October 2006

The October meeting was made memorable by an awe-inspiring slide show by Bob Beamish. Bob recently travelled to upper Mongolia to fly fish for Taimen. An account of his travels can be found here.

July 2006 Meeting

The end of the financial year saw the July meeting as our AGM. Members voted in a change to the constitution allowing an additional position to be added to the committee, that of Trip Coordinator. With all positions vacated, nominations were announced and new committee members voted in. They are:

President - Dave Witham
Vice President - Bob Williams
Secretary - Chris Bannerman
Treasurer - Steve Tizard
Trip Coordinator - Ken Colmer

Out thanks go to the committee for taking up these positions.

Also displayed at the meeting were the current entries for the calender photo competition. Members are encouraged to submit their photos and be in the running to win great prizes and have their photo included in the calendar.

May 2006 Meeting

The May meeting saw the triumphant return of Bob Beamish and his trophy for largest fish from the CFA Interclub. Well done Bob. As usual, the report of the meet was very favourable and all members who attended spoke very highly of the event and its organisation. Our congratulations go to John Humphries for another well organised event. Bob's report of the meet and more photos can be viewed here.

Rodney Tonkin, President NSWCFA, presents Bob with
his trpohy for the largest trout caught at the meet.

Results of the NSWCFA Fly Fishing Interclub Meet
Wallerawang
Friday 28 to Sunday 30 April 2006
by John Humphries

Fifty keen fly fishers experienced pleasant balmy autumn conditions for the Interclub Meet at Wallerawang this year, and although the fishing was not as good as in previous Meets all the attendees appeared to enjoy the very social event.

Approximately $2380.00 was raised from the donated prizes levy, a silent auction, the sale of excess attendees fly tying materials and an auction of prizes that were donated back. There may be some minor expenses to be met before the final figure can be established.

The new Ross Salvato trophy for the most successful club was keenly contested and this was won by Lakeside Fly Fishing Club (LFFC) on a count back from Sydney Fly Rodders’ Club (SFRC) with the fairly new Central Coast Fly Rodders’ Club (CCFRC) a respectable third.

The Otto’s Fishy Business trophy for the largest fish was won by Bob Beamish from the CCFRC with a 440mm rainbow from Thompson’s Creek Dam & Bob also took out the Largest Rainbow prize with this fish, Bob thought he had blown it when he disconnected from a much larger fish trying to ease it out of the water prior to catching the winning fish. John Coles SFRC won the Largest Brown trout prize with a 425mm fish from the Fish River.

The casting competition attracted extra contestants this year, and this may be because of the introduction of the two handicap sections that have been added to each of the criteria. The open Dry Fly Accuracy (DFA) was won by Mark Street SFRC with Ross Salvato LFFC being successful in the DFA No1 handicap and Peter Hansen from Illawarra Fly Fishers’ (IFFC) taking out the DFA No2 handicap. The Distance Accuracy (DA) open was won by Nick Constantinou from LFFC with Ross Salvato winning the DA No1 handicap and David Screen LFFC being successful in the DA No2 handicap.

The closely contested Fly Tying competition Open section was won by Peter Hansen from IFFC, John Humphries CCFRC won the Advanced segment, David Screen LFFC won the beginners section and Peter Hansen was the victor in the Novelty class.

My sincere thanks for the support from our naming sponsor Ross Salvato and all of the other donors for their generousity with prizes as they are vital for the success of the Meet. Please support these people where practical. To those that helped with the workload I thank you also.

The proprietors of Black Gold country Cabins, Rob and Linda Cluff, and our hosts for the weekend look after us very well and our thanks to them also. If you are considering fishing in the local water I urge you to consider the excellent, reasonably priced accommodation that they offer which is only about fifteen minutes from Lake Lyell and Thompson’s Creek Dam, five minutes from Lake Wallace and about forty minutes from Oberon Dam.

List of clubs & organizations.
Monaro Acclimatization Society (MAS), Council of Southern Districts Angling Clubs (CSDAC), Central Acclimatization Society (CAS), South & Southwest Anglers Association (SSWAA), Sydney Fly Rodders’ Club, NSW Rod Fishers’ Society, Illawarra Fly Fishers, Lakeside Fly Fishing Club, Bass Kempsey, Bass Sydney, Fly Fish Bathurst, Hawkesbury Nepean Bass Assn., Hunter Native Fish, Mid North Coast Fly Rodders’, Orange Trout Acclimatization Society, Southern Bass and Wingham Anglers.

