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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.
HomeOctober 2014


Applying Steelhead Fly Fishing Tactics to Trout
with John Sherman

7:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
San Marino Masonic Lodge




Over the decades, we’ve been lucky to bring some of the leading names in fly fishing to speak at our programs. Some of these names have already been famous: I’m thinking Borger, Kreh, and Krieger, to mention just a few. Often we’ll bring back a talented speaker as their recognition in the sport grows, so they become another familiar face.

This month, we’re happy to welcome John Sherman back to PCC. It’s been just over ten years since John presented an exciting program on Fly Fishing for Striped Bass in California to us, and it’s been a busy decade for him. John continues to shoot some of the best photographs in this sport, and his collaboration with author Mike Costello on the top-selling book Fly Fishing the California Delta (2009) is just another example of his art. Since we last visited with him, John got married and is the proud father of daughter Kalum and son Kasix. If you wonder what makes this man tick, his children are named after Skeena River Tributaries in Northern British Columbia.

John is truly a well-rounded fly fisherman, but he obviously has a soft spot for steelheading. Most of you are aware that fly fishing for steelhead involves a series of tactics generally foreign to trout fishing, including the use of long two-handed (spey) rods, using the water to load the rod to cast crazy distances without a backcast, and efficiently casting thousands of times to run a fly systematically through every square inch of a run. What many of you may not know is that these steelhead techniques are also easily applied with shorter (8-9 feet) single-handed rods, and can open up a whole new arsenal of weapons to use on a trout stream. If you have trout rising 60 feet out and have no space to make a backcast, what then? What do you do when no trout are visible on a larger river and you need find them? John will address these topics this coming Thursday, along with many more.

John started fly fishing at the age of eight, hanging out at Buz’s fly shop in Visalia, a former landmark Central California fly shop well-known to PCC members. Starting at the age of 16, a camera accompanied John on all his fishing trips. In 1999, John graduated from California State University Chico with a degree in Business Administration and Marketing. While attending Chico State, John worked at the Powell Fly Shop and guided on the Feather and Sacramento Rivers for steelhead and salmon.

John travels the western states as the representative for Simms Fishing and Hatch Outdoor (think killer fly reels). John has fished the West Coast from Alaska to the Baja Peninsula for everything from steelhead, to salmon, stripers, black bass, trout and numerous blue water species. He has hosted numerous trips to such exotic locales as Australia, Russia, Iceland, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, Belize, Argentina, and Indonesia. John’s images have been published in Field & Stream, Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod & Reel, The Drake, California Fly Fisher, Northwest, and Southwest Fly Fishing. John often uses photo essays in the place of a regular article to convey information vividly.

John lives in Discovery Bay, on the San Joaquin Sacramento River Delta, with his wife Natih and children. To see more about John and to sample his photography, go to www.johngsherman.com.

This October meeting has us back at the Masonic Lodge for the Fall season. Enjoy an outstanding fly fishing program this Thursday evening, October 9th, at 7:30 p.m. at the San Marino Masonic Lodge, 3130 Huntington Drive, San Marino 91108.


Seymour Singer
Program Chair