Session IV - Badwater Bass Club - Lake Orion (aka "The Oakland Challenge")

Well, the summer of Jim M. was on a break this past weekend on the fishing tour as he had a prior commitment as guest speaker at the Gary Yamamoto wacky worm convention. Jim must have channeled his mojo into his brother Dave as he took the prize money for biggest fish and total poundage for the session with the help from boat captain Spurge putting him over the goods. Dirt Road Del would be proud as Jim, Dave, and Spurge all hail from the dirt road side of Tipsico Lake Rd. (the good side I hear). There must be something in the water there. With the victory, Dave climbed into 2nd place in the overall standings with Greg V. still leading.

Me, I'm still looking to get on the board. The fish are coming in the boat; they just aren't big enough. I think I'm going to move to bigger hooks because of course, the bigger the hook, the bigger the fish. Right? It has to work. I was under suspicion Friday for preventing Slick and Greg V. from catching fish. It wasn't intentional but damn I could have swore I knew the way to this honey hole on the far west side of the lake. I know it wasn't a mirage because I had been there multiple times. I just couldn't find the branch of the lake (many branches) that had it. In my defense, I did put my two fishing mates on a pretty productive area; but let the conspiracy talk begin! Look out July 3rd at Pettibone Lake!

Trail Head

No, this is not the Molson Fish Tour - I do ride a bike from time to time

1st mile - Hanson Hills

The forecast called for rain this week so with that, I put aside plans for my motorcycle joy ride and threw the mountain bike in the truck and headed north. A little rain while pedaling is manageable; a little rain on the motorcycle sucks the big wanker. For all the rain that was in the area, I am happy to report that it stayed away from my vicinity for the four trails I hit; three of which were new to the tour. All things considered, the trails were in pretty good shape.

The first ride on the docket was Tuesday at Hanson Hills in Grayling. I read some positive reports on the trail and it did not disappoint. The hills were there but they weren't ridiculous like the ones I experienced the next day. A gold star to whomever created and maintains the trail. The evening ride was at the VASA Single Track in Traverse City. I have no idea what VASA stands for but the doctor couldn't have ordered up a better wind down ride than this one. It was roughly ten miles with little or no hills in a vast forest area. I sweated out the late lunch beers beverages in the first couple of miles and it was all utopia after that with my iPod helping me along. Love those flat trails. I'll let the hardcore riders tackle the hills. I'm not ready for the defibrillator just yet.

Wednesday's ride was back to Boyne Mountain; a trail that I wasn't too impressed with a few years back but was willing to give it a second chance. Well, fool me once.... The hills are just ridiculous. Just plain ridiculous. What were the idiots thinking when they designed this? "Hey, let's send the trail up these ridiculously large hills that no human can ever make it up on a bike, let alone on foot." The only positive I can take from the experience is once you get up there after the 15th or so climb, you get a nice view from atop the ski hills and a downhill cool down. The trail has so much potential but it needs some work. I doubt I'll be back to these parts anytime soon though.

The last day's ride was near the Thompsonville area at the Betsie River Pathway. As with the VASA trail, it wasn't too hilly and was quite scenic. While there weren't any wipe outs to report for the week, I did manage to chip my tooth on my handlebars while ducking under some fallen branches there. The chip is only minor and didn't impair my post ride beverage intake so no blood, no foul. While my fear on these northern rides is that a black bear will jump out at me, the only wildlife seen was one deer and a bunch of birds. A great soul cleansing week it was.

Trail Head

  

VASA Single Track



Session III - Badwater Bass Club - Lake Chemung (aka "The Brighton Brawl")

We had a little of everything last night at the third session of the Badwater Bass Club at Lake Chemung in Brighton. We had hot air balloons, motorized parachutes, a new sponsor, and another bass club who had to make up for the fact that they all have small penises by gunning their four or five boats right up the gut of the lake at 8 pm (guess whose kayak was right in the gut of the lake at 8 pm?).

The monster fish was not to be found though as the biggest catch of the night was by Greg V. that came in a little over two pounds. The old saying "you never get skunked on Chemung" proved true as everybody caught something; just not enough "legals" to be chest bumping each other. But still, we were fishing and that is a good thing.

Trail Head





Al and Eric in the background being picture whores



Mother Cup 2011 - Munson Massacre

Sometimes the fishing gods make you work a bit more for your take. This weekend at the Mother Cup on Lake Skegemog was one of those weekends. In place of blue skies and sun block of previous years, we had every layer on in the duffel bag and then some. It was just plain raw out there. Even the golf outing was a fight. The weather, however, didn't stop the 2010 boat captain of the year, Jim M., from a repeat performance. Jim's 35 total pounds for the tournament were second most since Tommy's 38 back in 2009. Better yet, he was on the defending champion Seadog team. I could tell a nice story of how it was a back and forth battle between the teams but the Dogs took a three pound lead after the first session and never looked back for the victory. Some laughed at Jim's floating/jigging technique early on but once Sunday morning rolled around, there we all were floating right alongside him. Jim's boat took three of the four sessions (of course, I was with him when he missed the fourth). With that, I think we can safely say his captain of the year label will carry over into 2011. 

All the Jim domination aside, we can't forget to give a shout out to Tom H. for his big fish award (4+ pound pike) and the golf trio of Champ, Tom, and Tommy for taking the scramble in the rain.

As always, thanks go out to Judy and Dave for their hospitality. A great time it was.

Trail Head 

Session II - Badwater Bass Club - Woodland Lake (aka "The Woodie")

One week after catching what seemed like every fish being better than the first on Lake St. Clair, it was a battle for anything legal Friday night in the second session of the Badwater Bass Club tournament on Woodland Lake in Brighton. There were no excuses on the weather as blues skies were around us with a southerly breeze. After it was all said and done, the guy who put the "pella" into "A Cappella", Greg V., showed the others what it took to catch fish while surrounded by jet skies with a total take of a little over eight pounds. Spurge managed to take big fish for the outing with a nice pike just a bit over four pounds. 

As mentioned, the jet skies and power boats that had no reason to be on such a narrow lake made for an interesting evening. While a productive fishing lake overall, the commissioners might consider making Woodland a Saturday or Sunday morning fish next year as our fishing boats appeared invisible to the screaming youngsters on the tubes/jet skies and the speed boat anchored right in front of our honey hole made the task a bit tougher. Overall, no complaints though as we were fishing!

Spurge also gets extra points for a fine post fish spread at the "Thirsty Spurgess" man cave within his mansion off of Old 23. Good coney dogs!

Trail Head