Newsletter 2015-10 - Flatland Fly Fishers

October 2015
Volume 20 Issue 10
Wichita, Kansas
www.flatlandflyfishers.org
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
The Legend Of …(part 2)
Page 2, 3 & 4
_________________
Fly/Equipment Swap
2016 Elections
Page 4
___________________________
Wait is Over
Page 5
___________________________
High Water...
Items for sale
Page 6
____________________________
Club Information
President Message
Page 7
Directions To Camp Hiawatha:
From Highway 135 go west of
135 until you get to Legion Street and go
Mark the following date, October 10,
south. ( there is a sign for Camp Hiawa2015, hopefully you will be able to keep this
tha). Legion Street takes you to the endate open and attend our annual club picnic.
try way to Camp Hiawatha and park in
Events like this is what keeps our organization the parking lot and follow signs to Chergoing and this event is perfect for strengthenokee Hall.
ing our fly fishing bonds.
From Meridian go to 51st north
and go east on 51st street for about 5
Date:
Saturday October 10, 2015
blocks to Camp Hiawatha entry way.
Turn right and park in parking lot and
Time:
12:00 pm doors & raffle open
follow signs to Cherokee Hall.
2:00 pm casting games
4:00 pm Pre-dinner indoor
activities
5:30 pm dinner
Raffle drawings begin
Dutch Oven Cooking at
after dinner
Club Picnic
Club Picnic
Selling of raffle tickets will be closed during
dinner and
reopened for a short time after dinner.
Cost: $15.00/ person (early or late arrival)
Pre-purchase tickets and receive 5
$1.00 raffle tickets.
Where:
The picnic will be held at Camp Hiawatha
which is located at 1605 W. 51st. North. The
building will be the Cherokee Hall which is
located south of Beech Hall.
Visit our website
www. flatlandflyfishers.org/
Next Meeting October 1,
7:00 P.M.
Dutch Oven cooking and home
made ice cream will also be on the
menu. If you want to help with
Dutch Oven cooking and extras we
will begin around 3 pm.
To ensure we have enough Dutch
Ovens for all interested please contact
Dwan Welty
dwan@mpmllc.net
October Meeting
If you have questions about casting, fly
tying, rod building, fishing destinations
or others. At the October meeting you
will have the opportunity to pick the
brains of Doug, Spencer, Neal and
Steve in an open forum.
Flatland Fly Fishers
2
Southern Master: The Legend of Lefty
Bernard Victor Kreh was born in 1925, in Frederick, Mary-
Part 2 of 3
Only now, Kreh says, can he comfortably talk about what he
saw in the war. There were the everyday miseries, like spendland, some fifty miles west of Baltimore. In 1932, in the depth ing freezing nights in a slit trench and waking up with a panof the Depression, his father, a brick mason, was accidentally cake of ice on his backside. There was the constant barrage of
kicked in the chest during a basketball game and died.
“Screaming Mimis,” the German artillery rockets that contained horseshoes, chains, and other bits of flesh-tearing metal
Kreh, then six and the eldest of four children, became the man shrapnel. One day, an officer standing right in front of Kreh
of the house. His family went on government relief (later
was hit by something and cleanly decapitated. Kreh was part
known as welfare). Kreh was in charge of picking up sacks of
of a group of soldiers who liberated a concentration camp that
flour and cornmeal from the government warehouse and pull-
had only a hundred or so severely emaciated survivors. His
ing them home in a wagon. The sacks all had the word RE-
one fond memory of the war: One morning, after his division
LIEF printed prominently on their sides, which prompted mer- had lived for weeks on cold rations, Allied planes swooped in
ciless teasing from the other kids in town. “Everybody was
low and dropped canisters containing hot syrup and pancakes.
poor back then, but we were really poor,” he says. “We didn’t
“We rolled them up and ate them like hot dogs,” Kreh says.
have enough money to buy a mosquito underpants.”
Kreh spent his free time tramping through the nearby woods
and waters, hunting and fishing. “That’s what we did back
then,” he says. “There were no posted signs or anything like
that.” He caught stringers of catfish and sold them for ten
cents a pound, giving most of the money to his mother and
then using whatever was left to buy his own clothes.
In school, he played baseball and basketball. He had good
Kreh sits at the ready, bonefish fly in hand, during a day on the flats.
hand-eye coordination, was ambidextrous, and says he could
see 180 degrees in his peripheral vision, traits that would come In early 1945, Kreh’s 69th Infantry Division met the Russian
in handy later in his life. His friends nicknamed him “Lefty,”
army at the Elbe River, and the war in Europe was effectively
for his ability to dribble a basketball with his left hand. (Many over. Kreh was sent home for a thirty-day furlough before he
years ago, Kreh tore the biceps in his left arm while flipping a
was supposed to be shipped to fight in the Pacific theater.
mattress. He’s actually cast with his right hand ever since.)
