Fishing 4 BBQ III Reports

[EdB]

I'm sure they're eating some good breakfast and packing up soon but I had to come home last night so I'll get started on a report of a great weekend.
Fishing was great Friday and we got our limit and also got checked by the USFS when we got in.

The US Fish and Wildlife biologists collecting data from us at St Joe on Friday. They took scale samples, weight, length and the tails from our kings to check if they were stocked or reproduced naturally. First time I've met the Feds working at the docks.




Fishing was good, took just a few hours for our limit.


Weather for fishing on Saturday was poor with a storm cell over the lake.

Most of the boats stayed in but we thought we go and see how it was. Raging east wind and the storm cell over the lake had us setting up in 40 feet of water instead of 127ft like yesterday. We made one out troll to 85 ft, went 2 for 3 and the waves were really building as we got farther out so we pulled lines and went in. Quite the downpour as we pulled lines.

Steve and Phil with our fish.


When got done, the smokers got fired up and the feast began.

Okie Tim came all the way from Oklahoma to fish with us and cook some great Q.



Baby backs


Wings getting started for the wing contest.




I should have taken a picture of Dan's Lang smoker before he pulled off the briskets and pork butts he had it loaded with. Here he is finishing some fattys and pork tenderloins.



Steinfishski won the wing contest.





The wings everyone cooked were great and it was hard to pick a favorite. Lot's of different smoked foods all afternoon. It was a great 2 days on Lk Mich and the banks of the St Joe river. I don't need to eat anything today, I'm still stuffed.

[martin1950]

I told Dan I’d take care of the “Thank You” notes this year. But silly me, when I left Sat. evening I forgot the sign in sheet.
So if you guys would send me you address or e-mail, I’ll make sure you get one. This is for anyone who participated or made a raffle donation.
Heck, if ya made it there, you deserve one.

Can’t believe how much “snack” food I ate and still sat done with a full plate of diner, and like Ed said, I’m still not hunger.
Dan, I've got a picture DVD with over 100 pict's for ya.

Thank you again Dan, once again it was a fantastic event.




Martin

[Joneser]

Such an awesome weekend and I'm glad I get to participate. I wish the fishing conditions would have been better, but it still didn't dampen any spirits. Great time as usual. Thanks so much for making this happen, Dan!

Bob, if you would kindly pass that recipe on for the crack dip you served on Friday night, I would appreciate it. PM me or just post it and PM me the link.
Brian

[Spanky]

Just ate for the first time today. What a great bunch of folks and some very good grub. I really appreciate the folks who actually did make it to this event. We could have cooked allot more food if more people would have attended.

To those who did attend and contribute. God Bless you all. The weather was crappy as it can get, and we still had a great time, lots of laughs and made some money for Cancer patients.

When I get all the totals in , I'll report back. I do know we covered costs, but we didn't earn nearly as much as last year. It costs us almost as much to have this event for 20 people as it does for 50, unfortunately we didn't have the 50. The ones who did make it, gave some money, and enjoyed themselves. We didn't even cook all the food, and there was enough to send some folks home with goody bags of BBQ and sides.

We didn't cook breakfast because there wasn't but 4-5 people to cook for and a couple of them had to get going by 8-9 am. I had planned on biscuits and smoked sausage gravy, scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, juice and coffee.

I really want to thank Darla and Sharon for doing a great/swift clean-up last night. It really saved the 4 of us allot of work this morning. Martin 1950. Thank you so much for all that you have done so far, and thanks in advance for the stuff you promised to take care of for me. I will get you a list in a day or so. A couple others who I want to mention are my friend Jeremy who braved the wind and rain to make sure one of the BBQ guys got out for an adventure. Jeremy also jumped on the broom this morning and then the mop to do about 50% of the total clean-up himself.

My son Justin who helped in many ways as expected, but who also shook off the cobwebs to make a serious clean-up effort and help me get out of the lodge way early. Thanks to Mark and Larry for the help too.

This event means allot to me, and those who make it what it is, do too. Thank you all. I am very tired and sore today. It is allot of work, and even more planning. It takes me over a week to get all this stuff organized and in the works. I tend to forget this when I agree to do this event every winter. I don't think I will forget next time. I would have been better off monetarily to just send a $300-$400 check to the cancer center. Seeing everyone having fun and smiling does make it somewhat worthwhile, and I think we can do that without me going through all this to get people together. We went from 50+ people last year to 28 this year.

We also went from a 10+ person clean-up crew to 4

So I may be a bit premature on my decision, but I think this event has run its course. I appreciate all the applause and thanks from those who did attend. You folks mean allot to me, but I am just getting too old and too busy to invest that much time and money any more. I hope everyone who ever attended one of these events has enjoyed it and will remember it and the friends that we have made while doing this.

Time to get back to unloading, replacing, and cleaning up.

When I get the numbers together, I'll report back.

