No Complaints

After a long drive back to Nebraska hauling a Uhual I was beat for a couple days.

Honda Loaded, Kayak...check...Lets see if it will make the 1,077
mile trek 

I was quite full!!! Gotta have the shot surfboard

Well needless to say the Honda made it. Now I was excited to get back on the lakes and start kayaking again before I head off on my next trip to St. Louis and softball/school start. 

I went to a different place this time Buckskin Lake. It is about 25 minutes from my place. The lake is tucked hidden in the rolling hills and gravel roads in Nebraska.  Buckskin Lake is on 75 acre prairie land and was built as a flood control reseivor. It was a nice peaceful morning and a great day to get out, since I knew it would heat up fast. 

Very calm morning

I started fishing and seeing dead fish...The heat wave/no rain is so bad it is taking the oxygen out of the water leading to ichthoid death. (I didn't think you wanted to see pictures of dead fish so not posting them).

Since the water is not really moving and combined with the heat the algae/seaweed is overtaking the lake. 

Tons of green--first person to find the frog I will send you a
bobber (it may be used--keep reading)

I hooked one small mouth bass. Just a tiny guy. 

Paddling around I was just as happy. Instead of fish I found a stash of bobbers and hooks.

My stash 

 I was kind of mad when I found the "big" hook...And I wasn't sure why I did get mad--maybe because it was tied to a tree...I only wonder what are they fishing for in this lake???  A whale?? (Since it is illegal to hunt whale in Nebraska).

Not getting this bobber..

I cleaned them up...

They have been in there awhile some of them

Simon helped

P.S-Obviously I am a little behind on some of my posts. I'll try and get caught up!

Message in a Bottle

Recently my best friend got married. I helped her with some favors: here's how I did the message in a bottle.  

I used small bottles 

Find the paper you like cut it in half! At the
wedding people could write their blessings
to the bride and groom. 

Need sand and shells 

String to tie the bottles, corks, and I didn't
end up using the blue rings (I got silver ones)

Roll up the paper small, tie with the blue string. Put the desired about of sand and shells in the bottom. Place a cork on it.

Your message in a bottle!

Still needed something else. So took super glue ran a quick line down the side of the bottle, wound twine around it, and place a silver ring to attach name cards!

Easy, simple, not a lot of money. 

Black Lake's Lost Pictures

These pictures are blog worthiness as taken from Todd's camera. They are in no particular order and I don't think they need a caption. Sometimes we forget to soak up a picture for all it is worth. 

Blake Lake's Quest

When we got up I was disappointed that the aurora borealis never came. I have always wanted to see it, guess I'll just keep looking at the night sky. Blake Lake looked like a sheet of glass when we got up. What a sight it is to see.

Let's go fish!!! Love watching the sunrise especially in
the kayak

We headed over to our "trusty" bay to catch bait for the day.  Again, I failed completely. Good thing I had Todd to catch the "small" fish. He tells you how he catches them on, Flyyak. 

We caught some bigger then this, the bigger
fish loved them!

Todd was successful at getting bait. It started to sprinkle which brought the fish to the surface, but they didn't want to eat what we were serving up!

Still had a great morning! 

When we got back, we checked the weather. BAD NEWS.  Who knew this would already be our last day. There was a huge rainstorm blowing in, 36 hours of rain with 35-40 mile per hour winds. In a kayak=no fun. We decided to be safe and take off early, even though we did not want to leave our glory island.  Todd and I decided to grit it out as long as we could. 

The wind is starting to blow and the white caps are starting. 

One thing we don't do is give up. Our challenge is, lets see how many fish we can catch before it starts raining. 

So proud 

Too bad it wasn't bass season Toddy. 

Well Todd won that round, but I think I won the biggest :).  Even though our trip got cut short we had an awesome time together. It was nice taking a vacation and doing something we both like.  I am glad I got the opportunity to spend time with my brother, learn new fishing techniques/tips, reminisce about the past, and most of all just have fun. 

My favorite pictures of the trip will be coming!!

Black Lake's Fishing Journey

Woke up the next morning energized and ready to go. I got out of my sleeping bag, put down the stuffed trout fish I was cuddling with and went to the door to look at the calm lake wavy lake. I remember every morning as a kid that Black Lake was always smooth as glass.

Woke up before sunrise!!! 

The sun is coming! What a beautiful scene. 

So what to do today??--Hard question to answer...

Todd went fly fishing and.....

Got a nice bass...too bad it wasn't season...

After fishing a little we decided to kayak a 1/2 mile over to another bay, we hoped to be screened from the wind since we weren't too smart with packing warm clothes this week.

Throw him back!

Todd being super successful, a fat sunny! 

There was a lot of little sunfish, blue gill, and caught a couple of Crappy (the minimum is 9 inches-ours weren't long enough). We were getting a little cold and hungry so decided to paddle back to the island.

Todd and his big Northern Pike 

Close up of the Northern--22 inches 

My first bull head on the island----nice belly

We go out on the crimped lake and Todd again is amazing in his carroty kayak.

Caught this baby on a spoon!

When we fish on the island we throw a couple more poles in with bobbers and some small fish to see what we can catch. I am casting a spoon and notice one of the lines goes tight, the bobber goes down (in my head  I am like awesome!) I call over to Todd and then the bobber comes back up (fail). The bobber stays up but keeps getting further and further out. At the same second, like we were talking silently in our heads together, we realized the bobber isn't attached anymore.  I took the pole and start reeling it in, this fish is putting up a ferocious fight. I am reeling it in, letting slack out, reeling in, letting slack out, the fish hits the surface and "OHHH MY GOSH!!!!" this thing is a big one!!!! Todd is like "whoooooa" and to impress him, it means something---I got to land this Bowfin. Todd has the net ready, only if I can get this big girl close. I fight, fight, and fight, finally land it into Todd's net.....

My biggest fish EVER--Bowfin 27 inches, 8 pounds 

I have never been so excited in my life!!!!! 

Todd with the big girl!!!

I had time for one more fish before the sun really set.

He was a little Bowfin!

Sunset on the second night! 

Even after sunset we still don't give up. 

Holy belly on the bullhead! 

If you would like Black Lake from the dude above check out my brother's blog, Flyyak.