Then Truman dropped his bombs,” he says.
After high school, Kreh enlisted in the U.S. Army and became Back home, Kreh found a job at Fort Detrick, the center for
a member of the 69th Infantry Division in World War II. He
the United States’ biological warfare program. One of his
arrived in Europe in late 1944 as the Allies were advancing
tasks was to don a protective plastic suit and scrape mud-like
across France and Belgium, headed for what would become
anthrax off of cylinder walls so it could be processed for the
known as the Battle of the Bulge, the catastrophic clash (some site’s scientists. The job wasn’t glamorous, but the shift hours
90,000 American casualties) that took place regrettably late in
gave him plenty of time to hunt and fish.
the war. Kreh was, at various times, a forward observer, the
lanyard puller on a howitzer, and a foot soldier.
(continued on page 3)
Flatland Fly Fishers
3
(continued from page 2)
One morning, Kreh remembers, he woke up feeling horrible.
His right arm had turned black. Apparently, a small tear in his
protective suit had exposed him to anthrax. For a month, he
was kept alone in a small glass room for treatment. He would
discover only later that scientists had extracted some of his
caught anything yet.”
The showmanship began to leave Kreh feeling unfulfilled. In
the mid-1950s, he says, “I quit all the hotdogging and decided
it was better to actually teach people.”
blood to create a more virulent strain of anthrax, which they
named BVK-1, using Kreh’s initials.
The exhibitions then became places where Kreh shared his
knowledge instead of flaunting it. He tirelessly worked with
The comic-book geek in me can’t help but wonder if this is the
moment—akin to Peter Parker’s getting bitten by the radioactive spider—when Kreh developed his superpowers as a fly
fisherman, which would come into full bloom just a short
while later.
While working at Fort Detrick, Kreh began to make a name
for himself as a local fisherman, especially when it came to
smallmouth bass, which remain his favorite freshwater fish.
anyone—especially young children—who wanted to learn
about rigging knots, tying flies, and casting. “I’ve seen his
casting demonstration a hundred times, but I still watch,” says
Tom Rosenbauer, the marketing head at Orvis. “I learn something new every time.” Kreh, a classic extrovert, was made for
entertaining. “I’ve been with him when he isn’t feeling well,
then he gets around a group of people and starts talking fishing
and he gets energy,” says Ted Juracsik, a friend and founder of
the Tibor reel company. The exhibitions benefited Kreh, as
well. “I learn from everybody,” he says. “People ask me some(Bonefish are his favorite in the salt.) In 1947 an outdoor writ- thing and I look for the answer. A lot of times you would never of some renown named Joe Brooks asked to fish with Kreh er look for the answer unless you have a question. And everyon the Potomac River. Brooks arrived with an Orvis Battenkill thing I do is always subject to change.”
bamboo fly rod. “I’d never laid eyes on a fly rod before that,”
says Kreh, who was then strictly a plug caster and spin fisherman. He was mesmerized while watching Brooks fish. The
next day, Kreh drove to Baltimore and bought a South Bend
fiberglass fly rod and a Pflueger Medalist reel and, within
months, became an expert caster.
Kreh leveraged that into invitations to exhibitions. He dazzled
crowds by throwing an entire fly line with just his hand and by
knocking cigarettes out of the mouths of comely young women from eighty yards away. Sometime later he took an old carp
-fishing friend who was skeptical about fly fishing out to a
river to show him how it was done. Kreh put on a display,
casting two, then four, then eight rods (held between his fingers) at the same time. He turned to his friend and said, “Well,
whaddya think?”
His friend just looked at him. “It ain’t worth a shit. You ain’t
Exhibitions are also where Kreh has unleashed some of his
best quips. Once, when telling a story about a particularly productive lagoon in Cuba, he said: “I cast my fly in there and it
wasn’t coming out. It was like rolling a wine bottle into a jail
cell.” He told the crowds he once dated a girl so ugly “that the
tide wouldn’t take her out.” He talked about a man he knew
who was “so lazy that he married a pregnant woman.” Kreh is
among the last of the great politically incorrect storytellers,
something he gets away with because his general demeanor
suggests that he means no harm. Once, while doing a presentation in Pennsylvania, his projector broke. To kill time, Kreh
told the audience he’d start telling some Polish jokes. Some of
the men present stood up and told Kreh that they, in fact, were
Polish. “That’s all right, fellas,” Kreh replied. “I’ll tell them
nice and slow so you can understand.” The men all laughed.
