* Note that because the first Tuesday in January is New Years Day, January’s meetings have been moved to the 2nd and 4th Tuesday. (Jan 8 and Jan 22)
Tuesday, January 8th Club Meeting – This Meeting will feature invited speaker Duane Radford. For this presentation, Duane will be talking about fly fishing for cutthroat trout on the Elk River in BC. Duane’s presentations are always interesting, entertaining, and informative. Duane is well known to Club members, both as a long time ETFC member, and for his expertise and many years of contributions as a Fisheries Biologist and as a senior manager with Alberta Fish and Wildlife (now retired). Duane is a highly respected, award winning outdoor writer and photographer (both fishing and hunting). Duane contributes in many ways to support the stewardship of our outdoor resources. Some of his many involvements include: he is the current President of the Outdoor Writers of Canada, he represents Alberta on the National Recreational Fisheries Awards Selection Committee, he sits on the provincial ACA Grant Eligible Conservation Fund Committee, and he represents the AFGA on the Antelope Creek Ranch Management Committee. Duane’s presentations are not to be missed!
Tuesday, January 22nd Club Meeting – This Meeting will feature a presentation about a recent fishing trip to the FLIPPR Lakes area of Manitoba. Three of the guys who went on the trip will be attending to talk about their experience and the lakes and fishing opportunities in the area. Primary presenter will be Brian Wiebe (Manager of The Fishin’ Hole’s North Store), with support from fishing partners Paul Lanteigne and Steve Miller. FLIPPR stands for the Fish & Lake Improvement Program for the Parkland Region. Their goal is to focus on becoming a world class stillwater trout fishing destination, with a focus on fly fishing. Visit their website for more info: www.flippr.ca.
Tuesday, February 5th Club Meeting – This Meeting will feature invited speaker Stephen Spencer, ESRD’s Senior Area Biologist for the Woodlands Area. The meeting will focus on an update on fishing matters in the areas west of Edmonton, a primary area of fishing for many ETFC members. Stephen will review happenings during 2012, and discuss plans for 2013. Topics will include such matters as progress on the re-introduction of Walleye back into Wabamun Lake, planned regulation changes, and planned initiatives for 2013. Stephen has been working as a biologist for over 17 years, the last 12 of which have been with Fish and Wildlife. His Doctorate degree involved a study of the consequences of size selective harvest on Alberta fish populations.
Tuesday, February 19th Club Meeting – At this Meeting, the Club will hold its Annual General Meeting, including the election of the next Club Executive. The second part of the meeting will entail a discussion by some members on fishing the Aurora Lakes area of BC – a group of lakes located just west of Little Fort, BC off Highway 24 (the Bridge Lake Road). Back in the mid-1960s, the Club organized a trip to Aurora Lakes Lodge located on Lynn Lake, and some members (including your Newsletter Editor), have been fishing the area ever since. The feature speaker will be new member Neil Sutherland who heard about the ETFC trip from Club member Tom Wagler, and later in the 1960’s decided to take a personal trip out to the Lodge himself. The outcome was that Neil has been fishing out of the Aurora Lakes Lodge once or twice every year since. So he has developed a wealth of knowledge and experience on fishing the lakes in this area. Neil says he will be glad to share the considerable information he has compiled on fishing these lakes.
Saturday, February 23rd Fly Tying Day – The Club has initiated a Saturday Fly Tying Program, and once the snow is gone, plans to add Fly Casting Clinics aimed at beginners or novice fly fishers wanting to learn or improve on the basics of fly casting. This program is part of the Club’s Reg Denny Legacy plans, and is aimed at Reg’s desire to introduce more folks to fly fishing and fly tying, especially youth and young adults. The initial Fly Tying Day in the program was held on February 23rd, a very successful start, with plans in the works for additional sessions in March and April. Refer to the article below on the ETFC Fly Tying Days.
