The Fly Fishin’ Christian

So what do I have to look forward when I go up to the Fall Men’s retreat at Camp Barakel? It looks like this:

Friday, we came back from the fishing and hunting adventures along the Au Sable, and I was looking forward to finding out what Tom Harmon would be speaking on this weekend. He talked about taking a stand, and it was a great weekend full of messages. You can listen to them over at the Camp Barakel web site:
http://www.campbarakel.org/audio/audio.asp

My favorite part of the weekend was the Morning Worship Walk with Lee Brown. As the sun breaks over the trees we walk around the lake singing, meditating, and worshiping the Almighty.

I spent the better part of Saturday in a boat on the lake by myself. It was extremely relaxing. At one point I floated into the middle of the lake, and the lake was like a sheet of glass. When I looked down it felt as if I was floating in the sky.

I know of a spo on the lake where the Bluegills like to hang out. After about a dozen or so, I was starting to get bored, so I switched to some heavier tackle and tried to find some big fish.

I didn’t find any, and switched back to my bluegill fly. Shortly after that I hooked a nice largemouth:

An amazing and relaxing weekend spent outside. This was my first time away from my daughter and I missed her a lot and was glad to come home.

I went up to the Barakel Men’s a day early with pans to hit some the open water on the Au Sable.  I ended up doing a cast and blast with some friends, but since I don’t really hunt I was only casting. I started off the morning making up my own blend of coffee. It takes about a half hour or so, but it was worth it.

We headed towards the South Branch of the Au Sable where the water was still open for flies only, and there was state land available for bird hunting. For fishing, we hit the water a little too early I think. There were some BWO’s coming off the water, but I really didn’t see fish start rising until I was packing up to leave. The surrounding banks had colors changing:

I enjoyed being out on the water. I did end up catching a trout on a bead head, but it was about 4 inches long, so I don’t think I can count that. I got to explore some new water on a day when I’d usually be sitting in a cubicle, so I think I can chalk that up on the “good day board.”

My new hat and thermos:

Moon setting:

Midstream:

Sepia: