New Dogs

Bowser and Maverick with their assisted living humans

We've implemented a new dog policy at the Lake House during the Spring Opening:

Rule 743: "Spring Opening" - Subsection 12: "Visitors" - Part D:  "Any family visitors who wish to stay overnight while Dad and I are here during the spring opening must be accompanied by a dog."

As a consequence, we have new puppies at camp this week.

Bowser

Wendy and Brian borrowed Erik's new dog Bowser to gain entry. Bowser is a six month old Shepherd Rottweiler mix.  This was his first exposure to a lake.

At first he seemed dubious of the whole proposition of a water bowl of this magnitude. It seemed excessive.  But he soon decided it was a good thing. Especially in the boat.

That is to say it is a good thing as long as he stayed in the boat. Which he didn't. So Bowser also learned to swim in the deep end on this trip.

Next visitor... Maverick - a three month old short haired pointer:

At first we were under the impression that Maverick's paws were never allowed to touch the ground. But that was not correct.It is only when Kristy is around that Maverick's paws are not permitted to touch the ground. Zach is also training Maverick to be a pillow.

There is a joke here somewhere about "If you lie down with dogs..."

 Maverick had a similar experience as Bowser while learning about the lake, only he fell off the dock instead of falling out of the boat. But the most fun for both dogs was meeting their new campmate cousin.

Bowser and Maverick get introduced.

Hey! Let's play!

After some light sparring...

...Maverick leads with a teeth lunge only to be surprised by a right uppercut.

It was a good week for camp dogs.

Even bad dogs that crap on the floor.

Annual Lake Water Level Report and First Blug

We had high hopes for the water level in the lake after the late spring and large snows of the hard winter. 


While we are still nowhere near historic levels, the lake level is far better this year than the last five years.

Still shallow in the channel, but the H.M.S. Tin Can had no problem motoring through. 

The fish are undecided about whether winter is really finally over. No bluegill or bass beds yet to be seen.

Still the Bluegill killer managed to landed the first keeper blug of the season. 

The Clay Pigeon Hunter

We had several objectives for our brief excursion to the Escanaba River camp. First, we wanted to check the status of  the road and clear out any winter fall that blocked access. While some of the puddles required filing for navigation permits, Brian's jeep had no problem daintily high-stepping through. Road debris was minimal. Nothing we couldn't push out of the way.

Next, we downloaded pics from the trailcam and replaced the batteries. It had been running since last fall. Will update the post with some pics when I can pry them out of Brian's computer. Results were somewhat underwhelming, as the camera was under a snow drift for almost three months. Probably should be positioned higher on the tree next year.

We also took the opportunity to throw a few casts in the river. The water was way high. I couldn't get more than a couple of steps from the bank. Tough to catch anything in those conditions, but we gave it a shot.

 No joy.

Finally, Brian wanted to try out his new .45 caliber Ruger model 1911. This was the first time he fired it, and I think this was the first time I ever fired a handgun.

The many "firsts" made video documentation mandatory:

"You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it's all about. A deer's gotta be taken with one shot." -  Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter

Clay pigeons too. A clay pigeon's got to be taken with one shot. 

Things are not what they seem.

Interesting optical  effects on the lake last night. We went out to do a little fishing after a busy day. The wind died. The sun came out. The lake went completely flat and glassy.

We were the only boat on the lake, so no wakes to disturb the surface.

The mirror effect was so profound that the brain would not let you accept what you are seeing. For example - the end of the dock in this picture appears to be several feet above water level. It's not.

The edge of the dock is actually right at the water surface level. Everything you see below the dock is a reflection.

I think the fish were as spooked by the effect as we were. Very little action, although Dad and Brian each caught undersized pike.

18 and 20" fish.

There appears to be a bit of a pike controversy on the lake. Several neighbors told us that the lake is exempt from size limitations on pike.  It makes sense, as the pike is an unauthorized introduced species in this lake. However, there is nothing in the published Fish & Game regs to indicate this is true.For now, we'll just keep throwing back anything under 24" per the regs.

fish objects in the mirror are smaller and further away than it seems.

Zen and the Art of Dock Installation

Arrived late Monday with Dad and Roy. Rainy and cool for our arrival and into Tuesday morning. Brian arrived earlier, so it was nice to walk into a warm lake house with a roaring fire.

The first order of business on Tuesday was getting the dock in. Assembling the dock posed an interesting challenge this year. After adding two dock extensions and relocating the dock to compensate for sharply declining water levels in recent years, the water is high. Relatively speaking.

We decided to we wanted to put the dock back at it's same location as last year to ensure an adequate draft for the boat. However, that means there was 12 feet of water and mud between the shore and dock that we would need to bridge and we did not want to buy and assemble yet another dock section. Time for a little Yooper engineering.

Note to nephews: This is why the dock sections need to sitting on bricks after removal in the fall.

Under my expert supervision and tutelage, the work was soon progressing nicely.

Our innovative design included double stacked cement brick supports and nailing the bridge framework directly into the water. I am surprised no one thought of this before.

It is good for my overeducated nephews to learn useful skills.I have helped them before.

Particularly our newly minted "Juris Doctor" Roy - here effectively putting his law degree to work...

... and wondering why it is necessary for me to stand on the dock section he is straining to hold up. Management requires making tough choices sometimes.

I must admit - this was one of my better efforts. With Roy and Brian's help of course.

 We overheard a neighbor talking on his cellphone say "Yeah... they're building a dock halfway across the bay."

But we think we  might get both the pontoon and speedboat to the dock this year. So... screw 'em.

Dad couldn't wait to test the fishing at the end of the dock. Will report on dock fishing over the next couple of weeks

Dive Day 2 - A better day to dive.

 Back for another round. Still not ideal conditions, but not bad. Slightly better than yesterday.

After the usual dithering "Do we go?" Do we not go?  we arrive at the usual answer  "We're here, we've got the equipment, the water is there, the abalone are there... Let's go."  We agreed we were not going for the limit (saving tags for later in the season), and that this was going to be more of a photographic expedition. It was a good decision. [GoPro Video will be updated later].

UPDATE: 
 As promised, my first edited GoPro effort:

More to come.