2005 OCBS On River Seminar   The weather, water temperature and water clarity were all perfect, ok!, well better than expected. The water had some flow and was up a little and most importantly there were a few steelhead around.  Six instructors and nine participants headed down Big Creek to the Grand River after introductions and information presented by Les Ober, Dave Esner and Monte Casey. 
 
Dave Esner disappeared up river with the spin guys and the fly guys led by Les Ober,  Wael Dardir and Monte Casey went down stream.  Wael stopped at the first hole with some depth and Les continued down river.  Casey's group well behind stopped to observe the nice job Wael was doing with his group and decide to hang with them for awhile. Wael standing in the water instructing the group, directed their attention to watch Casey's cast, where his float lands in the current and his line mends. As an extra bonus a steelhead bites the fly and they witness the hook set, the fight,  the photo session and the fish release.  Wael convincingly tells the guys "Actually the fish is the OCBS mascot, we put it in here last night to make us look creditable for you today" or something along that line.  
 
Dave Craddock was out of commission due to a hand injury, but tagged along with his camera and helped out were ever he could. Joe Moravec on the other hand did all those things a good president does and lead by example. Because of the many details to pull off an event like this, he did not have enough time to change his leader from last season which resulted in the brake-off of the only fish he set a hook on today. I'm sure in his recovery statements he pointed out the importance of the minor details needing attention to become successful at this game. I was unable to see the outcome of this event, but checked back with Joe that evening to get an update on the rest of day.  He told me, a half-dozer steelhead were hooked by the fly guys in Wael and Casey's groups. He didn't know how Les' and Dave's guys did, they were still on the river somewhere when the seminar ended in the early after noon.  
 
This check marks another successful event by the OCBS participating members and completes the 2005 On River Seminar and just in time as the steelhead season begins. OCBS would like to recognize and thank the following for their active participation in this years event.
Participates: Jim Woolen, John Carson, Joe Golba, Guy Wright, Ron Gryzmala, Ed Gryzmala, Rick Fiore, Dan Kammer and Mike Crouch.
Instructors: Joe Moravec, Dave Esner, Les Ober,  Wael Dardir, and Dave Craddock (pictures from top, left to right). Monte Casey (with the fish at the bottom).