Past Speakers from October 2022 to April 2024
Wednesday, May 8, 2024: Lance Gray, of Lance Gray & Company Fly Fishing, gave an excellent presentation on the upcoming Hex hatch at Lake Almanor. His fly-tying demonstration of various stages of the Hexagenia limbata mayfly was well attended and focused on. Lance when on to present how to fish Lake Almanor at different times of the year. In addition, Lance is actively pursuing the California Heritage Trout Challenge (he has achieved it several times in different trout combinations. He is offering several opportunities for people to target specific trout species in the Modoc area, along with working with Guy Jeans of the Kern Fly Shop to go after the Golden Trout (both Kern River and Little Kern River species).
Wednesday, April 10, 2024: Guide Rob Anderson of Bucket List Fly Fishing was our featured speaker. Rob covered a lot of ground in a very short period of time. Being the first guide on Pyramid Lake (Nevada), he has witnessed the changes in the lake environment over several decades. He has a new approach in targeting the legendary giant Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Give him a call for advice. October, then May (until the lake season closes) are Rob's recommended months. Rob moved into talking about his upcoming trips to Duck Valley, Idaho just across the Nevada border. There are trips available in May (see the fishout events). They are not fishing trips, rather "catching" trips with 100+ fish per day not being out of the question. Finally, Rob shared his famous Amazonia trips going for the beautiful Peacock Bass. Several CAF members have joined Rob for this adventure with great success. Several club members will be joining him for January 2025.
Thursday, February 15, 2024: Chelsea Parker did a wonderful job sharing the vision and mission of Cast Hope, Inc., a nonprofit that seeks to mentor youth. The emphasis is to reintroduce kids to the outdoors and bring them away from their electronics through the experience of fly fishing. Chelsea showed a couple of excellent videos documenting the impact Cast Hope has had on kids. Some of the kids who benefitted from Cast Hope when they were younger, are now old enough to serve as volunteers for the next generation of kids.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2024: Ryan Williams of North Valley Fly Fishing gave a wonderful presentation on his “Float n’ Fly” technique he uses in Lake Oroville.. This was a special treat!! Ryan encouraged a larger than normal audience to take pictures of his slides. Those in attendance found great value in what he had to share. Ryan began fly fishing and tying in 2003 and guiding in 2006. Also having worked retail in 2 fly shops. After fishing nearly every fly destination and every freshwater species Northern California has to offer, Ryan has since been able to narrow down his favorite options, settling down in the center of it all, next to Lake Oroville. Most of his guiding consists on Lake Oroville & the Feather River, however you can also find him guiding on Clear Lake and Thermalito Afterbay. When the guide season slows down during winter & dog days of summer, Ryan does a little guiding, a little personal fishing, but is heavy on the fly tying. This is when the "fly shop" here is in full swing. This equates to a busy life year round. He's still got time to chat however, give Ryan a ring! Ryan: (707) 365-9891. Some side notes: Ryan was the winner of Wild West Bass Trail: Shasta Team Tournament (Jan 2021) 178 boats. He was the first person in the United States to win a major conventional bass tournament using a fly rod. WWBT Lake Shasta Team Tournament: Jan 2, 2021. Ryan is the creator of the "Williams Wakasagi" float & fly, the original float n fly made for the fly rod.
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PJ Bock and one of his special friends
Wednesday, November 8, 2023: PJ Bock of Bock's Fly Fishing and fixture at Fish First! in Chico presented on "Euro-Nymphing Techniques". PJ emphasized that Euro-nymphing is a very quick way to get flies into the strike zone in creeks and rivers. The rigging doesn't have to be anything special and can be attached to your existing fly line.
Hogan Brown and one of his enthusiastic young admirers.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023: Hogan Brown of Hogan Brown Fly Fishing gave an excellent presentation on Northern California Warm Water Species. Hogan's fishing style is motivated by two major factors: One, he wants time with his family; and, two, he doesn't care to fish around other fisher people. To do that, he targets waters that typically don't have trout. He mentioned "if thirty people show up to the boat ramp at Lake Oroville as opposed to the Lower Sac, there is a great chance you won't see the other people on Lake Oroville. The Lower Sac is a different story...". Hogan has all kinds of original flies (see his channel on YouTube); he is the host of The Barbless Podcast; co-founder of the California Bass Union; heavily involved with Cast Hope. Please check out Hogan's website.
Holly Swan, Cal Trout and CAF Conservation Chair
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 Iron Canyon, Big Chico Creek
Wednesday, May 10, 2023: Holly Swan from California Trout and Gayland Taylor, retired CDFW warden, gave a very informative presentation on the Iron Canyon Fish Passage Project. A HUGE thanks to PJ Bock, for the willingness to bump his presentation to our November 2023 meeting in order to allow for this important presentation to take place in a timely fashion. The Iron Canyon Fish Passage Project will clean up a rock fall area just down stream of the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. This rock fall poses a permanent barrier to the migration of Chinook Salmon, Winter Run Steelhead Trout, and other native fish species. The completion of this project will allow fish to migrate an additional 8.5 miles up Big Chico Creek.
