I am sorry that I missed the service, I have not been near the website for some time and just discovered this today. My sincere condolences to Larry's family and those who knew him well. I had the pleasure of many chats with Larry, and he managed to get me "hooked" on G=Lock hooks!!!

His advice was always welcome and his biting snese of humor was a thing of beauty to see...

I know he will be remembered well by many people.

Faz

Well I would just like to say "thank you" to Larry! If it was not for him I would not have found this club and all the great people in it. Back in Feb. I was toying with the idea of doing one of his Lake Washington tutorals but I didn't have all the money at the time. We talked on the phone and at the store a few times and he invited me to the Feb. WBC meeting when he was the entertainment. I really enjoyed the meeting and as you would say the rest is history. I know he will be missed by us and his family. Thank You Larry!

Carlos

I just returned today from being on vacation with my family the past six days and just heard of Larry's passing today at 3:00pm.  To say the least I'm in shock is an understatement.  I'm especially disappointed in not being able to celebrate Larry's life today at the Memorial service.

Larry was such a wonderful articulate man who taught us all how to find and catch more bass.  He was a great mentor to people like me who admired his fishing prowess from which he had acquired from all the hard work he put in on the water.  I admired his determination in trying to figure out a better way to be a better angler.  He was always the guy on the cutting edge...the guy who shared his knowledge of what he found with all of us through his wonderful underwater tutorials on his Aqua Vu camera. 

While serving as your Entertainment Director the last two years at WBC, I can tell you without a doubt, Larry Gonczy was the one person I wanted to line-up more than anyone else because of the educational value he brought to the meeting. 

His spirit will never be forgotten by me or by the members of WBC. 

Larry...Thanks for the memories...May you rest in peace!

Bob Payseno

I will also have to say that I can't top the words or feelings already expressed by the club. I was just getting to really know Larry when I would pull into Auburn Sports and Marine after duty this last year. And those there know I spent a lot of time there this last year. Larry always took the time to say Hi and ask how fishing had been for me. He gave the perfect answers to fishing questions. He gave just enough advice to help, but to also make you think on your own. Many words of fishing wisdom have been lost in this tragedy. I will greatly miss his kind heart and helpfulness. Visiting that tackle shop just won't be the same. My thoughts are with his family in this time of great loss.

I first met Larry Gonczy when I joined the club and he was one of the first to welcome me.  As we chatted on many occassions, I learned alot about being a member and what the club meant to him and all members.  What a honor is was for me to take over the raffle table and entertainment for a short while, and even then Larry offered his help and I spent a few hours even then learning about boats, tackle, etc.  We even discussed his bike a few times and the fun it gave him, but nothing like fishing and his family.  I now know what it really means to be a fisherman, dedicated to the sport and what it means to be a family man, just listening how he loved his family.  Yes, Larry you will be missed by us all, both of your families have suffered a great loss, but God now has one heck of a fishing buddy, one we are all surely going to miss.  I salute your love for the WBC, it's members and the sport of fishing.  I know I will miss one gentle giant who graced by presence here on earth.  God bless your family and may he find ways of comforting them.  Love from a fellow fisherman and it's extended family.  

Chuck and Jenny Pigue

Everybody has said so many nice things about Larry that it is hard to follow up. I will especially miss his sense of humor at club meetings. He was very helpful to me in my early WBC years during high school and college. He helped me land a couple of different jobs with Auburn Sports and Marine, and was always interested in hearing about our latest research on Lake Washington. I'll miss him beyond words.

I hope you're fishing an awesome lake right now with your friends, Larry!

