You Should Have Been Here Yesterday

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day.” --Pink Floyd, Time

As I sit here waiting on the job to start, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands. Luckily I brought the copy of the old Camp Log book with me to read in the down time. It has really helped me keep my sanity these days away from my family. I just open the book and I’m transported in time to the Camp and all the good times we had there.

The Camp Log Book spans a time period from April 1984 to July 1994. In those 10 years we fished, threw washers and played many games of Moon, Yahtzee, Bourre, Gin, Crazy 8’s and just about any other card game you could think of; and nearly everyone bragged of being the Camp Champ at this or that. We even inaugurated the “Camp Olympics” one year to decide once and for all who the true camp champ was! Apparently the system was too complex, as it only was recorded one year.

This actually began as an exercise to count exactly how many times we went fishing with “No Luck” because it sure seemed like that was a majority of the time! In spite of countless reports of people tearing up the fish here and there, on this or that bait, it always seemed that we were skunked on the water. Also, I noticed how many times we set out trout lines and caught nothing on them. It seemed like the catch phrase for Bundick’s was, “you should have been here yesterday.”

So, with all of this time on my hands, I thought I’d sit down and count how many fish were caught, and by whom, so we’d see once and for all who the real Camp Champ was.

Now, before I get to all the details, I must make a few caveats:

1) Regarding trout lines: Sometimes a specific number of lines set out was given, but other times, the entry would read, “set out trout lines.” Rather than assume the full three lines were set, if it didn’t say three, I put it down as only two. Also, sometimes in an entry they would run the lines but not report how many fish were on it due to other circumstances (such as the wind blowing the boat into the line and tangling up all the poles, etc.) In this case, I counted that as not catching anything, because surely it would have been mentioned if they did!

2) Regarding individual fishing tallies: Many times, a log entry will imply many fish were caught and kept, but no number was given. Once an entry says that, “Mike and Ernest caught 11 bream.” Not being able to know how many each caught, I split the fish between them and gave Mike the extra. (You’re welcome!) Finally there is a missing entry, mysteriously enough, that chronicles when Dad, Uncle Jerry and myself absolutely tore the white perch up at the locks. Hmmm… Anyway, those numbers are not included in the tally (…can you see where I’m going with this??)

10 Years of Fishing on Bundick Lake:
Number of trout lines set: 41
Number of fish caught on trout lines: 41
Number of times trout lines had no fish: 9
Number of times we went fishing with “no luck”: 12
Total number of recorded fish caught on rod and reel: 111

Will the Real Camp Champ please stand up?!
Now for the interesting part! The following list will no doubt generate great debate and braggery alike for years to come. If a number of fish were attributed to a person in the log book, they made the list. Sometimes no numbers were given, but implied such as “they caught a mess of fish,” or, “Chad was Camp Champ in fishing…” In that case, no number was given, hence the plus sign….

The List:
#10 - Mike Stelly: 1
#9 - Grandma Denton: 1
#8 - Glenn: 4
#7 - Uncle Jerry: 4
#6 - Chad: 5+
#5 - Tina: 7
#4 - Ernest Tabor: 16+
#3 - Pop: 16+
#2 - Gina (are you ready for this?): 20
#1 - Mike: 33+

So, there you have it, Michael was the True Camp Champ in fishing from 1984 - 1994. Maybe we’ll make up a trophy!!

I think I’ll compile the Moon numbers next.  We'll see...

Stay tuned…..