Our curated selection for the April 2nd meeting will take us to the furthest reaches of the map:

• The Untamed North: We’ll journey to the Yukon Territory in Yukon Resurrection, chasing the "Arctic Tarpon" (Inconnu) and massive Lake Trout in waters few humans ever see.

• The High Desert of Patagonia: We’ll revisit the discovery of Jurassic Lake, where the world’s largest Rainbow Trout defy belief.

• The Saltwater Frontier: We’ll feel the adrenaline of the Baja coast in the Rooster Fly Project, a film that balances heart-pounding "eats" with the vital science of protecting the iconic Roosterfish.

• Conservation at Heart: Closer to home, Guardians of the Snake will remind us why we, as the Fresno Fly Fishers for Conservation, do what we do—highlighting the fight to protect the wild Steelhead and Trout of the Snake River.

From the "Freshwater Permit" (Pacu) of the Amazonian jungles to the healing waters of Montana, this year’s tour proves that fly fishing is no longer just a hobby—it is a powerful, visual testament to the wild places we love.

Tickets are available here:

https://flyfilmtour.myeventscenter.com/event/Clovis-Ca-Fresno-Fly-Fishers-For-Conservation-122028/purchase

Umpqua has built an empire in our industry, and it started with an A Frame Cabin on the banks of the North Umpqua River. Based on all accounts, it should not have happened. It was such an improbable story you could have never come up with most of it. Doing things that no one had ever done before, and yet, it happened.

In the process, Umpqua changed the way the fly fishing industry was able to scale and grow through the production and delivery of fly tackle and the highest quality flies, designed by Royalty Tyers. Umpqua is built on a legacy of innovation and has encouraged innovation at pivotal moments.

This is the Umpqua Story told by some of the people who were witness to the events.

Dennis connected with The Flyfishers for Conservation club in Fresno and the Buz Buszek bunch. This was an eclectic and influential group of tyer-anglers that were advancing tying and angling techniques on a monthly basis. They had weekly outings to nearby Sierra waters and to Oregon. Dennis became part this core inner circle, which included Dave Inks and Ed Schroeder, and formed key relationships and learned to tie and fish from the likes of Buz Buszek, Darwin Atkins, Ira Lingren and Doug Prince. He became a fanatic and was soon tying commercially.

“Since the moment I met Dennis, my destiny was tied to him. Back in 1964 I went to a Fresno Fly Club meeting and bumped into Dennis. We got a bite to eat together afterwards – and from that point on we were fishing together once a week if not more!”, an excerpt taken from an interview with Ed Schroeder, Umpqua Signature Tyer and early sales rep.

Dennis met Randall Kaufmann and Jack Dennis at Jackson Hole in 1966 when they were tying flies in the Rod and Reel shop and Dennis was attending the second annual Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) conclave. This was a fortuitous meeting and the three became lifelong friends, collaborators and business associates.

During a 1968 club outing to Davis Lake, Oregon, Dave Inks took Dennis to the Umpqua to meet Frank Moore, legendary steelhead angler and proprietor of Steamboat Inn. They hung out together and according to Dave, “By the next weekend Dennis was moving to Winchester along the banks of the North Umpqua, where he started Black’s Custom Flies in a carport addition.”

The business name, Umpqua Feather Merchants, began in 1969 when Dave Inks purchased 10,000 Chinese necks from a feather merchant in Fresno, shipped them to Dennis in Oregon and for a while they were in the wholesale feather business.

Randall Kaufmann had joined Dennis in Roseburg at the tying bench in 1969 and both were tying 12-15+ dozen flies each day by 1pm, filling orders for 500 dozen flies a month.

Ed Schroder remembers visiting his friends on the Umpqua river, “These guys (Dennis and Randall) were robot tyers. They raced each other. No one tied better flies, faster. They started at 5:30am, cranked out 12 dozen by noon, then they might go steelhead fishing, but always return to the shop to fill material and custom fly orders. And they did that 7 days a week!”

Commercial tyers get into a meditative or hypnotic zone and every movement becomes automatic. Randall remembers early conversations when they were in the zone, “Dennis and I had lots of time to think and talk about any and everything. A recurring topic was how could we get more tyers and production? We would tie a fly for every song and commercial on the radio, and I mused that tyers should receive a royalty for their fly designs just like song writers and recording artists.” This was the first hint at the royalty program and motivated by the fact that they were tying almost exclusively for Orvis and not coming close to meeting the demand.

