VOLUME 31, ISSUE 6. December 2024

Paul Cooper holding centre stage at last month's club meeting

 

Dates for the Diary

Casting Practice 
8 December 2024: 9:00 AM: Timbrell Park, Henley Marine Drive, Five Dock

Sydney Fly Rodders Christmas Party
9 December 2024: 6PM: The Ranch Hotel, Cnr Epping & Herrings Roads, North Ryde

President's Report

Denis Hill with a gorgeous fish from the February 2024 NZ Trip

Dear {Contact_First_Name},

This is my last President’s report, I am stepping down at the AGM and David Major is standing for the role of president. I have however agreed to stand for the role of Vice President so I will still be active on the committee.

The Club is in great shape, and we had another great, finished the year strongly. In November we had our Beginners Weekend and our annual Geehi/Long Plain trips, Casting Practice and Fly Tying and in December have a Tassie Lowlands trip, another Sunday morning casting practice and the Christmas party.

The one item outstanding on my to do list for the year is the members survey, which I will get to soon (I hope) thanks to the continued help of Alan Baldry. Although Alan has stepped down from the Committee he continues to work on behalf of the Club, and I want to acknowledge Alan and all the other members who while not on the committee do so much for the Club.

While the Club Committee rightly deserve credit for another great year, so do the many regular club members who contribute their time and expertise for the benefit of the Club. David Caddies with his assistants, George Nolevski and Gavin Van Der Wagen, provide a wonderful service to the members teaching new members how to cast and older members how to cast properly. Dave Wilson and our regular fly tiers who take turns in leading the tying sessions have helped many members learn to tie flies and thus allowed them the thrill of catching a fish on a fly they tied themselves. Phil Burton who while no longer on the Committee continues to run the Club’s very popular Facebook page as well as regularly giving up his weekends to guide on our beginner’s weekends as has Dave Webster. And John Brassil who seeing the gap in our trip market has stepped in and organised the upcoming Alexendra trip.

They say it takes a village to raise a child, well I think you could also say it takes a Club with all of its members to create a well-rounded fly fisher. My thanks to all the members of our wonderful club, you have certainly made me a better fly fisher and given me a terrific group of friends.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Denis


From the Editor

Jason with a bass from his canoe taken on a surface fly

Fellow Flyrodders,

I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the Flyrodder in 2024. Without you, this publication wouldn't be possible.

In this issue, I’ve created a collage of highlights to celebrate some of the places we’ve visited this year, and the friends we’ve shared our experiences with.

As we cast our way into 2025, please keep sending your articles in to support the Flyrodder. It’s a great way to record our adventures and show prospective members what our club has to offer.

Aside from the trip reports, I’d also like to acknowledge those who regularly contribute to the club and the Flyrodder. To the two Davids – Wilson and Caddies – thank you for your generosity in sharing your fly tying and casting skills with members.

Mr Wilson (hasn't change a bit) and Mr Caddies (newly certified Casting Instructor)

I’ll finish by sharing a photo of the fly fishing books I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed this year. If you’re looking for something to read over the festive season, they all come highly recommended.

Take care and I hope to see you on the water in 2025.

Cheers,

Jason Hemens - Editor

David Caddies - Certified Casting Instructor

(L-R); Peter Morse, Brian Henderson, David Caddies, and David Bracks. 

By Gavin van der Wagen

Our club’s casting practice instructor David Caddies, has recently successfully achieved the level of certified Casting Instructor (CI) within the global body Fly Fishers International (FFI) program that is the world wide governing body on fly casting skills levels definition and certification. It’s the program that David teaches at our monthly fly casting practice sessions. David is currently covering 4 levels at our casting practice sessions: Foundation Level, Bronze Level, Silver Level and Gold Level.

What is a CI?

To achieve a CI level there are many factors involved;

You have to successfully be able to demonstrate and achieve a number of casting drill skills within the program, all with a casting loop of no more than 2 feet between the rod leg and fly leg at all times during the assessment. The Gold Level allows 4 feet, so the CI is another big step up.

