As we roll up on steelhead season, many will head to “fish camps” as a part of that annual ritual. Living out of a true fish camp makes the expedition authentic – here’s the skinny.
I was slow in school. I never fully appreciated the definition of “lowest common denominator” until I walked into the fish camp for the first time. Don’t take that as an insult… rather… the fish camp is the bottom line of what you need to be happy as a guy.
The phrase “fish camp” comes with baggage, so I must be more specific. The fish camp is kind of like a bed and breakfast, but it is more exclusive. A B&B is an operation where you can rent a room for a small fortune, the proprietor feeds you breakfast and happily tells you worthless facts about the local town, its history and provides insight into things to do. The fish camp, on the other hand, is highly exclusive. You need to know somebody to get an invite, you might get breakfast, you will certainly get a beer or two, and the host doesn’t bother with what’s going on at the craft fair downtown – instead focusing on the ONLY important thing… fish.
And not just any fish. “Fish”, in the context of a true fish camp means only one type, one species, the trip’s focus, the goal of the search… it could be trout, bass. pike or walleye, but everyone at the camp knows exactly what a “fish” is. If asked, “How many fish did you catch?” the answer had better not include any extraneous species. To answer any other way would quickly doom you to the back of the beer line as a novice… make way for the true fishermen who UNDERSTAND. Sit at their feet and learn!
You don’t pay to go to a true fish camp. This instantly eliminates all the fancy-dancy sports camps advertised in the back of magazines or on the Internet. Yeah, you can pay to stay at a place and then pay more for a guide and then pay for your meals and even stay in a room with clean sheets, but that’s really a bed and breakfast. A fish camp has a heart, a soul, and a smile as wide as the lake or stream it sits next to. The host is also your guide who readily shares his deep knowledge of where to go for fish with all who will listen and happily give you a seat in his boat as you strike out in search of prey. The rooms in a bed and breakfast have prissy names like the “Queen Anne Suite”. At the fish camp, it’s the back bedroom, a cot, or just a sleeping bag on the floor. You know you are in a true fish camp, one with that heart, when the host not only gives you the best and only bed in the single-wide but puts clean sheets on it as well while he sleeps on a fold up cot.
To help you decide whether you have ever been to a true fish camp, here are some guidelines:
You know you are in a fish camp if:
- You open the fridge and the only thing in there is worms and beer; maybe some gatorade
- You can leave the toilet seat up and not get in trouble
- You can fart and it improves the smell
- The only things that work in the kitchen are the electric skillet and the coffee pot
- The kitchen table is covered with lures or the makin’s for lures
- The big fish hanging on the wall is not a “Billy Bass”… but you are allowed to make jokes about that as long as you wink at the end
- The only decorations on the wall, if any, are fish, fishing lures, maps of where to fish, or pictures of fish
- The hot water tank has less than 5 gallons causing you take take a Navy bath. Rinse. Turn off water, soap, rinse.
- There is no air conditioning; heating might come from a fireplace or pot belly stove.
- There are no women around; if there are any, they will bait their own hook
- There are no pictures of women unless there is also a fish in the shot
- “High tea” in the afternoon involves beer and cheese instead of tea and cookies
- You hang out on the front porch. Folks feel free to drop by and chat; mostly about what happened with the fishing that day, yesterday or will happen tomorrow
- A major remodel of the host’s boat is changing the piss can from a cut up milk jug to a cut up gatorade bottle
- You always look before you sit to make sure there you do not hook yourself with a lure
- Nobody knows how many fishing rods there are around the camp
- Breakfast is bacon, eggs, toast, butter, honey… stuff you can pronounce and can make in that electric skillet
- You are an instant friend of anyone who bellies up to the table on the porch and cracks open a beer
- The temperature always reads 70 degrees on the old thermometer with the jumping bass – perfect weather all the time
- There are more filet knives around than butter knives
- The coffee mugs are old, heavy and chipped a bit; dropping them just adds more character
- Nobody cares where you leave your stuff; floor is just as good as the sofa
- Everyone is smiling
- You don’t get bummed out if you don’t catch any fish because you know that the real reason you are there is all of the above
More filet knives than butter knives
You can make anything as long as you can do it in an electric skillet
Kitchen table is for fishing stuff; fish pictures, and memories of fishing buddies.. you eat outside on the porch…
Lures double as a good wall decoration to add a bit of class
that fish on the wall is not a Billy Bass; furniture is fair game as storage space ’cause it’s easier to find stuff when you can see it
High tea involves beer and cheese on the porch
Nobody knows how many fishing rods and reels are around
Thoughtful redecoration of the boat involves changing the piss can from a milk jug to a gatorade bottle… and starts all sorts of arguments and comments that the mouth is not wide enough to be usable
The instructional signs in the bathroom deliver the harsh truth
and the bottom line is fishin!
Unless stated otherwise, this article was authored by Steve Moore