VOLUME 31, ISSUE 8. March 2025

We are proud to introduce the monthly mid-week casting assessment, a new initiative aimed at providing our members with more opportunities to hone their casting skills. This program would not be possible without the dedication and expertise of David Caddies and George Nolevski. Their commitment to improving our members' skills as always, is greatly appreciated.

Our first monthly fly-tying event at the Freeway Hotel was a resounding success. There was a significant number of new participants interested in learning from our master tyer, Dave Wilson.

The recent inaugural trip to Alexandra in Victoria was a great success, with members enjoying excellent fishing and beautiful scenery. Due to the success of this trip, we are planning another trip to Victoria at the start of the Victorian season in September. Keep an eye out for more details and make sure to reserve your spot early, as this is sure to be a popular event.

Our meeting will be slightly different this month, as we will not have a guest speaker. Instead, we will hold a Buy, Swap, Sell session. This is a fantastic opportunity for members to offload gear they no longer need and perhaps find some new treasures. The session will not only include fly fishing equipment but also items related to camping and outdoor activities. We encourage all members to bring along any items they wish to trade or sell and to take advantage of this opportunity.

Committee member Dan Palmer will be representing our club at the upcoming CFA meeting next weekend in Jindabyne. His participation in this meeting is crucial as it allows our club to stay informed and involved in the broader fly fishing community. I am sure that Dan will bring back valuable insights and information from the meeting.

There are still places available for the Jindabyne weekend and the Harrington Fly Fest. The Jindabyne weekend offers a chance to fish in one of the most scenic locations in New South Wales, while the Harrington Fly Fest provides an opportunity to learn from some of the best salt water fly fishers in the region.

In conclusion, the year is off to a fantastic start for Sydney Fly Rodders. I want to thank all members for their continued support and participation. Our club thrives because of your enthusiasm and dedication to our sport and I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

Tight lines,

David

President

From the Editor

Jason with a Mataura River brown (New Zealand)

Fellow Flyrodders,

Just a quick note from me this month to thank both Rob Cummins and Chris Clarke for their reports on recent trips to the Goulburn River and NZ's South Island.

Plenty of trout were caught without a single mention of cormorants.

I hope you enjoy reading the reports as much as I did.

Cheers,

Jason Hemens - Editor

Hot, Hot, Hot!
Goulburn River Trip - February 2025

By Rob Cummins

When the club notified members of a new trip location around Acheron/Alexandra in Victoria to be run in early February, the website crashed under the stampede. Well, not quite, but the trip booked out in just a couple of days, such is the appeal of this famous trout region.

The area is dominated by the tailwater of the iconic Goulburn River below Lake Eildon and several of the Goulburn’s beautiful tributaries including the Acheron, Rubicon, Steavenson and Taggerty Rivers. Also within reach, although an hour’s (plus) drive away were several rivers above Lake Eildon including the Delatite, Howqua, Jamieson and upper Goulburn.

As it’s a long 9ish hour drive, several members decided to break up the trip with an overnight invasion of Gundagai, seriously depleting Gundy’s stock of refreshments and scaring the local wildlife yet somehow evading incarceration. Reports are that Gundy is still in shock and will take months to recover and restock.

The more intrepid of us grabbed the chance for some ‘en-route troutin’ on the Delatite and Howqua. While these are gorgeous streams, they were running low, slow, clear and warm with only a few suicidal troutlets interrupting the serenity. No doubt these streams would be sensational in the spring snow thaw.

Breakaway Caravan Park

Our accommodation for the week was at the Breakaway Caravan Park at Acheron, right on the banks of the Goulburn. We all met on our first night barbegrog where we were welcomed by trip organiser John Brassil, and we also received some essential location and technique hints from Australia’s champion fly fisher, YouTuber and trout whisperer Tom Jarman. Tom has now joined the Club at several trips, providing extraordinary coaching and guiding to two anglers per day, as well as hints, tips and advice to everyone else over our evening meal. Tom’s willingness to share his deep understanding of the area and provide expert advice to everyone, regardless of whether they had paid for his services, was simply brilliant. He is a generous and remarkable guy and we are privileged that he is willing and able to join us.

