JC:
It will have to be Purebs, he will be the only one with a computer.
We will be thinking of you all, we will be fishing with ghost and spirits.
Harold
Ok, I’ll start tonight. I’m here with Flatsdude, islandfly, and Duncan drinking pirate juice and telling lies! Might be a little hung over in the morning, but we will be there!
Bill
Well it’s Friday mournig and I geuss some of you are eating breakfast, some are on the way, some are still packing, and some are wishing they could go… " I can smell and taste the salt water in the air, feel the warm breeze wispering past…
There…“G”
Spelling and Grammar not subject to judgement… 
Grubb
Hold down the fort, we are leaving now to go meet the gang. I’ll throw a line for you and everyone else that cannot attend.
I promise to have as much fun as I can for everyone. Since I do not drink I will be shooting the pictures of those that do.
They might be for sale when I return.
Have a great weekend and I’ll “see” you on Monday.
Harold
Ok, Day one. We met for breakfast, somewhere between 20 and 25 showed up! Great turn out! 3 or four more showing up tomorrow. Had a chance to get to know each other a little and headed out to fish. Unfortunately mother nature didn’t want to cooperate and the wind was pretty stiff. We didn’t do so well in the fish catching so moved to the beach house for some food and beer( waitress / flatsdude stories to follow). Later a few of us went to my house for some tying instruction from the flatsdude and more beer and rum flowed. I think we all had a pretty good time though just meeting each other and tomorrow we will go to a different place that is more sheltered in case the wind is howling again. Wish us luck!
Bill
[This message has been edited by purebs (edited 18 February 2005).]
DITTO!!! Catch’em all… I really hope ya’ll have a great fish-in!!!
PS; Thanks for posting purebs…
Spelling and Grammar not subject to judgement… 
[This message has been edited by Grubb (edited 18 February 2005).]
Just a partial report tonight. We all split up today, with most going over to Tampa Bay to escape the wind. Four or five went out in kayaks and the rest waded. I was with Flatsdude and Les and I’m happy to report the Dude caught a beautiful 25" trout that gave him a good fight and Duncan caught a couple today as well! I haven’t heard from the others as I had to quit early to start cooking food for tomorrow. I hope all did well.
More fishing in the AM then party time!
Bill
I’m having a ball!
Oh, and just to give an example of the fantastic people from FAOL who show up at these things. Among all the fine people who are here we have a gentleman named Gil who was kind enough to bring a canoe and two kayaks for anyone who wanted to try it. if that wasn’t enough, I didn’t realize till today that Gil recently had some surgery and can’t paddle or fish! He brought the boats strictly for others enjoyment! That is above and beyond the call of duty! My respect for the FAOL family grows!
Bill
Just got in from Dunedin after a splendic fish-in. PureBS did a superb job of organizing and running this gathering.
It was tremendous fun putting new faces to familiar names. The locale was as beautiful as advertised.
I’m tired, aching from the sand slog and the mud march, and ready for the next event.
BTW, shuttle launch scheduled May 15th, FlatsDude. Might be a good time for an east coast gathering.
Thanks to one and all who traveled, contributed, and made this a great trip.
aka Cap’n Yid.
Stev Lenon, 91B20’68-'69
When the dawn came up like thunder
Just got back from the Fish-in. As they say in Australia “Good on You Tampa Pirates” Did not catch many fish but met great people and got sunshine (a little color), and due to “Florida Ski Bum’s” generosity 4 wonderful hours paddling a Kayak in beautiful Tampa Bay.
Thanks to all and to this great web site with all the good people on it.
Tight lines
Hey guys~ Just got in from FL. Long trip, but well worth it!! Bill, thanks for organizing everything, you did a great job. It was great getting to meet everybody, and I enjoyed fishing with you Steve and Dale. Steve, thanks for all the driving, it was appreciated. I will also second Bill’s compliments of Gil. The guy can’t even fish b/c of his shoulder, but he brings his boats for others to use. Outstanding! Not to mention he also instructed me about the proper grammatical spelling for “y’all”. Did I get that right Gil? Gus, I liked the Cuban history lesson, and it was great having dinner with you and the other guys on Sat night. Jerry and Jamie, it was also great meeting y’all. Jerry, maybe we can get together and ride up to Roscoe in June. Jamie, have a safe trip back. Unfortunately, I did not catch any SALT water fish, but I did catch a 4 lb bass out of the pond behind my Mom’s retirement complex!! Go figure. Anyway, I look forward to hooking up with you FL guys again when I’m back down there visiting Mom. Take care~Scott
“Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.”
