Longtime FFV Board member and Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing (PHWFF) volunteer Phil Johnson passed away on June 3rd.

If you would like to make a contribution to the local Project Healing Waters program in Phil’s memory, please do so below. We will collect all the contributions and transfer all proceeds to the local PHWFF program.

Make your Project Healing Waters donation via PayPal here…

JOHNSON, Philip C., 82, of Midlothian, passed away peacefully at his home on June 3, 2021. He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 60 years, Nancy. Phil is survived by his daughters, Karen (Marc) Touchette and Susan (Marvin) Moser; his son, Phil (Lindy) Johnson; his sister, Alice Clements; as well as eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Phil grew up in Chelmsford, Massachusetts where his lifelong passion for the outdoors began. His outdoor hobbies included fly fishing, fly tying and hunting, but what was truly special about his interests was the gift he had for sharing them with others. On any given day, he could be spotted volunteering with Project Healing Waters at the V.A., out to lunch with an old buddy from Habitat for Humanity and then back volunteering in Petersburg at the Historic Farmer’s Bank. As a salesman for G.E. it is no surprise he had the gift of gab, but Phil truly never met a stranger. His family jokes that he was “the mayor” of wherever he was residing. Phil’s big personality and love for conversation will be truly missed by family and friends alike. 

A Celebration of Life will be held at 3 p.m. on June 11 at Woody Funeral Home in Midlothian with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Project Healing Waters. Online condolences may be left at Woody funeral home.

Our May 20th online Zoom meeting speaker will be Henry Cowen.

A Zoom link and more info will be sent out soon…

Henry has been pursuing striped bass on both fly and light tackle for over 30 years in both Saltwater and Freshwater. His reputation and knowledge precedes him as being a leader in the fly fishing and fly tying industry.

Henry currently guides on both Lake Sidney Lanier (north of Atlanta, GA) and Lake Allatoona (northwest of Atlanta, GA) for stripers and trophy spotted bass. He is an accomplished fly tier and outdoor writer as well. As an Umpqua Feather Merchants fly designer his flies are available at many fly shops around the United States as well as in the Orvis and LL Bean catalogue.

His flies, as well as the articles on how to tie them continue to appear in magazines such as American Angler, Eastern Fly Fishing, Fly Tyer, Flyfishing America, Angler Magazine and Fly Fisherman. Henry’s name now also appears on the masthead of both American Angler and Angler Magazine as a contributing editor/writer.

Henry obtained his FFF certified casting instructor certificate back in the mid-nineties. He is well known for his many seminars on salt water fly fishing as well as fresh water fly fishing for striped bass, Kentucky spotted bass and carp.

He has appeared, as a guest, on a number of nationally televised outdoor shows (The Ford Outfitters, The Nuts and Bolts of Fishing, The Orvis Sporting Life, Growing Up Outdoors, The Reel Guys, One More Cast w/Shaw Grigsby and Oneill Outside) as well as some regional outdoor television shows (Georgia Outdoors etc). Henry continues to appear weekly on the Oneill Outside radio show. He is also the fishing personality on the video “Flyfishing for Landlocked stripers” which is available at many fly shops around the country.

Henry was recently named to be on the Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures esteemed “field advisory staff”.

Henry is currently on pro staff with Towee Boats and is a Guide Ambassador w/Simms Fishing. He is on the guide programs with Sage, Tibor, Rio Products, TFO, Orvis, YETI, Smith Optics, Ranger Boats, Honda Marine and on the VIP program with Johnson Outdoors (Humminbird electronics & Minnkota trolling motors).

Here is the May 2021 Singing Reel newsletter…

Number of flies

3 Flies $20.00 USD 6 Flies $40.00 USD 9 Flies $60.00 USD 12 Flies $80.00 USD

The FFV will be holding a special online Zoom meeting on April 1st.

This meeting will feature Captain Matt Miles.

A link to the Zoom meeting will be sent via e-mail.

About Capt. Matt Miles

Matt grew up in Lynchburg, Virginia and started fly fishing in 1993. In 1996, after graduating from high school, he moved to Colorado to live out his dream of becoming a fly fishing guide. While in Colorado he met Pat Dorsey, an expert fly fishing guide for the Blue Quill Angler, author, and photographer. Matt started guiding with Pat at the Blue Quill Angler in Evergreen, Colorado in 1997 where he guided over 700 trips. In 2003 Matt decided to move back to Lynchburg to guide his home waters. Matt’s passion is guiding, teaching, and being on the water. He also ties his own flies and is a fly designer for Umpqua Feather Merchants.

More info to come…

Our March 18th meeting will be held online via Zoom.

Our speaker will be FFV member Colby Trow of Mossy Creek Flyfishing.

Co-owner of Mossy Creek Fly Fishing, former American Fly Fishing Trade Association Chairman, Mass TU Board member, and Fly Fisher’s of Virginia Technical Advisor. Colby and his brother Brian opened up the shop together in 2003. He started guiding and instructing in VA in 1999 and has fished almost every day since 2003. When he isn’t fishing, he’s at the vise tying flies. He started tying flies for local VA fly shops at age 13 and was featured at many fly fishing trade shows through his teen years. Although based in the Shenandoah Valley, Colby always has ‘salt’ on his mind. When he isn’t hosting a trip in the Bahamas or Belize chasing bones, permit, tarpon, and cudas, he is out with his buddies chasing stripers, big drum, cobia, or billfish off the VA coast!

Colby will be telling us about the great fishing opportunities available to us in Virginia.

A Zoom link to the online meeting will be sent out via E-Mail.

Here is the March 2021 Singing Reel newsletter…

We have added a new FFV YouTube channel with several club related videos.

It can be accessed here…

FFV YouTube Channel

If you have any club related videos that you would like to have posted please contact us and we will work with you to do so.

Please join the discussion on fishing the James river for the annual Spring shad spawning run. We will cover equipment, techniques, location and flies.

There will be a fly tying demonstration too.

The Meeting’s Zoom link will be sent out via e-mail.

‘Ye Olde Fly Shack’ special offering!

(All proceeds go to the FFV Conservation funds)

Purchase custom James River Shad Flies below…

Number of flies

6 Flies $15.00 USD 12 Flies $30.00 USD 18 Flies $45.00 USD 24 Flies $60.00 USD

Here is a link to the FFV YouTube channel that has a partial video capture of the Shad Meeting.