SRG 2022 - October 20, 21, & 22

The 2022 gathering will be October 20, 21, & 22 at Cranor's White River Lodge on the White River near Cotter Arkansas.  The registration fee will be $100 including dinner Thursday, lunch and dinner Friday, and lunch Saturday.  Registration will open the first of August.

David Bolin, Searcy Arkansas 

Southernrodmakers@gmail.com

SRG 2019 Presentation Book

The SRG 2019 presentation book has been posted in a series of four PDF files.  Links to the files are included in the right hand frame of this page.  Special thanks to Scott Grady for compiling and producing the books for the gathering.  They're a great resource.

SRG 2019 Schedule

THURSDAY: Oct. 17, 2019
1:00 pm       Check In - Greet Old and New Friends
6:00 pm       Dinner
7:00 pm       First rods - and other tall tales!

FRIDAY: Oct. 18, 2019
8:30 am         Welcome and Announcements
9:00 am         Ovens and Temperatures - Tim Wilhelm
10:00 am       “Jigs, Jigs, Jigs.”  – Scott Grady 
   Scott will show different jigs from his collection and           
   requests that you bring one jig you have to discuss
   its use and then please put one in the silent auction.
   
11:00 am     Drop off Auction items then Casting Instruction
12:00 noon  Lunch
1:00 pm       Comparing Blades and Sharpening Systems - Harry Boyd
2:00 pm       TBD
3:00 pm       Ferrule Anatomy – Lou Barbaro
4:00 pm       Silent Auction Opens                                                           
6:00 pm       Dinner
7:00 pm       Annual Awards

SATURDAY Oct. 19, 2019
8:30 am      Announcements
9:00 am      Digital Cane Mill – Dennis Bertram
10:00am     The Squeeze is On - Bob Nunley
11:00am      Pick up Silent Auction Items and casting instruction
11:45 am     Group Photo
12:00 noon  Lunch
1:00 pm       Wet Planing – Tony Spezio
2:00 pm       Down, Stay : How to Train Your Nodes – Steve Yasgur
3:00 pm       Speakers Panel – Time to ask questions of the “experts”.  
4:00 pm       Sell and Swap

SUNDAY Oct. 21, 2019
9:00 am        Coffee, Cleanup & See you next year at SRG 2020!
    

Wednesday Night Social at Bob Nunley's Family Billiards

Bob Nunley has offered to host a pre-gathering social Wednesday evening before the gathering at his Family Billiards - Billiard Café and Sandwich Shoppe in Mountain Home.  Look up Bob's shop on Facebook for more info about the venue, food and drinks.  Photos and address info is also available here.  Bob will close the shop for the SRG social.  We will post the time later.

PayPal Fees

Reminder: We can avoid fees on PayPal registration payments by sending money from bank accounts instead of credit cards. PayPal will deduct a fee from the payment if you charge it to your credit card.  If you charge your bank account, there is no PayPal fee.  You're welcome to pay either way, but it would be great if you can avoid the PayPal fee.

SRG 2019 Registration is Open!

It's time to register for the 2019 gathering.  The gathering will be October 17, 18, & 19 at Cranor's White River Lodge near Cotter Arkansas. The registration deadline is October 4th and the fee is $70. 

Mail a check with your registration form (see form for mailing address) or pay with PayPal and fill out the form at the gathering.  Be sure to include your name, address, and phone number if you PayPal.

PayPal will deduct a fee from the payment if you charge it to your credit card.  If you charge your bank account, there is no PayPal fee.  You're welcome to pay either way, but it would be great if you can avoid the PayPal fee.

The PayPal address is:

southernrodmakers@gmail.com

All the rooms at the lodge are booked.  There's a house (cabin 8 executive house) on the property that is not reserved by the gathering.  It may be available if someone would like to reserve it.  Links to several other lodging sites are provided in the right-hand frame of this page.  Book lodging early, but be aware of cancellation fees.  Some of the lodges on the river are not cancellation friendly.

Download the registration form below.  Take your pick, PDF or MS Word.

2019 Registration Form - PDF

2019 Registration Form - Word

Marv Loopstra

SouthernRodmakers@gmail.com

Cranor's White River Resort

SRG 2018 will be at Cranor's White River Resort this year.  It's the same location as in the past, but the property has been rebuilt and cabins six and seven have been renovated.  I visited Cranor's last week and took a few pictures.  It's a very nice lodge.  We will have access to a large hospitality room with commercial kitchen facilities and a fireplace.  There's a covered patio extending from the hospitality room out toward the river with an outdoor fireplace.

Denis Dunderdale and David Atchison are still working out the details for the tent and casting yard.  Since the new owners purchased the home next door on the upstream side, we have access to a long grassy area along the river that we may be able to use as the casting yard.  If not it will be across the road like last year.

Cabins six and seven and two of the five lodge rooms are spoken for.  We need someone to take the other three lodge rooms as of this posting on August 29th.  Contact Denis Dunderdale or me, David Bolin, if you're interested.  They are very nice rooms with two beds in each room.  Rates are on the Cranor's web site.

Here's a few pictures taken last weekend.  See the web site for more pictures.


David

Tony Spezio Featured in Trout Magazine

Our very own Tony Spezio is featured in the Ozark Edition of Trout Magazine.  Here's a link to the article.  Tony Spezio Article.

Fulton's Lodge Update

Dale and Rona have sold Fulton's Lodge.  The new owner plans to replace the fire damaged main building and office area with new lodge facilities.  Denis Dunderdale has visited with the new owner and has been assured that SRG can continue to meet at the new lodge.  We have no plans at this time to relocate the gathering.

This was a big decision for Dale and Rona.  We're sad to hear they will not be our hosts in the future, and we're pleased to celebrate a smooth transition into retirement for them.  Hopefully they will join us at the gathering next year.

SRG 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award

Mike Biondo was honored with the SRG Lifetime Achievement award at the 2017 gathering.  The lifetime achievement award is reserved for rodmakers that have made a significant contribution to the rodmaking community over a period of many years.  Mike Biondo certainly embodies the purpose of the award for his work as the creator and moderator of the rodmakers list. He also worked with Harry Boyd in the early years of SRG, managing the money and registration process.  Without Mike's contributions to the rodmaking community, SRG would never have happened.

Congratulations Mike!

SRG 2017 Rodmaker of the Year

Bill Armon is the SRG 2017 rodmaker of the year.  Bill recruits presenters and coordinates the programs at the gathering.  He does a great job on the programs every year.  Bill is also well known around the Saint Louis community for the Thursday evening gatherings at his shop to share the rodmaking craft with old friends and new recruits.  There are always more SRG attendees from Missouri than any other state.  Bill is a big part of the reason for that.

Congratulations Bill!

SRG 2017 Pictures

Stevan Yasgur (Yaz) has provided an outstanding collection of photos from SRG 2017 including a video with some technical help from Lee Gomolchak.  Here's a link to the video.

SRG 2017 Video

Here's the group photo and a link to the original sized file.

SRG 2017 Group Photo

Here's a link to the photo album and a sample of the photos.

SRG 2017 Photo Album