Finally! It’s raining! For the first time since we’ve arrived here, it’s raining. Yes, I know I sound crazy right now, but we’re definitely thanking God for the rain, because it means we’re actually gaining on our water tank!

The first camp is going pretty well so far. Fishing has been slow… the salmon out front are not biting very easily. However, the fishermen who have turned to snagging have done pretty well, and I have a feeling the rest will follow soon. This morning was the best day of the week so far – the low tide made it easy to get the fish from shore as they were running up and down the channel out in the saltwater. Some of the staff even got in on the action as well!

Dave Rogers started snagging from the get go, and has hauled in some nice silvers this week:

The guys have taken the halibut boat out every day this week. The group on Monday caught a couple nice halibut (77 lbs and 43 lbs), as well as several nice pacific cod. On Tuesday they went out to try for kings, but because of the windy weather, they weren’t able to fish them properly and ended up catching a couple halibut (20 – 40 lbs) and another pacific cod. Another group went out today in search of some more halibut.

The halibut boat has been running great so far. It still doesn’t want to go into reverse all of the time, but all in all the boat is fantastic!

We had a fantastic message from Pastor Dave Caudle from Calvary Chapel Palouse, WA last night. The local church came out to visit and we had a great discussion over Proverbs 2.

Thanks for your prayers! I’ll keep you all updated as the week goes on.

Oh, another thing! When the fish do bite, they’re hitting chartreuse or pink Mepps Flying C’s, and Blue Fox Vibrax lures.

Stay tuned.

It’s been a long few days here at 153 setup week, but rewarding. It’s actually starting to look like camp here again! Everybody has been a huge help, and being blessed with sunny, warm weather hasn’t hurt either!

Here’s Tracy setting out some lunch fixin’s.

Despite pouring concrete footings, setting up wall tents, building shelves, polyurethaning the floor, and lots and lots of sweeping, most of the guys (and girls) have still found time to get away and take a whack at the silvers rolling into the bay!

Jim, Robert, and Pearson with a load of fish:

These fish are brand new, and are hitting lures like crazy!

Congrats to Pearson Pahl, who caught his first salmon (consequently also the first one of the season!) here at fish camp! We’ve got him hooked for life now!

Believe it or not, we ran out of water already! I guess it’s going to take a while to get get used to the whole concept of “conservation.” 🙂 I guess it’s a good thing though… we found out later that the check valve on the water pump went out, which caused the pump to not build up pressure. 20 minutes, a replacement part, and a couple of soaked shirts later, the water pump started working again, and we were able to pay the local volunteer fire department (an old army truck with a water tank in the back) to fill our tank. I think Warren summed up the general feeling of the staff here with the comment “can we still have our coffee in the morning?!?”

One last interesting note – Don Hull, a local friend of the fish camp and accomplished sign manufacturer, offered to make us some decals for our boats free of charge. Who could say “no” to that? Here is a picture of one on a boat, and I must say, it looks fantastic! Thank you very much Mr. Hull!

If all goes well, our new halibut boat should be operational sometime tomorrow, so be sure to check back for pictures!

Thanks for your prayers and support.