THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD ON: August 2 (see inside for details)

One of the most dreaded moments I face every season as a commercial tier is sitting at my bench in 100+ temps, humid and sticky and you can't use a fan. Well, I finally broke down and am the proud owner of 12,000btu (bring on the heat) air conditioner. Some times the obvious is not always the obvious. OK Devcon, make my day!

First off, I would like to apologize to all who made their way to West Meadow Beach on July 10th, only to find water. There was a snafu in the communication lines, and hell, I screwed up. I have already said 10 Acts of contrition and 3 Hail Mary's, and my back still hurts from the flogging. Well, the new date is July 24th at the same time, same place. Bruce Marin will be your guide. All inquiries should be made to him at (516) (928-4014). I think that in order to keep everyone aware of last minute changes in club events, I'm going to have an 800 number set up, for just that purpose. I'll keep you informed.

August 2nd will be a special event for our club meeting. It's the return of our good friend Bob Popovics. Keep that date open, as you won't want to miss a chance to rub elbows with one of the finest saltwater fly designer's in the world.

The Salty's photo contest is on and running. Don’t miss the opportunity to win a 1/2 day fishing charter. More info at the meeting.

We are already in the process of putting together our Y2K conclave, which I promise will be a spectacular event. That will be held on June 2,3, and 4, 2000.

Please note our September meeting will feature Mr. Bob Ververka, author of the new and hottest best selling book "Innovative Saltwater Flies."

We are also putting together another club picnic for September at Sunken Meadow State Park. More to follow. Now is not the time to stay away from club functions. The Salty's will be Rocking & Rollin into the new millennium.

THANX

Frank

By Alan J Evelyn, Conservation Chair

AUGUST'S CONSERVATION NEWS

DEC DIRECTS HUDSON RIVER ESTUARY COMMISSION TO EXAMINE STRIPED BASS QUESTION

On July 13, the first in a series of Hudson River Estuary Commission meetings was held, to determine whether a commercial striped bass fishery should be permitted on the Hudson.

The three scheduled meetings are being convened at the request of Governor Pataki, as relayed through Gerald Barnhart, the DEC's director of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources. Meeting attendees are asked to consider a number of questions, the first of which is "Should a commercial striped bass fishery be opened on the Hudson River?" Participants are then asked whether the fishery should be a "bycatch" fishery attached to the shad gill net fishery, or a directed fishery with a shad bycatch. Other questions include who should be eligible to participate in the fishery, whether gear other than gill nets should be allowed, what measures will be needed to avoid overharvest, whether allocations should be given to individuals or a quota set for the overall fishery and what other measures are necessary.

In answering the questions, participants in the meetings are asked to assume to "givens": 1) That PCB levels will be low enough to permit safe consumption of striped bass and 2) that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will permit the commercial fishery.

Some recreational fishermen who participated in the July 13 meeting felt that they were playing against a stacked deck. The presentation made by the DEC minimized the affect of the commercial fishery on the Hudson River stock of striped bass, and avoided specific discussion of possible future expansion in harvest, the affects on anglers if overall harvest must be reduced, etc. Discussion of the PCB problem was specifically discounted, even though current health advisories state that women of childbearing age and children age 15 and younger should not eat Hudson stripers, and others should only eat one meal per month, making the sale of such fish without clear health warnings ethically questionable.

The bottom line is that people at the highest level of the Executive branch want to see this fishery opened, and it will be difficult--but NOT impossible--to foil their plans. We Salty's need to be ready to voice our opposition and fight to keep the fishery closed to commercial fishing.

Remember, if you want other conservation issues brought to the Salty's attention, please talk to me at the monthly meeting or contact me at: home (516) 256-0726, work: (718) 951 6522, work fax: (718) 951-4744 or by email:

aevelyn@brooklyn.cuny.edu.

In order to add to our archives and make our web page and newsletter more interesting, the first of two photo competitions starts now and will run until September 20, 1999. All members are invited to send their pictures to the club in any reasonable format up to 8" x 10"

In color. The winner will be selected by the officers of the club who will not be allowed to enter. Fish, water, equipment, boats, and flies are all fair game for this contest. The prize:

Submit entries with a note/caption to:

Joel B. Filner

345 East 57^th ST 2C

New York, NY 10022

Entries become the property of the Salty Flyrodders.

