9th Annual PHWFF 2-Fly Tournament - Day 2

Day 2 started off mysteriously similar to last year...my phone had died overnight while searching for signal and my external battery had cut out. What does this mean? Yep, my alarm failed to go off again. BUT, my internal clock made up for the failure of my phone and got me up just in time to head over the hill and grab coffee and breakfast prior to the start of the morning session.

The skies were overcast and the air cool and crisp, but the mood of everyone was just the opposite, bright, excited, smiles all around. With bellies full of breakfast, cups full of coffee, and bugs coming off the Rose, it couldn't be any other way. As I walked around, game plans were being made and flies were selected.

The excitement associated with 2-Fly is indescribable. The excitement associated with the day of the tournament is exponentially beyond that. The beauty of the Rose River paired with the sight of watching the vets and guides step into the cool water for the first time raises hair on the back of your neck...it makes everything else in the world disappear.

I was seated near the gazebo in front of beat 5, where you can sit up on the bank and spot fish and get the best perspective as to how the water is acting and what the fish are doing. You also have an awesome view down the Rose to beat 6 where you can see the competition unwind. Cliff and Harsh were the guides to Jason "JT" Turner and Frank Ortega.

To see more photos from the weekend, checkout the hashtag #PHWFF2Fly on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by clicking on the links.

This is one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend...all of the amazing items from the silent auction, combined with the revenue from sponsorships, donations, and purchased goods summed up to earning a breath-taking $205k for PHWFF.

From volunteering to donating, you can help as well, help heal those who have served, have given us our freedom. Please check out Project Healing Waters website and consider giving them a 'Like' or follow on their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if haven't already. God Bless.

Boom...Morgan

Dead Drifting on the Potomac

Via Dispatches from the Potomac:


By: Ed Felker

Meet Josh Williams. Back in 2004, as an infantry automatic rifleman with the Army, Josh was deployed to Iraq and returned home safely after 13 months. Then he was stationed in Ft. Hood, TX, a squad leader in 1-12 CAV, 1st Cavalry Division. One morning in April, 2006, a car pulled out in front of his motorcycle and changed everything. Josh lost his right arm in the accident.

While recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, during what Josh admits was a dark time, he was introduced to fly fishing through a fairly new program called Project Healing Waters. PHW founder Ed Nicholson, a former Navy Captain and Vietnam veteran, was recovering from surgery at Walter Reed a year earlier. He found himself surrounded by young, athletic men and women back from tours cut short by devastating, life-alterning injuries and disabilities, and he knew he could help. Like Josh, Ed is a passionate outdoorsman. He knew from his own experience that time spent outdoors connecting with nature can have the very real power to heal. And on the fishless, manicured lawn at Walter Reed, Project Healing Waters was born. As Josh learned to cast a fly rod on that grass, he knew that the door to the activities he loved so much was not closed. So with the help of a strong and loving family and his girlfriend, Lisa, Josh used his love of the outdoors to find his way — to fight his way — out of the darkness.

Married since 2008, Josh and Lisa have been blessed with two beautiful children. Josh is studying mechanical engineering, is active in his church, continues his involvement with Project Healing Waters and stays busy with his growing fly tying and outfitter business, Dead Drift Flies. Oh did I mention he juggles all this while working full time as a designer for an engineering firm? So I was honored and excited when he took some free time he does not have, to come up to fish with me for a couple days.

Click here to read the rest of the well-written article by our good friend Ed Felker featuring my fellow PHWFF brother, Josh.

Boom...Morgan