NEWSLETTER Established 1996

P.O. Box 2187, Pinetop, AZ 85935

January 2013

WMFFC Mission Statement: The Mission Statement of the White Mountain Fly Fishing Club is: “To assist in the development and maintenance of fly fishing opportunities and to promote and participate in fly fishing in its many forms." We support the practice of “Catch and Release.” We support the use of barbless hooks and harmless netting-and-release practices. Fish should never be held out of water for longer than you can hold your breath.

“Tight Lines”—President's Column: Bruce with fish on with Jerry Myers This issue is dedicated to our friend and fellow fisherman Bruce Gehrls Happy New Years and Tight Lines for all in 2013. Dawn and I are running (sliding) off the mountain until March. Think warm water fishing. I will be bass fishing Roosevelt Lake late February through March, let me know if you would like a day or two on the lake. We had a fun filled evening at out club Christmas Party at the Pinetop Country Club with 25 members & guests attending. Lots of special (weird) White Elephant gifts to share and plenty of snow to drive home in. We look forward to having the club holiday party at Pinetop Country Club in 2013. A full schedule of club outing will be out in a few weeks. We are still looking for an Outings Chairperson who would schedule members who would bring the club trailer to one or 2 outings during the year. Milage expenses are paid by the club. Jaime DeZubeldia has volunteered to conduct the club raffles at our monthly meetings. He has some great ideas for the raffle and selling club hats, strike indicators, club license plates and decals. THANK YOU JAIME. Included in the newsletter are pictures of all the great work and improvements to the club’s “Float for the Fallen” drift boat. Bob Bowers, Steve Hoffman and Paul Wackowski of Paradise Creek Anglers spent a couple months updating the boat and trailer to make it more compatible for drift fishing with the troops on the San Juan River. GREAT JOB GUYS. We will all enjoy the boat which is now more river friendly and compatible to the fishing needs of our troops, owners and members. Also included is a copy of a Thank You letter from Rick Kell, founder of the Feherty’s Troops First Foundation for the club’s $1,000 donation to help cover some of the travel expenses for the 3 marines we were honored to take fly fishing on the San Juan in October, 2012. Tight Lines and Easy Mends, Michael Smith, President www.wmflyfishing.com

1

2012 WMFFC Board Members President: Past-President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: Board Member #1: Board Member #2: Board Member #3: Membership Chairman: Conservation Chairman: Newsletter Chairman:

Mike Smith Ken Wolf Richard Dreyer Georganne Jannenga Sparky Snyder Bob Bowers Craig Harmon Dennis Jones Steve Hofmann Gary Miller Dawn Hewitt & Steve Hofmann

Outings Chairman:

VACANT:

(602) 316-0948 (928) 367-0936 (928) 368-3562 (602) 320-6388 (928-521-0929 (928) 367-5579 (928) 532-1372 (928-367-6124 (623) 262-7491 (602) 439-3262 (480) 695-3965 (623) 262-7491

Please Consider Volunteering- it does not take much work! Duties of the Outing Chairperson: You do not have to run every outing but find members to sponsor the events. A. Outings 1. In consultation with the Board, plan a schedule of outings throughout the fiscal year to accommodate a wide variety of fishing interests and opportunities. 2. Prepare and submit a schedule of outing dates, times, places and directions to Newsletter Editor three months in advance. (Arrange for 5 to 6 members to sponsor 1 to 2 outings a year. The sponsor will lead each outing.) 3. Assume custody and responsibility for Club owned Outings equipment and supplies. (Nick Cuilty has graciously allowed us to park the trailer in his yard.) 4. Prepare and summit a timely monthly article or articles to the Newsletter Editor of the previous months outing(s). (Have sponsor submit article.) 5. Maintain and submit to the Treasurer a current inventory of all Club Outings equipment at the end of the membership year (June).