You must understand the components that make up each cast and be able to explain this fully to a student.

You must understand the faults and what can go wrong with each of the casting drills, and once again be able to explain this fully to the student.

Essentially you need to understand all aspects of the individual casts and be able to explain this to the student/s.

So, a CI is both a technical level to be achieved and also a teacher of the skills. The instructor part is the really difficult part as you need to have achieved a very detailed understanding of the program; hence “Instructor” in the title. This is what separates the CI level, and above, over the Gold Level.

David’s journey

Normally you would attend training with your mentor, who needs to be higher than a CI so at least an MCI (Master Casting Instructor), and David had a very able Mentor and Instructor in Brian Henderson.

Then when you’re ready to be assessed, you need to have 2 other casting instructors, above CI level, to perform the CI assessment.

That was all arranged, some time back now, then Coved19 hit!!!

Well that took care of a few years or so.

This caused quite a backlog of candidates, around the country, wishing to sit the CI and MCI assessments.

Finally an event was scheduled for the weekend 22-24 November 2024 in Tumut for around 8 or so candidates from around Australia.

So, on Friday, 22nd November 2024, David was assessed by Peter Morse and David Bracks, and he passed with flying colours. No surprises there.

The added difficulty was that David, and I’m sure the other candidates, had to keep training to be ready for the big day whenever that was set up. That added to the complexity and drawn out saga.

Our congratulations go out to David on achieving his CI level. He is also currently in training for his Double Handed Casting Instructor (DHCI) level.

Our club casting practice events are in good hands as David is a fine and dedicated student of the fine art of fly casting; so much so that he “says” he now prefers casting practice to fishing. I say it’s a disease.

Congratulations David.

New Zealand 2024

Bob Hart with a 5 3/4 pound New Zealand brown trout


By Bob Hart

After checking in my luggage, I made my way to passport control, and then security. It was at security that my trouble began. After they X rayed my carry-on, I was told by an employee that fly line was not allowed to be carried in the cabin of the plane. However, if I stripped all the lines of my reels, and threw them away, it would be fine. I told the chap that fly lines were worth about $185 each, and that was not counting the backing. Besides, I have flown many times with the reels in my carry-on, and as a matter of fact, I flew with my reels only last February through March of this year with absolutely no problems. This made no impression on the fellow. I had to go back through security, and check in my carry-on in the hold of the plane. So, to all the member who are planning to fly with their fishing gear, be warned, this could happen to you. Be smart, and pack your expensive fly reels (with line) into your luggage, not your carry-on.

I landed in Queenstown without further incident, and was greeted by beautiful sunny weather. I was told I was very luck, because before I arrived in the South Island, they had nothing but rainy days. Many of the big rivers were ragging torrents, however smaller streams and rivers were fishable.

Three weeks before I arrived on the South Island, Dave Caddies, the club’s casting instructor, wrote something in the members WhatsApp group suffesting members might want to try a glass rod for a pleasant experience. I wrote back to Dave, and asked him what the difference was between a glass rod and a carbon one. He answered that it was like comparing a cup of tea to a cup of hot chocolate. He wrote if I was interested, he was going to demonstrate the difference at the next casting instruction meeting. Of course I went. Dave did an amazing job demonstrating the two rods, that were identical in weight. Armed with this information, and experience, plus more advice from Dave, I bought a 5 weight New Zealand made Epic 580 fast glass rod. My friend Ian, who lives in Wanaka, where the rods are made, picked it up for me.

Ian told me that the 580 would be perfect in smaller waters, where there was not too much wind. On our first day, Ian took me to a spring creek were I landed a 4 1/2 pound brown followed by a 5 1/2 pound brown, all on the 580. The next day we fished a small river where again the 580 handled four nice rainbows, and a magnificent brown of 5 3/4 pounds. Being softer and slower, a glass rod takes some getting used to, and although glass rods are heavier than carbon, they are much smoother to cast. Having a soft tip, a glass rod is much harder for a fish to break you off.