(continued on page 4)
Flatland Fly Fishers
4
Give a Penny …
Kreh also wrote articles—all how-to (“I don’t do that fancy
stuff,” he says)—for regional and national publications,
sometimes churning out four or five pieces a week. Over the
years, he’s had outdoor columns in the Baltimore
Sun and Fly Fisherman and Outdoor Life magazines, among
others. He began writing books, as well. Practical Fishing
and Boating Knots has reportedly sold more than 300,000
copies. If one takes into account the additional thirty books
Kreh has written, and the countless magazine and newspaper
articles he’s penned over the last sixty years, it’s very likely
that he is the most widely read angling writer in history.
To gather material, Kreh traveled the world. He fished in
New Guinea for a species of bass nicknamed the River Rambo. He went to Cuba in 1960 to write about Ernest Heming-
As much as you would like to think we are not going to
give away pennies but for those who want the November
meeting will have a fly and equipment swap.
The participate in the fly swap you tie about 12 of your
favorite flies. Bring to the November meeting and give to
Dwan. He will take your flies and divide them among all
the other who bring flies to swap.
The equipment swap/trade is where you bring your unwanted equipment and swap/trade with another member for
their unwanted equipment.
Some have asked if it is allowed to sell equipment at this
time. The answer is yes but the purchase of equipment is
between the purchaser and buyer. The club is not involved
with any type of selling.
Hope to see you at the November meeting and bring you
flies for the swap and your unwanted equipment.
way’s white marlin tournament, fishing with Fidel Castro
one day (“He talked about the future of the country, but never mentioned the word communism,” Kreh says) and
aboard Pilar with Hemingway for two days. (Castro won the
tournament, legitimately as far as Kreh could tell.) Kreh
traveled to Australia, New Zealand, France, England, South
America, and Central America. He cast a line in all fifty
states in America. Along the way, he helped open up new fly
-fishing frontiers. He extolled the virtues of barramundi fishing in Australia. He spread the word about fishing for striped
bass on the flats in the Northeast. “It was here, but no one
paid much attention until Lefty started to talk about it,” says
Paul Dixon, a guide in Long Island, New York. Kreh did the
same thing for false albacore in North Carolina. He also
helped kick-start the targeting of new fly-rod species, such
as muskellunge and carp.
2016 Officers
Listed below are the four elected position for the
Flatland Flyfishers Club
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Listed below are the appointed positions for the
Flatland Flyfishers Club
Conservation
Education
Newsletter/Membership
Web Master
Programs
Activities
Member at large
We encourage each member to get active and join in
the fun and excitement of being a 2016 club officer.
GARDEN&GUN
BY MONTE BURKE - MARYLAND AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2015
Photographs by Andy Anderson
(part 3 of 3 in November issue)
It is not what the club can do for
you it is what can you do
for the club.
Flatland Fly Fishers
Landon R. Mayer
2016 Winter Program Guest
Landon R. Mayer
With nearly two decades of experience, Landon
Mayer's success in catching trout is fueled by
an addiction to pursuing large trout with small
flies and lightweight fly-fishing equipment.
Mayer enthusiastically teaches and demonstrates his techniques and on-river knowledge
to fellow anglers and has developed innovative
strategies for sighting, hooking, and landing
selective trout. He shares these tips and secrets
in his books Colorado's Best Fly Fishing, Sight
Fishing for Trout, and How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life, in addition to two
DVDs: Landing the Trout of Your Life and
Weapons of Bass Production, both of which also feature John Barr.
Mayer's passion for fly fishing has allowed him to
make several noteworthy contributions to the sport.
Among them are his appearances as the headliner in
the International Sports Exposition Shows (ISE) at
each of their shows in four states for five years, 2008
- 2013 (www.sportsexpos.com). Mayer travels to flyfishing related organizations in regions of the MidAtlantic, west, Pacific Northwest, southwest, and
southern states, teaching through guided trips, flyfishing classes, presentations, and demonstrations of
his techniques.
5
Mayer is a contributing writer for Fly Fisherman and High Country Angler magazines. His
contributions also have been featured in publications such as Field and Stream, Fly Rod and
Reel, American Angler, Southwest Fly Fishing,
and Fish and Fly magazines.
As an ambassador in the fly-fishing industry,
Mayer represents several lines including Simms
Fly Fishing apparel and is a royalty fly designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants. He is also an
advisory team member of Simms, Ross, Scientific Angler, Smith Optics, Fish Pond, and Casio Pro Trek watches.
Mayer has been guiding in Colorado on the
South Platte River for the past seventeen years.
He resides with his wife, Michelle, and their
four children in Florissant, Colorado.
Landon has agreed to be the guest
speaker at the Flatland Fly Fishers
Club Winter Program.
Winter Program: February 6, 2016
Place: Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E. 29th St. N.
