BFFA - A Brief History With our club starting our 35th year there has been a request for some club history. The organizing members of the club were Frank Catino, Mike Horne, Bill Sargent, Craig Smith and Ron Winn. All five are still active members of the club. Frank, Craig and Ron had commuted to our sister club the Backcountry Fly fishing Association of Altamonte Springs for about two years prior to deciding to try and start a club in our region. They also approached Mike Horne and Bill Sargent to assist in their efforts and all met in Ron Winn’s house in the summer of 1989. It was decided to also associate our club with the Federation of Fly Fishers. The FFF assisted greatly in providing sample club charters and other recommendations. One thing the organizers decided early on was to use what they thought were some of the effective formulas the BFFA of Altamonte Springs had used. One of the early formulators of that club was Jon Cave and he was very helpful in our organization. We got the word out by putting flyers in the local fly shops, a newspaper article, and putting flyers on car windshields as well. Our first club meeting was in September of 1989 at the Red Lobster in Melbourne (where West Marine is today) we introduced some of the director’s thoughts and viewed a video on tarpon fishing on the fly that had been recently released. The first night there were over 25 members that joined, many still members. Some of the ideas that were used by our club were to center the club around our monthly meeting and try to have education as the central ingredient and we have certainly had some great educational meetings. Speakers such as Lefty, Chico, Flip, Stu, (not having to mention their last name) scientists such as Dr. Grant Gilmore, Dr. Aaron Adams, and Dr. Ron Taylor, and a wealth of guides and personalities both locally and from afar as well as other experts and just plain characters of the industry.

In addition to the usual monthly meeting, we have had a number of special one and even two-day seminars covering our sport from casting, travel, tying for example. We early on started a monthly fly-tying session and it continues to this day at the Melbourne City LIbrary. We decided as well to avoid any “tournaments” and the often ugliness that results, and instead decided to have club outings to better spread the actual fishing side of our club. These have often been concluded with a cookout with burgers and brats. We also decided to keep as much of the club’s business separate from the usual monthly meeting and chose to have a separate Board of Directors meeting the week after our regular club meeting where the great majority of the club business is conducted. The dues in 1989 are the same as they are today: $20, $30 for a family. All of this has brought together many hundreds of us over the last thirty years all with the common element of fly fishing. From all walks of life, young, old, visitors, and residents, male, female, novices and experts, all enjoying our sport of fly fishing. Let’s keep it going.