Welcome to the Great Lakes Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers

Confederating, Flyishing, what more could you want?

Plan to be at the MacMullan Conerence Center on Higgins Lake Friday, June 20 - Sunday, June 22.
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Special Fly Fishing Education Workshop Offered at GLC FFF Fly Fishing School & Conclave

Join Matt Wilhelm, FFF Education Coordinator for a fly fishing education workshop. The workshop will take place from 8 am to 3 pm on Saturday at the GLC Fly Fishing School & Conclave. There is no extra charge for the workshop.

This workshop will share with participants successful strategies for promoting education, effective programs to teach, tips for making the actual classes go smoothly for youth and adults, and how to grow FFF membership through club education programs. This workshop is open to anyone interested in conducting fly fishing education programs, and for those who want to learn or expand their teaching skills.

We are encouraging our GLC clubs to send representatives to this workshop and those that do so will receive a free FFF Fly Fishing Instructors Handbook ($50 value) for their club use. This unique manual offers the opportunity to conduct classes in a way that leaves the student with a valuable “teaching tool” that he or she can take away for later reference. Each Sheet serves as part of the instructor’s complete lesson plan, with space for the instructor to add reminders, asides, and other important observations to pass along. The sheets can be copied and used as “handouts” and the loose-leaf format enables FFF to provide updates and supplements.

Topics for the workshop will include:

• Implementing FFF Education Programs and Partner Programs (Project healing Waters, Casting for Recovery, Growing Together, BSA Fly Fishing Merit Badge, Fishing and Boating Grants, and School/University Programs)
• Hands-on teaching strategy seminars including: Effective fly casting instruction, fly tying instruction, aquatic macro-invertebrate sampling, aquatic entomology, fish adaptations, invasive species, hooking/playing releasing fish, youth fly casting instruction.
• Exploring FFF club growth through education programs

The workshop course outline and more details on the Fly Fishing School & Conclave and registration materials are on the Council Events page of this website. You may contact Matt Wilhelm with questions at 406-222-9369 ext 103 or at educate@fedflyfishers.org.

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FFF has offers for new members!

Please see the announcements page of this website for more information on some bargain rates for new members, only.
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National Fly Fishing Expo

The Federation of Fly Fishers will hold the “The FFF National Fly Fishing Exposition” March 28 through 30, 2008 at the Lakeland Center in Lakeland, Florida. Please see the links on the Announcements page of this website.
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Agreement Reached in Inland Treaty Rights Case

The Department of Natural Resources, the United States and five Michigan Indian tribes jointly announced today that they have reached an agreement on tribal inland hunting, fishing, and gathering rights in the 1836 Treaty area of Michigan.

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New Club formed in Washtenaw County Vicinity

The Great Lakes Council is proud to announce that a new flyfishing club has been formed to serve the Washtenaw County area of Michigan. The Huron River Fly Fishing Club meets regularly for activities of interest to flyfishers. Further information is available through Derek LeRoy, who is listed as the Club's contact person on the Clubs page of this website. Congratulations to everyone who had a hand in forming this organization.

Who Are We?

We are the voice of fly fishing in Michigan and Indiana.

The Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) and its Councils are the only organized advocates for fly fishers on the national and regional level.

The FFF is an organization was founded in Eugene, Oregon in 1965. It was formed to give fly fishing a unified voice, to promote fly fishing as a method of angling and to protect and expand fly fishing opportunities.

The FFF is now international in scope with active memberships throught the world. The FFF has hundreds of member clubs and thousands of individual members.

Highlights of the GLC (Michigan and Indiana)

Education

Please refer to the club activities and announcements pages of this website for news of flyfishing and flytying courses.

The GLC has flyfishing rods, with reels and lines, that are available to member Clubs for teaching purposes. Further information is available from Kevin Lounds at Yoopnnancy@aol.com.

Conservation

The GLC participates in river restoration on many fronts including Friends of the Cedar River, Michigan Governor's Hunting and Fishing Roundtable, MDNR Pere Marquette Lamprey Electric Weir, Grayling Stormwater Foundation, Mad River Ohio, Michigan Hydro Relicensing Coalition, and more.

Please check back as this site is populated with more information, and in the meantime, you can contact the GLC through Terry Lyons, VP Conservation, telyons@usol.com.

8th Annual Fly Tying Expo

The Expo was a wonderful gathering of tyers, attendees, friends, colleagues, and vendors. Many thanks to those of you who were there, and now everybody can look forward to next year's event, same place, on 06 December, 2008.

FFF and GLC Scholarship Award

The Great Lakes Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers has established a one-thousand-dollar scholarship for a student who will be entering his or her second, or later, year of college and who is working toward a degree that is consistent with the purposes of FFF.

This year’s cutoff date has passed. Information about next year’s scholarship will be posted on this website as soon as it is available. This year’s winner will be announced soon, and named on this website. Kevin Lounds, VP Education for the GLC, is in charge of the awarding of this scholarship, and can be reached at Yoopnnancy@aol.com. An electronic version of next year’s application will be available. Watch this website for updates.

GLC Shirts Now Available

Be sure to check out these comfortable and fast drying shirts with the GLC logo, in sizes up to 3X. Details are here...

Advertisements available for Friends of the GLC

The GLC’s Newsletter reaches nearly a thousand flyfishers, and accepts advertising aimed at this select group. Our advertisers also get a link to their businesses, showing them as Friends of the GLC.

For more information, download the Advertising pdf here.

Our Michigan Waters Need Your Help

In December of 2005 Governor Granholm endorsed the Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact. The Compact is an agreement between the States and Province that border the Great Lakes. It designates how best to manage these valuable resources. In February of 2006 Michigan Public Act 34 became law and recreated the Groundwater Conservation Advisory Council. In part, Act 34 required the Council to develop criteria and indicators to evaluate the sustainability of the states groundwater use.

Michigan’s legislature has been negotiating a series of bills with the purpose of ratifying the Great Lakes Basin Water Resources Compact. Legislation is currently being discussed by both the House and the Senate of Michigan’s Legislature that will develop the rules for future large water withdrawals. These rules are of significance to us because they will regulate the impact that the withdrawals will have upon our lakes, streams and fisheries.

Greatly simplified the two versions differ as follows: HB 5069 allows less than a 1% reduction in coldwater species and establishes a permitting process for withdrawals affecting cool and warm water fisheries. This process is critical because it opens the door for public input. The House version also has language that recognizes that groundwater is a public resource subject to public trust protection

SB 860 would allow reductions of up to 5% of a coldwater fishery’s species, which could equate to reduced flow of up to 25% of summer low flows. The Senate version has no permitting requirements for withdrawals less than 2 million gallons per day (the level above which they are required by the Compact.). We support the House version as written at this time.

The Great Lakes Council strongly encourages you to contact your legislators as soon as possible and let them know your feelings on this critical issue. For a sample letter follow the link Water Withdrawal Sample Letter.

Find your legislators at either www.house.michigan.gov or www.senate.michigan.gov.

Water Withdrawl Sample Letter