Quest Outdoors

TheSteelheadBum · Lunker Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 528 Location: The Joe

We are currently putting the finishing touches on another Spey Clave here in Berrien Springs, Michigan on the St. Joe River. It will be held Saturday May 17th below Berrien Springs Dam. The same place it was held last year. There will also be people around Friday afternoon with some of the rods/lines available to cast & Sunday a group of us plan on fishing for steelhead. Anyone who cares to join us is more than welcome. I have already rented all three cabins at Shamrock Park right on the river for Saturday night where a limited number of people can sleep. There is also space for other's to pitch a tent and stay the night. We plan on just relaxing, grilling some food, and shooting the bull Saturday evening so anyone who is interested is more than welcome to join us. Shamrock Park does have restroom & showering facilities. I will also work on getting a list of nearby motels people can stay at. We will also be grilling up some food Saturday during the clave for everyone as well.

At this time we will have gear available for demo from the following companies:

Rods: Thomas & Thomas, Cortland, Hardy, R.B. Meiser, Guideline, Sage, Scott, G.Loomis, TFO, CND, ECHO, and R.L. Winston at this time. I am still working on getting even more gear for everyone to check out and cast...

Reels: Nautilus, Guideline, and Hardy so far...

Lines: Guideline, Cortland, Hardy, Airflo, Rio, CND & more...

The goal is to have more people & more gear for them to try out than last year. If anyone was at last years gathering they know it was a huge success so this year can hopefully top that.

Poppy owner of Red Shed Fly Shop has told me he will be sending some stuff out for people to cast and will be sending stuff for door prizes! Thanks again Poppy!

We will be having casting demonstrations done by:

1) Jeff Hire will be doing a basic spey casting demonstration

2) Peter Humphrey's will be following up that demonstration with an intermediate/advanced spey casting demonstration, along with an underhand/scandanavian casting demonstration.

3) Will Turek will be giving a demonstration on skagit casting and single hand spey casting techniques.

I just want to thank everyone who has been so grateful in lending a hand in this event and are willing to travel here to give these demonstrations. Everyone who attends please be sure to thank these guys for taking time out of their busy lives to help everyone learn something about the art of spey casting!

That is all the information at this time, but I wanted to get the word out on this as soon as possible so everyone could plan to keep the weekend of May 16th, 17th, & 18th open.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me and I will do what I can to get back to you as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Kory Boozer
_____

TheSteelheadBum · Lunker Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 528 Location: The Joe

Here is a list of places that you guys may be interested in staying at if you are travelling a large distance to take part in the spey clave here on the Joe.

1) Shamrock Park Camp Grounds "right on the St. Joseph River"
I will have all three cabins rented for that Saturday night. All space in the cabins has been spoken for, but anyone is welcome to come and hang out with us Saturday night after the clave. We will be grilling food and sitting around sharing stories. Please bring something to contribute if you attend. Doesn't have to be much, but something... If you are just coming to hang out at the cabins with us after the clave there is a $5 parking fee that you have to pay when entering the grounds.

There is lots of camping sites that are available for the evening if you wanted to sleep in a tent or if you have an RV...

Contact Information for Shamrock Park Campgrounds is 269.473.5691 They also have a website which is: shamrockpark DOT net

There is also a very nice Bed & Breakfast in Berrien Springs:

Red Brick InnRed Brick Inn
114 N Mechanic St
Berrien Springs, MI 49103

(269) 471-2200

2) About a 15 minute drive away from the clave is Niles, Michigan which has a lot of lodging options available. The first one being:

Barrett Place Bed & Breakfast

Address:
Barrett Place Bed & Breakfast
308 S. Barrett
Niles, MI 49120

Phone: (269)683-2518

The second being:

Golden Eagle Motel

Address:
Golden Eagle Motel
1243 South 11th
Niles, MI 49120

Phone: (269) 684-1000

Third:

Holiday Inn Express - Niles

Address:
Holiday Inn Express - Niles
1265 South 11th Street (M-51)
Niles, MI 49120

Toll Free: (888)465-4329

And the fourth:

Niles Inn and Conference Center

Address:
Niles Inn and Conference Center
930 South 11th Street
Niles, MI 49120

Phone: (269) 684-3000

3) About a 30 minute drive from Berrien Springs is the beautiful town of St. Joseph, Michigan. It is right on Lake Michigan and has many attractions & little shops that would be perfect to keep the wife busy while you attended the clave if you wanted to make a little vacation out of your trip to the area for the clave. That may make it easier to talk your special someone into the fact that this clave is worth spending the money on gas to attend... Unless you are lucky enough to have a wife who would want to come to the clave then by all means bring her along!

The first:

The Boulevard Inn
521 Lake Boulevard
Saint Joseph, Michigan 49085
Phone: 800.875-6600
All suite hotel reminiscent of a bygone era of lush hospitality and quiet charm.

Second:

Silver Beach Hotel
100 Main Street
St. Joseph, Michigan 49085
Phone: 269.983-7341
Located in the heart of downtown St. Joseph.

