A Fine Day For Fishing...

 Another first for me here in Kenosha!  A Lake Michigan Charter Experience!   With success!   

Although I have been out on charter boats before... In Alaska.   And I have been fishing on Lake Michigan....  From a small 14 foot boat only about 400 yards off shore...  I have never been fishing several miles off shore  in 200+ ft of water! 

Nor have I ever been fishing with Down-Riggers or Dipsey-Divers, or Plainer Boards!  That is a lot of tackle for simply trolling for open water fish!  But that is what has to be done if you want to locate and present your baits to the fish.  It was quite the change from the Lake Michigan fishing I was used to. 

I have seen all of that tackle before in the various sport shops back in the day.  And I was even familiar with how they were used.   But I have never had the opportunity to use them until today.  

Thankfully,  Lake Michigan was nice and calm.   Even the weather held for us,  since it was predicted to be rainy this morning.   There was a slight breeze.   And it was slightly chilly in the beginning...  But as the sun dipped through the clouds,  it was enough to keep the unbearable chill away and lighten up the mood.  

Our first hour was unproductive.   The other Charter Boats were out far and deep.   We Managed to mark a few fish here and there, but finally,  we managed to catch one.  Mark ( Our Captain, And one of the bus drivers at Shoreland High school.)  Did most of the netting and hook removal.   Dave and I took turns catching the fish as they triggered the Down-Riggers and Out-Riggers.    At one point, we had three fish on at the same time!   Talk about a brief moment of Chaos! 

But we managed to catch everything that hit today.   Landing a total of ten fish in the time frame we had.   We might have been able to catch our limit, but Dave had to head out to make sure Yuan got to the Airport on time.  (And deal with that Chicago Traffic!)  In the end, it was a fun day of fishing on Lake Michigan.   Perhaps we can do it again  in the future. 

After cleaning the fish and getting back home,  I went out once again for a brief mushroom hunt.   I found a couple in the "secret spot".   Along with a few other gems of nature:  

Another  Mourning Cloak butterfly!   

This time, I had a better shot of him, as he was attempting to get warmed up in the sun.   If Only I could get closer to capture those colors better....

And finally,   Another Robbin's nest.   

I'm not sure if this is the same nesting couple that I was keeping tabs of earlier this Spring,  but this time,  the mother was slightly more aggressive.  Also,  the nest was higher in the tree and better hid from view.   I had to reach up and take a blind picture to see if there were any eggs inside. 

There were!   And hopefully they will hatch and remain secure enough to fully fledged . I will see if I can keep  posting updates. 

And that was my Friday.   Not a bad day at all.   We caught fish,  Said goodbye to Yuan, and found some Mushrooms!  I even had the opportunity to work on my Dragon Head for a bit.   Nothing too fancy, but a key part of the construction.   I will post pictures of that later. ( perhaps tomorrow, When I have time.)    As for now,   time to relax a bit and see what is happening online.   A little bit of news and a little bit of Job research will pass the time  Not to mention posting this little entry for the blog.   Each one of these little posts manage to eat up several hours!   But it is all worth it in the end, as I catalog my life and have a record of these moments that I can relive and share with others.  

Because every second counts.