Jun - Jul 2006 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

8/9/2019 Jun - Jul 2006 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited

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To Conserve, Protect, And Restore North Americas Cold Water Fisheries And Their Watersheds

THE TROUT LINETualat in Valley Chapter News

June/ July 2006 Editor : David Il lig

Chapter Meetings are held at the LUCKYLABRADOR on the second Wednesday ofeach mon th at 7 :00 pm wit h a social get-together and th eformal meeting at 7:30 unless otherwise noted in thenewsletter or w ebsite. Lucky Labrador, Mul tnomahVillage , 7675 SW Capitol Hwy . Port land ,(503) 244-2537. Food and Beverages available.

Board of Directors Meetings Board of Di rectorsMeetings ar e held the four th Wed of the mont h at aBoard member home at 7pm.

Wedn esday Jun e 14 th Fif ty Places toFly Fish Bef ore You Di e . Youre free to makeyour own list, but local Portland freelance writer ChrisSantella consulted some of the worlds most knowledgeableanglers to come up wi th the 50 featur ed in hi s well-r eceivedfly fishing destination t ravel guide, Fift y Places to Fly FishBefor e You Di e . Hell share about a doz en desti nation swith us, and talk a litt le bit about h ow he came to write thebook, how to pl an your d ream tr ip, and m aybe share somefishing t ales coming out in his soon-to-publish book offavorite stories told by t he worlds most f amous fly anglers.

Wedn esday , Jul y 12 A nn ual Picni cOn Th e Tu alatin Riv er . 6:00pm .Instead of our regular meeting, our July program is apotl uck p icnic at Cook Park i n Tigard. Cook Park i s locatedon SW 92 south of Dur ham Road in Tigard. It is dir ectlysouth of Ti gard H igh School. Head west j ust past Tigard HSon SW Durham Road and tu rn south at the traffi c light ont oSW 92nd. Foll ow 92 nd about a half mi le as it goes downhi lland curves to t he left and dead ends into th e park . Wehave reserved p icnic shelter #3 w hich is at th e very end ofthe park road just t o the left of th e boat ramp. This is alsocalled th e ri verside picni c shelter. You can't miss the picnicshelter. It is th e only stru cture down t here by the boatramp . There are paved park ing areas.

We wi ll h ave a grill wi th bur gers and dogs and buns.Please bri ng a side dish, and/ or a dessert or salad th atfeeds six. Let us know what category of food yourebr in ging. Call or email , a Board Member, Offi cer.We have reserved t he picnic shelter # 3 from 6pm until9pm. We hope t o have everyone din ing by 6:30pm .Bri ng y our fami lies and f ri ends. RSVP if y ou can.Bring y our fl y r od if y ou would li ke to share somecasting ti ps or w ant some help.

President Hank s Colum nHank Hosf ieldI used to j oke about being el presidente for lif e, and thatmy terrible reign over the chapter would be characterizedby gross malfeasance, corr upt ion and cru elty, as I lin e mypockets with pelf looted fr om t he treasury while negligentlyleading the organization down a path to rui n. As I onceagain assum e the mant le of TVTU chapter pr esidency, Ipro mise no lessand t his ti me, I mean it.

Personal gain and aggrandiz ement aside, my m odest goalsthi s time around include a number of t hings that couldactu ally benefit u s. My vision for t he chapter remains thesame. My interests and pri ori ti es are to pr omot e TVTU

pri mari ly as a fishing clu b where members can enj oy goodfellowship, impr ove their fishing skill s, get involved inconservati on effor ts and learn mor e about t he localwatersheds. To make us a better club at accompl ishingth ese thi ngs, here are the areas Id l ik e to f ocus new energyin t he months to come.

New Membership : As you may be aware, our chapter hasover 600 members on it s rol ls. Many of th em have lit tl einterest or tim e to be more involved in chapter activit ies.Im less int erested in swellin g the tot al number of membersthan I am i n r ecruiti ng more active membership anddiversifying the active membership.

Diversification : We are largely a grou p of m idd le-aged menand old er. We need mor e young people to get in volved, andwe need more women. On the books, our chapt er is over25%f emale. Acti ve female membership is typi cally lessth an 5%. Youth m embership is virt ually non-existent. Weshould be able to impr ove th is. We mu st.