The Breakaway Park is a perfect location, with very comfortable cabins, lovely views over the river and a free alarm clock at exactly 6am from 3 billion screeching corellas. They continue their raucous cacophony all day until they finally settle down soon after sunset. They were quite the spectacle!

On the second night we were all invited up to the Goulburn Valley Fly Fishing Club ‘headquarters’ in Alexandra where we chatted with some of the locals, hoping to steal some secrets of the area and buying a few flies.

So how was the fishing? In a word, tough. The weather was blisteringly hot at 35C or more each day and most of the smaller rivers were running low and very warm, at around 20C or more. There were trout to be caught though, with most being found in the deeper, well aerated slots, shaded runs and occasionally on the surface. Of the smaller rivers, the Steavenson and lower Taggerty provided the best fishing as they had better flows and slightly cooler water. Fish were taken on both dries and nymphs, although on some days they had a clear preference for one and would not touch the other. A few of the crew managed to almost reach double figures on some days from a combination of smaller tributaries in the morning and the Goulburn later in the day but catches of 2 or 3 were more typical with occasional donuts being reported, even by some of the more experienced among us. The conditions were conducive to a sneaky mid-day siesta even for the hardiest perfect specimens of “fisherkind” as we all were.

John Brassil with a long, skinny Acheron brown

Warwick Reader with a Steavenson rainbow

Tom netting a Mark Skacel monster

Paul Gordon on the Upper Taggerty

Paula Newbery – Even the littlies count!

I asked Tom about the ethics of fishing for trout in water this warm and his response was fascinating. While fishing for trout in Europe and the US in water above about 20C is strongly discouraged as many fish will not survive the fight, it seems that in Australia trout have adapted to cope with much warmer water over the many generations since their introduction. Tom said that he regularly catches and successfully releases big trout from Lake Wendouree in Ballarat in summer when the water is well over 20C. He couldn’t recall having one go belly up here even though that is a common occurrence in warmer US or European waters.

In contrast to its low, slow and warm tributaries, the Goulburn was flowing fast and cold (15C) due to irrigation and environmental releases from Lake Eildon. Most of us found the river was hard to read, difficult to wade safely and apart from a few popular locations, challenging to find reasonable lengths of river to fish. The area directly in front of our cabins was one of the better areas and some of the members managed to find a fish or two here.

Paul Gordon hard at work on the Goulburn

But the fish were definitely there – we just had difficulty finding and extracting them. To demonstrate how he’s on a completely different level to mere mortals, Tom fished for an hour or so on two afternoons after guiding and caught five or six lovely fish each time, while filming for his YouTube channel (already online). He also landed a stunning 6 or 7 pound brown (on Max Beyer’s rod – long story!) near the end of a lesson.

Tom Jarman the guru

Perhaps the best fishing however was for a number of the crew who ~~cheated~~ went driftboating on the Goulburn with a local guide. The drifting was rapid and the fish were scarce but they were generally great fish.

Rupert Morton cheating in a boat 😊. Lovely fish!

Glen Short’s pretty brown

Peter Douglas and a great brown

Each night most of us ventured the 15 minutes into Alexandra to the Corner Hotel for dinner, a quiet lemonade and telling our stories of the day. It’s a friendly pub with great food at reasonable prices.

Some of the crew at The Corner Pub

While the conditions were brutal and the fishing was challenging, we all had a great time and as always on a Club trip, everyone learned a heap. It was agreed by us all that the area was definitely worth revisiting earlier in the season to enjoy the spring snow melt in the tributaries and when the Goulburn has less water released from Eildon. Look out for info about a future trip, possibly in September, as Victoria’s rivers open a month before NSW.

A huge thanks to John Brassil for his initial idea and for all his work in organising our motley crew. Special thanks also to Tom Jarman for his wonderful guiding and willingness to share his remarkable knowledge with us all. If you ever get the chance to have a day being guided by Tom, don’t hesitate.

