Dave Barron has been guiding for over 11 years and the past 3 years out of the Iliaska Lodge in the Iliamna area of Alaska, approximately 200 miles southwest of Anchorage. Dave's programs are always highly informative and entertaining.

Dave began fly-fishing in 1960 on the spring creeks of the Missouri Ozarks. He has been very active with local and national fly fishing groups. He began teaching fly fishing in 1985 and has conducted classes, schools and seminars throughout the U.S.

In 1993 Dave became one of the first FFF certified casting instructors and in 1998 became one of about 50 Master certified casting instructors.

Dave received the prestigious FFF, Southern Council "Man of the Year" award in 2000.

Dave is on the Pro Staff of Ross Reels.

Dave also operates a guiding and teaching service on his home waters of Southwest Wisconsin see http://jacquishhollowangler.com

Learn more about this event at http://ozarkflyfishers.org

Webmaster Note: Please see Larry Carli's Wisonsin Trip Report.

Ozark Fly Fishers annual day long Spring program featuring a nationally recognized figure in the sport of fly fishing, will include fly tying demonstrations in the morning and fly casting seminars in the afternoon.

Jason Borger is an accomplished fly tyer, fly caster, author and illustrator. Jason started fly fishing at the age of two and by the age of ten he was involved in professional production fly tying.

Jason was the illustrator for the Gary Borger book Designing Trout Flies. His articles on fly tying and fly casting are frequently featured in national magazines such as Fly Rod & Reel, Fly Fisherman, and American Angler. His newest book, Jason Borger's Nature of Fly Casting - a modular approach, has just been published.

Jason gained recognition outside of the fly fishing community, when he served as the casting and fishing double in the film A River Runs Through It

Jason currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Federation of Fly Fishers' Fly Casting Instructor Certification Progran Fee: $10.00 for non-members -may be applied to annual membership. Members admitted at no charge.

For information on Ozark Fly Fishers go to www.ozarkflyfishers.org

Bundled up for below freezing temperatures, decked out with expensive gear, we waxed philosophically about the subject while casting our flies onto the surface of the frozen pond at Tilles Park. Needless to say they weren't rising--if they were, they were bumping their noggins. We caught none of the trout stocked during the winter (after the cameras stopped, a kid with a K-Mart special fly rod and reel caught the only trout after we gave him one of Joe Aimonette's flies--as much as it pains us to give Joe more credit).

The folks at our banquet on Jan. 26 or who saw it earlier seemed to like it. A sampling of opinion from the uninitiated masses was a little less favorable--bemused and amused and downright abusive. My wife just shock her head and spent most of the telecast biting her cheek and gums, suppressing an occasional snort, and what sounded like laughter. "You know, that was really something," she said with less than a straight face. My son asked, "Are old geezers the only people who fly fish." My co-workers were less charitable and betrayed a total lack of understanding about this avocation. The snorts and laughter were less restrained--in fact, downright shocking and, in some cases, unladylike.

Me, I thought our appearance was darn near poetic and I suggested to the media-jaded people I work that we should show it to other employees at a staff meeting. That was followed by groans and spitballs hurled at the television. But we did make one good impression. Someone from the St. Peters Chamber of Commerce called and asked if we wanted to participate in their 9th annual Home, Garden and Great Outdoors Show on April 20-21st. We will keep you posted if this happens. I can see it now, the three of us becoming the embodiment of a whole new FFF casting certification category -- master lawn casters.

On to other stuff:

I hope the people who came to our banquet enjoyed themselves and we raised some money. A good crowd. A lot of people deserve thanks yous -- Max Anderson for his yeomen work in organizing the affair; Bill Todd, Bob Temper, Bill Hale, Steve Antonic, Joe Aimonette, Gaven Poppen and others for their help in running raffles and auctions and making the event possible; Mark Van Paten for his speaking duties; Marty Koch for his willingness to work with us with our classes through the St. Louis County Parks Department. And for anyone I missed, thanks.

Also deserving thanks are the businesses and individuals who donated items for the banquet and our raffles. Please look in out newsletter at those names and thank them individually or patronize them with your business--they truly care about this organization.

If you didn't attend the banquet, the new Ozark pins are now available for $5 apiece. They really look good, thanks to the design by Gavin Poppen's dad.