The weather held for the entire week, with the large rivers slowly dropping. With all the previous rain, the country was magnificent with green valleys, and snow capped mountains - picture post card suff.

I love New Zealand. The people are friendly, the scenery is awesome, and the fishing is what dreams are made of.

Green hills against a backdrop of snow capped mountains

4 1/2 pound rainbow

4 1/2 pound brown

The Year that Was


By Jason Hemens

When I reflect on the stories I've had the pleasure of including in the Flyrodder during my first year as Editor, it's clear to me we're an active club full of kindred spirits who relish fishing in the fresh and the salt.

For those of us whose memories are as flimsy as a 7x tippet, I've taken the opportunity to put together a collage off highlights from the year that was. I hope you enjoy the walk down memory lane:

Tasmania Trip Report - by John Brassil

New Zealand Trip Report - by Rob Cummins

New Zealand Trip Report - by David Blackwell

Big River Trip Report - by Mark Skacel and Charles Arrand

Jindabyne Begginer's Weekend - by Kevin Rue

Mitta Mitta Trip Report - by Andrew Worotniuk

Lake Macquarie Luderick - by Jason Hemens

Christmas Island - by Gavin van der Wagen

Tom Jarman Clinic - by Steve Peach

Last Monthly Meeting and Guest Speaker Report

There was a good turn out for the November Monthly Meeting to hear Paul Cooper share his experience of chasing trophy trout in Victorian Waters.

Paul gave a lively presentation, told it how it was, and was very generous with the information and hard earned experiece he shared with members. 

Thanks for taking the time to prepare such an informative presentation Paul, and for the entertaining demonstration with rod and reel! (Ably assisted by John Brassil)

As you can see from some of the photos below, there are tropy fish on offer at Lake Eildon.

You can view this meeting video and indeed all the previous presentations on our Members Private Video Library on YouTube. To view them please Login to our Sydney Fly Rodders Website; click on Members and select YOUTUBE CHANNEL, as per the picture below.

Last Month's Casting Practice Report

Another pleasing turnout - all levels of experience welcome

By David Caddies 

At last casting practice day, you were either casting fiberglass to compare with graphite, or you weren’t there.

Everybody had a go – all 19 of us. Even a first-timer who had never cast a line stepped up. It would be fair to say that most found it so different as to remain unconvinced as to whether they would actually buy a glass rod, but that wasn’t the purpose. However, many of the members there are already owners of glass (and cane) rods and some others are now curious enough to want to pursue it. I’ll bet Bob Hart’s pics of giant NZ trout find their way to you soon, courtesy of his new Epic 5804 glass rod, purchased from Swift Flyfishing (Wanaka) a week after his exposure to glass at this casting practice day. I’ll never forget his “Ooohs” and “Ahhhs” as he tried out Vorn Sweeney’s Epic glass rod as his first time trying glass.

For our trial, we had two four weight rods, one glass and one graphite. One was 8’2” and the other 7’6”, being the closest I could come up with in terms of rod similarity. The lines were identical WF floating four weights, each with a fixed 35’ of line out. We each cast one, then the other, towards a set target. Neither accuracy nor the nature of the loops was important – it was the comparison and the personal experience (the feel) which was intended to be instructive.

As I said to the members present, it’s my idea of the go-to rod for the moments in trout fishing when conditions conduce to slowing down and really getting into a mellow state, where there’s no consciousness of the rod and line being a separate thing to your arm. Eg. The twilight shift, with fish rising to a slow hatch. (Whew, almost lost it there). But, it’s also for hammering queenfish and GT’s with a 10 weight if that’s your thing. So, they are a bit Jekyll and Hyde, but one thing remains – the longer, slower casting stroke and the totally-in-touch playing of a fish with the more flexible rod.

