Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Here's wishing our members and friends, and all of their families, a most blessed holiday season. Hope everyone finds something under the Christmas tree they can use for their piscatorial pursuits in the coming year.

We also wish everyone a prosperous and healthy 2021.  With much emphasis on healthy!  Hopefully, this time next year things will be back to normal, and we can enjoy the company of others and celebrate as we have in the past.

While Christmas is a season of festivity, let's not forget the reason for the season: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….” John 1:14. Please be giving to those in need, and pray for those who are less fortunate, for those in suffering, and for those away from their families this season - especially our troops. Love and peace to everyone!

Club honorees recognized at banquet

At our annual Christmas banquet, the club honored those members who have had an outstanding year, either in service to the club and/or with individual achievement.  Each recipient will receive a customized coffee mug with their name and recognition.

Fly Tier of the Year - Captain Tyler Wood
Awarded to that member who, either through active participation, or educating and sharing skills, or significant improvement in their own skills, advanced the art within our club. Tyler, a new member to our club in 2020, not only led a trio of our online fly tying sessions, but also brought a wealth of knowledge about flies, materials and techniques. Tyler is a great addition to our excellent group of club tiers.

Member of the Year - Bill Morrison
Awarded to that member who, either made important contributions to our club, or assisted in helping others, or achieved milestones in their own skills. Bill hit home runs on all three criteria! In March, he earned his certification as an FFI Casting Instructor. In April, he organized and initiated our Zoom meetings, creating YouTube tutorials that not only benefitted our members, but also other clubs that are now holding their own Zoom meetings. In addition, as Chair of the Tournament Committee, he helped make our 2020 Mixed Bag Contest the most successful ever.

Presidents Award - Rich Hudson
This award is selected by the president in recognition of service to the club, or for any actions or deeds that he/she sees worthy of recognition. For the past several years, Rich has done a truly outstanding job as our secretary/treasurer. But with the challenges of 2020, and lack of public events or access, he somehow managed to promote our club and generate membership throughout the year. Our club now stands at 83 member families - largest in the state! Rich has been a great club ambassador, reaching out through various community connections to promote our club.

Please join us in congratulating all of our award winners!

 

3rd annual Mixed Bag Contest final results

Channel catfish caught by Jim Johnson

At our recent Christmas banquet, Tournament Committee Chair Bill Morrison gave a recap of this past year's Mixed Bag Contest. The MBC is a CPRO (catch-photo-release optional) tournament where size doesn't matter, but diversity does. Basically, most species caught within a defined geographical area wins.

Year 2020 saw a record total of 126 fish entered, despite restrictions on travel and several favorite spots severely impacted due to  hurricanes. Of those, the top three species entered was bluegill (17), followed by rainbow trout (12), and longear sunfish (9). The most unusual entries were Goldeneye Shad, Skipjack Shad, Striped Mullet, and Northern Hogsucker. Altogether, 33 different species were entered into the contest!

Entries came from four states - Louisiana (85), Arkansas (39), coastal Alabama (1), and Oklahoma (1).  None came from Texas or Mississippi.  The most entries from one body of water was the Little Missouri River in southwest Arkansas (28). While most of those were rainbow trout, they also included brown trout, smallmouth, largemouth, and several other species.  Runnerup location was Little River near Fishville/Jena, with 16 entries.

Top flies were poppers (10 entries), Clouser Minnows (9), Sqwirmies (8), Fluff Butts (8), Lunch Money (5) and Mardi Craw (5).

Six places were awarded. Here are those winners and number of species they entered:

• 1st - Bill Morrison (18)
• 2nd - Carlton Townsend (15)
• 3rd - Glen Cormier (12)
• 4th - Joel Dinnat (11)
• 5th - Jim Johnson (11)
• 6th - Robert Hughes (11)

* 4th, 5th, and 6th places were determined based on the tiebreaker rule of first entered

As is tradition, each participant who entered a fish and did NOT get awarded was entered into the Consolation Drawing. Each received one ticket based on the number of fish entered, e.g., Terry Stafford had 6 entries so 6 tickets were placed in his name.  This year's Consolation Winner was Hunter Lonsberry, who had 4 entries in the Mixed Bag.  Hunter wins a new Cheeky Tyro fly reel.

