Gee...it's been what? Something like 13 or 14 months since the "fun" stopped. Well, that's about change. Here in the northland, the snow is gone, the morels are popping and summer is on its way.
So to get things kicked off, I dusted off the Crestiliner yesterday and went in search of a fish on a beautiful end of April morning.
I launched at the city dock near the condo and proceeded out the river channel. The American flag hugging the pole at Ryba Marine (yes that's the same family that sells fudge) meant I should be approaching a calm Lake Huron.
Yup...It was an inviting lake as I approached the Cheboygan Harbor Lighthouse.
I motored out to the outer channel buoys and put a few lines in the water on my way to deeper water. The Bois Blanc Island (called Bob-lo by locals) car ferry is running a daily schedule again.
There was several commercial boats passing today. This is the south channel of the Straits of Mackinac. Ships traveling from lower Lake Huron and going to Lake Michigan pass through this area.
My plan was to concentrate my fishing efforts outside of the 14 Foot Shoal Lighthouse.
The lake was like a sheet of glass which is what I need to get out here in this boat.
I set my allowed three lines. Two lines off downriggers and one half core lead off a planer board. I was over about 60' of water.
It was my lucky day and I had four bites and landed three Lake Trout. This one is typical of the fish I caught.
In the distance, another ship was approaching as it passed the Poe Reef Light.
The freighter passes maybe a half mile from my location. The water in the middle of the channel isn't where I thought the fish would be this early in the year.
It was one of the nicest days I've had on the lake. These days...calm, pleasant temperature, no bugs...are rare.
So it was a nice day off from the project of the last several days. I've been working on getting the Sea Ray ready for the season after sitting idle all last year.
It's a big job. First is to clean the fiberglass. It's a wax on/wax off type of step. Then compounding with buffing wheels to get the oxidation off. Finally, a paste wax to protect the finish. And that's just the exterior!
But in case you missed it, I changed the name on the boat. Originally, I picked "Final Edition" since this is likely my last cruiser that I will ever buy. That name has a lot of syllables to repeat on the radio and I always got confusion on whether it was "edition" or "addition".
So I changed it to something that has similar meaning but is a little more basic. The boat is now the "Last Resort".
There's lots of "bad luck" superstitions with name changes, but I performed a brief ceremony to keep the sea Gods satisfied...not that it will help. It's a 23 year old boat. Stuff is going to break now and then.
So that's it. We have a few upcoming plans for boating and RVing before seriously diving into Caribbean cruising in 2022.
Stay tuned.
