Conservation Activity Plan For 2020

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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

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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

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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.

Boy Scout Merit Badge Class

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The IEFFC taught fly tying and the Spokane Fly Fishers (SFF) taught fly casting to 15 scouts at the Scout Store on a recent Saturday.  All of the scouts got two hour’s instruction on fly tying and two hours on fly casting.

IEFFC members Jerry Harms, Jerry McBride, Bruce Morgan and Bob Schmitt taught the fly tying course.  When the scouts finished they had successfully tied a wet fly (Halloween Wooly Bugger) and a dry fly (Renegade) that met their Fly Fishing Merit Badge requirement.

SFF President Paul Olsen and dual IEFFC/SFF member Jon Bowne taught the fly casting course.  All 15 scouts successfully passed the Fly Fishing Merit Badge requirement to cast 30 feet with an overhead cast and a roll cast.

Scout Master Bob Beer asked the scouts if they enjoyed the courses and they gave him a resounding YES!

Fin Clipping – Fall 2019

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Again this year the IEFFC joined other groups at the WDFW Spokane fish hatchery to clip adipose fins from fish that will be planted in Lake Spokane.  About 56,000 female triploid three to four inch rainbows raised by Trout Lodge Hatchery were processed over two days.

 

On Monday, September 23 the following IEFFC members clipped fins: John Bennett, John Bowne, Bob Harley, Keith Kuester, Dan Lobb, Bill Papesh, and Jerry McBride.

 

On Tuesday, September 24 the following IEFFC members clipped fins: Jim Athearn, Guy Gregory, Floyd Holmes, Jake Nelson, Dick Ralston, and John Ralston.

 

WDFW provided goodies for the morning break and lunch for all participants.

 

Thank you all that helped out.

 

Bayley Lake Spawning Channel

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On Saturday, September 21 a crew of nine from the IEFFC went up and performed our annual spawning channel cleanup.  The purpose of the cleanup is to enable fish from Bayley Lake to spawn during spring runoff and then return to the lake to live another year.

We met at Zips in Chewelah for breakfast and then proceeded to the lake.  As he has done for many years Bill Papesh led the way down the channel wielding his trimmer “from hell” mowing down grass, brush and tree limbs that were in his path.  The loose material was raked up and deposited out of the channel and then new gravel was put down on the spawning beds.  This year we had two young guys on our crew that really gave us old guys a boost.  New IEFFC member Reid Ashley brought his friend Sam Edmunster along.

After we got done with the work we went fishing.  The lake had a heavy algae bloom so unfortunately the fishing was not very good. But, it was a truly beautiful day, the lunch that Bob Schmitt made for us was very tasty and hopefully we made fishing at Bayley next year a little better.

 

Back Row L to R:  Jerry McBride, John Bennett, Chet Allison, Reid Ashley, Sam Edmunster, Scott Fink and Bob Schmitt

Front Row L to R: Jim Athearn and Bill Papesh

 

 

 

Rocky Ford Signs

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On June 18, 2019 three signs were installed at Rocky Ford Creek near Soap Lake, WA.

This project got its start in March 2018. Byron Jones of the Wenatchee Valley Fly Fishers (WVFF) watched in frustration as a person at Rocky Ford badly mishandled the release of a fish. He talked with Harry Lane, president of their club and they decided that some signs with educational information on how to properly release a fish would be helpful. Harry contacted our club and asked if we would be interested in partnering with them on some signs.

The IEFFC board of directors was supportive of the project and in addition to our club and the WVFF we managed to bring in the Dry Side Fly Fishers and the Washington State Council of Fly Fishers International (WSCFFI) as partners.
We agreed on a final concept. The clubs would construct three 4’x4’ signs mounted in angle iron frames, one for each parking lot. Information on the signs included WDFW rules for Rocky Ford, information on how to properly play and release a fish and a link to a video from KEEPEMWET that shows how to play and release a fish. WDFW approved the concept, the WSCFFI gave us permission to use their written information on playing and releasing a fish and KEEPEMWET gave us permission to reference their video and use their logo.

