Fishing For BBQ. not as strange as it sounds.

[martin1950]

Ever since my 1st military deployment to Alaska back in the late 60's, I've been an addict for fishing for salmon and all other salmonoids. That adds up to a lot of years, 9yrs in Alaska, 10 yrs on the West Coast and over 30 years here in S/W Michigan. To further my education in the sport I joined about every fishing web site I could find. Several years back, a bunch of guys on one of the sites organized and sponced a weekend BBQ charity event open to the public for cancer research. Ticket prices were modest and the food was outstanding, to say the least. The young man that took charge of the organizing was a member of a smoking site that I have since forgotten. He had guys/families show-up from all over the country with there big trailer mounted smokers pulled by motor homes. Others brought just about anything you could imagine that you could burn charcoal or wood in for smoking of all sorts of foods. For the fishermen on the site that weren't "Q'ers", we did a trade off with the masters. After they got there program going real early in the AM, we'd take them out on Lake Michigan to chase salmon, steelhead and lake trout. Most of the Q'ers had never been on the big lake before so they got a real surprise seeing the world from 8-10 miles off shore. But they all had to be back by 1200hrs to WORK. The trade-off was fantastic, several hours fishing for eating the best food to ever wash across your tongue.
Now after this long-winded intro the question is------Is there anyone on this site that attended those 2 yearly benefits? Just wanted to say hay and thank you for introducing me to your world.
Martin

 

[InThePittBBQ]

I cooked in St. Joe, South Haven, and Douglas / Saugatuck for several charity fundraisers along with many of the SWM Steelheader events.

Back in the good ole days plenty of our inner circle would turn out and help with all the food prep, take a turn tending fire on the pit while I got a little nap at night etc.

Most of those guys are long gone home now, I miss it and them.

 

[martin1950]

Thanks for your comment. the two events (2011 & 2012) remember were held at the FOP lodge and camp ground on the St. Joe River just south of St. Joe. The man from the fishing site that put it together was named Dan, AKA Spanky, to us on the fishing site, he has since past. Here's 2 pic's of Dan. I titled the one picture "Lest We Forget". Maybe you ran crossed him at one of your outings. I'm sorry, just remembering the old days.

Martin

 

[InThePittBBQ]

Oh I knew Dan, he was a regular at Tackle Haven for coffee and events. It's sad he and so many others have passed, I got rid of my last big lake boat and really haven't looked back it wasn't the same anymore when all my fishing buddies died.