Reminders--lots of things going on the next several months.

Tom Ziegler, our outings person, reminds you this edition about our Feb. 23 tying and layabout Saturday meeting at Marlan Graham's clubhouse. Bring a dish, a fly rod you want to cast, some tying equipment or just yourself--this is a day to tie flies and tell stories. Old Ozarker--yeah, he's no spring chicken--Dave Barron ventures out from the wilds of Wisconsin to awe us about Alaska at our regular meeting on February 28 at the Museum of the Dog at Queeny Park.

Of note-- Lefty Kreh is making an appearance on March 3 at the BassPro Shop in St. Charles. Check with those fine folks for more info.

Ozark puts on a number of instructional classes through the St. Louis County Parks Department--see our website for details. We also are putting on a slide show on "Fly Fishing for Trout in Missouri" at the Queeny Park Community Room, on Wednesday, March 6 at the Queeny Park Community Room. It starts at 7:30 p.m. and costs $5.

Jason Borger is our all-day speaker on Saturday, March 9 at Queeny Park Recreation Center

The Sowbug in Mountain Home is March 15-16.

by Greg Vieth

ATTENTION ILLINOIS MEMBERS
It has come to our attention that all Members of Ozark who currently live in Illinois and are also FFF Members are currently being counted in the Great Lakes Council. Since our club Ozark Fly-fishers is currently in the Southern Council this doesn't make a lot of sense. The only way we can get this corrected is to have all Illinois Members initial their names on this Renewal form stating they want to be counted in the Southern Council instead of the Great Lakes Council. Please check the renewal form and if you live in Illinois make sure you check and initial this part of the Renewal Form to insure your membership is counted toward the Southern Council.

Also new for this year is one new level of Membership called a Corporate Membership. The cost for this is $250 per year. These members will have all the benefits of the Commercial Membership plus these additional benefits.Your Business recognized on our Corporate Membership Plaque prominently displayed at each meeting

A Business Card Size Advertisement in each newsletter The privilege of advertising in our newsletter for an additional fee. The current advertisement fee structure is $50 per half page per newsletter issue.

RECEIVE THE NEWSLETTER BY E-MAIL
Also on the renewal form will be an option to check if you would prefer to receive the Monthly Newsletter by e-mail instead of in a regular mailing. It was felt that this was a way the Club could save some money on our postage expenses. Also by receiving it this way you would get the mailing a few days earlier than the people receiving it via the post office.

Anyone having any question regarding any of this please contact me either by phone (618) 281-6461 or by e-mail gotafish2@yahoo.com
Greg Vieth
Membership Chairman

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the Annual Banquet

Silent Auction and Raffle. The following individuals and businesses donated items: Jim Arl, Dave Barron, Dan Burleigh, Chris Miller at Bass Pro Shop, Donna and Larry Carli, Caesar Carnaghi, Doug Christian, Roy Cleveland, Lee and Andy Fiore, Bill Hale, Russell Hill, Doug Jefferies, Bill Karduck, Mackenzie Creek Outfitters and Mike Webb, Jerry Phelan, George Roberts, Jack Sadler, Bob Temper, Greg Vieth, and John Walker. Without their generosity, we could not have taken in $3,464 at the banquet in the auction and raffle. Also, thank you to everyone who purchased items in the auction and tickets for the raffle. Ozark members and their guests once again displayed why our club is so successful and well known. Thanks again Bill Todd

Starting with the Tyathon at Marlan Grahams' on the 23rd, I would like to start a collection of our own. Whatever you want to give would be great. Even if you are a new tyer, please give. We also would like to have fly plates of our club members, so too many flies will not be a problem. Identification is preferred not only with the fly pattern name, but your name also. It would be great to cover the entire hat. I'll keep harping until I'm satisfied, so why not give soon.

Hook:	Any standard 1x dry fly hook.
Size:	12 to 18: the 14 is the most commonly used size.
Thread:	Black; 8/0
Tail:	Wood duck or a poly flash; (the poly flash is an attractor material)
Abdomen:	Peacock herl
Hackle:	Hungarian partridge either gray or brown. I would suggest the brown part of the Hungarian partridge. Mottled brown
Thorax:	Color preference up to the tier(Usually black or tan)
Head:	Build up of the thread.

