Weekly Meeting Schedule

Hail to the chief! Our esteemed President, Lanning Hochhauser, will be front and center this week. He'll be leading us on a tie that is sure to up our skills with a very unique technique.

Not only will the Polish Woven Nymph expand our fly tying skills, it's sure to put another fly in our arsenal that will improve our fish-catching skills as well.

MAKE SURE TO BRING A DUBBING TWISTER (and a desire to add embroidery to your arsenal)!

Please join us for this very special meeting. DRiFT and The Tie-a-thon have formed a strong relationship over the past several years. We have tied thousands of flys each year for a worthy cause. For the first time, we will be presenting the thousands of flys tied by DRiFT members directly to Tim.

The Tie-a-thon was founded by Tim Scott of South Bend, IN and with Terry Wittorp of Dowagiac, MI in the fall of 2006 when Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited (KVCTU) needed flies for their Youth Camp.  The Tie-a-thon concept asked tyers to produce 100 flies of one pattern and donated them so the kids could fish. When the first Tie-a-thon wrapped up, in the spring of 2007, tyers donated 2,500 flies to KVCTU. From that first event, tyers were interested in continuing the Tie-a-thon, and 13 years later, tyers have donated over 131,500 flies to 16 different non-profit organizations and good causes which use fly fishing for either therapy or education.

Tim Scott has been fly-fishing and tying for 26 years. He and his wife Karen are 26-year residents of South Bend, Indiana, where they live a block and a half from the St. Joseph River and where Tim chases smallmouth and steelhead. Fly fishing and fly tying has been the center of Tim’s spare time, when he is not working as the Director of Material Management for a Goshen Indiana Tier 1 automotive parts supplier. Tim is also a three term South Bend Common Council member and the President of the Council, but he still finds time to fish about 75 days out of the year and tie flies almost daily. He and his wife travel often to Colorado, Michigan and their home state of Missouri, where fly-fishing is always part of their trips. Tim has a photojournalism degree from Mizzou and has been published in the Drake and Catch magazines.

Visit The Tie-a-thon Facebook Page!

Our good friends Mike Allen (a very long-time member, by the way) and Kurt Nelson will be here to help keep your fishing season extended throughout the year. They'll be sharing a very interesting presentation on how to catch those Smallies in the winter. Yes, the winter!

If you haven't noticed, Mike and Kurt have been growing a dynamic and expanding guiding business. They specialize in Illinois waters within a couple hours of our area.

Check out their website: www.midwestwaters.com 

Join us for a special guest presentation from our good friends at Orvis Chicago.

Ray Bley is a Chicago area fly angler and fly tier. He grew up fishing the lakes and rivers throughout the City and Suburbs. Ray’s passion is targeting the the warm water species of the Midwest, especially smallmouth bass. Ray has developed his baitfish pattern to cater to the smallmouth in our local waters.

You're sure to pick up a ton of valuable information and insight from this one...Ray shares a lot of his insight and experience!

Visit Orvis Chicago: https://stores.orvis.com/us/illinois/chicago

It will be the end of another season at DRiFT, but we'll be closing the year with a bash. Our year-end Pizza Party and Fly Exchange it the perfect final "meeting."

We'll have free pizza, salads and soft drinks (there is a cash bar)! As usual, we'll have door prizes, special raffles and maybe a few other surprises. Don't forget to tie your six flies and bring them along to trade as you get ready to make Summer fishing plans with your DRiFT buddies!