NSWCFA Fly Fishing Interclub Meet
Wallerawang
Friday 28 to Sunday 30 April 2006

It's time for the NSWCFA's annual Interclub at Wallerawang near Lithgow. A number of members attended last year's event which was very successful. The cost is $135 and includes accomodation and meals as well as entry into prize draws. This is a great opprtunity to meet and fish with other fly fishers. For more information contact John Humphries (see members listing in the Members' Area). John will also know who from our club is attending so you may wish to coordinate with them regarding travel. You can download the Event Programme here and the Entry Form here.

March 2006 Meeting

The March meeting saw quite a few new faces. Welcome to all the new members who attended. We hope you enjoy your time with the club. Dave Witham gave us a very informative presentation on our commonly caught species and the flies used to catch them. The presentation can be downloaded from the Members' Area as an Acrobat PDF file.

Species caught for the month before included slimy and frigate mackeral, bream, sweep, long tom, kingfish, bonito, salmon, tailor, seargent baker and bass.

The Sydney Harbour trip was reported on. The trip report can be viewed here.

February 2006 Meeting

The first meeting of the year started with a casting session in the park across the road. It was very successful with a number of beginner casters reveiving helpful pointers from more experienced members. It also saw quite a range of species reported caught. These included frigate mackeral, bonito, tailor, kingfish, pike, snapper, luderick, bream, flathead, mullett, herring, bass and (NZ) trout.

Members decided to fish Sydney Harbour for pelagics on this month's outing.

Bob Williams gave us a very informative talk on reel maintenance.

January 2006

Welcome to 2006. We trust you had an enjoyable break.

The club's first outing this year was a beach trip. We had a good turnout, meeting at MacMasters Beach before sunrise. A few fish were caught but the main gutter where the salmon were cruising was occupied by bait fishermen so we didn't get the opportunities we'd hoped for. Later we redeemed ourselves off the rocks at Terrigal with some good catches of frigates. The trip report can be viewed here.

December 2005 Meeting

The last meeting of the year saw the club discuss trip etiquette for members after a little confusion at the last outing. The trip etiquette can be accessed here. The outing was otherwise quite successful with most members catching bass, some their first bass on fly. The trip report can be viewed here.

The committee take this opportunity to wish all members and thier families a safe and happy Christmas. We also wish to remind members that there is no January meeting but there is a trip. See the calendar for details.

November 2005 Meeting

At the November meeting it was decided that the next outing will be the Williams River. Bass flies were tied on the evening by Dave and Chris to show members the styles used. The report on the October outing to Oberon Dam showed that we're starting to come to terms with the fishing there even though the weather can turn things on and off very quickly. See the report and photos here .

The North West Fly Fishing Club offered the club and individual members associate membership to their club as a way of raising money to help keep their hut on Bronte Lagoon. Associate membership costs $40 per year and a monthly newsletter, access to the club's library and use of the hut for $10/night per member. The hut houses 6 people, has all amenities and all you need to bring is food and sleeeping bag. There is also a small row boat in the boat shed. If anyone is interested please contact Chris Bannerman or Rob Harwood.

Club members are reminded that the Club's first aid kit is available for members on club trips who don't have one. Contact Bob Williams to arrange picking it up.

Fish caught by member for the month include brown and rainbow trout, bass, bream, flathead, tailor, luderick and whiting, and (not locally) GT, big eye trevally and moses perch.

October 2005 Meeting

The October meeting provided a real treat for those members who attended. John Ruzeck presented a slide show and talk on fishing the Tengis River in upper Mongolia. John spent 3 weeks there with friends fishing for local trout species, grayling and taimen. Whilst the journey to arrive at the lodge was an adventure in itself, the fishing proved to be amazing with numerous trout and grayling caught as well as some huge taimen. Flies used included large spider flies and one imitating a local rodent. Members were captivated by the stunning scenery and huge fish. John has graciously allowed us to place a few photos from his trip here for members to view. Many thanks go to John and his son for sharing this trip of a lifetime with us. Also shown at the meeting was one of the new Kipawa propellers for electric motors.

September 2005 Meeting

The September meeting was a quiet meeting. It was decided to head to Liddell for some carping as the club's monthly outing. Fish caught during the month included salmon, pike, tailor, bream, drummer, luderick, wrasse, trevally, seargent baker, silver drummer, bass and EP.

