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I saw the title of this post and it reminded me of the year that I needed a bed for the first week of the derby so I replied immediately to a gent that had rented a shack and had room. 5 weeks later SB.com left the big island with the boat and the truck. As awesome as the successes and prizes were, the commardarie, memmories of the simpler pleasures and friendships developed were the real treasures of that year. The fish stories have been told over and over, but the true gems I'll always remember are priceless. Here are just a few:
1) Sandman's patience and guidance of the group on land, and especially for me, on the sea.
2) Dennis, StriperJerk's, smile and pleasantries at all hours
3) Casey introducing me to Billy Joel's best ever song, that I had never heard before, during a long ride to squibby
4) Fresh eggplant on the grill
5) Tony and his plethora of eels kept fresh for the entire week and all the Thomases english muffins one could eat
6) Leo rigging sluggo after sluggo and teaching us all along the way.....man did that pay off
7) Being late for "the big night" and showing up back at the shack to fingers pointing at the broomstick sticking out of the cooler. I'll never regret volunteering at the filet table that night because that is just a small piece of what this awesome event is all about.
I'll never experience anything like that week again and that's just fine with me. The memmories I'll cherish and share with my son and daughter as we try to find time one of the years to make a family trip out to the derby, wet a line, wonder and wish the big one will bite again. Priceless intangibles that would never have occurred without striped-bass.com.
I don't keep a specific list of the best memmories of my life but that week would be somewhere at the top of the first page.
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