Hi everyone. Although every single week of camp is special in it’s own way, last week in camp was extra special. The Holbrook family (Adam-Dad, Michelle-Mom, CJ-15, Ben-11, and twin sisters Sara and Tara-9) from Roann, Indiana were special guests of Peffley’s Camp again this year. Many of you may recall that the Holbrooks were guests of our camp back in 2008 after CJ was diagnosed with and had been receiving treatments for lymphoma. Through the Indiana chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation-we were able to team up and grant CJ his wish of going on a Canadian fishing adventure at Peffley’s Wilderness Camp and many fond memories for all of us resulted.
This year marked their return trip to camp and how special it was again for all of us! First, and most important of all, CJ continues to test free of cancer and for that we are all grateful. In fact, CJ even did a little “smack” talkin’ on the boat ride out to camp about outfishing me in 2008. Needless to say, the gloves came off at that point and I did what any self-respecting camp owner would do— I ducked him the whole week so we wouldn’t get caught up in (and me lose) another fish-off. Actually, I could see early in the week that Adam, CJ, Ben and the girls remembered a lot about how and where we fish as they got off to a good start and it only got better as the week progressed. CJ was able to catch a bunch of walleyes and northern pike during the week, but the best fish of all may have been the beautiful 18 1/2″ smallie he caught which bested his 17″ fish from two years ago. Not to be outdone by big brother, Ben had the hot hand a couple of days too, one night catching an impressive stringer of 14 perch off the dock and also skillfully battling and landing a nice 30″ northern.
Even the girls got into the action a few afternoons and evening, with the twins and Mom finding out just how much fun it is when the walleye bite is on. Peffley’s Camp isn’t just for the boys. Of course, when evening came it was time for campfires, smores or games of hide and seek and ghost in the graveyard with the other kids (ours included of course) until finally it was time to come in for the night.
So as another fantastic week of fishing, friendships and fun came to an end, Adam asked his daughter Tara “when do you think we should plan to come back to camp again?” to which Tara promptly replied “tomorrow”. Here is to many, many more tomorrows for all of us……..
