Monthly Meetings
Through monthly meetings scheduled from September through June, the club has offered its members and guests exposure to the expertise and experience of hundreds of speakers, from internationally recognized fly fishing experts like Lefty Kreh to our own club members. These presentations have covered a wide variety of topics from travelogues to conservation challenges to the how to’s to where to’s of fly fishing, fly tying and the latest fly fishing equipment. More recently, the club has added periodic meetings devoted to viewing the latest fly fishing videos to the calendar. Check out the continuously updated calendar of the monthly meetings for further information on upcoming speakers as well as short bios, descriptions of their presentation topics, dates and times.
Fly Fishing Outings
Led by individual club members, club members can take full advantage of more than a dozen opportunities to get out and fly fish with other club members. The outings are scheduled near the beginning of every calendar year so that members can plan ahead to join in the outings that interest them the most. While most outings are to locations within a several hour drive of the club house, several outings are structured as overnight trips or trips involving longer distance travel.
Fly Tying
Fly tying has remained a focus for the club, with regular fly tying sessions open to all members. During these sessions, we swap patterns, help novice tiers, learn new techniques, and just enjoy the fellowship of other members in a relaxed setting. Fly tying sessions, usually run by club members, are hosted the first Saturday morning of the month. Plans for what will be the fly pattern of focus at each fly tying session, along with what materials, if any, to bring, are announced through a club email message distributed to all members.
As the instructor ties the fly, it is projected on a large screen at the club house in high def so you get a close up view no matter where you are sitting.
We also have Beer Ties at Killarney House Irish Pub in Davidsonville, MD in the evening of the fourth Wednesday of every even numbered month.
Check the club calendar of events in this web site for the dates and times for upcoming fly tying sessions.
Fly Fishing Clinics
The club has sponsored beginner’s clinics, structured to cover an array of information from equipment to casting to fly selection to knots to on the stream approaches to fly fishing. These beginner clinics, organized and taught by teams of club members, have often been held in association with club sponsored swap meets and other events. Check the club calendar of events for more details and how to sign up and learn more about fly fishing at an upcoming fly fishing clinic.
Holiday Dinner
On the evening of the first Wednesday in December, the club hosts its annual holiday dinner to celebrate the past year and enjoy the company of fellow club members. The highlight of the evening is a raffle of dozens of prizes, often including fly fishing rods and related equipment. Check the club calendar of events for more details and how to sign up and join us for an evening of fellowship.
Swap Meet
The club sponsors a swap meeting at the clubhouse every spring, providing members with the opportunity to sell their fly fishing equipment, fly tying materials, books, DVDs and other fishing related materials and equipment. These swap meets are opportunities to both ensure your equipment is passed on to others who can continue to put it to good use as well as add to your ever growing inventory of fly fishing equipment. See the club calendar of events for date of the next swap meeting and more details how you can participate.
Clubhouse
Located at the Davidsonville Family Recreation Center, the Free State Fly Fishers’ clubhouse has the center of many of the club’s activities. Complete with a small kitchen area, library, restroom, meeting room, and small stage with a ceiling mounted projection screen, the clubhouse is where all the monthly meetings, fly tying sessions, and beginners’ fly fishing clinics are hosted. Annual clubhouse clean-ups are hosted every spring during which internal and external maintenance projects are carried out. Check out the club calendar of events for date of the clubhouse clean-up.
Conservation Programs
Over the past decades, the Free State Fly Fishers has engaged in a variety of conservation oriented programs and efforts to give back to the sport the members so enjoy. Here’s examples of past conservation programs and efforts undertaken by club members:
- Stream clean-up and in-stream water quality monitoring along the South Branch Patapsco River.
- Early spring clean-ups of fish passages at the dams along the Patapsco River prior to the shad spawning season.
- Catch and release hook-and-line population census taking of Hickory and American shad populations working with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Fish Passage Program.
- Annual Dave Davis Dinner hosted to raise funds for conservation programs.
- Riparian management, foot path construction, general landscaping and buildings renovations at the Thomas Point Park in Anne Arundel County, all directed toward enhancing the fishing experience.
- Investment of club financial resources in well-recognized conservation programs—Trout Unlimited, South River Federation, Chesapeake Bay Foundation among others—resulting directly in fish habitat conservation improvements.
- Magothy River Yellow Perch Egg Sac Count, Water Quality Monitoring and stream cleanup.
Keep an eye on the club calendar of events for notices about upcoming conservation related efforts and more details on how you can participate.