Our annual casting night is again set to begin as early as 6 p.m. on July 26, 2001 at Tilles Park, just off Litzinger Road in St. Louis County. We're gathering at the park pond to do a little casting off the dam. Ozark members, some who have even been certified as casting instructors, will be available to help you with your casting stroke or tackle advice. Bring that expensive cane, brand spank'n new space age rod with a house payment or two price tag, discount house cheapo or anything in between. Bring out of the closet those oldies but goodies - whether they are graphite, metal, bamboo and, yes even fiberglass. It's a good chance to rediscover some tackle that may hold forgotten pleasures.

Ozark is a fantastic club and many present members and past members are the fanatics that I have mentioned. I see this addiction in their eyes, their conversation and the very manor in which they live. Next time you hear somebody fighting for what they believe in, even if you might not agree with what they are saying or doing, congratulate and support them. I can tell everyone who has stood up for conservation in the past that I applaud you and appreciate the effort.

Thanks you!

Michael V. Webb
Conservation Director

Take the additional step to practice your casting once a week or more if possible. You would be surprised at the quiet and solitude of merely casting in the back yard or on a local pond. You can focus on what you are doing and this sometimes gets your mind off of business and other events in your life that create stress. Yes, I can say without a question that it can be quite therapeutic.

As a casting instructor I enjoy the challenge of helping people become better casters and fly fishers. There is no question that an improved cast enhances your fishing skills and adds quality to the days on the water when you take that special trip to another river outside you "backyard".

Practice, practice and more practice. I am sure that if you ask any good caster what they have done to get to the point where they are now in their casting ability, they will tell you that practice and time on the water are the primary attributes that contributed to their success. Let me know if you need help or would like to improve your casting skills.

Here is a list of the instructors in our club: Brian Ellis, Jerry Clark, Michael Webb, Bob Temper, Bill Armon, Tom Ziegler, and Dave Barron. If I left someone out that you know, you can check the Federation of Fly Fishers website for all of the Certified Instructors, Master Instructors and Board members.

Michael V. Webb
FFF Casting Instructor

The fish, which zero in on urine streams in the water, have struck terror among villagers along the Sepik River, in north-western PNG. Authorities believe the killer fish is an introduced member of the South American pacu family and a relative of the piranha.

In both of last month's fatalities, the fish demonstrated a trait of the piranha by following a trail of urine in the water, swimming to its source and then biting it off with razor-sharp teeth. Some believe the killer may be a food-source fish introduced from Brazil in 1994 by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and the PNG National Fisheries Authority. However, marine biologist and aqua culturist Ian Middleton said he believed they were a different species, introduced from across the PNG-Indonesia border. He believed the fish had started biting humans because of a lack of naturally occurring food. "The reason for biting people on their genitals is a result of the fish detecting a chemical change in the water, swimming up the urine trail and biting the genitals." This behavior was well documented in the Amazon, he said.

The director of the PNG Office of Environment and Conservation, Dr. Wari Iamo, yesterday expressed "grave concern and dissatisfaction" at the way some government agencies and donor organizations exotic plant and animal species.

In our allocated hour and a half time slot for the fly fishing segment we were asked to teach the women how to fly-cast, then show them how to fish, and then help them to catch fish. That seemed like a daunting task. I was more the just a little concerned that everyone would walk away extremely frustrated. However, everything seemed to fall in place: the weather was perfect, we were able to secure a great lake for the instruction (lake 1), the women were eager to learn and quickly picked up the necessary casting skills, and Joseph Aimonette's warmwater flies performed superbly. We budgeted our time as follows: eight minutes of casting lecture, followed by 20 minutes of casting practice, then fishing instruction accounted for the balance of the time slot. That formula seemed to work well. All of the participates managed to catch a few nice perch and you can tell that several of the women showed a genuine interest in the sport and hopefully some of them will join our club. It is hard to describe the satisfaction that one feels after participating in a very successful introduction to fly fishing class. The word "giddy" comes to mind. My sincere appreciation to Ozark Members Joseph Aimonette, Roy Cleveland, Diane Ellis, Bob Temper, and Tom Ziegler for their help in making the event a success!

7-11 August 2001: Federation of Fly Fishers International Conclave in Livingston Montana.

5-6 October 2001: Southern Council Federation of Fly Fishers Regional Conclave in Mountain Home Arkansas

The problems: 1) Too many geese, especially in urban areas. 2) Too many deer, especially in certain enriched suburban areas. 3) Too many otters, especially in streams and ponds which formerly sustained a population of fish.

In this age of synergy, which if I recall, is a word not in common usage thirty years ago, but now suggesting that "a mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct business participants or elements" could be arranged between the three "problems" we could resolve the deer/gees/otter problem with all aggrieved parities being quite pleased with the outcome. With the possible exception of the deer/otters/geese.

I can remember from some long forgotten Psychology course, some highly important research done by Skinner regarding the ability of pigeons to learn complicated tasks. For the imaginative, it is not too much of a stretch to suggest that if pigeons are teachable, certainly geese would be. A biot is a biot right?

I would suggest that history has shown that deer are stupid, allowing themselves to be slaughtered in large number every fall, and constantly running across highways in the dark. Otters, on the other hand, are far too intelligent to be trained, proving themselves more intelligent than a whole lot of State employees disguised as wildlife biologists and decisions makers.

Therefore, it is up to the geese to be trained to control the behavior of the other two. "And how so?", you might ask? One trait which the anti-goose folks detest is their aggressive behavior. Don't ever cross a pissed off goose, they say. And I believe it. I have seen geese cross Page Avenue in rush hour, stopping hundreds of timid motorists. I have seen them hiss and bristle, scaring large, aggressive dogs from their territory. And don't forget, geese are close relatives of dinosaurs and we know how bad they can be.

Yes, unleash the geese, I say! Their hissing and honking will have every wimp deer in Chesterfield quickly hiding in Franklin County, soon to be slaughtered by locals in the annual fall blood lust. Problem #1 is solved.

Otters aren't wimps. They are cunning, cute, and apparently fecund. Well, you can't beat cunning, and cute is a concept I never understood anyway. The last time I messed around with "cute" I ended up in court facing something called maintenance. And I thought maintenance was something you did to a car! But fecund I understand. I ask you, who wants to be fecund with a bunch of damn geese hissing and pooping around all over the place? Not me, and surely the otters won't like it either! With fewer otterlings produced, perhaps the unfortunate situation will stabilize. Problem #2 is solved.

And problem #3? The geese? To tell you the truth, I haven't figured that out yet. But maybe the geese would be so tired from running deer and disturbing the domestic lives of otters they would be too tired to desecrate the lawns and gardens of St. Louis county.

Ted Golden

The newsletter is going to press early this month and thus may not contain a few of your favorite writers. The editor is going to be fishing the Deschutes River, the Metolius and a couple of Cascade lakes this month and had to get out of town early. John Walker's 'Tangled Lines" and other favorites will return next month.