Southland Marauders - February 2025

The Boys: From Left – Greg Wordsworth, Jason Hemens, Chris Clarke, Leigh Atallah, Dave Robinson and Gavin van der Wagen

By Chris Clarke

In February, after almost 12 months of planning, 6 intrepid members of the Sydney Fly Rodders Club headed off to the South Island of New Zealand. After landing in Queenstown and collecting hire cars the group headed off to Gore “World capital of brown trout” for a week of exploring the surrounding rivers, including the famous Mataura River.

Suffice to say a great week was had by all with a healthy number of fish landed and enough stories to fill multiple Flyrodder publications. However, this article will focus on two newish members to the club Leigh Atallah and myself Chris Clarke. Leigh has been a member for a couple of years and my fly-fishing journey started briefly some 35 years ago but was followed by a very long hiatus following kids until recently joining the club.

Being somewhat inexperienced and after a tough season in Oz, Leigh and I made the decision to seek out a local guide that could help us learn and hopefully put us onto some fish. After doing some research we settled on Dean Whaanga from Mataura River Lodge based in Riversdale about 20 minutes from Gore.

Prior to catching up with Dean we all headed out on Day 1 to explore the mighty Mataura under our own steam. I was fortunate enough to be paired up with Gavin who had fished the area several times and was our key technical advisor for the trip. It all looked daunting to me, but it wasn’t long before Gavin pointed me in the direction of a slowish running pool off the main river with a number of overhanging willow trees. I started to get excited when on my second cast a lovely brown trout came up and closely inspected my dry dropper rig. The fish was clearly on a beat and I needed to freeze as it passed close by me on a couple of occasions. Shortly after I cast into the shadows of the willows and was rewarded to see my dry fly pulled beneath the surface. After a short fight I managed to land my first Mataura brown of about 3-4 pounds. Excitedly I continued at the pool and was again surprised to have another slightly larger fish pass right in front of me. Same process as I tried to anticipate where the fish was headed and was again rewarded landing my second brown of the morning at around 4 pounds. That was it for me on day 1 with the rest of the group also managing a couple more fish.

Chris's First Mataura Brown

Day 2 started with Leigh and myself travelling to Riversdale to meet up with our guide Dean Whaanga for the first of 2 days guiding. We were both excited but at the same time very nervous and hoping we wouldn’t make absolute fools of ourselves in front of Dean.

Dean and his lovely wife Fiona quickly made us feel comfortable over a morning coffee before heading off. We immediately saw the benefit of using a local guide as Dean drove us through private farmland to a large section of the Mataura.

Leigh was off to great start landing a lovely brown in the very first section of river by running a nymph under an indicator through the ripples into a large pool. Leigh continued to hook fish while I soon realised Dean’s next superpower was his ability to spot fish where the majority of time, I couldn’t see anything. This did make it difficult and meant you were reliant upon Dean’s verbal instructions.

Challenge number two was then presenting your fly even remotely in the location Dean requested. After losing one right at my feet and feeling somewhat dejected I finally managed to get one in the net.

After covering a lot of river, we came across a large bend in the river where about a thousand ducks had been camped on the shore making it a little on the nose. Quickly Dean spotted a nice trout feeding on the surface on the opposite side of the river. It was a difficult situation due to the varying speeds of the river and swirling currents. However, after several attempts Leigh managed a lengthy cast to put a dry fly in the perfect position and we watched the fish take it from the surface. It was a great effort and Leigh was deservedly very chuffed with himself.

The Mataura – Leigh’s Epic Cast

After leaving the Mataura we travelled to a very small secret stream of Dean’s that we don’t even know the name of. Immediately we could see rising trout and despite the stream's size managed to land a decent brown each to close out a great day.

The Secret Stream

Day 3 and our last day with Dean started with another trip through private property to the Waimea River. A beautiful stretch of river where Dean again showed his exceptional spotting skills locating trout well ahead of us while walking in the river or on the bank. He put us in front of some great fish and despite lining many or tangling ourselves managed a couple more beautiful fish.

