THE
REEL THING January
2003
In
case you didn’t get the greetings sent out by us earlier, we want to wish
all the casters, fishermen and anybody else who reads this, a HAPPY AND
PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR, with many opportunities to wet a line. We would also like
to thank all those lovely folks who took a moment to drop us an e.mail note or
Christmas card wishing us the same thing.
I trust that Zero’s indoor accuracy tournament in Chicago was a great
success and wish that Sheila and I had been able to be there.
Our year in review contains quite a few highlights: medals won in his
first year of competition by Jay Hackney, followed by great success landing
giant brook trout on his first trip to Northern Quebec on Despair flies tied
right on the spot, probably tops the list of club accomplishments, however,
gold medals won by Ray Cockburn at the Toronto Sport Show would rank up there
as well, along with Ray’s biggest trout ever, a 4 lb beauty from Limit Lake
and 3 pound brownie from the Ganny.
Not
to be outdone, Scott Owen caught his biggest fish ever, a lovely Chinnook from
Georgian Bay while using ultra light tackle tackle. Paul Becker’s 4 lb bow
from Limit and 5 lb pickerel were his highlights.
Jim Lloyd and all our casters’ improved results and techniques have
to be considered as one of the best annual improvements ever for the S.F.&
B.C.A. Sheila and I had a great National, also hosted by John Serocynski, in
Chicago with a half dozen medals coming our way.
Our bamboo rod builders also had a fine year with a number of rods
already built and quite a few others nearing completion. With Leon, Jim and
Hans Gulde’s assistance the fly tyers used up enough feathers to re-stock an
aviary.
All
in all a splendid year for our club and with the new members who have joined
us in the last few months, I’m certain that 2003 will also be a bang-up one
for the S.F.& B.C.A. as well. As this bulletin is being written in the
radiation waiting room of the Princess Margaret Hospital, it just occurred to
me that my own casting efforts this year may be less than desired although
Sheila and I are still planning to attend the National in California in
August. Hopefully, Jim Lloyd,
Scott Owen, Paul Kennedy and Jay Hackney will pick up where I leave off and
continue to represent us in tournaments in fine style.
These four gents have all shown that they can be winners, not just on
the targets, but on the distance field, too.
Of course, Ray Cockburn with his plug accuracy prowess will also be
counted on to uphold the club’s honours.
We had an encouraging call from Paul Quarrington that he has every
intention of getting back to working out on the targets in the new year.
Paul has proven in the past he can cast a mean fly or plug when he’s
in the mood. One highlight that I
missed earlier has to be the huge improvement in her skills achieved by Sharon
McIntyre.
Our opening ice fishing trip with Bob Tanaka, Paul Becker and Ray
Cockburn was enjoyed by all - including the trout - as with their lockjaw
(east winds and falling barometer) they completely ignored our offerings, but
the trip in, weather and shore dinners and fine company made the outing
otherwise more than worthwhile. It was also a learning experience for Paul and
Bob, who I’m sure will be joining us on future expeditions of hard-water
fishing for trout.
Our club tournament, scheduled for the first weekend in June this year
looks like it will be a winner once again as we have quite a contingent of
casters who will want to test their skills against each other and the casters
from other clubs who are all invited to Milliken Park for the accuracy events
at the pond on Saturday and the distance games in the upper park on Sunday. The next casting event is the Toronto Sport Show, but it
hasn’t been decided yet if we will compete in this one or not as we have not
had anyone from the Toronto club at our tournament for several years now.
Perhaps we should boycott their show to send them a message.
However, if we hear from them that they will make an attempt to
participate in our tournament, then, of course we will reciprocate.
We are still hoping that Rene Gillibert from the Oakland Casting Club,
one of the finest casters in the world will be able to accept our invitation
to come up for a few days to give us pointers in the fly distance games and
maybe wet a line with us as well.......we’re shooting for a date in May.
One of our newest members, Robert Beaudoin, a multi-talented computer
guy is putting the finishing touches on our new web-site that he has designed
for the club. As soon as the
project is completed we will let you all have a look at his work – and the
stack of new photos that Robert has promised to include.
Ooops....I forgot to mention that our 2002 trip to the Broadback River
was the best in twenty years with 26 brookies caught that measured in excess
of 20” and all the way up to 27”. Most
were released, but a few somehow found their way into our dinners, giving us a
break from pickerel (walleyes, to you American folks).
Hopefully there will be a chance to top those results in 2003 if we can
get Paul Kennedy our chef de mission and all-round fishin’ buddy in gear so
we can get the trip organised. It
sounds like Jay Hackney is already on board for ’03.
Paul Quarrington is also taking a hard look at his priorities.
Rick Matusiak is also a possible for his third go at the giant brookies
and more of his fantastic film and camera work.
Let’s see.......that’s five.......who will be the lucky four to
round out the crew for this year???
Lots of luck in ’03,
Gord
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