January Monthly Meeting- at 6:30PM – Lakeside Firehouse Agenda: - Social Hour – (5:30PM) (Buy your Raffle Tickets!!!) - Call to Order -- (6:30PM) - Pledge of Allegiance - Introduction of Guests and New Members - Committee Reports - Business - Fish Tales Program – Dennis Jones will be presenting a program on Fly Lines and everything you would want to know about them. February Speaker will be Mike Anderson of District 2 AZGFD to speak in Feb., 2013 on the Comprehensive Fisheries Management plan in the Colorado. He is the AZGFD representative on the planning group. 2

2013 Outings and & Events… Outings Chairman – Vacant Upcoming Events Date

Location

Sponsor

2013 Outings Schedule: February March April May June July August September October November December

Silver Creek To Be Determined To Be Determined To Be Determined Christmas Tree Lake To Be Determined To Be Determined To Be Determined To Be Determined To Be Determined Holiday Party – Pinetop Country Club

Need Volunteer Need Volunteer Need Volunteer Mike Smith and Dawn Hewitt Alan Hunt Peter Bernal Need Volunteer Need Volunteer Need Volunteer Need Volunteer Need Volunteer

Outings chair is a simple job (see duties above). Please consider volunteering? Please contact Michael Smith if you’d like to help choose where we will be fishing at our outings in 2013 (received an e-mail from Mike Styvaert with suggested fishing sites). With no Outings Chairperson the Board will schedule outings. Without a volunteer to coordinate outings there will be no trailer at the outings and no potluck lunches. We have a membership of about 100 members but it is the same 5 or 10 members that continue to do all the work. Thank you to Alan Hunt and Peter Bernal for volunteering to coordinate June and July outings.

Treasurer’s Report … Submitted by Sparky Snyder, Treasurer The current bank balance is $17,378.21.

Lake Elevations and Surface Acres - White Mountains –East of Pinetop Submitted by Dennis Jones Lee Valley Crescent Carnero Drift Fence A-1 Bunch River Christmas Tree Horseshoe Cienega Cyclone

ELEVATION 9,430 9,057 9,047 8,984 8,857 8,270 8,234 8,233 8,177 8,168

SURFACE ACRES 45 130 65 16 24 44 120 41 121 37 3

ELEVATION Sunrise 9,150 Reservation 9,050 Big Lake 9,000 Hurricane 8,956 Tunnel 8,275 Earl Park 8,260 Bog Tank 8,195 Hawley 8,186 Pacheta 8,186 Big Bear 7,910

SURFACE ACRES 900 280 532 19 44 47 12 300 68 18

Luna Nelson Rainbow

ELEVATION 7,898 7,424 6,717

SURFACE ACRES 120 100 80

ELEVATION Little Bear 7,822 Becker 6,921 Lyman 5,988

SURFACE ACRES 15 107 1400

Elevations: Google Earth 6/7/2007—6/4/2010 imagery mostly (give or take a few feet) Surface areas: wmonline.com/attract/lakes.htm#h (mostly)

My Number 1 Fishing Buddy……………. Submitted by Jerry Myers There is a commercial product named a Fishing Buddy. It is a fish finder/depth finder which can easily be adapted to a float tube or pontoon boat for fishing lakes and streams. I have one and use it often. But this is not my number 1 fishing buddy. My number 1 fishing buddy was always there with me on the lakes and streams of Arizona, traveling to Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Alaska or just at our Pinetop cabin doing repairs, shoveling snow and enjoying our famous homemade comfort food meals. He was Bruce Gehrls. I first met Bruce back in the mid 1990’s. We were both members of the Desert Fly Casters (DFC), a fly fishing club that, at that time, met in Mesa, Arizona and was known for its educational support of new fly fishers and active outings programs. Bruce and I knew each other by sight and always would say hello as we would to any other member. In the fall of 1998 I organized a trip for a number of DFC members to the Madison River in Montana, once considered the Wimbledon of fly fishing. (That is my analogy, I play tennis too.) Bruce joined the group for that trip which became the beginning of a long friendship, solidarity and companionship. It was a friendship which allowed us to have many adventures in our favorite pastime and our spouses more free time to shop in our absence. On our first adventure to the Madison most all of the group managed at some time during the trip to experience the cold waters of the river both outside and inside our waders (we fell in). I don’t recall that Bruce did. Other members took their spills throughout the 3 day trip, a buddy Jake, as we launched the boats the first day, a doctor friend mid-day, and another friend on the last day. This last individual’s (name withheld to save any possible embarrassment) swimming with the fish experience was a classic. I remember well he wore a pair of green neoprene waders. As he crossed the river to return to where the vehicles were parked, at the end of our last day, he stepped into a deep hole. As he immerged from the river he had the appearance of a green Pillsbury Doughboy or perhaps better yet a green version of the Michelin Tire mascot. Though the fisherman soaked with the cold water retained inside his waders seldom sees the humor, we all had a great laugh. This trip provided many stories to tell and retell at future meeting when Bruce and I would share a beer or often in his case rum and coke. This was the beginning of a long and valued friendship. As we became closer friends I invited him to our cabin in Pinetop. Bruce enjoyed fishing both streams and lakes the same as I do. We are both very protective of our equipment and at the close of each trip washed our pontoon boats and clean our equipment prior to repacking. Often he would wash the boats while I attended to washing bedding and cleaning the interior of the cabin. He left his pontoon boat assembled on a trailer in our garage. We were always ready for the next outing. It was a very comfortable relationship in which we both chipped in and helped one another. In time we were both members of the White Mountain Fly Fishing Club, a great group of dedicated fly fishers with a practiced civic concern.