New Leadershi p : I have already start ed by enli sting PaigeWall ace as my vi ce-pr esid ent. Paige has don e a great j obfor us on our last two auction s. She hasnt been able to bemore regularly involved until j ust recentl y. Her stint s withNative Fish Society and t he North west Sport fi shing Indu stryAssociation wi th Liz Hamil ton kept her away from us. Hernew gig wit h KGW also keeps her bu sy, but is less of aconflict. I look for ward to pickin g her considerable brainabout new thin gs we can do. Im also lookin g to add acouple mor e new board members, and givin g each boardmember a specifi c ar ea to r ul e. Wer e already somewhatorganiz ed like thi s, but it w ill become more so.

Fundraising : Having been involved in at least five clubauctions, I know how mu ch work they are and how muchmoney they bring in. Aside from all of the fun they offer,once you break down the man-hours involved you mightwonder if we wouldn t h ave each been ahead sim plydonati ng the money ourselves. Thats not to say Im


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against auctions, but I th ink th ere may be betterfund raising options for usincluding seeking donationssomethin g we really havent done to much extent. Ourchapter curr entl y has operating f unds t o keep us going fora coupl e years, probably, so our situ ation i s not ur gent . Butwe need to restock our coffers eventu ally. We should be onthe lookout f or any and all new opportuni ties.

Defining our Mission : There is mor e int erest from TUnational in support ing the chapters now than any time Iremember. There is a new init iative to evaluate chaptersand mor e talk about how to maximiz e chapter r esources.Theres even int erest fr om ou r Western Regional of fi ce tobecome more dir ectl y involved with l ocal chapters. For along t im e there has been some disconnect between ou rchapter efforts and the various projects that TU was doing.We havent r eally wor ked together. This will change. Therewill be more dir ection fr om above and our chapter effor tswil l be mor e meaningfu l. Our chapter also has manyopportu nit ies to get involved in a num ber of conservationpr ojects in the comi ng mont hs. Were even consideringadopti ng a local watershed to call our own. One of mymain goals on this fr ont i s to give our chapter moreownership i n th e proj ects we do, and to give us more long-

term access to use the private lands that ou r pr ojects help.

As far as th e general operation of t he chapter goes, I wantto im pr ove th e chapter experi ence. Were going to contin ueto add valu e to our meeti ngs and events, and crank upsome momentum .

Then Im going abscond with all of t he chapter f unds andbuil d my f ishin g palace someplace exotic. This is mypledge to you. Unti l th en, viva Hank , el president e for lif e!Hank

Fly of the Month Bead-head, BiotMicro-stone. . Al ex Bark um eThi s mon th s FOM is the Bead-head, Biot Mi cro-ston e. Thisis a great fl y for fishi ng excursions over on th e Deschut es.I ran int o thi s fly when I stopped at a small store inPinedale, Wyomin g to pick up a fi shing license. The upp erGreen River f lows by nearby and f olk s over t here use th isfl y all summ er long on the Green. Raschell e (my daught er)and I were headed u p in to the hi gh Rockies on a hor se-packtr ip int o the Contin ental Divide and di dnt have tim e tocheck it out on t he Green. However, the next win ter, I took

it over t o th e Deschut es and found that the red-sides dig it!Its heavy enough t o sink pretty qu ickly and could be pairedup wit h another nymph for a deadly one-two punch.

I tie th is in both black and d ark br own, as both colors arefound i n the real nymphs. Tie thi s one on as the bottomfly in a two-fly setup.

BH Biot Micr o-stone:Originator: Unknown

Hook: Tiemco 2457 or equivalent curved scudhook sizes 10 to 14.

Bead-head: 5 /3 2 Sil ver or gold, tu ngsten bead-headnymph- size to hook size

Thread: 8/ 0 thr ead, color t o match the body.Tail: A pair of gr ay goose biot s.Ribbing: Copper w ir e tr y dif ferent col ors (I used

red on t his one)Body: Black or dark brown i mit ation seal

dubbing.Wing case: 2 or 3 p ieces of tur key tail or swiss straw.Arms: A pair of gr ay goose biot s.

