FFFC October General Meeting
When: Thursday, October 3rd, 2024 from 7 to 9PM
Where: Provost & Pritchard office building 455 W. Fir Ave Clovis CA 93611
Topic: Steve Schalla talks about fly fishing the Easter Sierras
Presentation Synopsis
A lot of us enjoy fly fishing due to the surroundings we find ourselves. We are outdoorsmen that love the fresh air, enjoy a strenuous hike, and take in the visual stimulation of being close to nature. You can be a birdwatcher, amateur entomologist, geology buff, naturalist, or photographer. Fly fishing gets us to areas that triggers many interests.
A good example of this type of area is the Rock Creek/Tom’s Place region just south of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Tom’s place is just on the edge of the Long Valley Caldera, a large 20 mile by 10 mile circular area that erupted 760,000 years ago leaving a large lake and thick ash deposits known as tufa.
My program will cover the natural and cultural history of this area. We will point out great areas to fish but will also look at the natural features of the region from the impacts from glaciation and volcanos, fish migration, introduction of fish species, and how fish populations adapt to their watershed. From the cultural side, we will look at how timber, mining, fishery management, and water interests have impacted this region.
Many of you are familiar with my website, http://www.FlyFishingtheSierra.com. It is filled with maps and other tidbits, such as fly tying tutorials and historical perspectives of many areas. Basically, it is a repository for all the things I’ve been learning about fly fishing for the past 30 years. I have created regional maps covering all the waters of the Sierra. The presentation I will make to the Fresno Fly Fishers will cover Eastern Sierra Region 4, a region from Mammoth Lakes to Bishop Creek. My background is as a graduate Forester from Cal with an emphasis on Botany from UCSB. I established reforestation nurseries in Calif, Oregon, and Washington and grew close to 45 million seedlings for replanting many of our forests. I am active with Fly Fishers International and my local club, Sespe Fly Fishers.
See you at the meeting!