Exploring Fishing Opportunities for RGVFTC Members

It was just a few weeks ago that we planned on getting together and finding some locations that we could take our fly tying club members to fish. One of those places was my friend's place on the Arroyo Colorado. As you learned from the previous post some of us got together to help with planting the sand dunes at South Padre Island. There we finalized plans to meet at Chili Willies for dinner and then head to a possible fishing spot that evening.

Before we headed to the fishing spot, we ate burgers, calamari, and several other Chili Willie's dishes. Of course, I had turned on the fishing lights to attract baitfish and shrimp, just to entice some seatrout and redfish to lurk before we got there. Charlie Villarreal, Mike Gonzalez, Sheala Castillo, Irma Ramirez, and my sister, Dora Rivas had a good time eating and drinking before heading to the fishing spot. Mike and Sheala's daughter, Isla, wanted to see a fish, so we couldn't disappoint her.

Both Mike and Charlie casted clouser-type flies into quiet water. Schools of baitfish would scatter at times. We were certain that predatory fish were below the water. At around nine, Mike and Sheala prepared to leave and went into the house to say their good-byes to Dora and Irma who were catching up on family things.

Charlie knew that the bait was a good indicator that something was making the bait nervously jump out of the water. Not long after Mike and Sheala went in to the house, Charlie hooked on to a small redfish. At first, we didn't know what that silvery fish was that was tugging so hard. It wasn't a keeper, but he was feisty. Charlie's rod had a good bend in it and it didn't show itself at first. Finally, we figured that it was a redfish and carefully brought it near the dock.

Good bend on Charlie's rod.

First redfish of the year for Charlie.

Isla studies Charlie's catch.

At the same time, I remembered Isla's wish and ran (OK, maybe not a real run) to the house. Mike, Sheala, and Isla came outside to see the outcome of Charlie's attempt to catch his first fish of the year. He was a happy camper and so was Isla. She starred at the fish with her eyes wide open and an unsure smile. Eventually, she was so comfortable with the site that she touched the fish.

We did our deed. Isla got to see and touch her fish. Her parents say that she "likes" fish. I think it was fitting to show her that fish are important to our natural world and she got to see all of us treating the fish with respect by releasing it to grow some more.

Hopefully, we can have more children come and join us at some future outings. The inclusion of moms, dads, and kids at events like these will help to raise awareness to the pleasures the outdoors brings us. Also, its noteworthy that participating in events that encourage service to the environment are important. Today's double duty was a good example of what we can do in the future.

We also need to remember that we're about fly fishing and that fly tying is only one part of the process. Events can be structured so that we can participate in fly tying earlier during the week, have a service event and follow it up with a fishing/social event. Hopefully, we took this opportunity as the first look at this venture as a possibility. 

Charlie didn't end with his redfish that night. He followed it up with two keeper seatrout. The photographs that follow attest to his tube fly's ability to draw strikes even when the night is slow. I checked out the lunar tables and the fishing activity was slow. We were done by 10 p.m. and had three fish photographed and released. Can't ask for anything better. Congratulations Charlie.

Charlie's tube fly.

Charlie holds a nice keeper trout.

A soft touch with this trout.

Congrats Charlie! Great job!

Sand Dune Restoration - January 31, 2015

The oyster and seagrass beds were visible on the shoreline from Highway 100 as we entered Laguna Heights. We were on our way to help out the folks from the the South Texas Chapter of the Surf Rider Foundation plant grass seedlings on South Padre Island. The sun was out and one could tell that it was going to be a beautiful morning. Even better was that we were going to do something that would help restore the dunes and provide protection for the dunes against future storms.

The light breeze brought a comfortable chill as we turned on Cora Lee to pick up our friend Brad York and his son, Diego. They would be joining us, as would several of the Rio Grande Valley Fly Tier's Club members. After a little conversation, we headed to our meeting location and mindful that we had planned to be on time.

The Surf Rider Foundation tent was at the entrance of Beach Access #14 on Bougainvillea Circle. The tent signalled that we had found our way. We waited for others to arrive, but I couldn't help but notice that we quickly made friends. Better so, or maybe because they were all like-minded people is a snap. Within a couple of minutes we were greeted and we greeted half a dozen couples. Our group signed the registration booth and entered "RGVFTC" to note our participation. The crowd kept growing and eventually it seemed like a hundred volunteers would make this task short.

Students from UTB, Master Naturalists, and many wonderful folks were out on the dunes to plant grass plants into ten inch holes. The holes were dug by a crew that quickly made enough holes to put a couple of plants before covering. We were told to not leave any air pockets because the growing plants could freeze. We did our best and eventually caught up to those drilling holes. We made them work hard.

One would think that 10,000 plants would be allot, but with everyone's help we were done by 10 a.m. Sheala Castillo, who had been to several of these events, said that we might be done by noon. That was the expectation if everything that went on before was the same. She said that the number of volunteers was three times more than what she had ever seen.

There is so much to learn when you attend an event like this, but what is better is that you get to help conserve our dunes and its wildlife and at the same time be happy from being out in nature. For me, it was also seeing kids learning to serve their community and protect their environment.

