Hoist rescued, cottage closed Oct. 23 - 24

The Hoist is finally out!

It's been three weeks since we were at the cottage last.  The water level finally dropped enough to get the hoist out.  It took around three hours to get it in position and up the ramp.  It didn't help that the winch bolt ripped out of my platform.  Wasted a half hour fixing it.  At least Saturday was sunny, no wind and flat water!  Some of the locals say they have never seen the water as high as it was two weeks ago.  Lake was probably around four feet above normal for October.  Sunday we winterized the cottage and packed up for the final time this year.  It rained all day too.  Blah!  But what a fantastic summer at Black Lake.  The next post will be a summary of our fishing season.  Until then...

Fish On!

Boat hoist rescue report Oct. 9th

We did not go to the cottage this weekend.  :-(  Water level came up a lot more since we left last Sunday.  No chance to rescue the boat hoist. The hoist will have to sit in the water at least 1, 2 or 3 more weeks.  I need the water level to drop at least 2 feet in order to get it out.  I'll post pics whenever that happens.  Whoopie!  When we get it out, we will close the cottage for the winter. Within the next 3 weeks, I'll post a season ending summary report of our 2010 catches.  It was a great summer that's for sure! This weekend we are closing our pool at home, doing yard work and some last minute painting.  Man, I'd rather be fishing!  ;-)  Until next time folks...

Fish On!

Here is an aerial pic of the main part of the lake looking north.



Fishing report Oct. 2nd - 3rd

Holy Cow!  High Water Weekend!

Well, there wasn't much fishing this weekend.  Arrived to 4" of rain in our gauge.  Water was 1" from the top of the dock.  There was seriously hard rain a couple days ago.  Saturday -  Only fished three hours and caught three bass.  Fishing was slow.  Got back to the dock and it was under water.  Decided to take the boat out.  Went over to the boat ramp and found out the ramp dock was one foot under water.  Needless to say we got wet getting the boat out.  Took out one section of the dock Saturday.  Got the second half out Sunday.  By Sunday the water had come up another 10".  I think the lake level is up well over two feet.  We were not able to get the hoist out due to the high water level.  I've never seen the lake this high in early October.  I guess we have to come up one more weekend to get the hoist out.  We took the boat home to store in the pole barn.  It will be difficult to go up next week and not be able to fish.  Oh well.  Till next time folks...

Fish On!

Annual pic with the wooden man

 Here is Denise with "the man".  It's a carver figure off RT37 in front of an old abandon stone building.  The man is starting to rot (head and feet) so we don't know how long he will survive.  It's become a ritual that we take our picture with him each year.





Early Thanksgiving?

This wild Turkey was at our front door Sunday morning.  There was also five more about fifty feet away.  A small dog started running at them and they took flight.  One flew over our cottage and landed at the top of a a sixty foot pine tree.  I never knew Turkey's could fly that high!

Fishing report Sept. 25th - 26th

3 lb 3 oz Largemouth 9/25/10

Saturday - Fished 8:00 am - 12:00 pm.  55 degrees to start with the high around 62.  Today was overcast and very windy. S/W winds 15 mph with gusts to 30 mph.  Fished Upper Deep Bay and Dwaynes Island area.  Caught 9 bass.  Went back out at 5:00 pm.  The sun actuallly came back out for awhile.  Fish north of Prince Island and Conger Island N/E.  I was trying to stay out of the wind.  Had a nice scrappy smallmout at little under three pounds.  It put up a good fight but was no match for me.  HA HA!  Caught a nice 3 lb 3 oz largemouth bass just before dark.  Fished until 7:00 pm.  Caught 6 bass.  15 total for the day.

Sunday - Fished 7:00 am - 12:00 pm.  53 degrees to start and around 58 at noon.  The morning was very cloudy and overcast, but the lake was CALM!  Virtually no wind all morning.  A very nice change from yesterday.  Started at Conger Island south and caught a few right away.  Went to U.D. Bay, then The Cut and M.P. Bay.  Caught a handful and had 10 bass by the time I headed to Emery Island.  Caught 5 bass near the K buoy.  One of those was a 3 lb 8 oz largemouth beauty.  That makes 15 bass for the morning and a total of 30 for the weekend.  It didn't rain Saturday or Sunday until we packed up and headed home.  Water level is fairly stable and about 14 inches below our dock.  Just a tad high for late September.  The lake is beautiful this time of year with Autumn really showing it's colors.  The air is cool and crisp.  This means only one more week for the Lunker Hunters.  Next week we'll make one last try to find the ever elusive five pound lunker.  That wraps up another report folks.  Until next week...

Fish On!

 3 lb 8 oz Largemouth 9/26/10

Dash for Cash Tournament weekend Sept. 18th - 19th

The Log Cabins docks

Well, tournament weekend was awesome!  The weather was perfect, and the fishing was great.  Saturday -  Practice day for the Sunday tournament.  Fished 7 am to Noon.We targeted three areas that have been producing for us lately.  Did decent and caught 10 bass.  Sunday/Tournament day - 5:30 am started the ride in the dark to the Log Cabins docks.  Launch started at 6:20 am.  Lake was calm, temp was 58 degrees and warmed to 70 degrees.  It turned out to be sunny all day.  We launched #4 and easily got to the bay we wanted first and laid claim to our area.  First cast was 7:00 am and we had three keepers we needed by 8:00 am.  At 8:30 am I caught a 3.92 lb Lunker.  We started culling and throwing back the smaller ones.  At 10:15 am we decided to return to the docks to weigh-in the big one.  That turned out to be a good move and we won the #3 hourly lunker award of $650.  Our other two fish were 2.57 lbs and 2.48 lbs.  That gave us a three fish total of 8.97 lbs, which was good enough to get us $175 and 10th place (tie) overall finish in the tournament.  The winner of the tournament weighed in 12.75 lbs.  That team also won Lunker of the Day at 5.77 lbs.  We are very pleased with 10th place as it was our highest finish ever.    Well, that wraps-up tournament weekend and another fishing report.  Until next week...

Fish On!

Lunker of the Hour #3

3.92 lb Largemouth