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April 24, 2006 Newsletter This past Thursday night was another great evening for everyone that enjoys outings on our Gulf Coast. The annual CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) San Antonio Chapter banquet and fund raising event was held at the Freeman Coliseum, and in my opinion was again a rousing success. The money raised will go a long way towards a total conservation effort with an anticipated release of 32 million Red Fish fingerlings, many of which will survive to adulthood and provide us and future generations with a plentiful supply of sport fish in the future. The *organization, the unending food and libations, the silent auction items, the raffle items, and the live auction (56 trips and high end merchandise) were outstanding with standing room only. Each year I have attended I think the Banquet Committee Corps of volunteers could never surpass the previous banquet but somehow they always do. The prices paid for many of the auction items appeared to me to be at full value indicating our economy may be stronger than we are led to believe, and of special interest was the trip for four to Costa de Cococs (www.costadecocos.com) together with two of my custom built Sage Xi 2 rods, Tibor Fly Reels, Royal Wullf fly lines and Sage cases which had some lively bidding . . . . . . the final active bidders were two groups of my customers! I enjoyed seeing so many I have come to know over the years some of whom I haven’t seen since the old ‘One Shot’ days. Overall I am humbled by the hundreds of hours taken from work and family these volunteers provide for all of our benefit, and the benefit of wildlife in general. Thank you guys and gals of the banquet committee for your dedication.* If you haven’t joined already or just want to browse around CCA’S Web site go to www.joincca.org. Stopping abruptly not only implies words of wisdom for a teenager on a hot date, or while in a traffic tangle, but also is a required action when fly casting. In the many, many hours of casting assistance I have provided, the most difficult lesson to be learned is stopping abruptly, on your back cast and your forward cast. With the development of new ‘high tech’ extra fast and ultra fast fly rods, casting strokes we used in our previous lives that were long, arm extended away from the body to achieve line speed, double hauling, will actually counteract the line and rod and have the opposite effect. Most of us learned to fish with spinning or casting rods and ‘threw’ the bait/lure forward in a continuous motion towards a target. Now fly fisher’s allow the rod to *cast the ‘line’* and the fly follows. An abrupt stop on your back cast and your forward cast allows the rod to ‘load’ and ‘unload’ (the weight of the line bends the rod much like drawing a bow and shooting an arrow). If not making an abrupt stop, the line losses it’s momentum achieved by the loading of the rod and the energy is dissipated throughout the line/cast. Complicated, yes, but if you remember to make an abrupt stop and *smoothly* *accelerate* both back cast and forward cast, you will be amazed at how easy casting can become, particularly if using the new generation graphite’s. I enjoy feeding the birds in my side yard and amuse myself with the antics of the Squirrels and White Winged Doves as they try to circumvent the measures I take to prevent them from emptying my feeder. My son Chad in Minnesota gave me a feeder some time back that is battery operated, has a perch rail on it that will spin when weighted down with a larger bird or squirrel. The doves are about as dumb as a box of rocks and time after time they get spun off only to continue their attempts at filling their craw. The squirrels however always amaze me at their ability to understand the problem and attempt to overcome the obstacle, usually becoming successful raiders. Yesterday I watched as one large male used his hind legs to hold onto the aluminum pipe the feeder hangs from, reaching as far as he could with his front paws to get a ‘pawfull’ of seed without touching the perch rail. The other squirrels have not mastered this technique yet and continue to get thrown off and chased (but never caught) by my dogs. So for the old guy, I put petroleum jelly on the aluminum pole making him slide down and have to grab the perch rail which spins him around and around eventually down to the ground. He got back up, sat down next to the aluminum pole that was greased, studied it for I am sure 10 minutes then leapt to the top of the feeder and attempted to reach to the bottom while holding on the ungreased top. I guess this proves two things: determination and taking a risk equals success; and, I must be bored as hell! Next month I am looking forward to fishing with Capt. Chuck Nasier (cell 361-230-9392) for five days of fly fishing with four good customers May 22^nd through the 26^th. Dates I am eagerly looking forward to as it has been a long time since I have had the opportunity to fish with Chuck and to instill my (and Chuck’s) enthusiasm on others somewhat new to saltwater fly fishing. Dennis O. Freeman 1727 Eagle Meadow San Antonio, TX 78248 210-479-3477 email: rodmaker@rod-makers.com Come by for a visit or cast a line out back. Looking forward to seeing you.	Dennis O. Freeman RODMMAKERS rodmaker@rod-makrs.com 1727 Eagle Meadow San Antonio, TX 78248 210-479-3477
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April 24, 2006 Newsletter

