Skegemog Lake '07

It was the Class of ’84 (Son’s of Liberty-SOL) versus the Class of ’85 (Seadogs) looking to take the prize on a beautiful weekend on Skegemog Lake in Williamsburg, Michigan. Our hosts, Judy and Dave Crouse, were more than cordial in putting up and feeding 12 thirsty (and eventually smelly) fishermen. Their septic tank got a pretty good workout.

The SOL group charged out of the gate on Friday evening in what looked to be a replay of last year’s overwhelming victory over the Seadogs. Keith and Mitchell had the SOL’s out with a commanding lead in total fish weight. The Seadogs, however, knew that this was a marathon, not a sprint, and were confident that the “Wacky” style would overcome the leech and were sticking with their game plan. Al, a veteran of the Skegemog Lake terrain, and Greg did a great job in keeping the score within reach for the Seadogs. Poor Roger took a fall (pictured) at the rock shore trying to throw some fish back that had been weighed. He didn’t cry or complain but damn that must have hurt the next day.

The lake was calm on a clear Saturday morning and with groggy mindsets, session two was ready to take shape. I had a nice green fish (I’m not too good at classifying smallmouth/largemouth bass so I just call them green fish) but the hook was pretty deep into its gills. The hook was removed but the fish was on life support. I eventually got docked a pound because the fish didn’t make it at weigh in. The whole weigh in process is a pretty ugly scene after each session. Quite a few cooks in the kitchen trying to see if a stack of fish is 3.5 or 4.9 pounds. The scale sometimes would fluctuate that much based on the fish flops. Al, Greg, and Gus put together some nice numbers, however, and the SOL’s were looking over their shoulders. The Seadogs now trailed by only four pounds.

The afternoon was spent taking a leisure cruise on the Crouse’s beautiful pontoon boat down the Torch River into Torch Lake. Roger was looking to entertain some folks (see pictures) and from what I hear, there is no better stage than the sandbar area on Torch Lake. There had to have been about thirty boats anchored within the sandbar area and I was told there usually is more. The water couldn’t have been any clearer and I must say; there were some nice visuals. We didn’t stay too long, however, to cause much of a stir and it was back to home base for the evening fish.

Saturday evening’s fish was designated as the boat owners picking their co-pilots from names in a hat. Well, at least that was the vision. It seemed like the SOL’s had changed their pairings six or seven times and were even changing minutes before take off. Were they feeling the pressure? I don’t think Jim Leyland would have changed his batting order that many times. It was then that the Munson “Red Rocket” made its presence known. With about an hour left in the session, most of the boats had converged on the boat launch area. The boat launch area in past years had some good production and the leech bomber SOL group were looking to go to the well one more time. A boat hanging in the boat launch area was a sure sign of desperation and there were quite of few of us (including yours truly) in that area. One boat, however, never showed up over there and quietly went about its business on the east end until the session was over, the Red Rocket. Gus and Munson came through for the Seadogs with some nice looking green fish that had girth written all over them. The Seadogs had closed the gap to one pound going into the final session on Sunday morning.

The Red Rocket captain was pretty pumped about his conquest for the team. He was so happy he took his post fish celebration to another level. Once Keith pulled out his acoustic guitar around the fire ring, out came Jim and his drumsticks. He was keeping up with the beat pretty well but the neighbors weren’t big fans of the smoker lid being used as a drum (and the fact it was one in the morning). Jim was on cloud nine. His boat was running good and he was pulling in some good fish. His utopia would end the next day, however. More on that in a minute.

You couldn’t blame Mother Nature on the Sunday morning session. Clear skies and calm water were throughout. Greg had pulled in a couple of nice green fish in the first hour and we thought we were on our way with me pulling in a couple of rock bass to add. The run was short lived and things dried up pretty fast. Greg took a run to the entrance area of the Torch River with hopes that it might bring some better luck. I threw my watermelon wacky worm out towards where a gar pike had stuck its ugly nose up. About five seconds later, I had a nice green fish with some girth to boot. It was off to the weigh in with hopes that our teammates pulled in similar numbers. It turns out that we had most fish that session and the Seadogs took the weekend Cup by three pounds. The SOL’s, possibly desperate that their reign was ending, even tried to slip in some illegal (too small) fish but were denied on that attempt. The final results:

Team-Seadogs
Biggest Fish-Keith
Most Total Pounds-Greg
Golf Outing-Keith/Tom

After the final weigh in and confirmation that the Seadogs were world champs, it was time to pull the boats out of the water and get ready for the trek back home. Munson advised Eric to take his van to the boat launch and off he went with his boat towards the launch. Eric comes back to the house a few minutes later, no keys. NO KEYS! The search began. With the number of people we had at the Crouse residence, you would think one of us would be able to stumble upon the keys somewhere. It was not to be. The locksmith couldn’t make it until Monday so it was decision time for Jim. The van was left there and Al was gracious enough to drive us home. Bummer for Jim.

The keys aside, the whole weekend was a great time. We will trash talk our victory to the SOL’s for the next 12 months but the great thing about this outing, you won’t find any “a-holes” in either group. Just some damn good people.

Trail Head