THE TROUT LINE
Tualatin Valley Chapter News
February/March 2006
Chapter Meetings are held at the LUCKY
LABRADOR on the second Wednesday of
each month at 7:00 pm with a social get-together and the
formal meeting at 7:30 unless otherwise noted in the
newsletter or website. Lucky Labrador, Multnomah
Village, 7675 SW Capitol Hwy. Portland,
(503) 244-2537. Food and Beverages available.
Board of Directors Meetings held just prior to our
monthly Chapter meeting at 6:00pm at the Lucky Lab.
Wednesday Feb 8th,
Marlon Rampy presents a
Photographic Tour of Southern
Oregon’s Premier Trophy Trout
Waters. It’s not unusual for the mere mention of the
Wood and the Williamson rivers to evoke a Pavlovian
response among fly anglers. Wild double-digit trout still
lurk, and Marlon Rampy has spent the past 11 years
helping others sneak up on them as full-time guide in the
Upper Klamath Basin—the last six working out of the
renowned Lonesome Duck Lodge. The Klamath Basin is a
system of lakes and spring-fed rivers that produce some
of the largest native rainbow trout in the Lower 48.
Marlon spends May through October here on the
Williamson learning its secrets. It’s his river of choice,
both for the challenge it presents and for the rewards it
offers in truly large fish. He’ll share the experience with
us in a double slide show projector, multi-media
presentation featuring plenty of Rampy’s stunning
photography, sound and scenery (yes, even few large fish),
along with expert instruction and inside information to
enhance your angling experience in Southern Oregon.
Wednesday March 8th Chris Santella
presents the Fifty Places to Fly Fish
Before You Die.
You’re free to make your own list, but local Portland
freelance writer Chris Santella consulted some of the
world’s most knowledgeable anglers to come up with the
50 featured in his well-received fly fishing destination
travel guide, Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die. He’ll
share about a dozen destinations with us, and talk a little
bit about how he came to write the book, how to plan your
dream trip, and maybe share some fishing tales coming
out in his soon-to-publish book of favorite stories told by
the world’s most famous fly anglers.
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
Editor: David Illig
Hank’s Column
Hank Hosfield
Eventually it was bound to happen. I lost our guest
speaker. Or rather, he got lost on the way to our meeting.
So everyone who turned out for our January chapter
meeting expecting to hear the Wild Salmon Center’s Guido
Rahr III discuss the state of Pacific salmon were instead
treated to my own bewildered announcement that Guido
was missing and presumed irreplaceable. Not my finest
hour. Even my backup was missing. (By the way, I don’t
usually have a back-up plan, but I just happened to get a
call from the folks at Save Our Salmon, and they asked if
they could send a representative over to speak to us about
our participation in a postcard campaign with which they
hoped to bombard the governor to sway him to do
something beneficial for fish, only that guy didn’t show
up, either. It was definitely not my night. But just about
when it seemed like I’d have to launch into my own
rambling fishing story (probably about that salmon I
caught while shad fishing below Bonneville) one of our
newer members stood up and saved the evening. Tony (I
don’t know how to spell his last name) had actually gone
on a trip to Kamchatka with Guido six years ago, and he
regaled us with his experience and impressions of one of
the last truly wild fish habitats on the planet. All in all,
quite a nice program. (I thank you again, Tony, and urge
our members to also express their gratitude by buying you
a beer or two at upcoming meetings.) So all’s well that
ends well, I guess.
But there’s more to the story. Like, what happened to
Guido? He didn’t forget us. He just went to the wrong
Lucky Lab. Naturally, they told him that the TU meeting
wasn’t until the next Wednesday (which, of course is when
and where the Clackamas Chapter meets), never
mentioning that there was another Lucky Lab in SW
Portland (that would be the one I directed him to in earlier
communications). But it is ultimately my responsibility as
program chair to make sure our speakers know where
they’re going. I typically call each speaker a day or two
before our meeting to reconfirm all of the details, as I’ve
learned that a lot of the fishing guides tend to forget.
Doing this has saved me more than once from having a
speaker no-show. It also saved me once when a speaker
blew us off, giving me a few hours to throw an alternate
program together. (That speaker was John Ecklund of
Little Creek Outfitters. He booked a client on the Grand
Ronde instead of honoring his commitment to us. I told
him I understood, but that I would be sure to mention
when ever possible what a crummy thing he did to us—
although I would happily recommend him to anyone
seeking the biggest possible flake to guide them for an
unreliable fishing experience.) So I blew it with Guido. He

