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Founded in 1947, the Pasadena Casting Club is a group of fly fishing enthusiasts dedicated to the art of angling and casting, conservation, education, catch and release philosophy, and camaraderie through Club meetings, outings and events.
HomeJune 2013
Fly Fishing 
Up 395
with Greg Vinci

7:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 13, 2013

San Marino Masonic Lodge
3130 Huntington Drive
San Marino, CA 91108



There are some recurring themes in the life of a Southern California fly fisher, and many of them are identified by some shortened form in the vernacular we use. For example, when we refer to fishing the “public section,” we all know it is Hot Creek we are talking about. As well, when we say “395,” we all know we are referring to U.S. Route 395, the long section of highway we have to traverse from the Southland before we get to our fishing territory in the Eastern Sierra. Highway 395 runs through some of the most diverse and spectacular scenery in the country. As you travel north from Mojave, the Sierra appears to sprout off in the west, then grows to dizzying heights as it parallels the highway for the next four hundred miles. Outside of the great scenery, it is the source of the water for all our great fishing as well.

In his presentation “Hwy 395–California’s Trout Highway,” Greg Vinci takes us on a tour of Hwy 395’s best trout waters, beginning at the Owens River Gorge just north of Bishop, with stops along the way, including Hot Creek, the San Joaquin, the Upper Owens, Rush Creek, the East Walker and the West Walker, ending at the Carson River drainage just south of Lake Tahoe. Greg’s presentation includes gorgeous photos of streams, rivers, spring creeks, and stillwaters, along with fish, fishing strategies, tactics and rigging, flies to use and, of course, lovely locations, many of which have appeared in and on the covers of national magazines. Sure, we know many of these locations, but there are some we may not be familiar with, and we can always stand to learn a few new techniques. 

Greg grew up in the Ladera Heights section of Los Angeles County, just north of Inglewood. He graduated from Inglewood High School in 1965 and attended El Camino College for a couple years. He finished his studies at California State University, Sacramento, with a BS in Marketing. When he first arrived in Sacramento, he found himself living in a college dormitory, only 75 yards from the American River, one of the most prolific steelhead waters on the West Coast. It was the first time in his life that all the stars were aligned; within a small radius, there existed everything that was important to him at the time: a swimming pool, a dorm with about two hundred coeds, and trophy trout fishing.

After graduating from Sac State, Greg spent the next six years working as a commercial photographer. During that period, he was fortunate enough to have a one- man show of his photography at UC Davis and some of the photos from that show were subsequently exhibited in a show of international art at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Canada). Greg was proud to see his images hanging on the same wall as paintings by Picasso and Monet. 

Growing up in southern California during the 1950s and 1960s, Greg made many annual fishing trips with his dad to the Sierra. As an adult, those trips continued, both for fishing and photography, and as a commercial representative of fly fishing products.

In the twenty-three years that Greg has been in the fly tackle industry, his career has taken him down many paths. In 1989, he started Sierra Pacific Products, which became one of the major wholesale/distributors in the fly tackle industry. There he developed several great selling product lines that are still being sold today. After selling Sierra Pacific in 2010, he has reestablished a relationship with his first loves: writing and photography, that can be now seen in and on the covers of many fly fishing and outdoor magazines such as Fly Fisherman, American Angler, Flyfishing & Tying Journal, Salmon & Steelhead Journal, Northwest and Southwest Fly Fishing, California Fly Fisher, Sierra Heritage, and Runner’s World.

Greg has continued to develop fly tackle product lines on a consultancy basis for clients in the fly tackle industry. In 2011 his product Insta-Set Indicators was selected by Field & Stream magazine as the best fly tackle accessory of the year. As a signature fly tier for Umpqua Feather Merchants, he has developed fly patterns that can be found in fly shops around the country. One of his most recent endeavors has been to develop the www.California-FlyFishing.com website, a portal to California's most popular waters.

Join us Thursday evening, June 13th, at 7:30 p.m. at the San Marino Masonic Lodge, 3130 Huntington Drive, San Marino.


Seymour R. Singer
Program Chairperson