Announcements

Three Rivers Fly Fishers Membership Information 1/06/2025

Hello everyone,

As we put 2024 behind us and move forward into another year, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy New Year and I am hopeful that you, your families, friends and loved ones were able to have a wonderful and blessed Holiday Season.

I am going to be brief as possible and cover a few topics of importance as timely as I can for now. I will have more in depth information that may answer any questions you may have, and cover some topics I feel are necessary for the good of the order in a forthcoming email. 

For now, please be reminded that the General Membership Meetings will be held on the third WEDNESDAY of the month for calendar year 2025. Your first meeting then will be Wednesday, January 15th, 2025 at 7:00 pm at the Classic Cafe Exhibition Hall on Hillegas Rd. in Ft. Wayne. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

We will be set up again this year at the War Memorial Coliseum here in Ft. Wayne for the All American Outdoor Expo. This coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday, January 10th, 11th and 12th. Check local media outlets, social media platforms and the Expo website for times and a list of ongoing events. Please consider coming out and stopping by the booth and casting pond and showing your support for your club during this event. We have the volunteer list now complete and have submitted that information to Expo staff. I will be reaching out to those individuals, you know who you are, in short order with the information you will need for the weekend. Thank You for all your support in advance.

The official Three Rivers Fly Fishers Tuesday Night Fly Tying event will resume this coming Tuesday, January 7th, 2025 at the Coyote Creek Bar and Grill (Coyote Creek Golf Club) on Hillegas Rd. in Ft. Wayne. Tying, fellowship and great food and drink will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. This event will continue every Tuesday night until the last Tuesday in March. Please consider stopping out for a laid back evening and good times.

Also the Wabash tyers group is meeting every Monday night through the winter months as well. If you are close to the Wabash area, consider stopping in for a night of fly tying and fellowship with those folks as well. For times, location and details please contact Bob Hester at glassmanbob1989@yahoo.com

It is Fly Show Season! Don’t forget to mark your calendars for our own 2025 Fort Wayne Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Show. Saturday, February 8th, 2025. 9:00 am until 4:30 pm at the Classic Cafe Exhibition Hall, Ft. Wayne, IN. Volunteers for set up, tear down and to work the show are always welcome and needed. Reach out to a Board member if you are willing to help your club out. Thanks in advance. Other shows that may be of interest to members are the Heartland Fly Fishing Festival, Lebanon, IN. The Kentuckiana / Derby City Fly Show, Louisville, KY. Both on January 18th. The Greater Cincinnati Fly Show, Cincinnati,OH on February 1st. And the Midwest Fly Fishing Expo in Warren, MI, March 8th and 9th. Check their websites and social media for details. 

Our guest speaker for January is Mark Karaba, and Gary Krebbs for February. More details and bios in an upcoming email. Mark your calendars accordingly and please come out and support these speakers and your club. Thank you.

Two community outreach programs I want to make you aware of will be held in March. We will again be partnering with Eckhart Public Library and Valarie Simmons in Auburn, IN. The first event will be a fly fishing, fly casting clinic event on Saturday, during the day, March 15th. The second event will be a fly tying demonstration and hands on learning/tying program on Thursday night, March 20th. Both of these events are the Basics – 101 type programs, so if you have an interest in learning more about fly fishing or tying, feel free to sign up for these public forums. More details to follow, but for now refer to the Eckhart Public Library website, or reach out to member Brent Walchuk if interested in learning more about these programs or helping out. Thanks.

The last topic of importance is membership. This will probably be the hot button moving forward this year, and it will be a topic of priority for the Board of Directors very soon. The Board has discussed this in the past, and we feel that leadership, and those members who do pay their dues in a timely manner, have been more than gracious, more than tolerant and more than fair with those who continue to be non-compliant. Moving forward, we simply cannot keep individuals on the membership roster who are continually delinquent with their dues payment. Should you wish to continue on as part of this organization and benefit from what it has to offer, then your 2025 annual membership dues are now due. Thank you.

Hope this finds everyone doing well and enjoying the start up of this new year. Thanks to everyone for your continued support and for being a part of Three Rivers Fly Fishers. Take care and have a great week. Until next time, get out there, get involved and enjoy your club.

Most Respectfully – and Tight Lines,

Kevin Curtis – President

Three Rivers Fly Fishers – 3RFF

Ft. Wayne, IN

Reminder – Change to General Membership Meetings

To all club members, we would like to remind you of the change to the general membership meetings for calendar year 2025. Starting in January, the General Membership Meetings will move to the THIRD WEDNESDAY of the month. and will remain on the third WEDNESDAY of the month for the remainder of calendar year 2025. They will no longer be on the third Thursday of the month. So the first membership meeting of 2025 will be Wednesday January 15, 2025. Location and times will remain the same as always.

Update to Membership 9/30/2024

To the membership – hello everyone,

Just wanted to pass along some updates, information and reminders to all of you.