was all ready to go but didn’t have the correct directions.
Unlike John Ecklund, he will be invited back. In fact, he
has already asked to get on our speaker calendar, and I’m
currently working out the best time for him to present the
much-anticipated program we all missed out on in
January.
Where does this all leave us? For starters, if I were still
chapter president I would have fired myself as program
chair. Clearly, I’ve stayed on too long. But I do have some
good programs in the works for 2006. I’ve found some
brand new programs from speakers we haven’t seen
before. I think I’ve been booking program speakers for
seven or eight years now, and it gets harder to find new
programs all the time. That’s why I’m constantly asking
people to let me know if they hear about something new,
or have any leads about speakers we haven’t heard.
Ultimately these programs should reflect the interests of
our membership. We’ll definitely do requests, if possible.
I want to book speakers and topics that you most want to
hear. So don’t be shy about giving me your suggestions.
(Call me at 503-228-6553 or email me at
hankh@imagina.com) Then again, if you’d rather just
assume my position as program chair, that can be
arranged, too.
The last thing I have to say about programs is don’t miss
our February 8th program speaker, Marlon Rampy. John
Shewey says this is one of the finest slide show programs
you’ll see. (I’ll make sure Rampy has the correct day/time
and location.) Perhaps someday soon our club will own a
digital projector and we’ll be able to put together our own
fascinating programs—or at least fill in in a pinch with
something more cinematic the next time a speaker gets
lost.
Fly of the Month
Winter Wooly-Bugger. Alex Barkume
The rain’s are here and so are the steelhead, in fact
they’ve been here since before Christmas. When the rain
eases off enough for the water to drop, one has a good
chance of hooking up with one of those silver wanders
fresh from the ocean. But this year has been a good
water-year and the rivers have been running full and with
some color. Anglers need a fly that will grab a steelie’s
attention.
This month’s fly of the month, the Winter Wooly-bugger
will do just that.
Hook: Tiemco 7999 or equivalent in
sizes #2 - #6.
Thread: Pink, orange or red work well with
this pattern
Tail: Green marabou
Body: Medium chenille, pink
Lateral Line: Pearlescent crystal flash
Hackle: Hot pink saddle hackle
1. Tie in a small clump of florescent lime green
marabou just above the point of the hook. The
blood plumes should extend behind the hook
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
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about 1x to 1.5x the gape of the hook. body
length (mayfly tails are quite long)
2. Tie in 3 to 4 inch piece of thin gold or silver wire
at the same point and use material clip to keep
out of the way.
3. Tie in 4 four-inch pieces of crystal flash at the
same point such that two are one the side of the
tail closest you and two are on the other side of
the tail (other side from you). This is where a
rotary vise is nice since you’ll need to check to
make sure the crystal flash is centered along the
marabou tail. One end of the crystal flash piece
should extend back as long as the marabou tail.
The other end will be pulled forward later.
4. Just ahead of the crystal flash tie in a 3-4 inch
piece of chenille. Wrap forward and tie off about
a 3/16” behind the eye of the hook.
5. Pull the 2 pieces of crystal flash on the far side of
the fly up to the chenille tie-off point and throw a
couple of wraps on them (check to see that they
are centered on the opposite side of the chenille).
Repeat the process for the near-side pieces of
crystal flash. This produces the lateral line flash.
6. Select a pink saddle hackle sized for the fly and
tie in just in front of the chenille tie-off point
(bottom barbules should be about 1.5x the hook
gape).
7. Take 1 to 1.5 turns at the front of the fly with the
saddle and then wind it back to the end of the
chenille body with even spaces and 3 to 4 wraps.
8. Now take the wire and counter wrap the saddle
hackle and wrap taking care not to trap too many
of the saddles barbules under the wire. Tie it off
at the head.
9. Whip-finish a small, neat head.
10. Using the bodkin go back and carefully pluck out
the trapped hackle barbules.
11. Glue the head with a nice high-build, high gloss
head cement.

