D E S E R T F L Y C A S T E R S A B A R B L E S S C L U B

DECEMBER MEETING:Wednesday,

DECEMBER 14, 2005

Desert Fly Casters SupportsBARBLESS HOOKSCATCH & RELEASE

LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS BEHIND WHEN WALKING THE PATHWAYS OF OUR ARIZONA ENVIRONMENT

DECEMBER

2005 DFC Pinson sale atmonthly clubmeetings.

MARK THE DATE....Wednesday...December 14th on your calendar.

We’ve got some fun and prizes planned for you....AND some surprises too. This year we want you to bring3 or more of those ugly flies you’ve had in your vest (or some special fly you don’t use any more) and drop ina special box. (Old used flies are encouraged.) Everyone who participates in donating 3 or more ugly flys willreceive an extra raffle ticket. The UGLY FLY box will be raffled off to a lucky winner...It’ll be his or her flysto use for their trek on a fishing trip....who knows maybe there might be some good flys in that box too...ALSOwe’ve got some great raffle items... Just to name a few: Orvis Zero Gravity Fly Rod with a BattenkillReel...Outcast Pontoon Boat...Engraved Ross Reel and, much, much more! We look forward in seeing youat our 2005 Banquet. Fun, food and plenty of action and neat raffles to go for...A night to remember...Comesupport the DFC gang... We’ve got our DFC board working hard with setting up all of those classic outings too.Who knows where we might end up for a special fly fishing trip! Your input and enthusiasm will help us withoutings and speakers too... so if you’ve got something (or someone) in mind, that’s of interest to all of us, justlet one of the DFC board members hear from you. After all this is your club.

Our DFC Newsletter is an important link to our members and guests. In this issue we’ve got a neat follow-up story by Tom Soldat and of course our loveable Doc has some kind words from Rocky Point. The newslet-ter is fun for everyone and articles are always appreciated. They add to our sport and keep alive the passionsfor fly fishing. Thanks to all who get involved and contribute....See ya on the 14th!Bob McKeon, DFC Editor/Graphic Guru

Annual BanquetKnights of Columbus Hall

655 Chandler Blvd.

SURPRISES & PRIZESat DFC BANQUET!

Desert Fly Casters

San Felipe, Baja Mexicoby Tom Soldat in his own words

In an earlier issue, I promised to tell a littlemore about the September adventure.

When our three vehicle caravan arrived theafternoon of September 2nd, stepping out in to theSan Felipe sun was a shocking surprise, even tothose who live in a hot climate like Mesa,Arizona. "Last week it was 124 degrees here!"was the comment from the locales.

I can tell you, that day must have been close tothat temperature and as humid as the days I expe-rienced in Viet Nam. None the less, that eveningwe dined, seaside, at a neat place with great, freshmade food. Even though I was a little under theweather, the food and company were excellent.

I want to mention these aspects of our journey,to inform the reader that this would be considereda rough trip. That being the case, everything wentsmoothly and most of all, we had a lot of excite-ment, laughs and fun.

We spent the night in a comfortable, air-condi-tioned motel, Hotel Langosta Roja ( recently fea-tured in The Arizona Republic's travel section)and looked forward to loading our gear on boardthe Eric that would be waiting for us at the dockthe following morning.

The writer feels the need to mention that SanFelipe is still somewhat of a "sleepy Mexican vil-lage." There are only a few paved roads and onemain highway that runs down to the dock area.Lots of billboard advertising for vacation proper-ties along the way and as always, a few dustydogs sleeping in the hot shade.

We staged our gear on the dock near the boatand after taking on a few tons of ice for the jour-ney we headed south, toward the fish.

Our departure was a little rough and I poppedone motion sickness tablet just in case...by theway, no more were needed on the trip.

What one might find, the Sea of Cortez is pret-ty quiet when traveling along the coast of Baja.Don't take this wrong, we rocked around plentywhen fishing out of the pongas.. I was standing upfront casting and almost took a header into thedeep blue. I think a few others shared the sameexperience.

Speaking of the coast of Baja, we fished theislands and points as the Eric traveled south. Thisis the driest (in spite of the extreme humidity) and

most desolate place a lot of us will ever see. It isnot possible to fish (we trolled a lot) and not betaken by the scenery.

The shoreline is a mass of melted, volcanicrock, bubbled into shapes and colors that contin-ue to be a source of wonderment no matter whereone looks.

One island will look like a huge melted, burnedmarshmallow when across the other side will be apile of boulders, all the exact same size and colorset in such a manner that one would think it set inplace by some ancient, giant hand.

We stopped and went ashore (I think naturecalled) and went into one of thousands of cavesalong the shoreline. One would think a sea shorecave would bring cool relief to the explorer. Whatone finds, it's just a hot, hot cave.

By the way, we were told, the dope smugglersuse these caves to "ply their trade", used as hidingor staging places for their loads. Adds a touch ofunusual interest to sweat-soaked fly fishers.

On a trip like this, one fishes with fly rods butit served us well to rent and bring equipment tofish conventionally. A small investment yields"boat and trolling rods" that caught severalspecies of fish for eager anglers.

In the evenings, one of these rods, rigged withsquid jigs, will catch squid and mackerel that willbe used for bait the next day.

The bait catching is also a social time on board.It winds down the day, gives details of the day'scatch and events as well as a cocktail or cold beer.

The dawn brings coffee and an excellent break-fast served by a grinning Segero with a morninggreeting of "buenas dias!" By 6 AM the deckhands and pongaderos (boatman) have loaded iceand drinks in the ice chests and loaded the rodsand gear into the pongas (fishing boats).