Most recently, this past monthly meeting on September 19th, we had 18 in attendance. We welcomed two new members, with one other person pending as a possible new member as well. Always a good thing. We also had a few members who have been away for awhile in attendance, so it’s always good to see them back as well. I would like to thank Lynn Burry, Johnnie Hanger and Don Privett for stepping up and providing us with very enjoyable and informative fly tying demonstrations. There were lots of questions and comments from the audience, and some nice flies passed around for show and tell. We left with some good ideas to take back to our own tying vices at home. I think everyone walked away with some great knowledge and enjoyed the evening. Thanks also to Kyle Hammond for the great video work as well; getting us up close and personal to all the action as usual. Thanks again guys, and thanks to all the members who attended to enjoy the evening and support your club. To the new members, welcome! 

Just a quick recap of the White River outing at Daleville on September 13,14 and 15th. We had low clear water, as the hot dry conditions of summer continued. Some were able to get their kayaks down stream, but wading was the name of the game. Everyone who got on the water caught fish, with smallmouth bass, rock bass and panfish coming to hand. Overall we had great weather, with temps and humidity down from previous weeks. The campground conditions on site were in excellent condition, so Ron and I didn’t have a lot of prep work prior to the event. 21 people attended this year’s outing and I believe it was most enjoyable for all. As always, the Derby City group were great guests, and two new guys attended from their club. The feedback I got was they’ll all be back next year. The Friday evening gathering at Bird’s BBQ was well attended and enjoyed. A group of us had breakfast at a new location, Diner 67 Family Restaurant, and all I can say is, we made a great choice and we’d all go back. We all had a great breakfast and dinner on site at Canoe Country, with Ron and I manning the big flat iron grill and others pitching in to help. There was great company and socializing around the campfire every night and another year of memories made. I’d like to give a shout out to Bob Hester for bringing down his big tent and awning and for all his efforts in helping to ensure things got done. Thanks to Ron Dixon for bringing his awning down as well, and for helping to cook. Thank you to everyone else who jumped in and helped out where needed or just came and enjoyed the weekend. Another great year.

October will see the Board meeting on Wednesday the 2nd to conduct official club business and agendas. As a reminder, the general membership club meeting will be held the third Thursday of the month, on October 17th. The location will be the Classic Cafe Event Center on Hillegas Rd. in Ft. Wayne. Start time is 7:00 pm with doors opening at 6:30 pm.

November, the Board will meet on Wednesday the 6th to conduct club business. The general membership meeting will take place the third Thursday in November on the 21st. Location will be the Classic Cafe and Event Center on Hillegas Rd., Ft. Wayne. 7:00 pm start, 6:30 pm doors open.

In December, the Board will meet on Wednesday the 4th to conduct club business. This is also when we start planning for the following years, 2025, events/outings. As a reminder, there is NO general membership meeting in December. 

!! NOTICE !!  !! IMPORTANT UPDATE !!  Beginning in January 2025, the “general membership meetings”  WILL BE MOVED TO THE “THIRD WEDNESDAY” OF THE MONTH. General membership meetings will no longer be held on the third Thursday of the month as before. So the first general membership meeting of the new year 2025, will be on WEDNESDAY January 15th. The location and start time will remain the same as previously conducted. ALL general membership meetings to follow, for the year 2025 will also then be held on the THIRD WEDNESDAY of the month moving forward. Please mark your calendars accordingly. The website and Facebook page will be updated to reflect this change as well. This change was brought about due to an increase in the amount of reservations and business Terry, the owner of Classic Cafe, is seeing on Thursdays. He informed Ron and I that he has large groups that have booked the entire facility for all Thursdays through 2025. Terry has informed all other user groups/clubs that have normally met once a month on Thursdays, that they also will need to adjust their schedules as well. So it is not just us who are affected. Again, we will be moving our general membership meetings to the THIRD WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH starting in 2025. Thank you, and sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. 

!! NOTICE !!  Starting on Tuesday October 1st, 2024, and continuing every Tuesday thereafter through March of 2025, we will continue our traditional  “Tuesday Night Fly Tying” sessions. This event will again be held at the Coyote Creek Bar and Grill (Coyote Creek Golf Club) on Hillegas Rd., Ft. Wayne. We have the back portion/room, north side, of the bar and grill reserved for this social event. They have a wonderful menu, full bar, and fantastic wait staff on hand and available to us for the evening. This is a great evening of comradery and fellowship, and tying flies. This is open to anyone who may have an interest in learning to tie flies, who already tie flies, both beginners or veteran tiers, or those who may wish to just come out and observe. We tie flies and socialize from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm or so. This is a nice laid back evening of fly tying at a great location, with good people and friends. Come out and join us for the evening and help support your club. 

We will be sending out additional information and updates as needed as we move forward. In closing, be thinking about our upcoming events in 2025 and how you want to attend or get involved. Remember our annual 3RFF Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Show will be Saturday February 8th, 2025. Other fly shows will be announced throughout the midwest as well. Until next time, Get out there, get involved and enjoy your club. And, Thank You, for being a part of Three Rivers Fly Fishers.

Most Respectfully – see you on the water,

Kevin Curtis – President
Three Rivers Fly Fishers (3RFF)