Rainland Fly Casters 20th

Anniversary Book

The Columbia Press

Club Publishes Book to Fund

Conservation Work

       By Gary Nevan

To commemorate their 20th Anniversary, the Rainland Fly Casters club in Astoria has produced a high quality, full-color book called Northwest Fly Patterns & Tying Guide.

Early this year, 4,000 copies were printed including three special copies that apparently no one knew existed. Bit more on that later.

Co-Editor Rick Newton, who owns Warrenton Auto Parts, said the club wanted to share their love of fly fishing with others as well as raise funds for the group's local conservation efforts.

"We've been very involved in many conservation projects," Newton said, "including Oregon's Adopt-A-River, the planting of spruce seedlings on the Necanicum river and helping the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife with native fish surveys. We've also supported many projects throughout the state."

The club was recognized for their conservation efforts in 1998 when they were chosen Club of the Year by the Oregon Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers.

Membership in the club fluctuates in numbers from 30 to 60 at any given time with ages ranging from 12 to 80.

They all share the love of fishing and the natural environment.

Newton, along with co-editor Joe Miltenberger, decided to get serious a couple of years ago about producing a book. They enlisted the help of other club members who contributed articles and photos.

"It's a good basic guide about fly fishing," said Newton. "There are articles about fishing techniques and lots of color photos showing flies tied by members. Joe was the consistent push forward to get the book done. I was the idea guy."

For the most part, Newton has been fly fishing since he was 10-years-old.

"My mom taught me how to tie flies," he said. "She doesn't fly fish but she liked the look of flies and decided she wanted to learn how to tie them."

Now, about those special books.

One day, weeks before the books were scheduled to be printed, Newton and Miltenberger each received two hard back copies with leather coversand gold inlay. Newton received two black leather copies and Miltenberger one black and one green copy.

When Newton contacted the publisher, Frank Amato Publications of Portland, he was told they knew nothing about the black special edition books.

"Frank said he didn't authorize printing them and had no idea where they came from," Newton said. "Three of the books were unnumbered which made them worth more to a collector."

How much were the books worth? Newton donated one copy to the Federation of Fly Fishers auction held Sept. 27, 2003. The book fetched $875.00 from a book appraiser and collector in attendance.

Copies of the book can be purchased at Warrenton Auto Parts or any Rainland Fly Casters club member.

(Here are two other book reviews. One is from the Chinnok Observer and the other from the December 2003 FFF Clubwire.)

Cast a Line on Club's New Book

Coast Weekend section of

The Daily Astorian

The Rainland Fly Casters fly fishing club of Astoria has released it's first book, "Northwest Fly Patterns and Tying Guide," a Frank Amato publication.

The book features fly fishing techniques from some of the area's experts including Henry Hoffman, founder of Hoffman Hackles; Lee Clark of Clark's stone fly fame; Dave Hughes, a fly fishing and tying author; and Chuck Cameron, saltwater fly fishing and fly tier.

The book features a section of favorite flies of the club members and an insect hatch chart for planning which flies to use. The book features chapters on dry, wet, nymphs, terrestrials, streamers and saltwater flies. It also contains a chapter on the club's history and stories from some of it's members. Henry Hoffman offers a section on hints to make fly-tying easier.

The book was written by a committee whose members included Dioniscio "Don" Abing, Chuck Cameron, Al Haar, Henry Hoffman, Jeff Mac Lean, Bob May, Joe Miltenberger and Rick Newton. The book took about two years to research and edit. Co-editors were Joe Miltenberger and Rick Newton.

For more information on the book, you can call Rick Newton at his place of business 861-2268 and if you are calling long distant you can call the toll free number 1-800-585-2268 or you can ask any of the other club members. The books are also available at Frank Amato publications website or you can go to Amazon books website.