August 2005 Meeting

At the August meeting it was decided that the club will produce a series of short videos on the basics of catching local species and tying flies to target those species. There was discussion on the Fisheries proposed changes to bag limits etc. and members were encouraged to submit their opinions on the proposals to Fisheries. Members' catches for the month to date include slimy mackeral, drummer (black, shortfin, silver), trevally, rock cod, yellowtail, wrasse, luderick, pike, salmon, flathead, bream, EP and tailor.

July 2005 Meeting - AGM

The club's Annual General Meeting was held on 6 July 2005. After the President's speech all committee positions were vacated and the following members were elected:

President - Dave Witham
Vice President - Bob Williams
Secretary - Chris Bannerman
Treasurer - Steve Tizard
Trip Coordinator - Roy Browne/Ken Colmer

The Treasurer presented the Annual Financial Statement for 2004/5 which was read and accepted.

During the meeting a club survey was handed out to gauge members' opinions on the club and how it is run. It will be collected and collated over the next few meetings.

Fish of the Quarter was presented to Ivan Malby for his bonito off the rocks, and John Humphries was the winner of the Talon rod raffle. Congratulations John, we hope you get plenty of use out of it.

June 2005 Meeting

June saw the last meeting of the financial year. The next meeting will be the AGM and members were reminded that any agenda items for that meeting needed to be lodged with the committee. Members were also reminded that the Talon rod raffle would be drawn at the AGM. Fish caught during the preceding month included flathead, bream, horsies, kingfish, sweep, tailor, EPs, yellowbelly and a jewie or two.

April 2005 Meeting

The April meeting saw members' catches for the month including tailor, bream, flathead, frigates and trout. The evening feature was a discussion by Bob Williams on leaders and knots.

March 2005 Meeting

At the March meeting discussions centred on the excellent Loomis casting evening and outing of the previous month. The 6 monthly raffle of the Talon 9/10w rod was mentioned, it being drawn at the July meeting. Members' catches for the month included bream, flathead, tailor, frigate mackeral, horsies, trevally, pike, herring and trout.

December Meeting

The final meeting for 2004 saw the club discuss the Corroboree Lagoon competition. The dates released were during the school holidays and made it difficult for those interested to attend so it was decided to delay our participation until a later date. Members' fishing reports for the month to date included catches of luderick, kingfish, tailor, mullet, flathead, bass and trout. THe casting evening was aborted due to the weather.

November Meeting

A quiet turnout for the November meeting however those of us present were treated to an excellent trout fishing video supplied by Bob Beamish. Filmed on the Goulburn River in Victoria, the video showed sight fishing for numberous good-sized fish and the methods involved to successfully catch them. You could hear a pin drop as we all sat there hardly breathing so as not to spook the trout. Some of us even had sweaty palms as the fisherman stalked and cast to the fish. Many thanks go to Bob for sharing this video with us.

October Meeting

At the October meeting we were lucky enough to have Lionel Kemp from DNA join us. Lionel showed us the newly introduced range of DNA fly tying material. The material and range of colours was very impressive, as were the selection of flies tied with it. Lionel also took time to demonstrate the method of tying the Bush Pig fly. Our thanks go to Lionel for his visit. For more info on the DNA material go to the club reviews page and look in September 2004 newsletter.

Club Fees

At the September meeting the club decided to introduce a tiered fee structure to allow members to join as a family group as well as reduce the cost for young people to join the club. We now have three levels of membership:

Individual: $50.00
Family: $75.00
Junior: $25.00

Family membership will include your partner and any number of children as long as they belong to you. Junior members are those between the ages of 16 and 18 and must have the signed consent of their parent to join and participate in a club trip.

Photos from Wilbur's US trip

Wilbur has kindly allowed us to put a few photos from his recent trip to the United States with Rod Harrison. Wilbur was lucky enough to spend time there fishing for tarpon and stripers with some of the best in the country as well as meeting (and casting with) Lefty Kreh. He was also able to visit and tour the Sage factory. Wilbur shared with us his photos and stories from the trip at the September meeting. A few of those photos are shown here. Click on each photo for a larger view.

December 2003 Meeting

The highlight of our December meeting was the display of Pro-Angler products by Mark Phillips. Mark showed us a wide range of products from fly tying equipment and materials to clothing and rods.

Of most interest were the fly rods which ranged from the Stalker Legend models at around $250 to the titanium-wound Ultima models at around $850. Warranty ranges from 5 years for the Legend to lifetime for the Ultima, and all come with a solid rod tube (aluminium in the case of the Ultima). The Stalker Master wide arbour reel also proved popular with members as did the soon to be released US made Galvan fly reels. The solid aluminium Korean-made Master reels are great value with a sealed disc drag and two year warranty. Another popular product was the range of breathable waders. These featured triple layered breathable material construction with attached vented gravel guards which zip down around your boot and provide even further lower leg protection. The chest waders are one of the first I've seen that actually have a waist belt attached to the wader itself. The waders are all reasonably priced and can be matched with a range of boots including the Korker Konvertibles shown at the previous meeting. Also of interest were the range of vests, chest bags and backpacks, shirts and jackets.

