Free Fly Casting Lessons

Every Sunday from 9 AM thru noon, SDFF offers free flycasting lessons at Lake Murray. You can use your own equipment or borrow club equipment from one of the certified instructors. SDFF is very proud that it is one of the few clubs in the country that offers this service free to the general public.

Fly Tying Classes and Congress

Periodically, the club offers fly tying classes. The instruction is free for club members although there is sometimes a nominal charge for fly tying materials. When regular classes are not in session, interested members participate in a weekly tying congress to share and improve their fly tying techniques.  For info, call our fly tying clinic coordinator.

The fly tying classes and congress are held at the San Carlos Recreation Center near Lake Murray.   The address is 6445 Lake Badin Ave.  To get there from Hwy. 8, take the Lake Murray Blvd. exit just like you were going to the lake. Instead of turning into Kiowa, keep going on Lake Murray Blvd. another 1.6 miles. When you come to Lake Adlon Drive, (first corner past Jackson Dr.) turn left. Go down three blocks and the recreation center will be on your right. It is on the corner of Lake Adlon and Lake Badin.

Annual Long Distance Trips and Private Trip Planning

The club features annual trips to Lee’s Ferry on the Colorado River, the San Juan River below Navajo Dam, the Flaming Gorge of the Green River and Alaska. These trips are a highlight of the season for many club members. The week-long adventures feature comfortable accommodations, access to excellent float and wade guides and an opportunity to catch lots of big, healthy trout. Our travel chairperson takes care of all of the travel, lodging and guide reservations and gets us the best price possible to boot!

The club's travel chairperson also has many  personal years of experience in North America.  Additionally, he collects information from other club members as we experience new fisheries and revisit old ones.  All of the information is freely available to club members to help them plan their next big annual trip.

The club also has a coordinator who plans monthly weekend trips to local sites. This is a great opportunity to share transportation and lodging, socialize and fish with other club members and take advantage of fishing opportunities within reasonable driving distance from San Diego. Spots as local as Lake Morena or as far away as the Owens River and the East Walker are fair game.  A list of the upcoming outings may be found here.  For more information, call our monthly trips coordinator.

A member’s nominal annual dues includes a subscription to the club’s monthly newsletter, the Finny Facts. Finny Facts tells members about all of the upcoming events. It features articles from our president, regular reporters, biology and conservation experts and women’s focus writer. In addition, the phone and address list of all members is annually distributed with the newsletter. The club welcomes articles from any of its members.  (Click here for details on where to submit articles).

Now!! Members may elect to receive the Finny Facts over the Internet!  If you are a member, contact the club's membership chairperson and ask to be signed up for the Internet version of Finny Facts.  Sorry, this feature is only available for members.

The club’s conservation chairperson organizes interested club members for a variety of projects. Here is a sample of some of the club’s conservation activities.

• Successful lobbying of state regulators to reduce the catch limit from five to two on local streams
• Support of a plan to restore steelhead trout to San Mateo Creek.  Includes sponsorship of state legislation to enable restoration of the creek, and assistance to "San Diego Trout", a local conservation organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of trout fishing in San Diego County streams
• Projects to help restore the habitat of local streams
• Planting juvenile trout and trout roe in local streams
• Monitoring and lobbying local and state government regulatory boards on issues that effect sportfishing in the region
• Annual contributions to local, state and national nonprofit conservation organizations that support watershed and fish restoration and protection projects
• AND ...

In 1997, San Diego Fly Fishers was very proud to make a major donation to the City of Chula Vista Nature Center to help it create a live steelhead trout exhibit.

"The Wednesday Bunch"

Every Wednesday, "The Wednesday Bunch" meets at one of the local San Diego lakes, usually Cuyamaca or Morena, for a day of floatin', fishin' and gabbin'.  Some of the clubs' longest standing members have been the core of TWB for a long time, but this friendly bunch is always glad to welcome newer members and regale them with tales of 'how it used to be'.  Don't forget your lawn chair!

Annual Banquet, Picnic and Prize Drawings

SDFF holds several annual events to help raise money for the club and to enhance the social benefits of being a member.  The Annual Banquet is an annual party for members at one of San Diego's fine hotels or restaurants.  The Annual Picnic is a great day for families to get together at Mission Bay or one of the other outdoor venues that make San Diego a special place to live.  SDFF holds prize drawings at its monthly meetings, the Annual  Banquet and the Annual Picnic.  In addition, one monthly meeting each year is dedicated to a major prize drawing where many attendees go home with some new fly fishing gear.

The donations for the prize drawings form a major basis for the club's ability to support its conservation  goals and fund its activities.