Salinas Valley Flyfishers

04/06/2026

April 2026 President’s Message

Happy April everyone! The club just returned from the first Pyramid outing of the year. We had a great turn out from the club and guests including my friend Kyle, who flew in from Montana and Chuck’s brother and sister-in-law from Wisconsin. The fish are in the spawn, which normally isn’t until the end of April, but the lack of snow run off has caused the water temperatures to rise early so the fish have something else on their mind. That didn’t stop the fun however. Fish were caught, but you had to work for them. Most of the fish were in very shallow water, swimming between the legs of our ladders. I even had a fish run into my legs as I wadded out! Most of us fished at Pelican (with the crowds), but also; Windless, Separator and Indian Head. It was great to see some of the Pyramid first- timers hook into fish. I would especially like to thank Chris, Chuck and family for hosting the outing. Every night we had a big campfire and excellent meals. We had chili, spaghetti, burgers, steaks and of course great deserts. Many other club members added to the meals, so thanks to all who joined in to make it a great outing. Not surprisingly, this trip provided a couple of Mud Hen Award nominees! It seems like there’s always some kind of comical mishaps when you line up a bunch of wader clad goof balls on ladders on this big lake.

I’ll be AOL again for the clubs general meeting this month. Sorry that I won’t be able to be there. We have Jesse Collins from the Santa Cruz Fly Fishing Club as our guest speaker. I hear that he has lots of experience fishing and guiding in Alaska. I’m not exactly sure what the program will be entail, but I am sure that it will definitely be worth your time. Rick has graciously agreed to run the meeting, thanks Rick🤣.

Our next scheduled outing will be at Rancho Seco on the weekend of May 16th- 17th. If you haven’t been there, it’s a lot of fun and a nice place to spend a weekend. They have both RV and tent site for camping. If you want more info. talk with Jay Jefferson at the meeting.

Hope everyone is doing well and finding the time to wet a line ………Frank

03/09/2026

March 2025 President’s Message

Happy March to everyone. Right now, as I write this, I’m sitting on the beach at Wino on Pyramid Lake. The fish are in close and the bite seems to be on. White and chartreuse Beatles are the hot fly, at least for the time being, but enough about me. As you know, the club has an outing up here at Pyramid at the end of this month. Chuck is the fish master, and he consistently sets up a strong base camp for the club at Pelican Point. There should be a nice warm fire to warm up and rest by. If everything holds true, there should also be some big fish cruising the shallow. My fishing has been a little slow, but there was a 29-pounder brought to the net just the other day.

I know that several club members went to the Pleasanton Fly Fishing Show last Friday. I went on Saturday and ran into Rick and Freddy while I was there. The boys helped me spend some money, but that’s a story for another day. There was a large booth selling flies for less than a buck a piece. Probably not the best quality in the world, but a good way to fill up your empty fly box. Overall, the event was pretty good. There appeared to be a few fewer booths selling gear this year, but lots of booths with guides and fishing trips. I wasn’t there looking for a fishing adventure, but if you are looking for one, wow, that’s the place to go and find it.
In other news, Greg and Rick reported stopping by Geoff Malloway’s Fly Shop. They said that Geoff was closing his shop down and moving across the street on Reindollar Ave. to where the old brew pub used to be.

Depending on how the fishing goes, I may not make the meeting on Wednesday. The board will draw straws to see who runs the meeting, but either way, you will all be in great hands.

Hope everyone is doing well and making plans to go fishing real soon.

….Frank

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02/09/2026

February 2026 President's Message

Happy February, everyone. I hope you’re all doing well and have had the opportunity to get out and fish. On 2/2/26 (a great day- 🤣 ) Punxsutawney the groundhog saw his shadow, forecasting 6 more weeks of winter, so hopefully that may bring some much-needed rain.

