November Fish Camp

November Fish Camp is now officially over.  Wednesday, some of the former actors in the great Canadian Fish Caper were present.  We had Gary from Elk Rapids, Chris from Interlocken, and Mikey-Pikey from Grand Rapids.  Gary arrived early and we went down to the Manistee River to fish for steelhead. We both had several fish on.  Gary was using Mepp type spinners and I was using Egg patterns and a black leech flies.  I caught a Brown Trout on an egg pattern fly and had 2 large steelhead on my black leech fly.  I managed to land one!

After the rest of the guys arrived, back to the river to fish.  Everyone had a few trout caught before dark.

Back to the house for a Fish Boil.  Gary brought his Turkey Fryer and put in fish, potatoes, and onions for a Boiled dinner.

The water and seasoning were boiling and it was time to start adding the ingredients.  It sure gets dark early.  I had to run to Brethern High School to teach my Glass Bead Class.  You can't keep 7 women waiting for their night of bead making!

The food wasn't ready when I had to leave but the guys will save some for me.

Arriving at school, I got the room ready for the propane torches and tonight's lesson on adding compound dots and encasing the beads.

The beads were coming out great.  We only have one more class and they are doing great.

After class, I hurried home and had some fish boil.  They guys were relaxing and watching the last game of the World Series.  Early to bed tonight because tomorrow may be another fish day.

We were afraid that the rain from Wednesday would carry over or worse!  But when we got up, the weather was not too bad.  It was cloudy but no rain!  So off to the North side of Tippy Dam.  We fished below the boat launch on the gravel bars.

My brother, Gary, was using his home-made Mepps type spinners and caught a few trout.  The water was cloudy and fast today.  The dam must have released water.  It was flowing pretty good. The Fall leaves are pretty much down but it is still pretty on the river.

I told you, Gary, to hold the fish out in front of you with your arm straight to get a bigger picture of that fish!  Oh well, next time it will be a steelhead when it grows up.

Chris has one on, I can tell by the expression on his face.  Chris loves to fish and is pretty successful up near Traverse City.  The wind was cold and the water was getting cold.  When you stand in the water for hours, it starts to sap your body heat.  Notice we didn't wade out above our knees.  Somehow, the guys don't like to wade in cold water up your waist.  It seems to make our voice go up an octave. Is that due to shrinkage?

Right next to shore was one of the last hold-outs from Salmon Season.  The tail is mouldy and this fish won't last long.  The salmon spawn in the Fall and die.  The steelhead and trout come in and feed on the salmon eggs but they spawn in the Spring.  Some will return to Lake Michigan and some steelhead and trout will stay in the river until Spring.  You can fish year around on the Manistee!

Mikey-Pikey is now Steely Mike!  Well, it is a small steelhead that is going to grow up to be a big steelhead.  Mike enjoyed the time in camp and catching a few trout.  Everyone caught fish this year so on one was skunked!

Gary said the weather wasn't as bad as he expected.  In fact, he said he was quite warm.  He just looks cold in this picture.

As afternoon approached, we headed back to my place for lunch.  After lunch we posed for our group photo.  You know the one where you try to hit the timer button and run back to get into the picture.  Ask the guys how many tries it took to get this last shot!   And I was reading the instructions!

This was the last Fish Camp before I head to Key West for the rest of Nov. and Dec.   We had a good time and are ready for the next outing.  Maybe we will have Ice Fishing Camp this year!  I have some shots to tempt you guys.

What do you think?   Heh, guys, you want to go ice fishing?