Never too late.....

To plan and have an excellent trip to camp. Just ask Don Raveling (Minnesota) and his son Steve (Arkansas) who just booked a trip to camp in the two man cabin (all that was available) last week. Don had picked up a brochure of ours at the NW Sportshow in Minneapolis three years ago and decided after two very unsuccessful trips this summer to Canada to give us a try. So at the last minute he called up, booked the "highly economical" two man cabin--and proceeded to have an excellent trip commenting to me on Thursday that "we caught more fish today than we did all week on our last trip". We certainly enjoyed having Don and Steve in camp as we always do with our first timers.

Overall, the last several weeks in camp have been very busy with our wood cutting, bear baiting and of course taking care of a camp full of happy fishermen and women. Still a couple of "extra" projects to do around here the last three weeks of the season also, including getting the new siding on the last guest cabin #1.

Despite some continued warm weather for this time of year, we are starting to see more and more color along the shorelines which provides a constant reminder that fall is indeed not far away. Another cool down is forecast for the second half of this week, which should only help the fishing get even better.

Until next time, I will leave you with a picture of Keith Augustine grimacing to hold a fat 41" northern caught last week while fishing with his son Andy.

Warm enough for ya?

Chances are if you are from almost anywhere in the midwest U.S. your answer is "yes". It really hasn't been much better here to be honest. Temps in the upper 70's to mid 80's with very high humidity has made it just a little "sticky" the past couple of weeks in camp. The fish don't seem to be minding much though, as even some of our first time guests are making comments like "I can't believe how many walleye we are catching in this August heat". It looks like a change in the weather is coming for next week with much cooler (60's) temperatures forecast and MORE rain. I keep kidding around with our guests that our next major construction project might just be an Ark as our lake levels for this time of year are higher than I have ever seen them.

With our bear hunters coming in soon (Sept 4) we have just begun to bait some of our stations and actually did a little "pre-baiting" in July. Here is a picture of a great looking bear with one of the best looking white crests on his chest I have ever seen.

And you have to love it when a bear is on a bait at 2:24 in the afternoon!

I also need to mention the latest nominee for the "Trooper of the Year" award. Sue Martin is here this week with her husband (to be?) Brian and friends Dustin Masters and Stephanie Mullins from Missouri. Although Brian and Dustin have been on a few Canadian fishing adventures, this is the first time for the ladies. Overall the ladies are having an absolutely wonderful time, but Sue did have a little mishap the other night. It seems while reaching for one of Brian's fishing poles in their boat, she deeply embedded a Rattle Trap in her index finger. Shortly after arriving back in camp, we (Ray, Marilyn and I) had her in operating room #1 ready for "surgery". Sue barely had the words "so how much of my finger am I going to lose" out of her mouth when Ray and I teamed up with the "string-yank" method to have the hook out of her finger almost before she knew it was coming. I know the technique sounds a little crude, but trust me when I say it works and works well. She was absolutely amazed at how quick and painless the process was and I was amazed at how brave she was. I even commented to her that we have removed numerous hooks from many of our male guests through the years, but few of them showed as much poise and bravery as she did. So hat's off to Sue Kendrick-the most recent nominee for the Peffley's Wilderness Camp "Trooper of the Year" award.

Well that's all for now, keep reading our weekly fishing reports on the website too for the latest in what's going on regarding the fishing. If this forecasted cool down does materialize, look out as things are going to get even better around here!

Take care until next time!

Holbrook Family returns to Peffley's Wilderness Camp

Hi everyone. Although every single week of camp is special in it's own way, last week in camp was extra special. The Holbrook family (Adam-Dad, Michelle-Mom, CJ-15, Ben-11, and twin sisters Sara and Tara-9) from Roann, Indiana were special guests of camp again this year. Many of you may recall that the Holbrooks were guests of our camp back in 2008 after CJ was diagnosed with and had been receiving treatments for lymphoma. Through the Indiana chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation-we were able to team up and grant CJ his wish of going on a Canadian fishing adventure and many fond memories for all of us resulted.

This year marked their return trip to camp and how special it was again for all of us! First, and most important of all, CJ continues to test free of cancer and for that we are all grateful. In fact, CJ even did a little "smack" talkin' on the boat ride out to camp about outfishing me in 2008. Needless to say, the gloves came off at that point and I did what any self-respecting camp owner would do--- I ducked him the whole week so we wouldn't get caught up in (and me lose) another fish-off.  Actually, I could see early in the week that Adam, CJ, Ben and the girls remembered a lot about how and where we fish as they got off to a good start and it only got better as the week progressed. CJ was able to catch a bunch of walleyes and northern pike during the week, but the best fish of all may have been the beautiful 18 1/2" smallie he caught which bested his 17" fish from two years ago. Not to be outdone by big brother, Ben had the hot hand a couple of days too, one night catching an impressive stringer of 14 perch off the dock and also skillfully battling and landing a nice 30" northern.

Even the girls got into the action a few afternoons and evening, with the twins and Mom finding out just how much fun it is when the walleye bite is on. Of course, when evening came it was time for campfires, smores or games of hide and seek and ghost in the graveyard with the other kids (ours included of course) until finally it was time to come in for the night.

So as another fantastic week of fishing, friendships and fun came to an end, Adam asked his daughter Tara "when do you think we should plan to come back to camp again?" to which Tara promptly replied "tomorrow". Here is to many, many more tomorrows for all of us........