The Piano & The Fog

When I was at Camp Tower Hill, the counselors told of a field near the camp where at night a mysterious fog would appear and piano music could be heard. I sincerely doubt if Van Cliburn had made a guest appearance! But that kind of talk kept the kids in at night myself included. Although this was a Christian Camp, but councillor sure had a lot of stories about the fog and the piano as well as a mysterious green hand coming out of Lake Michigan. This is the stuff that makes for great nightmares. Oh well, the camp only lasted 2 weeks.

Is It Bear Swamp or Duck Marsh?

My grandmother used to call this area, Bear Swamp, but today its known as Duck Marsh. Over the course of time many natural areas have their names changed. Both the tiny island on Big Bass Lake and the second smallest island have undergone name changes over the years. Whatever the name, along the road to Free Soil, there is about a mile long area that is swampy on both sides of the road. It is errie when a fog is over it and not the place to be at night.

In my grandmother’s day bears roamed the swampland and the surrounding forest. And they are making a comeback today as numerous bear sightings have been made not only in the Duck Marsh area, but also around Big Bass Lake. When their natural food is short they go for human areas of habitation to root out their garbage.

South of this area is another protracted area of swampland that runs north of the Bloody Antler Trail and into this very location. I would hazard to say that quagmire is beneath the waters of Duck Marsh. Thus this may be an area to get pictures of but I wouldn’t want to venture into this waters by foot.

Panoramic Big Bass Lake

This is a beautiful picture of Big Bass Lake as the sun casts a stretch of its light across the lake. You can barely make out a piece of haunted island. It also looks like the sun is trying to squeeze under the bridge to the Big Island. This is really a gorgeous picture of Big Bass Lake and a reason why this lake is so special to so many folks.

Haunted Island Laid Wide Open

I took an Autumn trip to Big Bass Lake with the Hoffman Estates Boys Club but due to cool weather we stayed off site had a cabin on the little Manistee River. Daily we went through our property for tracking classes and compass work. We took a boat out to the haunted island but the kids said it didn’t look spooky at all in the fall. Without the leaves on the tree you could see from one side of the island to the other. Plus they said we went in the daytime when they could see everything. Daytime at the haunted island took away the Specter of imagination for the boys.

Rustic Sauble Lakes

I love to fish the Sauble Lake chain of five lakes each connected to by an adjourning channel. My favorite is #3 yet with each deeper channel into the chain, the lakes themselves get more primitive by way of fewer cabins dotting the shoreline. The same can’t be said of the major lake that being #1 which is also the largest of the five.

I enjoy fishing for perch as that is the tastiest fish in my opinion. I can never get my fill of perch on any lake. The rule in my house is that I catch them and then clean them and my wife cooks them. Truth to tell, Darlene won’t even bait my hook when she comes alnng for the ride. She merely enjoys the scenery but that scenery doesn’t include the end of my hook.

Someday I would like a cabin on Sauble #3 but for now my home is my favorite place to be just outside Scottville. In the future, who knows? Yet until that time comes, my fishing joy comes at Sauble Lake 3.

The Blood-Red Ludington Lighthouse

Wow!! What a magnificent picture. Next to the Sauble River Outlet this is my favorite location for photography. Just drinking all the beauty of this location. There just isn’t enough words to describe it. it makes me think something strange is going to happen tonight.

Winter on The Little Manistee River

I ttok a friend from work fishing on the Little Manistee a few weeks ago and we had a ball even though it was in the winter season. Did you know that no one else was out there that day even though the temp was in the 30’s? I caught two fish and my pal caught a cold.  I guess his worms froze to death waiting for him to catch something?

I never liked ice fishing all that much as I prefer fishing the more swift rivers in the winter that often don’t freeze over.  With ice fishing you hve to drill a hole and then sit your keester down on freezing ice or on a chair until you catch something.  There I would be catching a cold!

To be honest, I can only fish these rivers for about an hour and then my legs go to sleep on me.  I’m one that prefers standing in one location each time I go out in cold weather until I catch something.  Besides I would think that any sane fish would just love warming up inside my oven over that of freezing in the Little Manistee all winter.  So you might say that I fish to keep those fins warm in either my oven or stomach.  I wonder how my wife would view that?