Tuesday, March 5th 2013 The Club had several members each speak about one of their favorite fishing lakes or streams. Dick Slobodian kicked off the evening with an excellent presentation on stream fishing in the Caroline area (e.g. Stauffer Creek, Prairie Creek). He gave lots of advice on access points, equipment, flies, etc. Rod Mayes talked about and provided a slide show on camping, facilities and fishing at Police Outpost Lake located in southern Alberta – one of the few “quality fishing” designated lakes in the province. Ron Storrier talked about fishing Sauer Lake located just northwest of Spruce Grove (next to Chicakoo), providing advice on lake topography, preferred fishing spots and fly selection. Arnold Sopczak concluded the evening with a discussion of the excellent fishing opportunities that Dolberg Lake (located west of Barrhead/Thunder Lake) has presented over the years. He talked about when to fish, where to fish, what flies to fish, and how to fish them. All in all it was a great evening packed with lots of information about fishing several good locations across Alberta. Special thanks go to Dick, Rod, Ron and Arnold for their presentations. And also for demonstrating part of what “Share” means in the Club’s four core keywords: Connect – Share – Learn – Fish! In the future, the Club would like to have another meeting using the same format, with other Club members talking about one of their regular fishing destinations.
Tuesday, March 19th 2013 – Invited speaker Shane Hansen. Shane, who has been river guiding on the North Saskatchewan River east of Edmonton for many years. Since 1997 Shane has been offering jet boat fishing charters and sight-seeing safari’s on the North Saskatchewan in the Heinsburg area (north west of Lloydminster). You can find out more information on Shane’s guiding business on his website: www.northsaskatchewanriverguide.com . Shane provided a “slide show” of hundreds of pictures taken of fish and fishing on the NSR covering virtually all of the many fish species that inhabit the river. While the slides themselves told a very interesting story of what the river holds, Shane probably knows more about this stretch of the river than anyone else in the province, and provided a running commentary about the river and it’s fish, from just east of Edmonton down to the Saskatchewan border. The river has “cleaned up” over recent decades and is now in very good shape, as are many of the fish populations – but it remains barely fished. Shane has been very active in assisting with the tagging of hundreds of Sturgeon in recent years, thus aiding provincial biologists gather critical information on the Sturgeon population (numbers, ages, spawners, recruitment, etc.), which will hopefully help inform sound decisions regarding future fishing regulations. A big “Thankyou” goes out to Shane for making the trip to Edmonton to share his extensive knowledge with the Club.
Saturday, March 23rd Club Fly Tying Day The Club held its monthly Saturday Fly Tying Day for March, with both novices (kids, youths, and adults), and experienced Club fly tiers having an opportunity to share a social day while tying some flies. The next Fly Tying Day is scheduled for April 27th by which time we hope the snow will be gone, and we can add some novice Casting lessons as part of the day.
Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 Invited Speaker Duane Radford. His topic was Fishing Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. As those of us who have fished it before know, Maligne is one of the most beautiful and best fishing lakes in the Rockies. Duane has a lot of fishing experience on Maligne over the years and shared many aspects of fishing this lake, including where to fish, how best to fish the lake, and what to use. A great session, with lots of questions from members, and as always, with insightful information and advice from Duane. A special thanks to Duane for stepping up to help us out for this meeting on short notice, and for another excellent session.
Tuesday, April 16th 2013 Annual Live Auction – As long term members know, Auction night is a major highlight of the Club’s annual program. Besides being our primary fund-raising event each year, for both members and guests, it is a fun evening that has a good many laughs and great deals.
Saturday, April 27th Club Fly Tying & Beginner Casting Day This was the final session of the 2012-2013 ETFC Fly Tying Days series of events that are part of the Club’s Reg Denny Legacy program. The focus of this session was to hold a beginner Fly Casting Clinic, as well as an opportunity for more experienced casters to get some professional advice on improving their technique. Barry White, well-known Bow River Guide and long time Club member, and a certified professional fly casting instructor, provided the instruction. About 15 folks attended the session, including members and some guests. Thankfully, the weather cooperated and the snow melted in time, and the day turned out reasonable for this outdoor session.