Our annual holiday dinner was a fun time and a great success. I would like to thank all those involved in putting it together and everyone who made donations to the raffle. Geoff from Central Coast Fly Fishing, thank you. Jay, thank you. Elizabeth, your donation was very generous, thank you. As I’m sure you all saw, I was very taken back when Jay presented me with the Galvin fly reel that I have been trying to find for some time. Not often am I at a loss for words. All I can say is Thank You! I just came back from Pyramid. Three of us fished for close to four days. The weather was dang cold and sunny. We managed to get 26 to the net and lost several. The biggest fish was around 12 pounds. The hot fly was a midnight cowboy leech. Yes, leach. I tie them on a 4x-long shank hook with black rabbit strips. I wrapped the hook shank with black foam before adding the material to keep them from dragging the bottom. It worked well for us, but who knows what will work next week?

At our next meeting, I would like confirmation of who will be attending the June float tube trip to Pyramid. At the end of the month is the Pleasanton Fly Show. For those who have not been there, it’s a great show, and you can find some good deals on merchandise and trips. We will also talk about the outing to Pyramid at the end of March. Chuck is the fish master for the outing. The lake will be crowded, but the fish should be plentiful.

Hope to see everyone at the meeting on Wednesday.

Frank

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01/12/2026

January 2026 President’s Message

Happy 2026! I hope the holidays brought you all joy, happiness and families together during the holidays. May the new year bring you good health and lots of fish to the net.

Looking back at last year, the club enjoyed some great outings, including Rancho Seco, Pyramid Lake, Lake Almanor, San Luis Reservoir and Kelly Lake, to name a few. With a little luck, or maybe I should say some hard work, 2026 should be even better. I hope everyone will take the opportunity to join in and enjoy the camaraderie of fishing together.

I would like to thank all the club members who attended the meeting and participated in the outing, as well as everyone involved in making this trip happen and memorable. I would also like to acknowledge the work that all the board members put into the club. Without the generosity of these volunteers (and past board members), there would be no club. Bill Pshide, who has been an instrumental part of the board, will be stepping down from his role as Raffle Chairman. Bill has spent a great deal of time and effort taking care of the raffles and he will be sorely missed. Thank you, Bill!

I hope that some of you have had a chance to fish this last month. I made it to Pyramid to battle the crazy wind, cold weather and rain. Despite the weather, the fishing was good. We fished for three days and I managed to bring 11 Cutthroats to the net. I even have pictures to prove it 😂. I’ll be happy to share at the annual dinner. For me, the gold/ tan balanced leech under an indicator was the ticket. I’m planning to head back up at the end of the month for 4 days. So, wish me luck.

As mentioned above, the club has put together a great schedule of outings and activities for 2026 and the first activity for the year is coming up this Saturday. I hope everyone has gotten their tickets for the Annual Dinner. We’ll be meeting again this year at the Flying Artichoke Restaurant that the Salinas Airport. It should be great food, great stuff to be had and a great time to visit friends both old and new. We hope to see everyone there.

Happy 2026 – Frank

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12/25/2025

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

12/17/2025

Hello members,
It's time to think about the annual dinner. Please mark January 17 on your calendar and take advantage of the early bird specials. It's a good time to catch up with friends and meet the club officers for 2026.
Hope to see you there!

12/07/2025

December 2025 President’s Message

Season's Greetings. I hope everyone is doing well, had a wonderful Thanksgiving and had the chance to get some fishing in too. In November, the club hosted the annual Salinas River clean-up. Again, we had a great turnout that included some members from other groups, including the Santa Cruz fly club and Trout Unlimited. Geoff Malloway from Central Coast Fly Fishing once again provided much-appreciated coffee and donuts. Lots of trash was collected, not the least of which was an old boat and trailer and even a cab-over camper, along with other numerous items that people, for some unknown reason, thought should be deposited on the banks of the Salinas River. I would like to acknowledge the effort of Richard Higgins for organizing the event and Jay Jefferson, along with his son and grandson, for bringing and operating the heavy equipment.

