September Camp 2026
I met Natch up at Pickerel lake by Vanderbilt for some fall trout fishing. Feral and Jake called in sick. No problem. It was the last chance to fish the Sturgeon River in the Pigeon River State Game Area and frankly, the weather could have not been worse for fishing, or better for camping. So we had fun camping.
Natch caught a decent brown trout on the Sturgeon and that was it. No fish dinner, but we did see a black mink crossing over the river on piled up logs. And we saw two Eagles. And we both saw brown trout over twenty inches in length. One followed my lure but didn’t strike. I rested the spot and tried other casts from different angles. Sometimes that works. When the sun is out and beating down on the water, luck starts being part of the formula.
The reel on Natch’s pole messed up but I had an extra reel. A vintage Shakespeare 1756. Natch is left handed and the handle is not reversible – he liked the technology but putting it to use was tricky. He typically uses open-faced spinning reels and has a side-arm cast that is deadly. That was on the Pigeon River downstream of the horse campground.
I bought some boxed maple and oak slats for firewood before going up. While looking down at the box it occurred to me the slats formed a messed-up Chessboard with slight elevation problems. It’s a million dollar idea. A messed-up Chessboard with standard pieces, whereby the owner gets to create their own messed-up rules.
We spent time driving around hoping to see elk and deer (you would think they would be out enjoying the beautiful weather) but we were fortunate to see the start of fall colors. We are talking October Camp, but that could be difficult after our four-day try to forget work binge vacation.
