Eel Pout Festival 2010

Another Eelpout festival has come and gone and being a second year veteran of Eel pout I thought I new better what to expect.  However, once again I was amazed at the creativity some people have.  If you can pull it behind a snowmobile or drive it on the ice, you most likely saw it this past weekend on Leech Lake in Walker.  But, in the end it all comes down to getting together with friends for a great weekend.

I had some personal highlights from the weekend but almost all of them include lots of laughs with some good friends.  One thing that was really impressive was the Ice Bar at the Chase on the Lake Bar.  The Chase puts out a tent bar and really outdid there selves this year.  I can't imagine how much time it took to do, but you really had to see it to believe it.

Also impressive was the Ranger Boat floating in the water.  Ok I am not exactly sure how the boat got in the water, as it was in by the time I got there, but that was pretty cool to see.  I can honestly say I have never seen a boat sitting in the water at an Ice event but seeing that Ranger on the water really made me want to get mine out and fish some open water.

So back to our Camp. This year there was a much larger crew at our Camp.  I have to use the term "our" camp lightly because this is one of the few outings I go on in a year where I don't do any of the planning.  The credit for our camp goes to Matt Grow and Kelli (soon to be Grow) who put a lot of work into making Eel pout a great event for our camp each year.  Well there are many others who deserve thanks also like Roger and Ashley, Lori and Craig, Charlie Walker Construction and all the other people that help set up and clean up. Like I said, I am fortunate to be part of the camp as all the hard work was done by the time I got there.

If you have never been to Eel pout, you may ask what is it really like.  I kept asking people  this weekend how would you describe this to someone who has never been there.  I guess the best description is a country music festival on ice, minus the country music.  OK, maybe it is more like the camping at a country music festival.  Lots of individual parties going on in individual "camps"  which cover the ice is some semblance of order.  There is actually a main street and then side streets, some cul-de-sacs and then some people who choose to keep their camp well distanced from main group which tend to yield better sleep.

Speaking of sleep, well when you come home from Eelpout you can expect to be a little tired or at least I tend to be a little tired.  Oh, did I mention that Matt tends to go up a day early and make sure our camp in not only on Main Street but at the center of Main Street.  Needless to say, the music stays on late and thus the lack of sleep.  One thing I find really interesting is that it may be Very loud at 3 AM but other then the hum of generators it is extremely quiet at 9AM.  This year I found that staying up late and sleeping in yielded the best sleep, so I made a mental note of that for next year.

Well that is the Eel Pout update for 2010.  I am already looking forward to 2011!