This month's meeting will be our annual Christmas gift exchange. If you would like to participate, please bring a wrapped gift. No specific dollar amount is suggested, but as a guideline, I’d say: “make it something that you would like to receive”, because God knows, you might end up with it. Molly sent out an email regarding the meeting. In the past, it has been a lot of fun, especially watching Chuck getting his bottle of Crown Royal stolen from him!
We will also be handing out a schedule of club outings for 2026. When the board came up with the outings list, we really tried to make sure there was something for everyone. There are close-by outings, a beach outing and out-of-town / camping outings. We have plans for pop-up outings as well and Lake Nacimiento, depending upon when the white bass bite starts happening.

In 10 days, I will be fishing with Alex Ferber on the Trinity for the elusive steelhead. It sounds like he has been pretty successful and hopefully that continues when I’m with him. I haven’t had time to fish since our last meeting, so please bring your fishing stories.

Hope to see everyone at the meeting / Christmas gift exchange.

Best for the holidays - Frank

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11/28/2025

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Annual Salinas River Clean-up last Sunday. We had 22 people show up to help with litter and trash pickup at the public fishing access area and parking lot. We had members from the Salinas Valley Fly Fishers, Santa Cruz Fly Fishers, Trout Unlimited, Central Coast Fly Fishing and Project Healing Waters help out. We managed to fill a 20-yard debris box weighing 5.12 tons, a truck camper and a boat with a trailer.
A big shout-out to Jay, who brought out the big toys to help with the clean-up and Geoff for supplying the coffee and doughnuts.

11/27/2025

Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

11/10/2025

2025 Annual Salinas River Clean-up

Hello members and fishing friends. It's that time of year again when the club hosts the "Annual Salinas River Clean-Up".

We need volunteers to help with the clean-up of the Salinas River fishing access, near Highway 1, before the opener of the winter steelhead fishing season. This year, the event will involve trash pick-up, trash pick-up with more trash pick-up. Please join us:

Date: Sunday, November 23, 2025

Time: 9-noon. Meet at 9 am at the public fishing access parking, just north of the Dole Plant, HWY 1. (See map attached)

Hwy 1 northbound from Marina take exit 412, Del Monte Blvd., cross over to Monte Rd., past the Dole Plant, turn right after the bridge
Hwy 1 southbound from Castroville, take exit 412, Del Monte Blvd. Turn left and drive across the overpasses, turn left onto Monte Rd., past the Dole Plant, turn right after the bridge.

What to bring: gloves, boots, trash bags, and tools for picking up trash. (Three-prong rake works the best)

Wear clothing for the weather conditions of the day.

Hope to see you there!

Richard

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11/10/2025

November 2025 President’s Message

Good morning, I hope everyone is doing well and has had a chance to fish. As I write this, I’m sitting next to a campfire watching fish rise. To my right, I can see Mount Lassen and on my left, Mount Shasta. I have to say, it’s a pretty darn awesome. To cap it off, there are two Bald Eagles that have been soaring around overhead trying to out-fish us. On Thursday and Friday, we fished Baum Lake. Prince nymphs under an indicator were the ticket for us. Lots of fish were caught, most planted fish, but a few were bigger hold-overs or maybe brood stock. The deer are in rut up here. I had to get out of my truck to get a four x four buck out of the road, so I could drive by. I’ll share the pictures of it at our meeting. Today we are going to be fishing ponds on Lost Creek. We’ve got our fingers crossed that the fish will be in the mood to cooperate.

This coming Wednesday is our monthly meeting. We will have Sam Davidson from Trout Unlimited as our guest speaker. I’ve heard great things about him, so I hope you’ll all make a point of coming out for what should be a great meeting. Oh, one more thing, we’ll have a rough draft of next year's outings that we will talk about at the meeting. We’d like lots of feedback, so we’ll be set to have a great year of outings in 2026. Lastly, the end of the month is the yearly Salinas River clean-up. That’s on Saturday the 23rd, so put on your work gloves and join us. It all starts in the morning, about 9:00. I think that Geoff Maloway will be bringing the donuts and coffee. I’m almost out of cell service, so I’ll sign off for now. I hope to see everyone at the meeting on Wednesday.

Best regard - Frank

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