The wooly-bugger is a great action fly. The marabou tail
and webby saddle hackle breath and wiggle with every
little change in current all with a great swimming motion.
This color combination is deadly and the combination is
killer. I really like this fly when I feel I need some color
in the water. You can see this fly in the tea colored water
from a long way off.
This fly fishes well on a sinking line or shooting head
system. Once wet, it swims as well with the tail acting
like a little rudder. I prefer to fish this fly on a swing.
Position yourself at the top of the run, cast down and
across and let her swing.
In the winter, when the water is a little colder, a fish will
most often just stop the fly. You should strike when in
doubt, cause you don’t want to hook up only to have the
fly pull out. This means you’ll be striking at rocks and
other “grabby” things on the bottom. You’ll need to tie
and carry a few of these guys because you’re going to lose
them.
On the other hand, it’ll all seem worth it when a fish pulls
back. Oh, and hold on, occasionally, you can get a good
grab. Tight Lines, Alex
Fly Tyer’s Corner Dick Rohrbaugh
Over the years tyers have accumulated a lot of creative
ideas. In tying, like everything else, experience is always
the best teacher. Here is a new set of tips to try the next
time you tie.
Equipment
One problem faced by all tyers is the rapidity with
which head cement dries up in the bottle, making it worse
than useless. No matter how tightly you put the lid on the
stuff always seems to be the thickness of peanut butter
when you are ready to tie. Since thin cement penetrates
wraps and materials better it is important that the stuff
not be too thick when used.
One way to slow the evaporation that dries the
head cement out is to keep the bottle full. Less air in the
bottle means less evaporation. Of course as the head
cement is used up you can always keep adding cement to
keep the bottle full. Another option is to put a couple of
marbles in the bottle as it begins to empty. That will raise
the fluid level, make the cement easier to reach with your
bodkin, and at the same time eliminate most of the air in
the bottle.
Materials
A number of patterns call for epoxy on either a
wing case, a body, or the head of a fly. The stuff is messy
to work with and I confess that I avoid it whenever
possible. But if you are into that sort of thing you may
want to color the epoxy to get just the right shade for the
fly you are tying. Here is a simple way to do it.
Go to your local hobby shop and buy a small tube
of printer’s ink. It comes in a wide variety of colors, is
inexpensive, and a tube will offer you a lifetime supply for
this particular purpose. As you mix your epoxy, just put a
drop or two in the ink in the mix. You can even mix
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
3
colors ahead of time to get the right shade before
putting it in the epoxy.
Techniques
We seem to be on the topic of cement and other
goop types of this time around so here are a few tips for
applying the stuff. If you use anything that comes in
small bottles with brushes attached to the lid (e.g., nail
polish), it is easy to make a mess because the brushes are
too bulky to apply the cement to a small head. A simple
solution is to trim off most of the hairs on the brush,
leaving only a few for applying the cement. You will get a
much neater job.
Obviously most tyers want nice glossy heads on
their steelhead flies or similar patterns. The shinier and
smoother the better. Some tyers try to get that effect by
applying a thick, heavy coat of whatever goop they are
applying. Not only does that not work very well, it can
make a big mess. It is much better to use multiple coats
of a thinner liquid. I usually use at least three coats,
sometimes more. Let the stuff dry thoroughly between
coats and you can quickly build a head that shines.
Finally, here is one more tip I picked up from Hal
Gordon, our local expert at tying full dress Atlantic
salmon flies. If you use too thin a liquid, especially
something like colored lacquer or nail polish, the stuff
will often wick its way up into the materials at the head of
the fly and discolor them. If you are using Dacron loops
on blind eye hooks for Atlantic salmon or spey flies, this
can be a bit of a problem. An easy way to prevent this is
to make the first coat with clear head cement. It will
prevent later coats of colored stuff from soaking into the
materials you want to keep clean. Dick
(Editors Note: This is Tips 14 and the last in the series.
Starting in our next issue Dick will host a Question &
Answer column that addresses questions you submit
about fly tying, fishing, casting, equipment, etc.
Various experts will answer the questions. So send your
questions PLEASE. )
Fall Sturgeon that the sea lions didn’t eat. Raschell Barkume
TU Fishing Outings
Outings Will Start in March. Contact Andy Andrews
for more info. Or check the Web site.