This past Thursday night was another great evening for everyone that enjoys outings on our Gulf Coast. The annual CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) San Antonio Chapter banquet and fund raising event was held at the Freeman Coliseum, and in my opinion was again a rousing success. The money raised will go a long way towards a total conservation effort with an anticipated release of 32 million Red Fish fingerlings, many of which will survive to adulthood and provide us and future generations with a plentiful supply of sport fish in the future. The organization, the unending food and libations, the silent auction items, the raffle items, and the live auction (56 trips and high end merchandise) were outstanding with standing room only. Each year I have attended I think the Banquet Committee Corps of volunteers could never surpass the previous banquet but somehow they always do. The prices paid for many of the auction items appeared to me to be at full value indicating our economy may be stronger than we are led to believe, and of special interest was the trip for four to Costa de Cococs (www.costadecocos.com) together with two of my custom built Sage Xi 2 rods, Tibor Fly Reels, Royal Wullf fly lines and Sage cases which had some lively bidding . . . . . . the final active bidders were two groups of my customers! I enjoyed seeing so many I have come to know over the years some of whom I haven’t seen since the old ‘One Shot’ days. Overall I am humbled by the hundreds of hours taken from work and family these volunteers provide for all of our benefit, and the benefit of wildlife in general. Thank you guys and gals of the banquet committee for your dedication. If you haven’t joined already or just want to browse around CCA’S Web site go to www.joincca.org.

Stopping abruptly not only implies words of wisdom for a teenager on a hot date, or while in a traffic tangle, but also is a required action when fly casting. In the many, many hours of casting assistance I have provided, the most difficult lesson to be learned is stopping abruptly, on your back cast and your forward cast. With the development of new ‘high tech’ extra fast and ultra fast fly rods, casting strokes we used in our previous lives that were long, arm extended away from the body to achieve line speed, double hauling, will actually counteract the line and rod and have the opposite effect. Most of us learned to fish with spinning or casting rods and ‘threw’ the bait/lure forward in a continuous motion towards a target. Now fly fisher’s allow the rod to cast the ‘line’ and the fly follows. An abrupt stop on your back cast and your forward cast allows the rod to ‘load’ and ‘unload’ (the weight of the line bends the rod much like drawing a bow and shooting an arrow). If not making an abrupt stop, the line losses it’s momentum achieved by the loading of the rod and the energy is dissipated throughout the line/cast. Complicated, yes, but if you remember to make an abrupt stop and smoothly accelerate both back cast and forward cast, you will be amazed at how easy casting can become, particularly if using the new generation graphite’s.

I enjoy feeding the birds in my side yard and amuse myself with the antics of the Squirrels and White Winged Doves as they try to circumvent the measures I take to prevent them from emptying my feeder. My son Chad in Minnesota gave me a feeder some time back that is battery operated, has a perch rail on it that will spin when weighted down with a larger bird or squirrel. The doves are about as dumb as a box of rocks and time after time they get spun off only to continue their attempts at filling their craw. The squirrels however always amaze me at their ability to understand the problem and attempt to overcome the obstacle, usually becoming successful raiders. Yesterday I watched as one large male used his hind legs to hold onto the aluminum pipe the feeder hangs from, reaching as far as he could with his front paws to get a ‘pawfull’ of seed without touching the perch rail. The other squirrels have not mastered this technique yet and continue to get thrown off and chased (but never caught) by my dogs. So for the old guy, I put petroleum jelly on the aluminum pole making him slide down and have to grab the perch rail which spins him around and around eventually down to the ground. He got back up, sat down next to the aluminum pole that was greased, studied it for I am sure 10 minutes then leapt to the top of the feeder and attempted to reach to the bottom while holding on the ungreased top. I guess this proves two things: determination and taking a risk equals success; and, I must be bored as hell!

Next month I am looking forward to fishing with Capt. Chuck Nasier (cell 361-230-9392) for five days of fly fishing with four good customers May 22^nd through the 26^th. Dates I am eagerly looking forward to as it has been a long time since I have had the opportunity to fish with Chuck and to instill my (and Chuck’s) enthusiasm on others somewhat new to saltwater fly fishing.

Dennis O. Freeman
1727 Eagle Meadow
San Antonio, TX 78248

210-479-3477

email: rodmaker@rod-makers.com