Great Lakes fishing adventures

Well, it has been just over a year since the start of the blog and our arrival in Wisconsin.  The longest and the shortest year of my life.  We have experienced a lot of adventures over the last year- and while it may appear from the blog that we are constantly out and about having fun, we still miss all of our family and friends very much.  We try to keep busy to keep us going.  So thanks for reading and supporting us!

Last weekend we had a great opportunity to do some Lake Michigan salmon fishing during the height of the season.  Our coworker James (my cubicle neighbor) is a avid angler and was kind enough to offer to take us out on his boat very early on Sunday morning to get the true experience.  James enjoys taking out newbies and offering them a charter-like experience to get them hooked on fishing.  Needless to say, we had a great time. 

We met James at the Kewanuee Marina at 3:30 AM (early!), which meant we had to leave Green Bay at around 2:40 AM.  The marina was already bustling with anglers getting ready to head out on the water.  We boarded James' small boat and headed for the Lake.  The Kewaunee lighthouse was lit and the stars were fantastic on our ride out.  It was already pretty crowded out on the water with other boats, and we set up and started trolling not far from the shoreline just a little south of Kewaunee.  After about an hour, we got our first bite.  It was my turn to bring in the fish- after a few minutes of the fish running out on me and bringing him back in very slowly (a lot hard than it looks!),  I brought in the first fish of the day- a nice king salmon that ended up being the largest fish of the day at 14.8 lbs.  For the next hour, we reeled in fish non-stop and had 4 or 5 in "the box" (i.e., the cooler) by 6 AM.  The sunrise provided a beautiful backdrop. 

The big guy of the day was our first catch at sunrise

Our ride was pretty relaxing for the rest of the morning.  We would cruise and enjoy the sunshine and then randomly catch a fish about once every hour.  We learned that trout and salmon are stocked in the Lake and heard more about the history of the fishery.  For example, the lake trout population (which relies on wild reproduction) was severely decimated by the 1950s and 1960s and has since rebounded some.  Many of the trout and salmon populations today are not sustainable because of reduced populations of "feeder fish" (i.e., smaller fish that these larger guy would eat).  The feeder fish are declining because of the water clarity and lack of native vegetation due to the introduction of invasive zebra mussels into the system.  Everything is connected.

 Another nice king salmon

 

 Bringing another one in- hard work!

 Scott caught a nice rainbow trout- see how blue it is?

In addition to 7 nice king salmon, we also got a rainbow trout and a lake trout for a total of 9 fish.  James was also kind enough to filet our fish at the marina for us and we now have a ton (i.e., 80+ lbs?) of fish in our freezer.  The early morning was well worth it- exciting catches, beautiful weather, and calm seas.  THANKS, James!

 Nice box for the day- all king salmon on the hooks, rainbow trout on the far left and lake trout on the far right.

Pulaski Polka Days

The biggest Polish festival around- the 37th Annual Pulaski Polka Days held right in the neighboring small town just to the west of Green Bay.  Now, you Virginians might be tempted to pronounce the town name as PEW laski (since there is a town spelled identically there)...and that would be incorrect.  It's PULL aski...dontcha know.

The weekend consists of a slew of activities including an arts & crafts fair, community garage sales ("rummage sales" around here), the Polka Trot 5K running race, a dance contest, fireworks, parade, food and drink (i.e., beer and pierogies), and non-stop live music and polka dancing.  What a sight to behold.  Each day the festival runs from about noon UNTIL 1 AM!!  Unbelievable.

Admission to the festivities is free on Sunday,  so we took a ride down in the afternoon following a long weekend of moving to take a break and check it out.  We had an ice cream cone, listened to the live music (2 tents going at once), and watched all the polka dancers.  Many of the bands came from all over the country to play, including from Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland.  Some of the songs were even sung in Polish.  I can't say I have ever learned the polka (we missed the free lessons), but it seemed pretty flexible.

Polka makes me think of John Candy's character in the movie Home Alone- he is a member of the Wisconsin polka band that drives Kevin's mom home to Chicago in a rental truck after they leave him home alone. About 25 years later, it now seems like an accurate portrayal!

One of the interesting things about Wisconsin is the heavy European cultural influence, particularly from Germany, Poland, and  Nordic countries.  These people love their polka!

 Polka Confetti from Chicago on stage 

(don't let the matching couple distract you!)

Polka dancers tearing up the dance floor

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Last week I had the chance to take a boat tour of part of the Green Bay West Shores State Wildlife Area to survey for Phragmites, the invasive wetland plant our project is targeting this year for herbicide treatments.  Basically, the idea was to check out the conditions at a few candidate sites before selecting final treatment sites, especially because we are experiencing relatively high water right now which can help to stress or kill the plant.  With the water on our side, we may need to focus our attention on fewer areas for treatment.  My "crew" consisted of the wildlife technician for the wildlife area (my cubemate) and a biologist from UWGB.  They also needed to check out the area for terns (type of shorebird), along with some of the artificial platforms they built for the birds for nesting.

