Christmas parties are always a nice way to kick off the holiday season. Well, let's be honest, some of them are torture. But the Atlantic Saltwater Flyrooders party is always one Theresa and I look forward too. Yesterday we had a day. It started off in Newark and ended in Seaside Heights.
The morning gathering was Cultural Day at Essex County College. It was something I started when I was a student 30 years ago and occurs at the end of every first semester right before finals. It's a day for the class to come together and celebrate each other through food. Imagine being able to eat your way around the world from food prepared by 100 people from all corners of the world.
It was then down the Parkway to Klee's where we'd continue the assault on our digestive tracts going from curried goat, joloff rice, sinangag, and salted fish, to pizza, wings, and a few Guinness'. As we walked across the Boulevard i felt uneasy walking into Klee's for the first since Bobby's accident.
While I was looking forward to seeing people from the club my heart dam near stopped when I saw Tom Fote roll in and walk past my table. It was just yesterday when I heard Fote speak at the ASMFC TC meeting and wrote about him in the blog. So I went up to him and shook his hand and said,
" I don't know if I like you but I want to talk to you." No matter what I think about Fote, as far as his stance and action regarding striped bass has been, he has been involved in the fisheries management game just about as long as I have been alive. He has to get respect for that from me. So I told him I really enjoyed his comments during the previous days meeting. We then talked for a while and one of my takeaways was his statement, "I have to represent everybody", which I respect. And when I questioned if there was a chance of me getting involved in the game of the ASMFC and New Jersey he asked, "Are you ready to represent those that kill bass, fish from boats, and the commercial or for hire operations that harvest?". So I get that. But I didn't get his position on keeping things status quo for 2025, which means keeping the 28-31 inch slot with no No Target or No Harvest closures. Ok, enough about that.
I have to say Fote threw me off my game. When I saw him I wanted to sit next to him, get shit faced, and really dig into the current striped bass drama. So, I didn't mingle and take pictures like I usually do. Brad set up and mc'd the night as he usually does as club president. Of course he had solid help from the always active members in the group.
These parties, like most, are centered around the food and drink, but fly rod club meetings, always, bring out those looking to score some good prizes or some cash by winning the 50/50. Theresa and I, as well as our table, may have been the high hooks as we all had the winning tickets for something.
For me, winning a selection of flash, which I really wanted and loaded up the cup with tickets, to another lot of saddles, to Theresa winning the Yeti cup, and Gerry and Kathy hitting the 50/50. We all did good. But the best we did was one of our table buds scored the always desired Chia Pet.
But the big score of the night was the framed Tom Lynch photo of that Bob Popovic's cast which had about a dozen ticket holders holding their breath for. The winner was, and deservedly so, Rich Sistad, who dam near shed a tear when his number was called. Everyone in the room was glad he won. In my opinion, you'll see Rich as the next club president one day. He would be great moving the club forward and there's no one in that club who fly fishes more than Rich.
And while I don't want to revisit a painful past there was a hole there at Klee's last night. There are fixtures in certain rooms during certain events that we all have drilled into our heads as being permanent. Bob sitting at the bar at Klee's is one of them. Either on those Monday nights when The Shady was closed or during the ASWF Christmas Party, you could always know that a trip down to the bathroom would mean stopping to talk to Bob.
So they say always be thankful and grateful because you just never know. Enjoy each day, and party like it's your last, and make sure you do shake a hand, give a hug, or say good by to those fixtures in your life, which really aren't going to be there forever, or at least physically.