BEGINNERS AND BEYOND

Ken Bowyer provides one on one stream side fly fishing instruction to PPTU members. Participants must show commitment by having waders or hippers, a rod and reel outfit, and leader. Discussions will include equipment, knots, casting, flies, dry fly and nymphing techniques, entomology, reading water, conservation, etc. at nearby streams. Instruction will be tailored to individual needs. Members who have not made an Annual Supporting Contribution will be asked to contribute $20.

Contact Ken at 301-627-7154 or e-mail kenbowyer@verizon.net.

2011 - 2012 Mentor Program Report

In 2011 and 2012, 16 members listed in the table below were tutored at the Upper and Middle Patuxent, Morgan Run, Big Hunting Creek, or the Gunpowder. First timers received a current issue of the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide (or a copy of the Maryland section) and a 4 page summary on entomology. This introductory material provided the newcomer with an idea of what flies to use at any given time and general information on identifying insect types. Knot tying was discussed showing two basic knots; the surgeons knot (and surgeons loop) for tying or connecting tippet to leader and leader to line and the improved clinch knot for tying flies to tippet. Different types of leader (the standard 7.5´ 3x nylon tapered leader as described by Jay Sheppard in A Simple Trout Leader System, the Orvis braided leader, the Furled Leader, and the Airflo PolyLeader) were discussed to show them alternative setups. For those with their leader connected to the fly line with a nail knot or to a nylon butt section with a loop, the Cortland braided loop was shown as an alternative for line to leader loop to loop connections. A brief time was spent on the stream turning over rocks to show some insect life in its early stages. For those with no casting experience, basic casting techniques were shown. On the stream, casting variations including the sidearm cast and the roll cast were demonstrated to avoid overhanging trees and brush behind you. Basic short line nymphing techniques with a strike indicator and/or dry fly fishing techniques were demonstrated. Line mending was demonstrated to insure drag free fly presentation. A combination rig was also demonstrated and/or discussed using a dry fly such as an elk hair caddis or royal wulff along with a bead head nymph. The bead head nymph is attached as a dropper fly on about an 18" to 24" piece of tippet tied to the bend of the dry fly hook using the improved clinch knot. With this setup, the dry fly acts as a strike indicator to detect when a fish takes the bead head nymph. Two dry flies, two nymphs, and a streamer with a dropper nymph combination were also mentioned along with the advantages and disadvantages of these combination rigs.

Member	Dates	Streams	Fish Landed	Fish On	Insects Observed
Warren Boord	5/22/11	Morgan Run			Ants, a beetle, & a caddis
Warren Boord Jr.	5/22/11	Morgan Run	2	4	Ants, a beetle, & a caddis
Nicole LeBoeuf	6/4/11	Big Hunting Creek	1	1	Yellow Sallies, some caddis, ants, a BWO
Sonny Bell	2/27/12	Morgan Run	3	4	Brown stoneflies & midges
Chuck Dinkel	3/2/12	Upper Pax/Middle Pax	4	4	Few Brown stoneflies & midges
Tim Lawrence	4/14/12	Morgan Run			Few craneflies, caddis, midges
Karli Lawrence	4/14/12	Morgan Run	1	1	Few craneflies, caddis, midges
Kevin Keegan	4/15/12	Morgan Run			Some small caddis, midges, ants
Chris Leonette	4/15/12	Morgan Run	1	3	Some small caddis, midges, ants
Rachel Dagovitz	4/20/12	Morgan Run		2	Some craneflies, brown stoneflies, ants
Rachel Dagovitz	5/5/12	Gunpowder			Some sulphurs, caddis, midges
Sonny Bell	5/10/12	Big Hunting Creek		1	Yellow Sallies, cream midges, some small caddis
Dave Simms	5/25/12	Morgan Run	1	1	Very few insects
Barry Veret	6/5/12	Morgan Run	2	2	Very few insects
Dave Simms	7/3/12	Big Hunting Creek	2	2	Craneflies
Dennis Roundy	10/10/12	Gunpowder		2	Brown stoneflies, caddis
Marc Hutzell	10/16/12	Gunpowder			Few midges, caddis
Chuq Yang	11/28/12	Morgan Run	2	5	None
Kevin Butler	11/30/12	Morgan Run			None

Mentor Program Photo Album

The following photos were taken over the past few years during some of the mentoring sessions.

Chuq Yang at Morgan Run	Dave Simms at Morgan Run	Barry Veret at Morgan Run
Nicole LeBoeuf at Big Hunting Creek	Sonny Bell at Big Hunting Creek	Karli Lawrence at Morgan Run
Tom Crabill at Morgan Run	Adam Rice at Morgan Run	Cliff Rice at Morgan Run
Large Stonefly at Big Hunting Creek	Yellow Stonefly at Big Hunting Creek	Lou Reichel at Morgan Run
Ron Beloff at Morgan Run	Henderickson? at Morgan Run	Black Caddis at Morgan Run
Rodger Johnson at Morgan Run	Desmond Butler at Morgan Run	Marshal Cowan at Morgan Run
Bernie Werwinski at Morgan Run	Wayne van Rooyen at the Gunpowder	Angelo Rivera at Big Hunting Creek
Barry Hedden at Big Hunting Creek	Alan Burrows at Morgan Run	Bob Kaiser at the Middle Patuxent
Gerald Elgert at Morgan Run	Steve Graves at the PhD Pool on the Savage River	Steve Fletcher at Big Hunting Creek
Steve Shauer at Morgan Run	Mike Doyle at Morgan Run	Charlie Moseley at Morgan Run
Sandy Serafin at Morgan Run	Todd Carver at Morgan Run	Patrick Masler at the Casselman
Jewel Barlow at the Gunpowder	Nick Weber at the Gunpowder	Jerry Gessner at the Gunpowder