Leigh on the Waimea

The Waimea - Chris

It was an amazing experience fishing with Dean and we learnt a huge amount in a couple of days and Deam managed to remain extremely calm (Mostly) despite our many stuff ups. It also taught me how much I have to learn but I guess that’s why fly fishing is a lifelong sport.

The rest of the week with the team was great fun with everyone catching fish. Another highlight was all of us watching Gavin catch a lovely Mataura brown on his single handed spey line.

Gav's On! Single Handed Spey

Three Wise Monkeys – Always willing to lend a hand for a mate the boys spotting a fish for Jason in the river . “It’s under tree three”

Greg even commissioned trip beer coasters!

A fantastic trip was had by all. Until next time!

Next Monthly Meeting - Buy, Swap, Sell

The next Monthly Meeting will be held on 10 March at our regular venue, The Freeway Hotel, 115 Reserve Road, Artarmon, 2064 (Google maps) commencing at 7:00pm. Members will arrive from around 6pm so feel free to come early and enjoy a drink and some dinner with fellow members.

Our monthly meeting will be a Buy, Swap, Sell. We encourage all members to bring along any items they wish to trade or sell and to take advantage of this opportunity. Note this event is not only for fly fishing equipment, but also camping and outdoor gear.

So come along and enjoy another great night out with fellow members.

Many of our attendees arrive a bit earlier and have dinner either before, else the bar staff will deliver your meal order to our meeting room and you can enjoy your meal, and or drink, whilst the meeting is underway. The food is good value for money and the company is priceless!! So come along and have a relaxing and entertaining meeting where you can meet other members and pick up on useful snippets information that is shared amongst the group.

Our Meeting is normally held on the 2nd Monday of each month, unless it is a public holiday; in which case it will be delayed a week.

There is ample parking in the parking garage under the Freeway Hotel, which is accessed from Dickson Avenue (at the back), just off Reserve Road, in Artarmon.

Looking forward to catching up at the meeting.

For those members unable to attend our meetings, we take videos of presentations and uploading them to our Club Members Private Video Library on YouTube. Below is a graphic showing where you can access them from the members section of our website:

Last Month's Casting Practice Report

The next generation gets in on the act

By David Caddies

Mind What You Practise

Practice was held in very pleasant weather for the 22 casting pilgrims who managed to fight off all competing responsibilities to come along.

As usual it was great to see some more senior members spend their time helping newcomers and the less experienced get to grips with the exercises. Thanks to those – you know who you are. Positive feedback I get tells me that the warm and encouraging atmosphere (‘cuddly’ would be going too far) makes for a good and comradely experience. For new casters and new members, this is the right message: this is Sydney Flyrodders.

My main message to the gathering was to be as open as possible to visual, aural and kinaesthetic cues to give yourself feedback on your casting efforts. That is a fancy way of saying look, listen to and feel what is going on. If you liked what the cue gave you, do it again. If not, change something. Change what, you might ask? That depends initially on what cue you pay attention to and whether you understand the message contained in it. Solving your own casting problems starts with being a good observer. A helpful overriding principle might be to remember that the line goes where the rod tip makes it go. When the line falls to the water (grass, at casting practice), it does so because you, the caster, made the rod tip make it go there. So, if they are the dots you need to connect to do some fault-finding, know you are the first dot in the series, so it comes back to you.

This is all a bit theoretical, so is it worthwhile to be so analytical? The objective at casting practice is to give you tools and knowledge to unravel the cues, through a combination of demonstrations, explanations and experiences (exercises). Ie create the mental links that make you better at seeing and reading the cues and finding a good response. Here’s a more practical point: imagine if you had some darts to throw to hit a bullseye on a target board, the board being in pitch dark and only the bullseye appearing as a point of light. Unless you hit the bullseye with the first dart, there is no further feedback available for your second shot because you didn’t get to see a result in relation to the target: you won’t know how to correct the subsequent try. Good learning depends on feedback. Obviously when training we want to maximise feedback – that poor dart thrower is prevented from getting feedback to improve his accuracy: he’s flailing in the dark.

