OMG!!!  Bring me oxygen!!

Our great friends Jerry and Marge Bekes came to visit this weekend.  They have a habit of keeping us hopping throughout their visit.  This visit was no exception.  It was a busy couple of days.  A couple of the best days of the summer.  We love to have these guys around.

After a miserable drive across the state that included an hour to get around Grand Rapids, we met up with our weekend guests and headed to the harbor for the evening sunset event so Jerry could snap a couple photos.

Mother Nature didn't disappoint and provided another signature Lake Michigan sunset as the SS Badger sails toward the horizon.

There's always an after glow once the sun drops below the horizon that usually brings out the pinks and purple hues.

So, time for some shut eye and a date at 5:30am to see if we can find a fish.

We're joined in the morning and set out to the west to set lines over 80' of water west of the harbor.  The sunrise is nearly as scenic as the evening event.

The lake has just a nice "fishing chop" on it and after a few minutes, it's...

FISH ON!

Jerry fights the first fish of the morning.

And does a fine job, putting the first fish of the weekend on ice.  A nice 18 lb. salmon.

Jerry resets the line.  He has this system down.  Nothing for me to do but watch.

The ladies "man" the helm in search of more action.

And find it!!

He says he just enjoys being here, but a tug on the end of the line always puts a smile on his face.

Another fish comes to the net.

And headed to the cooler.

But we're not done yet and repeat the process.  This time it took both of us to get the job done as the fish crossed the lead core line being pulled off a planer board.

But not to worry.  We got the job done.  I'm thinking this was the 22 lb. fish.

Marge is convinced her "lucky fish charm" is responsible for the success.

We dragged in a couple smaller fish, but that was the extent of the morning action and back to the harbor we went.

We finished the day with three real nice salmon.  22, 18, and 16 lbs.

After cleaning fish, the boat and myself, it's time for...

SHOPPING!!!!  at the craft show in the park.  I got my bag of Kettle Korn so all is forgiven.

Later, we went to the Manistee casino where our guests treated us to the seafood buffet.  Unlimited CRAB LEGS!  Heaven!  Unfortunately, the roulette wheel wasn't real accommodating. So we left, toured the Manistee waterfront, and called it a day after returning to Ludington.

Sunday

Jerry and Marge needed to be on their way midday Sunday but made the effort to take another stab at the fishery so out to yesterday's "hot spot" at dawn.

We're treated to another scenic sunrise over the Ludington shore.

Even before the sun finds the horizon, our first fish finds the cooler.

Like I mentioned, Jerry makes it easy for me and resets the line.

Time for a group shot with the sunrise in the background.

Two more bites during our short trip this morning.  One snapped a line.  One found the bottom of the cooler.

So time make our way back to the harbor.

Which we found...again.

And slipped back into the marina to end a great weekend.

Special recognition to a couple dock mates...

These guys did a little damage Friday evening.  Tony on the left with his 33 pound salmon and Kim on the right with her first Master Angler salmon at a little over 27 pounds.  Wow!

And finally...I got my stolen stuff back today!!!!

What a great way to end the weekend!

Sunday.

Got up early this morning to a calm harbor.  The marine forecast called for 2'-4' seas and looking at the weather buoy data, the forecast was accurate.

But how bad could it be 100 yards from a dead calm harbor?

Does this answer the question?

That's the view of the world this morning from a Ludington troller...or a sailboater on a port tack.

Correcting for wave effect, we trolled with the waves for a few miles as the sun peeked over the bluff.

We managed to coax one to the cooler this morning and had another that ran from the boat until it shook loose.  So, not too bad in crummy conditions for maybe 90 minutes of effort.

Back at the marina, it remains calm and comfortable where we'll kick around for awhile before heading east for the work week.  Ugh!

Later.

It's the weekend!!!

First of all, I've added a link to the blog of the cruiser Ambiance.  These folks are down in Whitehall and dock here in Ludington from time to time.  They run a 48' Sea Ray Sedan.  He has trolling valves and flops a salmon on the back deck from time to time.  Can't be bad folks to flop fish into your million dollar boat.  Pretty cool.

The next bit of news is that of some vandalism at the marina this week.  Seems some of the area's upstanding rednecks figured a bunch of stuff here at the marina should belong to them.  Several dinghys and outboards were stolen as well as some equipment off the boats.  My dinghy was entered (I keep a cover on it) but passed over as both the outboard and boat are locked.  They did enter the back deck of my boat and took three small boxes of lures...probably 75 lures in total.  But there is good news...maybe.  The sheriff deputy told us this morning that he thought they may have my lure boxes.  The scuttlebutt on the docks is that arrests are pending and most if not all the equipment has been recovered.  Time will tell.

Now for the fun stuff.

