My 77 or so year old uncle, Silver Dick Mursch, retired Lt. Col. USAF,
reluctant vegetarian, subsistence fisherman, and great husband to my aunt
Sara said he was thinkin' about fly fishin' for bluegill, bass and whatever
else might hit a fly on the lakes he fishes. Generally, he is a striped
bass and salt water fisherman, but the heat has put the bait fish off,
according to him, and he just wanted to reacquaint himself with the flyrod.

Well we went out to the garage to look thru his fly gear. He had a coupla
old fiberglass rods: Fenwick 8', 5 wt. and Diawa (?) 8' 6", 6 wt. He
probably bought then back in the 70s, I'm guessin'. His reels: Diawa--still
in good shape-- and a Martin--rusted and virtually useless--still had the
old lines on them and were severely dry-rotted. I offered to take the Diawa
reel and restring it for him and provide him with a few flyz. I had a new 6
wt. line at home, and I have more panfish and bass flyz than I know what to
do with, as I rarely fish warm waters. I ended up givin' 'ol Silver Dick 6
boxes of flyz, including a fine assortment of the flyz that Big Dale had
sent me over the years.

Okay, I got 'ol Silver Dick risin' to some fat flyz, so it's time to set the
hook. I dropped by the house, day before yesterday, and got to talkin'
about my fishin' trips with Wally and the gang. SD's eye kinda light up, so
I sayz, "Ya really oughta hit Andre_'s Cree_ with me this Sunday!" SD
responds with, "Can I keep what I catch?" "Of course," I say. "As a matter
of fact, I'll keep my limit too, so you will have enough to make a good
meal."

Now I just gotta buy him a pair of size 8 1/2 wadin' boots and were on the
stream Sunday. I'll set him up with a nice 3 wt. rig and I think I'll have
a new fishin' buddy for a while.

Second piece of good news: I got accepted to the graduate program that I
applied to. It's gonna be a long 3 1/2 to 4 years of night and day classes,
but it oughta be a good learnin' experience.

Op --MPA to be, I hope!--