The 2012 Snoopy Rod Classic was another success! Thanks to all who came out to participate and to donate to a great cause! We ended raising damn near $3,000 for the Gracy Family!
As always, Dee and I had to sneak out on the river on Thursday to see if there were any fish around for us to catch on Friday. The river was really high and for a day where the forecast didn't call for much rained, it rained and rained and rained and rained some more on us. The river rose at least a foot and the fish where not cooperating.
Well, maybe not ALL the fish....
Uh. Wonder what could be on the end of that white TETHER line sitting in a side channel in the Dimmel Drift?
The annual SRC Pre-Func was held at the Bogi Rental House on that Thursday evening and as always, there was plenty of good people, food, booze, Redington goodies, stories, and shenanigans galore! A good time was had by all, and maybe a little too much for a few others. Some nice hangovers greeted us on Friday morning at the cafe for breakfast!
On the water Friday morning at Oh-My-Gawd-Dark-Thirty and at 7:00 I fired off my tater gun to get the 2012 Snoopy Rod Classic Started!
Oddly enough, I was hooked in to a fish at 7:01. Landed at 7:01.30. Pretty sure that's a new SRC record! A nice 7.3 pound fish that ended up taking 2nd place. Of course, a 2nd place fish and $4 will get that winner a latte at the latte stand.
The Dimmel drift was a tad slow, but there were some fish to be found, and find them I did!
In between casts or fish, I was firing off the Zombie Tater gun and damn near killed TBird and Mreyn! Almost felt bad on that shot that hit a tree branch right in front of them causing the potato to break up, hitting both TBird and Mark in the back and head. I swear I lobbed that shot guys...
At some point, Dogfish and his team of NOFISH and DEE moved in side of us and we hear "Save Dora!" We look over and a floating Dora rod with a nice Dr. Death Tad out in front of it was bobbing in the river. I guess Dora wanted to go Exploring and Dee obliged. First time someone has casted a rod in to the river without a fish on the end of the line! Dora and the Tad could not be saved and ended up getting sucked in to a log jam. RIP, Dora!
I managed to hook and play on a fish in front of Team Dogfish and by the time they realized I had something on, it was over. Nice little chromer for Team 2 Guides and a Not-Really-Worthless Boat Ho, as I was up three fish at this time.
Catching fish and shooting tater guns is SERIOUS bizness. Try not to smile......
At some point, Bob put a plug over the side and as the three of us were picking our noses and not looking, the rod folded over and a massive derby winning 3-salt rolled on the surface with Bob's plug in it's face! A nice roll on the surface and it spit the plug back at us! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Bored of Dimmel and knowing that we had to be at the take out by 3:00, we bailed and proceeded to drag some rags through the top end of the hatchery drift right in the middle of a bazillion people. Of course, a fish grabs Carl's rag and it's GAME ON! The fish does a strange head shake and Carl's line goes slack. Damn! We lost it! The fish comes up and jumps just to show Carl what he lost......as Bob looks over and sees that Carl's line is swimming up river! It's still there! Out comes the nets, out come the name calling from the bankies and we're putting on a fish-on show with Snoopy rods in front of 75 bank anglers! Carl couldn't handle the pressure and proceeded to lose the fish in front of everyone....which brought out plenty of laughter, confusing, swearing, and the usual sort of stuff when one loses another good fish on a Snoopy Rod.
Not any more action for us the rest of the day! A few good potato wars with Dogfish's crew and that was it.
At some point, I was wet, cold, hung over, snot dripping down my nose....so I just started drinking, Snoopy Rod Classic Style!
There was a pretty good mele going on at the boat ramp with boats getting potato's shot at them at a furious pace and Steeliedrew and Mrs. Drew hooking a ton of fish within sight of the ramp! CONGRATS to Mrs. Drew for being the only female to actually catch/hook/land some steelhead on a Snoopy Rod! Major kudos for evening showing up, letting alone fishing and catching something! Drew get's some bonus points for that! Even NOFISH caught a fish on a Snoopy Rod! Good times!
At some point, Team Tbird drift past us and power-douched Bob. As we eventually caught up to them, my tater gun's battery died, so I resorted to hand-throwing potato's at them. At one point, Mark hucked a tater my way that was easily catchable....so I took off my helmet to attempt to catch it. I did.....but the tater ripped the helmet out of my hands and they it went flying in to the river! So, Direct-Drive...while the helmet wasn't shot off my head, it was ripped out of my hands! Kinda hurt, too!
I hucked tater back at Mark who did use his hand to try to catch it. Apparently that really hurt and maybe wasn't the smartest idea.
At the ramp, all the boats finally came in, the fish were finally all weighed, some more BS was flying and it was time for the 2012 Snoopy Rod Classic Group Shot.
While Chad was nice enough to slap me upside the cheek and ear with a fish tail, I made sure I was not getting spooged on from above. That's more a Sky-Guy kinda thing.
Interestingly enough, I think almost EVERY person in this photo was wearing a brand new pair of Redington CPX zippered front waders! Redington sure makes a kick-ass set of waders! I highly recommend the Redington waders. Yes sir, Redington. Can't say Redington enough.
In the end, Team TBird (TBird, Mreyn, and Nate) pretty much kicked our asses. They took big fish honors, Team Award honors, and the mystery weight fish. Yeah, they took home the trophy, the jacket, the rod, and all the prize money.
Congrats to Team TBird!
TBird is all smiles after getting the Team Trophy!
Kev did an outstanding job of MC'ing the event at the mexican restaurant and here we are presenting Mark the coveted Green Snoopy Rod Jacket for the Big Fish Award. The winning fish was 7 pounds 12 ounces, I believe. CanyonMan looks thrilled.....
Team TBird showing off ALL the goodies......
The only thing Mark and Team TBird didn't win was an Lamiglas Ti rod donated to the cause from Three Rivers! This was a $500 rod that we were all droolling over.
The night before...before Chad passed out and rallied, he was going on and on about how we could all just "suck it" because he was winning the rod.
Uh.....
He won. Of course.
So......his sign says it all!
Again, thanks to everyone who was involved, donated, and participated in this year's Snoopy Rod Classic!!!!! Big thanks to Three Rivers for the rod!
Unbelievable BIG THANKS to Redington for stepping up to the plate this year.
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