Met some of the most wonderful people at the sowbug and many surprises as well

I'm speechless honestly haveing spent the last few days at the sowbug roundup in arkinsaw I have been blessed with the joys of meeting some wonderful people. who have touched my heart greatly and I wish to thank them all openly.

Denny, bugman, antronmidge, kenny, skip, win win, missako, and so many many others whom i cannot remember their names or honestly daer not try to mutilate them with bad spelling. They all are wonderful caring kind and out right wonderful people and I am a better person to have meet them. With out many of them the sowbug for mw would not have happened. thank you.

I was so excited that my stutter was driving me nuts. it was so thick. i felt terrable but everyone was so patent and understanding. even though I felt like a ( anti put self down slogan here )grr. but though it all i am even more proud to be a member of this wonderful forum. thank you all.

Hi Charlaine,

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I attended my first fly fishing show last year and met many people that I had read about for years so I know how exciting they can be. You can color me a little green with envy because I sure would like to have been there. 8T ;)

Charlaine, you are a total hoot!! Just wait till you get to the Michigan Fish-In! There'll be even more of us there!! And oh ... the stories we tell!!! :roll:

Charlaine;
Sound like a very good time. Now try attending a Fish-In. You'll have the time of your life!

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Originally Posted by Betty Hiner

Charlaine, you are a total hoot!! Just wait till you get to the Michigan Fish-In! There'll be even more of us there!! And oh ... the stories we tell!!! :roll:

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Betty
They are not stories...most of them actually happened...maybe a little different that we tell them...but they happened. :roll:

Would we lie??!!

HE HE HE !! Said in evil and sinster manner.:twisted:

I'm glad you enjoyed our Sowbug Roundup. It was our 13th. Next month we will be holding our first meeting for the 2011 Roundup.
Bob.

Bob,

It is amazing just how much time and effort go into doing a show like the Sowbug Roundup. I know that for the two FFF auctions that I coordinate, it is a year round series of meetings, and conference calls and exchanges of emails. Most people do not realize what it takes to do these shows, so it is good to see them telling us how much fun they had. Makes you feel really good I would imagine.

One of these days I want to attend a Sowbug Roundup.

Larry ---sagefisher---

Jack, you wrote to Charlain,''Would we lie?'' Of coarse none of us would lie, however we ''Might'' adjust the truth just a little. Glad the sow bug went well. Once things slow down for me I might get to attend one and learn some new stuff. Y'all take care, John.

I was there, and wished I could have met some of you. We need FAOL pins for our hats or something. . . .

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Originally Posted by waynep

I was there, and wished I could have met some of you. We need FAOL pins for our hats or something. . . .

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Or a FAOL hat!

Brad

Hummmm ... that has a familiar ring to it!!!

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Originally Posted by Jack Hise

Would we lie??!!

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Probably. Fortunately the true (or "slightly adjusted") stories are so good that there really isn't any need to.
:)

Ed

What Char does not tell is that she was invited to tie at the Sow bug and did!!! She is now on the tier list and will be forever. (It is very difficult to get invited onto this list) Over 100 tiers tied this year and one of the best "catching years ever" (White River)
I will attest to the fact that she does tie a mean fly. The people that sat and watched her, walked away with smiles on their faces and a new friend. I do not think she ever had a chair empty.
I also enjoyed watching her fish and catch way more trout than I could count.
(Just a sneak preview, I hear Char will soon be a Host in our Chat Hut)
Watch for her shift time and then come into the Hut and chat with her.
Thanks Ivan!! (You know why)

Denny

Hi All;

This was my first time attending Sow Bug and can tell you that it's like no other tying show I've ever been to, very informal and intimate setting. They have chairs setup in front of each tyer and you actually sit with them as they show off thier skills.

Denny and Tony Spezio selected a bunch of Denny's great product just for me, I was touched by the amount of thought they put into selecting material to fit my needs and I can personally attest to the quality of Denny's product. It so good that I fell asleep in my hotel room the first night admiring what I had purchased!

Denny is a great guy, spent a bit of time talking about chicken genetics which I'd love to continue next year, Denny was quite busy helping others select what they needed from his product line so it was hard to keep a conversation going.

I met some great tyers and many new friends, I'm sorry I didn't meet CharlaineC but will try again next year.

This is one event that I personally will feel slighted if I don't attend in the future.

Wayne

Six months from posting about problems tying her first fly to tying at sowbug. That's impressive!

I had a great time as usual. The fishing was unusual this year. There were much more significant insect hatches going on...even complex hatches...than is typical on these tailwaters and the fish were teeing off on them. It was nice meeting most (if not all) of y'all.

I bought some very nice feathers and a cool quail skin from Denny and some great partridge skins from Wapsi...all at VERY good prices. That's another perk of attending these types of events.

Just wanted to thank Denny for all the knwoledge he imparted on me over the weekend. I was able to spend the evenings chatting with him and Kenny and picked up a great deal of knowledge. Fished hard Friday and got into some great caddis and midge action. Saturday made the Sowbug and was able to gain even more knowledge about hackle from denny and Kenny. Also got to spend some time with close friends and meet a few new ones. It was a great time.....just wish I had got to hang around longer.