4

Bruce Gehrls was born and raised in Iowa and all his life was an Iowa boy. In his teens he worked at a small garage repairing trucks and cars. He always had a love for fixing things. When a little older he joined the United States Air Force and served our country in Vietnam. His last duty station before discharge was Williams Field just south of Mesa, Arizona. Over the years he was a long haul trucker, driving the big rigs, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy, and he finished his carrier as a City of Chandler, Arizona building inspector. It was while he was a Sheriff’s deputy that he met his wife Barbra. When we were together he usually talked very positive of people and had many stores to share about folks he had met on his life’s journey. He also liked to cook the good old comfort foods many of us were brought up on. The hell with diet planners, calorie counters and cholesterol, when we were at the cabin if it had pasta, sauce and lots of cheese we went for it. We both were great with the crock pot also. When returning from a long day of hiking a stream or kicking in a lake with our force fins the last thing we wanted to do was cook a meal. On those days we would load up the crock pot before heading out and when we returned dinner was ready. This left us plenty of time for a hot shower and a hot toddy. As we grew older we had less desire for camping out and more for the hot shower. One of our favorite locations to fish was the X Diamond Ranch through which the Little Colorado River flows. This is private water that allows a limited number of fishermen a day to fish it for a small fee. The ranch is a guest ranch with the river, an archeological dig, historical museum and a working ranch. The owner Wink is the granddaughter of Molly Butler a historical figure of the White Mountains who provided lodging for President Roosevelt, Author Zane Grey and many other notable folks. We would make a trip to the X Diamond once or twice each year. On a typical trip my old Blazer, The Fish Mobile, was parked near the main building which is about half way through the stretch of river. After assembling rod and donning waders we would walk to the lowest stretch of the river and start fishing. Bruce was a very determined fisher, if he read the water to be an excellent lay for fish he would work it and work it and work it, changing flies a number of times, drift techniques, etc. I am a fish and mover style guy. If after a few casts and perhaps another fly pattern with no fish I move on. One time on another outing we were fishing a stream at the bottom of a deep canyon. Bruce came to a deep hole in which he was convinced there was a fish. I left him to work it and I moved up stream to try new waters. It was about three hours before I went back down stream and he had only progressed maybe fifty yards. When I asked him what happened he said he had been working that hole I left him on only minutes ago and had caught a nice 14 inch Apache Trout. When fishing the X Diamond we typically reach the Blazer for a late lunch and spend the afternoon working the upper stream and a nice pond near the top. The scenery here is always beautiful and the water a challenge to fish. In 2007 we were off for an Alaska adventure. I had organized a trip by small plane to a fly in location at Lake Marie Lodge. The fishing was great on this trip. The accommodations and coordination could use some improvements and that is being very kind. Good fishing and good food make up for a lot. There were 18 fly fishing folks booked into the lodge which was more than its capacity. Each days outing usually included a good amount of hiking. By mid-day the temperatures were comfortable but it was cold in the mornings. Because there were so many of us at the lodge, five of us had to sleep in a small out cabin near the lodge. The cabin slept five, two on upper level bunks and three on the main floor. The only heat for the cabin was a small wood burning stove. Each morning Larry and I would lay in bed, not moving and comfy under our blankets. Eventually Bruce would get up and set the fire in the stove. When the cabin warmed up Larry and I would start to move. At the Anchorage airport on our return we confessed to Bruce that each morning we were awake and just pretending to sleep until the fire had warmed the cabin. With no indication of shock, loud outcry or raised voice he replied “and you didn’t think I knew that.”

