And The Reel Winner Is

Last year when the Blue River Fly Classic raised $2,495.00 I thought we had probably peaked as far as the amount of money we would ever raised.  At last years event we had two vintage bamboo fly rods along with a beautiful piece of fly fishing artwork that we auctioned off.  Those items accounted for $500.00 by themselves.  This year we were void of such auction items.

So you can imagine my surprise when the Classic this year surpassed last years total.  This years event raised $2,550.00 and therefore the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife is a winner!  The proceeds from this event along with the $1,320.00 raised by Chris Adams and his Bubba Buggers For Blue program will hopefully qualify for federal matching funds, and if so the end result will be around $15,000.00 to the wildlife department.

There were all kind of winners this past Saturday.  The early bird award went to Jon Paul Griffin.  Jon Paul received at $25.00 Bass Pro gift certificate for getting his entry in first.  The winner of the Guess The Mystery Fly game was Brodie Reed.  Brodie will receive Fishpond's Headgate Tippet system. 

Boone Merhman and Chris Adams were both big winners in being awarded the Spirit Of The Blue award for their outstanding efforts in supporting Blue River this year.

Everyone that had the pleasure of eating Vernon Forrester's chuck wagon food was a winner!  The food this year was off the charts!

Ralph Fullenwider is always a winner and on Saturday he was named the Keeper Of The River for 2015.  This award has only been awarded one previous time and the first recipient was Harold Beck.  Harold had the pleasure of announcing Ralph as this years recipient.

Thanks to the generosity of a good number we had a lot of giveaway prizes this year.  The crown jewel of the giveaways was a Cabela's fly rod and reel donated by Dan Ham of Ada, Oklahoma and Dallas, Texas.  That sweet package went to Andrew Weatherford.
Then there were the competitors in the Blue River Fly Classic.  After five hours of hard fishing we had the top three finishers.

Coming in third place was Scott Dittner of Marlow, Oklahoma.  Scott received a $50.00 gift certificate from Backwoods in Oklahoma City.

Coming in second place was Eric Nunn.  Eric received a $100.00 Bass Pro gift certificate.

1st place went to Walker Hairston.  Walker hails south of the Red River and has become one of our favorite fly guys on Blue River.  Walker received an Umpqua Fly Vest for winning the Blue River Fly Classic 2015.  Thanks to Tailwaters of Dallas, Texas for donating the Umpqua vest.

And then there is the reel winner.  The big winner in all of this is Blue River.  How awesome must it be to be loved by so many from so many different places.  The more people that come to this river results in more people getting love bit.  And the more people star struck by this river results in more people wanting to see the Blue always healthy and safe.  Again, how awesome it must be to be so loved.

Here are some pictures from this weekends event.