Our club took the lead on providing the signs. The frames were made in Floyd Holmes’ shop. Floyd did the welding and painting. After that the signs were mounted in the frames and the completed assemblies loaded in Jim Athearn’s trailer for transport to Rocky Ford. The following members helped at various stages in this project:
Jim Athearn, Phil Beck, Scott Fink, Lee Funkhouser, Floyd Holmes, Bob Johnson and Jerry McBride.
Each of the partners put in $615 to fund the $2460 cost of the project. The three fly clubs installed the sign they sponsored on June 18. The IEFFC provided lunch for all of the participants.

This project was well supported by individuals we worked with at several organizations.
Chris Donley, Chad Jackson and Mike Schmuck at WDFW, Bill Wheeler, President of the WSCFFI, Virgil Redwine, President of the Dry Side Fly Fishers, Harry Lane, President of the Wenatchee Valley Fly Fishers, and Bryan Huskey, KEEPEMWET Fishing.

Kid’s Fishing 2019

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Kid’s Fishing was again a great success and IEFFC was well represented with helpers on both Friday and Saturday.  Floyd Holmes was in charge of the IEFFC representation and did an outstanding job.

Friday was the special event for the Ronald McDonald House kids and it was well attended.  The children had a wonderful time and the parents and friends also enjoyed themselves.  Helping on Friday were IEFFC members Bruce Morgan, Jerry Harms, Lee Funkhouser, John Bennett, Bob Schmitt and Phil Beck.

Saturday brought us to the main event and over a thousand kids.  Fishing was sometimes difficult as the bright sunshine pushed many of the fish away from the shore meaning most fish were caught from the docks.  The kids still had a great time.  Assisting WDFW on Saturday were IEFFC members Bruce Morgan, Lee Funkhouser, Randy Shaber, John Bennett, Jim Athearn, Bryan Harman, Eric Delbo, Floyd Holmes, Phil Beck, Paul Coopwood and Doug Arndt.

Thanks to all who helped. 

2019 Big Horn Show

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We need to give a big thank you to the 18 volunteers who did a great job at the Big Horn
Show this year showing kids (and some adults) how to tie flies and sharing our enthusiasm for the sport of fly fishing. Our club was wonderfully represented by Leon Buckles, Bruce Morgan, Ray Kranches, Lee Funkhouser, Stephen Aspinwall, Dan Lobb, Gordon Olson, Randy Shaber, Jerry McBride, Bill Papesh, Bob Burton,
Bryan Harman, Skip Cavanaugh, Lowell Tveit, Phil Beck, Bill McElroy, Bo Brand
and Jim Athearn.

This was probably our busiest year, in part because show attendance
in general was up plus our booth was one of those listed on the kids’ passport program. That meant every one of them stopped by the booth to get their stamp and many then lined up to try their hand at tying. Bill Papesh brought some hats to hand out which is always popular.

I would like to give extra thanks to Leon, Bill P, Phil and Bill M for taking care of setting up and tearing down the booth while I stood around and watched. Leon generously provides the tables and chairs for us and he stores all of the other items that we use every year. Most importantly, he is there every day, all day to help me make sure everything is
taken care of and running smoothly and he is a fountain of knowledge for all the tough
questions we get.


We are signed up again for 2020 in the same booth (85) so mark your calendars to save some time to volunteer or just come to the show and visit with us. Show dates will be March 19 – 22.

IEFFC Legacy Committee Scholarship

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Jim Turner, IEFFC, and Laura Thayer, EWU

At the February meeting Jim Turner, from the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club Legacy Committee, announced the Eastern Washington University IEFFC Legacy Committee Scholarship, which will be given out to a deserving student starting this fall.

The scholarship will be a $1,000.00 amount and will be awarded to a Junior or Senior enrolled in the Biology program with a preference to those in the Fisheries Department. The Legacy Committee was pleased to have Laura Thayer, from Eastern Washington University, present at the meeting. Laura has been instrumental in setting up the scholarship.

Jim Athearn will represent the IEFFC by sitting on the selection committee, along with the faculty members designated by EWU. We will invite the 2019 recipient to a fall meeting so that IEFFC members can meet and talk with the individual.