Hello Forum members. The first Reel Recovery fly fishing retreat held in the Great State was an incredible experience for the participants and volunteers. The participants came from all over Texas and we even had one man join us from Maryland. I brought the flies that had been donated and when I arrived at JCR there were several packages waiting with dozens more flies that you had sent. This ended up being a good thing because RR retreats are almost always held near trout streams therefore the fly boxes in each participant�s vest were packed with a variety of trout flies! Dinner Tuesday evening was the first of several mouth watering meals prepared by the first rate kitchen staff at Joshua Creek Ranch. Wednesday morning our volunteer casting instructors from the Hill Country Fly Fishers club conducted a brief classroom orientation and then we moved out to the lawn for hands-on instruction with the volunteer �fishing buddies� made up of club members and professional guides from all regions of Texas. Next our resident �water warden�, Rick Cathey took us to Joshua Creek and helped each pair (participant & buddy) find his beat for a brief session of fly fishing before lunch. Keep in mind that not one of these men had previously held a fly rod and several hadn�t left home much less gone fishing in quite a while. Well the chatter over lunch was so loud that it sounded like a beehive had been knocked over, the buzz was about the excitement on the creek that morning. Not a word about chemo, radiation, surgery, doctors, hospitals. That�s when you realize as one person wanting to join the battle against cancer, donations for research are important but here�s something I can do today that will immediately benefit someone living with cancer. By the end of the retreat Thursday afternoon, after hours on the creek and the Guadalupe River, �Courageous Conversations� and wonderful meals there had been a complete transformation. Participants may still have cancer but now several men had regained something important that had been missing in their lives. I hope you get the opportunity to volunteer at a future Reel Recovery retreat so you can witness this remarkable change for yourself.
We�ll soon publish pictures and stories from the retreat. Watch this forum for the URL.
The guys from the Reel Recovery organization were blown away by the beauty of the Texas Hill Country and the enthusiasm and quality of our volunteers and response of the retreat participants. They�ll meet with the RR board and get back to me but it sounds to me like we had better get geared up for two RR retreats in 2009. Committees will be formed and we need volunteers that can help organize:
Retreat Venue
Fund Raising (dinners, auctions, donations, corporate sponsors)
Participant Outreach
Participant Transportation
Volunteer Recruitment
Fly Donations
Please contact me, Warren Wolf warren@fwculture.com 800-542-2246 to help with either the North Texas or Hill Country Reel Recovery fly fishing retreat for 2009.
Thanks to all of you for your support and in the words of the Reel Recovery motto.
BE WELL! FISH ON!

fantastic, glad to hear a good time was had, i will volunteer for whatever i can do

Thank you for the update. Sounds like a wonderful time, had by all...and those guys certainly deserved it. I am very pleased so many sent their flies in to this event, and volunteered in whatever avenue they could...