Painting the House for A Fishing Trip, 1954 - Part 2

Little North Star Lake was on state route 38, about 25 miles north of Grand Rapids. Marcel, a nearby village, lay another five miles on north. That’s where we bought our groceries. Kamp Kokomo was owned by a guy named Vern, a former resident of Kokomo. The camp had six or eight log cabins, and an icehouse. The office/lounge was right off the highway. It had a few tables, and sold sodas, beer, and maybe burgers and fries, though I‘m not certain as we always ate in the cabin.

We had a great time fishing and playing. There was a juke box in the lounge and we invested several nickels playing the popular tune of 1954, Sh-Boom, Sh-Boom by the Crew Cuts. There was a big bird dog at the camp. It had an enormous head, hung around the dock, and would dive in to retrieve anything - even large rocks that seemed too big and weighty for it’s giant sized mouth.

In Indiana we fished for bass, but were captivated by the northern pike of Minnesota. Their sleek submarine bodies, primeval mouth, full of razor sharp teeth, and their savage willingness to kill and eat anything smaller than themselves captured our undivided attention. We eschewed the lowly pan fish for the killer. Lamar brought his 5HP outboard and we took it to several lakes. Once we toted the heavy thing a mile into Lake Lundeen, a body of water that turned out to be ridiculously small.
Lamar hooked onto the biggest pike. We were trolling in a neighboring lake and turning around to avoid a weed bed when it struck his lure. The fish, about four feet long, came rolling and cart-wheeling our of the weeds, and was gone just as quickly. I forget who caught the biggest one - not me, but we cut its head off and sealed it in a used canned ham tin to bring home. We tried our talent at amateur taxidermy, mounting it on a wooden plaque by attaching it by its gill plates. They stuck out perpendicular to its head giving it the appearance of an alligator with ears, but we kept it anyway, hanging it on the wall of our “Club Room” in the back corner of the basement.
GO TO: Part 3