Our last Iowa summer is coming to close, not that there was much of a summer. Other than about 2 weeks of HOT, the weather was relatively cool and pleasant and I'm glad that I won't leave here with fresh memories of a sauna-like summer. We ended up having a lot of fun in August, with a tractor ride through the country followed by a game of horseshoes with some friends, finally seeing a River Bandits game (who?!?), and ending with a spectacular 4 days in Wisconsin. I have no pictures of the first few events, but we did get pictures of our Wisconsin adventures.
Our friend Jason is from a small town outside of Milwaukee and he invited us up for some fishing. We love fishing, but we've never experienced BIG lake fishing and Lake Michigan is HUGE! We left his dad's house around 2:30 am on Friday and were in the boat heading towards open water by around 3:30. Apparently, the fish stop biting after the sun comes up, so we had to get an early start. Have I ever told you that I'm not a morning person? Yeah, I was not too happy about the lack of sleep, but excited to bring in some fish so I didn't complain too much.
Jason had checked the wave report before we left, and we were supposed to have 2 to 3 foot rolling waves. We made it past the break and into open water and found out the wave report LIED! We were hitting 3 to 5 foot waves (and I swear there were some bigger that that) and feeling every one of them. After going almost a mile we were ready to set up rigs. Unfortunately, Caroline (Jason's girlfriend) ended up feeling very ill from the waves. Poor girl - she looked absolutely miserable. Needless to say, we turned around to take her back so she could nap in the truck, then we headed back out again. All that travel on the water was really freaky...the waves were high and the sky was pitch black so I had to turn around and watch the Milwaukee skyline. Well, we got back out to the spot, set up the rigs and ended up catching three 8 lb fish - two king salmon and one rainbow trout. The fish stopped biting and we were freezing, so we headed back in. We did end up going back out that evening and the waves were pretty much gone, but so were the bigger fish. We caught seven, two of which we lost and three we released since they were really small. We kept the only decent sized fish - two more 8 lb king salmon. We had to cut it short as we watched a storm roll in and we didn't want to be caught out on the water. We finished getting the boat secured and the fish cleaned as the rain hit - perfect timing.
That evening, while we were on the lake, another couple from Palmer arrived at Jason's. They ended up heading out fishing Saturday morning. We decided to sleep, especially since the wave report was for 3 to 5 foot waves (which meant they were probably bigger) and I had my fill of that adventure. They ended up not even getting a bite - the storm must have scared all the fish away. We spent the rest of the day at Cabella's and the guys were in heaven (and so was I since there was a sale and I can't resist a good sale!)
We ended our weekend with a trip to Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. It was Randy's first MLB game and we had so much fun! What a great way to end our last summer in the midwest!
