Barry, Pearow, Keebranch and All,

My name is Kurt and I've been lurking for some time. This is by far the best board I've seen. The knowledge and camaradrie are outstanding. Canoeman and I've been fishing buds for some time. We both live in Ada, Ok, not far from the Blue River. My fishing is divided between warmwater bass and perch during the majority of the year and put and take trout fishing on the Blue and Mountain Fork in the cooler months.

I picked up flyfishing a long time ago in my early teens, using a solid glass rod from OTASCO, a hardware store in my hometown of Pauls Valley. After a long dry spell while in college, I again picked up a fly rod a little more that 20 years ago. I went the graphite route and have several nice rods as well as an old Phillipson Pacemaker 8.5' 3 piece 5 wt.. But I guess I longed for going back to my roots, especially after lurking here for a good while. I now have quite a few Fenwicks (I especially like the older FFxx ferilites and the Wright & McGill Sweetheart.

The folks at the Central Texas Glassic were my kind of folks. I've never met a better bunch. Bud, thanks for the Herter's reel with agate stripping guide. It really takes me back to my roots. Barry, on the other end of my continuium, thanks for the great 6'10" S-Glass rod on the TFO blank. Pearow, thanks for letting me watch you cast, Lefty Kreh in the flesh! And all you guys I've not yet learned your names, thanks for sharing your rods and your experiences/wisdom. Last, but not least, to my good friend Canoeman, thanks for inviting me. As you said in your post, this is by far the best "clave" I've attended. My hats off to all of you, the finest bunch of fishing buds I've ever seen!

Kurt "catmanjack" Jackson