Reflections 2000

Here is where you will find information regarding past LIFR events, observations, comments and, what we hope, will be useful to you.

You can also use this page to send questions and/or comments regarding our monthly publication The Flyrodder  directly to the Editor. If you are a LIFR member and would like to be kept abreast of all significant updates made to this web site, send us an e-mail message to that effect and we'll add your name to our Alert list.

December 2000:  Another great year is coming to a close and what better way than to end it with our annual Holiday party? The door prizes consisted of copies of "Fly Fish America" that featured Gian Padovani's own Moosehead Belle, complete with his autograph and a MB tied by him. Approximately 60 members participated in our annual grab-bag gift exchange hosted by Santa Claus AKA Herbie Schneiderman. The monthly raffle prize, a Sage rod and a Ross reel went to Peter Van Buskirk and for dessert we were treated to a delicious sheet cake topped by a rainbow trout icing.

November 2000: Our Annual Dinner Dance was held on Saturday, October 28^th at H.& R. Singleton’s in Bethpage. It was an event which once again showed the comaraderie of the Flyrodders, which is the glue that holds this club together. It also gave the members a chance to see what each other looked like without waders, vests, and funky, old hats. This caused some temporary confusion while members milled about looking at each other before the flash of recognition hit.

The combination of great food, music and door prizes made for an evening to remember. Marty Miller was the proud winner of the Brown trout print, framed in oak and signed by the artist, and Mrs. Miller kept it all in the family by winning the set of Al Agnew rainbow trout coffee mugs. Our Special Dinner Raffle prize, the Renzetti Traveler vise was won by Jeff Farrell, (who surrendered it to his loving wife, who ties his fish-catching flies). Danny VanBuskirk was bestowed the much deserved honor of L.I. Flyrodder Member of the Year.

One of the highlights of the evening was a dance performance by the high kicking "Rodderettes", and the line dancing class given by Joe Sapienza, our singing D.J. While the Flyrodders may not be the most coordinated dancers Joe has ever instructed, we were given an "A" for effort. However, his patient attempts to teach us the Electric Slide were finally abandoned for the Alley Cat, which proved much more successful. Once again I would like to thank those who work to make this event happen. It is a tradition that we can look forward to every year.

October 2000: A Post Script to our July Montana trip: A few days after the sixteen of us had flown into Missoula to fish the famous Blackfoot, Bitterroot, Clark's Fork and Rock Creek, the first of a series of devastating fires broke out in the Bitterroot Valley. These fires  (in Montana and other western states)  went on for about a month and were, perhaps, the most catastrophic ones in our century.  On August 6, John Mc Colgan, a fire behavior analyst from Fairbanks, Alaska, took a once-in-a-lifetime photo with his digital camera. This picture was taken in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. Click HERE to see it. It's awesome!

September 2000: After having to cancel last year’s Flyrodder trip to the Lehigh river due to hurricane season, we were happy to have the weather cooperate this year. The clouds that threatened us as we drove up into the Pocono Mountains soon departed and dinner was eaten under the stars.

The next day we headed to Hayes' Creek in Hickory Run State Park, fishing our way down through the pocket water to the Lehigh River. Hayes is excellent water to flick a dry fly under the brush lining the banks, and I (Lee Weil) had a take on my Elk Hair caddis on my first stop. Jeff opted not to waste any time and headed directly down to the Lehigh, where he was rewarded with a 13" Brown near the concrete bridge abutment. Unfortunately, there was a prolific late morning hatch of rafters and after that the fishing was over for us. Jessie Lilly went hiking up into the Hayes and found a picture-perfect pool that yielded 2 trout to her nymph and some great photo opportunities to her camera.

Sunday saw the Lehigh very quiet; (including the fish), but members did manage a few from the Tobyhanna river, right behind our sites at the Fernridge Campgrounds. We also took a hike to Mud Run, another stream located inside the State Park, and added that to the memory banks for future trips. As always, the company was excellent and we laughed while we shared stories, gathered close to the campfire in the chill night air.

August 2000: The Housatonic camping/fishing trip turned out to be one of the best ever! After two weeks of constant rain we were blessed with a week-end of perfect weather and cooperative bass and trout. This now annual trip is gaining more and more in popularity as evidenced by the forty-plus members who attended the event.

A lot of planning and hard work is required to make a trip  like this a successful one and Paul McCain did it all: Reserving and allocating the sites, buying  the food, setting up the kitchen and doing all the cooking and cleaning. It's this type of dedication that makes an organization successful and Paul McCain certainly ranks up there with the best. From all of us who attended, a hearty "Thank You".

July 2000: Our Annual Picnic was held at the Hempstead Lake State Park on July 9th. The weather was perfect, just cool enough to be comfortable and, although the turnout was smaller than we would have liked, a good time was had by all.

Sixteen Flyrodders went on a (non LIFR scheduled) fishing trip to Missoula, Montana, and it was unbelievable! Totally different than the Yellowstone area, this northwestern part of the state offers fantastic fishing for browns, rainbows, westslope cutthroats and bull trout. We fished Rock Creek, the Bitterroot,, the Blackfoot and the Clark's Fork. Again, we have to thank Allan Manz for putting together such a fantastic trip. Also, thanks to the Blackfoot River Outfitters for their excellent guides. They kept us on the river until dark (which was about 10:30PM in Montana) and made sure we all caught plenty of fish.

June 2000: Thanks to Allan Manz, our camping trip to the Farmington River in Connecticut was second to none. Even the heavy downpour on Friday evening did not hamper our spirits.... until, of course the thunder and lightning reminded us that holding on to a graphite rod is an excellent way to get zapped.

