THE
REEL THING July
1992
Sorry
we're a little late with the Reel Thing, but things have been quite hectic for
us over the last month, or so. We
would like to take this opportunity to welcome several new members aboard our
rapidly growing ship. Brad Allen
is back with us having spent time apprenticing on the coast before returning
to Ontario and the S.F.& B.C.A. Brad
recently signed a contract with the M.N.R. to travel and do research on the
trout streams of Southern Ontario so we wont be seeing much of him until we
move indoors in September, however, welcome back Brad.
This young man joined our club as a Junior and rapidly became not only
one of our very best casters in all facets of the sport, but excelled in both
fly tying, rod building and just about everything we could show him about
fishing. It looks like it has
paid off handsomely for Brad - as it can do for any of our members who wish to
really get their teeth into our sport!
Robert
Voore, Sales Manager of Eastway Chrysler, helped us with the trophy &
medal expenses of our Spring tourney and decided to join the club along the
way. We hope to see Robert participating in some of the many club
activities before too long.
Roger
Harwood joined the club with the express purpose of learning to perform the
double haul in his fly casting for salmon and trout in the waters of Labrador. Roger swears that he caught as many as several dozen
Atlantic salmon in his trip to that area last year. Maybe Roger should be showing us how to use our tackle!
Anyhow, he has proved to be a willing and involved member and will be
another fine asset to the S.F.& B.C.A.
Roger is an M.D. specializing in anaesthesia, bringing the club's
medical specialists to three, Dr. Bill McClintock and my wife, Sheila, who has
a degree of Bachelor of Science in nursing.
Wow! It looks like the club will soon be able to branch out into
other aspects of the outdoors - perhaps medicine and treatment as it pertains
to injuries, allergies and illnesses occurring while fishing.
Getting
back to our tournament in June, it was wonderful to see such a fine turnout of
competitors for all twelve of the events.
With 26 casters, it was easily our best tournament ever.
There were some spectacular results with too many personal bests to
list here, however special mention must go to Paulo Conceicao, Fred Bigioni,
John Alexander, Sheila, Scott Purcell, Mike Reynolds and especially the
Durnford clan - all five of them! North
Jory and Harvey Beck fought out the "A" class side along with myself
with Harvey and I going right down to the last of the twelve events before he
edged me out in the All Round category. A
special thank you to everybody who pitched in to make this tournament a great
success.
The
Scarborough Open was followed by the Canadian Open and our club continued to
shine with wins by North Jory, Doug Ryder and myself. Sheila had a personal
best score of 83 in 5/8 ounce accuracy tying her for third and qualifying her
for the A.C.A. Nationals in Kentucky next month.
Most exciting were the results posted by big Doug in the distance
events after less than a month of practice and instruction.
He won the gold medal in the 2 hand spinning distance event, beating
the entire Canadian contingent and several top American casters in the
process! Way to go, Doug! Doug qualified for the North American championships next
month in Kentucky and let's hope he can repeat in this one.
Sheila
and I, along with Steve, Doug, Barry and Brad, put on a display of casting and
fly tying on behalf of our club at the Bridlewood Mall on the Fathers' Day
weekend. We have been told that
the show was handled in a very professional manner, so special kudos must go
to all those who were involved.
The
Great Lakes Casting Championships were held weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio and
Sheila and I represented the S.F.& B.C.A. in rather nice fashion.
Sheila had another personal best score of 86
in
the 5/8th finishing a strong second in her category while I captured firsts in
several of the distance events and the overall plug distance championship.
Unfortunately
we have had no reports of great fishing successes, but we do know that Leon
Schwartz, Fred Leibl, Dave Collins, Paulo, Conceicao, Steve & Doug Ryder,
Matt Ross, Irene and Rod, Scott Purcell, Jack Wilkings, Brad Allen and of
course, the entire Durnford clan have been making inroads into Ontario's
trout, bass and pickerel population. Let's
have some details folks, so that we can all share in your successes. Last weekend saw several of us enjoying a lovely camping
weekend at A/B Lake. Not too much
fishing - just relaxing, a little chess, some fishing, swimming and a lot of
fine dining. I think we'll do it
again on the Labour Day weekend. Let
us know if you are interested. There
is room for three tents.
Apart
from the North American Championships in Kentucky next month, there are two
other very important events on our club calendar.
The Ontario Summers Games are being held this year in Scarborough for
the first time and are, also for the first time, including fly and bait
casting in their itinerary. Sheila
and I got the ball rolling in this and it is now in the hands of the Ontario
Fly & Bait Ass'n. It appears
that we will have a record turnout for this event which features, a parade,
complete with sky divers etc. and all kinds of hoopla as well as the casting,
windup ceremonies, a barbecue and so on.
August 20th through the 22 are the dates.
If for some reason or another you haven't heard from us directly about
this one, please call me as soon as possible.
We need everybody's help with this production.
Also, Scott Purcell has been hard at work organizing our kids' fishing
day and has a dozen young fishermen lined up from the Childrens' Aid Society
for a fishing trip and hot dog feed on August 30th. We will require several big cars to assist with this and will
provide fishing outfits for most of the kids, however we will probably require
a few more spinning or spincast rigs for the kids to borrow.
I am working on obtaining rigs for all of them free, so that we can
surprise them with a gift of the tackle when the outing is over.
We will also need a couple of assistants to help Leon Schwartz with the
worm picking a night or so before the trip.
Please contact Scott or myself if you can help out.
Paul
Quarrington was a member of our club for three or four years before he moved
up to Orillia. Paul has won
several Canadian publishing awards including the Steven Leacock medal for
humour in writing. He has now
moved back to Toronto and should be re-joining the club shortly.
If you would like to have a great laugh at my expense (and Paul's
writing) get hold of a copy of this month's Harrowsmith magazine.
I'll get even with you, Paul, for this one.
I
have had a number of requests for specifics on fly casting leader
construction, both for tournament use as well as for fishing.
On the next page you will find our specifications for these leaders. Now, here is another little treat for you.
"JUST FISHIN"
Some men marvel the Canyon Grand,
Or Capistrano's Mission,
But I'll pass them by without a sigh
For just a spot of fishin'.
There's money made in swivel chairs
It it's gettin' gold you're wishin',
But I'll swap the dough in millionaire's row
For just a spot of fishin'.
Cards and liquor, the preachers say
Are a sure fire path to perdition,
But I'll take a chance with the Devil's dance
If he just wants to go fishin'.
A young girl's glance is a temptin' thing,
But beware her intuition,
Cause once you're hooked by a lady's look
There ain't no time for fishin'.
And when I've made my final cast
I'll die on one condition,
That o'er my grave these words are found,
"Died while he was fishin'."
If you should chance to follow me,
(Down, I sort'a suspicion.)
Look for a sinner with a rod and a spinner.
I'll sure as Hell be fishin'!
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