🍁 If you've been waiting for a good week to get out, this is it. The fall feed has kicked in, and these cooler days have fish biting, at least here in the Upper Midwest. Down South it's probably still more of a late-summer pattern. I remember this time of year back in SoCal, when it could still be 90 degrees. Either way, bass can be roaming surprisingly shallow right now, and when they're up there this time of year, they're feeding aggressively.

A couple weeks ago I hit a few shore spots on the big pond (Mille Lacs) with Jesse Piontek, and he proved it. He caught a big smallmouth on a Storm Arashi Cover Pop in just 2 feet of water. 🔑 Don't overlook the shallows this fall. Some of the best fish of the year can be within casting distance of the bank.

Camp Fish (now called Camp Bliss) is located on the south shore of Long Lake near Walker, MN. Forty years ago this fall, anglers could spend a weekend at a Minnesota fishing camp and potentially find themselves sharing a boat, or even a cabin, with some of the biggest names in fishing.

This was the 1986 In-Fisherman Camp Fish Celebrity Jamboree. Camp Fish was much more than a traditional summer camp. $450 (inflation adjusted about $1,300) bought a three-day experience that included guided fishing, lodging, boats, bait, prizes and meals. You had a 1-in-4 chance drawing a celebrity angler like Bill Dance, Roland Martin, Al Lindner and others.

🍽 And these weren't exactly typical fishing-camp meals. We’re talkin’ Beef Wellington, Indonesian shrimp, pheasant with wild rice, and hot popovers with honey butter. But perhaps the most remarkable part was the access to fishing's celebrities. Guests and pros bunked together in the same cabins. One attendee quoted in the original ad recalled Roland Martin fixing tackle on the next bunk, having coffee and “shooting the breeze” with Al Lindner, while Spence Petros was shaving in the washroom. It truly was a different time back then.

Each day, participants also drew for their fishing guide from names in a hat. The Jamborees weren't just about creating an unforgettable fishing weekend. Proceeds helped provide opportunities for youngsters who otherwise couldn't afford to attend the summer youth sessions.

🌲 Camp Fish wasn't your typical summer camp. It had originally been home to Camp Danworthy, a girls’ summer camp established in 1930, decades before it became Camp Fish in 1978. This new camp was an intensive fishing school where young anglers learned everything from fishing techniques and boat handling to fish biology, electronics, lure making and rod building—then put those lessons to work on the water. Al and Ron Lindner (my dad and uncle) purchased the camp in 1983, and many campers returned year after year to advance their skills. The program eventually included adult sessions, wilderness trips, Canadian fly-ins and the fall Celebrity Jamborees. Camp Fish closed in 1991, but many of its former campers and instructors went on to careers in the fishing industry.

I attended the camp a number of times. Back then, maybe we didn’t realize how special of a place and time it was. I remember the canteen was always a big hit. This was a small shop that sold soda (pop) and candy. The parents would have a budget for their child to spend. Side note, if you overslept, you got carried out of the cabin and thrown off the dock into the lake! It did happen to me. It was a different time.

⚽ Foosball. I have to mention this. In the basement of the main lodge, there was a proper foosball table. To this day, I can play decent with the skills learned back then. Some of the staff were absolute pros at it. That’s a whole story for another chapter…

🔥 Group Campfire. At the end of each session, there was a big camp fire. Complete with skits, stories and other activities. I remember a scary story about “The Wiper”, who terrorized campers with toilet paper. Something like that. Details are blurry, I was young at the time.

✅ Check out the 1984 brochure (picture below) describing the surprisingly comprehensive four-year fishing education program for young anglers ages 10–16, with an impressive 3-to-1 camper-to-instructor ratio and an emphasis on hands-on learning.

First-year campers learned boat and motor safety, lure making, fly tying, weather, fish biology and even limnology—the study of freshwater systems. As campers returned and advanced through the program, they learned electronics, lure and bait presentation, rod building, baitcasting, spinning, fly casting, knot tying, fish filleting, trolling techniques and aquatic ecology.

The education didn't stop at the shoreline. Campers fished for walleyes on Leech Lake, chased rainbow trout on portage lakes, took muskie fishing trips, went wilderness canoeing and, at the highest levels, participated in fishing expeditions into northern Minnesota and Canada. Camp Fish also offered father/child sessions, adult and family programs, Boundary Waters canoe trips, Canadian fly-ins, specialized fishing weeks and programs for other groups.

Perhaps the philosophy of Camp Fish was summed up best by a line printed in the brochure:

“Success at Camp Fish isn’t measured in inches and pounds, but in overall quality of experience.”

And kids apparently agreed: more than 70% of young anglers who attended Camp Fish for one year returning for more advanced training the following year.

Midwest Outdoors featured a nice segment with Brad Petersen back in 2017 about the camp. Can you watch it here on YouTube. More than 30 years after the original Camp Fish era, a group of former campers and staff—including Brad Petersen and me—worked to bring the experience back to life. The revived Camp Fish began with adult-child sessions, combining days on the water with seminars and instruction much like the original program.

For many returning alumni, the revival was especially meaningful. Former campers who had attended in the 1980s and early ’90s were now bringing their own children, nephews and daughters to experience the same place that had shaped their summers decades earlier. My uncle Rod and former Camp Fish staff also returned to share their fishing knowledge with a new generation.

The philosophy remained much the same: fish every day, learn new techniques, and give young anglers opportunities they might not otherwise have. Campers targeted bass, crappies, pike and panfish while learning directly from experienced instructors. Maybe in the future, this can be done again…

If you made it this far, THANKS! Hope to have the next YouTube video up this Sunday or Monday night, subscribe so you don’t miss it. It’s probably going to be a longer one with all the content. I did catch one of the biggest smallmouth of my life during that trip. From shore. Off a dirt road. The topwater fishing was awesome. Story developing…