Dinner: we will be doing the popular “Carving Stations” that was a big hit last summer. This time we will be adding a “Dessert Station” to the mix. 

Afternoon Program: Matt Balazik, from the VCU Rice Center, will be on hand to give updates on the Sturgeon research taking place in the James River. Over the years the FFV has provided funding for 3 tracking tags. 

Evening Program: Derek and Margaret Hutton of Virginia River Guides will discuss the fishing opportunities available in the central part of the state. Located in Lexington, they also operate the Stonegate, a bed and breakfast that provides a perfect base of operations for trips to the surrounding area.

www.StonegateVirginia.com

www.VirginiaRiverGuides.com

www.HuttonFly.com

Here is the January 2024 Singing Reel Newsletter.

Please note there has been an update to our dinner meeting menu…

Join us on WEDNESDAY, November 15th for our dinner meeting featuring FFV Member Robert Thomas…

Here is the FFV November 2023 Singing Reel Newsletter.

Join us on Friday, September 22nd for our Annual Banquet. The speaker is Kiki Galvin.

Bio: Kiki Galvin, Owner, Ms. Guided Fly Fishing

I have been fishing in some capacity for 60 years, having learned as a young girl
growing up near the Finger Lakes Region in New York State. My passion for fly
fishing, however, began after I took a one-day course in Leesburg, Virginia in 1994.
Wanting to share that passion with others, I attended the Montana-based Reel
Women Guide School in 2002 and returned home to begin my guiding business. In
recognizing the importance of being a part of the greater fly fishing and conservation
community, I joined Trout Unlimited in 1996 and, for several years, served as Vice
President and Publicity Chair for the Northern Virginia Chapter. My involvement
with TU has been varied, including stream cleanup and restoration projects, casting
instruction at the National Capital Fly Fishing Show, the Boy Scout Merit Badge
Program, and Virginia Heritage Fishing Days, among other activities. In 2006, I was
named “Stream Champion” and featured in “TROUT” magazine. I am presently a
member of theTrout Unlimited Guide and Business Association. In both 2010 and
2019, I was honored to receive a Certificate of Appreciation from the Virginia State
Council of TU for my volunteer participation.

In 2001, I became involved as a volunteer with Casting for Recovery, a therapeutic fly
casting and support program for women recovering from breast cancer. For 20 years,
I served CFR in a variety of capacities, including Retreat Coordinator, Lead Casting
Instructor, and River Helper. For five years, I was also Tournament Director for the
CFR 2FLY4HOPE event, a major Mid-Atlantic CFR fundraiser. During this time, I
became President of Chesapeake Women Anglers and served for three years. As I
concluded my term as President, I was honored to receive the Gardner-Stevenson
Award in 2007 in recognition or my contributions to women in the sport of fly fishing.
At present, I contribute to the newsletter and website and on the topic “Fitness for Fly
Fishing. “Between 2004 and 2010, I worked for L.L.Bean Outdoor Discovery School
as a flyfishing instructor and taught fly casting at River Bend Park for the Fairfax
County Park Authority. In 2007, I became involved with Project Healing Waters.
Over the past 13 years, I have been a guide for the PHW 2FLYevent and travel to
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center once a week to work directly with our
wounded men and women vets, once again using the therapeutic benefits of fly casting
and fly tying to help them deal and heal with their injuries, seen and unseen. I joined
the PHW Board of Trustees in 2012, and that same year, was honored as Volunteer of
the Year for the National Capital Region. In 2015, I was awarded PHW’s highest
civilian honor, the Patriot Award. In addition, I was a member of the International
Women Fly Fishers (IWFF) and monitored the organization’s Topica Talk website for
four years. I was also a member of the Federation of Fly Fishers. In the past several
years, I have been a speaker and presenter for many TU chapters and casting
instructor at the Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Show, and in 2017, received the
Angler of the Year Award from Beau Beasley, the show director. In recent years, I
have been a Women’s Forum panelist at the event. Several years ago, I joined the
Temple Fork Pro Staff and represent the company at fly shows in the Mid-Atlantic area.

In 2022, I became involved with the May Fly project, an organization that extends the healing and supportive benefits of fly fishing to foster children ages 13-17

Here is the July Singing Reel…

Dennis Stanley 

Dennis Stanley has loved the woods and waters since childhood. Hunting and fishing with his father across Virginia instilled a love of the outdoors with his earliest memories including fishing for bream and bass. When he was 12 years old, his first quail hunt ignited a passion for wing shooting. 

Dennis is the owner of Safaris Unlimited Adventures, is a NRA and National Sporting Clays Association certified shotgun instructor and a Master Instructor for the Baskerville Wing- shooting School. 

As an outfitter, Dennis has taken friends and soon to be friends on adventures around the world. Whether bird hunting in Argentina, fly fishing in Belize and South Africa or hunting Cape Buffalo in Zimbabwe the addiction to adventures, both big and small, is never quite satisfied. 

The first fly fishing experience came early with a Pflueger fly rod with a wind up” automatic” reel chasing brim with popping bugs. Another passion was ignited! Jump ahead several decades and a friend “forced” him to take a trip to Mosquito Lagoon in Florida in which he could barely get the fly out of the boat on the first day. But, by day three he got two “nice cast” comments from the guide. Most recently, the passion has been tweaked just a bit to include fly fishing salt water flats. 

Since then, Dennis has loved fly fishing in streams of South Africa for huge browns, the flats of Florida and Belize for bones, snook, tarpon and permit, the western streams of Virginia and West Virginia for trout and smallmouth, wet wading some of the famous streams of the West for browns, rainbows and cutthroat trout and local ponds and lakes for bream, bass and crappie.
He is a recently retired pharmacist whose specialty for over 20 years has been the education and vaccination of international travelers. 

Here is a link to the May 2023 Singing Reel Newsletter:

Captain John Mauser is a fly fishing and light tackle guide out of Swansboro,North Carolina. He has been fishing the waters of North Carolina for thirty-five years. John spent his youth on the Chowan River in the North East part of the state hunting for bluegill and bass. The Chowan river was also thelocation where he first cast a fly rod…throwing little popping bugs at lilypads in search of bass. As a teenager, he became more familiar with thegreat saltwaterfishing available along the coast.

John graduated from UNC Wilmington with a Marine Biology Degree and soon started working for the North Carolina Aquariums. For the past 15 years, Mauser has called Swansboro his home and has spent a great deal of his time learning the local waters. He and his wife have two sons, a ten-year old and a four-year old, who always keep life interesting.

John helped establish the local “Crystal Coast” Project Healing Water’s Program, which rehabilitates disabled military veterans through fly tying and fly fishing activities. Six-years later, John is still an active volunteer with the program, assisting with casting instruction, fly tying and fishing trips for the veterans.

In 2014, John helped re-form the Cape Lookout Albacore Festival, and served as a board member for the first five years. The Cape Lookout Albacore Festival is a 3-day event, held each October around the height of the fall False Albacore run. The Festival consists of a private fishing event for disabled veterans, a public fishing tournament, auctions, dinners and captains parties. All of the funds from each C.L.A.F. is donated to Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing at the State and National Levels.

In 2017, John launched Mauser Fly Fishing. A local manufacturer of USA made fly rods. John’s love for guiding anglers and giving casting instruction, led to the formation of this brand. John will tell you, that this company is the most challenging thing he’s ever attempted, and he loves every second of it.

www.TailingTideGuideService.com

Mauser Fly Fishing

Here is the March FFV Singing Reel Newsletter: