Where to start?

Our host and hostess is a great place. I know they put in some long hours and hard work to pull it off and they made it look effortless. Thank you Randy and Ann for another job well done.

The BOSS. Well maybe he should go first but his hardest effort for the gathering was getting there. A 13 hour drive to meet a bunch of smelly fishermen takes a real man. He ran away from the North lands to escape the ice and snow but just to be with us, he braved it all over again. We who attended were more than grateful for your long trek and presence. Thanks Slab, all that went on went on went on because of you. I hope you had as great a time as we had. I want to thank you for the Duck Commander jig pole, I'm still smiling. The ladies looked pretty happy with those black "T"s with the gold crappie, them is some sharp shirts. But the greatest gift you brought to the gathering was yourself. You're A-1 in my book. I sure hope we can do it again sometime.

Thanks to all who donated gifts for the door prizes and give-a-ways. There were some great things in those bags. I will not attempt to name them as I will surely forget some as not all gift bags were the same, but you know who you are and thanks a million. I know mine had some very good and sought after stuff.

Skip and Martha thank you for allowing us to visit your home and workshop. If you guys think Toledo Tackle has some stuff, for a one man show Skip has them beat. If it walks in the woods or flies in the air I'd bet Skip has a piece of it somewhere in there and the man made stuff goes to infinity, threads, chenille, beads, blades, hooks, plastics etc, etc, etc. The amazing thing is when anyone asked him a question about an item, he knew exactly where to find it among the cabinets, draws, boxes, and racks. He is amazing. Thanks again and hope to be able to drop in again.

Also thanks to all who attended and who have befriended me over the years. I have great respect for each and every one of you and thank you for making the La. forum one of the best. Your great participation on the forum and at the events is what make it all worthwhile.

And most of all I want to thank my wife Linda who has become as much a part of our gatherings as she is a part of me. Without her constant support (nag, nag, nag)(just kidding) I'd be a nobody but because of her I'm ME, no one else but ME and I don't want to be anyone else.

So once more THANKS too all.

My only regret is all of you that had to cancel because of circumstances, I surely missed y'all and so did everyone else. Looking forward to next year.

"gene"