But The Ones were undaunted—they slogged through it all, fishing in up to (count ‘em) seven layers of clothing (and wishing that they had still more to don), partying as if it was really summer here and not winter, and then finding new antics to add to the annals of Extravaganza history, to wit: nearly setting the main house on fire by inadvertently partially closing the damper while putting more and more logs on an already robust fire in the fireplace and, under the auspices of the same guilty party (now having earned his Montana moniker of “Burning Man”) burning a hole in the bottom of the rubber raft he was so elegantly drifting in mid-monsoon.
It was the rookies who really shined in this Group of 17 with “Hurry Up Hugh” Thatcher [so named for the cattle prod needed to forever get him a-moving] boarding a Day Two Yellow Hat winning 20” Bitterroot bow and his boatmate, fellow rookie “Peter The Great” Karp, sweeping Day Three with both a 21” Blackfoot brown as well as a Yellow Hat and Yellow Hat Shirt winning 28” Blackfoot bulltrout (which, a la rookiesque, he reported to be a [most rare] “bullnose trout”! But they did not capture all of the glamour as Day One’s Yellow Hat winner was veteran “Wild Man” Jim Hendrickson with his 21” Bitterroot rainbow and, on Day Two, most seasoned veteran Demetry “The Ghost” Kondrasheff captured yellow with his 20 ½” Bitterroot rainbow, all of which are featured in the Group One Pics previously posted on Der Blog.
Wedding bells abounded in and amongst Dem Ones with betrothed veteran Craig “El Senor Feo” Benjamin introducing his fiancé Lai Na “La Senorita Bonita” Ching to the oft-frozen ones as did rookie Shane “Griz” MacIntyre by introducing his fiancé, daughter and multi-Extravaganza veteran daughter Trina “Boots” Clausen [with her brother Tyler “Lefty” Clausen in fishing attendance together with Griz and Boots’ brand new golden retriever pup Huck, who nicely not only interfaced with nine year Extravaganza mascot black lab Ma’am but also successfully navigated his first three fishing days afloat). CONGRATS, all four!!
Fishing is oft times a sport to challenge one’s patience and, with all hats off to them, incoming from Arizona rookies Doug “Bubba” Jones and Mark “WatchOut” Spencer (the latter so named because of the uncanny event of his finding and retrieving his heirloom wrist watch in the wild due to a yellow smiley face sticker that adorned it) not only arrived early, stayed a day late, but, due to an unfortunate confluence of fishing conditions and a new guide to us (who, btw, is now invited to never again mark an Extravaganza day on his booking schedule) witnessed with élan a perfect storm of events which were fully activated by O’Toole’s Law (which is “Murphy was an optimist”). You two are the true heroes of Group One!!
The Ones were rounded out and fully entertained by the antics of returning veterans Chris “Big Stick” Barger (who is still on the scene fishing three extra days on his own with our now 16 year veteran guide Chris Stroup); the resounding pealing laughter of super-veteran (as in “really old”) John “SOS” Reimann; the wit of veteran Joe “Great Wall” Arnao; the wonderful softness and pleasantry of rookie Jimmy “Bam Bam Dough Man” Albano; and, of course, by the totally out of control fire antics of Rajeev “Burning Man” Mishra who left his mark in ash wheresoever he wandered in his Extravaganzaland visit—wow, you sure know how to leave a mark on things!
So bring it on, Tattoos, as the stage is now set to see how many layers it will take to pleasantly experience this now our coldest Extravaganza on record!!
Best to all from the scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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The Ones were rounded out and fully entertained by the antics of returning veterans Chris “Big Stick” Barger (who is still on the scene fishing three extra days on his own with our now 16 year veteran guide Chris Stroup); the resounding pealing laughter of super-veteran (as in “really old”) John “SOS” Reimann; the wit of veteran Joe “Great Wall” Arnao; the wonderful softness and pleasantry of rookie Jimmy “Bam Bam Dough Man” Albano; and, of course, by the totally out of control fire antics of Rajeev “Burning Man” Mishra who left his mark in ash wheresoever he wandered in his Extravaganzaland visit—wow, you sure know how to leave a mark on things!
So bring it on, Tattoos, as the stage is now set to see how many layers it will take to pleasantly experience this now our coldest Extravaganza on record!!
Best to all from the scene of it all,
Rock Creek Ron
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