Hi there. I hope your week was wonderful! We had a good one at Tall Pines Camp!
Fishing was good last week. I had been telling people to start at, like, 20 ft. and move deeper for walleye. Apparently I was wrong! We had reports as shallow as 11 ft. I trust the folks who told me ’cause Joe released a 24″ and a 24.5″ walleye! I’ll add his pic to the web site soon. We had two smallies and one northern qualify for Conservation Awards as well. One thing I know for sure: everyone seemed to have enough fish to eat all week! I had lots of grease cans/pans at week’s end.
Marty and Scott returned and brought friends! The guys seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Dennis (I think) caught a couple of lake trout for eating:
Wayne and LeaAnn returned after a 3 or 4 year hiatus. They tent camp (special kind of crazy, eh?)! When they first visited they discovered they were blueberry-pickers! This year they came prepared for serious picking and took home around 5 gallons! That’s how many I have so far this season, and I live here!!!! They are both dirty pickers who enjoy sorting their berries at day’s end. LeaAnn has tried to clean up her picking habits but realizes it costs her in volume. Not only did these two pick berries, they fished as well. During the course of the week, they caught 612 perch! They kept fewer than 50 but thoroughly enjoyed setting daily goals for how many they would catch. Fun!
No bears yet. Brandon experienced being quite close to a bear, though;) Cross your fingers for Kraig who’s still patiently waiting…and playing a bit of chess with a couple of bears. During the day he, Jenny and Marlin go fishing. They’ve been doing just fine. Here’s a nice bunch of piggies:
Wayne and LeaAnn weren’t the only berry pickers in town last week. I was able to guide a few times. I have been very good at putting us right on them this year! Here are two of my tour groups (you might notice that Jenny is in both pictures…she has a berry problem):
We had several HUGE storms yesterday afternoon and evening. Gruper and I pumped a ton of water from the boats this morning. I plan to guide a hunt this afternoon and anticipate even plumper berries because of all the moisture. Wish us luck!
We are entering one of our favorite weeks of the season! Why, you ask. The Red Hats are here (sans Rich) and brought friends. Kraig and Jenny hang around for a second week of fun as well. Add to that a fantastic representation of home–Pat, our matriarch; Sally, my BFF; Mike and Dawn, friends from way-back; and other new and used faces–and we have the makings of more fun than a barrel of monkeys! This shot in the arm should give us our 3rd wind, enough to make it through season 12 in one piece!
Brett and Karen brought their kids back for another visit a few weeks back. It has been fun for us to see this family in action. Brett and Karen know how to make a fishing vacation a fun all-around experience for their children, helping them develop a love of the outdoors that will be in them forever! Karen always takes great photos during their stay, and she is the featured photographer of this week’s Foto Fest!
During this year’s trip, young Master Trent added two northerns to our Conservation Awards page! He released a 30″ musky as well that week! Here’s a reminder of one of the northerns AND his perfect release stylings:
All that work tuckered him out!
Tricia caught her first perch all on her own a few years back! She has certainly evolved as an angler! Check these out:
AND, when she’s not catching she’s netting:
With her help, Brett actually gets to spend a bit of time fishing;)
I’m not being very fair! Brett does just fine as an angler:
Karen is an educator at all times. She allows the children to explore their environment, make informed decisions, and just be kids! I think her parenting approach is spot-on and contributes to the success of this family’s vacation time. Here are some other-than-fishing moments:
Critter examination:
Berry picking (of course):
Wildlife observation:
Loony behavior:
S’mores for lunch (how cool is that?)!!
I love this picture. Tricia was feeding ducks like a crazy woman all week. Here she is delighted to be so close to them. Check out Brett’s hand–holding onto her just in case…
They also appreciate the beauty of our area and, of course, the sunsets:
I’ll end with Karen’s silver sunset. We’ve not seen many of these this year and I do so love them!
Next week…we may have the return of a guest blogger;) Have a splendid week!