Chris

Just another memory of Larry...Silver Lake in April sometime ago and it is cold, wet, windy and generally miserable as usual.  I see Larry pull up on a rock pile and I watch him set the hook and battle this "fish" for some time.  I got close enough to hear him grunting and groaning and then he began to cuss a blue streak.  He had hooked and landed about a ten pound grass carp, and he had it in the bottom of the boat and that is when the real entertainment value kicked in.  He wrestled with that thing for a few minutes and finally KICKED it overboard.  Funniest thing I can remember and I am laughing out load at the memory.  Same place, same year only August.  Club tourney and I am kickin' some bass for the first time ever.  I am using a blue sluggo and the fish were crunching it.  Larry and I are fishing towards each other on Timber Point and just as we get within talking distance, I am thinking, what am I going to say to the MASTER??  He was a legend to all of the newbies in the club at the time, and I was actually scared to even speak to him.  I had nothing to worry about, in fact, we visited for 90 minutes about soup to nuts.  I forgot all about fishing and just absorbed information.  I learned more about bass fishing at that time than I can ever recall.  He was the first to tell me about correctly matching rods, reels, line, and terminal to the style I was fishing.  He was also a very good tournament fisherman and gave me a lot of tips.  Especially the mental part of playing the game.  I will miss not seeing him again and thank him for stoking my bass fishing fire many years ago.

Hi Everyone.
I'm sure you don't know me, but I am the president of the Castmasters Bass Club of Washington.  I was in Auburn Sports & Marine today buying an Aqua Vu, and I heard the horrible news from Shannon, who was very shakey just talking about it.  It's obvious that the folks I talked to there today are tremendously saddened by the loss.  I certainly didn't know Larry all that well, except for the few chances I had to talk to him at sportsman shows.  I think all of us Bass fisher types owe him a great deal of thanks for his promotion of the sport in the Northwest.  Please accept the heart-felt condolences of all of our members, and please let me know if there is anything our club can do to help out his grieving family.   

What a shock.  I don't think the meetings will be the same because of our loss.  God bless his family and friends. 

RIP Larry, keep on settin that hook.

I cannot describe my feelings about Larry any better than my WBC fishing family already has.  He was a great guy that I learned a lot from.  I too, will forever remember the Silver Lake tournaments and his stupid gambler's visor and that snicker of his, especially when he took your change.  You guys have all said how I feel, so I will leave it at that.  I am shocked and saddened at this loss.  God Bless the family and all of you.

Kirk and Family

Numb and in Shock!
Larry was a great friend, both fishing and in life.
He has been kind and thoughtful to my wife and son, as well - Banks Lake in Sept. just won't be the same.
I am so blessed that he saw something in me to take me under his arm and teach me about warm water fishing. I wouldn't be half the fisherman without his tutoring.
As for the club. he will dearly be missed.
His passion and devotion to make the club better, help guide it in the proper direction and ensure the basic FUN-dementals still mattered in a "family fishing club" is why many of us were still members.
It would be an understatement that his loss is HUGE!

I will miss the days of trying to out fish each other, out wit each other and see who could be the bigger smart*ss.
I will always be thankful of our relationship, his kindness and true friendship.

THANK YOU LARRY!!!

MIKEY

Our thoughts are with Larry's family at this time of loss.  No words can even come close to what Larry has meant to the club and to his friends.  Larry was a true friend to me during my year on the board.  His kind words and smiling face was the highlight of the meetings for me.  He will be missed greatly. I think that just maybe he is upstairs teaching our little boy, Logan, how to fish.
Thank you Larry,
Sherry & Jim

Where to start?
From the beginning of my "Club Life" there was always that child like giggle mixed with the knowledge of a 30 year salt who could outfish you a hundred ways from sunday but would choose instead to beat ya by five or six fish.
I will always keep that memory alive and Bernie.....take solice in knowing that literally thousands have been touched by that little Biker of yours and our prayers are with you and yours this season.

What a shock. I am getting  back into the club in 2006. I will miss Larry very much. Larry and I had some unfinished business, a motorcycle  ride. My sympathy goes out to his family. I will miss Larry's smiling face and his jokes very much.
John Holland

            I am very sad at this news. I know at the Sportmans Show this year, I stood and watched Larry promoting the Aqua-view camera to a number of customers in awe of his great ability to show that item. I was also very impressed with the companies that chose him to represent them. I liked talking to him at the raffle table. He was always fun to be around and very kind. I didn't know him as well as most of you do but I have been crying ever since I found out tonight.

LARRY - YOU ARE MISSED SO MUCH...FISH ON FOREVER!

  Love, BW..aka Brenda.