Next time you make a cast at practice, you need to ask yourself, “what do I see?” when you look at the line lying on the ground, or even in the air. If you find the words for that, the next step is to match what you saw to the outcome you wanted. Then you progress to figuring out how to change something to do better. This takes time and concentration and ideally, a knowledgeable observer to offer suggestions. In the absence of such help right at hand, you yourself have to become the knowledgeable one. In this case, knowledge includes the mindset which always seeks feedback. So where do you go looking for the answers?

Here’s an example: you make a cast and the leader falls in a heap, short of the target and not straight. Here’s the process:
Q; What do you see? A. The leader curled up and short of target and off to the side too much [Huge tick for this answer].
Q; what did you set out to do? A: hit the target with the leader pretty straight. [Huge tick for this answer].
Q: What do you think happened? A: The wind must have blown it. [Maybe, but what about …….?].

Assuming this last answer is wrong, but it’s all you could come up with, where next? You need information about the possibilities, just in case you do the same thing when there is no wind. I’ve mentioned this before but Peter Morse has a YouTube on just this subject. He gives you at least half a dozen causes (and fixes) for collapsed leaders, other than the wind. So, right there is a concrete example of how to pursue more information and a possible remedy in the face of a visual cue about a failure in your cast.

That little example of Q and A above seems basic but I think it’s very powerful if you question yourself like that –not only as a pursuit of answers, but as a sure sign that you are practising consciously. If you stop and take time to frame the question and the answer, it shows you are honing your feedback skills.

We need to consider thoughtful trial and error as we seek to find the right correctives. Don’t be afraid to commit deliberate errors in the quest for understanding – if you can make it wrong intentionally, there’s a chance you can make great discoveries about making it right. So, go ahead, intentionally cast a collapsed leader and then set about casting it straight – then collapse it again on purpose – and so on.

See you in the park

David

Some photos from casting practice - thanks Gavin van der Wagen:

Club Monthly Casting Practice - Details and Event Schedule.

SFRC MONTHLY CASTING PRACTICE 9am Sunday 9 March 2025

Reminder: Leave your 9 – 10’ trout leader with the 5X tippet at home. Bring one which is 8’ – 8’6” and terminating in 8 or 10 lb tippet. This session will suit DT or WF floating lines, for the single-handers. Two-handers, bring what you got.

Start time is 9am:

HOWEVER: If you wish to have a go at being evaluated for any one or more of the casts in the Bronze Skills Development Program and you would like to come earlier than 9, send me a text message to that effect on 0434 671 085 and I’ll be there to set it up, from 8am. Coaching and demonstrations will be going on after 9, but with not much opportunity for individual evaluations. Early notice would be appreciated, but don’t let that stop you from a late practice on Saturday to see if you’re ready!

All members are welcome to join in the club’s usual monthly practice session. If you want to know everything about the club’s casting practice sessions, read the whole blurb in the Flyrodder magazine.

WHERE: Timbrell Park, Henley Marine Drive, Five Dock. Go to the western end of Henley Marine Drive, past the cricket pitches, baseball nets and just past LIvvi’s coffee kiosk and kids’ playground area. There is an open area opposite where Ingham Avenue intersects with Henley Marine Drive which we usually use. It is not part of the sports fields. If conditions there are not suitable on the day, we will be just opposite, across the canal, or anywhere within sight that I can find.

So come and give it a try, as there is so much to be gained by attending these sessions. And they are Free!!!

If you can’t make it this time and want some good practical instruction to guide you, check out this site: https://www.flyfishersinternational.org/Learn/Learning-Center-Resources/Fly-Casting/Casting-Instruction

I don’t know if that link works for you. Google FFI flyfishing and delve around. Most stuff is open to non-members.

2025 dates for fly casting practice

9 March / 13 April / 18 May / 8 June / 13 July /10 August /
14 September / 12 October / 9 November / 14 December

Go for Bronze - Midweek Casting Sessions

As announced at the February 2025 club meeting, we propose to hold a small-group session on a Tuesday morning every month, starting in March, to assist members who wish to commence, or complete, their Bronze level casting confirmation. (If you don’t know what that is, read on). Gold Level club member, George Nolevski, will be the event organizer, instructor and assessor.