Yes, but it’s a noodle isn’t it? If it is a noodle, then it’s a poor design. No, it’s just that it’s more flexible than your graphite so you need to adjust your casting stroke length because the glass just takes a bit longer to straighten after bending through the stroke. Ie. in our comparison, for the same length of line, you (yes, it is you) need to move your arm a bit further with the glass rod, and you can because it’s easier.  I think one of the reasons many casters try casting a glass rod once and then never again is because the casting stroke they make with it doesn’t work well. Typically, we pick up a slower rod and, based on our graphite experience, throw too hard and with too short a casting stroke. Being creatures of habit, we say: “too difficult; don’t need to go there.” Ironically, we spend all our flycasting time with our graphite rods doing exactly that – adjusting our casting stroke as we vary the amount of line in false casting. So, yes, different, but not outside our direct experience and part of the basic skillset of flycasting, whatever the rod material.

Is it important that you try out glass? I’ll just make one observation: if you want to understand your own flycasting better, the answer I’d give is yes, because the critical element of most casting we do is loading and then unloading the rod efficiently and a glass rod will distinctly contribute to you feeling directly what that is like. Lots of feel; lots of feedback. If you only experience the idea that you can cast slower than you think, it will be a great lesson to learn. However, even half an hour’s casting with any two different rods (or lines for that matter) will capture some of that experience. Just grasp the idea that if you pick up a different rod and find you can’t throw your usual nice casts with it, consider what that rod might teach you as you find the way to make it work for you, all in the interest of getting better with the rod you do prefer to use.

Other reasons for owning glass? Easier on arm joints. Difficult to break. Instant cool (if you need such).

There will be more of these comparison exercises in due course. Your suggestions are welcome. If you have any lurking queries of the “What’s the difference between……… and ………” kind, drop me a line and I’ll see what can be done, as long as it’s fun.

See you in the park

David

Members tried casting with a glass and graphite rod to compare the feel

Straight down the line

Everyone gave it a go which was pleasing to see

Gavin helped members - provided they pledged their loyalty to the Springboks

Club Monthly Casting Practice - Details and Event Schedule.


SFRC MONTHLY CASTING PRACTICE  9am Sunday 8 December 2024 

Reminder: Leave your 9 – 10’ trout leader with the 5X tippet at home. Bring one which is 8’ – 8’6” and terminating in 8 or 10 lb tippet. This session will suit DT or WF floating lines, for the single-handers. Two-handers, bring what you got. 


Start time is 9am:

HOWEVER: If you wish to have a go at being evaluated for any one or more of the casts in the Bronze Skills Development Program and you would like to come earlier than 9, send me a text message to that effect on 0434 671 085 and I’ll be there to set it up, from 8am. Coaching and demonstrations will be going on after 9, but with not much opportunity for individual evaluations. Early notice would be appreciated, but don’t let that stop you from a late practice on Saturday to see if you’re ready! 

All members are welcome to join in the club’s usual monthly practice session. If you want to know everything about the club’s casting practice sessions, read the whole blurb in the Flyrodder magazine.

WHERE: Timbrell Park, Henley Marine Drive, Five Dock. Go to the western end of Henley Marine Drive, past the cricket pitches, baseball nets and just past LIvvi’s coffee kiosk and kids’ playground area. There is an open area opposite where Ingham Avenue intersects with Henley Marine Drive which we usually use. It is not part of the sports fields. If conditions there are not suitable on the day, we will be just opposite, across the canal, or anywhere within sight that I can find. 

So come and give it a try, as there is so much to be gained by attending these sessions. And they are Free!!!

If you can’t make it this time and want some good practical instruction to guide you, check out this site: https://www.flyfishersinternational.org/Learn/Learning-Center-Resources/Fly-Casting/Casting-Instruction

I don’t know if that link works for you. Google FFI flyfishing and delve around. Most stuff is open to non-members. 

Last Month's Fly Tying Meeting

By Dave Wilson

It was a Horror night at the November tying night, where 10 members tied Bushy Horrors – (a palmered Matuka). 