You can tie in a bead to use this fly subsurface. There are other options too!

As you can see by the recipe, there are many options. Take a look at some of the books at the local fly shop and you will find many books with soft-hackle, recipes, illustrations and comparisons of the natural and the artificial.

Webmaster's Note: Mike Webb will be demostrating the tying of this fly prior to this month's general meeting on February 28^th at the Dog Museum.

• Dan Sescleifer
• Diana Mudd
• Gary Holland
• Scott Walker
  

If I could have chosen the family to be born to, being born the son of Gary and Nancy Borger would be high on my list (being born the son of Ted Turner probably wouldn't be bad either). On March 9th, our club has the opportunity to meet someone that has been granted that fortune because Jason Borger will be our all-day speaker at the Queeny Park Complex (next to the ice rink).

It must be a daunting task to try to follow in the footsteps of someone so influential in their field. However, Jason accomplishments have already surpassed most of the big name speakers in the sport. Growing up, he had the great future of being exposed to some of the grandest names and places in the world of fly fishing. He appears to have taken full advantageof the opportunity. He is a accomplished fly tyer, fly casting instructor author and illustrator. Since I have already mentioned the move, "A River Runs Through It", I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Jason was used as a casting and fishing double in that movie. Jason currently serves on the Board of Governors for the Federation of Fly Fishers' Fly Casting Instructor Certification Program. Jason has just released his book, "Jason Borger's Nature of Fly Casting - a modular approach". Jason is destined to be one of the greatest names in fly fishing and we are thrilled that he is coming to St. Louis to be our all-day speaker on March 9th.

I'm supposed to talk about casting, so I will do so now. In Gary Borger's book, "Presentation", (excellent book and illustrated by Jason Borger), he makes a very profound statement (page 207), "Allowing the wrist to bend too much at the end of the back stroke is the most common casting fault made by beginners (and many seasoned caster, too)." I couldn't agree more. Since this is such a common casting fault it makes sense for us to address it.

One of the essential principles in fly casting is that the casting arc must vary in proportion to the amount of bend in the rod. The casting arc is defined as the angle measured between the rod (handle) starting position and it's stopping position during the cast (forward or backward). If the casting arc is just right (for the amount of bend in the rod) the rod tip will propel the line in a straight-line path and the caster will experiencea tight efficient loop. If the casting arc is too small for the amount of bend in the rod the caster will often see the fly line/leader cross over itself in what is known as a tailing loop. I will likely address the tailing loop casting fault in a future article. If the casting arc is too large for the amount of bend in the rod the casting loops will likely be very large and inefficient. Large loops are inefficient because they expose a large surface area to wind resistance. Also, for the casting arc that is too big, the caster will throw what is know as an expanding loop that loses energy very quickly. Another problem of too large of a casting arc is that it throws the loop down toward surface and will put some undesirable slack in the line. This problem is particularly prevalent on the backcast and is often caused by allowing the wrist to bend too much and this is the problem that I wish to address.

Probably ninety percent of a fly casting instructor's effort is spent in trying to remove undesirable slack from his student's casts. The caster must remove this slack before the next cast can be made and robs the caster of precious stroke length (the distance the casting hand moves). This slack on the backcast is often evident even with veteran casters and is probably the single reason many casters fail the casting certification exam.

The casting arc (for most casting styles) is made up of movements of the upper arm, the forearm, and the wrist. If a great deal of wrist movement is used to make the cast, little room is left for upper arm and forearm movements without exceeding the ideal casting arc size. This is particularly true for casting shorter distances were the slight bend in the rod dictates the need for a small casting arc. Wrist movement in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. As matter of fact, combing wrist with arm movements correctly will produce a multiplying effect and can enable the caster to achieve very fast line speeds. However, too much movement of the wrist, resulting in too big of a casting arc (for the amount of bend in the rod) will result in this most common casting fault.