1. Thread a tungsten bead up to the eye of the hookand thr ow a thr ead wr ap around the bead to lash itin place.

2. Opt secure 3 or 4 wraps of 0.015 lead wire justbehind the tungsten bead.

3. Tie in a pair of t he goose biots just above the pointof t he hook. Tie in a v as in a for ked tail , concaveside up. Hint : Take care wit h the fin e th read that

you dont cinch down too hard on t he biots, it w illcut i n to t hem if you do and t hey may even severall together.

4. Tie in a 3 piece of wire just in front of the biottails.

5. Thinly dub a tapered body with a seal-likedubbing. Dub up to the thor ax, about 1/ 8 behindthe BH.

6. Over-wrap the body with the copper wire as a rib.7. Tie in a sliver of turk ey tail at the top of the thorax.

Dub over wi th t he thread wraps holding down th eturkey tail wing carapace with seal fur.

8. Tie in a second piece of tu rkey tail and repeat i tem7

9. Tie in the remaining two goose biots, one eachalong side of each side of th e body sweepin gback.

10. Whip-fini sh and put a drop of cement on the threadto finish.


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The Deschut es flows high in the wint er down by Maupin,but I knew the fish would still be there. Maybe a lit tlesluggish, but t hey were there. I tied on a BH Biot Ston eand a Pri nce Nymph . When I got the weight right , Istarted hooking fish at a steady clip. As th e fi shingstarted t o slow, I started t o probe deeper water in t he runin front of me.

A n ice cast in some deeper hol din g water was rewardedwit h a solid hook -up. As I ti ghtened up on th e li ne, I beganto realiz e thi s was no small fish. It imm ediately left t hewater i n fr ont of m e heading out and down the rapid infr ont of me. I followed and managed to keep the fish outof th e main curr ent. Aft er about 10 min utes, the great fishstart ed to tir e.

I had to smi le when I looked down at t he steelhead only t osee the Biot Stone secur ely hooked i n t he very cor ner of it smout h. I dont go to it as often as I do other patt erns,however, lik e a Capit ol One Card, I dont go anywherewithout it!

Be careful with this f ly however, the fish wi ll pop you off ifyou arent r eady. You may want to up your leader siz e a

notch when using th is one.

Tight Lines, Alex

Deschu tes Riv er Repor t (Out in g)Andy Andrews

River conditions:Upon entering the Trout Creek Campground I had to dodgewater fil led poth oles. There were numerous sleeping bagshanging out t o dry und er m ostly sunny skies. The wordwas that it had rained hard and long the night before. Myfir st real view of t he river was that it was slightly high, afew shades dark er than I woul d li ke and seemed to bemoving right along. I talked to an off icial at th e boat r ampand he said t hat th e ri ver was up n ot onl y because of t herain, but t hey also had a fl oater somewhere in th e ri ver.Seeing m y confusion at t he term f loater he defined it as anative (American Indi an) who h ad taken a header off th eWarm Spr ings Brid ge th e day befor e. Water h ad beenreleased f rom the Pelton Damn du rin g the night in anattempt to fl ush up the body. There appeared to be aseri ous attempt at recoveri ng th e body as a great num ber of4 wheelers were scootin g up and d own t he far side of t heri ver and Ind ians had pl aced nets at str ategic places across

the river.

I ful ly respect and appreciate the att empt at t he recovery ofth e body and I don t want any questi ons raised about t hatfr om what Ive writ ten. But I am slightly confused aboutthe release of water fr om the damn. If you jum p into th ewater, and you make no attempt at tryin g to stay on top,you wil l sink ; I dont care what cop show you watch where abody dr ift ed off o n t he sur face (unless it s the Great SaltLake), you will sink , im mediately! The body will n ot retur nto t he surface unti l t he cells have start ed to decompose,releasing a gas th at causes the body to f loat . In t he CoastGuard A uxi liary w e called it t he Bloat and Float Factor

(and t hats mostl y why I was in t he C.G. A. for on e summ er, onl y!). The reappearance of t he body can berou ghly calculated by water t emperatur e and a few otherfactors. So, what was the pur pose of releasing th e waterfr om t he damn ? Was the pur pose of r eleasing th e water toraise th e water t emperatur e of the river and cause th e bodyto reappear qui cker? One fi sherm an suggested th at th erecovery of the body wit hin a cert ain tim e frame may be acult ur al issue. To me, releasing water fr om th e damn m ightonly conf use the issue of wh ere th e body mi ght be resti ngand in crease th e search area. But enough of t his subject.

