Thank you for the wonderful fish in.
I had almost forgot my manners.
To the organizers and to all those faolers that I met at the fish-in in Lowell.
This was my first fish-in and I had a blast.
I met some wonderful new friends and got to see central Idaho for the first time. The venue for the event is wonderful and the 3 rivers are beautiful beyond belief.
The thing that tied it all together, made it work to make it such an adventure for me was the hard work done by Denny Conrad, Les Young, Ron and Vicki Eagle Elk, and Jim and Deanna Birkholm organizers of the whole shebang. Thank you guys, what a trip.
I’m sorry I had to leave too soon and didn’t get to take part in all the events. I had to go home to finish painting my buffalo. (Ask Steve or DG )
I greatly enjoyed sitting under the shelter of a tree one evening, talking to Denny, Stan, Ron, Vicky and Les. Man the stuff they know!
On a different more boisterous night Z, Akidatheart, Dana and I lit two lanterns to check the caddis hatch. We noticed several orange caddis flying around the lights. The largest one landed in Z’s cocktail. kidatheart and I dammed near wet ourselves watching Steve tilt the ice filled cocktail glass sideways still drinking the booze more carefully now though so as not to waste any. His fingers stuck along the side of his face trying to capture the Caddis amid the ice cubes and pickled olives (3) all the while damming the opening with his tongue so none of the precious liquid would spill out and be lost. ( kind of reminded me of that commercial where the guy spills the nescafe on the carpet squeezes it out and drinks it.) Mission accomplished, booze saved, caddis captured. The errant bug was promptly bent over the rim of the glass with Steve yelling at it to Spit it out you little b@#t@rd Spit it out! The caddis having finally spit back Steve?s booze was set free upon the table where it crawled in drunken circles as the three of us convulsed in laughter. Dana arrived about this point and I am sure he thought we were nuts. The bug at this time promptly passed out dead drunk or just dead we knew not which.
Note to Steve: the saying what happens in Lowell stays in Lowell is incorrect they were talking about Vegas.
The last night I was there sitting with everyone at the campfire talking about painting buffalo (you had to be there ) when at about 11:00pm or so (I don’t carry a watch) Jim and Deanna showed up after a long tiring drive. Jim gave a short talk on the new exciting stuff happening on FAOL . Tired as they were JC & LF stayed up for about an hour talking to us and answering our questions until finally they just had to get some well deserved shut-eye and co-incidentally so did I.
I was invited by Joe and Linda (lowtecjoe) to partake of some Marvelous Cornish game hens, cooked over hot coals in a cast iron dutch oven. Folks I got to tell you, can that Joe ever cook up a heck of a meal. You have to see his lowtec rig for the fire. He heats lots of charcoal briquettes in a briquette chimney till they were red hot. He set a double layer on top of a dish shaped platform made from a plow disk. Neatest thing you ever saw. He placed a double layer of hot coals under the cast iron pot, banked some up the sides. He added some spices, cabbage, onions, potatoes and 1/2 a jug of ginger ale in with the hens before closing the pot. Then covered the lid with additional coals. Long before they were done the smell of those hens was incredible. I have never enjoyed a meal more. Thanks Joe and Linda for taking care of me.
To think I passed up two different fish-ins just because I didn?t know how I would fit in with people who cast like pros. I was worried because I cast like a mud fence. Finally I got up the courage to go to this one. My fears were beyond groundless. I was welcomed with open arms and with a friendship that is akin to family. No-one cared how good or bad I cast or anybody else for that matter. They, like me were just there to be with good friends and to go fishing. I mentioned the first day that my casting was not the best and Steve immediately offered me help if I wanted it. No pressure just ask. Thanks Steve maybe next time .
Thank you all so much for letting me be a part of this. To those of you who haven’t been to a fish-in I highly recommend it.
Roger Murray
Roger,
