The first post was buried quickly

I would like to set up a gathering of rod builders in the No. Cal area soon.
No ideas of location or venue yet but wanted to post this. Dereck McMaster
and myself have been discussing this on-line and we are going to meet soon
and I thought about a invatation for others to partisipate as well.
Email me or Derek with any ideas or thoughts if you are interested.
Rod Builders from Sacramento, Chico, Stockton, the Bay area and anywhere
in between are incouraged and invited.

Thanks all!


Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

How about closer to Central CA so everyone in CA could go? I have not seen a Southern Ca gathering and I would also be interested in one down here. If So. Cal is not having one, then lets make it a CA gathering and find a location near the center of the state.

Just an idea

Terry

You rod builders from California are more than welcome to our gathering on April 7th, 8th, and 9th in Woodland Wash. at the Lamiglas facilities. In fact there are several rod builders from California that are coming.
We will be having presentations on marbleizing, epoxies, feather inlays, the characteristics of composites, out wrapping, rod repair, optics for rod building and others.
You might also want to use this as an opportunity to see how we set up and run things. It may help you with your get together. It does take quite a bit of time and effort, ask Todd Vivien.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2006 12:08PM by Emory Harry.

Ray; If you opt for central California you might talk to the Holiday Inn at the airport in Fresno about room rates. They are across the street from the Airport with easy access.

Raymond,
As I told you earlier, I'll try and make it from So. Cal if I have enough time to plan. Randy.

fresno???? YEAH! and bring any extra rodbuilding supplies people want to rid themselves of. a mini bash of sorts.

eric
fresno, ca.

I'm going to mention something here and it is not meant to deflate anything, but to hopefully help you have a more successful gathering.

First and foremost, the internet is the lousiest place in the world to promote something like this. Even this site, which is the largest and most heavily used rod building website by a wide margin, is not going to do for anybody's show or gathering, what they might hope. To reach legions of rod builders, you are going to have to go to the print medium.

For instance, very few rod building supply houses print a paper catalog anymore. They are heavily penalizing themselves by not doing this. The internet is for people who are actively looking for an item. Printed catalogs, on the other hand, actually create new sales, sales that might not have happened if a catalog hadn't shown up in somebody's mail box. Don't believe it? Consider that even with their extensive websites and online presence, Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas still print millions of cataglos and mail them out multiple times each year. These folks aren't stupid - they do it because they know the bulk of their sales are created by those catalogs.

Angler's Workshop, Mud Hole, Jann's etc. all still print a paper catalog. No wonder they do so well in this industry. Any company relying strictly on an internet based catalog is missing 75% of the business they could be doing. Oh well, enough on that for the moment.

My point, is that you need to take some small classified ads in your local/regional fishing magazines and newspapars. Generally this doesn't cost too much and ultimately it will reach more people than anything you can do on the interent. In the end, the crowd at the National Rod Builders Show did not find out about the event via this site or any other internet site. Over 80% of them came out due to RodMaker Magazine and the direct mailings I made months prior to the event.

I think you guys can get a bunch of CA rod builders together for a nice gathering, but if you rely soley on the internet, you aren't going to draw many folks. Put up some flyers in local tackle shops and marinas. Reach out to the majority of the rod builders - the great silent majority that don't use the internet on a daily basis like most of us here do. Rod builders are plentiful, but they don't exist in great density in any area. You'll have to kick over a few rocks to get a good turnout.

............

tom's right of course about advertising. he should know. but my first impression was just a gathering of like minded people kicking back, drinking good beer/coffee/etc, test casting each others' rods, telling fishy stories. raymond and dereck, what's your idea?

eric
fresno, ca.

I would not write off Ore. and Wash. either. I think that there are quite a few rod builders that woud come from up here just to see the work up close of guys like Jim Upton, Doc Ski, Terry Henson and Jim Kastoff. I know I would.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2006 01:22PM by Emory Harry.

I have to add my 2 cents, even though I know it's goign to @#$%& a few peopel off.

Why is it when someone tries to set one of these things up, so many people say why don't you do it here, or there, or elsewhere? Why don't YOU do it yourself? If people were so interested in attending a gathering close to where they live, stop relying on others to do it, get off your butt and put it together yourself.

Billy has a good point. No matter where you have it, somebody is going to have to travel. In the end, a lot of guys just won't travel even though they say they really want to attend a rod building event of some sort, But there are plenty who will travel. You just have to find them and let them know what you're doing.

If you guys can get 20, 30 or 40 guys together to chew the fat and talk rod building, you'll be doing well and perhaps form the basis for something larger in the future. My point was that you don't want to limit your search to the internet.

............

Only when I know date/time/place specific can I consider if I can go. I would love to meet others, but not if it is in conflict with prior commitments. Rodbuilding is a secondary activity for me, as I suspect it is for most rodbuilders. I am in the office 40 hours per week, so IF it is evening or weekend AND IF it is not more than a half our back and forth, THEN I am interested. I am in Rocklin, so Sacramento is OK, any further west or south or north, and I can't commit.

I would rather meet on a fishin' hole at sunup, do some fishin' then compare notes at a cafe or such mid morning. For that I will travel 2 hours in each direction. Yeah, no problem for me to head out at 3am to make that meeting.

Erik and Tim hit the nail on the head!

I'm hoping to set up a time and place not to far from those that would be interested in getting together for general discussion,
idea sharing, showing off their work and general commrodery. A peacefull fish'in hole (lake/river/pond) would be a great idea!
Adding a pot luck picknick sounds like a good idea as well.

I'm thinking early April would be a good time. thats far enough to plan ahead yet close enough to make things easy.

If anyone has a place in mind or a better date range don't hesitate to speak up! The schedual is wide open!

Man if 10 to 20 of us could get together that would be more than I hoped for!

As I receive and respond to emails I will cc: all involved so we can all share in the communications and more easily plan the location
and date.

Terry,
If this turns out to be as fun and easy as I think it will be I would think a caravan down to the Central CA Fresno area for a North/South
gathering would be next on the agenda.

Tim,
Rich Matranga lives in Folsom and he and I meet often at his house. Email me or Rich. or call me 916-422-5531 after 5:00pm PST
Fred Crum is in Dixon and will be comming to my house in Sac. on Fri. Mar. 17th

Randy,
I will definately keep you posted

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Thanks for the advice Tom!!

Posting some notices around town here is a good idea!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Ray,

The carp are up on flats on Folsom in April (I hear the bikinis are as well - I don't notice such things myself), I assume the bass are active as well, and the bluebacks are up on caddis on the Lower American - one of those might not be a bad choice.

Wayne Chubb
Fair Oaks

Hey Raymond, I would love to come to a gathering, only problem is I'm got something booked every week-end till the end of April

Folsom Lake in the spring time is really great! However, as there will be those driving from the Bay Area I think
it would be fair to try and find a happy medium and shoot for Berryessa or elsewhere near that area.

Nice to see there is another builder in my local area!!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

Hi Dennis!
I will keep you posted just incase the gathering (reminds me of the "Highlander")date gets pushed out. Nothing is writtin in stone yet!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

I live in Concord, Ca, and may not be considered a "builder" having built 6 or 8 rods, but would be interested if there were a gathering in the area. Just my .02

Instead of posting here.
Anyone interested in joining in the get together or just has a question or two please
email me.

RCAdams1957@msn.com

Would love to have you Bill Koski!!

Young & old alike, pro or novis , all are welcome!

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..