Thirty LIFR members plus Remy, Bob Skoy's Golden Retriever, signed up for the trip and they were not disappointed. We had good fishing, good company and good food. Thanks again Allan for a job well done! We know all the work that goes into planning a first class trip and we surely appreciate it.

May 2000:  It was nothing like last year, when we had fantastic weather, optimum water conditions and trout who hit our flies with abandon. Most of us headed for the Hungry Trout on the banks of the Ausable River on Friday under a cover of heavy rain and chilling temperature. The rain stopped when we reached our destination and as soon as we checked in at the motel and got our gear squared away, we suited up an headed for the river. The water level was about a foot higher than normal and the water temperature was a chilly 48 degrees. One good thing about the Ausable though: It never gets muddy and one can always catch fish. We tied on streamers or nymphs and most of us managed to hook a few trout.

On Saturday, the water level had dropped a few inches. There were hatches all over the place but no rises. and again, the nymphs and streamers were the order of the day. By Sunday, the water level was close to normal and the water temperature had risen a few degrees. Again great hatches but this time we could see a few rises here and there. It was our best day as the fish were taking dries, wets, nymphs and streamers.

Monday was as good if not better than Sunday but, unfortunately for most of us the trip was over. We fished until about 1:00PM and then headed for home.

April 2000:  The weather forecast was horrendous; but in spite of all that there were 21 able hands that showed up for the Annual Project Access outing on the Willowemoc river. We got blessed with a gorgeous day and spent the morning working on the banks at Hazel Bridge and Covered Bridge in bright sunshine and balmy temperatures. This year Mike Friedland brought up a new secret weapon – a tamping machine that packed down the newly laid dirt as neatly as a steamroller. As quickly as the wheelbarrow crew could lay it down, and the rakes could spread it, Mike was on it with his "super tamper" and it was a done deal. "Remy Morgan Skoy", ( the official mascot of Project Access 2000) worked diligently at retrieving foreign objects from the stream and barking directions at the crew. After the morning chores were done we set up the grill and fed the hungry workers; then Herman Abrams broke out his rod and gave us some pointers on our casting. The barbeque broke up quickly as everyone was eager to head out to the stream and wet a line. Jeff Farrel and Lee Weil  chose to try their luck at the famous Hendrickson’s pool on the Beaverkill, and were rewarded with a snow storm hatch of at least 5 species of flies; which produced sporadic, splashy rises that seemed just beyond our reach. Lee managed to find one fish close enough to reach with a Dark Hendrickson; a good brown who took with authority and after a long wrestling match he surrendered in the shallows at her feet. Bob Skoy was kind enough to run up the steep bank to get his camera and capture the beast on film before she released him; a little humbled but none the worse for wear.

That evening the members who opted to stay overnight met for dinner at the Rockland House, where we enjoyed fine food and fellowship. Tall tales were told and we finally retired, stuffed and happy. All we can say to those of you who didn’t make it is "you don’t know what you missed!"

The Moosehead Belle, the very effective fly created in 1985 by Gian Padovani, long standing member and past President of our club, was featured in the April 2000 issue of Fly Fish America. Congratulations, Gian! (See our "Flies" section for tying instructions),

Just a reminder that the NY trout season is now open. For the latest information on the areas in New York State you intend to fish, click here. Additionally, you can view the NYS Stocking Schedule by County by selecting the "Links" section on the left. You'll find it under the "Useful Stuff" heading.

Our Open House meeting turned out to be a  great success. Paul McCain's presentation on "The Frugal Fly Angler" or "How to get started without spending an arm and a leg" was very entertaining and he got many laughs with his suggestions on how to procure fly tying materials..... especially when Ron La Chase and Stu Minsky made some wisecrack comments. The good natured heckling added to the fun. We picked up 8 new members and thanks to the work of the members, there was considerable positive feedback

February 2000:  As in the past, the fly fishing shows held in late January in Somerset NJ and at the Nassau Coliseum were a great success for LIFR. Many visitors stopped at our booths either to ask questions, apply for  membership or simply to buy raffle tickets. The lucky winner at the Somerset show received one thousand flies, most of which were tied by our members.

Elections of officers were held at the February meeting. There were no changes in our leadership except for the position of Treasurer. Al Battistelli decided not to rerun and Cliff Dies, a past long time Treasurer, is now back at this post. Thank you, Al for a job well done.

January 2000:  New Year's day has come and gone. The Y2K bug didn't bite anyone and the end of the world never came. So, here we are, planning our Club's agenda for the new year, tying flies, cleaning up our fishing gear or going to fly fishing shows.

Talking about flies, from January 1 until December 31, 2000 a living exhibit of the world's largest collection of fishing flies will constantly grow at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum. On January 1, renown  fly tyer, Poul Jorgensen will mount the first fly in this display among the many collected to date.  Fly contributions will be accepted from any tier in the world and will be mounted alongside some of the most recognized tiers. At the end of the year, all flies will be sealed in a time capsule to be opened 100 years later. To accomplish this undertaking the Museum need flies from all fly tiers.

This web site occasionally receives E-mail from our viewers asking for our support in one form or another. I usually refer these queries to Lee Weil, our Club President, who graciously takes time out to respond to each and every one of them. The last E-mail was from a twelve year old boy named Nick asking where he could fish in Long Island. Lee shot back a lenghty and informative response and then, a few days later, sent him another E-mail with more information and lots of advice.... especially in the areas of good sportsmanship and conservation. This is something we should all strive for. Our children are our future. Way to go Lee!