BBC - Portage Chain of Lakes - "The Machine" continues to roll

Rather than "Money," Al's new boat should now be called "The Machine." At least he should go by that moniker. The man is on fire on the Badwater Bass circuit as he had his five keepers in about an hour and a half Saturday morning on the Portage Chain of Lakes in Pinckney. His first mate (me), roughly ten feet away from the guy catching all the fish, wasn't as lucky. Fifteen or so fish for one guy and one stinking rock bass for the other. I have no alibi; I threw exactly where I wanted to go and was using the same ammunition as Al. I just didn't get it done. Loser! Ha. Al was the exception for the overall totals as he was the only one to hit his limit. Doke had a nice three-plus pounder, however, there was no big fish kitty collected. All was not lost for his efforts though as he got third place points and some prize money.

The lakes themselves (we fished Portage Lake and Little Portage) get a three on a scale of five. There are definitely fish to be had in there but they lose big points for having a boat launch that doesn't open until 8 AM. What's with that? I am assuming the DNR booth guy goes on a bender every Friday night so he doesn't get up when the rooster does. Who knows? I do know people like to fish when the sun comes up and you can't do that in Pinckney.  

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BBC - Thompson Lake - A.C. magic continues

The seventh session of the Badwater Bass Club tour was at Thompson Lake in Howell this morning. The session turned out to be a lucky one for two fellas who used to walk the mean streets of Burwood Lane. Al hasn't named his boat yet, however, based on the production coming from said boat, he should name it "Money." He and I hit our five fish limit by 9 AM and were throwing back 15 inchers later in the morning. Pink wacky worms were the soup du jour and worked quite well, obviously.

A fun morning catching fish with prize money to boot. Fish on! 

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BBC - Tipsico Lake - mudpuppy takes the gold

The Badwater Bass Club was in  Rose Township on Tipsico Lake yesterday evening for the sixth session of the tour. As the scorecard shows, the fish that were caught were 14-15 inchers at best. No jumbos to be found; only a bunch of 10-12 inchers. Al once again took home the gold for the stringer and big fish. His dismount onto shore when we were bringing in the boats, however, wasn't as successful. Mr. Suck Hole took him under. No injuries to report but some serious laundry is on the docket there.

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Al's haul

Rob looking like he really is helping there (ha)

Floating the U.P. - a small speck in some big water

The setting was Munising, Michigan earlier this week; specifically the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The mission was to see if my kayak could handle the big lake they call "Gitche Gumee" (it obviously did as I am writing this, eh?). I had no doubt the craft could make it on Lake Superior with a beach in sight. Once that beach is out of sight and you are surrounded by 200 foot cliffs that have no shoreline and miles and miles of water on the other side, intimidating is a good word that comes to mind. The ticker kicks a few extra beats while you are initially taking it all in. Thankfully, there won't be any Gordon Lightfoot re-makes of the "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" song as I made it back to shore safely with no drama to report after a nice float. A local told me they had to rescue a kayaker this past weekend from the north side of Grand Island (also in Munising) and the guy didn't start anywhere near there. The wind changes with a splash of panic apparently had something to do with it. 

After the float, I kicked it into tourist gear and checked out the mecca of Marquette, the Superior Dome! That has to be a nice treat for those sub-freezing November football games. While I didn't see any local restaurants with the Izzo/Mariucci sandwich specials, their hall of fame plaques were pretty impressive just the same.

A great getaway it was.

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Superior Dome

Bald Mountain Music Festival Pig Roast

The pictures will tell the story for this entry. Good friends and good times. I am very fortunate to have both.

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