Move along... Nothing to see here.

 Rose watch 2025

Well... there was this pic from last week I forgot to post. 

I got this alwife out of the King I caught last week, it's a pretty good sized meal.

 

This week the wind and rain kept me off the lake. I probably could've gone for a little bit on Wednesday but the waves built all day so I just stayed home, and got ready to go one last time next week. 

 

Even though deer opener is next Wednesday I think I'm going to abstain until the next week. I really want to get out one more time for salmon before I hang it up for the year.

 

Well that's it I hope everyone is doing well... talk to ya next week. 

Can't fish all day....

 Rose bush watch 2025

Now as I started to say, you can't fish all day if you don't start in the morning. So that's what I did, I made a solo run this week to Holland, MI. I got there in the dark and had plenty of time to set up the boat before it got light. After I launched, it was the normal idle out, then hammer down out to 50 plus fow where I started. I had only been trolling for an hour or so before I decided to change out some lures. I had my back turned and attention undivided on the downrigger rod, when my dipsy rod started screaming.

I put that rod in a holder and grabbed the dipsy rod which was already on it's 3rd or 4th run, I knew it was a decent king. I fought this guy for what seemed like 30 minutes, in all actuality it was probably only 5 or 10, when I finally got to see the fish. 

A dipsy is a disc shaped diver that attaches to your line and when it is let out, dives and pulls away from the boat. Usually on the lure side of the dipsy is a long leader of anywhere from 5-15', I only have a 6' leader. That being said I can't back up enough and hold the rod high enough to be able to land a fish.... So, what did you do you may ask... I installed rod holders on my boat by the windshield on the gunnels so when I need to have a third hand to hold a pole to unravel a mess, or land a fish, I have that option.
 Gotta tell ya I was glad I did, once I got the dipsy reeled up to the tip of the rod I put it in the pole holder, grabbed the line and was able to land the fish.

This was the result

A 12 pound wild king landed around 7ish am, this is my PB king.... I don't spend alot of time fishing for them.

Well, with one in the box and the skunk out of the boat, I was on the hunt for another.

No the radio doesn't work, yes I'm planning on removing it.

The reason for the pic was to show the other fish I couldn't catch 😡, but I am in the right neighborhood.👍

 

I trolled all day and washed a large number of lures to no avail. I got off the water at a little after 7 with only one fish to show. 

 

Left to start the day at 4a and got home at midnightish. 

Not a bad day. 

 

Oh yeah, before I sign off, I seemed to have misplace the only key I have for my pos, so if you have an idea where to look, it would be greatly appreciated.😘 

Might have one more trip in me

 First off Rose bush watch 2025

It's really getting big with absolutely no sign of a bud. I'm just hoping it'll make it through the winter to next year.

I'm old... that being said trying to get 4 ducks and 5 geese from the truck to the garage to process was a killer. Same with getting the cooler out of the boat and moving it around with ice and or fish....

Problem solved....

The cool part is it's all repurposed except for the furniture dolly, which I bought when I started thinking about this project... a year ago.
 Not sure what to call it but I'm leaning twords Kimber's Killer Back Saver. 😁

 

Yesterday, Holbert and I loaded up the truck and boat and headed to Holland, MI, which is where I was hoping to....

 

A. Test the boat for fish-ability. 

B. Hook into a couple "nice" Kings and then finish our limit with Coho. 

 

That was the plan.... what ended up happening was... 

A. Well, figuring out the bimini was not going to be making trips salmon fishing. It just ended up being in the way if or when we caught a fish. The rest of my set up worked pretty good. I think the fighting deck on this boat is smaller than my last boat, making it a little smaller to fish. All in all though I was pretty happy with how it turned out.... I think I can make a bimini that would work... gonna give that some thought. 🤔

B.In the morning, trying to troll against the wind while keeping the lines in the back of the boat to avoid a tangle was a little heck-tick, but we got the hang of it. We started out in 100' of water and headed out to the 180' mark. Then we noticed all the other boats were in quite a bit shallower, so that's where we trolled to. We finally had a hit on a slider in 138? 148? feet of water. The reason the question marks are there is, we couldn't remember which it was. So, we decided to troll in a zigzag pattern bouncing between 130 and 150. 

Josh, my POW for the day.... Prisoner on Water, that's what my neighbor Bill said.

We had a good day, the weather was really awesome, cool in the morning with clouds. Then clearing off in the afternoon with a wind change and making it to 75-80, which was a little warm bit it was ok.

We did end up hooking and netting 2 small kings with nothing else to show but a good memory of a day spent on the water. 

 

I really liked the ramp, the ease to Lake Michigan and the fish cleaning station... the facilities on the other hand left a memory that I won't soon shake. 

I mean...WOW 😖and not in a good way. 

 

Next time I might just dig a hole and geocache it, marking it with a X made of sticks....you don't want to dig those up. 😝

With the first... the hunting season is here

Rose bush watch 

1 SEPT 2025

I actually got drawn for the dove hunt in Huntington on Monday, so a buddy and I went and scouted for a spot. When Monday arrived I went down to Fort Wayne at daybreak to hopefully find some geese that "we" could hunt on Tuesday, and I had to drop my truck off for it's 60k birthday inspection. So the good news was I had geese, with that I got picked up and we headed down to the dove hunt. 

We checked in, picked a spot, and headed out for the day. It wasn't long after we got there that I realized, I once again picked a spot not quite on the X. Let me just say that by the looks of the sunflower fields I wasn't looking for a barn burner.... I figured we would get a couple birds but it wasn't going to be great. 

I was partially right, even though the fields looked not great we did see a fair amount of birds, and shot quite a few times. That being said our aim was... well bad. We ended up with 4 birds and we both blew through a box of shells. So, we had a good time, and my buddy got a meal albeit a small one with only 4 birds.

 I did not take a pic because... well, it was 4 birds and I knew we were up in the morning anyway.

 

2 SEPT 2025 

I got home late Monday because of a lost phone fiasco, I ate, showered and went to bed. I got up had a cup of coffee and got packed and on the road. I got to FW got unloaded and started to set up the decoys and the hide. My buddy had to get his kids off to school so he was going to be.... wow on time.... wait for it... EARLY. Apparently his wife was able to get the kids on the bus so he could come down, bonus. Which was good because it was 15-20 mins out from the time the geese showed up the day before, so we need to get situated. 

We were ready with 5 or so minutes to spare then this happened.

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                              VIDEO                                                                                              VIDEO

 We had a good day put 6 geese on the ground and as my buddy proceeded to claim almost all of them 🤔, I gently protested 😒 all the while knowing who really put the bodies on the ground 😎. Then I proceeded to take them home, clean them, salt and refrigerate them, then drop them off the next day so he can have some goose. 

I know, I'm sweet....

I'll just say... I can only shoot 3x's before I have to reload....... 🤷

You can be the judge.

Next week I'm hoping to get my truck on Monday 🤞, then on Tuesday go up to Holland, MI to do some salmon fishing.