Are they going to raffle a rod again

[buckeyetrouter]

in the past there has been a raffle of a bamboo rod and I was wondering if that was going to happen again this year? ? ?

[Byron Begley]

Hey Buckeye,

Yes, Charlie is making a "Bamboo for Brookies" rod to be raffled this year. I have some photos of a similar rod that will be posted with some other items soon. Our Executive Committee is doing an excellent job putting this event together. It is going to be outstanding.

Byron

[flyred06]

A chance for that is worth the ticket price alone. If some one could not make troutfest can they still enter the drawing if they paid the price of the ticket?

[Byron Begley]

Yes you can buy tickets even though you are not able to attend. They will be for sale at our shop and at Little River Chapter of TU meetings. I bet you will be able to buy them at the Orvis Company Store in Sevierville. They are not ready yet. We'll let you know on the troutfest.org website. I don't think we can send them through the mail for legal reasons. I don't handle this so I don't know for sure.

Byron

[canerod]

I am sorry but the name Charlie as the bamboo rod maker is not one I am familiar with. Maybe a little background?

[danp413]

The rod being raffled this year is a 7'4" 5 wt. Joe Hatten announced this at the LRCTU meeting last night. He also said it should be at LRO pretty soon. I forget Charlie's last name, but he is the man who has been making the rods being raffled off. The case is usually made by a couple of the guys in the LRCTU.

later
Dan

[Byron Begley]

His name is Charlie Downs formerly from Lexington, Kentucky and now lives in North Carolina. He is an excellent maker. His rods are something everyone who is prone to cane would love to own, including me. Also, we will be offering a new Bogdan 5 Trout reel at auction. You could wait years to get one of these. Stan Bogdan moved us up to the top of the list. The opportunity to buy one of these is worth the trip to Townsend and Troutfest alone for some people.

Byron