5

While we are on the subject of snow I would like to share another of our encounters, this one is back up at the cabin in Pinetop. A couple of years ago Bruce and I arrived at the cabin in late January. Our plan was for him to fish Silver Creek the next day and for me to ski at Sunrise Ski area. When we arrived there were three to four feet of snow on the ground and the roof of our cabin. With the load of the snow so heavy it was imperative we shovel it off the roof. So out came the extension ladder and two snow shovels. Now picture this, snow everywhere and two old men, one mid-sixties and the other seventy standing on the roof of a cabin in three to four feet of snow. It is good that all but one neighbor are summer residents only. We went hard at the snow removal, one shovel at a time and usually three to four shovels full to reach the roof. This was going to be a major project. After an hour we were both over heated and had dropped our heavy coats. Resting on our shovel handles we surveyed the work we had completed. We had removed the snow from an area maybe ten feet by ten feet, twelve at best. We were over heated and our backs were hurting and we had only scratched the surface of this project. Humbly we climbed down the ladder and into my Blazer; back on the main road was a sign “snow removal” and a phone number. The next morning a team of four young men arrived to accomplish what we did not. They were young, built and happy to do the job. (Not as happy as we were for them to do it.) Shortly after they went to work we were ready to head out. Just before Bruce left for Silver Creek he told me to be careful and not break anything skiing. The powder that day was great and the skiing wonderful. I had promised to meet the young team at 4 pm to settle up. To be truthful I didn’t think they would be done. As I pulled up to the cabin they were outside tossing snowballs at one another, job complete. Just then I notice Bruce coming out of the garage walking with a very bad limp. He had slipped off the bank of the creek and taken a fall. When he received medical attention X-rays showed he had broken his ankle. And he was worried about me on the ski slopes. As with every spring winter comes to an end, snow melds, lakes thaw, tress sprout leaves, fields turn green and Bruce and I head to the high country to fish. It would be our first ever vegan lunches. This day we are heading to Reservation Lake high on the White Mountain Apache Reservation. When we are out on an all-day fishing trip Bruce likes to get out his propane grill and fix lunch. Our favorite is our cordon bleu burgers, his hamburger and mine turkey. These burgers are the best. The patties are covered with a layer of grill green chilies, a slice of provolone cheese, and topped with a grilled slice of ham; of course we include lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and grey poupon mustard on an onion bun. All of this is placed in coolers and grocery bags. One of the great gifts of Bruce is he heads into shore early to get lunch started. I usually head in about one half hour later. When I get to the Blazer Bruce asks “where did you pack the meat?” I reply “I thought you packed it.” We often forget some condiment or plastic wear when we cooked out but never the meat. Wellbeing true outdoorsmen we improvised and made sandwiches with everything we did have. Thus it was our first vegan lunch. Since both of us are ex-military men we devise the solution when we return to the cabin. We typed out a check list of all items we need to take with us for a successful grilled lunch. That list was employed each time for several more years and we never had another vegan lunch. By now you must be thinking you are reading a chapter from the book Don Quixote de le Mancha. If that were the case it would be difficult to determine which of us is Don Quixote and which of us is Sancho Panza. Deciding that would require which of us is the most delusional and detached. I believe the answer would be we are each both characters. It just depends on the venture we are on and the conditions we face. The great joy we have together is we can chide and make fun of each other without either of us taking offense. We just laugh together and head out for a new adventure. One of our favorite fishing locations is in our neighbor State of New Mexico, the San Juan River. We would normally start our trips to the San Juan from the Pinetop cabin. It is about a five and one half hour drive. On one trip it took almost nine hours as on I40 there was a rollover of an eighteen wheeler that caught a fire and shut the highway down, no one was seriously injured. We were just parked there on a major highway. Everyone shut their engines off including the big eighteen wheelers and started chatting with one another. In no time we all had fold up chairs out

