The mission of the Midnight Sun Fly Casters is to provide opportunities for fly fisherman in Interior Alaska to develop skills and share knowledge.
The group also works to introduce fly fishing to youth and to encourage and advocate for the conservation of sport fish in the waters of the Interior. They also educate people about pollution in the streams, lakes and estuaries of Alaska.
Outdoor recreation can often be a solitary pursuit, usually intentionally so and for good reason. Hunters don’t like crowds to scare off game, fisherman require solitude and quiet to be successful, backpackers and hikers thrive on wide open spaces. Many groups here in the Interior, like snowmachiners and trappers, spent much of 2020 readily bragging that they’ve been socially distancing as a matter of course for decades.
However, in all these solitary pursuits there comes a moment when those interested in preserving the tradition of what they love to do outdoors have to think about something that’s just the opposite of solitude. Community is what the Midnight Sun Fly Casters are all about. A community that cares about stewardship is especially important when it comes to fishing.
That’s why the Fly Casters do things like the virtual stream clean up on the Chena River and Badger Slough back in September of last year. The group also has an annual three day Kid’s Camp focused on teaching kids ages 10-16 all about fly fishing.
“This includes learning fly casting, fish identification, fly tying and aquatic invertebrate identification,” Fly Casters president Kevin Fraley, who’s also a fisheries ecologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society, said.
This year the Kid’s Camp will be June 11-13, at Lost Lake Boy Scout Camp.
“We organized people to go out and do a clean up of the Chena River and Badger Slough, because those are streams that we as club members use for fishing a lot and so it serves ourselves to go out there and keep the stream clean, keep the fish healthy. And it also helps out anybody else who enjoys seeing the fish or recreating in those areas too,” Fraley said.
Fairbanks is home to a number of organizations that are committed to being not just consumers of the regions many resources, but also good stewards — the Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks, Alaska Trappers Association and the Interior Alaska Land Trust are just a few that come to mind without having to think to hard. Luckily, grass roots community organizations, focused on the outdoors, are too numerous to mention in our area, the Fly Casters are all about being that for Interior sport fishing resources.
“Many people in our group are also fishery scientists or retired fishery scientists. So, there’s kind of that aspect where we like to fish, but were also interested in fish ecology and it’s kind of a cool conglomeration that happens here in Fairbanks where you’ve got everybody kind of united under their love for fly fishing,” Fraley said. “We try to partner with other groups and beautify our streams and make sure that fish habitat in our area is strong”
That goal includes partnering with other groups in the community, like teaming up with the UAF student fisheries group for the Chena stream clean up in September.
Fraley also points out that Fairbanks is an ideal location for promoting Alaska fly fishing, noting that the Chena River State Recreation Area is a world class grayling fishery, because Fish and Game keeps it catch and release.
“That’s a big reason as to why there’s a lot of fly fishers in Fairbanks, because we’ve got that great location right in our backyard,” Fraley said. “Fairbanks is a great gateway to the North … you can get into to some really unique world class fly fishing from our area.”
The group has been working to reach more people and increase their profile in the community over the past year and has even made strides amid the COVID-19 pandemic, like going virtual with the fall stream clean up.
“Myself and Will (Samuel), who’s the vice president, we attended quite few meetings last year and really saw the value of the group, particularly the kids camp, where they’re teaching kids about the art of fly fishing and everything that goes with that. That’s such a valuable thing for our community,” Fraley said.
And the Fly Casters have even been able to reach more people this year by going virtual with their monthly meetings and posting the recordings to YouTube. “We’re just trying to get the word out there more with an increased social media presence and doing some things that gets out there to the community,” Fraley said.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Midnight Sun Fly Casters, their next virtual meeting will be on Jan. 13 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Find access information on the MSFC website (https://bit.ly/35kyPsq). Fraley will give a presentation about fly fishing for lesser-known species in New Zealand, where he spent several years studying for his doctorate.
Contact staff writer Sam Ferrara at 459-7575.
Credit: Source link
