Since I may have been one of the 1st to get back, I thought I'd kick-off a little recap thread. It's nice to see photos and hear stories from other's perspective, so feel free to add yours in here as well.
My NANFA convention got kicked off on Wednesday. Jared Burson, Matt & Seth DeLaVega drove from KY to OK, stopping at the Springfield MO Bass Pro on the way. It was very impressive.
We arrived in Tehlaquah after about 14ish hours in the car together. I will say, this was one of the best road trips I've had. We all had a blast in the car and wasn't short on conversation. After checking into the hotel, we were all hungry. A quick Google search and there was no doubt on where we were eating that night.....
and it was amazing.
On Thursday the 4 of us went to a few creeks in the early part of the day. We missed most of the check-in/demostration due to this. We knew, however, that we wouldn't get a trip in on Sunday so we wanted to get in the water. The Ozark area streams are beautiful and crystal clear.
These SRBD look a little like MRBD with all the spotting
We did make it back to see the big fish setup and a little more seining on the banks of the river.
Friday was the talks, banquet auction.
We had many terrific speakers and learned a lot about fish.
The banquet was Paddlefish, fried fish, and the side. It was very tasty.
The auction was a huge success, thank you to all the great donors that brought items. You really do not know how much it is appreciated. The majority of NANFA's funds for our grant programs come from the auction/convention.
Isaac Szabo's prints were amazing, everyone wanted them
Friday night, there was a lot of hanging out and telling stories around the pool and other areas of the Hotel.
Saturday.
I spent too much time in the water and didn't take photos. We did go out on the trips and the first two locations were great. We saw a nice diversity of fish and after those 1st too locations, a smaller group, including myself, broke off to go hunt Red Shiners. We did eventually find 2 small ones, but what was most interesting happened that night. At one location the group stopped at, Brian Zimmerman and Evan Poellinger were sampling 2 small oxbow lake type features and caught many Golden Topminnows. Nothing was really thought much about it at first. However, that night I was telling our host, Brandon about this and it appears they found an unknown location for them and that previously that fish was only known to a small location in the southeast OK. Brandon was going to go back on Monday to confirm, but it appears out group helped in finding a new locality for this fish in Oklahoma.
Sunday's was the trip home for us.
I personally had a great time at this convention. As a person who has planned a convention, I know the work that goes into it. Thinking that Brandon had to completely change the convention and pull it off in under a week is actually pretty amazing. He did a great job and it was a huge success. A big Thank You! to Brandon for all his hard work.
If you are a NANFA member and have never been to a convention, you should really consider it. It isn't just about the fish, but about the people as well. Through the conventions I have made friends that carry over outside of conventions and NANFA. You're almost guaranteed a good time, and you'll make friends that will last.
Please feel free to add your own stories and photos here.
I guess I need to hit that powerball!
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