Our fourth outing of the year was held at Homer Martin Ranch July 22–24, 2005. This is where we've held our annual silent auction and raffle for the last few years. The big raffle items this year are 5 and 8 wt rods. We have already sold about $170 in raffle tickets, and tickets will continue to be available for purchase until 9 pm the night of the mullet mixer in Galveston at which time the winners will be picked. Frances Hamm and Audrey Ambrose put together a very nice silent auction with many items up for bid. We will have another silent auction at the mullet mixer in Galveston as well.

We had this trip's mullet mixer Friday night with new members Cynthia Rutledge and Alva Johnston attending, as well as some of the regular attendees. We are limited by cabin space at Homer Martin Ranch and are out-growing the ranch each and every year as our fly fishing group continues to expand. Goody bags made by Jim Stephenson contained a variety of flies personally made by Jim along with a map of the Llano river and a bandana.

Mary Rohrer and Stacy Trimble floated the river on Friday and gave everyone an update Friday night. Saturday morning dawned with Robert Anderson making tacos to benefit Casting for Recovery^®. We made about $50 to go towards the sponsorship of a woman at the next Casting for Recovery clinic. There were six people who decided to float the river, another group set up near the shade at the river and fished while others stayed at camp. Around noon it decided to rain and boy, it rained. There were multiple lightning bolts along with enormous claps of thunder and as I stated previously, it rained. Our kayakers beached their boats and took cover beside a cliff along the river to wait out the storm. The group down by the river took cover in their vehicles to wait out the storm, and those of us at camp stayed worried all afternoon until we knew everyone was safe. There were two spots on the road to the river that became impassable due to the heavy rainfall. Finally the rain ended and most of the water began to recede.

Cynthia decided to walk back to camp from the river and it took her a few hours wading through high water a couple of times but ultimately making it to camp safely. About the same time the kayakers appeared on the horizon and the people waiting on shore let out a big sigh of relief as our kayakers had made it home.

Everyone made it to dinner Saturday night which was pot luck and there were a number of wonderful dishes to sample from. After dinner the final bids were placed for the auction items and the auction closed. Most people bought something and I think Sheila Anderson was the loot winner this year. The auction made about $450 - $500 which was wonderful.

Our meeting was held Sunday morning and the usual business matters were attended to. As we were holding the meeting the first trip was made to the river to retrieve the kayaks and to insure that the roads were passable. Some water still remained in the low water crossings but they were passable.

I think that all in all the weekend a success. Fish were caught before the rains came with Betty catching a nice size bass (15" I think). A number of fish were caught on the flies we got from Jim, which I think made catching the fish even nicer. This is the very first time I have ever encountered rain like this at Homer Martin Ranch and I have come at least twice a year now for the last three or four years. It was an amazing weekend and I enjoyed every minute of it with the many good friends I have. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful weekend and especially to Frances and Audrey for all of their hard work on the auction.