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The Fishing Cousins Series
Lost In The Forest
By David Weber
Chapter 1, Day 1
Planning the Fishing Trip
This year, Dane turned fourteen years old and his parents gave him some new camping gear for his birthday.
Later that Summer, Dane his cousin Luke set up a camping trip to tryout Dane's new gear.
The camping trip was in Northern Wisconsin, just outside a small town called Hayward.
Originally, the trip was planned to
last three days and two nights.
When the boys arrived at Treeland campground, they set up their camp, which included Dane's new tent.
They packed a cooler full of their favorite food and drinks.
"Dane, this is going to be the best camping trip ever!" said Luke as they relaxed by their campfire.
Chapter 2: First Morning
The boys woke up bright and early to go fishing as the sun began to rise.
They had filled a backpack with their favorite snacks when they were home, so they were able to head out fishing right away in the morning.
Dane and Luke decided they would fish for panfish like bluegill and crappies first, because they wanted to catch fish for a fish fry.
Their plan was to fish for food in the morning and fish for muskies in the afternoon.
The lake where they wanted to fish was a fifteen minute hike through the woods from the campsite.
There was not a trail to follow; they needed to use a compass and walk straight north from their campsite to the lake.
The important detail to remember was to mark the exact location where they found the lake so they would know from where to start when they headed back to the campsite.
Chapter 3:
The hike and fishing
Dane and Luke grabbed headlamps, their light Baitcaster fishing poles, tackle box backpacks and a snack bag.
Luke unscrewed the compass from his survival knife and positioned themselves to start hiking north.
Hiking through the woods was a little tricky, since their fishing poles were getting stuck in the trees.
Then Dane had a great idea, "Luke, turn your pole around and walk with your fishing pole handle first, rather than the tip of the pole first."
Sure enough, their poles didn't get stuck in the trees any more.
It was the perfect morning to be outside-not too warm and not too cool.
It was still dark, but the sun was just beginning to rise.
The boys walked on in silence, as they listened to the birds sing.
Before they knew it, they could see the lake up ahead through the trees.
The boys were excited to begin fishing, so they hurried up and jogged the rest of the way until they reached the lakeshore.
Wasting no time, Dane and Luke set their hooks with bait and started casting.
A few minutes went by and they didn't get a single bite.
Dane scanned the shoreline for better looking fishing spots.
By this time, the sun was just coming up through the trees, so they turned off their headlamps.
"Aha!" said Dane, "let's head over by that fallen tree."
"Great idea, Dane." said Luke.
They grabbed their gear and walked around the lake until they reached the fallen tree.
"Whizzzz." Dane cast the line in.
All at once, "I got one", yelled Dane.
Sure enough, Dane had an eight inch bluegill on his line.
Luke quickly grabbed their net and scooped up Dane's fish.
"Wow, great fish, Dane!" said Luke as he admired Dane's fish.
Then Dane said with a smile, "Thanks, but you know the rule, you have to throw the first fish back for good luck."
"Yup!" agreed Luke.
Luke and Dane wasted no time getting their hooks wet.
Just like Dane's first cast, BAM! BAM!, both Dane and Luke had bites.
Luke was using an ultralight pole, so his pole was bent over and almost touching the water.
He was reeling as fast as he could.
The fishing continued on just like this all day long.
Dane and Luke moved from spot to spot all around the lake.
Their fish bag was almost completely full.
They decided to head back to the campsite and clean the fish they caught.
Chapter 4:
First sign of trouble
Dane and Luke stood in silence as they both realized they forgot to mark the spot where they reached the lake.
They both knew they needed to travel straight south, back to their camp.
As they scanned the shoreline, it all looked the same and nothing reminded them of where they started.
There was one tree that seemed kind of familiar, so they decided to go from there.
Luke unscrewed the compass from his survival knife handle and plotted their course straight south.
Dane started his stopwatch to track the fifteen minute hike.
As they started hiking, both Dane and Luke were trying to remember if anything looked familiar, and looking for their footprints.
"Luke, we just hit the fifteen minute mark," said Dane.
"Maybe this is the wrong way," replied Luke.
Both Dane and Luke had watched enough survival shows to know they should start considering setting up a camp for the night.
Chapter 5:
Creating the Base Camp
Dane opened his Army style rucksack and grabbed his utility rope.
"We can use this to tie branches together to build a shelter," said Dane.
Then Dane continued, "we should prepare to spend the night."
"Great idea, Dane. I'll collect some branches we can use." said Luke.
Over the next two hours, Dane and Luke set up their emergency base.
First, they selected a dry spot, and cleared away brush and weeds.
Next, they built an elevated platform that was about twenty-four inches above the ground.
They would sleep on this platform.
Then they built a teepee-style roof over their platform.
Dane showed Luke how to use the utility rope to connect and secure the branches.
"Good thing you brought the utility rope, Dane. It would have been even more difficult to build this shelter without it," said Luke.
To finish the shelter, they found weeds and branches with leaves they could use to lay on the roof to help keep the rain out, just in case it rained.
"Wow, our shelter looks great, " said Dane.
"Yeah, but we have more work to do," said Luke.
"I know, we need to clean these fish for dinner and collect wood for a fire and make a fire pit," said Dane.
"I'll work on the fire if you will clean the fish," said Luke.
Staying close to the camp, Luke walked in circles around the camp picking up sticks that could be used for a fire.
In no time at all, Luke had a pile of sticks that was over three feet tall.
Next Luke cleared a spot for the fire pit and surrounded it with rocks.
Meanwhile, Dane found a tree stump about fifty feet from the camp to clean the fish.
Dane knew if he cleaned the fish too close to the camp, it might attract raccoons and other scavenger animals at night.
Chapter 6: Cookout
"I guess being lost isn't that bad," said Luke as they enjoyed their meal.
Luke and Dane found some wild onions, herbs, and potatoes to cook up with their fish.
After dinner, they cleaned up by disposing all food scraps away from their campsite.
As luck would have it, there was enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitoes away.
Before they fell asleep, they made plans for the next day.
"I think we should mark a trail and head back to the lake to see if we can find our original start point," proposed Dane.
"I agree," said Luke.
That night it did start to rain, but since their shelter was built so well, they stayed dry and slept right through the rain.
Chapter 7: Backtrack
Dane and Luke loaded up all their fishing gear which included a Googins Treasure Chest bait set and their two lightweight Baitcaster fishing poles.
Luke marked true north on his compass, and Dane set his stopwatch for 15 minutes, the estimated time it would take to reach the lake.
Sure enough, after fifteen minutes of twisting, turning and ducking through brush, Dane and Luke reached the lake.
This time when they reached the shore, the sun was just beginning to rise, just like the first morning, so the scenery looked familiar.
"Hey look, there is the fallen tree we started with yesterday," said Luke.
"You're right," said Dane.
The boys ran toward the fallen tree.
Suddenly Dane yelled, "watch out!"
Both boys stopped in their tracks.
About one hundred yards ahead of them was a black bear.
Luckily, the bear was on the other side of a small bay in the lake, so the boys were safe; but it was scary.
When Dane looked down in relief, he saw shoe prints in the mud and immediately realized this was the spot where they originally reached the lake the day before.
Luke grabbed his compass and plotted a course due south.
Dane set his stopwatch for fifteen minutes.
Just like clock work, after fifteen minutes of hiking, Dane and Luke made it back to their original camp.
They both looked at each other and laughed and they both said at the same time, "You wanna go fishing?"
The End
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