History of the Land Legend Fly Fishers By Dale Miller

The Land of Legend Fly Fishers was started in 1990 by Dale Miller, Gene Snelling, Dick Berube and Stan Faller.

After attending a meeting of the Columbus based Central Ohio Fly Fishers they had the idea that Newark should have its own fly-fishing club. Arrangements were made and the original meeting was held. At this first meeting several new members were signed up and club was started.

Over the next year or so, meetings were held at several places and on different days. A fly-tying class was started in 1991 at the home of Stan Faller with Gene Snelling as instructor. The first class had 9 students.

Over the next few years the meeting place was changed to Zerger Hall, the Senior Citizens center for Licking County. Along with the regular business meetings we offered instructions in fly-tying and rod building. We now meet 3 Mondays a month, the second, third, and fourth Mondays. All of the activities and instruction is offered without cost to the members, with the exception of the cost of tools and materials. This cost is kept to a minimum by buying in bulk and getting a dealer’s discount from some of the suppliers.

Over the years the LLFF has been asked to demonstrate the art of fly-tying and casting to many organizations. Some of the most prominent are:

Becoming an Outdoor Woman sponsored by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources

The County Parks Department for Licking County

D.A.R.E. program sponsored by the local police

Greenwings sponsored by Ducks Unlimited

Boy and Girl Scouts

4H

A couple of local churches

The City Parks Department

Two of the original members, Dale Miller and Bill Richards, instigated the Senior Citizens Fishing Derby about 10 years ago. This event is for all Senior Citizens of the county and any handicapped persons. Over the years it has grown and at the last one we had about 200 participants with about 20 in wheelchairs. The LLFF provides a large portion of the volunteer help and support for the Seniors at this event.

We also furnish manpower for the local trout derby and catfish derby sponsored by the City Parks Department.

Several of the members have wanderlust and travel to adjoining states to fish for trout. In recent years we have gone to Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. These trips are always enjoyed by those who attend. And fish are caught!

We are lucky in Central Ohio as we have one GOOD trout stream, the Mad River north of Springfield. It can support trout and they will multiply in the cold water. We also have Clear Fork from Bellville to Butler which is stocked by the O.D.N.R. annually and fish will winter over and grow. Some even survive the summer. We also have Clear Creek south of Lancaster which is also stocked.

Along with these trout streams we have the Kokosing River near Mount Vernon, the Licking River at Newark, and several others within a couple of hours drive which have a good population of small mouthed bass in them.

Northern Ohio has several streams which support Steelhead and make for some fine fishing.