Day 6

Hard to believe it's been a week already since I left my office chair in Auburn Hills.

The lake conditions appeared to be OK this morning so we motored out of the harbor.  The mission for today was to get at least three fish to take to the family clan camping in Grand Haven this week.  The pressure was on.  We set lines a little south of Big Sable Point.

There was a lack of photography on the lake for some reason, but we did catch a few fish.  We had boated two real nice salmon, threw back a little one, and lost another by about 9am.  We REALLY wanted that third fish so stuck it out on the lake as the sun rose.  About 10am I was desperate.  Time to deploy the...

Yup, "Smelly Jelly".  I bought this stuff a couple years ago.  With the advent of fishing with strips of herring for salmon, I figured it was the scent that was the big deal so I have the "stink" without the mess.  Today was the first time I've opened it.  I dunked a fly into the goop and sent it down 60' on a downrigger.  Fifteen minutes later...FISH ON!  Not sure it was the Smelly Jelly, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Fish #3 in the cooler and mission accomplished.

The wind was building so it was time to get off the lake.

It was a little choppy, by the time we were nearing the harbor, waves had built to 2'-3'.

Our 10,000 lbs. stays in the water pretty well up to about 4' seas.  This guy, that we passed, probably wishes he had a little more ballast. 

It felt good to enter the harbor after the 7 mile trek from the point.

As I said, we did catch fish...here are two of the three we put in the cooler.  The three fish were between 16 and 18 lbs. each.

We cleaned the fish, cleaned up and ran a few errands in town.  It was time for dinner.

Grilled chicken and Veggies in foil.

Off to the "kitchen" to slave over a hot stove.  Well, kind of slave.

And a view from the kitchen window that's hard to beat.

Dinner's ready!

Dinner's over and dishes are done. 

Time to enjoy the evening from the back deck.

Tomorrow is a trip to Grand Haven to deliver fish and visit family.  That works well since the lake forecast is 30 knot winds from the north.  I may need my winter wear.  We'll see how chilly that north blow becomes.

Until then...

Day 5

I'll start out with a look back to last evening which I didn't get to post because of the lousy internet service at the marina when there are a hundred people with their phones and Ipads all connected to the wi-fi.  The fishermen have left and the cocktail crowd hasn't opened their eyes yet this morning so the service should function at the moment.

We walked out to the outer harbor last night to watch the sunset.  Now that Kathy is here, we seem to walk to the beach on a regular basis.

The sunset was nice last night.

As the sun hit the horizon, It appeared to melt into the water.  I thought the silhouette of the pier walkers made an interesting image.

So with the sun down, we walked back along the channel and saw the tug "Zeus".  It ran to about this point in the channel, suddenly stopped, did a u-turn, and ran back up into the lake.  We think the captain probably discovered that he had lost his barge.

After a few days of hot and sticky, we need a jacket this morning.  Don't know what the schedule might bring.  If it calms down, we'll go and try to catch a fish this evening after all the tournament crowd vacates.

More later...

Well, it was a lazy day.  Kathy did a little research on the computer (no doubt looking at the latest in fabrics)...

while I set out to troll the channel a little bit before the tournament fleet returned.

The fleet did return...

and weighed in a bunch of salmon.

We were going to give it another try this evening, but the skies are threatening.  We left the dock and motored about a mile out of the harbor and then turned around and headed back to the marina.  It was just a little too choppy and dark in the west to be real comfortable with a 7 mile trip out of the harbor.

Maybe tomorrow.

Day 4

Got up early this morning to run down to the pier and watch the tournament fishermen head out.  The weatherman did his job and offered up a nice morning after the blow yesterday.

It's 5:30am and the exodus begins.

15 minutes later the channel fills with boats heading to the lake.

And if a hundred plus fishermen in the channel isn't enough, let's throw in a 410 foot long ferry boat.

Eventually, everyone got into the lake to wait for the 6:00am tournament start.

It's 6:00am...and they're off.

Mean while, back at the ranch.  Since I was up at this early hour, might as well go see if I can catch something in PM Lake and enjoy the morning.

I fished a couple of my normal unproductive spots and decided to motor back up the lake.

It's a fun 20mph ride in what is essentially a 10' innertube.

In the back end of the lake, I encountered a doe and fawn walking along the reeds near the shore.

Fishing wasn't any good, so I went back to the boat where Kathy arrived shortly after and took up her usual post on the back deck.

I don't expect to fish again before later tomorrow at the soonest so I have the camper top up for her.  She likes the shade.

The afternoon and evening agenda is open.  I'm feeling a nap coming on.  Good news is that the heat and huimidity of the past few days is gone.  It's real pleasant now.

