It was an exceptional weekend.  The weather couldn't have been better.  Warm, but not too hot and clear and calm.

The nice thing about Mackinaw City is that about two minutes out from the slip, you're in the lake.  No more 20 minute trek through a no wake channel to get boating.  Better yet, deep water is then only a mile or so away.

This is where I've been setting lines.  Buoy #1.

Then head toward the south tower.

Catch the morning sunrise over Mackinac Island.

And catch a fish as well.

I had four of my six bites this weekend in that one mile stretch of water.

There was a bit if commercial traffic this morning.

That freighter captain and sailboat skipper in the distance had words.  Seems there wasn't much wind so the sailboat was tacking side to side across the channel.  The captain of the freighter told the sailboat skipper in no uncertain terms to pick a side of the channel and stay there.  We later heard a couple captains dreading their navigation through the 350 sailboats in the Chicago to Mackinac race that is occurring now.

Anyway the freighter Joseph Block passed us by.

Not exactly a planing hull.

I held up the center span of the bridge with my line so he could pass safely underneath.

Just one of those camera shots that kind of turns out to be something a little different.  You can see we were in some really nice lake conditions.

Not long after that, we had some action.

It was actually a double.  I landed my fish.  Kathy botched hers.

A bit later the tug Zeus motors by.

We saw that tug in Ludington a number of times.

That was followed closely by the Algoway.

That was it for the action so we headed in and set up to clean the two fish.

I finished that job, cleaned things up and headed south.

Until another time...

An absolute perfect morning in the Straits of Mackinac.

Calm seas, warm temperatures and clear skies as the sun rises above Mackinac Island to the east.

All that is missing is a fish on one of these lines.

And guess what?  That actually happened.  First bite came early, took out about 200' of line then just as quickly was gone.  Brought tears to my eyes :-(

But then another fish on.  I'm not used to this.  Two salmon bites in one day and in the same hour.  This time a small king was headed to the cooler.

Now for the shocker...bite number three!  Fish on!

But again, run, run, jerk, jerk, and gone.  Damn.  Maybe next time I'll use hooks.  Couldn't believe it.  I lost two real nice fish today.  Tomorrow will be a different story.

That was the action for the morning.  We gave up about 9:00 am, headed back to the dock and cleaned the fish.  On the bright side, that task was brief.

After cleaning up, we strolled down to the park where a Mustang rendezvous was happening.  Lots of people real proud of their "ponies".

This was what I thought was one of the nicer cars there.  Loads of recent production cars and a few of the classics like this one.

After a stop for lunch, off for a dinghy excursion.

It was a little choppy (the ferry boat traffic does that) but we ventured west past the bridge and down the shore a bit.

A band in the park is playing Bob Seger tunes for the Mustang guys this evening.  We're just about the correct distance away from the band shell at the boat to enjoy a rock band.  These guys are real good.  It's been entertaining.

Forecast for tomorrow is more calm.  I've sharpened the hooks.

On a mission to fill the cooler.

Another busy day in the Straits of Mackinac began before the sun rose.  I was determined to find some fish today.  Unfortunately, the fish had other ideas.

I motored out into the Straits and trolled north toward the island.

Here are some action shots of the excitement...

Rods set to the downriggers

My propwash.

Yup, that was about as exciting as it got all morning.  I did actually land one small lake trout and had a salmon or steelhead on the line first thing in the morning.  I probably should have stuck around the area that I started in, but my temperature probe showed the water was really cold at 42°...or was it?

It's a long story, but I discovered that "someone" installed the probe upside down.  Apparently, the temperature doesn't read accurately when it's inverted.  I was actually fishing water over 57°.

Anyway, we ended up trolling completely around the island.  It's a scenic trip if nothing else, which is what it turned out to be...nothing else.

We pulled lines about 9:00am and ventured through the Round Island passage as a Shepler ferry arrives at Mackinac Island.

Passing the Mackinac Island harbor.

And the Round Island Light.

