And The Winner Of The Grand Prize Is....(Drumroll Please)...

[Crafty Angler]

The one, the only...

Blooocrab!!!

Yup, Gilly won the 20x20 matted and framed digitally remastered print of the 1881 Graves Point Fishing Club (it's beautiful, I framed it in a blonde walnut burl). I was raffling it off as a donation from my new company The Angler's Art to benefit the NCSWFC's Children's Fishing Derby and hopefully the establishment of a shoreline access defense fund to make sure that public access is maintained in every spot we have in Newport County. The pressure is on right now and we all need to get more proactive, there's more than one spot on the Island in serious jeopardy of being closed off to us all - and our kids - in the future.

That would be a damned shame, the way I see it.

Anyway, congratulations Gilly - it'll be perfect for that new home you're building for you and the future Mrs. Bloocrab. I hope it will give ya years of enjoyment for the both of you and any 'little bloocrabs' that may come along and make ya think good thoughts on cold winter nites.

I couldn't be happier for ya, pal - I wish everyone who was generous enough to toss in a coupla bucks could have won. But it's probably not the last raffle we're gonna do, either, so there's always next time.

My thanks to all of you who donated to a good cause.

[Goose]

way ta go dude ....you one lucky basstid

[Goose]

Dude thats gonna look killa in your casa


notice how he mentioned little bloocrabs

[Crafty Angler]

[bloocrab]

I can't believe it.. ...

Thanks Chuck. I'm just glad I was able to help out with the cause.....access, like we talked about... is KEY!! The LAST thing on my mind after buying those tickets was winning. I'd like to thank Chuck for the opportunity, and thank the Lord for guiding that little hand to my winning-ticket .....I am happy to hear that there are still some people out there looking to make things happen. It's a shame that so FEW fishermen know that there are people like you Chuck, fighting for their rights to access.
Coastline property owners along with their best friends, (city officials)...are constantly putting pressure on access points.
Question: Is their desire to "shut us off" greater than our desire to continue fishing? I'm sure your answer is NO, but what are you really doing about it?.........I'm guilty of it myself. I normally find out about "closed" areas when it's already too late, but there are some that look into issues like these before it's too late. That's why I try to help in other ways, picking up debris, being courteous to those landowners and more importantly, HELPING out those groups that are fighting for US. The next time you see a fishing fund-raiser or raffle...give it some thought. Ask yourself, "if no one steps up to the plate, what's eventually going to happen?"

A round of applause for one guy that's stepping up to the plate.... - CraftyAngler..

[MakoMike]

Crafty,
I didn't realize that was you in the booth. I was there with Clammer on friday, of course he didn't think to introduce us. Well, nice "almost" meeting you.

[Clammer]

sorry Mike Crafty had just brought me over there //when I saw you =========Congrats BLOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[fishweewee]

[Crafty Angler]

Thanks for all the kind words men, but I think I need to let you know that I'm not the first one to step up to the plate. In fact, I'm not even sure where I would stand in the batting order.

IMHO DZ, President of the NCSWFC comes to mind as one of the first to step to the plate in recent times and get things done. As our club President, he worked (and continues to work) to insure the continued availabilty of shore access to all fishermen in this area. He's worked with Councilwoman (or person, whatever is PC these days) Kate Leonard on a NUMBER of issues. Kate is coin of the realm for defending fisherman's access rights in a hands-on fashion - again, IMHO.

Dennis is also the one responsible for the fact that we can still fish Sachuest Point by working with the director Sharon Ware to resolve some issues that still face us there, first and foremost being the abominable litter situation up to and including soiled diapers and other unattractive items strewn about. (Hell, we'd call it Brown Point too but the South County guys are already using that for what used to be known as Black Point. It ain't just us in Newport, it goes on everywhere). But if it continues unabated, the Feds could still shut it down on us.

But before somebody goes on a rant about country of origin, let's remember that unless you're a Native American, we're all immigrants - some of us just got here sooner than others. And everyone has the right to any public spot - they just have to be reminded that certain behaviors in public areas are going to jeopardize future use for them and us, whether you're fishing for scup, blackfish or bass. and then we'd end up losing spots like ***** *****, **** ******, and **** *****. (Ooops, sorry, the Craftco Internet Spot Blocker won't allow that)

Anyway, to step down from the soapbox for a minute, let's all give DZ one of these

And some of this

Thanks again, guys - those of you that I wanted to see and didn't I'll probably run into at MassBass - I'll probably head up there with DZ and the Usual Suspects or see ya at the SWE booth - or Habs and Tattoo's booth now that the news of their engagement is out

Jerusalem, somebody have the decency to delete that image of them kissin' at the RISAA show, boy that's scary

See ya all soon -

[Crafty Angler]

Oooops, neglected to say that Bloocrab will be receiving the Grand Prize at the next meeting of the Newport County Saltwater Fishing Club on Thursday, March 18 at the Newport Yacht Club on Long Wharf.

I'm not sure of what's on the club agenda that nite or who the speaker will be - if DZ doen't chime in here I'll email him to find out and let ya know.

[Katie]

way to go dude

[milo]

HEY Chuck can ya post a pic of that print,did a search but came up EMPTY handed ,and will a print be available anywhere else,cause I was 1-3 tix short or should I say far

[striper134]

Hay Crafty,
That should have been mine. LOL. Nice job Blue Crab. What a great picture, showing not only the potential of a shoreline but how fishing was before my time. I hope we'll see it come back to that, HOPE! Chuck, call me I need to know about that book for the "Iron Skillet".

[chipwood]

Where can we get the Graves Pt print. The last time I saw that was at the Atlantic Grille and I can never find one around. As far as public access is involved, we are pretty lucky in Newport with what we have and to have something taken away because of an ignorant few is shameful. Every year after May the rocks fill up with piles of trash in Newport and the fisherman of Newport know who's responsible. So when you're out there in Newport or anywhere else and you see an offender make sure to remind them to clean up. As far as Kathy Leonard goes she better do something about fishing because she is'nt helping with the affordable housing issue in Newport.

[Crafty Angler]

Thanks, guys, I'll make this short - dinner's almost ready and it's been a real long day.

As far as availability of my stuff, JohnR is helping me get a website up and it will be available there - but this is getting in an area here that is dicey because I don't want this thread to turn into a commercial - and I still need to work out an ad deal with John so he's compensated - hope you all understand, 'cause it takes both money and a helluva lot of time (which is as valuable as money) to run a site of this caliber.

So the short version is, I'll keep ya posted.

[Crafty Angler]

Talked to DZ last nite, the speaker for the NCSWFC meeting on the 18th is gonna be Mike Bucko talking about reel maintainance.

Yup, it's gonna be that time of year again real soon.

Dammit, it's that fruity emoticon again.

Aw, the hell with it.....