By John Timmermann

The hinge effect gives this fly a life like motion similar to a jointed plug. Vary the retrieve to vary the motion. Recently caught Bass although none were showing. Seems to aggravate them into striking. Because of the wire and the epoxy coating, the fly seems to hold up well to toothy creature attacks.

Materials:

Hook-Tiemco 800's 2/0

Thread- White Flymaster Plus

Tail-White Arctic Fox

Body Segments- Blados body foam and foil

Wire- Clear- coated braided wire

Permanent marking pens, 2 ton epoxy, stick on

eyes and CA glue

Prepare the live body foam before hand. Follow the instructions given with Joe Blados' kit. You can obtain a kit from Joe by phone @ Maverick Flies 516-765-3670. You may want to substitute the foil with Lame`. This material can be purchased in most fabric stores and looks great in either silver or gold (it is applied to the foam in the same manner as the foil). My most productive flies are made with Joe's silver foil. As Joe once said, "this fly is constructed more than tied."

1- Cut off approx. one inch of wire and secure one end in the vise.

2- Wrap approx. 3/8" of one end of the wire with thread.

3- Tie in about 1/8" hank of arctic fox fur to create tail, whip finish.

4- Fold over wire creating a loop, and wind thread to secure leaving a finished loop of about 1/8". The length of the wire portion when complete should be about 5/8" long plus whatever tail is created by the fox fur. Coat thread with CA cement and allow to dry. Remove from vise.

5- Secure hook in vise. Cut approx. 2 1/4" of wire. Form a loop interlocking the tail section loop. Even ends and start to tie both ends of the wire at formed loop end. The loop created should be about 1/8" in diameter. Locate the end of the newly formed loop at the outside bend of the hook. Lay wire on top of the hook and lash in place passing over wire three times and finishing at the hook eye. Whip finish and coat with CA cement. Allow to dry.

6- Measure the tail section and cut foam to size. Foam should measure from directly aft of the loop to the end of the wire. Fold over and cut to body shape.

7- Apply, CA cement to wrapped wire and fold aft section over wire and hold until secure. Wire loop should be about 1/3 of the depth from bottom of foam.

8- Measure forward section and cut to size. This section should have foam measured from just forward of loop to hook eye. Fold over and cut body shape trying to blend aft portion of forward section to forward portion of aft section.

9- Apply CA cement to hook and wrapped wire. Fold over precut foam body and hold until secure. The loop on the forward section should again be about 1/3rd of the depth from the bottom of the foam. This should allow a smooth transition from forward to aft segments.

10- Press down on foam above the hook eye and apply CA cement to formed oval. bAllow to set. You may want to fill this cavity with a precut section of foam prior to application of CA cement.

11- Color both segments with markers including the tail section and apply the eyes.

12- Apply a light coat of 2 ton epoxy and allow to dry.

The North Fork in July and August have been hit with the summer doldrums, with recent soaring temps. Spanish Mackerel are a good bet at Goldsmiths, while smaller Macks have been caught by persevering flyrodders along the bay. The creeks have been all but dead, with the high temps we are experiencing to date. Mattituck Inlet has seen a bit of action on incoming water. Fishing at this time of the year is an early morning and evening affair. Have some crab, sand eel and butterfish patterns. And remember to fish the incoming tides, with its cooler water.

Again this week, it was strictly an early morning and night-time deal; by 10 am the bite is gone. We had some tremendous worm hatches this week. I even saw one that lasted all day on Wednesday. There were fish on them in the morning--nice, big blues--but as I said, by 10 am they disappeared. It was strange to see so much bait in the water; we had worms from Stonybrook to the Nissequoge river unmolested by any fish and the birds had their fill, so by the afternoon, even the birds disappeared. Just crazy!!!! There was also a lot of baitfish mixed in with them, so this week was very interesting to say the least. I might try for some Dolphin this week we'll see how the weather is.