I too attended the Sowbug Roundup last week, and I would like to Thank Tony Spezio, Denny, and the NW AR fly fishing club for fueling my passion for tying. I learned so much from Tony about his flies and how he goes about tying them, and everything I needed to know about a chicken from Denny. The next time I am in the need for hackle, it will be bought from Denny, because of the time he took to talk to a rookie in the tying game and his ability to explain in my terms what I might need for the style of flies that I tie.
Thanks again.
Larry.
P.S - I am hooked

what can i say i spend hours behind my vice at a time. esp with the old trout patterns that look lik salmon patterns just on a size 10-8 hook. Tieing has help me grow in many ways and has helped me to deal with many leftover deamons from iraq so for my it is a wonderful form of theipy. and i thank you all for your help

Charlaine, Congratulations to you. Going from asking questions to giving answers about fly tying in six months, Wow. Be proud of yourself and continue to teach others. The praise abut your skills came from those who know, their praise and recommendations carry lots of weight. Sounds as if many people watched you excerize your skills at the tying vise. Again congratulations to you.

I want to say thank you for your service to our country. Take care, John.

bream thank you im still floored in so many ways. but i dont think ill ever not learn when it comes to tying. as for thanking me for my service its my pleasure i was doing my job and would do it again any day.

Char aint been on faol long before tying with me through skype and that was 2 times a week or more & sometimes for 2 or more hours at a time... She has become quite good at tying... We got to talkin bout the sowbug & aranged it so she could go & stay with us and make the trip to arkansas with us... I dont think she thought I was really serious when I told her I would have her a plane ticket to come down here till she actually got it... She had a blast fishin & so did i just watchin her face light up... Also got to tie a shift at sowbug... She has become a realy good friend to me & our family... Made the whole trip a blast for me just seeing her have fun even though I only cought 2 browns the whole time we was there... She will be heading home saturday but we'll keep in toutch through skype and tying... We also built a 9ft 5wt bamboo fly rod togather from a blank I built that will be going home with her... Hopefully Char will git to atend the next sowbug & the next & the next.....

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Originally Posted by Denny

What Char does not tell is that she was invited to tie at the Sow bug and did!!! She is now on the tier list and will be forever. (It is very difficult to get invited onto this list) Over 100 tiers tied this year and one of the best "catching years ever" (White River)
I will attest to the fact that she does tie a mean fly. The people that sat and watched her, walked away with smiles on their faces and a new friend. I do not think she ever had a chair empty.
I also enjoyed watching her fish and catch way more trout than I could count.
(Just a sneak preview, I hear Char will soon be a Host in our Chat Hut)
Watch for her shift time and then come into the Hut and chat with her.
Thanks Ivan!! (You know why)

Denny

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Ivan,

It was great meeting you and spending time getting to know you at Sowbug. I had no idea that Charlaine was even with you until we were smoking together outside Friday afternoon and she asked you where some materials were in your kit. I meant to give y'all each an Adaptive Fly Fishing Institute decal before you left, but I got distracted by conversations with others. That's easy to do at these events. LOL

One of the things I was very impressed with at this year's Sowbug was the participation level of disabled tiers. Just the ones I know of: Bob Stehwien, Joe, Charlaine, you, and I constituted a noticeable percentage of the tiers. I wish there had been more youth tiers, too. There was a good showing of lady tiers as well. And most of them were (as usual) among the best tiers there. Mary Janco is an amazing artist at the vise. And one of my favorite people in the fly tying community is Peggy Brenner, who came from New Hampshire.

All the fundraising buzz with the constant announcements over the PA system and all the space consumed by the raffle/auction tables was something new. And I personally thought it was a huge distraction and changed the nature of Sowbug...and not in a good way. But I still had a great time.

When I first started tying, didnt have anyone to teach me... I learned from books, other printed materials & a lot of trial and error... Met Paul Jones about 2 year ago who showed me some things that really helped me with my tying... He ties what he calls coars hair fishing flies, builds horse hair fly lines and other things... Now I teach tying classes in my home & through the internet on skype... Out of all the people I helped with fly tying, Ive never seen anyone advance to the level Char has in so short a time and with such passion for the art... Ive had the privilage of her staying 2 weeks with us here at my house tying nearly every day for hours at a time... Funny thing is, I take someone one on a trip with me to fish & I end up gittin smoked...The sowbug was a lot of fun but that with the PA thing blasting off every few minutes made it hard and at times impossible to comunicate with the folks who was watching us tie and trying to learn a little... If ya can help someone by giving them the tools and what knowledge you have, do it... Never know if you will ever git that chance again or not... Im gonna plan on going to the upcomming
Smallmouth Rendezvous April 30-May 1 in Tahlequah, OK...

SO here I am sitting here like a blubbering idiot ( i know I know i'm not ) but the things that Ivan has said has really touched me. In all my life I have never ever ever been as welcome in anothers home like i have been here at ivans. Ivan and his wife are wonderful, beautiful people. Their son is just like Ivan in many ways. Im touched deeply. I've never had someone treat me like Ivan and everyone elce I have met from Faol have it truely does mean the world to me.
Being a woman in the situation i'm in (thouse who I have felt comfertable explaining know) it causes me both to be over protective of myself and also on edge in many ways. I was so nervice my stutter came back in full force. But now this last week ive felt so welcomed that it has begun to calm down emencely. I van and his family welcomed me into their home and treates me as one of the family. wich means the world to me it honestly does. :D
i'm not sure how to express my thanks to Ivan, his wife winwin and their son for the wonderful treatment I was given. and I will pay them back some how. But I also shall be back to texas. soon.
The sad thing is that it is now time for me to head back to rhode island. and i'm not honestly looking forward to it. I feel more at home here then at home..
Ivan and his family denny, tolby, kenny and many others who know who they are all have touch and become part of my heart and my new family. who I would proudly give my life for. I hold you all deeply deeply to my heart...

"and I will pay them back some how"

I'll bet if you kept on tying, fly fishing, "passing it on" and sharing with others, they would consider themselves "paid back"!

Nice post by the way.....

Thats right Warren...