Oct 8-13, 2008
The drive up was horrific. Somehow we fit 6 guys and all the fishing and camping gear into a vehicle. We didn't leave until 4pm for the 13 hour drive to Cadillac, MI. I finally fell asleep just as we were driving through Cincinnati, OH. Twenty five minutes later they decide to stop for dinner. Waking from a deep sleep, I was totally confused. Taking a good while to remember how to unbuckle a seat belt, I head into the Big Boy to shovel down some pancakes and eggs. Getting back on the road, I couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the trip. Pretty miserable by the point, we show up to my uncle Bruce's Bear Claw Cabin,
and I went about setting up my tent. There was no way that I was going to claim the 6th bunk in a tiny room full of snoring and smelly guys.
After less than 4 hours of sleep, I hopped in the car to headed to the river. I was expecting it to be pretty cold down at the river in northern Michigan in mid-October. Shortly after showing up and standing in the sun, I was tearing off layers until I was down to my shorts and black thermal underwear top. Of course, I brought a T-shirt with me for the rest of the trip. Every day was upper 70's and beautiful; we couldn't have asked for better weather. One of the nights it got down to the freezing point but my sleeping bag
kept me toasty. All the other guys seemed to keep warm all cuddled together in there. The camp food was amazing thanks to Frenchie's bean buritos and deer meat for every meal.
So now to the point. If you've never wrestled a 15+lb salmon out of a rushing river, trust me, it's a battle. It was so cool getting one on and see it jumping 4ft clear out of the water as it's taking your line. Everyone out there knew that none of the fish were feeding so we tied yarn to a treble hook just to be legal and then bounce it on the bottom until it snagged one. You'd be lucky to actually get them in the mouth. Oops, I mean... they were all in the mouth. We were pretty consistent bringing in 13 every evening and varying amounts on the morning fish. Overall we brought back 61 fish. We filleted them all ourselves at a park cleaning station that had wonderful piles of maggots below the dumpsters of fish guts. After cleaning the fish we smoked about half of them at camp. The other half will be vacuum packed when we get back. But we're bring back about 300lbs of clean salmon fillets and one whole fish. My dad skinned 5 or 6 to mount this winter. Not like he doesn't already have twenty hanging in the garage. I've saved the best part for the end.
So Friday evening we caught a ton of fish and clean them up. Getting back to camp, we couldn't wait to tell the deer hunting Uncle Bruce about all the fish. My cousins had just showed up to hear also. My walk in to camp to find our glory completely stolen by the huge doe hanging from the game pole. After a perfect arrow shot through the shoulder into the vitals, it made only 60yds before dropping. My grandpa was the only one there to help him carry the kill back to camp. That evening we all stayed up late celebrating. After Bruce cut up an onion, I grilled the tenderloins to perfection and all the fisherman at camp lowered their heads in defeat. That was the best tasting piece of deer I've ever had. I couldn't believe that it had been running through the woods two hours earlier. Fish camp was a success, and with deer camp off to an early start, Bear Claw Cabin is seeing a great year. The big deer hunt is the first week of November, so if anyone wants to split gas with me, call ASAP.
Oct 8-13, 2008
The drive up was horrific. Somehow we fit 6 guys and all the fishing and camping gear into a vehicle. We didn't leave until 4pm for the 13 hour drive to Cadillac, MI. I finally fell asleep just as we were driving through Cincinnati, OH. Twenty five minutes later they decide to stop for dinner. Waking from a deep sleep, I was totally confused. Taking a good while to remember how to unbuckle a seat belt, I head into the Big Boy to shovel down some pancakes and eggs. Getting back on the road, I couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the trip. Pretty miserable by the point, we show up to my uncle Bruce's Bear Claw Cabin, 
and I went about setting up my tent. There was no way that I was going to claim the 6th bunk in a tiny room full of snoring and smelly guys.
After less than 4 hours of sleep, I hopped in the car to headed to the river. I was expecting it to be pretty cold down at the river in northern Michigan in mid-October. Shortly after showing up and standing in the sun, I was tearing off layers until I was down to my shorts and black thermal underwear top. Of course, I brought a T-shirt with me for the rest of the trip. Every day was upper 70's and beautiful; we couldn't have asked for better weather. One of the nights it got down to the freezing point but my sleeping bag 
kept me toasty. All the other guys seemed to keep warm all cuddled together in there. The camp food was amazing thanks to Frenchie's bean buritos and deer meat for every meal.
So now to the point. If you've never wrestled a 15+lb salmon out of a rushing river, trust me, it's a battle. It was so cool getting one on and see it jumping 4ft clear out of the water as it's taking your line. Everyone out there knew that none of the fish were feeding so we tied yarn to a treble hook just to be legal and then bounce it on the bottom until it snagged one. You'd be lucky to actually get them in the mouth. Oops, I mean... they were all in the mouth. We were pretty consistent bringing in 13 every evening and varying amounts on the morning fish. Overall we brought back 61 fish. We filleted them all ourselves at a park cleaning station that had wonderful piles of maggots below the dumpsters of fish guts. After cleaning the fish we smoked about half of them at camp. The other half will be vacuum packed when we get back. But we're bring back about 300lbs of clean salmon fillets and one whole fish. My dad skinned 5 or 6 to mount this winter. Not like he doesn't already have twenty hanging in the garage. I've saved the best part for the end. 
So Friday evening we caught a ton of fish and clean them up. Getting back to camp, we couldn't wait to tell the deer hunting Uncle Bruce about all the fish. My cousins had just showed up to hear also. My walk in to camp to find our glory completely stolen by the huge doe hanging from the game pole. After a perfect arrow shot through the shoulder into the vitals, it made only 60yds before dropping. My grandpa was the only one there to help him carry the kill back to camp. That evening we all stayed up late celebrating. After Bruce cut up an onion, I grilled the tenderloins to perfection and all the fisherman at camp lowered their heads in defeat. That was the best tasting piece of deer I've ever had. I couldn't believe that it had been running through the woods two hours earlier. Fish camp was a success, and with deer camp off to an early start, Bear Claw Cabin is seeing a great year. The big deer hunt is the first week of November, so if anyone wants to split gas with me, call ASAP.
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