In his authoritative 1971 book Trout Flies of NZ, Keith Draper calls the Matuka a “Matuku” the original Maori name given to the now protected bird from which the mottled feathers were used to tie this quintessential NZ fly. You don’t see many Matukas around shops these days as I’m pretty sure pro tiers find the multiple feather over wing too fiddly and slow. Having to proportionally strip and rib the wing is a skill unique to Matuka style patterns. Also, selective breading of genetic hackles has made Matuka spade hackles harder to find - usually at the rear of traditional Indian capes.  Also,  Matukas being more specific in their application are not the flavour of the day with celebrity competition anglers.

An Australian Matuka variant sporting a palmered hackle is called a Bushy’s Horror. Merimbula based Kaj (Bushy) Busch (ex-Alpine Angler Store) modified the Matuka to sit stationary upright on the bottom in the path of a cruiser to imitate baitfish such as Gudgeon and Galaxia (around the edge of Lake Jindabyne weed beds).  At a Club meeting, Bushy said, “count the fly down onto a cruisers path, give the fly a twitch and the cruiser with either pounce on the fly like a cat on a ball of wool or take off in horror”. If you like to polaroid lake margins for cruisers, then this is the fly!

Interesting to note that the USA Muddler Minnow was designed to do the same thing for Sculpin, but in Australia we fished the muddler dry to imitate hoppers!  A weighted wet Muddler Minnow is a definite Horror alternative. Note that in Australia we were using Matukas well before deer hair Muddlers hit our shores in the 1970s. 


New Members

We extend a warm welcome to new members Rick Allen-Jordan, Bruce Ashley, Kai George, Steve Hare, Jan Harley, Peter Mauder, Patrick Trotter and Tom Wood.

We encourage new members to join in on the many activities that we run as this is a good way to meet other club members and also to improve your fly fishing skills and most importantly to have a great time.

Looking forward to meeting you at our Monthly Members Meetings and at events throughout the coming year.

 

Sydney Fly Rodders Facebook Pages

We run two SFRC pages, one is our public page and it posts events and activities of the club. It also shares posts from other pages like CAS, DPI on things relevant to the places and areas that we fish.


I post some fly tying every now and then and share links to events I find that might be of interest to followers. This page is a little like our Web page, it showcases the club to attract members and provides details of club events. At last count it has more than one thousand followers.


We added another page. This is reserved for members only and cannot be seen by anyone outside of the group. You will need to send a request to join. Any member can post on this page and it is a great opportunity for members to put up a post or two about anything fly fishing. I would like to encourage members to use this page to post fishing reports or photos of flies that you tied. Being connected to other members you can ask for some casting or gear advice, or organise a short trip when you suddenly have some spare time.


There are also hundreds of other groups; bream on fly, carp on fly, bass, trout....areas like alpine trout, Sydney Kayak Fishing....fly tying groups, buy sell swap fly gear pages and individuals like Aussie Flyfisher, Sydney Flyfishing to check out. 


Phil Burton
philipburton@bigpond.com

Sydney Flyrodders Instagram Page


The Sydney Fly Rodders are now on Instagram. Many thanks to our Member Maddie Chew Lee, who offered to set us up and apply her significant experience with marketing and communications in particular within the social media space. 

Please follow the site and add your comments, and lets grow this platform for the club. It will also attract new members to the club.

Below is a snapshot of the site. We aim to sync (in particular look and feel) the Instagram account with our Facebook account and also our new Website, which I talk more about in the preceding section.

Sydney Fly Rodders WhatsApp Group

We have an Exclusive Group on WhatsApp for our Members, which is a great way to communicate informally and to share ideas, seek advice and also to plan and seek interest for impromptu/planned fishing trips.


I can highly recommend this to members. We have arranged a number of trips now from a weekends bass fishing through to a casual and social Sunday morning or afternoons fishing at Narrabeen Lake or Hen & Chickens Bay etc. And there could even be a BBQ thrown in for a social get together afterwards. This will happen on most if not all occasions.


Should you wish to be included in this group, then please email me to request your inclusion, quoting your mobile number which is required to link you into the Group. You will need to download the WhatsApp first if you haven't already done so.


Please contact me for inclusion.


Jason Hemens

Editor, Flyrodder

jasondh1972@gmail.com