Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center Sleigh & Cutter Rally

First driving trip for 2011 onto the bay.

Six of us fished. The day started with the usual early season problems. A little water in the auger fuel lines didn't help the start of the day for me. A jammed starter cord on the second auger compounded the problems. No auger...no holes...no holes...no fish...no fish...no fun.  Cloudy, windy and blowing snow at the start of the day was quickly replaced with bright sunlight and calming winds. We all caught fish and ended up having a great day. 

New feeder option. New visitors.

We just added a suet station to our backyard kitchen window feeder. It went untouched for about 7 days. I'm not sure if it was out of fear, or the suet was to new or what. But at some point the birds started to visit it. For the last few days the Grackles and at least one Hairy Woodpecker have been regular visitors.

Hairy Woodpecker

The tale of the Carmel Coated Chickadee. With lessons learned.

Starting with these lessons. 

(1) Be careful what you put in your feeders. 

(2) Not all "foods" are bird foods. 

(3) Sticky is very sticky if you have feathers. 

(4) Chickadees don't like sponge baths. 

(5) Chickadees have sharp pointed beaks. 

(6) Chickadees are not passive cute little song birds when getting a sponge bath. 

(7) Chickadee beaks will draw blood when wielded by a mad Chickadee,

(8) You won't be hearing "Chick..a..dee..dee..dee" when they are getting a bath.

(9)Band-Aids should be applied after drying your hands.

(10) For expert advise look here, here and here.

 

First trip onto the ice. Full disclosure I did not catch any fish. We walked out.

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.

How about a virtual ride through Ashland?

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.

Merry Christmas 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.

Bayfield WI. Elevated views.

Ferry, Madeline Island, Lake Superior open water (over Madeline) and Michigan (on the horizon).

Mount Ashwabay ski area from WI Hwy 13.

Through the kitchen window (ttkw).

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.

A little Christmas HO! HO! HO!.

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.

How about a little Jingle Bells.

Yup, you're right, at this time of the year I have a one track mind.... ice fishing. Fishing, for me, starts next week.

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.