Please see our March 2011 newsletter for details!

Our club will once again be traveling just north of Uvalde to Chalk Bluff Park to participate in the 2011 Trout Days event, hosted by Hill Country Rivers through THRCC (Texas Hill Country River Region). Specially for this event, THRCC will be stocking a large number of rainbow trout into the Nueces River. Last year, three seperate state records were set during and shortly after the event, so look for some great fishing and a perfect opportunity to land a monster! They will also be stocking a good number of largemouth bass into the river as well, which will help the overall fishing to continue to thrive.

The event is open to both adults and youth who register for the tournament. Registration will take place Friday evening as well as Saturday morning, and will wrap up Saturday afternoon with a dinner, awards ceremony and fireside entertainment. For more details and to register for the event, please visit www.hillcountryrivers.com and click on the brochure for Trout Days. You can also download the registration form directly by CLICKING HERE

Several of us will be renting cabins at Chalk Bluff Park and plan to be there from Friday through Sunday. Additional cabins will be available to rent as well ir you want one of your own. Please join us any time throughout the weekend that you can make it. Directions to get to Chalk Bluff are below:
- Take Hwy. 90 towards Del Rio
- In the center of Uvalde, take Hwy. 83 North towards Leakey.
- You will travel approximately 2 miles and go over an overpass on the north side of Uvalde that goes over the railroad tracks. At the bottom of the overpass, take a left turn onto Hwy. 55 North.
- Set your odometer and go exactly 15 miles to the park entrance on the left side of the road. A historic marker is located across the road from the entrance.

Several members of our club will be helping out with the event, teaching an informal fly fishing intro Friday evening and casting instruction on Saturday morning. If you are interested in attending the tournament and/or helping out, please let Rob Burlingame know by e-mail at robburlingame@yahoo.com or by phone at (210) 885-3730.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The weekend of October 15th to 17th plan to be at Morgan Shady Park on the South Llano in Junction for Oktoberfisch 2010 sponsored by the Fredericksburg Fly Fishers. This event actually starts on Friday with a dinner and features a whole weekend of events including transports upstream to float and fish the Llano River. It all takes place at Morgan Shady Park on the river in Junction. This is another well organized event at a premier, clear water, fly fishing destination. Go to www.fredericksburgflyfishers.org/oktoberfisch.html to register and get more information. Be sure to register by October 8th to be able to attend the Saturday night dinner.

Bud Priddy The Alamo Fly Fishers will be hosting the 2010 Bud Priddy Memorial One Fly Contest on Saturday May 15th from Camp Wood, Texas on the Nueces River.

Entry fee is $20 plus a duplicate fly of your contest selection. Registration will be from 7:30am to 8:30am on May 15th at Lindbergh Park. The entry fee also includes dinner. A buffet dinner will be served starting at 6:00pm at the Holy Smoke BBQ in Camp Wood.

Contest prizes will be awarded in three categories to the lucky fly fisher who catches either the Most Fish, Longest Bass, or Longest Perch. Contest rules require that you use only a single fly, and count only the fish you bring to hand with that fly until you loose it or change to another fly. You may continue fishing after you change your fly, but caught fish will no longer count toward your contest totals. Fishing hours for the contest are between 7:30am and 5:00pm.

For area accommodations, please check out the following motels and campgrounds:
Woodbine Inn (Camp Wood) - (830) 597-2310
Nueces River Motel (Barksdale) - (830) 234-3648
Big Oak River Camp (South of Camp Wood) - (830) 597-5280
Wes Cooksey RV Park (South of Camp Wood) - (830) 597-3223

I hope to see you on the river in Camp Wood!

Joe Mitchell
Alamo Fly Fishers - 2010 Outings Director

Colorado Bend State Park – March 11th – 14th

White Bass FliesAs March draws near I begin to look forward to White Bass fishing and especially to the David Young Memorial White Bass Outing. It is one of the club’s biggest and best outings of the year. The combination of camaraderie, camping, good food, and fishing is hard to beat, and makes for great memories.

Eight to ten years ago, on some of my earliest trips to Colorado Bend State Park, I remember the group of us being rather small. The David Young and David Wallace families, and just four or five more of us, easily ate together and stayed on as few as three campsites. Our traditional fish fry on Saturday night was attended my no more than eighteen people. (Over the past two years we have had between forty-five and sixty club members and their families and guests attend the fish fry!) And the names were fun too: we had four David’s (three Young’s and one Wallace) and two Bruce’s (one Nelson and one Young) in camp. It could be very confusing.

White BassBut some things have not changed. The camping remains basically primitive. Camp sites come with fire pits, and without showers, telephones or electricity. It is just how camping should be. But for those who have never been to Bend, don’t let this deter you. Gas lamps, Dutch ovens, tent cots and a little effort make for a great time without the conveniences we take for granted in our daily lives. It is hard to imagine, but on the last several outings we actually had too much food for Saturday night’s potluck fish fry, whether we had rain or shine, and while feeding sixty people.

Just remember: if you need it, bring it. There is no camp store, so pack what you need. You can sometimes buy ice and firewood at the Park office, but little else. Our club has some very experienced cooks and campers, and it may be possible to borrow some things, but I wouldn’t count on it. If you expect to need it, you best prepare to pack it in.

Fun for the whole family!The Colorado River level is looking promising this year, with the recent rains and a gradual increase since the start of the year. If the trend continues, the Park should yield plenty of fish this year! Fishing reports have started to show some promise in the surrounding lakes, with the activity typical of the spring run starting. The white bass start to pile up in the lakes before making their gauntlet run into the rivers. With early reports of already excellent fishing, this year should be phenomenal! Scouting trips will begin soon, so make sure you are at our meetings and off Tuesday tying sessions to hear the latest scoop. Remember to keep an eye out for the wild flowers: there is a high correlation between the run and the ground being warm enough to cause the Bluebonnets and Redbud trees to bloom. And with the spring rains we have had, the landscape should be quite a site to see! God willing, and the creeks keeps rising, we’ll have another great time this year.

Tres AmigosPlease join us for the fellowship, food, fun and fishing. The David Young Memorial White Bass Outing will be March 11th-14th at Colorado Bend State Park. Please reserve your spot in a campsite at one of the Tuesday meetings or by contacting Joe Mitchell, this year's Outings Director.

As an encore to the David Young Memorial White Bass Outing, our club will be venturing to Colorado Bend State Park once again for a "weekend after" trip. Camping will be available on the club's group site at $5/person/day.

Please contact Todd Fleming for additional information at (210) 296-9342.

Action AnglerOn February 6th, from 8:30 to 10:00 AM, our club will be meeting at Action Angler Fly Shop for an instructional workshop on fishing the Guadalupe River for trout. Chris Jackson, owner of Action Angler will be hosting the instruction. Action Angler is located at 9751 River Road (at the third crossing). Following the workshop, Chris has graciously agreed to let those interested access the river from his shop for the remainder of the day. Please visit Action Angler's web site at www.actionangler.net for more details on the shop and its location.

If you have any questions, please contact Joe Mitchell (Outings Director) or any of the other officers.

There will be a sign up sheet at the January meeting for those interested in attending, so that we know who and how many to expect. If you cannot make it to the January meeting, please e-mail or call one of the officers so that we know to expect you. We look forward to seeing you there!