Posted by frailin on Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Eelpout Stringers Excellent Adventure - Redux!
Rated PG. Mostly true.
Well, there we were... four eelpouters in the middle of February, standing around watching the snow fall when suddenly the phone rang. It was our old buddy Jim, calling about the Eelpout Festival!
"Well you guys are comin' this year, aren't ya?" "Why sure! Youbetcha, Jim! Love to! Wouldn't miss it!" "Good. Bye." Jim is a man of few words. No matter. We were thrilled the organizer of our namesake festival had reached out to include us for yet another year. But we're pretty easy that way. Now came the planning for our next excellent adventure. Eelpout Festival '08!
Goodness! We were all a-twitter. Then Keeper, the clean-cut, responsible one of the crew had to go and ruin the moment by checking his daytimer and finding out he had a conflict. Huh? Boy Scouts? A winter sleepout? Surely he could tell the boys he was just heading out to Casey's for some supplies, then come back a day or so later. Who'd miss him? No dice. You know, it's always nice having Keeper around. Reminds us of the value of our moms... and how much trouble we'd usually be in if left on our own.
Ok, so Keeper was out. But Fin, Gil and I (Bullhead) could still do the Festival as a day trip! Walker, MN is only 3.5 hours away... we could drive up Saturday morning, play some tunes, eat our traditional eelpout nuggets, kiss a few fish and, well, be on our way home by 6P. After all, we're, (ahem) older, mature men.
It was a plan.
Saturday, February 16th arrived in no time. Gil had the Pout-mobile (his mini-van) packed to the, er, gills and we were on our way at 7A. Woo-hoo! Road trip!!
Two rest stops later, we were there. Beautiful Walker, MN on the shores of lovely Leech lake. And the lake was a-buzz with the usual Eelpout Festival activities! Helicopters were coming and going, ski planes (6 of them) were landing and taking off. Couches on two-by-fours, full of frenzied fishing folks were racing to and fro, being toted by snowmobile, 4-wheeler or truck. Elsewhere, snowmobilers were racing, ice football games were in play and, well, folks were just generally having a good time. Our second, great Eelpout Excellent Adventure had begun!
No sooner had we arrived than we ran into our boss, Jim. He told us to hang around the main tent as they were introducing a few new events this year... most notably, the fashion show. Now, having been here before, we all just naturally assumed that "fashion," in Minnesota terms, meant novel or interesting winter dr
8 comments
on “An Eelpout Stringers EXCELLENT ADVENTURE - Redux!”
mainejohn Says:
Sunday, February 17, 2008 @5:50:44 PM
Damn......I miss Minnesota!
Joanchek Says:
Sunday, February 17, 2008 @8:18:44 PM
Craig, I am sure that the model's demonstration of what-not-to-wear-if-you-want-to-avoid-hypothermia was well received and very educational. I am sure that all the attendees feel that it's a lesson that should be repeated annually. I must say I am disappointed that you did not post any eelpout-kissing pics this year--or had you not quite recovered from your smooches LAST year?
Thanks for the travelogue! LOLOL
banjomikey Says:
Monday, February 18, 2008 @2:04:20 AM
Wow Craig! That was awesome! I bet it was a great time! What was my favorite part? THE GIRLS! LOL!
banjo-ho Says:
Monday, February 18, 2008 @3:52:53 PM
ice, beer, babes and bait, wats better then that? Add the banjo and you got a winner dontchaknow! (or as we say in NH ayuh!)
Cousin Jack Says:
Monday, February 18, 2008 @4:58:34 PM
Where's the fish kiss? Fish kiss! Fish kiss! Fish kiss!
[:)]
erstokke Says:
Monday, February 18, 2008 @5:40:32 PM
This concept should go world-wide. At least here in the cold north we need an eelpout winter festival. Nice carcass hats - and girls!
muntjac Says:
Monday, March 24, 2008 @4:54:16 PM
WOW We aint got nothin like that over here.
Ian
Fawkinnae Says:
Thursday, April 24, 2008 @4:39:14 PM
Hey boys. World class report on the Eelpout Festival. I enjoyed sharing a tent with you guys and can't wait to see you again next year. We can only hope that we get to share the tent again with the bikini team. Fawkinnae.
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