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January 2007 Hello Friends! I hope this note finds you happy and healthy. I’ve spent the last year putting down roots here in Idaho, spending time with old friends and new, taking on new job challenges and volunteering around town. Last summer I started a new job as a fly fishing guide with Silver Creek Outfitters. It was named the top fly shop in the country by Fly Rod and Reel magazine and I feel very privileged to be working there. I led 38 guide trips that included over 80 people. It was my job to help folks catch fish and enjoy the Big Wood River, Silver Creek and the streams in Copper Basin. You mean I get paid to do this????? Everyone caught fish (okay only two didn’t) including a 72 year old grandmother who had never been fishing before, never mind fly fishing. She wanted to impress her grandkids, and I’m sure the 17 inch rainbow she landed certainly did. In addition to guiding, I made some time to fish with friends. Rick Benson, SteveHalstead and I hiked, stumbled and fell our way down into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River in Colorado. We fished the famous salmon fly hatch that drives the resident rainbow and brown trout into a feeding frenzy. Big flies do catch big fish! Just ask Steve and Rick. Terry McClinch invited me to float Montana’s Big Hole River with him during that river’s salmon fly hatch. He called me at 8:00 PM, I was on the road at 3:00 AM and hooking big browns at 10:00 AM. Thank you Terry! My sis Cindy and brother in law Frank were here in July for the Hailey Rodeo and a week of hiking. They’ll be back, for sure. Al DiGuido and his good bud John Giunta rode their Harleys through Ketchum in June on their way from Las Vegas to Westport in celebration of Al’s 50 th birthday. We drove up into the Boulder Mountains one evening for a very memorable cocktail hour. I spent a day hiking with the Stein Aronow family in July. In early August, Ben Ebel, Dave Spaulding, Wick Warrick and I spent a week floating the South Fork of the Flathead through our nation’s largest wilderness area outside of Alaska: the famed Bob Marshall in Montana. We were after Westslope cutthroats and we found them. We also found really BIG bull trout and some incredibly beautiful country. After that, Graham Thopsey, Ben and I went backpacking in the Frank Church Wilderness here in Idaho. We spent a week tramping through the very rugged Big Horn Crags looking for golden trout. We found some beauties in the high alpine lakes there. The magazine Northwest Flyfishing picked up the story for their May/June 2008 issue. Speaking of magazine assignments, Big Sky Journal will be publishing images of the Mackay rodeo that I shot, in their spring 2007 issue. I’m spending the winter months, working at the Sun Valley ski resort as a Supervisor with the “Mountain Guest Services” department. I spend the day on skis, roaming the mountain making sure all of our guests are having fun. You mean I get paid to do this???? Okay I have to move ski racks and shovel snow once in a while but hey, my office has a window on some of the most beautiful scenery in the world! I also get a free lunch in one of the mountain lodges every day. Hello prime rib goodbye PB+J. I’ve been leading guide trips on my days off. Yes, you can catch fish in the winter. Ruth and Larry Sherman were here from Westport for a week last winter and we enjoyed some really great powder skiing together. This year, I’ll be skiing with RobinTauck and Pete Romano in February. My sis Peggy and brother in law Bill from Portland will be here in March for more of the same. In my free time, I’m serving as the Program Director of the Hemingway Chapter of Trout Unlimited, lining up our monthly guest speakers. Last month we learned about fishing for taimen in Mongolia, and I’m doing a presentation on salmon fishing in Ireland in March. Guinness anyone? I’m also volunteering at the local YMCA serving on their Membership and Aquatics Committees. Good people are at this YMCA, same as at the Westport Weston Family Y. I’ve been helping the Scouts of Troop 192 in Ketchum earn their fishing and swimming merit badges. 2007 brings more adventures on the water and off. In between guide trips with Silver Creek, I’ve got float trips planned on the Middle Fork of the Salmon here in Idaho, the Green River in Utah and a return to the Gunnison in Colorado. Best of all, I’ll be venturing to New Zealand next November, for that trip of a lifetime. Thank you Robin, Pete, Bill, Martin, Michael, Patty, Ellen, Beth, Kathy, Anne and Patrick, Steve and Rosemary and Rick and Totney and the rest of my YMCA friends for making it possible!!!! In the meantime, I’ve got plenty of couch space for visitors, so if you haven’t talked to me yet about a visit, operators are standing by to take your call. From my side of the country to yours, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a happy and productive New Year. I miss you all! Go Water Rats! Go Boise State Broncos! Best Regards, Bob Knoebel |