Marty's Drift July 2003

A Cool New Product:
The 2003 FFF Conclave
and A Little Fishing

Korkers Wading Boots

One of the hottest new fly fishing items I’ve seen in recent years is the new Korkers wading boot. These are truly something new, innovative, tough and functional. I got my first close look at Korkers when John Chaney and Ron Jamtgaard got into my boat on the Kalama River in May. I had donated a steelhead float trip to the Clark-Skamania Fly Fishers fund raising auction in March and Ron purchased the trip. As we were loading up John said he had studded soles on his boots. I told him not to worry; the studs would not hurt the floor of the boat. He replied that it would only take a second to change them. With that he quickly removed the studded soles and put in a pair of plain felt soles. Did I say it was quick?

I took a good look at his wading boots. They had a nice look, but being a skeptic about new products I kept my eye on them all day. I wondered how well that removable sole would stay put. Ten hours later, after climbing in and out of the boat and wading all the good fly fishing runs on our drift, the soles were still solidly in place. So now I was more interested.

It turns out the Korkers headquarters is just up the road from ClackaCraft. More ironic, Korkers president Bob Workman and Bruce Belles are old friends. Bob is trying to get more exposure for his product and he wanted Bruce and me to try them. I’ve made half a dozen fishing trips in my pair of Korkers so far and the only thing I can say is they are the best wading boots I’ve ever used.

The interchangeable sole is the key feature of this boot. They come with three different soles for a wide variety of situations. There is a lug sole for overland hiking. Once you’ve reached the river, you can change to either the felt or studded felt sole. The soles are very light weight so they are no problem to carry. They will easily fit in the back pocket of your fishing vest.

Like our ClackaCraft drift boats, these boots are tough and they are innovative. And we are going to let you try them for yourself. For a limited time, a pair of Korkers wading boots will be included with the purchase of every new ClackaCraft boat! You’re going to like them. Take a look at www.korkers.com

John Day Smallmouth

On Thursday, May 22, Joyce and I packed our old truck with our camp gear, loaded the dogs and headed east on Interstate 84. At Biggs Junction we took Highway 97 south for a couple miles till we hit the Wasco turn off. At Wasco we hooked up with Highway 206, which took us into Condon. Just before Condon we drove through an amazing wind farm. Identical huge white wind turbines turned in the mild breeze, putting me in mind of a sci-fi movie. At Condon we turned south on Highway 19. We crossed the John Day River at Cottonwood Bridge and continued on to Fossil. Fossil is a one-time timber town that is now trying to turn its economic efforts to tourism and is the headquarters for Steve Fleming's Mah-Hah Outfitters. Steve specializes in smallmouth bass fishing trips. I doubt that anyone catches smallmouth as successfully as Steve does. Every season his clients catch numerous smallmouth over 20 inches.

Steve had invited Joyce and me to fish with him on Friday. We drove over a day early to avoid needing to make a 3:00 a.m. departure and to enjoy a camp out at the Shelton campground located between Fossil and our launch point. We stopped by Steve’s house to confirm our morning meeting time and place, then went on to the campground. The campground is at about 3000 feet elevation. It sits in a pine and fir forest and is like a different world from the country that the John Day River runs through, just 10 miles away at 1100 feet elevation. Down on the river it is all sagebrush and juniper.

I really like both types of terrain. Each has its own beauty. At the campground we enjoyed an array of wildflowers. The biggest and most impressive was the arrow leaf balsamroot, a tall, yellow flower of the early season. The thing I enjoyed most, however, was the quiet. Yes, we could hear cars on the highway, but they were a faint whisper. The sounds that stood out were the drumming of blue grouse and the call of turkeys. Nice wild sounds.

Steve met us early in the morning and we drove down to the Service Creek boat launch. We were just ahead of the early weekend floaters so we were quickly off. Several years ago I had done some fly fishing on the John Day for smallmouth, but I have never used conventional gear. I told Steve I wanted to try the spinning gear. Everyone thinks spinning is a slam-dunk. Think again. It takes some understanding and practice.

To be successful it also takes knowing what you should use for a particular species. Steve knows smallmouth! He knows where to find them in the John Day and what type of lures to use. The day we fished we used soft baits (rubber worms for those of us who don’t know one from the other) of different colors, styles and sizes. I soon found out that these fish don’t smash a bait. Bites are very subtle and I missed a large amount during the day. That can only be overcome by fishing a lot and learning to distinguish a bite.

Smallmouth are impressive for their strength. We didn’t get any of the bigger fish on our trip; still the 11- and 13-inch fish are hard fighters and a ton of fun. At midday, after catching 15 or 20 bass, I tried the fly rod. Steve gave me a Muddler type fly that is tied on a 1/16-ounce jig head. I think Steve called it My Fly. It has a red tail and a chartreuse calf tail and brown deer hair wing. On a streamer hook it would be about a size 8. The bass liked it fine.

Our lunch stop was made beneath some big junipers. Steve set up a table and some chairs and served up some Dutch oven cooked chicken. It was a great riverside meal. After lunch we caught more bass, still looking for the big ones that had probably gone off to spawn with the rise in water temperature. But, even without the big ones, it was an action-filled enjoyable day.

About 7:00 p.m. Steve dropped us back at our campsite. The campground was filled with Memorial Day campers. Rap music bombarded us from one side, hard rock from the other. Mercifully, things quieted around 10:00 p.m. Saturday morning there were no grouse drumming or turkeys calling from the hills, so we packed up and pulled out.

2003 Federation of Fly Fishers Conclave

From August 4th through the 9th the Federation of Fly Fishers will have their annual Conclave and Fly Fishing Show in Idaho Falls, Idaho. ClackaCraft is a Conclave sponsor this year and ClackaCraft has provided a boat that will be raffled for FFF fund raising. The boat is a limited edition especially for the Federation.

ClackaCraft has strong connections with the FFF. Our National Sales Manager, Jack Parker has been a Federation member for more than 20 years. In 1998 Jack helped organize the annual Conclave in Idaho Falls. He was formerly a national membership VP. Currently Jack stays active by serving on the board of the Snake River Cutthroat club. Salesman John Lent is a FFF life member. He is a past president of the Snake River Cutthroat Club and is currently a board member of the Western Rocky Mountain Council. Salesman Rich Ward is a FFF certified Master Casting Instructor.

You can get more information about the 2003 Conclave by checking the FFF web site, www.fedflyfishers.org where you can buy raffle tickets for the boat on line. You can also get raffle tickets at ClackaCraft in Idaho Falls, 2700 N. Yellowstone Hwy.

Give Marty a call at: (503) 655-9532

You can also call Idaho Falls at (800) 394-1345.