For friends, family and the random search engine visitor. This blog started as an experiment in mobile blogging from my Palm TREO 600, 700, Prē, HTC Evo, Samsung 5, Pixel 3, Pixel 6 Pro. Now it serves as a simple repository of favorite activities. Expect bad golf, good fishing, great sailing, eating, drinking, adventure travel, occasional politics and anything else I find interesting along the way including, but not limited to, any of the labels listed here...
MW BLOG LABEL CLOUD (click label for posts on that topic)
The plan was to leave by mid-morning and get Dad to Milwaukee with a few hours to spare. Wendy wanted us to be sure he could rest before Zach & Kristy's wedding rehearsal & dinner.
We're waiting.
We found a few more things that had to be done at the lake...
...left closer to noon, and that cut things a little closer than anticipated.
After repeadtedly having our catch stolen by thieving critters, both friendly and not, we were determined to get back out there and catch enough fish for a fry. Time was of the essence. We only had a few days before heading to Milwaukee for niece Kristy's wedding, and the pressure mounted as waves of rain kept us indoors.
That evening, in between squall lines, the wind died, the lake mirrored a silvery sky, and we got some fishing in.
We did some trolling for pike, and against my better judgement, some fly fishing from the pontoon. I was dubious, but we needed fish, and catching bluegills on a fly is usually our most reliable way to fill the live well.
Some success, so back the next day.
But two fly fisherman in the front of a pontoon boat is two to many. It's just not safe. So we came up with another solution.
We banished the fly fisherman to the Tin Can and dragged them through the channel to work the structure on the west side of Mitchell Lake.
That allowed Don and I emerge from the relative safety of the canopy and do a little casting ourselves in relative peace. Net net - It worked out well.
They got a bunch of blugs, Matt and I each pulled in a nice bass, and Dad managed to land a nice pike on a bug. I still can't figure out how he did that.
After the catastrophic theft of two beautiful northern pike filets to a thieving dog, we were determined to replace our loss and go fishing for more pike. Brian would be driving back Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning was his last shot at the lake.
We had some success. Brian caught one and Dad caught two, including a 25 1/2 inch beauty...
Brian left Sunday, but Uncle Don and cousin Matt were arriving late Monday. The three fish would be a perfect meal to welcome them back to camp. Since that thieving dog Tucker was departing with Brian, fish was on the menu again.
No fish for you.
We were having some electrical problems with the pontoon boat so I did not want to leave the fish in the on-board live-well running overnight. The fish went on a stringer off the dock. Yes, we had problems with a snapping turtle the year before:
But, that was then, this is now. By now the turtle was probably killed by neighbors - or - after a cold spring, he/she was probably still hibernating /sluggish, and in any case, it would certainly take the turtle more than one night to find the fish. Right?
Wrong. This is what greeted me Monday morning.
For those keeping count, that's two catches in three days we thought we would enjoy for dinner, but was instead enjoyed by other critters.
I guess that makes us the "Bernie Sanders" of freshwater fishing. We invest our time, energy and effort, we are rewarded by a fine selection of fish, but instead of enjoying our rewards, the profit of our efforts are redistributed to some undeserving takers.
Don and Matt arrived Monday.
Uncle Don and Cousing Matt at Sawyer Int'l Airport in Gwinn...
