A time for change…….
Here we are in April and we are finished with the Washington Sportsman Show and The Fly Fishing Show in Lynnwood. Both were good shows for the Council this year. Now it is full speed ahead for the Washing Fly Fishing Fair on May 4th and 5th in Ellensburg. Some days it is hard for me to believe that this will be the 12th event in Ellensburg starting with the Fly Tying Expo at the Library in 2007 and my last as Council President. Things are coming together for this year’s Fair. The Workshops are all set and are on-line. Please register. We are still (always) looking for donations for our auction/silent auction/raffle. The Fair is how the Council obtains the funds to operate and support the Fly Fishing community conservation and educational activities. In fact, over the few years we have given back to the community almost $13,000 for education and conservation. This includes donations to OPFI (one handed tying and fishing), Project Healing Waters, Casting for Recovery, Northwest Youth Conservation and Fly Fishing Academy, Costal Cutthroat Coalition, Cutthroat symposium to determine number of subspecies of cutthroat, TU to help purchase land along the Wenatchee River and WDFW to replace signs at Grant County Lake. We hope to see you in Ellensburg, attending the free seminars, taking casting workshop or the feather dyeing workshop, watching the tiers demonstrate their craft, attending the banquet, and hopefully supporting use by purchasing items in the auction, silent auction, and raffle. I look forward to seeing you there.
On a personal note I would like to thank everyone who has volunteered their time to this event over the past 12 years. I am not going to try and name folks because I will miss somebody, but the list includes everyone who has served on the Council Board during this time, all the fly tiers, casters, and seminar presenters who have shared their talents. I also want to thank everyone who gave their time for this event over the past 12 years and finally I want to thank all the vendors who have supported us. As I write this I am thinking of those who gave their time to the Council and the Fair who are no longer with us. I will mention a few names who have helped make the Fair a success (and I am sure I have forgotten someone, and I apologize as it was not intentional). The four that are on my mind right now are Bob Bates, Dick Matthaei, Don Bolstad and Pat Herdt, who we lost this past month.
The photo on the cover of this newsletter is the same picture that was used for the Poster for the 2017 Washington Fly Fishing Fair. We will be looking for a photo for next year’s poster this fall. The picture should be a fishing scene and if people are in the photo their faces should not be visible. If you are interested in submitting a photo, please contact Carl Johnson at flyfishalso@frontier.com.
By Carl Johnson
