yet another outstanding weekend here in Michigan. This past weekend was spent in Ludington at John/Linda Ochs' household on beautiful Hackert Lake (called Crystal Lake by some).
Al, Greg, and Jim were finishing up a Friday night fish outing when I arrived and we threw some cards. Al brought a treat for the game, an ice cold mini-keg of Heineken which we consumed pretty quickly and was quite delicious. Al was the big winner in cards with yours truly also on the positive side.
Rob came in Saturday morning from his Big
Whiskey residence in Irons, about 30 miles to the north. The group set out to tackle Hamlin Lake which is right near the banks of Lake Michigan and Ludington State Park. The lake is quite large with ample room for fisherman to work their magic without too much interaction with the speed/pontoon boats. The morning started slowly for Greg, Rob, and I until Rob showed his Team Hawkeye pride and got on the board. We all ended up getting our fair share of fish. Not much on size but fun all the same. I was whipping my Wacky Worm out there pretty well (sounds nice, eh?) but whipped it one time so hard that my line broke along with the end piece of my fishing rod. I now had a half of a pole with no 
eyelets to string my line through and didn’t bring another pole. What to do? While I was enjoying my soda pop (I had a few by this time), the pop top piece looked liked something I could use so I tore that off the can and forced it down my fishing rod. Boom, instant mini-pole! Greg and Rob got a few chuckles as they watched me cast because it was an ugly scene trying to throw it out there. A few minutes later, who got the next fish? None other than yours truly with the mini-pole (pictured)! It wasn’t a big fish but I really didn’t mind at this point. The conquest made it worthwhile.
We headed back to John/Linda’s house after the fish for some chill time and met up with Wendy and the Schmitt boys, Jacob and Curtis. While I was watering the side of John’s garage (use your imagination), who pulls up but none other than John and Linda coming home from a visit to their daughter in Pennsylvania. What a nice sight they had as their first impression of how Greg was keeping up the house. I was still watering when they pulled up so I just smiled and waved. Welcome home! Nice facilities you have here. They are good people.
After a great meal, John took everyone out on his pontoon boat for a leisure cruise on the lake. As the evening wore on, we ventured down by John’s dock, listened to the Tiger game and talked about this and that. Right out of the blue, SPLASH!!! Was it a fish jumping around in the water? What was it? It was Laura O. who had fallen off the dock into the water. I’m sorry the camera wasn’t running for that one. I heard she had a repeat performance later on but I was out for the night by that time.
Hanging with friends is a good thing.
Al, Greg, and Jim were finishing up a Friday night fish outing when I arrived and we threw some cards. Al brought a treat for the game, an ice cold mini-keg of Heineken which we consumed pretty quickly and was quite delicious. Al was the big winner in cards with yours truly also on the positive side.
Rob came in Saturday morning from his Big
Whiskey residence in Irons, about 30 miles to the north. The group set out to tackle Hamlin Lake which is right near the banks of Lake Michigan and Ludington State Park. The lake is quite large with ample room for fisherman to work their magic without too much interaction with the speed/pontoon boats. The morning started slowly for Greg, Rob, and I until Rob showed his Team Hawkeye pride and got on the board. We all ended up getting our fair share of fish. Not much on size but fun all the same. I was whipping my Wacky Worm out there pretty well (sounds nice, eh?) but whipped it one time so hard that my line broke along with the end piece of my fishing rod. I now had a half of a pole with no 
eyelets to string my line through and didn’t bring another pole. What to do? While I was enjoying my soda pop (I had a few by this time), the pop top piece looked liked something I could use so I tore that off the can and forced it down my fishing rod. Boom, instant mini-pole! Greg and Rob got a few chuckles as they watched me cast because it was an ugly scene trying to throw it out there. A few minutes later, who got the next fish? None other than yours truly with the mini-pole (pictured)! It wasn’t a big fish but I really didn’t mind at this point. The conquest made it worthwhile.We headed back to John/Linda’s house after the fish for some chill time and met up with Wendy and the Schmitt boys, Jacob and Curtis. While I was watering the side of John’s garage (use your imagination), who pulls up but none other than John and Linda coming home from a visit to their daughter in Pennsylvania. What a nice sight they had as their first impression of how Greg was keeping up the house. I was still watering when they pulled up so I just smiled and waved. Welcome home! Nice facilities you have here. They are good people.
After a great meal, John took everyone out on his pontoon boat for a leisure cruise on the lake. As the evening wore on, we ventured down by John’s dock, listened to the Tiger game and talked about this and that. Right out of the blue, SPLASH!!! Was it a fish jumping around in the water? What was it? It was Laura O. who had fallen off the dock into the water. I’m sorry the camera wasn’t running for that one. I heard she had a repeat performance later on but I was out for the night by that time.
Hanging with friends is a good thing.
Trail Head