Gary and Jason Borger have had a great deal of experience in dealing with this casting fault from their numerous fly fishing classes and seminars. They have addressed this particular problem (too much wrist bending on the backcast) by recommending a rod grip that anatomically limits the amount of wrist movement possible. They call the grip the "Three-Point Grip" and I first saw it mentioned in Gary's "Presentation" book and Jason also denotes several pages to this grip in his new book, "The Nature Of Fly Casting". Jason also has an article in the current issue (March 2002) of Fly Fisherman Magazine titled "The Three-Point Grip". I look forward to seeing Jason demonstrate this grip at our March 9th meeting. Please consult these sources to learn more about this grip.

The rod grip that I use is similar to the Three-Point Grip except I curl my index finger around the rod instead of placing only the end of the index finger on the side of rod handle (as used in the Three-Point Grip). However, I have found out that using any grip where the fingers are spread apart (especially between the index and middle fingers) achieves that same benefit (though possibly not to the same degree as the Three-Point Grip) of limiting the amount of wrist movement. When teaching fly casting I stress using this extended finger grip, which is actually an important alteration to the popular thumb on top grip (where the fingers aren't spread). However, I have found that this grip is difficult if the casters hands are small, in which case it might be necessary to have the cork on their handles trimmed down. Just by extending the fingers, the limited wrist motion avail-able can go a long way towards correcting the most common casting fault.

I have attached a sketch to this article that depicts the difference in wrist movements (at the end of the backcast) by using the extended finger grip compared to the traditional thumb on top grip with the fingers together. If you compare figure A to figure B you can see that the thumb on top grip (figure A) allows the rod to dip down much further than the extended finger grip (figure B). Please try this grip yourself and see if this improves your backcast.

Here's how it works:

1. You buy the item to be sewn.( shirt, jacket, underwear, ... yep, that's right, underwear)
   
   
2. Decide the color of thread for lettering (red, black or tan have been the choices so far)
   
   
3. Bring it to a meeting with a note saying which side you want it on and color, give it to me, I will have it at the next meeting or will deliver if close to Affton or any fly shop. All this for a whopping $10.00 and buy me a beer or merlot for delivery.
   
   
4. Adding your name will cost $3.00 extra, but will count for the new name tag program decided at the January board meeting.(See elsewhere) You may choose block or hand writing for your name.
   
   
5. A quick note from Jerry Jarosik. If you are a demonstrating fly tyer, consider a light colored shirt, no print, especially if being filmed.
   

Nita Baughn and I have been working on a few "Ozark Ideas" but she has many things that can be embroidered. Her Christmas lace crosses and angels were beautiful. Give me a call at 314-353-5619 if you have any questions.

Oh yeah, one more thing. If your spouse does not read the newsletter, PLEASE show that person this article! I nearly got strung up at the catch and release opener, when a wife (sorry I don't recall who it was) saw my embroidery on my fishing vest. "I DIDN'T KNOW THIS COULD BE DONE !" She made me shake in my already leaking waders. Please pass the newsletter on.

Also, Doug Jeffries for his realistic pencil poppers. An amazing scale coat! I was honored to be able to mount them. I believe it went around $150 and promised more to come. He says "G'day" to his old buds.

Thanks to these folks that donate not only "worldly" items, but those that donate time to be ambassadors of Ozark. The prizes for auction will always show. Able bodies, willing to work and be active in this wonderful organization are far from the paid membership. Women and youngsters are really scarce. I hope we can all turn someone in our lifetime into a true "Ozark Fly Fisher." Even if it's yourself!

That might have been the best Ozark Banquet I have been to in over 15 years of banquet attendance. Great crowd, as many as I have seen. (135 paid, I hear), decent food, at least compared to prior years, super auction/ raffle prizes, and fine after dinner talk by Mark Van Patten. Organizers are to be congratulated for a job very well done.

Our board of directors is moving positively to bring us an outing every month! This Month, it's at Marlan's great for winter, The Spring Outing is coming up. A North Arkansas gathering, Sowbug, is great fun. Lots of tyers, fishing and fun. Check it out at http://www.northarkansasflyfisher.org/Sowbug.

This month some of us are off to Argentina, dealing with a country in turmoil and a devalued currency. Some to New Mexico, with big rainbows and green chile cheeseburgers. Others to the Gulf for some fun in the salt. It's all great and it all begins the fourth Thursday of every month! For a couple of bucks a month, its the best buy in town.

Wonder if Lefty will show up at Bass Pro March 3? Ah, old wounds heal slowly. Drew