July 21 - 8th Annual S Br of AuSable River Cleanup
John Mesch and I love to get to the Grayling a day early and do some fishing.
The sun was shining when we left the motel in Lewiston on Thursday but the
weather map over Wisconsin looked really bad. The storm would get to us
around noon and we needed to get this project in the books before that storm hit.
I called the DNR office in Grayling and got one of their people to open the gate
at the Durant Castle property so we could takeout there instead of going to
Smith Bridge, thus cutting three hours of the trip. We could make it if we hustled.
My son, David, would text me when the storm reached Traverse City giving us one
hour notice of the ETA in Grayling.
The 8 kids from Westminster Camp met us at Chase Bridge on time and we got
busy getting our act together. After a quick photo session, and short instructional
talk, three of us shuttled cars and the rest took off down the river.
The river was relatively clean and the trip to the Castle yielded about 2 bags of
trash and 2 bags of large stuff like a raft and some Stryrofoam "Blue Board". The
camp kids had a great time but struggled a bit to stay out of trouble.
The rain hit at 12:34 - right when we expected it to.
Thanks to everyone who showed up and braved the bad weather forecast.
Also, THANKS to Jim Bates from the Westminster Camp for the shuttle down
the dangerous, rain slick back roads of the S Br.
Then John showed me how it's done with this 25" Walleye.
As much as he wanted to taste that fish, he released him.
Submitted by Norm Fred