It’s survived the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, a catastrophic fire, a president who absconded with its bank account. Now, one of the city’s longest-running local clubs is turning 100.
Founded just a few years after locals struck oil, forever changing the city’s trajectory, the Long Beach Casting Club still has about 500 current members who practice, teach and — most importantly — enjoy fly fishing.
This Saturday, about 300 of those members are expected to attend the volunteer-run organization’s anniversary celebration at its clubhouse and pond at Recreation Park. The party is also open to the public. It starts at 10 a.m. at 5201 E Seventh St. (by the dog park).
There will be lunch, fly-tying demos, games, casting demonstrations, a birthday cake and the unveiling of a bronze plaque at the foot of the clubhouse.
For decades, the club has taught beginners how to tie flies — typically made up of a hook and feathers — and cast them onto the water using a fishing rod and weighted “fly line” that propels the weightless hook to the fisher’s desired target, said club historian John VanDerhoof.
Learning to cast in fly fishing is similar to learning a golf swing, according to VanDerhoof, in that the two require precision rather than strength to perfect.
“It’s tricky and it’s very counterintuitive for people, because if [your line] doesn’t go out, then the natural tendency is to do it harder and it just gets worse and worse,” he said.
When VanDerhoof first joined the club in 1979, about 30-40 people would practice casting weekly. Now, that number is down to “eight or nine, if you’re lucky,” he said, adding that its current membership is mostly comprised of retirees.
But membership isn’t required for most classes and programs held by the club. Junior memberships start at $10 per year, while adult memberships range from $35 to $65.
Casting practice happens each Sunday morning, with casting lessons held monthly, at the 130-by-260-foot pond at Recreation Park.
The casting club was founded in 1925 by a Finnish artist and avid fly fisherman named David Linder.
The pond the club now uses dates back to 1931, when members were granted access to a disused “dirt pile” that was part of the Virginia Country Club’s original location, VanDerhoof said.
Before that, Linder and his group of about 20 fly fishers were practicing casting wherever there was ample space: parks, the beach and even the front lawn of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, VanDerhoof said.
The original pond project was delayed after the club’s president at the time moved to Oregon with the club’s entire bank account, VanDerhoof said.
It took until 1947 for the pond to become what it is today, one of only two casting practice ponds currently available in Los Angeles County.
In August, the pond will host the U.S. Open tournament held by the American Casting Association.
The Long Beach Casting Club has produced numerous national champions, including Dick Miller, who won several tournaments despite having just one eye. Three current members took home a combined nine medals from last year’s World Fly Fishing Championships.
Photos and trophies from past competitions line the walls of the clubhouse, which has been in place at Recreation Park since 1934.
After a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck in 1933 and destroyed the Long Beach Fire Department’s headquarters, fire department staff used the building as a temporary office.
When the new office was completed, then-Long Beach Fire Chief and Long Beach Casting Club member Claude Kreider moved the building there on a flatbed trailer overnight, VanDerhoof said.
The clubhouse has been expanded to include a library, meeting room, kitchen, two bathrooms. A fire in 2007 almost wiped out the building and the club entirely.
Roughly a year-and-a-half plus $300,000 later, the clubhouse was fully repaired, VanDerhoof said.
As a bonus, gone were the “horrible, fluorescent” yellow, green and orange cushioned furniture, VanDerhoof said.
A certified master instructor for one-handed casting and two-handed casting, VanDerhoof has been tying flies since 1963.
With over half a century of experience, he still hosts a yearly trip to Green River, Utah, a world-renowned fly fishing stream.
Fly fishing is mostly catch and release, VanDerhoof said, although he admitted that hooking “a really bright king salmon” sometimes makes him hesitate when deciding whether to set them free or cook them up.