It seems the weather and the fishing seem to be following the same trends, and if we used high tech, multimedia presentations to show their performance on graphs, they would look the same way: peaks and valleys (man I'm on this computer too much). Anyway, when it's hot it's hot. Capt. Dino had Gene Quigley, up from where he guides (the Jersey shore), and I had a 30 fish morning (all Bass) and were back at the dock by 10:30! Our offshore forays have only yielded some looks from Sharks, and catching plenty of alligator Bluefish (12-14lbs). The water is still not too warm, and it's a little early for up this far north, but the reports from down south are good, so we wait. Last night, Geoff Jones and John Sikorsky had rough start, but the menu was good; we served up Goat cheese and Rabe pizza, Quiche, and Olive salads. And then the Bluefish joined the party and decided they wanted to eat also, and the fishing was hot. What more could you ask for great clients that are great fishermen--great fishing and good food, we had it all! The action has been all in Raritan Bay on Dino's Maribou Clousers and Epoxy Minnows, fish 'em deep and vary your retrieve. The Striped Bass have been popping up here and there--"you gotta be in the right place at the right time." Stick to the basics: structure and rips, structure and rips. On the Weakfish front, they have been showing in the Reach Channel and usually are very deep, although Timmy from "the Irishmen" caught a nice 4 pounder on a piece of metal in shallow water on Wednesday. That's it for this week, as always if anyone needs a question answered I'll try to help, just give me an "e"......Bye

(1) At what age did you begin fishing with a flyrod and was it fresh or saltwater?

(2) What were some of your favorite spots to saltwater flyfish in the early days?

3. Who were some of the flyfishing personalities that you enjoyed reading about when you began in this sport?

The most prominent personalities I enjoyed reading about were: Art Flick, Lee Wulff, Lefty Kreh. They later became personal friends and we enjoyed many fishing trips together.

4. What prompted you to get involved with the Saltwater Flyrodder's of America in the mid 1960s?

A desire to try new challenges.

5. What was the impetus involved in the creation of the "Salty Flyrodders of NY? And how fast did it take off as far as interest to join from the general public?

(6) What were the early conclaves like, before saltwater flyfishing became such a visible and public sport?

(7) The late eighties and early ninety's seems to be the time that saltwater flyfishing began to take hold along the North East Coast. What do you believe were the factors that attributed to this early popularity?

(8) Flyfishing has as a matter of course became highly commercial. It has sparked the largest growth in rods, reels, fly lines, tying material, clothing and even the travel trade, compared to other areas of sport fishing, My question to you, as someone who has been following this evolution from the very beginning, do you think this mass marketing will in the long run, help or hurt the spirit of the sport?

(9) Why do you think competition, such as is evident in other facets of sport fishing has never taken hold in flyfishing.

(11) Where do you see saltwater flyfishings' place in the new century?

Joel Filner on Ken Turco's Lucky Strike with one of the stripers caught on a day in Shinnecock bay.

By Joel B. Filner

Catching is what it is all about. Not fishing. Right? The purpose of this essay is to illustrate what we, as experienced fisherman, all expect from a day out on a boat. Big fish in constant action for reasonable numbers throughout the day. Or half day. Most of my fishing is from shore as I do not have permission to buy a boat and my jeep was a good compromise through my three sons' college years. The winning of a charter in the CCA raffle was a real treat to my fishing season.

The trip with Tom Cornicelli of Back Bay Charters was scheduled to fit his time and the fish tides in Moritches Bay. We met Saturday morning at first light as that coincided with the incoming tide and slack period expected about 7:30 AM. The boat, a new 22ft Parker was laid out simply and efficiently for fly casting from either bow or stern, with a high freeboard that will really be comfortable (and dry) out at Montauk in the fall.

I like to use my own equipment when fishing but felt comfortable using Tom's Scott rods, Tibor reels and the Teeny 350 for fishing in the deeper holes in the bay. This was my second venture into Moritches Bay this summer as I waded at outgoing tide by the Coast Guard Station one Sunday morning in the beginning of June. That trip was a bust as we didn’t even get a hit on fish working under birds for 4 hours.