6

and where sharing snacks, beverages and stories with everyone else that was being held hostage by circumstance. At the San Juan River we always stayed at Abe’s Motel, definitely not a fancy place but a clean room, two beds and hot water for a shower. Because they had such small towels we would bring our own though there were no places to hang them. Most times we would cook meals in the room, some rooms had a small stove and if not Bruce had an electric skillet and I the crock pot. Our plan was always to leave the room in better condition than when we arrived. This usually meant bringing hooks for towels, installing them and leaving them in place when we departed. It also included fixing some unrepaired item in the room. More often than not it was the fan in the bath room so we could see to shave. On several occasions we took the tool kit from my Blazer and disassembled the fan cleaned it and reassembled it to the bracket. Why? We might get the same room when we return. It never happened so it was our gift to our fellow fishers. To fish the San Juan River you can hike into a number of good areas and cast or you can use a guide and fish from a drift boat. For those that own a drift boat they can go on their own. Bruce would usually make arrangements for a guide on two days of a trip and the other days we would hike and fish. We always had a great time on these journeys and would experience the rainbows and brown trout we caught over and over in our tales until we made our next trip with all of its new tales to share. Usually when Bruce and I are at the cabin he and I are there alone. On this trip my wife Juanita was going to join us a couple days later. In an attempt to update the cabin I was having new counter tops installed. Included with the counter tops was a new deep sink made of chocolate granite. As I said before he always enjoyed fixing things so he was the superintendent and I was the helper. Our goal was to have everything in place and cleaned up by the time Juanita arrived. We had disconnected and removed the built in stove and oven and removed all the plumbing under the old sink the day before the new counters and sink would arrive. As one could anticipate the installers arrived mid-afternoon the next day not in the morning as scheduled. By the time they had finished it was after 4 pm. Bruce and I quickly replaced the stove and oven, took a step back and admired how nice it all looked. The new sink and counters gave the kitchen a much more modern look. All we need to do was connect the plumbing under the sink and it would be finished. Juanita would arrive in another hour and a half. This is where Bruce’s knowledge of a building inspector came in very handy. He went under the sink to do the reinstallation and quickly announced, “Huston, we have a problem.” The deep sink meant the drain had to go up hill to connect into the pipe in the wall. But drains don’t work that way. I was stymied. Bruce went out to the tool peg board in the garage and returns with a couple saws, hammer, chisel, and screw drivers. He cut an open space in the dry wall, made a couple of measurements, cut into the drain piping and said we are off to Ace Hardware in town. Ace didn’t have the exact parts he wanted but sold us ones they thought would do the job. No we drove back to the house. As we arrived guess who drives in? You got it, Juanita. She was ready to see the kitchen and go to dinner. We said it would just be a couple minutes. Well the parts didn’t do the job so it was back to ACE Hardware. This is not like driving around the corner in Phoenix to a hardware store. We got the new parts and drove home. They worked like a charm. The kitchen looks beautiful. Juanita likes it so I am happy too. This is a job I never would have under taken on my own without his help. Several weeks later I patched the dry wall under the sink and painted it. There are many more adventures of Bruce and Jerry that I could relate. However, I fear that the sheer volume would challenge the number of pages contained in Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Had you the reader been presented such a huge stack of pages you would have placed them aside and never got to know my number 1 fishing buddy. Bruce has left us now, he passed away on December 12, 2012 (12-12-12), but I am confident that if heaven needs anything fixed he will be there to fix it and if there is a good stream to fish in the neighborhood he will be there to fish it with his son who made this last journey before him. Your friend always, Jerry

7

The following letter was received by the club for our donation to Fehrety’s Troops First Foundation:

The Club’s Troops First Drift Boat …..following labor intensive efforts from Bob Bowers, Steve Hofmann with assistance provided by Paul Wackowski.

8

9

SHOP AND SUPPORT THESE WMFFC ADVERTIZERS

If you have an Ad or Article that you would like featured in the next Newsletter, please contact Steve Hofmann at [email protected], 623-262-7491 or Dawn Hewitt at [email protected], 480-695-3965. 10

White Mountain Fly Fishing Club P. O. Box 2187 Pinetop, AZ. 85935 WMFFC Member Newsletter PLACE LABEL HERE

WMFFC NEWSLETTER ENCLOSED

11