help these animals has turned into a passion of his. He had the privilege of working as a research assistant in the EWU fisheries department this past summer and was able to help Craig Wells with his master’s thesis as they collected tissue samples from Westslope Cutthroat Trout in north Idaho. This was a great experience and really gave Collin insight into some of the awesome work he hopes to do in the coming years.
Collin wants to thank the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club members and especially the Legacy Committee for helping him along in his endeavors and for awarding him with this scholarship!
He has been invited to a future meeting and we are hoping Covid-19 will allow us an opportunity to meet this fine young man.
Toys For Tots 2020
We could not collect toys this year with Covid cancelling
our meetings, but that did not stop the IEFFC from coming
Jim Brown USMC
through for the area children. We were able to collect a total of
$1,665.00 and that money was given to the Toys for Tots representatives in plenty of time for them to buy additional toys.
Marine Jim Brown, the USMC warehouse manager enthusiastically accepted our check
and thanked us for our continued support of this valuable program,.
Thanks goes out to all of the IEFFC members who contributed. As I
mentioned in my earlier email to you the need is greater this year and we
rose to the occasion.
Zoom Meetings
Jon Bowne has done a tremendous job giving us access to our speakers. The first month of Zoom certainly had its problems, but we were able to enjoy a very well done program by one of our favorite speakers, Phil Rowley. We also obtained Phil’s permission to send the program out to the members who missed the telecast. If you missed that email with the program replay information let us
know and we can get you the youtube link.
Until Covid is under control and we again are able to meet, we will be looking at presenters who embrace the zoom concept. We will continue to ask permission to record the sessions and will put those presentations on youtube. We will not be putting them on the website as that is available to the general public, so we will continue to send out the url link to the membership.
It is great to see and talk with members during the half hour leading up to the zoom presentation.
Make yourself available for the broadcast and say hello to everyone as you log on and await the speaker. We miss you all and look forward to a time when we can meet again.
Our club has too long a history to let it fall by the wayside. We will continue to fish. We will continue to look for projects in which we can participate. We will find ways to communicate and stay in contact with our membership. We will survive.
Bayley Lake Project
WDFW has put a hold on volunteer projects due to COVID-19 so we will not be putting down gravel at Amber Lake or fin clipping at the hatchery.
The Bayley Lake spawning channel cleanup is still on for September 26. As usual I am looking for five members with boats and five members who want to get involved with a club project to team up with them.
After the channel cleanup we will fish Bayley. The club buys breakfast at Zips in Chewelah. Not sure what the rules are due to COVID-19 but I think we can figure out a way to get fed breakfast.
Big Horn Show Cancelled
As usual, planning and volunteering was in place and Jim Athearn had the Big Horn
Show program well under control. Unfortunately, the corona virus has caused a cancellation of the show.
We want to thank all those who signed up to tie and a special thanks to Jim for all the
work he put into the coordination of the IEFFC effort.
We are set for next year and fully expect a return of this great show.
Those signed up to tie flies included Jon Bowne, Lee Funkhouser, Jerry McBride,
Bruce Morgan, Dan Lobb, Bob Schmitt, Walt Balek, Stephen Aspinwall, Lowell
Tveit, Bill Papesh, Phil Beck, Bo Brand, Bryan Harman, Skip Cavanaugh, Jake
Nelson, David Lohman and Bob Burton. Included in our contribution to the show,
Leon Buckles was scheduled to do special presentations of “Fly Fishing 101 and Beyond” in daily seminars. Thanks to all of you and hoping you will move your commitment to the 2021 Big Horn Show.
Kid’s Fishing 2020
Mark your Calendars!
Kids fishing 2020 will take place on Saturday May 2nd with the Ronald McDonald house Kids fishing
to take place on Friday the 1st of May.
Floyd will have two sign up sheets (one for each event) on the tables at the March and April meeting.
The volunteers for the Ronald McDonald house kids fishing should show up by no later than 1:30 pm
as the bus will leave for the lake about 2:00 pm. We’ll leave the lake around 5:00 pm. If you’d rather, you can
meet us at the lake.
The volunteers for the kids fishing event on Sat May 2nd should show up between 7 and 7:30 am so Randy can
explain what is to take place for the day. While there, be sure to sign in one the sign in sheet so the DFW can credit your volunteer hours. The sing up sheet will be with the lady that is checking in the kids.
There will be rod building on Wednesday April 8th from 6:00 pm lasting until about 9:00 pm. Rod building is
typically at the Wildlife Council building on N. Market Street.
