In just 48 hours from now (yikes!), the Wonderful Ones will be onsite at E-17’s Rock Creek Headquarters not only kicking off Extravaganza 2017 but also attempting, as they traditionally do year after year, to exceed their wine consumption from prior year(s). Leaders of the pack in that regard are those that have fished with us now far more than a decade, including The Aged One, now-almost-retired cpa John “SOS” Reimann (so named for his propensity to find disaster when absolutely none exists) and his silent but fishy fishing partner Demetry “The Ghost” Kondrascheff (most notably so for his ability to blend into any woodwork, so much so that in 2011, when we last fished the Mo, we were concluding Day One’s nightly boat reports when The Ghost quietly said “don’t you want mine?” only to then demurely report on the three (count ’em) twenty inchers that he had caught and released in just that day of fishing!).
Other seasoned veterans outside of the coveted decadal group include my 1964 fellow classmate Brad “Pinky” Colton (so named for his proclivity year after year now to wear pink while fishing here—all of which began when, a dozen years ago, I (kinda) innocently bought him a pink fishing hat upon his MSO arrival—in fact, one of my most indelible Extravaganza memories is of Pinky fishing the Mo in 2008 [with our now deceased fellow classmate Rich “The Locksmith” Kotoff (God bless you, pal)] both wearing pink flower pot women’s hats while drifting through the town of Craig, much to the stunned amazement of the much taken aback and backward thinking locals at the time), who this year, after many, many prior failed attempts, will be fishing with his bride of multiple decades, Judy “The Principal” Colton—she just having retired as San Rafael High School principal, from which both Pinky and I graduated—he in the bottom half of our class and I of the other.
Also returning to this year’s event is multi-year veteran Bay Area banker Scott “Crack” McAdams (so named not so much for his banking prowess as for the picture of him that, for years now, resides in Headquarters’ living room wearing freshly donned fishing pants that I gave away that year sans underwear) who this year will be joined for the first time by his daughter Kim “Softball” McAdams, she just having graduated from college here in MT where she played on the women’s softball team. Rooming in the Blackfoot house with them this year is returning seasoned Richmond CA attorney veteran Josh “Commie Pinko” Genser (so named not for his attire but, rather, for his left of Lenin political persuasions) who will be bringing with him his rookie daughter Janet “JV” Genser (no seasoned veteran be she yet) as well as the full-on rookie sensation couple of Mark Howe and Shana Bagley Howe (the latter having been is excellent email correspondence over the recent build up months saying that she needed to personally build up for the size and quantity of Missouri River fish that we fully intend to encounter during our three Group One days there).
Also in the seasoned veteran mix is returning Sant Rosa cpa Tim “The Marauder” Moratto (with whom I fished during one legendary day during one of the very first Extravaganzers when, while fishing Rock Creek, that day The Marauder landed over 45 fish on the same fly—a fly that I fully intended to have framed for him had he not lost it in the bushes right before our takeout!). This year he will be paired up with the returning veteran Southern California duo of Craig “El Senor Feo” (whom I met and befriend while fishing in Patagonia, Chile two years ago) and his sidekicks (i) veteran Joe “Great Wall” Arnao (so named for the great pic he sent me hiking The Great Wall of China last summer wearing his E-16 Circle C monogrammed bamboo shirt) and (ii) rookie and yet-to-be-named (yes, everyone gets one here, folks!) Tom Monahan.
Rounding out this seasoned group of Wonderful Ones are returning E-16ers, Houston mother-son combo “Kayak Mary” Van Kerrebrook (so named for her hiring a kayak to paddle behind her drift boat in last year’s Group Two) and son Bob “Manifish” Corpening, who, while Kayak was kayaking, was reeling in twenty to thirty fish a day during his very first fly fishing excursion—welcome back both!!
So there you have it, folks, the Sweet Sixteen of E-17’s Group One…good fishing to all and, as we say this year, “May The Mo Be With Y’all.”
Let The Extravaganza now begin!!!
Rock Creek Ron
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