We had a great turn out for the January HFF meeting. There were lots of old faces around the tables as well as several new faces. It was good to see all of you there! Everyone enjoyed the fellowship and food before the meeting with tales of Florida Fly Fishing, Big Wisconsin Smallies, walleyes on a fly and the Indy Fly Fishing Expo. There was also a rumor about one of our old faces having a discussion with Bob Clouser last week about designing better flies for wipers. But then again maybe I heard it wrong, hopefully there will be more discussion about that at the February HFF Meeting. Don’t miss it!
One of the new faces at the meeting was Derrick Filkins of Flymasters Indianapolis. Derrick was welcomed by club president Tim Mather. Derrick spoke to the group about warm water fly fishing and clued us in on some of the newest and greatest fly fishing gear available now at Flymasters. Check out their website or drop in the shop on Allisonville Road on the NE side of Indianapolis. If they don’t have what you need they will order it.
This year the fly tying demonstrations will be Traditional Classic Patterns that are over 30 years old and still produce fish. Mike Donovan, club program director, demonstrated how to tie a Lead Wing Coachman.
The trick is getting the wings on correctly and Mike showed how to do that. It is always educational watching how other people tie flies. Learning the little shortcuts or tricks they use at the vise can save you lots of time when tying your own. Most all of the HFF meetings will have fly tying demonstrations.
On a sad note, it’s the end of an era. If you are a fan of Pat , Crazy Eddie Muldoon, Rancid, Melba Peachbottom, Sneed, Strange or are a member of the Rancid Crabtree Fly Fishing and Filisofical Society then you need to go to www.patrickfmcmanus.com. Sadly the McManus website monthly blog and book store is no more. You can read more about it on the website.