Remember to Sign up New Members to
Trout Unlimited. It’s a great bargain for what they
get. Especially at the half-off introductory membership at
$17.50 Lots of people aren’t members who would enjoy it.
We still get something for new member signups. New
members can sign up at www.tu.org/intro and entering
code 633 for Tualatin Valley chapter. If they prefer a
paper membership application, contact Erle to send it to
them.
4
member. What a trophy and a great memory for both
grandson and grandfather. It was also a wonderful
display of fine sportsmanship from the other fishermen
providing Eric with a role model for the future. This was a
gift from the heavens and I just wanted to share it with
you. The pictures say it all! (See the back page)
After we had a celebration meal, he gave the other steaks
away to his teacher, PE coach, friends and neighbors Â-
sharing the joy! See you soon, smile, Len.

Creating Life Long Memories

Len Clarke
On the weekend before Thanksgiving I took my 9 year old
grandson Eric fishing on the Wilson River. I would
normally drift the river but we were too late in the day. It
was about 4PM when we got started. I parked my car and
we walked down to a long gravel bar behind the Guide
Shop, one of my favorite spots on the river. The lower
end of the gravel bar had about a dozen fisherman lined
up almost shoulder to shoulder so I suggested to Eric that
we should go upstream far enough so we would not
bother the veteran anglers.

Eric and I had caught many trout together but this was his
first salmon opportunity. We had good sized spinning
gear - the plan was to cast upstream and drift a big clump
of eggs underneath a bobber. Eric had not done this
before so we practiced a few times and he quickly got the
rhythm. I suggested that he cast to the middle of the drift
and let it pass through some white water, just above the
other fisherman, and then reel in to do it again. On the
third cast, the bobber disappeared! Fish on! I told Eric to
hold on to the rod as I streaked back to the car to get my
net (I really did not expect to catch a fish in our limited
daylight). About halfway to the car I heard a loud reaction
come from the lineup of fisherman down stream. As I
turned to look, the fish was crashing into the water from a
huge leap,- right out in the middle of the group of
fisherman. It was suddenly like a slow motion scene as
they collectively turned their heads upstream to see a
little guy (70 pounds soaking wet) by himself with the butt
of the rod between his legs, one hand holding on to the
rod above the reel with the other hand reeling in for all he
was worth. What a moment. What was even better was
that the entire group of fisherman quickly reeled in their
lines and instantly became a cheering squad for Eric. As I
continued on to get the net, the group moved upstream to
provide him with emotional support.

When I got back to the river, Eric was getting tired and
suggested to me that I might want to finish fighting the
fish while he would take the over the netting job. We did
just that as Eric, with the help of an additional netter,
landed the big fish. It was a chrome bright 30 # Chinook
buck. It was almost as tall as Eric. The fish had jumped
several times to put on a great display of trying to shake
out the hook. The entire group of fisherman gave Eric a
high five and welcomed him to the ³Legends of the Fall
Â- Wilson River² fishing club. He may be the youngest

“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”

Volunteers Needed: Tualatin River
Watershed Council , in partnership with TU and
Steelhead Redd
ODFW, will be conducting winter
5
$50 for members, non members $100 which includes
membership to NFS. You should dress for warmth, bring
waders and your favorite Spey system to the clinic.
Hot beverages will be available.

Surveys in the Tualatin basin February to May this To register, Call Anne Tattam of NFS at 503-977-3133.
year. Volunteers to help contact Tom Wolf at 503-640- Payment must be made in advance by VISA, MasterCard,
2123 or tmilowolf@msn.com . American Express or by check.