Below are some other photos of all having fun.

Mike Gonzalez quickly drilling holes.

Brad, Diego, and Dr. Rey

Irma and Dr. Rey

Brad and Diego Planting

Nearing the end our our planting work.

Spinning Deer Hair - Tuesday, February 17, 2015

We hope that you can join us to watch John Pilmer tie a deer hair bug. He is an expert in spinning and forming great deer hair bug patterns.

The fly tying session will be on Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at Bass Pro Shop's meeting room to the right of the restaurant entrance.

The tying session is free for RGVFTC members in good standing and will be $3.00 for non-members. Come and join us.

January 2015 Update

Life gets in the way of fun sometimes, but we managed to hold our RGVFTC social this past Saturday, January 17th. We enjoyed great conversation with our fly tying friends and the help of food and beverages. It was great to just sit back and catch up.

We all know that a party can't be complete without Linn's and Sheala's cookies. I got help with the wine selection and couldn't have asked for a more relaxing time. We were very blessed to have old friends and the opportunity to meet new friends. Dolly Castillo, Bill DiLibero, and Vicki Leggett joined us as new friends.

Mike Gonzalez, Sheala Castillo, Harry Leggett, Charlie Villareal, Linn Keller, Jack Keller, Irma Ramirez, Placida Zuniga, Robert Ramirez, and Yizza Ramirez helped to share the caloric wealth. Unfortunately, Rudy and Mary Castaneda weren't able to find the location and we truly missed their humor and conversation.

We had a quick discussion about the upcoming activities like the Sand Dune Restoration planting event on January 31st, the Ed Rizolo Fly Tying Festival scheduled for February 7th, and the Texas Expo 2015 in May. More information about these events can be found by clicking HERE.

The club will be investigating several places where we can hold family functions and training events. We're planning on meeting after the planting event at the end of the month. Hopefully, we can come up with a good schedule of events. Also, we have begun the post the next few fly tying sessions. The schedule is up website and will continue to be developed.

We need to start our reporting project and get this over to the IFFF soon.

Happy New Year and let's make this the best ever for the club.

Dune Restoration Project - Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Rio Grande Valley Fly Tyers Club will again be helping to restore South Padre Island dunes on Saturday, January 31, 2015. 



Please come out and volunteer to support the city's effort to continue enhancing our continuous dune line.


We'll be meeting at the Bougainvillea beach access #14 at 9 a.m. 

Beach erosion can be prevented with a well coordinated vegetation propagation effort. This is not only a great public service, but its a wonderful way to show our children what it means to care about our environment. And it's fun!

For more information about the event, contact Sheala Castillo at shealacastillo@gmail.com.

Rio Grande Valley Fly Tyer's Social

Thanks to all of you for understanding why I postponed the last social event. We're hoping that this Saturday, January 17th @ 6:30 p.m. would be a good time to try again. We'll be meeting at my home (31940 Cactus Road, San Benito, Texas).

We'll have a great botana platter, chips, and sweets for everyone. You may want to bring your favorite refreshment. However, we'll have sodas and water available.

We're planning our club activities and hope to have a discussion of what you want to see in 2015. Bring your ideas, but most of all yourself and significant other.

Hope to see you there. Please pass out the word to our club members.  Please RSVP by either texting me (956-63-3426) or emailing me (reyram49@gmail.com). 

I'm going to announce it on the Ning, Facebook, RGVFTC (http://rgvftc.blogspot.com/) Blog, and RGVFTC (www.riograndeflytyers.org) Website.

Let me know, if there are any problems.

Ron Ratliff's Crab

This little quarter-sized crab should be easy to cast. Although, it's not an easy pattern to tie for a beginner. However, we had several first time fly tiers do a marvelous job at their first session. That just means that the next one should be a breeze. Matthew Whittington took us through the steps of tying a fly created by his friend, Ron Ratliff. Thank you Ron for such a great pattern. If you read this, know that Matt did a great job taking us through our first edition.

This is my version of the crab fly from behind.

The Rio Grande Valley Fly Tying group met last night at Bass Pro Shop's meeting room. From the photo I had posted earlier in the month, I knew it would attract some new and veteran tiers. We weren't disappointed. Microchenille was used for legs, small black bead chain for weight, elk hair for the body, and monofilament/beads for the eyes.

Matt demonstrated the preparation of both the eyes and the legs prior to beginning the pattern. From there it was a slow, meticulous process of adding on materials at the right place and at the right time.

Variations of the same fly. Looks fish friendly.

Let's encourage others to make it to our fly tying sessions. Mike Gonzalez, Charlie Villarreal, and Matthew Whittington will be working on the 2015 fly selection which I hope to announce before the end of this month.

The flies should be a mixture of crab, shrimp, baitfish, and a freshwater pattern for a variety of Texas' gamefish.

Bernie and his daughter, a first time fly tier.

If you have a recommendation for a pattern that you would like to see send it to me via email (reyram49@gmail.com) and I'll pass it along to the fly pattern selection committee.

Gus Valencia and his nephew.