Chippewa Flowage Vacation 2009

First I'm going to show you that we did actually catch some fish while staying at the Chippewa Pines Resort this year. I think we brought two or three meals back which is plenty of fish for us for a while. We can always get some on Shawano Lake if we really, really need fish. Not only that - you can buy it in the store too... although it doesn't taste the same. Mona was on a roll one day. This is one of the Bass she caught and released.

John caught this Largemouth on his favorite spinner. The fish seem to like it too, sometimes... The Resort has a pontoon boat that they rent out. We rented it one year when my Mother came along for the week (just for one day) and had a blast. That particular day it rained off and on and it was nice to be under the canopy.

A small northern pike on the same lure. We caught plenty of crappie too as you will see if you continue to follow these posts.

Poor Brew... Mona told the pet groomer to take a little more of his poof off this time when she groomed him. It looks like she put the proverbial bowl on his head after she hacked the rest of it off first. The last photo in this group shows how heavy his head is even after having all his hair cut off. You'll see later that he likes to rest his chin on things. He does it at home all the time.

More Fish and Stuff

Mona netted and released a small northern as seen here above left. This small largemouth bass hit the crankbait she was throwing.

A couple more Largemouth... fish that is... that were caught and released.

We took a short break and checked out Crane Island one day. Mona caught John photographing birds.

Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame 1

One of the cool and windy days while at the Flowage we decided to take a ride in to Hayward and check out the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame again. John has been a member for over 10 years now and we get a free pass to visit the place and take advantage of it every few years to see how many changes have been made.

On October 18, 1983 a friend of ours, Bob LaMay caught this fish while fishing for walleye (he said) on the High Falls Flowage in Northern Wisconsin. He was only using 6# test line on his rod and reel and landed this 50 pound Musky.

Bob passed away a few years ago, but I know he was really proud of his accomplishment. One of the fishing Clubs I belong to and we were both President of at one time or another would put the fish on display at the Sport Show in Green Bay from time to time.

Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame 2

Here are some additional photos we took while at the Fishing Hall of Fame.

Both of these photos where taken inside the "World's Largest Musky". John is standing right in the mouth and Mona is somewhere around the Adam's Apple.

Mona in a pose here with one of the panfish. This too was catch and release - he let her go. And as mentioned earlier - the World's Largest Musky.

Chippewa Pines Vacation 2009

Although there will be more posts from the Flowage - These are the first photos presented that were taken with the little Pentax pocket camera. The little camera also took the film clips on earlier posts.

Mona and Brew are outside this fine morning. I can only assume that Brew just got done doing his thing. Also pictured is Mona with the only Walleye we tricked into the frying pan. This one took a spinner bait we normally throw for Bass and Northern.

John caught a small crappie the way it looks, and then there's the ones that didn't get away.

Mona doing the finishing touches on the Crappie and Walleye before they head to the freezer.

There's a Few Blue Huron on the Chippewa Flowage

This is the first series of photos presented here regarding the Blue Hurons in the Chippewa Flowage area near Hayward, WI. in northern Wisconsin.

A few years ago a "hail storm" hit the area and damage many of the nests and eggs for that season. It appears to me that the birds numbers are hanging in there for now, but it also appears to me that the trees that held the nests are beginning to deteriorate as well as the nests themselves.

The Stalking Blue Huron on the Big Chip

One day while fishing in our favorite crappie spot this Blue Huron kept coming back to a small bog that had raised from the bottom of the Lake and would stand like a soldier on guard and wait for it's prey to make its' deadly mistake. The bird did this about 3 or 4 times over a period of and hour and a half or so and here are a few of the stills I captured from his efforts.

Any of you who know me know I like to fish but when you have entertainment like this in front of you, the fish can wait. It's really a privilege to watch these creatures in their own environment. Unfortunately for the bird, all of his efforts of trying to survive for the moment were fruitless.

More Chippewa Flowage 2009 Photos

Top Left - this Eagle is watching the shoreline for spawning panfish the way it looks. He really didn't appear to mind at the time that we were watching him. This Eagle in the next photo on the right saw us coming from quite a ways away. There's been Eagles in this nest for the 10 or 11 years now that we've been going up there.

If you look carefully you'll see three Blue Hurons sitting in their nests in the top left photo. The picture was taken with a Canon Rebel with a 300MM Lens as most of the wildlife photos. This Loon was in the Crane Lake area and we believe she had a nearby nest because she really acted strange as if she didn't want to leave the area, but kept calling for her mate that was quite a ways away. The area we are in was always good for Bluegills.

The first picture you'll see the Blue Huron hunting as the Turtle is just laying there sunning himself. After the Huron flew away I grabbed a picture of the Sand Turtle. Shortly after the photo was taken he must have figured we were getting too close so it went into the water.

I believe this is the day we had a high temperature of 49 degrees. Later on in the day it got a little windy too.

The sign speaks for itself. This is one of the postings in the cabin. Friday night after a burst of rain we were presented with this rainbow that appeared to come right out of the middle of the Lake. The picture really doesn't do it justice. This young Eagle on the above right watched us for a while when we were getting some photos of the Hurons in the Nests above. Once we got too close, it left the scene.

Since these are still taken with the Canon - I left them in sequence. Mona is running the Movie Camera for the reality movie we plan on releasing next year (just kidding). In the 2nd photo she is looking out the cabin window and Brew has me covered from outside in the lower right.

As in the past - Click on photos to enlarge.

Our Blue Huron Visitor

One of the highlights for John this year was the day we had a visit from a Blue Huron. The visit was mentioned in an earlier post but as I got a little bit of time I was able to go through the nearly 600 photos we took and sort a few out. (There will be more posts coming.)

This is a sequence of some of the photos I took as they occurred. (You can click on any photo to enlarge it.)

The first photo is when our visitor enters the picture. The red boat on the right belongs to the Resort owner Terry, and the grey one is ours. I've been taking pictures of this guy for some time starting in the front window by the dining room and following him along the shoreline. These photos are taken from the bedroom window facing the lake. The day before this the water behind the boat motor was filled with small bluegills. I assume this guy knew that.

He's reaching out his foot here to climb in to our boat. Probably to get a better look at his prey just over the back of the boat.

Once inside the boat he starts to look around and make himself at home. My thoughts at this time are I sure hope these photos turn out and I hope he doesn't decide to take a dump. I've seen them do it while in flight and it's not a pretty site. It almost looks like one of those dive bombers you see on TV.

He must not have found anything of interest so he decides to exit the scene. Notice in the last photo that he's standing on my trolling motor. From here he jumped out of the boat along the shore and stared into the water. There must have be a twig that he liked so he picked it up in his mouth and flew away with it. Perhaps to replace a twig from it's nest and perhaps he wasn't a he?