FFF Southern Council honors the Capital City Fly Fishers with the 2005 Club of the Year Award

Mountain Home, Arkansas - The Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) Southern Council presented their 2005 Club of the Year award at a Conclave banquet on October 8, 2005. The Southern Council is comprised of 47 charter and affliliate clubs from 8 states - Arkansas, Kansas, Louisania, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas.

Criteria for the award: Presented annually to a club affiliated with the FFF Southern Council for outstanding projects and activities that have contributed most to the Council in some manner. Examples include, but are not limited to, conservation, education and membership project and activities.

Capital City Fly Fishers meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month at Runge Nature Center, Highway 179, Jefferson City, Missouri at 7:00 p.m.

Nomination Submission

"The Capital City Fly Fishers has been in existence since 1994. During that time our membership has grown to over 50 members. Currently we build and give one fly rod through an annual drawing to one of our club members who have attended any one of our events during the year. Each meeting attendance qualifies a club member for one entry but attendance at external events qualifies them for two entries. This has helped us provide some motivation for better participation in club functions.

Monthly, we hold meetings designed to uplift, educate, and inspire our member fly fishers. We often bring in experts from around the Southern Council to talk about some aspect of fly fishing. Often at our meetings, our own members will make presentations regarding areas of their interest - rod building, fishing trips and special casting, fishing or tying techniques. One month during the summer, in lieu of our indoor meeting we go to Cole County Park Lake and enjoy pizza, fellowship and bluegill fishing. While we eat we discuss upcoming events and news. Then each member will pair up with another and enjoy the remainder of the evening wetting their lines and conversing with fellow club members. Some of our better casting members will work with others in honing their skills at fly casting, often teaching them better or even new techniques.

Quarterly, we plan and participate in an outing on the regional trout fishing waters or warmwater lakes in pursuit of bluegill, bass and crappie. The members will pick a destination and book rooms at local motels, plan meals and then enjoy the camaraderie found no where else. Throughout the year, many members will work up long range fly fishing trips or expeditions to the vast fly fishing areas in our nation. After doing, so they often become the guest speaker at one of our meetings to present information, photographs and results from their trips to rest of the club.

Throughout the year, our club holds fly casting, fishing and tying classes/demonstrations locally and often throughout the state. We work with multiple youth organizations such as Boy Scouts - (we have members who are BSA certified fly fishing instructors) , DARE (Drug Abuse and Resistance Education) - Cole County Sheriff's Department and Jefferson City Police Department, and Mokane - South Callaway R-II's Hooked on Fly Fishing not Drugs program. We actively demonstrate fly tying and casting at other's club meetings, such as Capital City Strutters - Jake Youth Event in Jefferson City, American Legion in Columbia, Capital City Christian Sportsmen's Breakfast in Jefferson City, store grand openings such as Bass Pro in Columbia, Saturday morning fly tying demonstrations at Clearwater Outfitters in Columbia, BOW (Becoming an Outdoors Woman) in Potosi, Conservation Federation of Missouri Summer Camp in Lake Ozark, Fly Fishing Expo at Lebanon. We assist and serve the public in association with our city parks and recreation's events such as Kid's Fishing Day at Binder Lake which coincides with the National Fly Fishing Week.

We are an active part of the Missouri Stream Team program, team number 760. Quarterly, we monitor the Big Saline Creek within the Saline Valley Wildlife Area and a site on the Maries River. Several of our members have attended and become certified in water quality monitoring at the various levels.

In 2004, we campaigned for the solicitation of sponsors to fund the Winter Trout Program in Jefferson City. Fund raising was very successful. Rainbow trout were stocked in McKay Park Lake during the winter of 2004 and Mid-Missouri's regional citizens were able to trout fish for the first time in Jefferson City. Our members, especially Jerry Kemple (Past-President), spent several hours talking with fisherman and promoting this new opportunity. Among some of the items that they planned and carried out involved a winter trout fishing survey to monitor the success of the program. The results were turned over to the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Department for their analysis. Hundreds of individuals - families, young, middle and senior ages - took part in the winter trout program from November 2004 through April 2005. We believe it was a great success!

During the winter months we offer opportunities weekly to do some fly tying. We plan sessions that teach new or improved techniques to both inexperienced as well as experienced fly tyers. We encourage all ages to join these learning sessions. Many of our young people find this an exceptional way of learning the art of fly tying. It gives our older or more experienced members the opportunity to mentor the younger or inexperienced participants in this fine craft.

Our mission is to educate people about the philosophies, ethics and history of fly fishing, and to conserve and protect the fisheries of our state. It is our collective goal to enhance, instill and educate the many persons we come into contact with about the life sport of fly fishing, casting and tying. It is not our objective to get them to join our club but rather to educate them in some facet that will improve their skill level. If they find the opportunity and information valuable then they will join on their own as a result of our efforts. We have several young people who have joined and attend the events regularly often bringing one or both parents making it a family affair. Our club is growing - not just numerically but in the sharing spirit too. I am most proud that our club is sharing its skills, knowledge and love for the sport of fly fishing, casting and tying. And for that reason, I nominate the Capital City Fly Fishers for the Southern Council's Club of the Year. "

Respectfully Submitted,

Larry Murphy
President
Capital City Fly Fishers