Back from CJ Strike Camping/Fishing Trip...

Well, the camping/fishing trip was good and bad... The park was very nice as I had written about before - except for not having any showers. There is this very large central bathroom building that I assumed had showers in it because it was so large, but nooooo. It had two regular sized bathrooms (3 stalls and 2 sinks) each. I found out that the central section, which was probably 10X20 feet in size was the physical plant room with all the water heaters, sprinkler controllers, etc.

When we got there all the good camping spaces were being watered by the automatic sprinklers. The place was sort of a lake when they finished so we couldn't setup camp until that all soaked in a lot. But, after a while, we got all the stuff out and setup the camp in a very nice spot with a tree and all. The bad news was that what I thought would be the best spot to fish from, and where we were able to camp at, was probably the worst fishing spot. After fishing for 2 full and one partial day, I ended up getting NO bites at all - Grumble, Grumble...

The place to fish is all the way at the other end of the park, by the output from the power plant turbines. There were a bunch of folks camped up there and were doing quite well. They use Crappy fish for bait as that is what is being output from the water turbines and what all the fish are waiting for to eat. So, you have to catch the crappy and then use them for the Sturgeon bait.

On the second day, after getting no fish action at all, I walked down to the other end of the campground and talked to a lot of folks down there. They were the serious fisherman that have gone there regularly for years and knew all about what to do and when.

I guess just before I had came by to 'visit' this one guy had just landed a 10 1/2 foot fish. Now, that is a serious fish. By the charts, its about 700 lbs in size... The group of 4 fisherman had caught 8 fish that day between 6 feet and the big one, but most in the 6-7 foot range - which is big fun. There were about 4 camps at the end of the campground there what were all into the 24 hr fishing thing with big spot lights all setup and all. It was quite a setup. If I had known what was going on, we could have camped quite close to the action and had a LOT more fishing fun than we did. But, it is definitely a lot nosier there by the turbines, so there are downsides to it - I guess - Grumble, Grumble...

We met a number of neighbor campers and had a general great time. We ended up about 50 yards from the bathroom and it gets real old getting there and back in the middle of the night, which I had to do 3-4 times each night - did I mention Grumble, Grumble? Well add a few more on for this one... I was having leg craps as well at night which made the getting dressed/bathroom trips sooo much more enjoyable...

The camp was really great. We are getting the new tent act down and it is really a nice one, as are the sleeping bags and other stuff we got last year for camping. I picked up a new ice chest that worked great for all the food. It has 3 slide in sections that you fill with water and freeze which partitions the size and really did a great job of keeping everything cold and well maintained. It took me over an hour to select the new ice chest. I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and they had sooo many to choose from. Each one of them had different features that were appealing, but none of them had enough to make it stand out. So, I went back and forth having three different ones in the cart at some time in the process - and the one I ultimately selected in it twice...

Another one, called an ATC for ALL Terrain Chest, had this wheel arrangement that snapped onto the unit and flipped around to the center or end of the chest, with blow up tires and all. It said it wasn't for highway use but it looked like it could be towed behind a little 4X4. I almost got it, as it was super to get around, but I am glad I got the one I did as the water filled dividers worked out great. We just stuck it on the little trailer hitch attached platform we have so it wasn't much of a hassle to deal with it.

Speaking of food, I must say we had great food. Pam did a wonderful job of cooking and preparation. I did most of the eating and cleanup. We had two great breakfasts, which would usually last me most of the day and a fabulous dinner consisting of Angus Rib Eye steak, great double baked Ho taters and garlic asparagus and garlic bread. I had mine in a skillet and it was one of best meals I can remember.

We packed up camp yesterday late morning/early afternoon and took a side trip home to Boise. I had seen that Cabelas was having this "Truck Load Parking Lot Giant Sale" at their Boise store so, since we were pretty close we decided to go there on the way home. They had this one item that I was really interested in. It was a tent air conditioner. The ad said that it would keep a tent 30 deg cooler for 30 hours on a set of 6 or 8 D cell batteries. That is my kind of 'roughing it'... So we drove there and they were sold out - Grumble, Grumble... And, there was no big truck in the parking lot or anything... I bitched about it to them and they said that some of the 'Bigger' stores were actually having a truck in the parking lot for show, but they didn't. Well, the ad sure had one... I was underwhelmed to say the least.

I also stopped by the Harbor Freight store while there. Its a tool store that has zillions of things and is a real trip to just walk around in. You find all sorts of stuff you have to have that you never knew existed before. Pam was not feeling well so I have to hurry up, which takes all the fun out of it, but I did get a couple of items I have needed for the needle making business.

Speaking of the needle making business, we have yet to get a real online order from it so all my work to keep it low key until after the trip worked perfectly. I hope my new task of now generating lots of online orders will work as well...

Well, my hands are really sore and this typing is getting painful. I have all sorts of minor nicks and pricks on them from camping and working with fishing stuff and those Crappy fish with their little needle sharp fins. So, I am done with this post. We had a great time camping and a horrible time fishing, but now we know what is going on and what we did wrong. So next time we will catch one of those 10 footers here in DaHo...