This is a very brief reportback on this weekends ground breaking event in Guntersville Al hosted by Brian and Pam Atkins (some of the best folks you could ever wish to meet)

The main sponsor for this event was Mercedes Benz but MANY local companies and organizations stepped up to make a PERFECT day.

Gville is beautiful!!  I got to witness an amazing storm when we woke up yesterday morning, serious lightning, wind, on/off torrential rain, not a positive thing on the day of a CAST event but amazing seeing it from the balcony as it swept in over the lake, wave after wave. What was more amazing is when Art (Art Pasley- National Director for CAST) told Brian "Don't worry about it man,....a higher power watches over these events, forget the forecast, go set up" The amazing part is that his prediction was spot on (gulp,..you guys don't know the scope of the storm I was watching take place,...this prediction sounded RIDICULOUS).  

BUT

Bright sun by 1pm a perfect day. :-?

Art  said this was THE best 1st time event he has ever seen and I'll tell you what,.... I was personally BLOWN AWAY!!  The host, Brian, came to our event last yr to learn and observe and Mike (Stratosdadri) and I made a new friend in Alabama, we all really hit it off.  We stayed in constant contact with Brian throughout the year but I really didn't have the scope of how much he was doing on his end till yesterday.

Amazing community, organized, all bases covered.  

The storm passed by 11ish, Brians game plan kicked into motion and kids lives were changed.  I am physically, mentally and most of all, emotionally WIPED OUT!

Brian and Pam- You knocked this one out of the park guys, into the next STATE even!

Here are just a few of the 300+ pics I took.  There will be a full report to follow.

Good job russ, Mike!!!!

A  picture IS worth 1000 words!!!

ajr

DUDE!

Too cool.

Great job Mr. Low Budget Hooker!

Love that last shot. Congrats to all involved.

Russ,

I can't wait to be the man behind the camera in one of these posts.  

DUDE!

Too cool.

Great job Mr. Low Budget Hooker!

Nope, This ain't me, It's the volunteers of Guntersville along with the hosts Brian and Pam that get the hoorah on this one!  

Russ,

I can't wait to be the man behind the camera in one of these posts.  

You'll see this fall flech, it's something else!  

I got to fish Guntersville for the second time a few weeks ago.  It is by far the prettiest lake I've ever fished.  Add to that, the fact that you can catch monsters there, and its just about perfect.  What a great place to introduce kids to our sport!

Can't wait to see the full report. Get on a stick man!

Ronnie

Awsome job! Alumni day at the Hatchery is getting closer.

That's awesome!!! Those kids are too cute!

Thats a great thing you're doing. Our club puts on a kids day event every year and we have usually 200 - 250 kids. Not bad for a small area. Between them fishing, weighing the fish, keeping track of weights, feeding them, handing out prizes and raffels I know what you are talking about when you say you're wipped out. Yet, every year we continue to do it and we love it. For some of those kids that is the only time they get to fish and when you see the looks in their eyes and the smiles it makes it all worth while