Dave Inks subsequently started a fly importing business and Dennis went to Africa to work with the factory, and to India and Europe. Jack Dennis remembers a long-distance call with Randall saying, “Dennis is looking for this mythical fly tying factory, it’s all he can talk about, a search, like Lord of the Rings.” Luck favors the bold and while in Madras, India, Dennis met A. Joga Rao who had a fledgling tying operation. Dennis invited Joga to spend several months in Oregon to tie flies with him, Randall, and others. Joga returned to Madras and eventually began producing quality flies.

“Jack Dennis and I knew that no one had succeeded at this before. Logistics and difficulties were monumental. Training tyers, procuring and shipping materials for every pattern is daunting. Ironing out every wrap of thread one pattern at a time and ensuring consistent quality is an hour-by-hour task. Operating in a foreign country and culture is a challenge, requiring patience and finesse. Import, export, licenses, customs regulations and duty are always in flux. Sales, financial obligations and stress are on-going, and paying for reject flies is demoralizing,” Randall recalls.

Black’s Custom Flies suffered a major fire in late 1972. Dennis temporarily moved into an A-frame cabin at Susan Creek along the North Umpqua River and began traveling extensively the next few years, spending time at Joga’s fly factory in Madras and collecting necks in Bombay and Calcutta. He also had exclusive distribution of Hoffman hackle and soon became the major hackle supplier to the industry, and flies were beginning to arrive. Umpqua Feather Merchants, as we now know it, came to be.

Gear I Don’t Like

DEEP EDDY Zippered Breathable Chest Wader - Paramount Outdoors

Back of Beyond                                             Stephen Neal
In Wildness is the Preservation of the World - “Henry David Thoreau."

I required healing. I required wildness. I found them while camping on the Olympic Peninsula, alongside waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It, Georgia Strait, and Puget Sound form the Salish Sea, which is marginally encapsulated by Washington, Vancouver Island, and the mainland of British Columbia.

This coastal land of rainforest, mountains, rivers, streams, lakes, and surf-carved bluffs was the medicine that my weary soul needed. I visited the area with my good friends Sean and Greg. Our nights’ slumbers were aided by the sounds of storm-tossed waves, and our cares were eased by footfalls through rainforest and beside ocean-sculpted headlands. It was the first week of March 2026. Day-time highs were in the low 50’s (10’s Celsius) with lows pushing freezing. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were filled with sunshine. Pacific storms were pushing shoreward, and heavy rains were predicted for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. On-shore winds required us to don multiple layers of clothing and hooded tops. We carried rainwear in our day packs along with our lunches.

Lyre River - Common Merganser

Emerald-green light reflected from the pond’s surface beneath a wintery blue sky. The white trunks of the alder trees surrounded the scene.

 My muscles eased as I trod through the alder bottom. From there the trail passed into a spruce and fir forest, with cedars and maples rounding out the mix. Here we lost elevation, rejoining the Lyre River as it returned to Mother Ocean. The trail emerged from the forest canopy onto the Lyre River’s delta. Full winter sunshine greeted us and so did the wind, which was being pushed by the approaching Pacific stormfront. Wind and waves filled the sound spectrum, accented with the cries of seagulls. On a carved log bench, we took our lunch. We had come for the birds, so we took cameras in hand and began to shoot.

On our return journey my starboard boot added a new wrinkle, as the sole delaminated. A roll of athlete’s tape from my first aid kit kept it attached until we made camp, so all was good. However, the feedback from my footsteps on the starboard side was degraded.

Barnes Creek (source: Olympic Mountain Range. mouth: Crescent Lake)

Tuesday was cloudy and threatening rain. We drove inland, skirted the southeastern edge of Lake Crescent, and exited the truck at Barnes Creek terminus. The footing was firm and the day quiet until we pierced the fringe of trees at the lake’s edge. The wind began to howl as whitecaps and spray sailed across the lake’s surface.  Waves slapped the shoreline as evergreen tree limbs thrashed in a noisy dance. As the temperature fell, I briefly considered adding another layer but instead pulled up the hood of my jacket.  The wind proved short-lived though, as it died as we ducked back into the forest to follow the creek, and the hush of the forest returned. Here, in the peaceful wood, we followed the contours of the creek as it wove through the old-growth forest. The alder trees here were huge, their size striking an expression of protected age. Alder bottoms, as they are called, are usually shorted lived in this land of heavy rainfall. Floods are the perpetrators of their early renewal.

Deeper in the rainforest the granular footing of the trail became soggier, almost spongey. Squishes announced our footsteps as we advanced deep into the forest. Trees’ lichens became thicker, almost bulbus in shape as they 

A Big Thank You, to Tennis Terrance for his editing suggestions.