The REEL THING
July ‘05
We’re
a little tardy with the July bulletin because we’ve been practicing four or
five hours most days for the last couple of weeks to get ready for the
National. In addition, Sheila, George Monroe and I will be going into Zero’s
baileywick for the Illinois State
Championship to see if we can put a scare into some of the other casters who
will be attending John’s show. Well, I wish that we’re true,
anyhow…..we’re going there for a little competitive practice before Dundee
and also as a reciprocal ‘thank you’ to John as he has made the five
hundred mile solo trek himself to participate in our Scarborough Championship
the last few years.
Our casters, with the new folks leading
the way have been beating the waters to a froth at the pond on Thursday
evenings and the results of their efforts are beginning to show and pay
dividends for them. We have been getting fine turnouts, with a number of the
folks arriving at Milliken Park even before we get a chance to set out the
targets off the docks. At the moment, only George, Ray, Sheila and I are
committed to going to the National, but we are still hopeful that Jay Hackney,
Paul Kennedy and Paul Quarrington, who have all expressed a desire to go, will
be able to clear their itineraries so that they could join us. If they can
come on board, we could field a team that could possibly wind up in the
medals.
One mystery is puzzling us: what’s
happened to Lee Pantridge? We haven’t heard from or seen him since he went
on his trout fishing and canoeing trip into Northern Quebec almost two months
ago, whereas, he was one of our more active participants in club activities
prior to his disappearance. Where are you, young Lee?
Sheila and I with assistance from Jim,
Hans and Ray did a casting demonstration with a few tricks and stunts at
Bridlewood Mall last Saturday and although being the Canada Day holiday
weekend with a lot of folks away at their cottage, it went off without a hitch
and was well received by the spectators. Bridlewood is assisting our team with
expenses for the trip to Dundee as reciprocation for the demo. Hans, Jim and
Ray also demonstrated their considerable expertise with their fly tying
skills. A couple of the casting stunts that we performed might be of interest
to other casters who occasionally find themselves in similar situations.
The first is, of course, the ever popular
‘casting from fifty feet and removing a cigarette from a volunteer’s lips
with a five-eighths ounce casting plug’. The stunts were all repeated during
the two-hour show for the benefit of later arrivals. Another was ‘slicing a
banana, held in Sheila’s hand at fifty feet, using fly tackle so that the
pieces fall into a bowl placed on the floor in front of her’. Perhaps the
most spectacular (try this one sometime) is having a spectator hold a target
centred with a bell on their derriere, also at fifty feet, while facing
away from me. The trick is not casting directly at the target, but
casting over the fellow’s head and shoulders in such a way that you can stop
the plug’s flight at exactly the right moment so that it comes back
between his legs and comes up and strikes the bell. It was done successfully
both times, as were the other tricks.
It always amazes me that we are able to do
these ‘stunts’ successfully, yet don’t have anywhere near the
consistency with the accuracy involved in regular competition. Can anyone
explain this for me?
Fishing has taken a back seat a little for
some of us over the last few weeks, but I can report that Jurgen and Angelo
had a fine outing to the Forks of the Credit, where Angelo was able to catch
his first-ever trout, a fine brown on a fly he made in the shop during our
winter activities (I hope it was a Despair, Angie). We have no idea how Lee
made out on his Quebec odyssey, but Tas Candaras had a spectacular four-day
outing up at Lake Nippissing chasing down pickerel (walleyes to our American
friends) and claims to have caught a couple dozen of these tasty fellows.
The
Ganny provided thrills for Roger Cannon, Patrick Walsh and me on several
occasions, with a few lovely browns to show for our efforts to go along with
handfuls of fresh-picked watercress. That reminds me that I should mention for
all our local free food’n fun aficionados that Saskatoon berries are peaking
with ripeness now and if you contact me I’ll be happy to direct you to easy
pickin’s. There is a dearth of mushrooms so far, because of a lack of rain,
but they are beginning to push their way up anyhow and Sheila and I have
picked enough for a fine cheese and mushroom omelette, as well as for a pasta
dish.
Our
trip to the Broadback River is still undecided as we have only three of us
committed to going as of now, Paul Kennedy (of course) myself and George
Monroe, but we are still hopeful that Jay Hackney, who I know really wants to
go on what would be his second foray into that God’s Country, will be able
to clear the way to join us. He already has a gorgeous twenty-six inch
speckled trout on the wall to show off to friends and another would give him a
splendid collection for both the wall and more importantly, his memories.
We’re all waiting with baited breath for the word from you, Jay.
Speaking
of “memories”, my book coming out next spring, MAGICAL WATERS AND
MEMORIES, as mentioned in earlier Reel Things, will have the first one hundred
copies specially marked, numbered and signed. More than sixty of these have
already been allocated and requested by fishin’ buddies, casters
and so on…..so if you’re not on the list for these special editions
and would like to be, please drop me a note accordingly. Obviously, no payment
would be required until they are shipped. Another book to watch for and we are
all anticipating a great read with this one will be Jim Chapralis’s new work
on casting……Jim is doing his best to have it ready for us all by the
National at Dundee. For those who may not know it, big Jim has been in the
casting game almost as long as I have and that’s forever!
The
next Reel Thing (August) will be written after the National as soon as we get
back and can catch our breaths.
Gord
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