DS Fly Fishing: Sierra Pacific Flyfishers' Casting School, San Fernando California

Sierra Pacific Flyfishers' Casting School

Written by Paul S.

So, when I was at the Fly show a couple of weeks back, I got to meet Steve Ebersold who is the Education Chairman for Sierra Pacific Flyfishers. He told me about their annual casting school that they have every year and invited me to check it out. Well, the weather was spectacular, so I decided to head into the San Fernando Valley and see their clinic first hand. The coffee was flowing, the Donuts were plentiful and there was a nice turnout.

Steve Fernandez and Chris Taylor were tying flies while the class broke up into groups to learn knots before heading to the casting pond to work on our roll casts. They had us break down into groups of five. There was one instructor per group, but they had plenty of club members show up to help out. those who needed help got it. In my group there was a father and son and it was really great seeing them both get the hang of it. Pretty soon everyone was rolling like pros. Too bad there were no trout.

Well, I snuck back ahead of my group to check out the fly tyers. Chris was whipping up some beauties for the Eastern Sierra. I noticed that instead of a foam or yarn indicator on his black beetles, he had added a drop of fabric paint. I stopped at Wally World to pick up some black foam and bright orange fabric paint to give it a shot. the results were perfect. After finishing the fly, I added the paint and let it dry. After a couple hours I coated the paint with a touch of Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails. I can't wait to try them.

Steve shared a few patterns also and they were a pleasure to watch him tie. One was the craziest caddis I've ever seen, the Tutti Fruitti Ben Franklin. Just about every color of brightly dyed deer's hair was thrown in. The body was foam making a high floating and highly visible fly. My favorite was the mayfly in the picture. I watched him tie this fly twice. Wow, what a great fly. I love the profile. I may post directions at a later date, but beware, it ain't an easy tie.

There's a couple more classes to go, but the highlight I'm sure will be their "Graduation." All able and willing bodies head up to Bishop to practice their new skills on some nice bows and browns. Awe, do I have to go to school?

I'll let you know how I do.

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