THE
REEL THING
June 2001
I don’t know whether to begin
this bulletin by chastising the NO-SHOW members
of the S.F.&B.C.A. who failed to support to support their club this past
weekend when we hosted the annual Scarborough Championships, or thank the few
who did.
But
there it is…….special thanks to those who attended.
It was agreed by everybody that it was a fine day and we all enjoyed
the competition and b.b.q., speaking of which, Ray Cockburn did a great job
(all by himself) of looking after. The
folks who participated from clubs other than ours and as far away as Chicago
also agreed that it was a well-run show and a lot of fun, thanks to everybody
who pitched in with setting up, scoring and all the little things that make
for a successful event.
Kudos are due to John
Seroczynski who drove all the way from Chicago, despite a bad back to
support a fellow casting club and assisted with just about everything without
once being asked. We would also
like to blow thank-you kisses to Jim Lloyd’s
lovely wife, Deb, who very capably took charge of the registration and
scoring summary details, a necessary but un-rewarding task,
as well as Jaydee, Hans, Paul and everyone who participated.
Also, where would we have been without our right-hand man and club
V.P., Jim Lloyd who pretty well takes charge of everything, from setting up
the tent shelters, the dock and whatever else needs doing.
Those members who didn’t take part are the unlucky ones……they
missed out on a wonderful day! Come
out to Milliken next Wednesday and talk to those who were there. I’m certain their enthusiasm will impress you.
Now, to the competition itself: in the Novice “B” Class section, it proved to be a
tremendous one-man show with Paul Kennedy winning gold in five of the six
accuracy games, losing only to Ron Bolton of the Westhill Firefighters club in
Dry Fly in a cast-off after they tied with 94’s.
Here
are Paul’s scores in the other games: Trout Fly - 91, Bass Bug - 86, ¼ oz -
94, 3/8 oz - 93 and 5/8 oz - 97! This
is a remarkable set of scores for any caster, let alone a caster in the
“B” category. Paul’s
aggregate score for the six games totalled 554, only one point less than the
winning total score in the “A” division, 555.
Two casters tied for that position, Bill Wattie, Westhill and John
(Zero) Seroczynski.
Checking
back to 1984, the first year of this competition, we discovered that Paul’s
results in winning the “B” All Round Plug Accuracy (284) and All Round Fly Accuracy (270) are both new record
scores to go with the obvious record in the Combined All-Accuracy.
He needed assistance to cart away all the hardware and merchandise that
he collected.
Yes,
there were others in the tournament. Hans
Gulde took a hard fought second place silver in the ¼ oz, beating Ron Bolton
(Westhille) by a couple strokes. That
looked good hanging around his neck alongside the bronze he collected in 3/8
oz. Ray Cockburn (the b.b.q. on
his mind) managed to sneak in and wrest the silver away from Ron Bolton in 5/8th
by a single stroke. In the
“B” Class Fly Accuracies, Jim (Jaydee) Davidson, in his first competition
surprised himself with decent results in Dry Fly and Trout Fly and took home a
couple of bronze medals. We even
had a ‘walk-in’, a gentleman, Bob Cook, who claimed to be a fly fisherman
and asked if he could compete. Although
he quickly realised that he was in over his head he enjoyed himself and
wasn’t even disturbed when the cell phone in his hip pocket rang.
Can’t say the same for
the judges who were scoring him at the time though.
I’m sure Mr. Cook will be back to the pond to learn how to perfect
his skills.
Although
the “A” Class Division results were monopolised by Bill Wattie and John
Seroczynski, Jim Lloyd in his first tournament since moving up into the
“A” ranks scored impressively. Jim
captured third place bronze in Dry Fly and 5/8 oz. to along with second place
silvers in ¼ & 3/8 oz Plug Accuracy.
I managed a silver in Bass
Bug to go with bronze in Trout Fly, ¼ & 3/8 oz Plugs.
Bill Wattie, Westhill, collected four firsts and Zero, the man from
Chicago, two firsts, but tied for first place overall in total demerits with
555, just a point ahead of Paul Kennedy in the “B” Class.
Fishing-wise,
the month of May continued to produce some spectacular results, despite the
rather inclement weather that spoiled several scheduled outings.
As usual the Ganaraska provided the best thrills, including a gorgeous
35” rainbow for Hans Gulde and me on a hike way up in the headwaters.
Lots of browns up to 22” were brought to heel during two or three
other trips. The Ganny area also
produced a shopping bag-full of wild leeks for us on one outing.
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