Groups will be limited to 4 members. Considering the midweek timing each month on a Tuesday, you should be fairly sure you can commit to seeing it through regularly if you want to participate. Initially 2 places will be available for members who have already started their Bronze and have at least 1 confirmed cast on record. (We do know who you are!). The other two places will be held open for members who have not started yet, but who have at least some flyfishing experience. If you fit that category but are not sure whether you are ready, register anyway and come along to a regular monthly Sunday casting practice so we can help with that assessment. Depending on the response we get, the four places will be filled one way or another, but not necessarily in order of registration, at least until all current Bronze- in-progress registrants have worked through to completion.

Accordingly, to join up for this event you need to register on the club website in the usual way. Four registered members will be selected according to the above criteria. There is no limit on numbers who might register, nor is there a time cut-off, but there will only be 4 in the group at any one time. Registration is really a form of wait-list for this event, given the limited group size and the uncertain time period during which you, and others, might be involved. If you don’t get into the first group, your registration remains valid and you just wait for a vacancy. Once you are selected, the following conditions apply:

1. Provided you give it a good shot by regular attendance and doing some practice yourself between sessions, your place in the group is fixed until you succeed in completing the Bronze certification. Once you complete it, you leave the group. Who knows, you might bag it on day 1!

2. If you can’t make it to a scheduled session, you need to let George know with as much notice as possible so someone else on the list can fill your spot for that day.

Goerge’s number is 0407 743 245. If you need to contact him before 10am on a weekday, just leave a text message. He’s also on email at gnolevski@gmail.com.

LOCATION and TIMING

Sessions will run at Timbrell Park, either at the usual casting practice venue or just on the other side of Livvi’s café near the baseball diamond, depending on other users on the day.

Sessions will start at 10.30 am on every second Tuesday of every month and will run till approximately 12 noon. The first session will be on 11 March, so register before then.

WHAT IS THE BRONZE CASTING LEVEL?

It is an initiative of the Fly Fishers International organisation to provide a graded series of fly casting skills to help fly fishers improve their casting and fishing by progressing through one or more of the grades, each involving making fly fishing casts of various kinds and increasing in variety and difficulty. Bronze is first and has 7 separate casts, designed for the angler who has some, but not necessarily a lot of fly fishing experience. It’s a program which has had global acceptance and followed by thousands of fly casters already. Sydney Flyrodders has been involved since 2019.

A feature of the Bronze program is that achievement of any particular cast in the Bronze level is something which could be seen and confirmed by an observer who need not necessarily be able to do the cast themselves but who can use a tape measure to check the direction and accuracy of your cast. No, you don’t have to be spot-on perfect and you get 3 tries at each when confirming. So, it’s very objective at Bronze level – you either made the required cast to the accuracy required or you didn’t, pretty much. That doesn’t make it easy to do: it makes it easy to assess. You, the caster can also clearly assess your own casting results so, accordingly, the casts and the program are exactly what you could use if you never know what to practice when you are by yourself. It’s a clear syllabus to follow and you find out where you are in the casting stakes and what you could do about that. Each cast and each level builds on the skills developed previously – it’s a systematic way to learn.

The rules permit any club member to confirm that you can do the casts and award you a Bronze Confirmation- which means you don’t have to participate in this event at all if you have a club member willing to check your casts for you. Go for it!

What happens once you get all 7 casts confirmed? You receive a nice FFI-designed certificate produced by us (on glossy, coloured paper!) at club level. Or, if you like, you can join the FFI (for a fee), submit your signed-off confirmation sheet (with another fee) and get an even nicer formal certificate and badge. Some of our club members have done that.

To read more about the FFI Flycasting skills program (FCSD), follow this link, or Google FFI FCSD Bronze. Also see the FFI Video Library.

Next Fly Tying Meeting

The next Fly Tying Meeting will be held on 17 March at the Freeway Hotel, 115 Reserve Road, Artarmon. The doors will open at 6:30 pm to give you time to set up for a 7:00 pm start in the room we use for our Monthly Meeting.

