THE
REEL THING June
2003
Wow!
Isn’t this weather great! We seem to take it for granted, but need to remind
ourselves just how lucky we are to be living right where we are in Southern
Ontario. Just look around the world at the catastrophic weather anomalies
others often have to put up with, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods,
fires and so on and so on. Damn, we’re lucky, eh!
Casting
is in full swing at Milliken Park Pond and those who are taking advantage of
it are enjoying great evenings and fine practice on the targets. With our
tournament fast approaching, next weekend, June 7th and 8th,
the extra practice should make for better results for those attending the
Thursday evening sessions. Next Thursday is the last chance to touch up your
stroke before the tourney gets underway on Saturday morning at 8:30. The first
three games are Dry Fly, Trout fly and Bass Bug Accuracy, with the three plug
accuracies probably beginning about Noon. There will not be a lunch break, so
please bring along a sandwich or whatever.
However, there is a Tim Hortons around the corner of the park as well.
The
streams are in better shape this year than they have been in years and many of
our folks are taking advantage of the excellent fishing. Hans Gulde began the
assault with a gorgeous 12lb bow, while I took my usual quota of big bows for
the smoker. Meanwhile, Ray Cockburn, Scott Owen, Paul Kennedy (limiting out in
less than two hours on the Saugeen) Paul Becker, Jim Lloyd, Jay Hackney (a 14
pounder), and the rest of us have been working over the Ganny and the streams
up at Georgian Bay quite productively. Jim’s gorgeous 19” brown and a
number of giant bows certainly highlight the fishing so far. I must mention
that Robert Beaudoin also had a fine day with the bows on Bowmanville Creek.
In
addition, we have had several field trips into the heart of Haliburton where
Jim also starred, catching more than the rest of us put together, including a
beautiful 20” splake and big bow. My son, Ron, visiting from Florida also
did well with the biggest bow of one of the trips to Limit Lake and a great
outing on the Ganny. A short trip to Lake Simcoe by Jim and me produced no
lakers, but a big small-mouth lethargic from its winter hiatus, latched on to
my Rapala. Too bad, out of season it had to be returned to the water. It’s
been quite a while since I fried up a couple of small-mouth bass fillets.
Unfortunately I haven’t had reports from some of our other fishing dynamos,
but I’m sure Rick Matusiak produced his usual limit catch of specks earlier
on.
We
are anticipating that there could be several casters coming to our tournament
next weekend from as far away as Detroit, Chicago and Ohio. I hope like heck
that all our members show their support for the club and we get a good turnout
for this, the most important event on our yearly schedule. It doesn’t
matter, folks, if you are just an outright novice, beginner or otherwise, your
participation is required…..simply remember it’s a chance to see some
superlative casting and to have a good time and you may discover that you are
a lot better than you realise.
There
are trophies, plaques and medals at stake, while there will also be
merchandise awards for those not competing in the “A” class category.
Just
got a call from Hans Gulde……..this morning he picked a nice feed of meadow
mushrooms, so that’s good news to know that they are popping up already.
Keep your eyes open for these goodies and if you’re not sure of what you
have collected, then trot samples over to Jim, Hans or me for evaluation (make
sure there is enough for a feed, please).
Good luck to everybody next weekend,
Gord
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