The evening was a great success and we thank Mark Phillips and Pro-Angler for their time. Central Coast Fly Rodders will receive a 10% discount when purchasing products from Pro-Angler. You can see the entire Pro-Angler range at www.proangler.com.au or contact Mark Phillips on 02 9626 0334 for a catalogue or to order.

October 2003 Meeting

The "Plano 'Guide Series' tackle box" Raffle was drawn at the October meeting. The winner was Hamish Read. Congrats Hamish. It'll no doubt come in handy on all those fishing trips. With all that space you could even squeeze some spare fuel in it.

August 2002 Meeting

Guess who's one year old? Yes we turned one at our August meeting. It is a whole year since our first ever meeting of CCFR and we celebrated with a birthday cake at the meeting.

It was good to see a reasonable turnout for the meeting, with a few faces that have been missing for a number of months. Paul McGrath kindly donated a Tiewell tool kit to be raffled off on the night, and the very grateful winner was Chris Bannerman. Many thanks to Paul and Tiewell for the donation.

The trip calendar for the remainder of the year has been finalised and can be seen in the Outing Page. Some good outings coming up and a great variety for those interested.

We had a few of the guys tie some salmon / pelagic flies as a demonstration, and there were some pretty good looking flies tied. Paul McGrath tied a few great baitfish patterns and I'm sure those who watched learnt a thing or two about tying and some of the new materials available on the market.

A big thanks to those who brought along their materials and vices to do the demo. Now here are the photos!

February 2002 Meeting

The first meeting of 2002 saw a record number of people attend. We hit 24 people at the meeting and it was a great way to start the year. Five new members paid up on the night which brings our total membership up to 31. We are going from strength to strength for a club that has only be running since August 2001. We finalised the outing schedule for the next few months and will continue to plan ahead for a few months at a time rather than come up with a full year plan. This allows us to change as conditions (Weather and fishing) change to ensure we have the best conditions for the chosen outing.

We selected a judging panel for the "Fish of the Quarter" award. The panel consists of Mark "Wilbur" Williams, Warren "Wozza" Yuile, Jimmy Hyatt, Brett Aley and Roy Browne. The award will consist of a trophy for the best capture. The capture is not necessarily the biggest fish, but could be the first fish for a new flyfisher, or the first species for a member etc etc. It's open to all members!

We had a bit of a show and tell night where a few of the members brought along items of interest. Some great ideas were exchanged and it proved very informative. Bob Williams then showed the group how to attach a braided loop to fly line, making it much easier to attach leaders to your line. I bet most of the people who saw that will have loops on their lines on the next outing!

All in all a good meeting and a great start to 2002.

December 2001 Meeting

The final meeting for 2001 was dedicated almost solely to the December outing - Broken Bay Salmon and Pelagics. We were fortunate enough to have Justin Duggan from Sydney FlyFishing come along and give us a run down of what to expect. Justin has many years of experience fishing the many pelagic species in Broken Bay and these days takes clients out onto Broken Bay to fly fish for them. His record is impressive - he hasn't had a single client not catch a fish.

Justin gave us a run down and demo on casting and retrieve techniques, the various flies that work on the bay as well as general information on what to look for & how to fight and handle the fish once caught.

Many thanks to Justin for taking the time to visit, and towing his boat up for us to drool over!

The Inaugural Meeting of the club was held on the 2nd of August 2001, at the Kariong Neighborhood Centre, 10 Langford Drive Kariong NSW.

16 keen fly fishos attended the first meeting and contributed to the start-up of the club. It was decided that the club be called the Central Coast Fly Rodders' Club, in line with the Sydney and Newcastle Clubs. A start-up committee was formed to keep the club moving forward.

David Witham was voted as Club Steward and Gordon Bauder as Club Coordinator.

Regular monthly meetings will be held, and anyone is welcome to attend and to become a member of the club. Click here for details.

Our first outing as a club will be held on Sunday 9 September at Koolewong Reserve. The outing will take the form of a casting clinic, where our more experienced members will assist the newer members in the finer points of fly casting. If we catch fish then that's a bonus. Details of this outing will be posted here in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!