Conconully 2011 – Trip Report

 

 

This was another good year at Conconully, as we risked our lives to be able to feed our families.  Well,……maybe the Deadliest Catch crew doesn’t have to worry too much about being replaced by us.

 

Stats:

 

-       June 2 – June 6, 2011

-       Weather: Almost perfect.  Warm and sunny with little overcast.  70-80 degrees.

-       Attendees: Chief, Dave, LeeRoy, Jimmy Jo-Jo, Brian, Ben, Zac, Fritz, Peter, Brenton, and Mark.

-       Location: Conconully Resort, cabins 1and 2 (four nights) and 4 (two nights)

-       Number of water skiers: 0 (sorry Critter, couldn’t help myself)

-       Fishing: very good

 

 

This year was the second latest opening of Hwy 20 – it opened only a week before our trip.

 

 

We had the luck of leaving home in the rain, and then having the rain restart the day after our return, but with a beautiful sunny respite while in Conconully.

 

Of course everyone had to stop at Loup-Loup for the traditional first beer, and we had to make sure that Fritz (the “big unit”) hadn’t shrunk too much.

 

 

 

Conconully was as scenic as ever, still a fair amount of snow up higher in places.

 

 

Soon we had our boats in the water.  Between the three of them shown, it looks like an advertisement for Lund.

 

 

The deck at cabin one was usually busy since everyone at the dock needed advice.  We do our best to help others.

 

 

Seeing Jimmy in the front of this shot reminds me that we also learned that he has been hiding his true name from us all these years.  When the waitress at the Sit-N-Bull asked what his name was, he informed her that it was “Jo-Jo.”

 

 

 

The parking lot also got used for conversation.

 

 

The Sit-N-Bull was a gathering place, too.

 

 

I think the Chief might be enjoying the trip.

 

 

One day, some of us took a trip to find some crawdads, but instead found this turtle.  We had to restrain Fritz from grabbing it and eating it.  He said that they taste as good as gizzards. 

 

 

But, we really came to fish.  And it was a good year for fishing.

 

 

Dave did a great job of keeping his smoker going, and we all came home with some delicious smoked trout (and even a couple of nice smoked Kokanee).

 

Even the “little” fish in this picture are about 11-12” long.  Big trout in general this year.

 

 

Brenton joined us for the first time, and appears to be enjoying things with Zac.

 

 

We had an injury this year when the Chief’s knife viciously attacked him while he was cleaning a fish.  Fortunately we had medical supplies and a skilled surgical team to dress it.

 

 

And the Chief found some aspirin (or equivalent) pain-killer.

 

 

His medicine was some “apple pie” that he made.  It was very popular and the large quantity we started with all disappeared.  The guys also ran the Sit-N-Bull completely out of Kokanee beer.  No wonder the locals like it when this crew shows up every year.  Matter of fact, Kevin was even actually pretty friendly this year, and the cabins were a little cleaner than normal.  Maybe the mouse we saw running through the kitchen of cabin two had a mop.

 

The younger generation (a.k.a. “the kids” who are now about 30 and up) were somehow even able to fish alone at times without the wise advice of us older guys.  Here’s Zac, Brenton, Peter and Ben.

 

 

This is a Zac photo of their outing.  The “kids” got here late Friday night, then partied.  I was amazed to see Peter wander into our cabin at 5:30 the next morning, ready to fish.

 

 

But we were nearby in case they needed us.

 

 

 

 

And we visited Double-Ds (or is it Lucky-Ds?) for some of our meals.

 

 

It’s a good thing that the Chief’s injury was on his left hand so he could still hold a beer.

 

 

The boats were all pretty reliable this year, although LeeRoy’s decided it didn’t want to fire up one day.  He’s busy reciting a sermon while he tries to start it.  At least I heard some words that would be common at a sermon, but maybe in a different order.

 

 

Who was the winning fisherman?  The prize went to Mark, with a nice fat 15.75” trout.

 

 

And Ben, as last year’s winner, came through with a terrific award that he made.

 

 

 

 

 

In this rare shot, nobody is holding a beer.  Go figure.

 

 

This shot is less rare.

 

 

Fortunately, LeeRoy was usually readily available for advice.

 

 

While we were there, a celebration was going on for Kevin’s son.

 

 

Some of the attendees of Cole’s celebration were scattered around the next morning. 

 

 

 

Here’s an early morning shot of the beautiful scenery, along with Brenton and me (Zac photo).

 

 

Unfortunately, time came to leave for the year.

 

 

But we’ll be back next year!  Good times and good friends.

 

Cheers,

 

            Brian