President's Newsletter.

April 2007

Can you imagine playing a round of golf with Tiger Woods?

I have often thought what that would be like. Or, maybe taking the toss from Derek Jeter and then making the throw to first to complete the double play. They were kind of my own “mittyesque” adventures.

What would I do in those situations?  I would watch every move the super star might make so as to learn as much as I could. I would have a thousand questions to ask for the same reason.   

“Let me see how you grip the club” I would say to Tiger. What is the secret to reading the green and lining up your putt. Of Derek I might ask “How do you get the jump on the pitcher when you want to steal second base”.

But, in reality all I could ever expect to do is imagine those situations. I could never get that close to either one of those guys. The same is true of most sports.

But not fly fishing, and that is one of the things I like about our sport. In my short experience in fly fishing I have had the opportunity to practice casting with Lefty Kreh, fish shoulder to shoulder with Ed Jarowoski and tie “fleyes” with Bob Popovics. I was able to ask each of them specific questions and explore their particular expertise. I was having trouble with my double haul and Lefty showed me what I was doing wrong. Ed and I shared fly selection that night at Richmond’s Creek. Bob demonstrated and then watched as I made my first attempts at using the new ultraviolet cured acrylic, an alternative to epoxy.

My son-in-law has a curio cabinet filled with sports memorabilia. He has an impressive collection of baseballs and other artifacts signed by many legends of the sports world.   I have, what I consider, an equally impressive collection of fly fishing and tying books, all signed by the authors. The difference is that he had to pay for most of the signatures and I did not. My books were autographed willingly and enthusiastically by the authors.

I guess you could argue that it all comes down to supply and demand, but there is no argument that our sport is up close and personal when it comes to relating to  both our legends and our quarry.

We hold them both in high esteem.

On Monday evening one of our local legends is visiting us. Alberto Knie, holder of several IGFA records, will be telling us some of his secrets to finding those trophy Bass.  Catching them is up to you.

Hmmm? ….I wonder why they call him “Crazy” Alberto?

Keep em tight!

Bill