Bug Activity:There were no bugs in t he bushes or on th e water at Tr outCreek. I bounced Ston efly (Giant and Golden) nymph sacross the bottom; I also tried adult patterns on t op and Inever h ad a hit , nor di d I see anyone take a fish. Onegent leman tol d me he took t wo fi sh the evening before nearth e campgr ound , ju st befor e the rain start ed. Everyone Italk ed to said th at Maupin was th e place to be as thestonefli es were out down t here and they just hadnt m ovedup t o Trout Creek. My mission was clear; relocated toMaupin to see what was really goi ng on.

There were stonefli es in t he bushes at Maupin, but n oth ingon t he water. Most of t he bugs I observed were GoldenSton es and t hey were doing t he Big Nasty (egg fert ili zati onwas taki ng place). Now, I cant say the air was full of bu gs,because it w asnt . Al most every bush had a few bugs in itwit h m ost of t he bugs being Goldens. The Giants werefewer in n um ber and were being very anti social wi th eachoth er. If I had to make a pr ediction (stu pid m e), theGoldens wil l start egg lying earl y thi s week but t hey are notat or near t heir zenit h yet. The Giants are harder topredict. Right now I consider t heir num bers low but t heymight start hit ting t he water later th is week, or m aybe nextweekend; next week w ill see some bugs on th e water forsure (?).

I tr ied adult pattern s as well as nymphs at Maupin andcaught a big nothi ng (the Deschut es ju st doesnt li ke me!).If I had t he tim e, Id go the later part of th is week and againth e midd le of next w eek, dependi ng on t he weather, whatth e bugs were doing later t his week, the temperament ofmy w ife, etc.

So there it is; lots of dri ving, some fishin g, and no fi sh! ButI did get a day on th e river and I value that m ost of all.Andy


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TU Fishin g Outi ngs

Check the Web site for any last minute changes.

June 2,3,4 Stat e Proj ect, Metol ius Riv erBase Camp

Jun e 23, 24, 25 Ti m oth y Lak eJul y 21,22, 23 Gold Lak eAugu st 25, 26, 27 Lost Lak e, Laurence

Lake, Mt. HoodSeptem ber 20-27 Fall Riv er,

Central OR.October 6,7,8 State Pro j ect, Metoli us

Riv er Base CampOctober 27, 28 29 Crook ed Riv erCall A ndy or a Board member for more inf o.

Andy s Appr enti ce(Position Available)Life can t ake a dir ecti on t hat we dont always appreciate.The recent tu rn in m y lif e has had a good and bad eff ect.The good is t hat I sti ll h ave a paycheck. The bad is th at Ivelost cont rol of my f ree ti me because of a new posit ion inthe company. And , that my fr iends, opens the door foryou to become Andys Appr entice in runni ng the TVTUoutings. Im n ot able to par ti cipate as I used t o because oftim e constraints, so I need someone to fil l i n on leading t hetr ips from ti me to time. All t hat is required is that youapply th e Golden Rule (tr eat ot hers as you woul d li ke to betr eated), th row in a dab of p atience and you wi ll b ecome astar of TVTU. It would be nice if you would j oin us on theboard, a prestigious positi on in itself, but its not arequirement. Im sure that t he applications will come infast and f uri ous for t his part t ime position, so make aneffor t to get yours in fir st. A real bonus on yourapplication woul d be your ability t o cook r oad kill andmake it l ook l ike a recently shot p heasant (instead of someunidenti fied creatur e that lost a foot race between t he tir eon a semi and th e highw ay). Heres the oppor tun it y for youto change the program f or the better, or follow Andys lead;your choi ce. Ill even loan you th e famou s personallyextending, manually rotated marshmallow toasting devices.Theyre a guaranteed hi t and conversation booster ar oundth e campf ir e. On the seri ous sid e, a commi tm ent to thi sposition will put you on t he water mor e often than any

oth er positi on in TU (Dear, I have to go fi shing t hisweekend cause Im the leader!) For m ore inform ation,please call An dy at 503 969 2246. Or if that f ails, 503

