By Larry Forte
As I write my last column for the Newsletter, it is Friday, October 26th and the week is almost over. It was a pretty awesome week and it started last Saturday with our 51st Annual Banquet; which was a big success. Our attendance was 102, which is a great turnout for us. Since Jon Thames took over as Banquet Chairman, the attendance has been great. It’s not hard to figure out why, it’s a fun evening! This year was no exception. The Blindfolded Fly Tying Contest was enjoyable. I will admit that my Wooly Bugger was rather sad. Dave Keane was the champion! Plus, the Fly Fishers Trivia Game was a lot of fun. It added some excitement to the awarding of the Bucket Raffle items. Nice job Mr. Mekelburg! Looking forward to next year’s version of the game. Plus, Dave Wooster’s talk about Project Healing Waters was special and a great addition to the evening. Finally, how awesome was Lynn Ashe and her Travel Rod presentation. What a talent. I think she should perform at all future Banquets!!! If you would like to see her performance, go to www.youtube.com and search Fish Hunter Blues. Now, I won the Club’s “Travel Rod” for the 2019 Fishing Season and I can promise I will not sing like she did at next year’s Banquet!
After recovering for a couple of days, it was a busy PVFF Day on Tuesday, October 23rd. We started at 8:00 AM at the Club’s Trout Pen (actually Rick Loose and Billy Noland arrived at 7:00 AM!). With a great crew of 10 Club volunteers, we removed 560 fat Rainbow Trout from the Pen and stocked them at our “Home Waters” at the Catoctin Creek Nature Center. Thank you to all that helped stock the Trout and let’s enjoy fishing for them this Fall and Winter.
The day ended with our first PHW Meeting. What an incredible day it was for our Club and PHW volunteers! As Andrew wrote in his column, 3 folks showed up including Deme. She was very excited to tie her first fly! The program is off to a great start as we look for it to grow over the next couple of months. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 27th.
A couple of final “Thank You’s”:
Again, thanks to Jon, Ruby and the rest of the Banquet Committee. They did a great job making the Banquet a fun and successful evening. Organizing a party for 102 people take a lot of time, planning and organization.
Also, I would like to thank all of the members that made donations to the Club for the Banquet. Finally, thank you to all of the Companies and Fly Shops who made very generous contributions as well.
Thank you for being part of this Club. See you at the next meeting!
Larry Forte
Club President