presents....

1997 W. Va. Trip!!

Well, now ya' did it!

[The Story]         [The Pictures]


West Va. Vacation
Tuesday, 8/19/97

The On-going Saga of the Golden Boys' Male Bonding Experience
Golden Boys Gone Fishin'
Hico, WV (GP)

Sleeping In
10:00am The old guy is still asleep.  Must be nice.   :)  Breakfast for Steve = slightly stale Honey Nut Cheerios, for Bob = 1/2 box of powdered donuts, for Dad = 1 donut, 1 Cheerio (to test the degree of stale-ness, of course).  And for each guy, an almost too ripe banana.  Yum...Yum.

By the way, we stayed at Erehwon Log Cabins (erehwon is "nowhere" spelled backwards) and this is an awesome place.  These are real log cabins with a very rustic touch and some amenities as well (gas grill, washer & dryer, satellite dish TV & VCR).  Even the stairs are made out of logs!  There was also a hummingbird feeder on the porch and quite a bit of activity at the feeder.  If  you are taking a W. Va. vacation, this is the place to call home while you are there!

Visit EREHWON Log Cabins!  These folks are great!
EREHWON Log Cabins


Fish on - Fish off

11:30am We called ahead and they said they aren't open on Monday and Tuesday, but they said we could fish anyway. Kewl! So, after packing the cooler, a box of Munch 'ems, bug spray, sunscreen, and taking extra shoes, we're off to the Elk River Trout Ranch.   It's a 45 minute drive across 15 or so miles of unimproved road over a "bumpy mountain."  This is true Grand Prix racing!!  Dad can go 45 mph and miss most of the chuck-holes in the road! What sliding, exciting fun!

Sticker Shock!

12:15pm (or so) We arrived. Of course, everything costs $$. $10 per person, $10 for poles, $1.75 for bait (night crawlers)...ummmm, there must have been something else.

The Blind Leading the...

12:30pm The guy points us in the general direction and says "go fish." Then, sensing our general lack of fishing aptitude he said, "After I finish breakfast, I'll come back to give you a few pointers." YyyyyyESssssss...

Miracle Worms???

12:32pm I put a worm on Bob's hook and I drop it in the water. Within 12.5 seconds, Bob has a bite...fish . He said it doesn't count because he didn't do it.  I mean, all I did was place the hook into the water and wham, a fish appears.  I go get a net...there's a hole in the net.  The fish goes through the hole in the net and into the water.  We get the fish back into the net. Luckily the hook is on on the edge of the fish's mouth and I can remove it pretty easily.  This is happening all too fast.   I put a hook on Stephen's rod, we drop the hook in and, within 14.2 seconds, Steve has a fish. This time, however, the hook is deep.  So here I stand, the guy hasn't come back yet, I have no tools, no knife, and certainly no know-how regarding these things.  I leave the fish in the net and sit there awaiting help.

Lesson #1 - How it's done!

12:40pm The guy returns and solves all our problems.  He teaches the boys how to cast, wait, blah, blah.  They catch fish after fish after fish.  My job is to string them up and place them in water until we are done.  Stephen and Bobby catch 12 fish, 6 each (at a place like this, it is easy to plan).  They even catch four or five 3-pounders, fish that are fighters.  What a neat experience they had.  Of course, I'll spare you all the gross stuff, but just know that there was some gross stuff. :)  Once, one of Bobby's fish got off the hook before I could get the net there.   That was my fault, of course.  Ha...ha...ha.

Paying the Piper

2:00pm We are finally done and it is time to clean the fish. We weigh them and discover that we have 25 lbs. of fresh trout. Oooooooooops...... The guy asks if we want to have a picture, and of course, we have no camera. We buy one of those disposable ones w/flash for about $12. Depressing, but convenient. We do the fisher-guys picture. Again, sparing you the gross stuff, we get an up close and personal lesson. More fun! We even found a fish with a pile of eggs which we took to the pond for potential hatching. (Yeah, right.)

Fishy Friends

2:30pm  This cleaning stuff takes awhile.  Then...time to hose the area down.  Major wet.  The fish-boss dog "Doco" gets fish parts as a treat.   Yeccccchhhh!  Time to pack the fish for their trip back to the cabin.   Three bags full...I don't know how we're going to eat all this fish.  The bags leak, of course, so 2 more layers, a pile of newspapers, etc. we pack the fish in the trunk.

Ummmm...Did we Really?

3:00pm Time to pay for these fish.  Another oooooooops.... Let's see now....19 lbs. (the 2 biggest fish are free) x $3.60/lb. = around $70.00.  Oh boy...... Another $10 for cleaning the fish.  This is a $100 experience...but, well worth it.

Mr. Navigator

3:45pm We drive home, mis-read a back-woods road sign, and end up someplace else.   But, this is Dad and he has a sense about these things.  We end up on the right road, just a few miles earlier than we should have been.

Will Trade...for Food

4:00pm We arrive back at the cabin and I immediately give a bag of fish to Sandy (cabin "boss") because there is no way we could eat that much.  She stops by shortly thereafter with an onion, margarine, spices, and cooking instructions.  Now that's excellent "cabin service"!

It Doesn't Get any Better!

4:30pm Grilling begins.  After the exciting flame "poof" that comes with starting a gas grill, we boys eat around 8 lbs. of fish for dinner.  Nothing else...just fish.  Most excellent, fresh trout.

Fishy Memories

5:30pm Time for movies...can't get that fish smell off our hands...have to wash our clothes too....fish...fish....fish...fish...fish....fish.  I'm sure glad there's a washer & dryer in the cabin - we had to wash our clothes twice!  What a day... Tomorrow, we go mountain-biking!!!!

The Pictures!!

 

Our catch
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Here is the three of us with what we caught.  I guess that's what you get at a well-stocked "pay lake"!!

 

Fish on hold
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This is "da guys" holding our biggest fish!  You wouldn't think we were actually proud of this, would you??

 

Fish guts
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Now, we really didn't clean all these fish, but Bobby just couldn't resist doing this to one of his "buds"!!