A weekend camping and fishing trip.

We had beautiful weather. Nice warm sunny days. Cool no bugs evenings. A lake nearly to ourselves. Everyone caught fish. Everyone! Good food. Hot coffee and cool Rolling Rocks. And of course great friends to make the weekend great. Oh yes and a fish fry on Sunday night.

Everyone caught fish. 

Some caught larger fish.

Some caught a nice stringer of fish.

Some caught bait fish. But looked good doing it.

Some caught nice fish and cooked a great fish fry for the group.

 Some took an un-scheduled swim. 

Some traveled in style.

Some floated the lake with oars in hand. And fished with "Dandelions".

Some cleaned fish with ease.

Some EVENTUALLY took a nap. Under protest.

We all enjoyed beautiful weather and scenery.

And of course we all ended the days sitting around the campfire with sticky marshmallow fingers, chocolate lips and Graham cracker crumbs in our laps. 

Our small "bragging" and memory wall.

When you live in an area of the country with some of the best fishing and hunting opportunities you better take advantage. I'm not much of a hunter but I have always loved to fish. Starting in 2001 my wife Donna started to fish with me. So to commemorate the ten years 2001-2010 we decided to leave a little something to prove we did spend time fishing.

The mounted fish were all caught over one complete fishing season in 2010. Two Walleyes one caught in summer season and one caught through the ice. The Northern Pike was caught through the ice by Donna her first fish while ice fishing. The Bluegills / Pumpkin Seeds / Brim were caught on several of the small inland lake we like to fish.

None of the fish would ever even come close to making a record book but they each have there own "record" in our memories.

The fish mount was made by:  Bayside Taxidermy Ashland, Wisconsin.

The hat in the photo according to some is  my "lucky fishing hat".  But those who are close know that it's more than that. 

The hat has a fishing rod and a four leaf clover on it. The fishing rod is in memory of my dad who taught me to fish when I was five. The four leaf clover is in memory of my mom who could walk along nearly anywhere grass grew and simply bend over while saying "here's one" and pluck a four leaf clover out of the mass of green. 

So is it my lucky fishing hat? Yes! it is but it's much much more. The one hanging on the fish mount is the original one I had made. Since then I have had four or five backup hats made to wear.

The wall plaque on the left contains 10 years of Wisconsin Inland Lake Trout Stamps and 10 Years of Great Lakes Trout Stamps (2001-2010).  In the center is a picture of Donna and myself each with a fish on the line.  Hint: Donna's fish a Largemouth Bass and is, shall we say much bigger than the specimen I'm holding in my picture. Some days your luckier than others.

Above and below our photos are our 2001 (red) and 2010 (green) Wisconsin State Husband and Wife fishing licenses.

We had the plaque professionally mounted and all the stamps, photo and licenses are in archival envelopes.

The plaque was done by: Karlyn's Gallery Washburn, Wisconsin

21" Smallmouth Bass caught by friends at an undisclosed location.

This fish was caught, measured, photographed and returned to the undisclosed location.

A beautiful evening on a favorite lake.

Relaxing and enjoying the moment.

Nineteen largemouth bass, nearly a dozen wood ticks, high eighty temps, one very busy cameraman and six hours of fun.

Yet another reason to spend time on this lake. Fishing, swimming and beautiful wildlife.
Photo by Donna.

I'm sure glad we were off the lake and safely home when this storm passed through. Although the neighborhood damage was minimal regional damage was not. The Marengo Lake area had "hundreds" of trees down are wires across the road. Friends reportly decided to ride this one out in their basement.

Smelting 2011. Chequamegon Bay spring tradition.

The yearly early spring smelting season is on. For a few days each spring hopefully after "ice out" the smelt run will be on. Smelters flock to the Chequamegon Bay shoreline from all over the midwest. Smelting season may last for a few days or if we are lucky over two weekends. On a successful night smelters can "pull" hundreds of pound of the little guys. Service organizations, church groups and families take the opportunity to have "Smelt Fries". Some to raise money some as part of a yearly tradition.

A visit with friends as well as eagles, loons, fish, kayaking and a sunny day. And..a badger.

This Northern was placed on the menu.  

Feeding of the fish.

It's a takeout menu. 

Headed home to enjoy lunch.

Here is something you don't see every day.  A Badger.  We do live in the Badger state.

Photo by friends.

Badger State  Although the badger has been closely associated with Wisconsin since territorial days, it was not declared the official state animal until 1957. Over the years its likeness had been incorporated in the state coat of arms, the seal, the flag and even State Capitol architecture, as well as being immortalized in the song "On, Wisconsin!" ("Grand old bager state!") 

Loon.

Two great days on Lake Superior shore. Herbster Campground.

Campsite.
Hint: Click on the photos to see a larger version.

Brewing morning coffee. A great time of the day. Just after sunrise with the first cup of coffee.

Fall colors... not quite peak colors.

Beach flora.

Beach flora.

Beach flora.

Beach flora. Donna's photo.

Beach flora. Donna's photo.

Coho caught across from the campsite.

Coho caught across from the campsite.

Donna picking rocks on Herbster beach.

Sunrise beach.

Sunrise beach.

Driftwood on Herbster beach.

Setting sun. This alone makes the trip to Herbster well worth the trip.

Watch the sunset "into Lake Superior".

Duluth MN skyline photographed from Herbster WI. Thirty to thirty five mile across Lake Superior. Handheld photo with 400mm telephoto lens. A tripod would have made it a far better photo. You can see the tall (red) communication towers in this photo.

Bayfield County WI fishing.

Somedays of fishing are just better than others. Today was great fishing out of my new boat. Caught 12 largemouth bass. Put 9 or 10 on the stringer so I could get some pictures (for Skip). All the fish were quickly returned to the lake. The largest was 19". All of the fish on the stringer were over 15".

I hooked at least one that wasn't quite ready to pose for a photo. When I set the hook I thought I might have a great photo-op ahead.  As soon as the fish saw the boat (the nice new boat) it turned tail, fins, gills and all and never slowed down. It straighten my snap swivel on the way out and returned itself to the lake.

Great evening of fishing.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Loaded and ready to go.