Christine, Corin and Richard

Dear all family and friends,

I apologize for having to communicate in such an impersonal way. Each of you had a unique relationship with Mike and he would want you to know how much he appreciated all your friendships. Your kind expressions of love and sympathy mean a great deal to all the family and us.

We talked many times about how lucky we were to be able to gain our livelihood doing what we loved. Above all the most important thing to us was and is the friendships we were able to make throughout the world and which I hope to keep even though I may not be able to visit all of you.

I will treasure my last fishing trip with Michael. We were lucky to be hosted and guided by Don Rotsma at Davis Lake. We stayed in our van with the fragrance of pine surrounding us and listening to the many birds in the area. We especially enjoyed seeing the grosbeaks that were attracted to seed put out by Paula, Don's wife. You can reach Don at don@flyfishwithdon.com.

After waiting out some strong winds and cold we fished the weed beds and caught many fish on Don's fly RED, (red-eyed damsel). Mike tried several flies including, bead head nymphs, blood midges, and several damsels. He hooked many more than he landed because of the thick weed beds. During the height of the hatch they would not take our offerings but we continued to try different patterns. Finally, Don had a strike on a floating damsel.

As we were coming in Mike noticed a couple of familiar faces - Lisa and Ralph Cutter. They had been filming the damsel hatch with a lipstick camera and Lisa gave animated descriptions of a damsel hatch from a trout's perspective. They enjoy meeting people from many walks of life in their Fly Fishing schools out of Truckee, CA. Mike and I remarked how special it was for us to get to see them again.

We stopped to visit with Jay Fair and his son in Portola and talked of old times fishing Davis Lake and Eagle Lake over the years and how things have changed. Jay has been under the weather this spring but his son and the rest of his family are helping him in the business. Mike and I talked of how much we enjoyed our visit with Jay and his son.

We couldn't have asked for anything more than to visit with special friends and make new ones.

Love, Christine

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