The serious fishing began Monday morning, with the Pool rules explained to everyone sober enough to listen. For the uninitiated, everyone kicks in $10 and the guys who catch the longest jackfish and laker split the pool.

The highlight of the morning was when we were all preparing to shove off and Jason K. came down to shore in his lovely, form fitting, wading outfit. It was stunning … really! The boys couldn't help but admire his guts, wearing that get up. It was actually a nice pair of fly fishing waders and kept him drier than the rest of us. But, you have to wonder if being dry was worth the B.S. he had to put up with nightly. He was a good sport about it though, as rookies have to be. Why, he wore them the whole trip, so obviously we weren't too hard on him.

The fishing that day was good, but not great. Let me clarify, good by Costigan Lake standards means great anywhere else. Joe was shocked when we were throwing back 12+ pound jacks, bigger than he had ever seen, let alone caught. In Gene's boat, Joe and I were the crew, er, I mean Boat Monkeys as Gene called us (thanks Doug, I'll get even with you). Joe caught his first ever laker, a 3 pounder. All the jacks caught were eaten for supper. There really is nothing like fresh fish in a cast iron pan.

Matt had some prop damage to contend with. He learned the hard way how tough Costigan Lake can be on boats and motors. You have to be constantly aware I while on the lake, as sandbars appear in the middle of nowhere. You can be in 50 feet of water and 20 feet away you're in two feet with the prop hitting rocks.

It rained in the afternoon so most everyone was back in camp by 5:00 sitting around the fire. Except that is, the Kindersley Boys. Having fished past 11:00 p.m. the night before, no one was too concerned when they weren't back by dark. By then it was too dangerous to search for them. Costigan Lake is confusing enough in the day time, and the sandbars would have been impossible to see in the dark. Plus, we had no idea where they were, so we could have struck off in the wrong direction and never found them, probably getting lost ourselves.

Then, there was the other point of view, as Vic so eloquently put it, "Let those Kindersley Boys sleep on the beach. It'll teach them to come back to camp by supper time." He got no argument from anyone in camp.

Besides, the conversation around the fire was quite engaging. Vic proclaimed that, along with the pool money, Eddy was a bonus prize for the pool winner. Eddy put up no real argument. This prompted Vic to comment that all the other rookies usually put up a bit of a fight for the first couple of days. But, Eddy was such a good sport, he bought into the concept right away.

I referred to Eddy as a rookie. I should clarify though, rookie for him means on the Costigan Lake trip. He is probably one of the most experienced fishermen l have met. I think he had decided, however, the best way to avoid being someone else's Pool prize was to win it himself, which he set out to do.