Tom took the boat out in to the outside channel off the Coast Guard Station looking for any sign of action. The wind was up to 15 - 18 knots and steady out of the west/ southwest testing my skills as a backcaster, wind caster and pin cushion with the intermediate lines. I started with a medium fly with flash and big red eyes tied by Tom with olive over white. No fish. We then went to a " hole" on the inside of the inlet to the east, switching to the Teeney and a fly that was flash all the way with eyes on the sides and no weight. We made 4 drifts and then moved on to where we saw birds working and switched flies once again to a "wool" fly that looked like a cross between a sand eel on steroids and muddler minnow in olive and white. Our first hits and fish. This is after almost two hours of searching, drifting, and changing flies. Tom is very particular as to how the fly looks and acts in the water and prefers flies that look right and have the right action in the water. Hard body flies are not his preference and larger sizes for larger fish. He will change a fly if, after tying it on, it doesn’t act or look right in the water.

We now move to the inside of the inlet on the west shore fishing the tidal drifts and small channels. Again with the Teeney and a squid pattern enticing one more small bass. Back to the Coast Guard Station and a drift with the wool fly and a blue fish and another one and then no fly. We move again to the rip with fish in theory feeding as the bait goes by, stripping in long fast strips that don’t seem to work.

Lunch time at 1030 AM and a first for me … lunch supplied by the guide. The saga goes on for three more hours moving, watching, casting, and drifting, always with the boat in position to allow my casting and drifting to be where we think the fish are sitting. The boats around are not have much more success in catching but they are not getting a terrain lesson or a technique lesson at the same time.

The day ended with five fish and a lot of casting and respect for the effort put forth for a donated trip in a good cause. I learned that there is nothing like experience to gain as much knowledge of the bay as Tom evidenced in the trip. I also learned that a boat is useful but not the guarantee of success that I assumed was there. And I think that a boat is a constant learning tool and it would take me years to learn the water and the nooks and crannies of the bays that Tom handles with ease and confidence even in the tough spots.

I also learned more about the fish and the flies and water in that day with the lack of activity than if we were in a blitz for two hours. Thanks again CCA and Tom Cornicelli.

By Rino Bratelli

First off, I'd like to thank you all for the wonderful feedback on the other installments of this series. Due to popular demand, I will try and continue the series, as I discover new things about boating.

So, since I've last written about my boating exploits, I've taken my boat to the Indian Ocean, and around the Cape of Wishful Thinking. I also survived a hurricane, tornadoes and an attempted piracy. (the tornado part is somewhat true, as I'll explain...)

So I was out on Long Island Sound on Labor Day last year. I had decided to give my crew the weekend off, so I was running my 17ft Aquasport, single-handedly.

At about noon, the marine weather channel reported a severe storm front moving in from the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area, but it seemed like it would be many hours before it was going to hit the Western Sound. I was casting to bluefish at Mattinecock Point (a couple of miles East of Hempstead Harbor), but caught only a few small ones on a 2" white Lefty's Deceiver.

At about 12:30, I looked to the west (towards Manhattan) and saw it begin to darken. I noticed that I could still see the Manhattan skyline, so I realized it wasn't raining there yet, and I was sure that it was at least 3-4 hours away. I decided to play it safe, and start heading back towards home base (Manhasset Harbor).

I stopped by Sands Point to try my luck there, and at about 12:45, I noticed that I couldn't see the World Trade Center anymore! I looked around and noticed that there were many other boats around, and they didn't seem to be bothered by the incoming dark clouds? I decided to head back in to the protected waters of the bay. All this time, the marine weather only commented on the ferocity of the storm in New Jersey, with no mention that it was moving in to the Western Sound, or New York area?

I ran into Manhasset Bay and motored over to the gas dock. Now I felt safe in the protective arms of the Bay. I topped off the tank, and cast off from the dock, noticing that it has gotten very dark. It suddenly became very still and a chill went up my spine. I got about 100ft from the dock, heading towards my marina, when I noticed that about 150 feet away, the wind was really ripping over the water. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be lifting the surface of the water & was moving it horizontally? This was getting really strange.

I noticed that there was a hodgepodge of other boats running at full speed down the channel (a no wake zone) towards their slips! I pushed the throttle forward to get the boat up on plane (figuring I probably won't get a ticket because of what I was witnessing) and then the storm was right there!