Whether you sign up or not please pass the sheets around the tables and make sure that I get them back.
We’ll have more details at the meetings and in next month’s Flyleaf, but if you want information quicker contact
Floyd Holmes directly.
Conservation Activity Plan For 2020
Your committee has a busy 2020 planned, and there’s lots of volunteer opportunity, which are also great opportunities to expand your circle of club friends!
In partnership with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:
One additional sign at Medical Lake that would include a frame. WDFW Region 1 is in favor of the
project and it needs approval by the Town of Medical Lake. The IEFFC board has to approve this project. If this project goes ahead we will need volunteers to help build the frame for the sign, install the sign in the frame and plant the sign in the ground out at the Medical Lake City Park.
Fin Clipping – Scheduled for September 28 and 29, 2020. We will need seven volunteers each day.
Bayley Lake
Amber Lake boat launch – Spread and compact an additional 12 yards of 5/8” minus crushed rock. Project is favored by WDFW. IEFFC board must approve this project. If this project goes ahead we will need four volunteers to spread and compact the crushed rock. Tentatively scheduled for April 13, 2020.
In partnership with the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge:
Clean out spawning channel and restore spawning bed gravel at Bayley Lake. Scheduled for September 26, 2020. We need eight volunteers. Usually four members bring their boats and after the work is done we go fishing.
Other
North Idaho Fly Casters may have a project that we could help out on. No details at this point, but most likely we would be asked to help out on a tree planting project.
As usual, other projects may present themselves as the year progresses. Stay tuned or contact Jerry or Jim if you’re interested.
Grande Ronde River Land Purchase
On Tuesday, January 28, the Wild Steelhead Coalition signed the papers to purchase an 8-acre parcel on the lower Grande Ronde River
from Lynn “Radar” Miller, thus paving the way for this land to remain
open to the public forever. Located near several very popular steelhead
fishing spots, public access to the river through this property has been
allowed for many years due to an easement arrangement between Mr.
Miller and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
(WDFW). When Mr. Miller decided to sell his property, the Inland
Empire Fly Fishing Club (IEFFC) and the Wild Steelhead Coalition
(WSC) stepped in and worked out a deal whereby the WSC would purchase the land with charitable donations and then donate it to the
WDFW to manage and operate in perpetuity for public access.
Many IEFFC members made generous donations, as well as 13 regional clubs and organizations, and many members of the public. There
was wonderful regional support for this project which is so gratifying
since it will now remain available for everyone in the region and beyond to use. Josh Mills, WSC, was instrumental representing WSC throughout the process to insure its success. It would not have happened without him. I can’t thank Mark
Pinch enough for his guidance and hard work with the title company and others to keep us on track through a few real
estate “details” that he worked out for us. Of course, we were extremely lucky that the land owner, Radar Miller, was
more interested in seeing this property remain open to the public than turning the bigger profit he might have gotten if he
sold it to a private entity. 
Hanna Coles – Inaugural IEFFC Legacy Committee Scholarship Recipient
Hannah Coles was awarded the first IEFFC Legacy Committee Scholarship for the 2019-2020 Academic Year. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a worthy EWU student enrolled in the fisheries program. Below we have a response from Hannah.
To IEFFC: I am honored to have received the IEFFC Legacy Scholarship as it
Hannah Coles EWU
has helped pay for tuition
costs such as fees for my biology classes so that I am able to utilize resources for learning and research in my
classes. I was born in Anaconda, MT, moved to Spokane when I was 5-years-old, and have been here ever
since. I will be graduating from Eastern Washington University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology with an emphasis in Fisheries this coming Spring.
I have been working in the Fisheries Research Center at EWU under Dr.
Paul Spruell and Dr. Allan T Scholz. I am the student president of the
eastern Washington sub-unit of the American Fisheries Society WA-BC
Chapter. I am planning on attending graduate school to pursue a Master’s
Degree in Biology either at EWU or WSU. I worked for the Kalispel
Tribe Natural Resources Department this past summer as a Fisheries
Technician II on the removal of Brook Trout in Sullivan Creek in Pend
Oreille County WA. to help the native Westslope Cutthroat Trout populations. I hope to one day work as a bio-statistician, fish biologist, in resource management, or other similar positions in the Pacific NW for a
local tribe or state government. I hope work with others to preserve, conserve, and restore our fish populations so there are stable and thriving
populations for present and future generations to experience the sport of
fishing just as we have.