Jim, happy to have you here and I'm happy to be here too.... FAOL has some great members and contributors, keep having fun.
I think I learn something new most every time I'm on this site.
Printable View
Jim, happy to have you here and I'm happy to be here too.... FAOL has some great members and contributors, keep having fun.
I think I learn something new most every time I'm on this site.
Jim, your story amazes me! Hope you shared it with the current club president. They need a major wake up call.
Kinda reminds me of the Orvis Store in Roseville, CA.
I was going to join a local club, but realized that I have FAOL.
Nothing like a group that is so insecure as to kiss each others arse end to be accepted. Jim you are a good guy and have the patience of a saint. I would have left within the first year if I was treated like that. Anywho, you know you are accepted and respected here. Feel free to share your fishing stories with us.
This story makes me a little sad. Flyfishing is already looked upon by a lot of non-flyfishers as an expensive, fussy and elitest sport. It's sad when fly fishers perpetuate those myths.
The expample you sited that surprises me the most is #6. I find it laughable that you actually received a "campaign call" from an officer candidate. Among the groups I've been affiliated with, the election process is more like: folks talk it up, someone says "I nominate so and so.", and that person is usually elected unanimously. But an actual campaign call, really?
I've been casually affiliated with 2 FF clubs and more actively involved in a 3rd (I am the current president). I guarantee that no one has EVER been treated this way by any of these 3 clubs. I hate to say it but that might be because I live in eastern South Dakota. Not exactly a hot-bed of fly fishing activity. Most of us in South Dakota are so happy to find someone else to talk fly fishing with that we don't care who you are or what your story is!
"PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT ME AS A MEMBER." Groucho Marx
...that group of people does not sound like fun...
PT/TB
Glad to see you on FAOL and sorry you, and a lot of others it seems, have had such a bad club experience. Some 'clubs' are like the cliques I remember from high school - I'd really hate to be part of one of those from either side.
Happily, I've had only the opposite experiences with fly fishing clubs - I joined a great, if small, club in So. Cal. when I took up fly fishing about 6 years ago. It was a very friendly place and I learned a lot from the more experienced members. I found FAOL about the same time and lurked and learned from you all. I joined Central Oregon Flyfishers when I moved here about 18 months ago and again, have had nothing but good experiences with good people. I'm sure there are a lot of good clubs out there, don't let your bad experience stop you from finding one of them.
Cliff
Yup seen stuff like that before. Its always a shame. I am not in a club now but found them to be mixed. Some folks were quite nice but there always seemed to be the elitist group that paid you no mind and consorted with the folks that flew off to their great fly fishing adventures. Not to put them all in same category by any means cause there are some good folks out there. What I am betting is that with a club is like that, there has to be others in the club that feel the same way. Maybe you should start your own club, informal to start of course. Good luck and don't loose any sleep over people like that. Go one last time and "key their car" as you leave. Naw, just kidding. Leave them to their own misery.
Thanks FAOL for supporting and co-signing me. I Kept thinking, If I just keep going back someone will recognise me and will want to talk to me. I know a few guys locally who like to fly fish and would probably like to have a coffee and talk about it. I'll invite them next week. Jim