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.

Black Lake's Adventures

 We unloaded the kayaks from the make shift dirt and gravel sloping earth. There was an instant calmness that struck me...I went back to all my childhood memories of fishing, swimming, and exploring the infamous Black Lake. I looked into the lake and for the first time in my life I could actually see in it. It didn't have the blackness that once took over this mass 20 mile natural lake which was carved out by glaciers some 15,000 years ago. A creature called the Zebra Mussel has now moved into this once pristine untouched lake. The Zebra Mussel started in Russia and because people think it is such a good idea to introduce it to other places it is now a very invasive species.

Zebra Mussel--make sure you wash your boat/kayak to
prevent hitchhikers! 

This is the clearest I have ever seen the lake 

Todd and I kayaked over to Bull Head Island "Paradise" which is only about a .25 paddle (one way) we ended up taking two trips due to our gear and food. After we made our second trip back we got everything ready we needed to survive for the next three days since we don't have electricity. Then we started to do what we love the most...fish...

Our Paradise

Todd got right down to fishing and.....

It paid off!!! A Bow fin!! It is a "little guy"

I came right in the game with a Large Mouth Bass,
it isn't bass season so threw the fishy back 

We got a couple on land but decided to get in the kayaks and see what we could bring home. 

We went through the back bay and I was paving the way!
If you look the lily pad flowers were up 2 more inches then
the water, that's how quick it dropped from the day before. 

The weeds tried to get the best of us but we weren't going to let that happen.....

Reeled in a Northern Pike in the kayak, you can see his
nose lost in the weeds 

Northern Pike--22 inches 

Meanwhile watch your step when you put your fish in the water.....stepping on algae is a success unsuccessful!!!

Man down! 

I had never really gotten the hang of fly fishing and my brother being such a great guy took the time to show me how to catch the "big one!"

My first fish on the fly rod!!!! Yeah, he's HUGE!!! 

We fished all the way to sun set. 

Can't complain about my backyard up here!

Trying to catch that fish that kept jumping!!! Nice and calm

Wind started to pick up

Clouds started to move in (the back of the cabin)

But, in the end the first day was a success!