Portland Sportsman Show- Feb. Native Fish Society 2005 Auction

8-12 -If you are interested in helping at the TU booth,
contact Tom Wolf at 503-640-2123 or
tmilowolf@msn.com. You will get a fee pass and chance to
see the show when shift is over.
World-renowned Spey Casting
Instructor and Spey system designer, Henrik
Mortensen, will be conducting three half day Spey
casting clinics for the Native Fish Society on Saturday
and Sunday, March 11 and 12. All three clinics
are limited to 12 people on a first come first served basis
with proceeds going to support the Native Fish Society's
wild fish conservation programs.
and Banquet, February 18th. at Ambridge
Event Center, just north of Convention Center on MLK.
Kaitlin Lovell and I are sponsoring a Trout Unlimited
table, which holds 10 people, at the banquet. If you are
interested call Anne Tattum at 503-977-3133 or
anne@nativefishsociety.org or you can register on website
at www.nativefishsociety.org/events
The Native Fish Society is a good organization who is an
ally of Trout Unlimited .Please come to this banquet to
support their work. There will be many good auction
items with trips, rods, etc. and many other items.
The cost is $45. When you register, please indicate that
you want to sit at TU table. Tom Wolf

The Saturday Clinic is being held in Eugene in conjunction

Steelhead on the Rogue River
with the Caddis Fly Shop. Participants will meet at the
shop at 10am. Exact clinic location will depend on the
water conditions the day of the event.

The Sunday Clinics will be held at Oxbow Park from 8 a.m.

to 12 Noon and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Mortensen has worked professionally with fly tackle

design and development for more than 10 years and has
instructed thousands of fly fishers in the intricacy of Spey
casting throughout the world. Mortensen has incorporated
a unique underhanded cast to the Spey repertoire that
maximizes the physics of Spey casting with the least
amount of effort.

Mortensen is a key part of the design team for Scierra

(www.scierra.com),a Spey, rod and line system that has
taken Europe by storm and is just being introduced to the
U.S. He was previously involved in designing the Loop
rods and reels.

Mortensen and an assistant will provide group and

individual instruction during the half-day clinics, all on
water. These clinics are the only ones Mortensen will be
conducting on the west coast.
UPCOMING Newsletter Material
We need material for upcoming issues Or just send some
nice pictures you have. We need your input, please.
NFS member and owner of the Irish Angler will have
Dillig1@aol.com 296 9050
Scierra rods, reels and lines on hand at the clinics that
may be tried out by participants and purchased if desired.
Cook will donate 20% of sales to the Native Fish Society.

The clinics will include a small raffle with proceeds going

to the Native Fish Society. The cost for the clinic is only
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”

