January President's Message

We had a very enjoyable Christmas party at the 178 Club. Both the food and the service were quite good. The room was a little crowded, but not too much so. Tommy Hagan did a great job as master of ceremonies for the Dirty Santa gift exchange. We might go there again!
On Tuesday, Jan 17 (the same day as the next NAFF meeting), the NAFF Board of Directors will hold their annual planning meeting. At this meeting we decide what we want to accomplish in the coming year and how much money we will need to spend to do so. Any member of NAFF is invited to attend the meeting and provide input. The meeting will be at George Peters lodge, Rainbow Bridge Lodge, and will start at 1:00 pm.

At our membership meeting that evening I will review what the club did over the past year and how we spent our money.

I represent NAFF on the Trout Nature Center committee (Trout Task Force) at ASU. We meet once a month at ASU. Last month one of the topics that came up was that Dr. Tom Risch, the Director of the Graduate Program in Environment Science at ASU Jonesboro, was going to apply to the Nation Science Foundation for a grant  "Fishing for STEM Literacy" (STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering And Mathematics). The idea is to use fishing as a means to interest young people in the sciences. I told Dr. Risch that this was the sort of program that NAFF likes to get involved in. A few days ago I received an email from him asking me to send him a letter of our support for the idea to be submitted with his proposal. I sent the letter. I hope that something comes of this proposal!
In this issue there is an announcement for the 6th Annual NAFF Fly Swap.  Even if you consider yourself a beginning tyer you should sign up.  No one is ever embarrassed by participating. And midges are usually pretty easy patterns to tie.

I have made a habit during the last few years of going fly fishing on New Year's Day. This is a lot easier since I moved to the Ozarks. The weather is much more conducive to New Year's Day fly fishing than it was in Minnesota! Jan 1, 2012 was real "global warming" winter day. The temperature got almost to the 70s. It was very windy but otherwise pleasant.  Bob Jensen, Joe Bernstein, and I met just below Wildcat Shoals. By the time we left the water it looked like a very busy summer weekend. Each of us caught fish.

!

Mike T.
michaeltipton@centurytel.net