Photos and notes from on the road. A biologist at heart. A 'retired' network administrator and lifelong photographer. Living in Ashland Wisconsin on Lake Superior's Chequamegon Bay.
Chequamegon Bay Smallmouth Bass. This picture was taken with my cellphone camera. I left the 7D home. The ice is about 10" thick. It is a little slushy on top 2-3". No one is driving from any of the landings including 1st and 2nd landing. The first 1/4 to 1/2 mile of 1st and 2nd landing is push ice and is tough going. We were marking fish at 1-2 feet off the bottom in 25 ft of water. The smallmouth above was caught on a tip up. After a couple of quick photos and a test of my new Christmas present a BogaGrip Model 130 the smallmouth was released.
This site has regular readers, including our family and friends from the east coast, friends from the "sunshine state", friends and family on the west coast and Hawaii. European, middle and far east visitors occasionally stop by as well. And of course my Wisconsin and Minnesota family and friends.
I would imagine many of them are in the military. And any opportunity to see home is always welcome. Some may have lived in Ashland and now live elsewhere.
So for all my family, friends and casual visitors.... here is my small Christmas gift for you. Both of these videos were shot in HD video.
MerryChristmas and Happy New Year.
This is the short 2:00 minute teaser version. Buckle your seat belt.
This is the longer 8:55 minute version. The get a cup of coffee, a coke or a glass of wine version. The put up your feet and enjoy version.
This is the first time we have seen this female Cardinal at this feeder. My guess is all of the other feeders have 6"- 8" of snow on them. The male Cardinal is close by. I have seen him several times over the last few days. Hopefully he will get close enough and sit long enough so I can get his picture.
We joined friends and their kids for a little outdoor Christmas spirt. A story reading by Carol Seago for the youngsters. Campfire, hot chocolate, cookies and a couple of choruses of Jingle Bells. Hot coffee and cookies for the adults.
This time of year is always long and boring for me. Open water fishing has been done for 6-8 weeks. Ice fishing doesn't happen, for me at least, until the ice is safe. Say 6 inches. Six inches means that, except for a few exceptions, the ice is safe everywhere. The time from "safe" ice to great ice is from 6 inches to 12 inches.
Four to six inches is not safe enough to drive the truck on so the approach is different. Without a four wheeler or snowmobile the only alternative is walking out while pulling your gear.
The first few trips are the early shakedown trips. Bringing to much gear or not enough. To much gear means dragging lots of unnecessary weight. To little gear and you might need to make a trip back to shore for....say the ice auger.
Once the ice is "safe" to drive I fish with one simple gear related rule "bring it all, use what you need and take it all home for tomorrow".
Tomorrow, in this case, will be get the gear ready day. Find it all, sort through it all, check it all, start what needs to started, charge what needs to be charge, fix what needs to be fixed, fresh batteries all around and of course pack the early ice gear sled. Now lets see....where did I put those jigging rods?
Videos from on the ice coming right up. Hopefully videos from on the ice with fish. One step at a time... WHERE ARE those jigging rods?
This photo was shot from the S curve looking SSE toward Ashland.
Colder weather and light winds help make ice on the bay.
Colder weather and no winds will help keep the ice on the bay.
Now we need some extended cold weather to make more ice.
This research vessel is settled in it's winter berth on the west side of the oredock.
The campground is also in winter mode.
The boats are up on land and on their cradles.
These two visitors to the bay I think have seen enough ice for the day. Maybe if I were from West Palm Beach Florida I would feel the same way. I invited them to stay and try ice fishing. No takers.
Remember click on any photo to see a larger version.
Adult Bald Eagle.
Adult Bald Eagle.
Juvenile Bald Eagle.
This video was taken today along Highway 63 south of Mason WI. The Eagles in this video and the photos above were watching a deer carcass along the shoulder of the road. In total there are four individual birds. Three adults and one juvenile. The last 25 seconds of video show an eagle's nest which is located along Hwy 63 south of the location where the video was taken. Note the first 66 seconds of the video has no audio. I cut it because the noise of a chainsaw in the background was annoying.
These I hope will bring you 'home again' for a minute or two.
This turns out to be my 1001 post. I started this blog in October 2005. I have taken tens of thousands of photos and posted only a very small percentage of those. The site has had 40200 visits. I hope you have enjoyed most of those photos and the notes attached. I hope you have seen a few that made you say wow and inspired you for a moment. I hope you have told your friend and family members about this website.
For those of you that have never seen this part of the country I hope these photos have made you add this region to your must see some day list.
For those of you that have lived here and now are worlds away I hope that these posts have made you feel like you were "home again" for a brief moment in your day.
At best I couldn't get there before this has turn into THIS !
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all.
Speaking of friends go visit the NEW website Marengo Lake Arts just started by fellow photographer Carol Seago. Leave a comment and then bookmark it while you are there.
Second Landing
Summer boat launch and winter ice road landing. By mid January this boat launch will become the on and off landing road for ice fishermen. From here fisherman head east toward Bad River and Brushpoint and west toward first landing and the east side of the lighthouse / break wall. Or straight out to their favorite spot from years past. View looking slightly west of North.
Red x is the location of Second Landing.
Red x is the location of Second Landing. Yellow X is the lighthouse.
West side of the Second Landing breakwall. Early ice? See it.
In the distance. Lighthouse and the Barksdale water tower. Pre-GPS navigational aides.
View looking northwest.
Remnants of days past.
Remnants of summer past.
Remnants of summer past.
Remnants of remnants?
This one is for Carol. Focus, depth of field or shadow?
When the weather changes and you need some color to photograph it's always nice to have the option to move indoors. This plant is now 28 years old and still offers great beauty each year at this time.
This plant is the youngster. Some call these Christmas cactus others call them Holiday cactus which is probably the best description. Here we are a few days from Thanksgiving and they are in bloom. In a month they will still be in bloom at Christmas.
