Fishing Tournament

NNHS Class of '55 Reunion Activity

Fishing Tournament

This is both a straight-up fishing tournament open to all classmates and a liars fishing tournament open to all classmates and significant others that have learned the essential fishing skill of outrageous exaggeration. First, at the end of 2005 we will award a certificate to the winner of the "Best Fish Caught in a Lifetime" category. Any fish you have caught in the past that you have a picture of and a description of how and where you caught it is eligible. Second, we will award a certificate for the "Best Fish Story" in any format you wish to present it. Third, we will award certificates for the "Best (read here any species caught and entered) Caught During the 50th Reunion Year" and the "Largest (species) Caught During the 50th Reunion Year" that have been entered with a picture and description of where and how they were caught.

We had planned to charter a head boat for a fishing trip during the week of the main event in October, but there were not enough interested fishermen in the class to make it happen. Below was the boat we contemplated.

This is the dream fishing tournament for anglers. You finally get some recognition of your prowess behind the reel, and you get a chance to display those exaggeration skills you have been honing all your fishing life. The catch entered in the tournament can be caught anywhere in the world—on a vacation to New Zealand, on the flats off Belize, in the Chesapeake Bay, or on Mill Creek.

We will post your pictures and stories in this section of the Web site as we get them and leave them there as space on the Web site is available. A running list of the largest 2005 fishes caught, by species, will be maintained on the Web site to spur classmates on to greater glory.

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So, if you fish in your local area, fish when you travel, or better yet travel to fish, take pictures (with a ruler near the fish if you are trying for a "largest" award), and make some factual notes on the whole experience. Later you can "recast" the facts (no pun intended) and with modern computer software maybe even recast your pictures. Send tales, photos, and additional fishing ideas to the Web site staff. We will forward the fish catch data and ideas to the Activity Coordinator, Vernon Brinkley, and post the data and pictures on the Web site. For where to send it, see Contact Us on the Home Page of this Web site. For how to send it, see How to Submit Photos and Other Graphics.

At some point we will get around to selecting a committee to make the awards, but there’s plenty of time for that. However, judging of "best" will be based on your "story" as well as the fish’s size, so be creative.

Click on a photo, or button below:

by Rodney Llewellyn

Jay Burke has the first entry for the year.

Jay Burke went fishing in Chile around the first of March. He was eager to get a leg up on everybody in the fishing tournament, and he did just that with a 5.2 pound rainbow trout. He caught it in a mountain lake (he doesn't recall the name) about 25 miles northwest of Coyhaique on an 8wt, 8'-6" rod using a woolybugger.

The photo was taken by his fishing buddy and next-door neighbor, since as usual, things didn't go completely as planned. Jay sent me the following explanation.

"This is almost too painful to relate but less than a minute after taking the last photo on my throw-away camera, through a fluke movement, I caused it to jump out of my partially buttoned pocket, into a class seven rapid, and get sucked away to who-knows-where. No Joke! And, I was the one taking all the 'trophy' photos! Talk about a bummer. Jack had taken a few up until that point and I am sending you two that represents the stuff we were taking out of the bigger waters."

Vernon Brinkley caught these fish from the beach at Oregon Inlet in September. The largest fish looks to be about 23-1/2 inches long and was a puppy drum. He used Jim Michie's marinade (available on his personal Web site) to grill the fish and said they were enjoyed by all.