THE
REEL THING
December 1994
We
had a fine turn-out for our annual indoor club championship with the overall
laurels going to somebody other than Dave or Paulo for a change.
Steve Ryder joins John Alexander, Brad Allen & Walter Brech, as the
only other members who have captured the championship than those other guys.
Nice to see Mike Dinner back in the fold and casting a fine 92 for his
first competitive effort in a good number of years.
Mike will be playing a large part for us in the organization of the
National A.C.A. Championships next summer.
Mike brought his 12 year old son, Brandon, along to try the dry fly
game for the first time and the young fellow captured everybody's attention
with a fine score of 86.
Peter
Durnford did his usual fine job in the fly game with a 93 to his credit, while
Paulo, somewhat flustered and arriving late due to his evening classes, still
shot an excellent 92. Doug Ryder
and John Alexander were right in there with scores of 89, tops for both of
them, while the rest of the fly casting group were all in the middle 80's.
Mighty fine shooting gang. Oops!
I almost forgot. Steve, as he had been predicting for the past month or
so, finished first with a lovely score of 96, including 7 perfects in his
round.
This
year our plug casters had to take a back seat to the wand wavers with only
Steve managing to shoot in the nineties with ten demerits.
Paulo and Scott Purcell tied for second with 86's, while Doug Ryder
shot another personal best score of 80 to finish right behind them.
Sheila, Dave and the rest of the gang left their best shots at home on
that evening; maybe it was too windy in the gym, or something!
Overall
in the combined scores championship, in second place behind Steve was Paulo,
followed by Scott, then Doug. Dave
Collins, with his new responsibilities (in the big one next summer) probably
playing on his mind had to settle for fifth place for himself.
For
his superb casting efforts in the club championships, Steve won for himself
and Peggy a dinner at the excellent Mandarin Buffet restaurant.
Sheila and I dine at the Mandarin quite frequently and can say that it
is easily the best that we have tried in all of Metro!
For finishing second overall, Paulo won a breakfast for two (the best
in Scarborough that I know of) at the Wexford Restaurant.
Things
are moving along quite nicely in regards to our hosting and conducting the
A.C.A. Championships next August, but we are still hopeful of getting further
committments from all of our members or whatever help that they feel they can
offer us with this one. Even one
or two days in the week-long event would be appreciated by our tournament
committees. Please contact Dave,
Steve, or myself if you can give us any help at all between July 31
& Aug. 5, next summer. There
will be more on the event in our next bulletin.
We
are going to have to rename this bulletin the Rick Matusiak Show if he keeps
up this nonsense. November, last
year, a 19 lb Rainbow, followed by a 23 lb Atlantic Salmon, then a month or so
ago, his record smashing 34 lb Brown Trout.
Just to prove it's not a fluke he went up to the Nottawasaga in the
pouring rain last week and landed another behemoth - a 23 lb Rainbow! What can I say! Meanwhile,
Doug, Scott, John, Sheila and I tested new waters up in Haliburton last
Saturday and were rather contented with a few 'bows in the 2 lb class on
Despair flies and Vibrax spinners. Oh
well, some of us have it and some don't.
It
looks like we will have Brad Allen and Debbie Osborne active in the club again
shortly with Jim Lee, although he has moved 'way up north' probably going to
make the effort to participate in club affairs occasionally as well. We sadly miss Dave Usher, Fred Leibl, the Ennisses and the
brothers Fong along with one or two others.
It would be wonderful if these folks would give us all the pleasure of
their company at the Christmas party at Dave Collins' home on Friday evening
December 16th. (Dave's ph. 751.4376) Please
call him if you can make it even for a drop-in just to say "Hi" and
"Merry Christmas".
We
have two more nights at the gym before the school closes for the holidays.
Come on out everybody and see what is happening in our wonderful club.
December 7th, rod building and 13th, fly tying.
We have been promised a great evening in January when Wil Wegman, one
of Ontario's best bass fishermen and employee of the D.N.R at Maple will be
guesting at one of our evenings at the school.
you won't want to miss this one. Also,
John Power should be entertaining us some time in late February.
On
the bamboo rod-making front Steve Ryder has his rod assembled and glued, while
Fred Bigioni and Chung Fong also have rods ready for final finishing.
Scott Collins has purchased more bamboo and is contemplating a little
commercial production.......great, eh! Nice
to see both the Ryder boys with their enthusiasm for all the casting games,
including the exciting distance events.
***HERE
IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER AND THE BROOK TROUT SEASON IN HALIBURTON OPENS ON NEW
YEAR'S DAY. IF WE ARE GOING TO
HAVE A WEEKEND OF SKIDOOING AND ICE FISHING FOR THESE MORSELS WE MUST HAVE
NUMBERS PRETTY SOON OR WE WILL BE SHUT OUT OF ACCOMODATION.
LET ME KNOW S.A.P. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED AND WE WILL PUT TOGETHER A
TRIP.
Once
again, please don't forget our annual Christmas party, being held at Dave
Collin's home. He, Ela and family
live at 29 Compton, 2 blocks east of Warden off Manhattan.
Please let Dave know if you are coming.
There
still are a number of great buys in the fishing tackle from Jack Wilkings'
estate. These include rods
(Loomis, Sage & Fuji, Fenwick, etc.) reels (Hardy, Alcedo Micron, Pflueger,
Dam, Orvis, Shimano & Penn) and Lines (Cortland, Scientific Anglers, Stren,
etc.). Also, boots, waders &
other odds & ends. This
equipment has to be moved soon so any fair offer will be accepted.
For more information or list with guideline prices call me.
*
(Late addition to this bulletin) - Steve and I had a fine day yesterday in
Haliburton checking out another of the new trout lakes to have come our way.
Excellent! Fly fishing
with Despairs tied with feathers from pheasants we shot the other day, hunting
with Jim Lee, Steve caught a nice little rainbow, then followed it up with a
gorgeous 4 pounder. A great fight
and almost 10 minutes of suspense. His
largest ever on a fly...and tied by himself!
The 'bow was suitably photographed, but while breaking its neck to put
it out of its misery and already picturing it, broiled, covered with herbs and
slices of lemon and ready for delectable consumption, he somehow flipped the
catch of his life out of his grasp and in it went, irretrievably, for the
'deep six'! No, no, Steve, Catch
& Release means you don't kill the fish first!
He cried the rest of the day and all the way home from Haliburton.
I doubt if he slept a wink last night.
All kidding aside, this was simply one of those strange things that can
happen to a person when fishing.......and one that I'll probably write about
in my next book on fishing.
FINAL
CASTS: If you have equipment that
you would like to trade or sell, list it and we will advertise it for you in
the next bulletin. We have a FREE
annual membership for the lucky one who attends the most regular evenings
(both outdoor & indoor) in 1995. Their
name will also be inscribed on a CLUB ATTENDANCE PLAQUE which they keep in
their possession for a year.
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