Furious Skies

Ahhhh, time for the Premium once again! The BEST beer ever made, as I have said before.
Josh is getting it started off right. This nice size bass exploded on his topwater frog in Kron's Bay.

That night we pretty much just chilled, ate supper, and fished off the lighted boat docks with a cooler of beer.
The next morning we set off again. There is nothing like the first full day there. The feeling is indescribable.

My MAMMOTH bluegill to follow up Josh's 5+ pound largemouth. Yeah, I'm pretty much an idiot.
These clouds rolled in way ahead of an appproaching cold front. It was desperately needed as temps were soaring in the mid 90's the first three days we were there.
Looking off toward the corner of Kron's Bay.
After heading back in the mid-afternoon to grab some lunch, we set back out to do a little northern fishing.

The cold front that moved through brought some very weak storms that night. They missed us to the south but
still got a decent light show. Although there were hardly any bolts visible, I did manage to grab just a few.

One little dinky bolt is visible in each of the two pics below.

Later on that night, more clouds rolled through bringing some winds and more lightning. Still, no visible bolts
but got another good light show.

Looking out over Horseshoe Lake.
It was pretty windy on this shot. This was a pretty short exposure, but the trees still blurred with the lightning lit skies above.
I was hoping I would at least catch one cloud to ground strike, but no dice.
Panned back toward Horseshoe Lake. There were actually some very severe storms way further south tonight that brought tornadoes and large hail.
The skies finally started to clear out a bit with just a few more flashes.
I realized I wasn't going to get any cloud to ground lightning strikes so I took one last shot and packed it up for the night.

The next morning was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The temperatures had cooled down and the morning sun was
brilliant. As usual, Josh and I set out again, this time to Kron's Bay to do some panfishing.

The island right out in front of our resort in the no wake zone.
Now entering Kron's Bay.

This is the little penninsula that jets out in the entrance. We had already passed it, but I turned around to get it.
I'm glad I did! I absolutely love this shot.

Nothing finer than Minnesota water.
How could anyone NOT like this?
Zen.
We were fishing the opposite bank in this shot, but it was really hard to turn my back to the scene behind us.

The next morning, we decided to do something different....and go fishing! Ok, it's not different, but
that's what Minnesota means to us! Relaxing and fishing without cell phones, computers, paperwork,
or any type of authority. It's just you and the open water! Today we head to Becker Lake to try
some topwater bass fishing. The bass have been relatively slow this year, but we are still
determined to find them.

What a gorgeous morning sky.
A little bit later with the sun moving up in the clouds.
Aha! Finally got one! Actually, the bass really picked up after the cold front moved through. It turned out to be a pretty good trip for bass.

After fishing Becker for a while, we moved back to Kron's to troll for northern.

The northern were REALLY hitting well
all week long. It was starting to get a bit
hotter out so I had to shed some layers.

Later that afternoon, we went back to Becker to do some panfishing. Josh got one HUGE surprise!!

This was incredible, the whole story actually.

We were fishing for bluegill and some of the less fortunate
ones swallowed our hooks. In our efforts to retrieve them,
some of them died in the process. We threw them toward the
bank and they probably sat there for about twenty minutes. All of
a sudden we hear a huge "SPLASH", and one of the panfish were gone.
Minutes later, we hear it again. Something was attacking these fish off
of the top of the water! Then, shortly after that, Josh hooks into this
mammoth channel cat. Later that night when we filleted it, sure enough
Josh found a fresh baby bluegill in its stomach. Catfish are normally
bottom feeders, so that is why we were so befuddled. This was
crazy!

There were storms moving in later that evening too, but nothing ever reached us. These were taken as the
very northern edge just slightly clipped us.

Josh finished up the evening with one last bass.

A little underexposed, but I actually wanted to
get the sunset a little more!

Later on in the night, I got a real itch to do some long exposures. I am REALLY glad I decided to because
this is the night I learned the most about night photography. The best way to learn is by experience, and I
got alot of that tonight.

This is the main ramp heading down in front of the rest of the cabins. This was taken by the rear of the main office.
The fish house and gas pump. A lady actually walked in front of me while I was taking this but it didn't matter, the sensor never picked any of her up.
Up the path now on the other side of the fish house.

I really liked the way these turned out. The first one had a pontoon slowly going by, I believe it was a three
minute exposure. The second one had yet another boat that was actually going way too fast through
the no wake zone. I couldn't seem to get a picture without any boats. The third was the best exposed
one of them all. Again, it has ANOTHER boat, but I suppose that's what happens on a busy waterway.

Stepped back out on the dock and looked across the resort again. I'm almost ready to finish it up.
Looked back toward Horseshoe once more and called it quits. Look, ANOTHER BOAT!

The next day was sort of a lazy one for us. We were kind of burnt out fishing-wise for a while so we
decided to go to Long Lake to walk around on the island.

Got a little bored today in Becker. But, what a relaxing picture!
We pulled up to the island in Long Lake and got this shot. I loved this, but the absence of the cooler and tackle box would have helped.
After walking around the island for awhile, we got back in the boat and set off. We came up on a couple of trees that had HUNDREDS of birds. At first glance, we thought they were all loons, but they are more independent birds. Later I learned that they were actually double crested comorants. They spooked pretty easily too.
This was as close as I could get. I was also trying to steer the boat in some extremely shallow water, so it was a difficult process.
When we got back my dad decided to take out the kayak. It sounded like he had a real good time. He deserves it. He works himself to the bone.

Ahh, the final night is here. After a week of complete exposure to the sun, countless hours of fishing,
and many cases of beer, it was time to start packing up and going home. But, before I did that, I went
out one last time for some more night shots.

The sun is just starting to go down. I had to set the shutter for 3 seconds I believe on this one.
Our neighbors had a bonfire pretty much every night which was pretty cool. I thought it would be a good idea to try and get the fire and trees. I really like the way these turned out.

Then I moved on down to the lake to finish up this great vacation.

Sundown over Horseshoe

I wish I was a poet so I
could put something here.

We always stop at the tower in Galena for a rest and climb all the way to the top. Today it was magnificent. There was a layer of fog covering the ground and it made the scene just unbelievably awesome.
Panned further to the right. The sun tinted the fog just a bit brighter which made for an even better picture.
Josh in the foreground, allllll the way at the top of the tower.
I couldn't get enough of this view.
One of the enormous logs supporting the entire tower.
A while after we left the tower, Josh got a little sleepy. It's fun messing with people when they are trying to sleep.
Igor, the giant mouse in Fennimore, WI. For some reason I wanted a picture of this guy.