Attending a Fish-In

[Joe Valencic]

Looked for a man in a superman get up bt I guess he didn't arrive this year! Not as dependable as santa......

Superman was with us last year, but this year we were paid a visit by none other than Uncle Sam...



Joe

[Kevin_D]

I meant to see if I was in his will, oh thats right ,he's broke. Still sorry I missed him.

[roberts618]

Two weeks have gone by since the FAOL MI Fish-In ended and the ether has worn off. Now my report can be told.

This year?s journey for me to the FAOL Fish-In began in early April 650 miles south of my primary home. I had never heard of FAOL, or its now fabulous annual MI Fish-in. Neither did I know this would be my entr?e into the FAOL world.

At the time, I was minding my own business out fishing on a stream called the Duck River near Normandy, TN. The Duck is a TN DNR stocked tail waters fishery that can be fun to fish early and late in the year. Earlier in the day it had been raining and some of us trout bums had an itch to wet a line in the later part of the afternoon. Since I am only 15 minutes from the Duck, I decided after the rain stopped to try my luck.

I had been fishing for a while on my favorite hole on the Duck and along comes a couple of guys dressed in the full fly fishing uniform of the day. I could tell these were serious fly fisherman and not your usual local trout fisherman with a spin-rig and whole kernel corn. (BTW, they say Del Monte corn is the best. )

To be continued . . . . . .

[Joe Valencic]

By his writing style, I sense the makings of the next John Gerich or Sparse Grey Hackle or even Paul Wilmot. Time will tell.

[Jack Hise]

Joe
I think a First post that "Is to be continued" is a first!!

[Joe Valencic]

By Jove, I think you may be right. Will the FAOL Historian please confirm Jack's suspicions? History could be developing right in our midsts. What a truly auspicious moment. Could this be a propitious omen? Hmmmmm...?

Joseph the Awe-Struck

[flybinder]

Not, really, Joe;
I've seen this in many pro and amateur writers before, where they are running with a line of thought, then suddenly throw forth a "to be continued" at an odd break in th theme.
Generally, this is due to a lump of SPAM, they've ingested not more than 3 hours, previous, hitting the lower intestinal tract and suddenly demanding a "quick release and exit" from its entrapment.
So, writing pro, amateur, whatever............ it's simply the case of "throw in a continued later" footnote, or, have a very unpleasant disaster in one's writing chair.

[Jack Hise]

Here is a photo of the "To be continued" author and the great streatch of water he introduced us to.
Being quite an author of note we assigned ScubaTim to be his body guard.




The guy in the background, to ward off rampaging canoers!

[Slate_Drake_9]

The majority of times, flyfishing is a solitary activity for me. I usually shy away from social fishing situations, as that's not what it's about for me. It's not that I'm unfriendly (well, actually I probably am since I feel this way), but when I'm fishing I don't want to interact with others that much, especially if I don't know you. I just want to be left alone and that's what I typically do for others too. Now, the parking lot is a different story. That's where I do like to chat with folks.

So, for me, a fish in is not a good fit, as the whole purpose is a social fishing situation. I would feel rude to not interact with the people I went there to interact with in the first place.

[Heritage Angler]

Hi Slate - Your fishing preferences are pretty similar to mine. While I can tolerate someone close by for a short time, I like to get away from everyone and do my own thing. Having someone in your "back pocket" is usually detrimental to the way I like to fish. One of the things I like about the PA Fish-In is that we're all together as a group for breakfast, where we make plans for the day, and choose our ride partners (if you want). After breakfast, we're outta there! It is not uncommon to not see another fisherman until we all meet back at the lodge around 4PM for dinner. After dinner, its the same drill - we scatter and go our own way until we meet back at the lodge (after dark, usually). Most of the interaction between us occurs at the lodge - kind of a super parking lot group meeting. With TONS of food. Of course, some of us stay up way too late carrying on with this party, but you can always sleep that Saturday night after the Fish-In when you get home.

I was hoping you'd stop by to say hello and meet some of the "characters" in attendance. There's always next year! If you'd like to drop in for dinner next year, feel free. I'd be honored to buy you dinner. The cooks are planning a pig roast this year, so that might be a good day to drop in. Food is never a problem at the PA "Pig-Out", I mean Fish-In.