[This message has been edited by rollcast (edited 20 February 2005).]
[This message has been edited by rollcast (edited 20 February 2005).]
Thanks to everyone that showed up. The rumors of waitress tampering are NOT true, no matter what you may read. Fishermen lie!
My eternal thanks to Bill, Jill and their son (who gave up his bed for me). What a great bunch of folks we had down here…article to follow.
p. s. the golden bend-back rules!!!
Thanks to all who came to the fish-in! I had a great time, hope you all did too! After fishing again yesterday, this pirate went straight to bed for some much needed recovery. Back to work today. I will post a bit of a wrap-up and some pics shortly.
Bill
Do you know the plural of y’all…
all y’all
jed
Hi “Y’all”,
I am rehabbing my shoulder religiously for future Fish-Ins and fly fishing/kayak tournaments with Dunfly and hopefully other such get togethers with purebs, slenon, Harold and others that live in my area. I even have a tentative “yes” from FlatsDude allowing me to fish his waters on Florida’s east coast in June. 
Special thanks to Bill & Jill for being a great host and hostess. Everyone ate fish and fixin’s until they were very full and at the end of it all … there was a pan of fried fish and other vittles left over. Great job Bill … great job Jill.
Not being on nor posting on F.A.O.L. for a while, I want to thank all of those that made me feel like family. I now have many new friendships as a result of three short days on beautiful waters. I had not been to Honeymoon Island for a couple of years and it was great to see the island again.
A valiant effort was made by all the flyfishermen/women. Except for a brief stretch one morning, the winds never did die down and the water was more than “just a little cool”. It is a shame that most of the fish had lockjaw. They are definitely out there … they just didn’t seem to be very hungry.
Without gliding the flats in my kayak nor mating the ferrules of my rod and stringin’ it up … I enjoyed myself immensely. Thank you all (y’all) for that!!
Gil
It was great seeing old friends and making new friends. It was a fantastic time, as always with Fish-Ins as I have now been to four and look forward to many more. Jill & Bill thank you for being our hosts this year and opening up your home for the fish fry, that was just awesome. The wind was tough and the fishing was tougher, meaning I came away skunked. But that really did not matter as I would not have wanted to be anywhere else in mid-February. The funnest thing for me was the Floridians complaining about cold; well the temps in the morning were in the 60’s and in the 70’s by the afternoon. To me I was in heaven, especially when we landed back in Philadelphia there was this white stuff on the ground.
Thanks again to all for a great time.
Jerry
Dream the Life, Live the Dream
I can’t pretend to know what I don’t, so I won’t.
Board of Directors, Valley Forge Trout Unlimited
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FAOL Sponsor
FAOL DOTS are now available
Sorry I missed you guys. I really wanted to get over that way but my mother has been going through catarac surgeries for both eyes and I have had to drive her and help her since she cannot see well for a few days. My father cannot drive due to his Parkinson’s disease. I was elected over my sisters to be head chauffer and gopher. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
Robert, that kind of medical necessity is all too common now and could have happened to almost any of us. We’ll put a face to your name later on.
aka Cap’n Yid.
Stev Lenon, 91B20’68-'69
When the dawn came up like thunder
I had a great time and it was fantastic to meet some fellow pirates from across the pond. It is good to know that the rum runs freely there and the cutlasses are sharp.
Firstly, thanks must go to Bill for organising everything, top man who is a mean cook too.
Everyone was very welcoming and friendly. Just wish I had taken to time to learn the language ? it will come to me don?t worry. It was my first time in Florida and I was blown away by its beauty. What a great place; I especially liked that warm, bright, glowing thing in the sky. We should try and get that here. I came back to the UK to be greeted by snow and temperatures below freezing. I had to get dragged from the aeroplane.
I caught just the two trout early in the morning when I skipped breakfast. Not very big (well quite small actually) but fish nonetheless.
Mike, who came over for a few days from Orlando, caught fish on each occasion. Mainly trout, although he did get into a small snook ? which he got most excited about. Left the camera in the car, but did take a few snaps with the phone?
I had an awesome day on Mosquito Lagoon, being teased by redfish that would have a look at the fly and then nonchalantly dismiss it. Had one take which I missed and had another red roll my fly.
Well it is back to work and reality today, with just my racoon eyes to remind me of the Florida sun.
Thanks again everyone, it was great to meet you all. I am next over early June and late August for some striper and blue fishing at Cape Cod. Be good to catch up with anyone who can make it then.
[This message has been edited by JME (edited 24 February 2005).]
Jme. it was great meeting you as well. your welcome anytime! Did the pic of the snake come out?
Bill