646 2375 . A nd y

Hope I Catch Som eth in g, Hop e Icatch somethi ng. Hope I catchsom eth ing. Hope I catch som eth in gBIG. Oh no, I caught it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Dav id Il l ig

Ive never r eally been afr aid of snakes. I usually say that as

long as th ey dont surp ri se me Im ok w it h seeing them andnot both ering them. But Im not one to watch a Natur eshow on snakes or r ead an arti cle on t hem. I dont m indth em in m y yard or gard en as long as I see th em fi rst. Butsometimes I do jum p pretty high when Im surp rised. Imeven ok in th e rocks along th e Deschutes.

However, all bets are off when a snake is swimm ing. Forsome reason, unk nown to m e, it fr eaks me out when I see asnake in th e water. Its always bothered m e. I in stantly h avefantasies of it climbing in t he boat with me and somethingawful h appening. I did nt say it s rational. But m y heartalways races and I look around for possible escape path s.And Im willin g to break m y rod fi ghting them off . (spareme t he dr eams, pl ease.)

Recently I was fi shing on a small Pay-to-fish l ake whenabout a 3-3 foot snake went swi mm ing across the lake asI watched wit h in terest, happy it was going pr ett y much t heother way. But as soon as it heard me thin k t hat thought ittu rn s back t owards me and m y float t ube. Oh no. Go away.I tr y to splash m y rod in t he water and t hat seems toint erest i t m ore. Go away. Well, I tr y to remain cool. I reallydo k now t here arent any poisonous snakes in t he valley.But part of my brain still doesnt like thi s. I thr ow a fewcasts out its way ho pin g to scare it off . False casti ng doesntwork, so I aim about six inches to the left of it figuri ng thatwill do th e trick. I hit my t arget perfectly. Six in ches to th eleft. But th en lik e some magical t ri ck, I swear t he snake

jumped t o the left and when I pull ed m y line back. Youkn ow it I have th e snake hooked about half way on itsbody. Oh NO!

Now what? I imm ediately try to br eak the fly off lik e I dowhen snagged But it doesnt work. It just pulls the snakecloser wh ich is exactly wh at I dont want. So I slowly pul l inline figuring I will cut m y ten foot leader r ight at the knot.But dang, thats a really ni ce big, new, pricey fly I have onth ere and I hate to l ose it . And.. the snake sudd enlygoes tot ally sti ll Totally. So I reach slowly d owntoward the fly, very slowlytelling myself I will makeone attempt to get t he fly, and if I fail Im cut ting t he line.As I move my hand t oward the shank of t he fly Im mentally

seeing the snake go for m y hand and Im w onderi ng whowoul d be faster, my hand or th e snake. Not pr etty pi ctur es.Im r ehearsing my fast dr aw in my head. But I t ake a deepbreath and grab the hook and it comes right out. Thankgoodness for having squeezed the barb down. Whew!!!!!

But th e snake ju st li es th ere now for several seconds andthen sinks right to th e bottom not m oving. Wait a minut e. Idi dn t hu r t you. Now I have t o r escue you ???????? Mist ercatch and release?. I cant... I coul dn t Iki cked away quick ly j ust hopi ng the snake was ok andwould come back to li fe but not sure it wouldAnd f eelingguilty. Later talking to t he owner he was fami liar with t he


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snakes and said t hey were harm less as far as poison bu t didhave small t eeth that could hur t a lit tle. And they werefamous for playing possum and sinking right t o the bottom.I had later seen a snake that look ed very m uch t he samenear t he reeds so I fi gure it w as him but at t he tim e I wasntsure. The owner assured m e it was fine.

So now Ive caught a sparr ow and a bat and a snake and Iguess I sti ll h ave to get the griz zl y and t he moose and th ebuffalo before I retire from fishing.