[tgafish]

It was a good run Dan. Events come and go but the friendships and memories remain. Manistee fun tourney, St Joe Erie outing, etc. Something else will come up to bring folks together again. I appreciate all the things I was able to learn the first 2 years. Congrats to Tim on the wing win!!

[Spanky]

Indeed Tom, All of those events started out strong and kind of lost their luster. I'm sure another great event will come along. Kind of hard t keep these folks away from each other.

[STEINFISHSKI]

What a great time.

Thanks Dan for all of your time and efforts. I know it was said that we could have all just brought appetizers, and with the contests and cooks there is already plenty of food already. IMO we just need to plan lighter and get you to take it easy and just cook something along with the rest of us instead of trying to cater the event. Just my $.02 for your consideration, but I respect your wishes and applaud your efforts.

Thanks to everyone who came out and for all the laughs, food, and fun we had. The food was fantastic and everyone brought their best.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored, cooked, helped, cleaned, and participated in this event. I am surprised there is not 200 people that turn out!

Thanks for the votes on the 2012 Wing King win. I got Tim (Smokie Okie) to sponsor me with rub for the event and used a dusting of Rooster Booster along side a heavy coating of Okie Dust over lump and cherry around 325. Thanks Mark for the use of the mini drum and sharing some table space with me. Thanks Tim for the spices, help, and expertise shared as we got them ready for turn in. My kids are already asking for me to make a batch for them and were pretty impressed with the trophy.

Thanks Mike for the use of the boat too, we ended up catching one fish and fortunately it was the big one. We never made it past 85 fow with the big east blow and heavy rain. The crew hung in there for a couple hours in miserable conditions. Our one fish came in 50 fow white paddle oceana fly on a mag diver 67 back minutes after we started.

[2PawsRiver]

While I agree it was kind of a let down as far as the turn out, it was great to see some of the familar faces and it is always a great reminder to me about the power of prayer, how easily people we know could just slip from our lives, and how easy it can be to be just "Too Busy".

With 6 stints, I have learned not to be "Too Busy" and that it is the people in your life that make it so enjoyable.

Spanky, you had a rough weekend, your tired, and you may want to let this come to an end, however I agree with Stein, just go smaller. The FOP lodge is a great place, but my money says the food would be just as good under a large canopy at the Lundin Ranch. Throw up some tents, bring a camper, I'll put a port-a-john out front, run an extention cord for some lights and music, cut the price in half, we'll throw up a couple archery targets, we've got the lake to fish, the river out back to canoe, and get some of the hunters involved and still put some money towads a very good cause................or we've always got the Brown Blast to raise a glass and toast life, whatever you like.

We were happy to be a part of it.

Had some great food....



and some very cool prizes...

[Spanky]

Tim and Mark, you make a good point, I suppose we could go lighter on the food, and I like the idea of a get together at Mark's place.

Yes I am tired, and somewhere I lost my good glasses and must use my old pair (12 years ago) I think I'll head to meijers today and buy a cheap pair of readers and make an eye appt too with my eye doc.

I want to add a couple things.

Larry RCH, I really appreciate all you did for me this weekend. You brought some nice prizes and even donated a gift certificate yourself. The help with the raffle was huge and I want to thank you for that. I realize you had a bit too much fun on sat night (as did I and most who hung out) and you were in a fog for clean-up. Don't sweat it. You and Mark C did more than your share to make this event run smoothly.

As I go back and re read my first post in this thread, I realize I was a bit tired and kind of prickish. I am sorry about that. I shouldn't let my emotions ruin a great event. Many different things came into play, Bad weather, busy schedules, a tough economy, lack of proper organization. It all plays a big part in a great event going south. I will go through the receipts today and see where we ended up.

on edit:
Looks like we made about $350-$380 dollars for the WMCC. I am happy about that. Thanks to all who attended and opened their hearts and wallets. I stillhave a few donation checks to collect. Should put us over $400.

[Spanky]

Originally Posted by Joneser

Such an awesome weekend and I'm glad I get to participate. I wish the fishing conditions would have been better, but it still didn't dampen any spirits. Great time as usual. Thanks so much for making this happen, Dan!

Bob, if you would kindly pass that recipe on for the crack dip you served on Friday night, I would appreciate it. PM me or just post it and PM me the link.
Brian

Crack dip!! No wonder it was so good.

[martin1950]

You know one thing I've noticed, it doesn't matter if it's 30* or 80*, cold winter wind or light summer breeze, wether he's "Fresh as a Daisey" or as tired as an old rug, this is the smile that you always get.



Thank ya Dan for just being you.

Martin

[FIJI]

unfortunately we were a few thousand miles south of the event this year

[Joneser]

Originally Posted by FIJI

unfortunately we were a few thousand miles south of the event this year

We sure missed u mike.....

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[FIJI]

and I missed my carry out order too !!!

[Spanky]

Originally Posted by FIJI

and I missed my carry out order too !!!

we had plenty of them orders, but you had to be present to win them.