 

Launching into Duck Creek- lots of cattails!

We did see some Phragmites in most of the sites we expected to, but also a lot of hybird cattail.  This wetland plant can really take over as well, and is much more tolerant of the high water conditions right now.  I think it might be the target of some future projects judging by how well it appears to be doing...the lesser of two evils perhaps?  Even so, there were a number of neat little coves that had a wealth of diverse, native aquatic vegetation and lots of fish and wildlife.  A promising sign for what we are trying to achieve in the long term for the Bay.

We also spotted quite a few common and Forester's terns- including some immature birds- near the Cat Island Chain construction site.  To summarize, the project involves a 50 year program that will use dredge spoil from local rivers to "rebuild" a chain of  sandbars and islands that once existed in the southern part of Green Bay but was wiped out during a violent storm.  This chain provided protection for the shoreline from seiche (pronounced SAY shh, the influx of water due to winds that acts kind of like a storm surge) and promoted lots of native aquatic vegetation and insects.  We did not see any tern nests on the platform (the terns were dive bombing us anyway), but I heard that 2 nests were spotted on a later visit, so perhaps that's why they were after us.

 The tern platform, constructed to provide the floating structure they prefer for nesting.  The little tents provide shelter for the chicks.

I also got the chance to see the ruins of Tail Point Lighthouse, accessible only by boat on Longtail Point, a peninsula of islands  and sandbars that juts out into Green Bay past the Cat Island Chain.  The tower is all that remains of the light and was supposed to be removed after it went out of service, but proved to be too difficult to dismantle.  It was supposed to crumble, but it's still standing.  The tower is currently on state land, but is identified as one of the most endangered lighthouses despite its rich history.  Apparently a lot of folks on boats and snowmobiles use it as a hangout.  I guess the eagles don't mind (see the nest just above the tower?).

 Ruins of Tail Point Lighthouse

See the eagle nest to the right of the lighthouse?  A young fledgling eagle is in there hanging out

After checking on the sites (and the birds) that were the purpose of our trip, we turned back to return to Duck Creek.  It was a beautiful day on the water. 

 

View of Tower Bridge, City of Green Bay, and the mouth of the Fox River, from the Bay of Green Bay

Some dense Phragmites at the mouth of the Fox River

Dog days of summer

Well, the dog days of summer are here.  The meteorologist recently confirmed that July 10-25 is typically the warmest period of the year (mid-80s) before we start gradually cooling off to head back in the other direction.  Things have been a little slower for us as far as blog material due to some travel for Scott (work and home to visit) and since we are in the process of moving again (ugh!).  We are renting a duplex house about half a mile from our apartment, so we are slowly but surely moving into the house this month while the two places overlap.  We will have a two car garage and some extra storage space, which will hopefully make things a little easier once we get all the moving stuff out of the way. 

Needless to say, I have some catching up to....

While Scott was away in late June, I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather with a repeat bike ride down at Point Beach State Forest on the Rawley Point Trail (i.e., the flatlander's mountain bike trail).  Sunny, 75 degrees, Lake Mich, and no mosquitoes when in motion = a nice afternoon. 

Bike ride on Rawley Point Trail at Point Beach State Forest

...to Two Rivers public beach.

We also spent our first 4th of July in Green Bay.  I was amazed at how many folks were setting off their own fireworks, despite the fact that it is illegal to do so in the city without a permit.  We decided to check out Fire on the Fox, the fireworks display downtown on the river.  Even while we were walking toward the show, people were setting real fireworks off in the streets- and are still setting them off a week later!  Fire on the Fox takes place from a barge in the river, so we didn't exactly know where would be the best location to show up at the last minute to watch the show without too much of a crowd.  We parked on a side street and walked toward downtown, and ended up stopping in front of a laundromat where people were gathering.  We had a pretty good view.

 Fire on the Fox (River), 4th of July

What would summer be without baseball?  We also caught a couple of Green Bay Bullfrogs games, as part of the Northwoods Collegiate League that plays from Memorial Day to early August in the Upper Midwest.  The games and entertainment are a lot of fun, and their ballpark food is pretty good (we enjoyed the Wisco Special- two brats, two ears of corn, two beers, and an order of fried cheese curds). Scott even caught one of the balls thrown into the crowd to win a free pizza the other night. 

 Green Bay Bullfrogs Northwoods Collegiate League Game