Wichita, KS
Flatland Fly Fishers
6
Jim Keller
High Water Doesn’t Dampen the Fishing
the private lake at Eagle’s Nest, New Mexico had I experienced the quality of fish that we caught that day. After breakThe August hopper run on the White River in Arkansas has ing off the first two fish I realized that I needed to follow
been hampered this year by high water and rains that kept the Rick’s advice and set the drag light, lift the rod on a strike and
hold on. Throughout the day we caught rainbows that ran bevegetation green and the hoppers off the water’s edge. Even
though the hopper run had been slow the opportunity for tak- tween 3-4 pounds with some breakoffs that may have well
exceeded that range. Early in the day I had lost count on the
ing a nice brown trout was still there.
number of fish landed and by day’s end shared numerous acIn late August Rick Brown and I traveled to Cotter, Arkan- counts with Rick as we pulled off our waders and relaxed at
sas, in an attempt to hook up with some nice brown and rain- the truck before heading down the road.
bow trout. We set the Trout Lodge in Cotter as our home base
for 5 nights as we hit the water with guide Ben Levine for two
days, followed up with trips out on the water with a friend of
Rick’s and one of mine. Each had recently relocated to the
area and really enjoyed their new homes and the outdoor activities.
Although the brown trout where tough to come by on the
morning hopper runs we managed to catch some nice fish in
the nineteen to twenty inch range. The rainbow fishing was
much more productive as we boated good numbers each day
with our guide. Going out with our friends the need for boat
control on the high water was very pronounced as fish numbers the last two days were markedly down.
Rick and Guide Ben Levin with Rick’s 19” Brown
We had success on a number of flies. I worked bugger patterns throughout the day while Rick also worked in a variety
of nymphs. This was really my first trip to the Cotter area and
Rock Bridge, with the expectation of a couple of days on the
North Fork River a few years ago, but it definitely will not be
the last trip. I will be adding this area to my list of Ozark fishing destinations.
Good Fishing
Jim Keller
Spectacular dot pattern of this 20” Brown Trout
Fly Fishing Reels and Fly Tying Vises For Sale
Following the stay on the White River we moved back into
Missouri to fish a spot that Rick had talked a good deal about Rock Bridge. My first impression of the area was every bit as
good as what Rick had said. Rock Bridge is located 15 miles
off the beaten path in a beautiful valley. The picturesque old
mill on the river set a very welcoming sight. According to
Rick the lodge offers nice accommodations, although we only
fished the day and drove to Ava, Missouri, for the night and
for some very fine BBQ.
Orvis Madison 3 (English) (Claw Pawl) with Pouch and Instructions
Lamson DCA-2
Lamson 3.5 with extra spool
Ross Cimarron 4 with Two (2) extra spools
Six reel Buck’s Bag
All as a set for $350 firm
Rock Bridge is privately owned and managed. The rule of
thumb is that you pay $25 a day and keep all fish caught. The
fish are packaged for you and an additional fee of $4.95 a
pound is charged. Or you can do as we did and fish the catch
and release area for $95 a day. A third option is to fish a half
day for $60.
HMH Spartan Orvis Green (Pedestal) $150
This was my first trip to Rock Bridge and so I was a little
apprehensive that the cost would not be worth the fishing.
BOY WAS I MISTAKEN. Not since I was a boy traveling to
Danvise with tying station, tools and beginners book $95
Dyna-King:
King Fisher (Pedestal) $125
Aristocraft (Pedestal) $150
Barracuda (C-Clamp w/ Outrigger)
Swing Arm Bobbin Hanger can also be used as Gallows
Add on material clip $300
Give me a call Jim Correia (316) 755 8411
Flatland Fly Fishers
5709 N. Sullivan
Wichita, KS
67204
Flatland Flyfishers meet monthly at the
Great Plains Nature Center, located at
6232 E. 29th St. N, Wichita, KS
Questions and Answer
If you have questions regarding any aspect
of Fly Fishing please submit them to:
dwan@mpmllc.net or tburgin1@cox.net
Ark River Anglers Fly Tying Class
Come tie with us from 7-9 pm the third Tuesday each month
See us for your fly tying/fly fishing needs
Wide selection of material and tools from Peak
~ Colorado Angler ~ Hareline ~ Wapsi and others
If we don’t have it, we will special order for you
Cortland ~ St. Croix ~ Redington ~ Rio ~ White River
Fly Reels ~ Fly Rods ~ Fly Line ~ Fly Fishing Accessories
Follow us on Facebook.com/Zeiners & zeiners.com
Zeiner’s Angler Supply Fly Shop
737 S. Washington #6 ~ Wichita ~ 316-265-5551
Flatland Fly Fishers Club 2015 Upcoming Activities
October 10th
Club Banquet
February 6, 2016 Winter Program
March
2016 Fly Fishing Film Tour
Fly Tying Wednesday, October 7 & 14, 6 pm
Fly Tying Wednesday, November 11 & 18, 6 pm
Fly Tying Saturday’s 10 am
Please Call 316-682-8006 for additional dates and information