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Denny Richards
Wednesday, April 12, 2023: Denny Rickards of Crystal Creek Anglers and Stillwater Fly Fishing Systems out of Fort Klamath, Oregon, gave a fly tying demonstration and spoke to a large group of our members. Denny has guided for over 50 years and is considered a premier authority on stillwater fishing. He donated a couple of autographed books for our General Meeting raffle. His presentation included the stillwater ecosystem, line choice, casting and much more!
John Crotty
Wednesday, February 8, 2023: Returning to give an update on the status of the environs and fisheries of Lake Almanor is Almanor Fishing Association (AFA) President John Crotty. Last year, John gave a very moving update of Lake Almanor after the devastating DIXIE Fire. John and his partner have suffered tremendous personal losses in this fire with the destruction of their Quail Lodge in the Canyon Dam area of Lake Almanor. Aside from this, AFA remains committed to a plethora of activities supporting Lake Almanor fisheries and community support. The last Saturday in June is their annual Veteran's Fishing Day and BBQ; in 2021 AFA gave fishing rods to every fourth grader in Plumas County. They teamed up with several organizations to provide support to those impacted by the DIXIE Fire. AFA continues its long time fish pen program, teaming up with Feather River College. To date, AFA, has released well over 1,000,000 trout into Lake Almanor. The organization's work to prevent cold water releases from Lake Almanor remains one of their top priorities. Visit the AFA website or Facebook page.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023: Lee Duckwall and Michael Mamola of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife gave an excellent presentation on the California Heritage Trout Challenge. This program seeks to emphasize education and angling opportunities for California's native trout. Their slideshow and presentation went over the different trout species and subspecies eligible for the California Heritage Trout Challenge. With developments in DNA sampling technology, it is possible to determine the lineage of the trout into different subspecies. This is linked to the tectonic activity found throughout California. Once populations have been separated, they begin to diverge from the main population. Lee distinguished between heritage waters vs. non-heritage waters. Mr. Duckwall explained how each drainage is carefully being mapped with known physical barriers that prevent the movement of trout, and DNA sampled populations. Much of this work is done by backpacking into remote regions.
Michael Mamola gave the second part of the presentation with the focus on angling, specifically fly fishing. He provided several great suggestions for regions having the specific species of trout that qualify for the California Heritage Trout Challenge, all-the-while reminding those in attendance that the trout must be caught in Heritage Waters. He mentioned areas having trophy trout, and other areas having "high action", meaning that an angler would catch several trout in an hours time.
Lee and Michael donated three hard copies of the Angler's Guide to the California Heritage Trout Challenge. We will have one available at the February 2023 General Meeting raffle. Click on the title for a digital version.
Both allowed CAF to give out their email addresses and encouraged anyone who is planning a trip to reach out and they can give more information and insight to benefit the trip. Lee Duckwall ([email protected]) and Michael Mamola ([email protected]).
Michael Mamola gave the second part of the presentation with the focus on angling, specifically fly fishing. He provided several great suggestions for regions having the specific species of trout that qualify for the California Heritage Trout Challenge, all-the-while reminding those in attendance that the trout must be caught in Heritage Waters. He mentioned areas having trophy trout, and other areas having "high action", meaning that an angler would catch several trout in an hours time.
Lee and Michael donated three hard copies of the Angler's Guide to the California Heritage Trout Challenge. We will have one available at the February 2023 General Meeting raffle. Click on the title for a digital version.
Both allowed CAF to give out their email addresses and encouraged anyone who is planning a trip to reach out and they can give more information and insight to benefit the trip. Lee Duckwall ([email protected]) and Michael Mamola ([email protected]).
Lee Duckwall
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Michael Mamola
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Lincoln Gray
Wednesday, November 9, 2022: Long-time area guide, Lincoln Gray stepped up at the last minute after our featured speaker couldn't make it because of weather issues. Lincoln gave a very informative presentation on Steelhead fishing on the Feather River. Great timing for this! Lincoln has been a member of CAF for decades, including holding the office of President. Visit him at Sierra Stream & Mountain at 847 W. 5th Street, Chico, CA 95926.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2022: Eagle Lake and Lake Almanor Guide Mark Antaramian "Black Boat Mark", as we affectionately call him, will be speaking about Eagle Lake and how to approach it. Mark is known for blending new technology with the fly fishing skills he has acquired from his father and other guides over the past 35+ years. He started fly fishing on Lake Almanor and has fished extensively through the United States and Canada in all kinds of water. An engineer, he started his guide service seven years ago with the motto "Out with the old, and in with the new!" Check out his Facebook page. Mark gave great information on how to fish Eagle Lake. He also opened the meeting with a fly tying demonstration. Mark plans to post videos of how to tie various flies that give him and his clients success on Lake Almanor and Eagle Lake.
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Mark Antaramian
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