Day 3.

Woke up this morning to the waves lapping against the hull.  When that happens, it is sure to be a nasty Lake Michigan.  It was bad enough that the ladies fishing tournament was cancelled...

Wimps!

I did a few chores with some tackle (like I'll maybe catch another fish someday) and took a ride down to the beach to look at the lake.  It was indeed a bit choppy.

This is "the" day for the swimmers.  Big waves and a SW wind that blows all the warm surface waters to the beach.  The kids love it!

The appearance of a kite surfer outside the south pier, lets you know it's not the day to untie the boat.

To entertain myself today, I took a drive up to Manistee to wander around a couple marinas up there.  We have talked from time to time about perhaps renting a slip there as a change of scenery.

The municipal marina is right in the middle of town on the river channel.  I could see this being entertaining watching the boats pass.  The occasional lake freighter passes here as well.

Through the channel and just into Manistee Lake is Seng's Marina.  It's a clean, well run facility that is in a quiet cove.

We may or may not ever move, but it's fun to see what is going on in other places.

After driving back to Ludington and grabbing lunch, I got into the dinghy for an excursion out to the beach.  On the way, I ogled the boats here for the tournnament.  There are a couple serious ships here.

The story on this one is that he was the owner of a flatbread company and sold the company.  He's now enjoying the rewards of that sale and hence the boat name "Flat Out".

This one is over at the city marina.  Love the blue hull on this boat.

Then there's this set up.  Many trollers have what is called a "kicker" motor on their boat to run trolling so they don't rack up the hours on the main engines.  In most cases on the boats up to 30', you'll see maybe a 20hp motor at the most.  Well, this guy isn't going to lose much performance when using his "kicker".

This will provide a little kick.  115hp should provde enough push.

...but it is on a 35' Bertram sedan so it's not like a little walleye rig.

And then on to the beach.

I walked up on the south pier to take a peek out on the lake.  I don't get over here too much.  It's a different view of the lighthouse.

The lake still had a bit of motion in it.

And had that Caribbean aqua color to it today.

So the winds are dying and the flag is beginning to relax a little but is there a storm on the horizon?

The weatherman says maybe.  If not, maybe I'll drown a worm a little later.

This sure beats work!

Day 2

Got up this morning and noticed one of the Chicago to Mackinac sailboats was here making it's way back down the lake after last weekend's race.

Upon closer inspection, it appears this vessel has a bad sailor.  This is where you end up when there's no couch for the admiral to send you to.

Actually, it didn't cool off much last night so that may have been a better option to the berth in the cabin.

There was this classic Chris-Craft 35' Commander docked here last night.  Absolutely pristine condition.  There's something about those old Chris-Crafts that turn your head.

The wind was forecast to blow a bit today so I wasn't planning on leaving the dock.  The tournament boats in the marina (charity tourney today) fired up and left about 5:30am so I peeked outside to dead calm conditions.  Never let a good boating day go to waste, so I got up and eventually made my way out of the harbor at 7am.

Being alone and given the terrible fishing the past week, I wasn't going to go too far and would only stay out on the lake until the bugs showed up...which actually only took maybe 5 minutes but I stayed out a little while anyway.

I set lines (all 3 that is allowed since I was alone) a little west of the harbor.

and had a sonar picture that would normally be encouraging.

But it's all a tease.  I circled the area for a couple hours until the biting flies had gnawed my ankles raw and gave up and returned to port...

just as the wind began to build.

The afternoon promises to be steamy hot so a trip to the swim beach is likely in the cards. 

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Well, it got hot enough to fry an egg on my bald head, so I climbed in the dinghy and headed over to the swim beach in the outer harbor.

I took the outboard off and flipped the dinghy over and scrubbed the bottom while I was there and got it looking all spiffy for the warm season.  Pulled it up on the beach...

...and took a dip in the lake.

It took a while, but this heat wave and the SW winds have warmed the water here.  It's like flopping into a bath tub.

Think I'll lay low for the next couple hours until it begins to cool a bit.

Day 1

Holy heat stroke, Batman.  It's like a sauna in Northern Michigan.

The Goecke crew was on board for a morning of fishing.  At least I hope they were here for fishing becausing catching wasn't part of the program.  The conditions were as difficult as I have fished in.  That was unfortunate and showed in the results.

I took a shot of the guest anglers.

Sam wasn't available for the group photo.

But we FINALLY found a fish with a metal spoon in its diet and Sam manned the lead core.

He did a fine job and landed a small steelhead the was maybe 5 pounds...and that was the extent of the action.  Disappointing for me but sometimes you catch and sometimes you fish. 

They were a good crew so we'll reload and try again next year.