Two anglers and one pongadero per craft andoff to the fishing grounds. Make no mistake, theseMexican boatmen were literally born in theseboats and know the waters and islands like a glob-al positioning system.

By 11:30 -noon, the pongas return to the moth-er ship the crew to unload, clean and ice down thefish and await lunch. After a refreshing, coolshower, lunch is served. Starting with fresh fruitand melon, one enjoys the gourmet-like soup, pre-pared with great care by Poncho, master of thegalley.

A light lunch follows, excellent every day andthen a siesta until about 2 PM.

After spending the morning literally baking inthe Baja sun, one fully understands why theMexican people value their siesta time! Risingrefreshed, (and we'll need it) again boarding thepongas to fish until just before sunset.

With fish on the deck to be cleaned and iced(that's why so much ice was brought on board)and another cool shower, we delighted in anotherwonderful feast. All especially enjoyed the handthrown tortillas served at almost every meal.

On the Eric, one will find polite and attentivecrew. These people are hard working, eager toplease their clients, friendly and once they getused to "fly swatters" and their equipment theytake care to wash reels with fresh water and makesure the correct fishing boxes are placed with theproper pongas. The impression is they want returnbusiness.

All these factors as well as filling a freezerfilled with fish fillets makes a wonderful, memo-rable and exciting adventure.

The Sierra Makerel are a beautiful as well astasty fish. Smoked, with a cold beer, they areexcellent.

The trigger fish are large and are noted as "tacofish" by Pedro, our pongadero and needless tosay, make great tacos. They put up a real fight.

The yellowtail are a blast to bring to the boat asthey miss their pals and decide at the last secondto try to rejoin them by making a "reel" scream-ing run. On the grill, done in foil with onions andseasonings, they are a gourmet dinner. One needsto add, we caught 15 species of fish.

Now that Desert Fly Casters has made the ini-tial trip to Baja, out outing next year can be betterplanned and equipped.

We understand that by that time, another craft,a little larger than the Eric and by that time re-fit-ted and refurbished, will be available.

Let me know when the departure date is, I'llhave my gear ready!

We are looking forward to seeing the clubmembership at the Christmas banquet, be sure tomark your schedule for the evening of December14th!

Keep a tight line.Tom Soldat

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Desert Fly Casters

Orvis Zero Gravity Fly Rod with a Battenkill Reel • OutcastPontoon Boat • Engraved Ross Reel • Simms Waders

Complete Fly Tying outfit with a Renzetti Viseand...Lot’s more fishing stuff to make

the new year a kickbutt fun time for the coming season!!

Show us your DFC 2005 Pin at theAnnual Banquet and be eligible fora SPECIAL PIN Drawing...Remember to wear your DFCPin!

ROCKY POINT REVISITEDby Doc in his own words

First, let’s talk about the weather. It wasperfect!

Second, about the fishing. It was just okay.Third, about the food and drinks. The

Friday night social was warm and informa-tive, thanks to our two ocean gurus, Vinceand Dave. The Saturday banquet was a supersuccess. The prime rib cuts were huge, andeven the veggies were tasty.

Fourth, we talked about having the outingon another weekend because the 4,000 bikerskind of took over the town on the Vet’s week-end. Need some more input for next year.

Fifth, I want to thank everyone(and I meaneveryone) for contributing to the weekend.We did it again! It paid for itself; no clubmoney (or mine either).

Sixth, all of you fishers that missed this out-ing; don’t for next year!

Ole one arm....Doc

SEE BACK PAGE FOR BANQUET MAP

SEASON’S GREETINGSThe DFC Board wishes thevery best for all members in

the coming New Year.We thank you for your

support...May the bend inyour fly rod warm your

heart as you fish the greatwaters of Arizona in 2006.

Desert Fly CastersDesert Fly CastersP.O. Box 41271Mesa,AZ 85274-1271

MAIL TO: ☛

Cinda Howard- PresidentBill Thyng- Vice PresidentChuck Elliot- TreasurerMike Kutch- Secretary

Outings-Vince Deadmond

ProgramsRocky Minster

Retail Gerry WiemeltMembershipDave WeaverEducationTom Soldat

TU/FFF/WCC:Eric Larsen

Videos & BooksDan SchwartzConservation

Eric LarsenRaffles

Doc NickelNewsletter Editor/Graphics Guru

Robert McKeonWebsite GuruTed Miskinns-

Membership at LargeJim Fraijo

Jim DicksonJay Figley

DESERT FLY CASTERS HOT LINE480-654-6111

Web Address Sitewww.desertflycasters.com

2005 DESERT FLY CASTERSBOARD OF DIRECTORES

Dec 14 DFC Christmas Banquet2005 DFC OUTINGS

DFC ANNUAL BANQUET...Head East on ChandlerBlvd...Stay on Chandler...crossArizona Ave...cross rail roadtracks and look for the Knightsof Columbus on your left side(that’s on the north side of Chandler for you GPS nuts).Plenty of parking, and the lot isvery well lighted.See ya there!

Additional information call: Cinda Howard at: 480-217-5089 ...or...Bill Thyng at: 480-786-3440

SOMETHINGNEW AT

THIS YEARS BANQUET

...Bring us 3 of your sick looking

flies and drop them in the UGLY

FLY box. We’ll give you a raffle

ticket for your efforts and then

we’ll raffle the box off at the end

of the evening. Maybe the lucky

fishing dude will thank you and

catch more fish than you!