Well, camp number 4 left early Saturday morning. I know I say this every week, but what a great bunch of guys! (And girls) The fellowship gained by building relationships with each other at Fish Camp is nearly unmatched, and makes every week a great week.

There was definitely no shortage of fish this week – by Wednesday everybody was scrambling for freezer space and cramming fish into every possible corner they could find. Thankfully, Mike and Sarah Roberts, staff for the last two weeks, left another small freezer for us to use this summer, which helps greatly. Hey, at least we have too much fish, rather than not enough right?

Here’s a picture of the guys up early Saturday morning, packing fish:

The devotions at night were, once again, fantastic. Pastor Dave and Pastor Bill each shared insightful messages throughout the week that provoked a lot of great discussion. One of the highlights was Merl jumping in on worship Thursday night and playing some “Good ol’ fashioned country gospel” numbers on the keyboard. It was a great time.

And then, of course, there was the infamous 153 Fish Camp Fry night, when, every Friday night, we fill our bellies with high-cholesterol, ultra-greasy, absolutely DELICIOUS deep fried fish. Steve helped us out by contributing his own cooking skills. He barbecued some salmon on a cedar plank, with a delicious topping on it (I’ll post the recipe later). It was fantastic! Thanks Steve!

Howard took out a few diehards on a 4:30 AM clam run to El Capitan. They brought back a half-trash-can-full in about an hour and a half. We cooked a bunch of their clams on Friday as well and they were great!

Lastly, I am proud to announce our two newest members to the 6 before 6 club 2010….. (drumroll)…. Austin and Steve! Austin got his by 5:15 AM, and Steve got his by 5:50 AM. Congratulations guys!

Here’s the group photo:

Left to right, standing: Doug, Rodger, Kevin, Ron, Jason, Steve, John, Scott, Sherman, Hugh, Kay, Merl

Kneeling: Gabe, Austin, Howard

Three staff members -Pastor Bill, Mike, and Sarah- also left this week after spending the last few with us. Thank you for your help! This reaches to all of the other staff members that have helped us this year as well. Thanks!!

Thanks so much for a great week guys. You were all a blessing to the camp, and I enjoyed spending the week with you.

The fish are still in thick! Nearly every camper has limited out on almost every day. Most have gone to snagging, but the fish are definitely still biting on chartreuse and pink lures.

We have one of the largest groups we have ever had this week – 15 campers and 10 staff. It’s a little crowded, but not nearly as much as it used to be because of our new main cabin.

We’ve had some interesting firsts this week as well – Howard and Gabe caught the first pink salmon of the year, and Ron caught a salmon by trolling, which hasn’t happened anytime that I remember. It’s been a great week so far.