Man, this week flew by. I don’t know about you guys, but it seems like this week was gone in a blink of an eye. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and I believe it, because this was one great week! The silvers were in, and they were huge. The guys caught a ton of fish. We ate great food, had great fellowship, and got to listen to some awesome messages from Pastor Dave. It was an unforgettable week for me, and I’m sure it was for the campers too.

Let’s start off with the good stuff: halibut fishing. There were two groups who went out, one group of 4 on a local halibut charter, and one group of 4 who took out a couple of our small boats.

The charter group pulled in 3 halibut, two in the 40 – 50 lb range. They also caught some lingcod and yelloweye. The small boat group pulled up two halibut in the 30 – 45 lb range. Judging from the smiling faces that returned, both groups had a fantastic time.

Salmon fish out front was also superb. The guys were getting salmon to hit on all sorts of lures, from spinners, to wigglewarts, to snagging hooks. The salmon this week were brand new, straight from the ocean, and were shiny chrome in color. But, more importantly, they were big. Losing fish was a frustrating problem this week because they were simply huge, and good fighters. Nevertheless, the guys cleaned house, and brought home 22 boxes of fish.

Another cool thing about this group was that they all came in on the Breakaway Adventures jetboat from Wrangell, AK. The jetboat took them straight to the Whale Pass dock, which allowed them to not have to wake up early and stay up late to make it to the ferry. Thus, they spent most of Saturday morning packing fish, instead of late Friday night and early the next morning as usual. It was much more relaxing!

And you can’t forget Nick and Gene’s “last-day fish camp tradition”…..

“My suitcase coming home weighs half as much as it did coming up here!”

Here’s the group photo:

left to right: Greg B, Paul, Greg N, Dewey, Gene, Todd, Joe, Nick, Fred, Henry

It’s been a great week guys. I really enjoyed every one of your company. You all were a huge blessing to the camp. Thanks

Here’s the recipe for Steve’s cedar plank BBQ’d salmon:

For two fillets –

1/4 cup of butter

little less than 1/4 cup of maple syrup

minced garlic to taste (1/2 to 1 tablespoon)

1 – 2 teaspoons of coarse ground black pepper

1 – 2 teaspoons of dill

Mix all ingredients into paste.

Soak a cedar plank in water for about 15 minutes. Put fillets on the plank skin side down, then apply a generous layer of paste on the salmon meat. Cook on a grill, medium to high heat, with cover/lid, for about 10 – 20 minutes.

Here’s a few comments from the chef:

“It is best to let the butter come to room temperature before trying to mix ingredients. I also like to add a tablespoon of brown sugar. I pat the fish dry first so it is easier to spread the stuff. The time can vary a bit depending on how hot the grill is and the size of the fillet, so I start checking 10 minutes into the cooking for firmness, as it starts to firm up, I take a fork to the thickest part to see if it is done down to the skin.”

Try it out, it tastes great!