Tuesday, May 7th 2013 Invited Speaker Peter Aku, Senior Scientist and Manager of Fisheries & Aquatic Programs, with the Alberta Conservation Association. Peter is responsible for the development and direction of ACA’s fisheries program including program planning, monitoring and review, and liaison other major stakeholder organizations. Peter will give us an update on the ACA’s Fisheries Program. In addition to a program overview, he plans to discuss a number of projects, including highlights of their bull trout studies, enhanced fish stocking, aeration program plans, and some very interesting results from angler surveys they conducted on trout-stocked ponds. Peter has had a very interesting career working as a fisheries biologist for over 30 years in various parts of the world.
Tuesday, May 21th 2013 Annual Members Night, where we wrap up the year’s meeting schedule before changing our focus to enjoying the spring and summer outdoor and fishing opportunities soon upon us. Besides the normal Members Night meeting components of a wrap-up of the past year from your out-going Executive, and the passing of the gavel to the incoming Executive, there will be the Members Night Pot-Luck Buffet table and assorted eats. As in previous years, members are encouraged to bring contributions for the food or dessert tables – and to share in congenial conversation with other members while enjoying the food and refreshments. Word is that some special “ethnic” contributions are in the works. The program will feature an update from the Fisheries Management folks at Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development on the latest fishing news, happenings, projects, and plans for 2013. Travis Ripley, Executive Director of the Branch, will be attending, possibly accompanied by other AESRD staff. Don’t miss our traditional final meeting to the Club’s program year.
Saturday, May 25th 2013The Club’s Spring Clean-up Day at Spring Lake is scheduled for Saturday May 25th. Plan on heading out to the Lake for an outing and share in a pleasant afternoon, get to know some of the other members better, while helping out with the clean-up of the Club’s property and facilities. Things like: clean off the BBQ Shelter roof and clean out the eavestroughs; rake/clean up leaves, garbage and other debris; help dig out/clean out encroaching new willow growth around the dock and boat storage area; trim back bushes or branches where needed; etc.
Sunday, June 9th 2013 – Annual Spring Lake BBQ The Club’s annual Spring BBQ event at the Spring Lake property.
June 15th to June 23rd The Annual Club BC Fishing Trip is scheduled for the 3rd week of June. As in past years, the destination will be the Bridge Lake Road/100 Mile House area of BC, with its great stillwater fishing opportunities for trout (and Kokanee too). Plan to take a week off (or whatever time you can fit in), to visit the area during one of the very best fishing times of the year. Explore and fish some lakes in the area, and share some time with other members, while learning about some of the many lakes and fishing opportunities available in this prime trout fishing destination. And of course, take a crack at trying to hook up with some of the “really big ones”. For more information contact Ron Sohnle
Tuesday, October 15nd Club Meeting – This is the traditional October “kickoff” meeting for the new Program Year. As is the norm, this will be a chance to “catch up on things” that have happened since the last meeting in May – it will be a fairly informal meeting with lots of opportunity to visit and talk with other members. Your incoming Executive will provide updates and answer questions regarding Club related happenings and plans. Members will be asked to share where they fished over the summer and how they did. We will also have the opportunity to welcome, meet and talk with new members who attend. See you there!
Sunday, October 20th 2013 Fall Work Day out at Spring Lake Starting at 10am, the executive and club members will meet out at the Spring lake property and complete a number of property maintenance items as well as bringing the dock on shore to prevent damage over the winter season. The Club provided smokies and drinks to those who came and helped out. It was a great day and much was accomplished on past years to-do list.
Tuesday, November 19th 2013 Invited Speaker Phil Rowley – This will also be the meeting to submit your 2014 Membership Renewal and your Christmas Brunch registrations. Remember, membership renewals are to be done in November or early December so they are processed before the end of December.
Sunday, December 8th, 2013 The Club’s Christmas social event will again be held at the Executive Royal Inn West (178 St. & Stony Plain Road). This is the same venue as the very successful Brunches of the past several years. Mark your calendars now. Last year we again had a good turnout that pretty much filled up the room.
Ron Sohnle will again be handling registrations/payments for the Brunch.
Costs are expected to be the same as last year:
Adults $27.00 (Age 16-59); Seniors $25.00 (Age 60+); Youth/Children $13.00 (6 – 15yrs).