Fun at the BBQ, Potluck and Casting Games....

[fish-on-bro]

As Wildman said, I want to give a big thanks to Mark, Larry, Tim, Doc, and everyone who came and shared. I myself had a great time and it was great to put faces to the names. Wish I had more time to do the course but I was too busy chewin the fat with everyone. Thanks again, had a great time.

Fish-on-bro, out....

[Hatch71]

Hey Totally second this it was great putting faces with names this morning.... Just bumb'd I wasn't able to stay the whole Day... I hope your knee gets better quick!! Chris

[fishinsteve]

Wow, what a great time. A great bunch of guys and gals. I got there early and stayed to the very end just listening, learning and blabing my mouth . It was nice to meet all of you. I'm looking forward to the next get together. A special thanks to Mark and Larry who spent some extra time with me answering questions and working on my casting. I was very impressed with the casting skills I saw and the course was lots of fun and encouraged me to practice more.

Thanks to all that helped put this together. You did a wounderful job

Steve

[tomsakai]

I totally agree. I got there at noon, stayed to the end, and wished that I had been there at the very beginning. It was great seeing old friends, meeting friends in person that I had only met on the board, and meeting new friends that I had never corresponded with. Many thanks to Mark, Larry and all for making yesterday a great day.

[fflutterffly]

You've got to come next year if you missed it! Everyone had a great time and the food.... well the food was fantastic. We had home-made and store bought, fresh fruit and pastry.
If you're casting was off the crew from Long Beach was there to instruct, aid and abed in what ever needed to be handled.
The talent was overwhelming during the casting competition. If you've never done one, my first, this is a great way to network, learn, practice and hone the skills you will certainly need for the sierra small creeks. Now my question is who won 1st, 2cd and 3rd.... buy does it really matter? It was a great time.j

I finally go to meet face to face with so many people Tom, the many Bobs, Chris, Johns and so many more. Next time I'm bringing real name tags in plastic for all instead of the bothersome stick on. I really forget everyones names, but I still enjoy the hugs and handshakes from all.

Then there were the reluctant and willing wives and others the participants brought along. The kids were invited as well and behaved perfectly! Several of the gals have decided to join the up coming casting class at LBCC. For me this is great.... more gals to fish with.

Now to the casting event: the work it must have taken to put this course together was apparent. From simple Steeple Cast to a not so easy pick up and lay-day course. Though I enjoyed each challenge I do have my favorites, three to be exact, though I will mention only four. #1. Double Haul With a Dog Leg Right. You had to haul past or as near to a certain obstruction, chip up to the target and then putt. #2 Through the Vertical Ring from *!!! You stood about 30' off and had 4 chances (cast) to get your yarn though. Trick was the yard had to hit the ground after it passed the ring. This was a test of a tight loop. #3 This sounds so easy, but the nearness of the target makes it tricky. A Bow and Arrow cast to the target 15' away with 4 attempts. And now for #4, which I really enjoyed. Hole consisted of 4 rings, center point 5' apart in an extended pattern. You cast, in a straight line, from the nearest to the farthest and then had to bring retrieve cast back to target #1. So you begin with a 20' cast to a 35' then return to each target. 3 cast each till you made the mark. All in all we had 14 'holes' to play to with a total, i believe, 42 targets.

I want to thank everyone for participating, especially to just a few I can name, Dok, Larry, Tim (LBBC) Tom Sakai for those incredible veggies and feathers, a gigantic box of poly yarn, Bob for the amazing Smoked Salmon, blu for sharing his advice on my salt fly, Greg for bringing his hand made nets, the other Bob for bringing rods to share and Karen for the Brownies. Most importantly I wanted to give my warmest thank you to Mark who's hard work made all this possible. (I'm sorry I don't who made the rest of the foods or who did more work on the games, but I truly thank you all as well.!!!!!)

What a great time! I hope next year we can have an organized 'fishing the salt' party the day after. That would have punctuated the whole event. We also talked about a possible swap for next year.

[flybob]

Good people, good food, good times, a pleasure meeting all the new faces and sharing the bamboo, learned a lot....

Thanks Mark, Larry, for all you hours of hard work setting this up and bringing in the extra casting pros!
Looking forward to the next event!

Bob

[meb]

I also want to thank everyone for the great food and fun. Setting up the fly casting course to incorporate all the different aspects of casting was really cool and challenging, so thanks for that. Larry gave everyone in our group some great casting tips. As a teacher it was good to realize that it's hard to be a student.

I really enjoyed meeting everyone and I picked up some cool feathers, a little horse hair, and I got rid of a lot of poly yarn. Hope to fish with some of you soon.

Mark

[flyster]

My wife and I truly enjoyed ourselves. Everyone treated us like family. My wife was so intrigued by some of the women casting out there that she asked me to show her the tricks of the trade. I've been trying to get her to do this for twenty years!! Thanks to all who brought rods to cast. Flyroberto had a sweet 6'8" boo that I almost hijacked and 1mocast's 3wt. LL was smmmmmooooth as silk. As for the games in wished I could have done better. The sun was in my eyes all afternoon long and I forgot to take off my 20 foot leader that I use at Long Beach. Enough . Yes, I took one on the chin. But the worst thing was looking in my wife's eyes and telling her I lost. In all the only thing that could in my opinion improve the great time we had is to get a few of us to show how to tie some of their favorite patterns. Thank you to all who helped set up this wonderful day. We must do this again soon!

[fflutterffly]

Oh stop your whinny you incredible caster you! I loved your long double haul on the dog leg! I can't wait for your wife to hit the water with all us. kathy said she'd bring the dog, Chris is coming to the up coming casting class with Jim and now your wife! Well this is the perfect ending to a great day of friends.

[1mocast]

My wife was so intrigued by some of the women casting out there that she asked me to show her the tricks of the trade. I've been trying to get her to do this for twenty years!!

Jon, Watch out! She will be outcasting and fishing you soon! LOL


Mark, Larry, Tim, Doc, thank you guys for helping out on all of you casting "hitches". The course was great! I had such a great time. The food and fellowship is just amazing.

This sport makes us very one dimensional to each others eyes sometimes; Being able to see Friends and family together supporting each other is just priceless. To all the families of FFA's, you all deserve a BIG GROUP HUG for supporting us in our passion for this sport.

[Papasequoia]

Looks like I missed a great time but I love hearing that all went well for you all!

[DubL HauL]

Thanks to all for the great day casting in the park! Wow good as any day on the stream!

Greg awesome nets thanks for sharing your craft outstanding.

Thanks to all the great food and friends.

Congratulations to the casting champs Ryan, David and Mark!



Thanks for the challenge Blu, Ariel and John. It was just like fishing, well kinda.

Andy

[fly addict]

Thank you all for making this a great event. It was good to see all the people I have meet at other Addicts gatherings and to meet the new members and put faces to names. It looks like everybody who came had a good time, and that is what these things are all about. I guess we just might have to do it again in the future.

Mark