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PFF Month Dinner Meeting
Coach House Restaurant
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

As usual, the meeting is open to the public. Folks usually start gathering between 5:30 and 6 pm. We order off the menu and conduct a short business meeting before the speaker. At press time we are not sure who the speaker will be.

Calcavecchia Shares Techniques at Saltwater Class

Talented professional fly tyer, Joe Calcavecchia from Derry New Hampshire dazzled an eager class of 14 with his saltwater techniques at the world famous Brewer Auditorium on March 29, 2009.

After teaching a class at Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop in Cape Neddick on Saturday, Joe and his wife Joanne, continued their trek north to Brewer for a day long saltwater tying class at Eastern Maine's newest fly tying mecca.

Joe got the group warmed up by demonstrating a Clouser Minnow using techniques that Joe received from Bob Clouser himself. Fly number two was one that most people regard as the most popular saltwater flies of all time, a Lefty's Deceiver. The next fly combined these two popular saltwater patterns into another popular fly, the Half and Half or Clouseiver. The final fly for the morning session was a Joe Brook's Blonde.
The afternoon session began with a 8" long Striper Dragon with large doll eyes glued to a clipped deer hair head. The final fly was a really cool epoxy fly tied with monofilament thread and an epoxy body. . This fly should be an excellent imitation for the elvers that are always present in the Penobscot River. Joe indicated that most if not all the patterns that were tied should be productive flies on the Penobscot River and the Maine coast..

By days end, students had produced a plethora of piscatorial delicacies to help fill their fly boxes. In addition, participants came away with a wealth of knowledge regarding the construction of saltwater flies.

For durability all the flies had epoxy heads so class members became quite proficient at mixing and applying 2 part epoxy. Joe uses mostly natural materials and very few synthetics.

Thanks to Joe Calcavecchia for making this Penobscot Fly Fishers event a huge success. We hope to be able to do it again in the future.

Joe reaction to seeing one student's Striper Dragon

For more saltwater class pictures, click here

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