Guide Test; The Right Hand, Left
Hand Test. David Illig
For those of you who periodically indulge yourself with
the services of a fishing guide, you are frequently left with
the tough decision of choosing who might do a good job
for you but without having much information to make the
decision. Obviously, the best situation is to have a direct
referral from somebody you trust who has used the guide
in the past, ideally more than once. But when you are on
the road, and in a strange place, that can sometimes seem
impossible. You are often left with just some names and
phone numbers and no information. Last year I learned
about at least one little test that I will use consistently in
the future.
I used the internet to find a web site for a guide service
near Jacksonville Florida. The web site gave the
impression of a very experienced and skilled guide. It’s
fairly easy to create a persuasive web site isn’t it? But the
gap between reality and the writer/designer of the web
site can be huge.
After a pretty satisfying discussion with the guide’s wife
and business partner about how customer friendly they
were, I talked with the guide himself. He too seemed
initially friendly and service oriented. At some point I
remembered to tell the guide that I reel with my left hand
and needed the reels set up that way. Long ago I learned
to bring that up. He asked me if I was left handed and I
said, “No, but I have always reeled with my left hand even
though I cast with my right.” I fully expected him to
simply say no problem I’ll take care of it. Instead, he
proceeded to tell me that that was clearly the wrong way
to do things. “I just didn’t fully understand. Right handed
people are stronger reeling with their right hand and that’s
what works best,”in his experience. “Well,” I said,
“although I’m certainly a mediocre fly fisherman, I have
been doing it for years and always reel with the left hand.”
He says: “You just don’t appreciate how hard these
saltwater fish run and fight. You’ll be glad you’re using
your stronger hand to reel. All right handed people are
stronger reeling with their right hand.” “Well, I said, I’ve
always had the reels changed in the past.” “You just don’t
understand,” he says, that we use so much backing on
these reels that it would take forever for me to change the
reels. I have to take all the line off and put it back on. I
don’t have a motor to do that so it just takes way too
long.” “Well, um, well ah,”I stumbled around. “You’ll be
much happier reeling with your right hand when you see
how powerful our fish are.” That was the day before we
were scheduled to go so I just made plans as to where to
meet him. I figured he must be right since he sounded so
sure, and who was I to question too much. He was a little
irritated I could tell with my request. That was clue #2.
Well, as you can expect, my advice to you and me is to
instantly bail out on a guide if he tries to talk you out of
reeling with the hand you normally reel with. It’s that
simple. And remember to ask for which reel hand you
want as soon as you book the trip. Don’t take it for
granted that the guide has his gear set up for you. And
don’t assume he can change it around for you when on the
boat. Try a little bit to persuade him to do it if he doesn’t
immediately agree to. He’s entitled to give his advice
“To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North America’s Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds”
6
about which hand you reel with. And then he needs to
simply and happily say “If you prefer it, I’ll be happy to
set it up that way exactly.” Better yet if he wholeheartedly
agrees that you should reel the way you usually do.
It’s interesting that if you simply said you were left
handed and reeled with your left hand they wouldn’t have
an argument at all and would either have to volunteer to
change their reels or else turn down the reservation.
Very few would attempt to change a left handed person
who has been that way from birth. I guess that’s
considered genetic.
Ironically, I have fished salt water before where the guides
gladly changed the reels for left handed reel. They didn’t
even ask me whether I was right or left handed, just which
hand did I reel with. (And yes, I did catch a 100 lb tarpon
reeling with my left hand like I usually do.)
I only wish I had used the “right hand left hand test” and
not signed up with guide at all. It would have spared me
some other unpleasant moments. We hadn’t even been out
on the water a half hour before I actually yelled at him to
lighten up about how I was or wasn’t casting. I yelled;
“I’m paying money to have fun. I’m not paying money to
feel like crap. I can feel like crap enough on my own……”
something really close to that. He said he thought I had
said I wanted to learn whatever I could and he was just
trying to help teach me. Well, with teaching like that its no
wonder students hate school and drop out. I remember
also shouting something like….. I wasn’t trying to screw
up on purpose…….. during my brief explosion.
He did settle down some after that. It didn’t help that the
fish weren’t biting. The sky was blue and the water even
bluer. I did get a few casts at redfish but no takers. And
I’m sure I was doing it all wrong.
Funny thing was back at the dock he handed me an Orvis
questionnaire about the guide trip. I guess that was part
of the deal about being an Orvis approved guide. Well, to
my amazement, I couldn’t find the guts to be honest on
the questionnaire. I don’t even know why because usually
I would be. It just felt like if I was honest he would be
harmed and I didn’t want to do that. So I lied my way
through the questionnaire mostly. Afterwards I regretted
doing that and promised myself to never do that again.
Either politely refuse to fill it out or else fill it out
accurately. At least I didn’t give him a tip on top of his
$300 for a half day.
Remember the right hand left hand reel test and you
might avoid some unpleasant experiences. And when you
are expecting to have a great time, the last thing you need
is lots of irritation. Live and learn. David
 7

Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

February/March 2006
President: Open Position

Treasurer: Erle Norman 293-6006

caddis2000@hotmail.com
Membership Chair Alex Barkume - 642-7024
alexbarkume@comcast.net
Board of Directors:
Andy Andrews
Hank Hosfield Raddicio@aol.com 969 2246
228-6553 hankh@imagina.com

Eric Thompson 297-0718 Jerry Heppell

anglingeric@msn.com jheppell@teleport.com 639-9408

Dick Rohrbaugh Communications Director

rbaugh@lclark.edu 636-3877 Seth Isenberg 293-3290
sbisenberg@comcast.net
David Illig 296 9050
Dillig1@aol.com
Editor