New Ideas at Camp

The folks we camp with at FishCamp every year are some clever people... they always have new ideas or gadgets to make camp that much better.

This year, there was a new "hot shower". Pretty simple but worked well - a battery running a bilge pump in a bucket.

Water is heated and dumped into the bucket.

The pump puts up the water into the showerhead.

We never tried it, but it had rave reviews.

The weather was nice enough we just went swimming... or ran 25 minutes back to home.

We took alot of LED lamps to light our camp's path at night, and they worked really well.

The guys next to us had a much more elaborate setup of Christmas lights - that all of Rainier, OR across the river could enjoy! Funny thing is that these guys don't even get a tree at Christmas!

The hammock isn't new, just a good idea used often.

The new idea was to tie the leash to the dog and the hammock so the dog would rock the tired fisherman gently...

...bad idea! This dog likes to run and chase sticks!

Who in the heck would bring a shovel and rake to camp???

Well, these guys did, and it was very nice to level out the ground and make steps up the bank.

Still seems too much like work... but he isn't using them in this picture - he's bugging his brother to come use them!

Here is a new idea - at least for our camp. A spring-loaded fishing reel for squawfish. That way the boys could (in theory) bait up, and go off swimming.

A good idea, but the spring is a bit too stiff for a small squawfish...

But these new egg balls were a better success. The squawfish didn't rob the bait as quickly as usual.

The key to these is have a nice uncle to tie them up for you - an 11 year old isn't going to take the time!

Here's a prototype of a camera idea we tried. The clear tape was the best "waterproofing" that would not inhibit the camera.

The quick-ties let you attach the camera quickly to the main line when fighting a fish - then the camera slides down to the beads and films the fish as it fights!

We got some footage - stay tuned to see some video!


Finally, the "bungee" anchor system isn't new - we've used it very successfully and easily the last 2 years now at camp.

An anchor in deep water connects to a heavy-duty bungee cord to pull the boat deep. A rope on the boat allows us to pull the boat in.

This way, the boat isn't high-n-dry on a low tide.

Our friends didn't anchor deep enough, or use a bungee, and it took some pushing to get out to fishing!

This year, to avoid using our fishing anchor with the bungee, we instead poured 2 bags of readi-mix with 8' of chain.

This served as our permanent anchor with a bouy up for the bungee to attach to. At the end of camping, we simply pulled up the blocks and stowed them for next year! A great $10 investment and worked great to hold the boat in place.


Have any other good camping / fishing ideas? Send us an email!