I was running my boat in a washing machine and had to hold on to the wheel for all I was worth. It was raining furiously, and it was coming in sideways! Within 30-seconds, I noticed that my cooler was floating in the cockpit, and I was standing in a few inches of water. I dropped the engine into neutral, quickly stepped around the leaning post and pulled one of the drainage plugs. I stepped quickly back and flipped the switch to turn on the bilge pump. It only took 3-seconds, but I was already taking a beating from the waves.

The waves were about five feet high, and coming in from every direction! I have to hand it to the Aquasport, as it really held its own, and kept plowing forward through this mess. The wind was so strong that it lifted my "fighting chair" right off the deck and into the water! I thought I could simply turn the boat around and grab it, but turning around proved to be a mistake, as I was taking a beating from those waves. I quickly decided that a $25.00 patio chair wasn't worth risking my life over.

I was half way down the channel & decided to cut straight through the moored boat to get back to my slip. I turned left, directly into the wind and rain. It was nearly impossible to see, but what I did see, nearly made my heart stop! About two miles ahead of me I saw a black funnel cloud coming down from the cloud cover! A tornado, and I prayed that it wasn't going to come in my direction.

Just about then, lightning began to strike around me. I quickly grabbed my flyrods, which were standing straight up in the rod holders, and dropped them down onto the deck, and folded down the VHF antenna. I also dropped down as low as I could, to decrease the odds of a lightning strike on me.

I was running at about 1/4 throttle and noticed that I wasn't making any headway. I had to push the throttle past the half-way point, just to move forward. The lightning picked up its frequency. Fortunately, as I neared my marina, I noticed that the waves were significantly lower. I powered into my slip, quickly lashed two lines to the cleats and ran down the dock towards cover. I was very scared of the lightning and the tornado in the distance. I neared the base of the dock and George, who runs Haven Marina (a fitting name!), was watching the spectacle from behind a window of his houseboat. He waved me over, to get some shelter & I gladly accepted. I was safe!

They handed me a towel and began to tell me about other storms they have witnessed, but commented that this one was the worst. I mentioned seeing a tornado a few miles to the East & they asked what I thought about the one which was about one mile to our west. ONE MILE! I hadn't seen that one, because it was behind me!

I now had some time to reflect on what had happened and wanted to review what I did, versus what I should have done differently. I realized that despite the fear, I kept a cool head and quickly dealt with circumstances as they occurred. This was the most important thing I did in facing these serious circumstances. Also, I should have put my life vest on, just before the storm hit, or even while I was in it. If I had fallen overboard during this fiasco, I might not have survived!

I urge all of you to take a few moments & consider what you would do if faced with a storm such as the one I experienced. Go through the routine in your mind, so that you will automatically be able to perform a series of tasks to deal with it.

Happy Motoring…

BY TOM BAUMANN

As most of you know, Don Avondolio and Ed Shaw respectively won the member and guest Conclave heaviest fish tournament. The weight was determined by multiplying the length times the girth squared and dividing by 800. There were a total of 127 bass "reported" caught and released by the attendees in addition to assorted bluefish, fluke, weakfish and a lizardfish caught by Ken Ramp. Actually, the total may have been as much as double this number but a lot of folks didn’t turn in the tournament sheets. A brief survey at the July meeting disclosed many unreported fish. Next year to induce all you shy types to report all fish, we’ll, perhaps, have a special raffle. The winner will be chosen from among the submitted sheets. From year to year, it’s also helpful for all conclavers to know what flies were working, where and when fish were caught, etc.

In any event, just about all the bass were caught between dusk and sunrise at the usual places. Black was the fly color used most often and clousers were the fly of choice. (Don’s winning fish was caught at Land’s End on a black clouser) and just about everyone fished subsurface with an intermediate line. Bucking this trend, Joel Filner, fishing with two time tournament winner David Penn, caught 4 fish on a popper and Dottie Sullivan caught the tournament’s second heaviest fish using a Teeny 350 at Orient Point.. Additionally, the indefatigable duo, Dottie and Ron, totaled 27 stripers.