Texas Women Fly Fishers had a wonderful but chilly outing at Tres Rios Campground on the Brazos River near Glen Rose. The festivities began Friday evening with a two-hour casting class offered by Constance Whiston; then we snuggled down in our cabins for what felt like a winter's sleep.

Next morning, we created an entourage of kayaks and canoes and headed down the Brazos River for a five mile paddle and fly fish trip led by Ed Lowe. Ed served as our river guide and chef for the weekend. His river and food expertise come from years of guiding school groups on Texas rivers and as the owner of Celebration Restaurant in Dallas. It was a brisk morning; so a few of our members chose to stay behind and wade fish Squaw Creek at camp. Tres Rios Campground is located at the convergence of Squaw Creek, the Brazos River, and the Paluxy River; so those who did not attend the flotilla had several options for wade fishing. On our return from the Brazos trip, we were met with the bright faces of fly fishers who reported catching two or three fish each.

Those who were not fishing Squaw Creek or running the Brazos tied flies next to a roaring fire in the large dinning hall with expert tier, Martin Pursch, owner of the Country Flyfisher Shop in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Veteran FFF fly casting instructor Al Crise showed up just before dinner Saturday night to offer a few casting tips, then gave us an informative update on Fly Fish 2002, the Texas fly fishing show at the Fresh Water Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas. An extra bonus from Al was some conservation news on the golden algae bloom in the Brazos watershed from Possum Kingdom down to Glen Rose. During Al's presentation we dined on lasagna, fresh garden salad, garlic bread, wine, and for dessert, peach and blackberry cobblers.

Rudi Donaldson topped the evening off as our raffle facilitator. Earlier in the day she organized tables full of donations and sold raffle tickets in preparation for the drawings after dinner. The real excitement came when she topped off the raffle by auctioning some of our most valuable items, including a set of flies tied and donated by Michael Verduin. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Ed Lowe, Martin Pursch, Al Crise, and Rudi Donaldson for making our Texas Women Fly Fishers March outing a success.