Darn bu t I d ont lik e those snakes in th e water. So if I say Icant stand t hose snakes in th e water i n t he Whit e House,you know I really m ean it. I had one on my l ine and I lethim go. David

Remember t o Sign up New Memb ers t oTrout Unlimi ted . Its a great bargain f or w hat t heyget. Especially at t he half-off intr oductory membership at$17.50 Lots of people arent m embers who would enjoy i t.We sti ll get somethi ng for new member signup s. Newmembers can sign u p at www.tu.org/ intro and enterin g

code 63 3 for Tualatin Valley chapter. If th ey pr efer a papermembership application, contact Erle to send it to them.

Alex on th e Columbian f ishing for shad

You guy s asked for pr ojects, y ou'r egoing to get th em . HankIn addition to the Gales Creek survey we are helping TRWCwith thr ough the end of May, new opportuni ties areavailable for u s to roll up our sleeves and pu t on ou rwaders. I talked wi th John Weinheimer, WA Fish & Wildli feDistrict 9 biologist, and contacted Tom Horning this week.Both h ave stuff in t he works for u s to do.

Horn ing has alr eady talk ed with the CRTU about sum merproj ects, but m ore details are forthcomin g.Weinheimer, on t he other h and, has sur veys set to start inJune on Castle and Coldwater lakes. He also has a surp ri se

proj ect in the works for us that I can't divul ge. I'll touchbase with him again in l ate April.

FYI--he just fi nished a sur vey of Merri l l Lake , and h e saysth e cut ts are look ing very good (he also fou nd 4 r ainbowsand 1 nice brown i n t he trap)and th e very high water levelhas dr opped int o the will ows. The lake was all t he way upto th e out house earli er this win ter. He expects the boatlaunch area to open in late May.

Anoth er proj ect th at isn't exactly conservation is anoppor tun it y to h elp the Oregon State Police. We've talk edabout better game enf orcement and t he value of havin gclub members adopt str eam beats to patrol . Al an Moore,TU's W. Region Commu nication s Dir ector , contacted DavidPond , the OSP Fish & Wil dl if e Sergeant ou t of Bend . He'smor e than happy t o come to a TU meeti ng and di scuss whatanglers can do to assist l aw enf orcement wi thapprehendin g F&W violator s in a safe manner. Obviously,this is somethi ng that we should team up with other areafi shing clubs to do. I'd lik e to see us enli st all of the areafl y clubs and t he steelheaders for a seminar wit h Sgt. Pond.Pond says there are a couple of p rogr ams on some riverswhere volunteers assist in protection of salmon and

steelhead lik e the N . Umpqua and N. Santiam . There mayor m ay not be one in t he Port land area. He's going t ocheck. I thin k thi s could be a very good thing. Sim ply theawareness that cit iz en patrol s are out there m ay detersome violators, and empower other good citizens using theresour ce to exert some peer pressure. It 's a goodopportun ity t o help educate the public and protect ourfisheries.

That's all for now. Let's get busy. Hank

.

Fly caught shad

UPCOMING Newslett er Mater ialWe need material f or u pcomin g issues Or j ust send somenice pict ur es you have. We need your inp ut , please.Di ll ig1 @aol.com 296 9050
http://www.tu.org/intromailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.tu.org/intro


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Tualati n Vall ey Tr out Unl im it edJun e/ July 2006

resident: Hank Hosfi eld228-6553 hank h@im agin a.com

VP Paige Wallace

r easurer: Erl e Norm an 293-6006cadd is2000@hot m ail.comMemb ership Chair

oard of Dir ector s:

ri c Th om pson 297-0718angli n ger ic@m sn.com

ick Rohrbaughbaugh@lclark .edu 636-3877

Dav id Il lig 296 9050Di ll [email protected] Letter Editor

A lex Bark um e - 642-7024 alexbark um e@com cast.net

Andy Andrews Radd ic [email protected] 969 2246

Jerr y Heppell gheppell 5@v eriz on.net 639-94

Comm uni cation s DirectorSeth Isenberg 293-3290

sbi senb erg@com cast.ne t
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

Jun - Jul 2006 Trout Line Newsletter, Tualatin Valley Trout Unlimited