I was introduced to John Woodling of Downey CA in an email that read;

“Dear Tim, while reading the TU magazine, I came across an article about your club being involved in a program that made and distributed flies to various organizations. I am very aware of the Healing Waters Program and when I saw that it would be the receiver of this year’s (Tie) Fly-A-Thon effort I felt the need to help. If you would send me your address I would like to send you 200 flies (100Pheasant tail nymphs – size 14 and 100 Griffith’s Gnats – size 20) in the name of the Downey Fly Fishers of Downey CA. I congratulate you and you club on such a worthy program.”

John did not stop at 200 flies; he stopped at 1,500 flies. John tied the most flies out of the 13,030 turned in during the 5^th Annual Tie-a-thon. This blows away the last total record of 7,000 flies. Thanks John, I am glad we gave you inspiration.

Next to top the 1,000 fly mark was Bob Stoynoff, going 100 flies over the mark. What was truly amazing about Bob’s flies were the 500 or so with hand painted eyes on the buck tail streamer. For those who don’t know, Bob turns in 500 to 1000 flies almost every Tie-a-thon.

Thank you Bob.

We will display the flies at the SJRVFF March 16th meeting. They will also be on display at the March 26th KVCTU banquet. Then we will ship them off to Project Healing Waters.

Thanks to the rest of the 71 fly tyers that donated to this cause. It is truly outstanding and we surpassed all expectations. In five years you all have joined together to donates over 33,000 flies. If you put a monetary value to that, it would be near the $90,000.

Thanks also go to the seven fly fishing clubs that promotes and supports the Tie-a-thon each year. Those clubs are: St. Joseph River Valley Fly Fishers, Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Little Elkhart Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Duneland Fly Fishers, Grand River Fly Tyers, Fly Girls and of course Downey Fly Fishers.

A special thanks to Elkhart Conservation Club for the use of their building and grounds for this event every year.

Thanks to Terry Wittorp, my partner in crime on the Tie-a-thon, and his kitchen crew, Bill Vail, Steve Birman and Doug Gerow for their outstanding lunch. Also thanks to Terry for the T-Shirts and to Andy Kitson for the nice logo and the printing.

Also thanks to Eric Graham for promoting the event on the west side of the state, Dick Koch for supplying boxes for the flies, Todd Ezell for helping with setup and beverages, Johnny Law for opening up the ECC hatchery. Thanks to anyone else I might have forgotten to mention.

It was truly amazing, grass roots, effort again. I am always impressed that we are the only group doing this for Project Healing Waters and other causes. You all should be very proud.

In September we will kick off the next Tie-a-thon.

Thanks to the following tyers: Barney Naylor, Bart Roberts, Basil McCreary, Bill Defayette, Bill Furkis, Bill Kaufman, Bob Brissey, Bob Dykman, Bob Stoyoff, Bob White, Brandon Rasler, Carl Sternberg, Christine Hauville, Dale Kesler, Dave Chimmel, David Clunk, David Hilton, Dean Crowell, Dick Koch, Don Squires, Doug Moore, Dustin New, Ed Burns, Ed Wisinski, Eric Graham, Eric Wroblewski, Erik Gilbert, Frank Kolozar, Gene Henderson, Geoff Fleanor, George Batch, Greg Potter, Greg Sautter, Greg Wittig, Ingrid Schrey, Ira Hanan, Jeff Stanifer, Jennifer Nelson, Jim Gibson, John Mangona, John Mixis, John Ribberbos, John Woodling, Johnny Law, Kevin Thomason, Kristina Handzlik, Larry Roberts, Lee Troyer, Jeff Loosmore, Mark Bardusk, Mark Matus, Matt Rocco, Michael Payne, Mike Beachy , Mike Lagoski, Nate Kaufman, Pat Moskalik, Paul Arwine, Paul Blanch, Ralph Rucinski, Ray Ward, Rodney Davis, Steve Birman, Steve Gilbert, Tim Pote, Tom Rondo, Tim Scott, Tim Wilson, Todd Ezzell, Tom Carson, Walt Byington , Windy Ray, Wolf Schrey