We drove through 3 seasons of weather crossing the state yesterday.  Fortunately, it was sunny and summer in Ludington.  The ominous clouds were visible as they bubbled up a bit inland while we enjoyed a pleasant evening.

We prepped the boat in the event we awoke in the morning and found favorable conditions to fish in.  The forecast wasn't too promising.

As it turned out, we opted to stay tied to the dock this morning as the offshore buoy indicated a bit of wind and wave out where we wanted to fish.  Later conversations with those that did venture out told us that conditions were indeed sloppy and fishing less than productive.

So, we hung out around the harbor and enjoyed the activities of the 2013 Queen's Cup sailboat race from Milwaukee to Ludington.  This race is apparently a BIG deal.  By the looks of it all, maybe second to the Mackinac races.

Harborview became ground zero for race activities.

The Ludington Fire department was on hand to welcome the weary sailors.

As the boats began to arrive in the morning and would continue to find port throughout the morning and early afternoon.

The actual finish line was a bit offshore and south of the harbor entrance.  Boats could be seen across the horizon all morning.

Race staff volunteers all wore orange shirts and did an awesome job of taming the chaos.  I felt bad that I only had one question.

I decided we needed to get "the weekend project" completed so out came the old partially functioning refrigerator.

Leaving a hole to fill in the galley.

I tried to find a replacement unit that would fit in the same opening and I was nearly successful.  The key word being "nearly".  The new refrigerator was maybe a quarter inch smaller in flange width which made adapting the opening a requirement.  So the hour job, turned into two, then three, then four but in the end, it all went together without too much trauma and we now have a shiny new appliance in the galley.

Finished with that little problem, we struck out around the marina area to take in the sailboat invasion...and there were sailboats everywhere!  That's not the usual vessel of choice in this port.

The municipal marina had it's share of customers as well.

But wait, this is more than just a sailboat race, there's a BEER tent and food.  What's a race without a just reward?

Now that we have a crowd of well fed, drunk sailors, how about a little music to put you in the party mood?  OK, done deal. 

LUDROCK!  All day long rock and roll.

 Some groups have been good, some not so much.  Everything from folk, to Buffet, to ZZ-Top.  All surprisingly entertaining and very much enjoyed from the boat as the stage is just across the fairway from our boat.

It's been a busy day.

Day 2 of the weekend. 

After an evening at the casino in Manistee and a date with some crab legs on the buffet, I got up early and looked up the lake conditions on line and decided to venture out.  After trying the last three outings near the harbor, Kathy suggested we give up that game and go out where we had some luck a couple weeks ago.  So off we went on a choppy lake where I set up lines in about 80' of water.

Kathy watching??? the lines.  It's difficult to imagine anyone with more enthusiam.

We trolled for a while, then began to mark a bunch of fish as we neared the 100' dropoff.

Then it happened.  Fish on!  Unfortunately, it's been a while since we've had that happen.

We had 5 bites and landed 3 fish.  During that run, we ran into a wall of fog (so what else is new) and the fleet of boats fishing near Sable Point.  At that point, I pulled lines instead of playing chicken with a few dozen boats in the dense fog...

...and made a sloppy run back to the harbor as the wind and waves continued to build.

It was a 6 mile, 30 minute slog back to the harbor, but we're back.

Headed up the channel.

Just in time to wave farewell to the Badger cruisers.

Next weekend, the Queen's Cup sailboat race, Milwaukee to Ludington occurs.  Word is, there will be as many as 200 sailboats arriving Saturday morning.  I'm expecting some amount of chaos at the marina and in town.  Not sure what to expect.  I'm thinking it may provide some interesting photo opportunities. 

Stay tuned.

I'll get an early start at the update this week.  So far, I could almost copy/paste last week's post.

The lake was rolling from a stiff south wind last night.  Therefore, an early wake-up was nixed in favor of some extra time under the covers.  After getting up and tending to showers, morning walks, and a little cleanup on the boat, the weather seemed to be favorable for a late morning troll outside the harbor.

So we ventured out in what looked like a little haze.

Kathy took the helm while I readied the rods as we were intending to set lines near the harbor mouth.

So there we were, lines set, less than a mile from shore...wait a minute, where's the shore?

Oh well, so what's a little fog?  Onward. 

Water temp 55 degrees at the lure?  Check.

Bait in the water?  Check.

Fish around the bait?  Check.

Fish on?  Nope!

So after a couple hours.  Back to shore and some visibility.

Leaving the fog behind.

Passing the Ludington fire boat dragging the harbor.  Maybe a training exercise?  I'm not aware of a real emergency but, could be. 

And one of the resident swans.

Arriving at Harborview Marina.

So another successful outing (we made it back under our own power).  We have to do a little business up in Manistee this afternoon so will take in a little casino action and down a few crab legs off the buffet this afternoon. 

Until tomorrow...or whenever the mood strikes me.

A family member, who will remain un-named, sent me a note this morning complaining about being tardy to post the weekend update of my life.  I was unaware that my activities were being so closely monitored.  Now that I am aware, I will try to be more prompt.

There were big plans for loads of news this week.  For the most part, many of those plans fell flat as fishing is terrible, at best and the boating conditions deteriorated throughout the weekend.  We were joined by Kathy's parents for a morning fishing run.  We ran out on a nice lake and found nothing but frigid water that held few fish or maybe none as far as I could tell. We trolled for a couple hours and gave up.  So, after Brian and Shanna arrived, we drove down to experience the craft show in Pentwater. 

It took a while to get past the first booth with samples of jam and jelly.

After the show and a walk over to the brew pub for dinner, we circled the chairs and chatted on the dock for a couple hours.  A SW breeze off the lake made it just a touch chilly.

...or as Shanna would tell you, downright cold.

We wore out Kathy's folks so they headed back to their motel while the rest of us took a stroll to the pier.

Oh, look!  There's the Badger and a camera shot I don't have among the hundreds of shots I've made over the past 15 years.

This boat came into the marina Saturday and slipped at the head of out pier.

It was tied such that the bow pulpit protruded over the dock a little.  As I walked past, something strange caught my eye.  Somewhere, there is a mother hen missing her family.

Seems it's been a while since the boat was washed or the anchor deployed.

Although the boating part of the day was less than perfect, we had a fun day with some alternate activities and anticipation of another try at catching a salmon Sunday morning with Brian and Shanna on board.

So we woke up to...

Wet everything...

...and fog so think, you couldn't see the end of the dock.  There's a marina building in the background there and that's only maybe 100 yards away.  Anyway, we did leave the dock for a little while and trolled near the harbor entrance for an hour or so.  I thought I might get lucky and find a couple salmon around all the bait in the harbor again but that didn't happen.  A few more blips (boats) began to appear on my radar screen so we gave up instead of trying to dodge them in the thick fog.

That in a nutshell was the weekend.  A perfect 0 for 0 in the fish department but certainly a 10 with the company we enjoyed.

Summer temperatures are forecast for the next week so hopefully that will improve the lake conditions.