Another one in the books! Once again, ridiculous weather - heavy rains, storms, flooded muddy river! But that didn't keep 78 folks from 34 different locations from making it to the 2008 Fly Fishing Festival! Not a bad turnout considering!

What a wall of tiers! From foreground left: Ron Griffith, Dana Beck, Eddy Driskill, Rex White, Fred DuPre, possibly Bill Heugel and/or Larry Offner, Sister Carol, Marc Pinsel and on the end David Chin! >>>>>

My many thanks right now to all the folks who attended! And even more to the Ususal Suspects and the handful of new faces who made all this possible!

We missed a few of the "Usuals" and we hope they'll be back next year, but it's always great to see new folks take part.

Among the "newbies" were Butch Baker (Russellville AR), Dan Hill (Euless, TX) and Ron Griffith (Norfork, AR) - and Larry Offner (Denham Springs, LA) made his first appearance as a fly tier anywhere last week!

It was also great to see "Big" Dale Wilkinson back again! There's a character!

<<<<<   "Big" Dale Wilikinson, Richard Blair, Ken Bohannon with Diane Blair on opposite side of the table (red shirt) demonstrate while Robert Hawkins (front right) looks on!

Also, my great appreciation to Mark Emery, Flint, TX who carried all that great brisket up with him, kicked up rocks on Saturday morning with me and making the coke runs! Bubba Smith, Texarkana, TX for the big pot of chili that came with him! And Gordon Spencer, Round Rock, TX who brought a bunch of "extras"! My apologies if I'm forgetting someone and their good deeds!

<<<<<   David Chin and the AFLAC Duck guide Ingrid Johnson through some tying while Terry Will observes!

Trout Program "head" biologist Jeff Williams did make it down despite the weather! And it was good to have local district fisheries biologost Drew Wilson there to give his take on things as well.

Jeff had plenty to relate to all who came back out Saturday evening to speak with him! He gave us a rundown, essesntially, of the accumulated data from the first full year of the on-going creel surveys!

Mike Hawkins demonstrated his new-fangled furling machine and twisted out soeveral leaders for interested folks! That's such a cool process and he even made me a custom leader to my specifications! I'll let ya'll know how it does!

Diane Blair and Jay & Darla Johnson work through the goodies from Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters! >>>>>

Bill Heugel spoke about two-handed rods and shooting head lines. I'm sure that was a bit of a revelation for some folks! Speaking of revelations, we also took a look at some of the aquatic life that Mark and I kicked up out of the river early in the rain Saturday! Thanks, Paula Meredith, for picking up the little tub Friday night for us to observe the critters! Just in case ya'll were wondering - Marcey and Ashley Berry took the critters back to the river as the last event of the day!

And Sister Carol entertained and enlightened us with he special bead "tool lanyards"! And Saturday night she had a little workshop going in the back with about a dozen folks over there making lanyards! Next year, Sister, we'll have a special session for bead stringers!

<<<<<   Sister Carol displays her own tool lanyard!

Barry Bauer and David Chin did both bring a slew of cane and messed around with it all day Saturday! There was enough "grass" in there to need a lawnmower! Those guys do some great work. I know it's quite an effort to bring in all their gear. Greatly appreciated!

Barry Bauer (in one of my favorite shirts) "planes some cane"! >>>>>

Don Jackson of Ouachita Outdoor Outfitters returned with a truckload of fly fishing stuff from his shop in Hot Springs! I barely even got to look at his tables - I hope ya'll got to gather up some neat stuff from him!

Make your plans for next year! At great risk to life and limb, we're going to keep it the same weekend! That's President's Day weekend - February 13-15, 2009! That's right! Next year, Saturday will be Valentine's Day! There's just not much we can do about that, I'm afraid. There's just too many things on the regional Fly Fishing calendar to mess around with changing any dates! You'll just have to bring your Valentine with you! Maybe we'll leave some extra time Saturday evening for a Valentine's dinner at Buddy's!

Accomodations:

For those wishing to camp out...
Dynamite Hill and Parker Creek Corps campgrounds near Narrows Dam - electricity and hot showers!
And The Crater of Diamonds State Park on the south side of M'boro - also electricity and hot showers!

American Heritage Inn - 870-285-2131 - 705 North Washington
Diamond John's Riverside Retreat - 870-285-4027 - 81 Roy Rd
Diamond Oaks Inn B&B - 870-285-1535 - 1701 South Washington
Little Shamrock Motel - 870-285-2342 - 919 North Washington
Miner's Rock Shop and Camp - 870-285-2722 - 2235 HWY 301 South
Queen of Diamonds Inn - 870-285-3105 - 318 North Washington
Swaha Lodge - 870-285-2272 - 205 Dynamite Hill Rd