The theme for the night will be tying Hoppers.

Beginners are very welcome with experienced tiers giving help.

We particularly welcome first timers and all levels of fly tiers as you will all learn something from these wonderful sessions. These sessions are for all levels of fly tying abilities.

We have all the necessary fly-tying materials for the flies being tied in the session. For those who don't have a vice, don't worry, we have many spare vices you can use.If you would like to just come and observe, then please do so to see if this is for you. You'll be surprised at how "easily" you can get into tying your own flies.

Harrington Fly Fest

The Harrington and Coffs Coast Fly Clubs have extended an invitation to our club for the Harrington Fly Fest event that they are hosting. All the information pertaining to the event is available via the QR Code link in the flyer below or alternatively click here.

Any SFRC Members looking to attend this event will need to register their attendance of the Harrnington Fly Fest and make arrangements for their own accomodation. We do however ask that you also register your attendance on our system SFRC Register so that any other SFRC members attending, will know who else from our club is attending.

New Members

We extend a warm welcome to new members Jennifer Baldwin, Jodi Bird, Eric Fischer, David Gilligan, James Mackie, Justin Pik and Andrew Quoyle.

We encourage new members to join in on the many activities that we run as this is a good way to meet other club members and also to improve your fly fishing skills and most importantly to have a great time.

Looking forward to meeting you at our Monthly Members Meetings and at events throughout the coming year.

Sydney Fly Rodders Facebook Pages

We run two SFRC pages, one is our public page and it posts events and activities of the club. It also shares posts from other pages like CAS, DPI on things relevant to the places and areas that we fish.

I post some fly tying every now and then and share links to events I find that might be of interest to followers. This page is a little like our Web page, it showcases the club to attract members and provides details of club events. At last count it has more than one thousand followers.

We added another page. This is reserved for members only and cannot be seen by anyone outside of the group. You will need to send a request to join. Any member can post on this page and it is a great opportunity for members to put up a post or two about anything fly fishing. I would like to encourage members to use this page to post fishing reports or photos of flies that you tied. Being connected to other members you can ask for some casting or gear advice, or organise a short trip when you suddenly have some spare time.

There are also hundreds of other groups; bream on fly, carp on fly, bass, trout....areas like alpine trout, Sydney Kayak Fishing....fly tying groups, buy sell swap fly gear pages and individuals like Aussie Flyfisher, Sydney Flyfishing to check out.

Phil Burton
philipburton@bigpond.com

Sydney Flyrodders Instagram Page

The Sydney Fly Rodders are now on Instagram. Many thanks to our Member Maddie Chew Lee, who offered to set us up and apply her significant experience with marketing and communications in particular within the social media space.

Please follow the site and add your comments, and lets grow this platform for the club. It will also attract new members to the club.

Below is a snapshot of the site. We aim to sync (in particular look and feel) the Instagram account with our Facebook account and also our new Website, which I talk more about in the preceding section.

Sydney Fly Rodders WhatsApp Group

We have an Exclusive Group on WhatsApp for our Members, which is a great way to communicate informally and to share ideas, seek advice and also to plan and seek interest for impromptu/planned fishing trips.

I can highly recommend this to members. We have arranged a number of trips now from a weekends bass fishing through to a casual and social Sunday morning or afternoons fishing at Narrabeen Lake or Hen & Chickens Bay etc. And there could even be a BBQ thrown in for a social get together afterwards. This will happen on most if not all occasions.

Should you wish to be included in this group, then please email me to request your inclusion, quoting your mobile number which is required to link you into the Group. You will need to download the WhatsApp first if you haven't already done so.

Please contact me for inclusion.

Jason Hemens

Editor, Flyrodder

jasondh1972@gmail.com

VOLUME 31, ISSUE 8. March 2025

Featured content

Dates for the Diary

Fly Tying 17 March 2025: 6:30PM: Freeway Hotel, 115 Reserve Road, Artarmon

Harrington Fly Fest 28-30 March: Discovery Parks, Harrington Beach NSW

President's Report