Reflections 2008

July 2008
As usual, the Eldred fishing trip was another good trip. We all caught fish. We caught a ton of big blue gills, some bass, yellow perch, trout and one nice crappie. Sunday afternoon we spent at a local lake where we caught bass, yellow perch and blue gill.

Although it rained heavy Sunday night, it didn't spoil the nice dinner we had at Eldred Restaurant. A couple of martinis put me in a good mood. Sunday we were fishing in Steges Lake at Eldred, from bass boats where we had the bass contest that Gordon took first place in. It was a real nice sixteen inch bass. Congratulations again, Gordon. Also, as usual, Joey Donuts came up with the Dunkin Donuts. See you next year.
---Joe Caroleo---

The Casting For Recovery (CFR) retreat was held July 11–13, and once again was a great success. Eleven women attended the 3 day clinic culminating in fishing on the Connetquot with volunteer river guides from LIFR and TU. Many of our members volunteer for these Long Island retreats held twice a year, and special thanks to Betty Ann Timmerman, Lee Weil, Coreen Gelber and Linda Macy who spent the entire weekend with these gals recovering from breast cancer. Special thanks to Mike Gelber for coordinating the river guides on Sunday, and to our club members who served as river guides and river helpers.

May 2008
On May 17, thirteen Long Island Fly Rodder members were joined by nineteen Housatonic Fly Fishing Association members and four Boy Scouts from a local troop in a river clean up at the Cornwall Bridge, CT section of the Housatonic River. The weather was great (a rarity for a Fly Rodder trip), dry, sunny and warm. Perfect for a day in the field. The clean up session itself was quick and easy caused by an unexpectedly litter free riverbank area and large work crew. This is a great compliment to earlier clean ups and present users of the river. The condition of the river certainly is a good sign for the future.

After the clean up was completed, all hands returned to the Meadows area of the state park for a cook out hosted by LIFR. Helping Paul McCain flip burgers and roll hot dogs was John Fisher. Paul went way out supplying baked beans, sauerkraut, pickles and chips and some fine cooks from the HFFA brought home made Macaroni salad.

After the cook-out, many members spread out along the river to fish. The water was a little high, but wade able, and the water temperature was perfect at the mid 50’s. Fortunately for the fish, the fishermen must have been a bit full and lazy as not many fish were caught. 
--- Dan Van Buskirk ---

April 2008
Thanks to the volunteers who converged on the Willowemoc on April 26, the creek side is now rid of at least 35 bags of unsightly garbage. There was an informal contest going on to see who came up with the most curious finds. Besides the commonplace items such as plastic bags and cans, workers uncovered mattresses, a shopping basket with wheels and two vacuum cleaners. John Gerbitz was kind enough to use his pickup truck to collect the bags of garbage and carry them to the dump.

Back at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum, Peter Van Buskirk cooked a bountiful bar-b-que for the workers. The weather cooperated and provided a nice afternoon to do some fishing. Those who stayed over Saturday night met again at the Rockland House for dinner.

The club along with the CFFCM did a great job in coordinating this event and organizing the volunteers. Through their efforts we were able to accomplish our river cleanup goals and have time to enjoy the day with friends.
--Susan Solomon--

March 2008
At least 10 club members attended the Fly Fishing Film Tour in New York City on Monday or Tuesday, March 17/18. Six club members met at Penn Station and went to eat at Hill Country, a Texas Bar-B-Q across the street from the Ultra on W 26th ST. where the show was held. There were enough ribs, brisket, chicken, sausage and Lone Star long necks to satisfy even our crew. Check it out if you’re ever in the area.

Prior to the show club members got to talk with members of Angling Exploration Group, (AEG) makers of the “TROUT BUM DIARIES” series of videos (Vol. 1, Patagonia and Vol. 2, Kiwi Camo) and the people running the tour. With our show tickets came raffle tickets, a $400 shopping spree at The Urban Angler, local sponsor or the NYC event, and a copy of their latest DVD. In fact Susan Solomon, club V.P., walked away a winner of one of the raffles.

The show consisted of 8 videos, one a great coming attraction for AEG’s next release “ FISHBUM 1, MONGOLIA – RIVER WOLF”; you will never wet wade again. Other films covered Alaska including the Pebble Mine debate, Steelheading, fly fishing in Slovenia, Tarpon and Bonefish, to name a few.

If the tour repeats next year, and I’m sure it will, make plans to attend, I know we’ll be back.
--Dan Van Buskirk--

January 2008
The January general meeting featured the nomination of officers and incoming board members as well as a "Fly Tying Night" with some of the Club's best fly tyers demonstrating.

We'd like to thank those members that contributed to the 2007 fly donation collection. The flies will be used for various raffles throughout the year and will aid in funding our activities. Cliff Dies had the winning ticket for the "thank you prize", which was drawn at the January meeting. He is now the proud owner of a new Thompson vise, hooks and fly tying materials.