One Night at Pickerel Lake
Just hang and forget life’s complications. That was my reason to suggest a one night camping trip to Vanderbilt. I arrived first and set up my backpack tent and put my camping chair in the shade. Looking into the canopy of trees surrounding the campsite it seemed like time was standing still. There was no wind. A million leaves and none fluttered. No mosquitoes. I sat there for a long time. Time stood still while years rolled by.
Feral and Jake showed up mid-afternoon. They set up Jake’s tent camper and then it was time to consider fishing. We knew the streams would be low and clear. It’s hard to buy a trout in broad daylight under those conditions. Feral and Jake took off for a stretch we call Fontinalis and I headed for the gravel pits. You drive a two-track though a gravel pit to get to a dead end turnaround, then walk down a long steep path to a field (cover photo) that has a bend in the Sturgeon river. The river actually looked pretty good for fishing. I didn’t fish long. Good casts were unanswered.
Jake and Feral did slightly better if one small trout counts. They relayed pretty much the same story – good casts unanswered. But the stream looked okay meaning the water level was higher than any of us expected.
The day before we figured out this camping trip I went to a garage sale and bought a BB pistol for twenty four dollars. I thought if we camped in one of our remote dispersed camps we could set up a couple beer cans and have a competition. It’s a model 188 Daisy from the 1970s. It has a single-pump lever to cock the cylinder. I brought it along to show Jake and Feral, both hunters and gun knowledgeable.
Jake sent me the second photo. The pistol on the left is Feral’s Hy Score .22 caliber single shot pellet gun made between 1948 and 1961. The one on the right is Jake’s Webley & Scott Mark One single shot pellet gun in .177 caliber made from 1924 to 1935. Both are air powered by lever. My understanding is the Daisy 188 shot both .177 pellets and BBs when introduced, but later just BBs like the one I purchased. We are set for plinkin’. Can I compete? They have to reload after every shot so a timed competition for the number of cans hit in a minute works well for me 🙂
I picked up a bundle of firewood in Vanderbilt on the way in and started a fire in the fire pit. I have a couple garage sale forked hot dog sticks. We loaded three brats on each and had a hot meal around seven (the time we should have been on the stream if we really wanted to catch trout.) Feral nursed a couple large cans of Bud and I knocked down some cold Coronas. Jake doesn’t drink that I know of. We talked till dusk and were surprised it was still light at 10:00. We really should have waited much later to fish.
It was a fast trip considering it took a three hour drive both ways for me but the ride was nice. My new used 2013 4runner has a CD player and I listened to some good music both directions. Pickin’ on Modest Mouse (Iron Horse, bluegrass versions of Modest Mouse songs). The best of Simon and Garfunkel. Some various live stuff pulled off youtube. Anyway, a nice cruise with good jams in both directions. Natch didn’t make this trip but we’re looking for a couple days in a row when we can all get together.
Shortly after posting this Natch texted us and said he was going to camp up at Pickerel next weekend – any takers? After all that driving I was slow to respond but both Feral and Jake chimed in right away saying they would camp too. I said count me in. I met Natch on Friday and Feral and Jake came over from Alpena area on Saturday. That gave Natch and I a chance to fish the Cornwall stretch of the Pigeon on Friday evening. We figured “the later the better” for fishing and were on the water at 7:30 PM. Natch took the lead and I suffered watching him sling his lure right next to the bank and drawing out a couple decent fish. Seriously, Natch is turning into a tough water vacuum cleaner. He caught three keepers to my one.
I brought my camper this time and found a shady spot to set up. Shady until about noon that is. It was another sunny, scorcher weekend. I need a neon sign that says “Diner Open.” I made camp breakfast both days. Natch handled dinner.
Two ways to enjoy the lake, in the water or in the shade. Photos by Natch and Jake.
Fichigan 