Black’s Cliff Resort’s Birch Bark Blog

I headed down by the road to catch these pics of Doug and Rob fishing on a beautiful night.  Calm lake, cool, but not too cool temps and fish biting

They had just gotten the crappies to start biting when I got down there

Life is good!

Beautiful afternoon and we escaped chores to go out for a little fishing adventure on the pontoon boat

Wanna wow a teenager have them catch a big perch.

The loon had to stop in and check out the fishing as well.   We spotted the new nesting spot of the loons in the back bay.  Loons are great to see everytime except when you are fishing.  Fish head for the hills when the loons come a calling

One really big Crappie.  The spawning season has just started.  This fish was sitting right on a spawning bed waiting to be caught.  This is some of the best fishing in my opinion of the entire year.  Spawning lasts til into the first week of June or so.

We even managed to find a bass.  Going through the channel into the back bay, it was fun to sit on the front of the pontoon and see all the fish swimming around in the shallows.  We spotted everything from Northerns, Bass, and Crappie swimming in front of the boat.  All fish were released not by choice, we had a hole in our live well.  Time to take a trip to Rollie and Helens Muskie Shop for a new live well

Troy and his big catch, disengaging hooks from lily pad roots.

Fun time was had by all including the loons.  Now to find some more time to go fishing instead of cleaning and painting

Ice going out on the edges, lake turning gray… who would possibly want to go out on the lake?  Answer, a certain breed of ice fishermen that love icefishing so much that they take their life in their hands, put on a life vest, spikes on their feet to negotiate the ice and find the one spot on the lake that they can get on.  On Lower Kaubashine the spot to get on is where the snowmobile trail enters the lake.  The snow was compacted there and the ice is thicker at the edges

Open water and who could that be out on the ice?

Hmm I think I recognize those brown Carharts…

Grandpa Gibson’s idea of a perfect Spring Break sitting on the ice and fishing.  He says there are 16 inches of ice in the middle yet.  The 16 inches in the middle are not what worry me it is the 1 inch next to the shoreline that is scary.  This afternoon’s fishing adventure was limited by how far they could get out on the ice.  The top of the ice was very slippery and Grandpa forgot his grippers that go on the bottom of his shoes to negotiate the slippery surface.  He is headed off to Walmart today for a pair of crampons.  The only thing biting in this spot where minnows.  Today he has plans of making it over to his favorite crappie hole in between watching the Highschool Basket Ball and NCAA games.  Right now Troy and Grant are in the lead in our NCAA picks

Clear night and temps dipped enough to freeze the lake over last night

Couldn’t resist to chop some of the ice and see how thick it had become

You need at the least 3 inches I have heard to walk on.  I feel much better when there is a full foot of ice on the lake.  I know however, somewhere in the Northwoods there is a crazy icefisherman who has ventured out on the lake to be the first one this weekend

Plate Techtonics already at work with cracks and stress

Poe and his ice report.  Like the ground hog, what day does Poe deem the lake safe.  Today he did head out without hesitation

Old dog knows best…. I am still waiting awhile yet before sharpening up the skates and getting the hockey puck out for the boys

One of our long time guests Charles Hebert (married to Amy Tempel) has started an online fishing blog and fishing tackle shop on line

www.selecttacklecompany.com

Charles has some great stuff in his store and has channeled all his fishing ideas into a blog called The Arm Chair Fisherman.  I figured there were quite a few other arm chair fishermen and women out there who would appreciate Charles’ site and blog.  Congrats to Charles on the site

Some days it is hard to not take a good picture.  This was a perfect afternoon.  Mike Rose had the entire lake to himself and rolled one of our row boats in for a final trip out on Lower Kaubashine to find the fish of 10,000 casts.  With the new snow, calm lake and a boat, it was perfect.  Peace and Quiet.  I told Mike he was going to make everyone sitting at their desks jealous of the time and scenery he got to enjoy on Lower Kaubashine, even though he did not get a Muskie.

Priceless

So happy I ran home to get the camera I had forgotten to bring along.  This is one of my favorite November Pics

I heard a rumor about a lite bobber for night time fishing was being experimented with by the Adamtietz crew.  Here are the results of the experiment.  The bottom crappie is quite a fish.  I forgot to ask how big it was