Our speaker this month, Captain Steve Chaconas, is no stranger to PRSC. Steve will be speaking to us about how finesse fishing doesn’t mean small fish. It gets the tough bite but will tell you a lot more. He guides for largemouth bass and northern snakeheads on the Potomac River all year.
Steve’s work has been featured in a variety of local and national publications as well as on TV and radio: BASSMASTERS, BASS TIMES, BASSIN’ Magazine, Field & Stream, BoatUS Magazine, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Sportsman’s Magazine, Woods & Waters, ESPN and others. He’s also been emcee of the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Tournament the past 25 years, a member of BoatUS Speakers Bureau, the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association and a member of the American Sportfishing Association.Steve can be reached at info@nationalbass.com CELL 703-380-7119
When: Wednesday, August 25th at 7:30pm – ‘Doors’ to the meeting will open at 7:00pm for socializing. Where: On your computer, tablet, or smartphone using Zoom.
RSVP on our Meetup page for the link to the meeting.
Our featured speaker for July is Ryan Williams. Ryan is the owner of North Valley Fly Fishing, based in Oroville, north of Sacramento, CA. He has pioneered adoption of Float n’ Fly tactics for bass to fly fishers as well as developed and popularized fly fishing techniques for spotted and largemouth bass on the large lakes of Northern California.
The topic of his talk will be “Float n Fly: fly fishing & spinning rod tactics.” Ryan will discuss using this technique for both fly and spinning anglers, though as a fly fishing guide his adaptation of this technique is a bit different than most.
Ryan grew up in Vacaville, CA near Sacramento and began fly fishing and tying in 2003 and guiding in 2006. He recently became the first fly angler in the US to win a major conventional bass tournament, the 2021 Lake Shasta Team Tournament on the Wild West Bass Trail, out of a field of 178 boats. He also won the 2019 Costa Bass n Fly tournament that took place in the Sacramento River Delta.
He guides all year on the most well-known waters in Northern California. In addition to guiding for smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass on Lake Oroville, Lake Berryessa, Clear Lake and the Sacramento River, Ryan also offers trips for steelhead, rainbow trout, striped bass and shad in the region. He can be found at https://flyfishcnv.com/, 530-353-3258 or rwguideservice@yahoo.com
When: Wednesday, July 28th at 7:30pm – ‘Doors’ to the meeting will open at 7:00pm for socializing. Where: On your computer, tablet, or smartphone using Zoom.
RSVP on our Meetup page for the link to the meeting.
Vienna residents Pete and Hanna Robbins spend most, if not all, of their free time traveling and chasing the next bite. In addition to domestic travel, they’ve fished the Amazon tributaries for peacock bass multiple times, they’ve conquered tigerfish in the Zambezi, and lately they’ve picked up the saltwater bug with trips to Guatemala and Panama.
Pete is a Board Member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and a Senior Writer for Bassmaster magazine. He has also written for other publications, including In-Fisherman, Field & Stream, and Gary Yamamoto’s Inside Line. He also consults for a number of fishing tackle companies. Despite those credentials, Hanna often catches bigger fish.
They will join PRSC for the June meeting to discuss “bucket list” fishing opportunities both abroad and domestically. The theme of their website, www.halfpastfirstcast.com, is making “the most of your remaining casts,” and they are anxious to introduce anglers of all budgets and travel appetites to new ways of catching more fish and having more fun while doing it. It was their trips to Anglers Inn International’s properties at Lake El Salto and Lake Picachos, both near Mazatlan (Mexico) that really jumpstarted their travel bug, but they feel that by experiencing all of the things ancillary to fishing — scenery, food, and most of all, the people — they’ve learned to appreciate every day on the water quite a bit more.
While Pete is a semi-insider in the industry, Hanna didn’t catch her first gamefish until she was in her late 30s, yet she’s picked up the ball and run with it. That experience has taught Pete patience (!) and it has taught both of them the thrill of seeing someone learn to love the sport. In fact, Pete and Hanna rekindled the excitement by taking up fly fishing on trips to Montana and Alaska (another expensive hobby!). While exotic trips are nice, the important part of the experience is to “find your bliss,” and that can take place in the creek in your backyard.
Bring your questions about specific locations, special opportunities for female anglers, and the best ways to budget your disposable income and vacation time to maximize the bite.
When: Wednesday, June 30th at 7:30pm – ‘Doors’ to the meeting will open at 7:00pm for socializing. Where: On your computer, tablet, or smartphone using Zoom.
RSVP on our Meetup page for the link to the meeting. Link is below.
