Give Me More

Here's a picture I took myself. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what I took on my comp. Like I said before, Pat likes to cut it close on the time when we're going back for the day. He doesn't like to head back until he's sure it's going to get dark. And boy, when it starts , it gets there fast.
It must have been around some small islands between Martin and Sphunge Islands. There's an eagles nest on one of them.You can't see it in this picture, but there's a little black speck in the upper right side. I think it's an eagle coming back to it's nest. I didn't notice it until I printed up some pictures for some calenders. I only had a 3 meg camera with me, so a real enlargement was to blurry to make out. But from the shape of it, I'm convinced. This year I bought a better camera.
When I look at it, I have to wonder if the end of a good day fishing, or if it was the day Pat threw our fish away. Either way, it's a beautiful way to end the day. There's lots of sunsets like this up there and I need more.

Ways to Loose Fish

Catching fish and loosing fish go hand in hand. I might have even lost one or two myself. It seems like there are a million ways to do it too. From knots breaking to the fish throwing the hooks to having them jump out of your hand while you get your photo taken. That's the one I hate most. Bump your hand or have the boat rock and Plunk. They never seem to fall into the boat, unless they're small.

There is also another way, although it's not talked about much, unless it happens to you. Then it seems like it's all anyone remembers.

After moving to another spot while fishing about 3 years ago, Jim grabbed the fish basket and threw it back in the water. I thought good job. The only problem was, it wasn't tied on. Right down to the bottom. Me and Jim laughed, but Pat went bonkers. He went on and on and just couldn't understand how anyone could be so stupid.

Then 2 yrs. ago, we were out on the pontoon with our sisters. Again we went to another spot, Sue threw the fishbasket with our catch into the water. This one had a chain with a clasp on the end and looked like it was attached to the boat. But down it went. Again, Pat went nuts.

Last year guess what happened. Me and Pat were leaving the Ash River and stopped in Sullivan Bay to try one last spot before we went back. We had some nice rock bass and perch in our basket. He threw the basket over the side and GONE. Right away he wanted to start bitching at me, but, I wasn't having any of it. Then he could see how it could happen to someone. He started coming up with all these excuses about it looking like it was tied off and on and on. It was too. Atleast it was at the other spot. All he did was pull it in and we took off. Needless to say, we drifted away from where he threw it in, so we never found it.

They say that the 3rd time is the charm, but I'm a little hard headed. This year I'm getting a floating fishbasket. I saw them in the Bass Pro Shop catalogue and they're only about $14.00. It's worth it to me. 3 years in a row is a lesson even I can learn.

Smiling Faces

Just another happy face. My youngest son, Agony, I mean, Anthony.

I know it might not look like it to you, but take it from me, He's beaming! Maybe not from the size so much, but from sheer volume. This is Sullivan Bay, not far from the entrance, coming in from the Kab.

In the morning, we would drift along the shore (?) and cast or flip our bait against the wall, let it fall in and sink. It worked good too. It's just to bad we didn't try that approach sooner in the trip.

We kept hearing about a crappie hole in the bay near the entrance, by some sunken logs, but the bay's a big place and that hole's hard to find. They said it's near some sunken logs. One day Pat and I found the logs, but by accident. We were headed back to the cabin and saw somebody was fishing in the area and so we pulled up on him. He wasn't thrilled, but he wasn't catching any fish there anyway, so he told us it was right around there and took off. We couldn't see it and were just trolling around when all of a sudden we hit the log. That was a shock. It's about 1 1/2 feet or so beneath the surface and hard to spot. The only reason we found it was because Pat had the trolling motor down so low in the water, we snagged a limb. We didn't catch anything there either. The next morning we all went back, but we couldn't find the log again. So, we hit the shore.

We were flipping worms and leeches toward the shore (1-2 feet away), letting them fall and reeling in. Nothing. Then, Pat happened to flip his bait to far and it hit the wall and fell in. Boom a 12" crappie. Naturally we all started doing the same thing and we were catching them like crazy. All kinds of fish too. Crappies, smallies, perch, and even a northern. Pat caught a small perch and we all laughed and congratulated him on such a fine prize. Then when he threw it back, a northern took him as soon as it hit the water. It was like he knew we caught that fish and were going to throw it in right there. We all just stood there with our mouths open. It happened again to Jim a couple of days later. I noticed that both times we threw the fish back in away from the wall, although I never got to act on it. Besides, we were catching fish anyway. We caught a lot of fish there that morning and every morning after.

Sullivan Bay is about 1/4 mile wide and about 1 1/2 miles long and a slight curve to it. In the morning, the sun doesn't rise above the tree line until about 10 or 10:30 in the morning on the north side of the bay. After that, nothing, until the next morning. We only had 4 or 5 days left (we go for 2 wks.), so I don't know if it's like that year-round, but I know where I'll be starting out this year.

The best part about it is that the area's so big, you can always find a good spot to be by yourselves if you want. The area we covered everyday was only about 5 or 600 feet long. Almost the same starting point each day and the same results each day, too. Float 6-7 feet from the wall, or shore, and toss. If you didn't bounce off the wall or get your bait right there, you didn't catch a fish. I'll never forget that. We used 2 boats and we all caught fish all morning. The water depth changes alot, too. It goes from 2- 12 feet every few feet, it seems like. It's really a great spot.

Rainy Lake Walleye

This is one of my favorite pictures. I could look at that kid's face forever.


We hired a guide to take us out on Rainy for the day. Man, that's a big lake. Me, my brothers, son, and grandson. I know my grandson had a good day. You can see that from the smile on his face. It wasn't the 1st time he ever caught a fish, but they were some of the biggest ones he ever caught. They have size and creel limits up there so we couldn't keep all the ones he wanted to keep. One of them became his favorite, because he carried that fish around all night. He showed anyone and everyone he could corner. I don't know how my son finally got it away from him.

Before we went, we all went to the Bass Pro Shops and stocked up on jigs, plastics, and other stuff we thought we'd need, but didn't use any of it. The guide had everything. He had jigs and tied them on, baited our hooks, unhooked the fish, we had a ball.

We didn't use any plastics. It was all worms. He brought leeches and minnows too, but the worms were the hot ticket that day. The best part was, he knew where the fish were. We fished a reef just outside of the American channel, and it was non-stop action all day. We just started in fishing and never moved. It seems like when we go out alone, we end up going all over the place.

We all fished for wallies, but not my son. He had an agenda. All he wanted to catch on the whole trip were northerns. He didn't want to hear about crappies, bass, or anything else. So, he brought his spoons and casted for them all day. He did catch a few too. My brother, Jim, almost caught a really big northern reeling in a walleye, but couldn't release the bail in time, so he got away. That walleye was tore up pretty good after that.

Seeing my grandson there brought back alot of memories. When my 2 guys were little, we used to go up to Whitehall, Mi. almost every weekend. There was a small lake about a block away from our house there. We were about 9 miles from Lake Michigan and would go to White Lake channel to fish. Right behind it was Duck Lake, and we fished there also. Those were good and happy days.