Third:

The Econo Lodge
2723 Niles Ave
St. Joseph, Michigan 49085 View Map
Phone: 269.983.6321

I hope this helps everyone with lodging information. If you need any more information feel free to PM me and I will get back to you as soon as possible. There is several more places in St. Joseph to stay at. Everything from just your average motel to as plush a hotel as you have ever experienced, and there is also some very nice Bed & Breakfast

TheSteelheadBum · Lunker Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 528 Location: The Joe

Just to give credit where credit is due I would like to thank the following guys who have helped me put this clave together. This list will get much longer I know as time goes on, as we are still working on adding more companies and more demonstrations to the clave, but wanted to thank these guys right away, as without them it would not be anywhere near where it is at...

Jeff Hire for getting with R.L. Winston, G.Loomis, & Guideline on sending out gear for everyone and putting on the basic casting demonstration...

Jamey McLeod for getting with Thomas and Thomas to send out gear...

Doug Taylor, Neil Houlding, & Lee Davison for all the advice on putting a clave together...

Peter Humphrey's for putting on the underhand casting demonstration & maybe we can talk him into tying up some of his spectacular tube flies...

Will Turek for putting on the single hand spey and skagit casting demonstrations...

All the companies who are willing to send out gear for everyone to check out...

Poppy @ Red Shed Fly Shop for sending out demo gear & door prizes...

Special thanks to Quest Outdoors for allowing me to promote the event on their site...

More to come as time goes on...

TheSteelheadBum · Lunker Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 528 Location: The Joe

Just a reminder guys the event is coming up not this Saturday, but the next. We have a free ECHO spey rod of your choice to give away along with lots of DVD's, Lines, etc....

Hope to see you there!

johnnyquest · Adult Joined: 06 Feb 2006 Posts: 58 Location: the zoo

Although I won't be there for the spey clave, I think I will be down there in my boat on Sunday morning.

TheSteelheadBum · Lunker Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 528 Location: The Joe

Weather and water are looking great for the clave. Hope to see you all there!

TheSteelheadBum · Lunker Joined: 17 Dec 2005 Posts: 528 Location: The Joe

I just wanted to thank everyone who took the time to come out and check out the gathering on the Joe. I had a great time seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. I sincerely hope you guys had a good time. It meant a lot that you spent the $4 a gallon to make the trip here to check out the event.

I want to thank Peter Humphrey's for coming down and showing off the Guideline Rods/Reels/Lines and for giving an excellent demonstration on the scandinavian style of casting.

A big thanks to Will Turek of Scientific Anglers/Nautilus Reels/Scott Fly Rods for an excellent demonstration and bring out the sweet new two handers from Scott fly rods!

Thank you Jeff Hire for an outstanding demonstration on basic spey casting and for helping to make this event happen. Could not have done it without you man.

Thank you Doug Taylor for bringing the grill, table, and everything else you did. Your advice really helped make this event run as smoothly as it did.

Thank You Bob Braendle for bringing out the Winston two handers and for donating the tube fly box to the raffle. That is without a doubt the best tube fly box I have ever seen. Hopefully Sushiyummy will post some photographs of it on here so others can see it.

Thank you Jack Cook for donating the Guideline gear for the raffle. It was much appreciated.

I want to thank Red Shed Fly Shop, Thomas and Thomas, R.L. Winston, Guideline, Scott, Nautilus, Scientific Anglers & SAGE for sending out gear for us to use. I sincerely hope that we were able to help anyone who was considering your products make up their mind on what was right for them or maybe find something new they just had to have.

A special thanks goes to Poppy at www.redshedflyshop.com Poppy sent out the entire line up of ECHO Dec Hogan series rods with reels and Airflo Compact Skagits for each rod. He also sent out a whole bunch of door prizes including a certificate for a free Dec Hogan ECHO spey rod of your choice. The lucky winner of that was this young man right here pictured with his father and I sincerely apologize, but I can not remember the young mans name. As you can see he was VERY happy!

Those Dec Hogan rods sure are sweet. I had the liberty to play with them for a couple days before the clave and even landed a fresh summer steelhead while playing around with the 12'2" 5 weight. Very nice rods, thanks again Poppy!

Rods that kind of stuck out that I got to cast in the clave other than the Dec Hogan series of rods were the 10' 6 weight Thomas and Thomas two hander was a great little stick along with their 1510 and 1511 that we were casting some Bill Drury lines and Carron lines on. The SAGE Z-Axis 9143 was an outstanding rod. The Guideline UK Spey is one great rod along with the 11' Guideline LPXE. Dave P. had a C.F. Burkheimer 7133-3 with an Airflo compact skagit on it that still has me smiling. The new Scott T2H 13'6" 7 weight was a VERY nice rod. The Winston 13' BIIX 8/9 is a rod that one day I will own after casting it at the clave.

I think that pretty much wraps it up. If I missed anyone I sincerely apologize. It has been a long past few days. I hope everyone had fun and look forward to seeing you next year!