The 60th Anniversary Creel Receives Positive Reviews
60th Anniversary Creel
After its unveiling at the 60th Anniversary meeting in December, the latest Creel has been well-received by FCO members and others. The last of the Creel Committee’s tasks was to mail copies to our 35 or so members who are in the Associate or Non-Resident categories, i.e. out of the Portland metro area, and to our Honorary members. This included members from out of state and internationally, with the farthest-away member being Phil Trautmann from Rotorua, New Zealand. Phil has occasionally been in touch, was active in his local fly fishing community last we heard, and we hope to hear back that he is well. Members who live in the Portland metro area, including Vancouver, may pick up their copies as detailed below.
In addition, copies of The Creel, 60th Anniversary Edition have been sent to the following archives and fly fishing clubs:
- The Library of Congress (a requirement of registration of the book with them)
- The Multnomah County Library (two copies, one for the FCO’s C. Edwin Francis Collection in the Wilson Rare Book Room, and one for the circulating collection)
- The Oregon Historical Society
- The American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont
- The Washington Fly Fishing Club
- The Angler’s Club of New York
- The Flyfishers’ Club (London, England)
All of the above, save the Library of Congress, either have complete sets of the original Creels, or have had significant interactions with the FCO and/or FCO members over time. Some of these relationships are documented in articles in the Anniversary anthology.
Finally, I have sent copies to two non-FCO member luminaries of Northwest fly fishing literature, who nevertheless have been long-time friends of the FCO. I called Steve Raymond in early December to see if he would be interested in speaking to the club at its Anniversary. The author of Rivers of the Heart and many other books, who now lives on Whidbey Island, Washington, replied that he is unable to do speaking engagements but wished us well and expressed interest in the book. After receiving his copy, he sent me some nice emails including the following:
“Yesterday’s mail brought me the copy of The Creel that you so very generously sent. I was very pleased to receive it and I must say it is a most impressive book, both outside and inside.
Thumbing through it, I was happy to see so many familiar faces and bylines. It’s obvious a great deal of work went into it and you should be rightfully proud of the way it turned out.
Thank you so very much for sending it to me. I can’t wait to start reading it.”
And, later:
I have to tell you about a discovery I made while reading the book today. The first piece by Bob Wethern describes fishing the beaver ponds in the area known as the “Oak Patch” south of Bremerton. I never knew he once lived and fished that area, which I later also fished quite often. But the real surprise was that he mentioned the names of some of those waters, including “Lone Duck Pond,” a place where I found some of the best cutthroat fishing I’ve had. I didn’t know anyone else had ever fished it!
Anyway, I’m enjoying the book immensely. Many thanks again.
And again:
Reading further in The Creel yesterday, I must tell you I was genuinely and deeply touched by your graceful account written after the 9/11 catastrophe. It reminded me forcefully that no matter where you fish on this earth, you’re always in the company of brothers.
Now for something I hesitate to ask, because you’ve already been so generous in sending me the book. I had to tell my dear friend Paul Schullery about it, and now he wants one. As you may know, Paul is former executive director of the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, VT., and just moved back there after 20 years in Bozeman, MT. (where he thought things were just getting too crowded). He’s also author of numerous important fly-fishing books, was familiar with the original Creel when Wethern was editor and praised it in print several times. He also fished in Oregon and was a friend of Frank Moore’s (who, I just learned, sadly passed away on January 23 at age 98). Anyway, after hearing my account of The Creel, Paul naturally hopes somehow to secure a copy.
I put a copy in the mail to Mr. Schullery today and I hope to hear back from him. His impressive biography and bibliography may be seen on his website.
Bob Wethern used to speak of his “spiderweb of connections,” which led to many wonderful articles in the Flyline newsletter when I was editor. I think that the making and distribution of this book may be more like a pebble dropped in a pond, its ripples spreading out from our hallowed club, reaching islands, inlets and far shores and returning back to us with shimmering reflections. It seems it already has done so; and I will keep you posted of any additional reviews from the reaches of our greater pond.
If you are a regular member and have yet to pick up your copy of this latest Creel, contact the Creel Committee member in your vicinity of the metro area: Mark Metdorff (SW), Paul Franklin (NW), John Pyrch (SE), and Jim Hillas (NE).
Mark Metzdorff, M.D.
Janet Arenz, Auction Chair
Do You Like to Throw Parties?
Do you want people to have a great time? Do you like to see gifts and money coming in as part of the party? Do you have a phone and a computer? Then you are eligible to be a party partner!
I would love to have a couple people who would like to party with me. One of the most fun things to do in the Flyfishers’ Club is to throw the biggest party of the year, our annual auction! Everything this year will be on-line (just as we did in 2021), and I am very happy to chair this event.
We don’t do this alone —
- We have a great company, Event Savvy, who provides direction, experience and advice for how to keep our successes going forward.
- We have a contractor who has a developed template for the on-line auction software (I used it by myself last year, so I know it’s not too tough), and they have support staff available anytime to assist us.
- We have an activity calendar for what happens and when.
- There are electronic templates already made for everything we need to ask or know.
- And we have a company that manages all the bidding and cash donations, and produces all the reports on our activities and finances.
By February we will know who our nonprofit grantee will be, and we’ll ramp up the party to bring in as many funds as possible for their conservation project. Through the spring we’ll collect items, events and vacations. We’ll talk with lots of folks who want to see our conservation efforts advance, and they will contribute fabulous items to help us raise money. We’ll make a couple of videos. We’ll do some advertising and post updates on our auction. The auction will be the second week of May. During that week, we just watch the party unfold! Once the auction ends, there is a little wrap-up and our work is done.
All you need is a couple of hours each week, and a weekly conference call with our contracted coordinator for updates and organizing; ability to get on our auction software to post photos and information in their templates made for us; make some phone calls to our steady supporters and some new ones; contribute your ideas; and help posting of social media updates.
Curious? Want to know more? Contact me today at Janet Arenz, Auction Chair, janetrocky04@yahoo.com and 503-995-4075.
Volunteers Still Sought to Strengthen Your Club
We are looking for new volunteers to help continue FCO and TFF momentum and success! Now is an excellent chance for new stewards to work with seasoned volunteers who will support transitioning a new group of leaders for the Club and Foundation. If you are interested in volunteering, don’t hesitate to email Mike Radakovich mwradakovich@gmail.com (incoming Club President) or John Pyrch jbpyrch@gmail.com (incumbent Foundation President). We are also in need of a somewhat tech savvy member to assist with the website updates and Mail Chimp notifications. Please consider volunteering to keep your Club vital!
Sandy Steel
Rick Pay with Sandy steelhead in mid-January 2022
