Last week, Heidi and I took a much needed vacation to the North Woods. Our exclusive beachside resort was well provisioned and even included fishing guides Brian and Jeff, as well as a personal chef named Kathy.
This was Heidi's first ever time fishing, but by all accounts she was a natural. She was even granted the honor of being compared by my mom to Grandma VD, given her style of flawlessly setting the hook, as well as her propensity to outfish the men in the boat.
Thankfully there were many fish to go around. We had a blast hanging out with my parents and my uncle Jeff and cousin Jeanette and her husband Yut, who serves as an assistant pastor in Chaing Mai, Thailand.
Below are several pictures of our conquests and experiences.
Heidi's first fish! I nicknamed Heidi "T-Gill" based on the turquoise raincoat she often wore (see below) along with her tendency to catch a large number of bluegills (as well as every other type of fish as it turned out).
My uncle Jeff with his eyes closed, along with Yut and my dad on an early morning fishing trip.
My dad's incredibly fat 16" largemouth.
Anything I can do she can do better. I'm actually happy here--not exactly sure why I've pulled an "American Gothic" face.
Grant Wood's "American Gothic"
Heidi came out bass fishing one morning and caught this huge 16.5" largemouth. Caught on rocky shoreline of big birch with a black spinnerbait.
A beautiful morning on the water.
After consulting with Heidi and getting a few pointers, I caught my own monster bass. 17". Caught on a huge surface bite using a J-11 rainbow trout pattern jointed rapala along the rocky shoreline of big birch.
Not to be outdone, my mom caught the fish of the trip--a 17.5" monster smallmouth. This fish was caught on a slip bobber set at 8 feet in about 12 feet of water by the red pontoon cover near the channel between big birch and chetak. Naturally, the trophy fish was caught on a black flu flu with a wax worm using severely frayed 2 pound test line. Somehow, she got this in the boat. Check out the video below for a sense of the excitement. Also, compare my mom's excited/frightened face with Sawyer below--coincidence?
Thanks very much to Grandpa and Grandma for letting us use the cabin. We had a wonderful time.
3 comments:
Thanks for the Birchwood pictures. Glad we can enjoy it together. When we saw Alex and Heidi at Rudi's home - I commented Alex and Heidi needed some sun and rest. It looks like you got it.
I'm jealous of the Birch Lake in... looks like a great time. Steph and I are already trying to figure that out for next year in Birchwood!
Great pics... if Heidi gets tired of her job in DC, she can be the fishing guide for future Birchwood trips.
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