For those of you who are Jacksonvillians but have never been to Clark's Fish Camp, you need to get there as soon as you possibly can. And take me with you. For people who do not live in Jacksonville, this is a must-see place if you're going to be coming through the area. It's been around for years, and literally started out as a shack for fishermen eventually expanded to be the best kept secrets in the middle of nowhere. I've been going since I was a little kid, but it's still an exciting place to visit after all of these years.
Aside from the actual building, which for the most part feels like a giant dock with plywood floors and just happens to also have a ceiling, the decor is the least expected element of Clark's. This ain't Red Lobster. We're on a whole different level here. Now, I was slightly disappointed on this visit because they did some renovations on the shack due to part of it flooding, so some of their stuff was destroyed. But the new additions were pretty interesting as well. I'm not going to give away the details of what makes this place so unique, the pictures speak for themselves.
You'll have to bear with me, the photos are not in any sort of order because I uploaded them using the Blogger app on my phone.
We sat on the porch/dock since it was a lovely evening. The majority of the lighting at this place is done with twinkle lights. And that's not the tackiest thing here either...
One of the newest additions was a giant fish tank that you literally have to walk 35 feet around and up a ramp to get to the bathrooms on the other side.
There was one seagull, then my dad threw food at him and he summoned all of his seagull friends to the party.
My shoes didn't quite belong.
(This one I posted on Instagram, you can see most of my Instagram photos by following me on Twitter. Or if you have an iPhone follow me on Instagram: BachelJinks )
They redid their bathrooms, and PTL they somewhat tried to make it pretty.
Their stools outside on the porch. Well-used and very authentic.
Now we come to the fun part...Clark's is COVERED with taxidermy animals. And not just the usual ones you would see, but every animal imaginable! This giraffe is one of their new additions, I had no clue you could buy a stuffed giraffe!
This is one of the first ones you see as you enter the seating areas. Whoever made it obviously didn't know that male lions don't hunt.
Just a racoon. But it looks like it's taking a dump. heh
There are hundreds of animals in this place. There's a special room just for the birds (which include a stuffed Emu), a giant snake (which you can kind of see in the lion photo) as well as all of the hoofed animals you never knew existed. I have no clue how long it has taken them to amass their collection, but from the looks of it they'll keep expanding until they have them all. (Anyone else wish they had a dinosaur?)
The fish tank I mentioned earlier? It also had a 5' gator inside of it...
Yeah, it's a tiger. But what I really love is the guy behind the tiger on the right!
Aside from their fried pickles, which are the best I've ever had anywhere, they also have very exotic items on their menu, such as alligator, kangaroo, shark and ostrich. I've never tried any of them, mostly because I'm afraid of strange meat, but I'm sure it's delicious.
Some of the decorations on the outside. I honestly feel like I could have taken 40 more pictures, but pictures do not really do it justice. It's definitely a place that needs to be experienced. But get there early, there's always a long wait!
And if you sit out on the porch/dock, you can have a wonderful view of the sun as it goes down over Julington Creek.
All photos were taken with an iPhone 4S and edited using Snapseed or Instagram.
Thanks for reading!
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