The sign says "open house".  It's not like you can just pull into a parking lot, get out and go have coffee and donuts.  Must have been some kind of transportation from Mackinac Island to get over there.  Needless to say, we passed on the opportunity.  Maybe next month when we're on the island for a few days.

So we made tracks toward Mackinaw City.

And what has become my least favorite place...

The gas dock, for fuel and a pump out.

Yessiree, it finally got there.

That's an even $5.00 a gallon.  Fortunately, I "only" needed about 75 gallons.  Doh!

Time for lunch and off to Darrow's.  It's the place we like the best here.

Then an afternoon relaxing around the boat.

Perhaps I should just fish the marina.  Noticed this smallmouth bass on its bed just off the marina patio.

I worked on the dinghy to begin the process of installing davits so it's easier to haul when we travel.  We determined that it was probably going to be easier to do the work on the dinghy at home, so loaded that into the minivan.  One other small chore was to retrieve the cap to the cooler drain that I dropped overboard.  Hopefully those antics don't appear on YouTube.

Evening arrives and over to the Crossing to take in a little classic rock.  There's entertainment there all day long.

Then the highlight of the day.

Mooneys!!!

And Brownie Nut Fudge.

The price isn't as good as we got at the Country Cone some years ago, but the helpings are every bit as generous.  This place is Mackinaw's best for ice cream.

After the ice cream, time for a little culture.

These guys were pretty good.  No violins in that group, only fiddles.  Kind of a mix between Irish and the Opry.

We ran out of gas after that event and relaxed at the boat until sundown missing another group in the Crossing and the laser light show.

Not the best forecast for tomorrow.  Rain, fog and possible thunder.

Ta-ta for now.

Independence Day 2014.

Navigated the I-75 gauntlet and arrived at the marina in plenty of time to kick back and unwind.

Jeff and Kristy came over for a couple days from Minneapolis so we spent the evening on a little cruise under the bridge.  Unfortunately, I was the tour guide so didn't snap any photos.  That's not being a very good photo journalist.  Makes for a boring blog, eh?

So the next morning we wake up to...

WIND!

The kids stayed in St. Ignace and aren't early risers (they're a central time zone family) so we got the dinghy out for a little morning ride.  The wind was offshore so the dinghy ride was smooth near the harbor.

We went over to the state marina for a cruise through that facility and then returned about the time the Jeff and Kristy arrived.

We strolled through the Crossings and browsed a few shops.

Sampled some fudge.

And caught a late afternoon meal before...

There's a festival somewhere???

Oh yeah and it's happening here.

There's the Straits concert band playing in the band shell.

As darkness falls at the marina.

Jeff sets up for some fireworks photos.

And the crowd waits for the show.

Finally, it's show time.

Time to get a million people out of this town and get some rest.

I woke up this morning, took a peek over the breakwall to see freighters passing through a dead calm Straits.  I thought the forecast was for wind??

We had made plans to see Jeff and Kristy off this morning so instead of boating, we headed north in the car.

Over the bridge to St Ignace.

I could see the lake was calm to the east and building to the west so missing the morning fishing wasn't going to be a big deal.

We visited the kids for a while and they left for points west while Kathy and I checked out the facilities in St. Ignace.  Unlike Mackinaw City, they have a real nice cleaning station.

We are next up on the marina waiting list at their municipal marina so we looked at those slips for a possible move next year.  Like anywhere, they have the good and the bad.  These are the 34' slips that we would use.

We'll have to think about that move for a while.  It is another big cost saving to move there but doesn't offer the amenities that we have now.

So after a little tour of the St. Ignace casino and a $10 windfall there, we went back to the boat and the flag on the "Karen-L" says it all.

The wind that was promised has arrived.

Therefore, boating isn't going to be an activity today.  I finished up the port side and arch polishing and just have a little to do on the starboard side away from the dock.  After an afternoon meal, we walked along the waterfront.

Those kids in the water must be crazy.  That water isn't much over 60°, if it's that much.

Later a freighter passes through the Straits.

The forecast for tomorrow isn't the best.  More wind plus possible rain.

I'm guessing it will be an early exit south.

More next week.