We arrived last night to the bad news of the theft but were treated to a colorful sunset and a calm evening.

So, it was a 5am wake up.  I set lines just outside the harbor and trolled west.

The lake was full of baitfish which is what kept me near shore.  The other couple hundred boats passed me up and went elsewhere.

It took no time and it was fish on.  My photographer was still in the berth so there were no "action" shots, just the result.  Number one on ice!

Just a few minutes later, it's FISH ON!  I haven't even had time to find my hat.

OK...this is fun.  That's number two!

...in the box!

As the sun broke the horizon, there was another fish on...but the hook came to the boat empty.

Then, it was game on again.  Damn, where's my hat?

Forget the hat, get the net.  Number three, a nice 19 lb. fish.

Oops, forgot to get the cooler picture.

Oh well.  It was a perfect day on the lake.  Why don't we get these when we have guests?

We gave up with three fish in the cooler.  Back to shore and off to the cleaning station.

 The chores are done, it's two o'clock...

time for............SHOPPING!!!!

Sidewalk sales!  Fortunately, Ludington's downtown shopping experience is quite limited compared to the neighboring resort towns so it doesn't take too long to get through all the "bargains".

Done with the shopping, we relaxed on the back deck and noticed a new bride in the park.  The dress was something straight out of Gone with the Wind.

That hoop had to have a six foot diameter.  It was a head turner.

Tonight it's palm trees and coconuts.  Ludington meets Margaritaville in the park behind the boat.  A concert..."Son of a Sailor" a Jimmy Buffet tribute band.

Fins to the left, fins to the right...


It's 6pm and the crowds gather.  I didn't know there was this many people in Ludington.

The warm-up group on stage.

Parrothead heaven.

and Kettle Korn!

The beach balls came out as anticipation of the Buffet act neared.

I wandered back to the boat where we could see a little and hear a lot.

Just before the show, "Skeeter Bob" showed up in the pontoon boat...

...with the gas powered blender that made noise to rival any chain saw.

And so it goes.  Another day is done.

Day 10.

Pouring down rain and blowing a gale.  Need I say more?

Yesterday it looked something like this.

Today is a little different.

I don't think the towels are getting particularly dry, but it's a contest between the gale wind and the pouring rain.

Kathy seems content.  A computer, sewing, and a cup of joe.  Pretty much satisfies any need she might have.

Going home sometime tomorrow.  Enough of this Michigan summer.  High tomorrow...62 degrees.

Pure Michigan!

Day 9, 10, 11, ...

The boating is likely over for the week.  The forecast is for storms and wind through the weekend.  We set lines near the harbor Thursday morning as sunrise neared.

The reason to fish close to shore was the change in water temperature after the northerly winds on Tuesday.
Surface temperature went from 73 degrees Monday to 42 degrees Wednesday.  It had warmed again to a little over 50 degrees by Thursday.

That's 44.6 degrees 25' under the surface.  It was about 65 degrees there last time I fished.

We continued on a west troll as the sun rose in search of a fish or two or...

but there weren't any to be found.

We did have a few bites, lost a nice fish and boated two little fish we threw back in the lake.  The salmon scatter when there's a big change like that.

We're planning on company today and tomorrow before heading home Saturday afternoon or Sunday.  The camping crowd wants to come here and invade the House of Flavors.  They have good ice cream, but I'm not sure it's worth the 60 mile drive.

Day 8.

Today was a bit of a maintenance day.  I've been wanting to finish polishing the hull part that I couldn't get to while the boat was in storage.  I needed to turn the boat around in the slip to get that done.  I finally did that today.

and performed the wax on, wax off operation.

Since there was a cool north breeze today, this worked out well for Kathy so she could be downwind on the back deck to supervise the work while working on a sewing project.

With Kathy's superior guidance, I put a nice gloss on the starboard side of the boat.

The wind continued to blow throughout the day so we didn't go out on the lake.

One thing about being here during the week.  There isn't much company.  The dock is void of the usual weekend social gatherings.

Yesterday's north wind blew out all the warm surface waters so the fishery is likely to suffer for a few days.  The surface temperature went from 73 degrees yesterday to 42 degrees today.  I'll see if by some chance this cold water has chased some fish toward shore in the morning.  Tomorrow is the last day forecast to be calm for several days.

Just one of those years.  Maybe I need to take up sewing as well.  Not so weather dependant.

Day 7.

Short and sweet today.

Took a road trip...

south to Grand Haven to visit family.  I thought about swimming, but the cool temperature and rip current warnings kept me out of the water.

But that little ole' red flag wasn't going to deter our clan.

They didn't last long in the water and commented on the difficulty of moving in the water.  You think maybe that's why they warn you about going in the water? 

Looks like the lake might be lumpy for a bit.  Not sure of the future agenda.  Just have to play it by ear.