Rustbelt Bake 2018

[Average Joe]

Drake Board error.

[Average Joe]

My trek to the Rustbelt Bake started this past Thursday at 3:00 AM.

Not long after my wife dropped me off at the airport I caught the first leg of my flight, which deposited me in the Las Vegas airport.

I soon discovered that my flight from Vegas to Buffalo was delayed. Southwest Air never disappoints.

After walking past a couple hundred slot machines I found a bar and nursed a handful of $12 beers before chatting up the hooker sitting next to me. She claimed to have access to a nearby utility closet, but temptation did not prevail and I boarded the flight to Buffalo no more than a half hour behind schedule.

Glista was kind enough to meet me at the airport, and while on our way to Chateau skullion he informed me that he and Ginseng had both caught fish earlier that day.

That was about as close as I got to a steelhead all weekend.

Mitch had really hoped to attend this year's bake.

In May he sent me a PM that read, "How about I fly into San Francisco at the beginning of November and then you drive us both to Buffalo?"

It took me nearly a day to appreciate the potential consequences of agreeing to such a request.

A week in the truck with Mitch.

A week of weed smoke, Grateful Dead, cappuccinos, and one-star Caesar salads, all sprinkled with generous amounts of mumbled London/Austrian slang.

It would have made for a great story.

Unfortunately Mitch had a change of plans and was unable to attend, and so we set up a little shrine in one of the rooms upstairs so that we'd be reminded of what we were missing.

It remained there, ignored, for most of the weekend.

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(photo credit brent_e)

The house continued to fill with people as the evening progressed, and skullion prepared an excellent feast.

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(photo credit brent_e)

The next morning skullion baked up a large loaf of fresh bread, and for breakfast I enjoyed a still-warm slice slathered with sweet butter and the best jam in the world, along with a Budweiser.

All of the nearby rivers were blown out, so my day was spent smoking, drinking, feasting, and playing the clown.

Ironman took charge of dinner on Friday night, and he did not disappoint.

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(photo credit Ironman)

The next day everything was still blown out, so RockyMtHigh kindly offered to take me on a little tour.

There was slight breeze coming off the lake...

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... and the temperature started to drop as the day progressed...

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... so we sought refuge wherever possible.

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He took me to see the falls...

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... and we found Mitch's luggage.

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After that we stopped at another bar and then went back to Chateau skullion.

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Skullion takes his coffee very seriously.

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After dinner we retired to the Man Attic.

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The next morning RockyMtHigh drove me to the airport, and after being subjected to another flight delay in Phoenix, I eventually made it home.

Fish were caught the day I left, which I thought most appropriate.

Some things I learned:

a) I need to take more pictures.

b) I need to stay away from gin.

Many thanks to skullion for hosting and to all of those who attended. It was great to see you all, and I hope to make it again next year.

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[austrotard]

for josh.




looks like the cc and I dodged a bullet.
as we sometimes do.

[BigTimber]

You've got it exactly right:

A week in the truck with Mitch.

A week of weed smoke, Grateful Dead, cappuccinos, and one-star Caesar salads, all sprinkled with generous amounts of mumbled London/Austrian slang.

[Glista]

Another great report by Joe. No way I can add any words, but I did get a few useless pictures.

Joe, sporting his raccoons penis jewelry and Rocky Mtn. High and his new fishing hat.

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One of the mythical unicorns.

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Ginseng's banana peel (I think Fallen513 needs to explain this one. I could be wrong)

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Another mythical unicorn.

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[skullion childs]

Once again the wife let me host random rapscallions, some of whom I only knew through the internet. What could go wrong?

Day 0

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Fatman showed up, but his luggage didn't, so we went to the Falls.

Day 1

There was fishing and eating and drinking.

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Glista caught a fish:

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Actually, both he and Treebeard caught several, but this was the only one that I photographed.

Average Joe showed up after the fishing. First he set up the shrine

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Then he practiced his poses in anticipation of the many steelhead he would catch.

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Then i got busy with cooking and eating and drinking and there are no more pictures until Ironman came over on Friday and cooked a superb meal.

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AJ made some amazing guac, and even fried up some tortillas.

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Then there was more bacchanalia. This is about how I remember the night.

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Oh yeah, HPFF rolled in just in time for dinner.

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Apparently, Evil played with the camera at some point...

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Somehow, this huge pile of refuse in the neighbor's yard managed, to my considerable shock (and relief), to not end up as a flaming bonfire.

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And then there was more fishing, Kashmiri chicken, and good times, but I have no more pics.

The day after the bake, there was a phone call for 'Skullion Childs' from the local liquor store. I figured Seth set up a tab in that name and bought up all their Weller, but it turned out there was a delivery.

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Good times, all. Thanks to all who travelled to be here, and those locally who made it happen. Hope to see you all next year.

[Oakman]

First timer

Left Brooklyn, 11:30 pm Wednesday and arrived at the Skull 7:00 am Thursday, in time to slug a cup of coffee and then go fishing.

The generosity on all levels and across the board was second to none. Fallen's invitation, the House of Skull, food and conversation, Ginsing taking his time to school me on casting and reading the water and stripping a line off his reel to loan me 'cause mine didn't match my rod for shit, flies and advice given, rides to fish the big river when I was too hung over to drive myself . . . Stellar humans from top to bottom.

All resulted in this, from the SOBF school of photography. First trip, first steelfish, Cheers.

[austrotard]

manual of style, my arse.

[fatman]

Another good time with some sketchy fukkos in the Rust Belt
Teh Fukking Suk isn't letting me download pics, tried to resize,
no dice.....
I caught a fish, ate too much, and solved world problems on the
Third Floor. For those that know, you know. For those that don't,
well, ya gotta be there.

Until next time.....

[west_jay]

*fixed*

Another good time with some sketchy fukkos in the Rust Belt
Teh Fukking Suk isn't letting me download pics, tried to resize,
no dice.....
I caught a fish, ate too much, and solved Third-world problems on the
Third Floor. For those that know, you know. For those that don't,
well, ya gotta be there.

Until next time.....

Fitting end.

I guess I need to make one of these Rustbelt things.

[fatman]

*fixed*

Third-world problems

Fairly accurate, though not 100%. Fallen gave a clinic on Indigenous Peoples Relations that
was mildly informative and quite entertaining.

[HPFF]

Made the cross country trip again this year to hang out with the Rustbelt guys. This trip has become one of the things I look forward to each year and after missing last year I was excited to be headed North again.
I've attended this event several times in the last few years and it's always a great time. In no small part because of the locals that put us up in their houses...feed us extravagantly in true Drakian fashion...and do their damndest to put us on fish regardless of the conditions.
Got to see some old friends and make some new ones on this trip as well. Fished with my old friend Steve for a few hours both Saturday and Sunday as well as hanging out with Oakman and trying to find a fish or two. Both good dudes that I thoroughly enjoyed fishing with.
The conditions were less than stellar (as usual) and we had to resort to plan B on several occasions but the hospitality and effort of the Buffalo crew more than made up for it.
On the Road

Snow at home on way out

Plan "B"



This is more like it




Oakman swinging through a couple of good runs


Thanks Steve!

Streamside Lunch

A few "After Bake" fish







Fishing my way back home




Living out of the front seat for a week

Enjoyed the hell out of it guys , thanks for everything!