The club wishes to thank everyone who participated, and to the members of the Tournament Committee - Bill Morrison, Jim Johnson and Glen Cormier - for another successful contest.  The Committee will hold a Zoom meeting over the holidays to finalize details for the 2021 Mixed Bag set to start on January 1st.  If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please do submit them to one or all members before the new year.

December Virtual Tying Sessions

Tuesday, December 15th
6:00pm
Batman Redfish Fly

* Due to the holidays, this will be the only tying session for the month

Link to request sample materials:
https://forms.gle/EoF42ZHmka8tY7j78
Deadline to submit: Sunday, December 6th

This session, we'll tie the "Batman Redfish Fly" (not to be confused with the Batman Nymph, a trout fly). The Batman is an interesting fly whose originator was a friend of Don Reed, owner-operator of Saltwater Flytyers in St Augustine, Florida. Don tied these flies for his friend's clients who reported great success.  Drew Chicone learned of this and it became one of his favorites. It's included in Drew's book, Redfish Flies.

New for this session!

• Active participants can join us via Zoom (www.zoom.us).  Download the app for use on any PC, tablet, or smartphone. If you do -not- have the password for our virtual tying sessions, please email Bill Morrison.
• Casual observers are now encouraged to join us via live-streaming on YouTube!   No downloads necessary, just click on the link and watch!

Mixed Bag Contest ends November 30th!

We're in the final days of our 3rd annual Mixed Bag Contest... submissions must be entered no later than 11:59pm on Monday, November 30th. Winners will be announced and receive prizes at the annual Christmas party in December.  It's not too late to get several entries in. In fact, weather over the Thanksgiving week looks great, the fish are biting on the Red River (even off the bank) and also in the marsh.

Remember, while we will be awarding the top six (6) spots, it only takes ONE entry - just one - to enter your name for the consolation prize. And the consolation prize is always a good one!

Here are the current standings (number is different species registered):

 *   Bill Morrison (18) - Black Crappie, bluegill, channel catfish, freshwater drum (goo), golden shiner, green sunfish, ladyfish, largemouth bass, longear, pinfish, rainbow trout, redear, redfish, speckled trout, spotted bass, warmouth, white bass, white crappie
*   Carlton Townsend (14) - Black Crappie, bluegill, brown trout, carp, channel catfish, cutthroat trout, goldeye, green sunfish, longear, rainbow trout, redear, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, white bass
*   Glen Cormier (12) - bluegill, chain pickerel, channel catfish, largemouth bass, longear, rainbow trout, red spotted sunfish, redear,  speckled trout, warmouth, white crappie, yellow bass
*   Joel Dinnat (11) - bluegill, catfish, black crappie, largemouth bass, longear, pumpkinseed, redear, striped mullet, warmouth, white bass, white crappie
*   Jim Johnson (10) - bluegill, longear, redbreast, redear, chain pickerel, largemouth bass, green sunfish, warmouth, white bass, channel catfish
*   Gene Taylor (9) - bluegill, channel catfish, freshwater drum, pompano, rainbow trout, white bass, green sunfish, longear, warmouth
*   Robert Hughes (9) - black crappie, bluegill, brown trout, cutthroat trout, green sunfish, longear, rainbow trout, spotted bass, tiger trout

Others - Jim Guillory (7),  Terry Stafford (6),  Phil Havener (5),  Keith Breazeale (3), Rich Hudson (3), Justin Wilson (2), Pitt Merryman (2), Mike Carlin (2), Eddie Quita (1),  Preston Keiser (1)

Tying the Pat's Rubber Legs nymph

At our November 10th virtual fly tying session, Bill Morrison led us in tying Pat's Rubber Legs, created by Pat Bennett. Later, Bill recorded an instructional video on tying this simple, but highly effective stonefly imitation. It has been uploaded to YouTube, but can also be viewed by clicking on the video below.

Tying Mayer's Mini-Leech

At our October 15th virtual fly tying session, Bill Morrison led us in tying Mayer's Mini-Leech, created by Landon Mayer. Later, Bill recorded an instructional video on tying this wonderfully diverse pattern. It has been uploaded to YouTube, but can also be viewed by clicking on the video below.

Tying the Countach Plus fly

At our September 19th virtual fly tying session, Catch Cormier led us in tying the Countach Plus nymph, a hybrid variation of Clark Pierce's Countach Jig Nymph and John Newbury's Knuckle Dragger nymph. Catch later recorded a video of the pattern, which is now uploaded to YouTube. It can also be viewed by clicking on the video below.