Summer Vacation Part Two

This is part two of the "What I did On My Summer Vacation" story. To read Part 1 Click Here.

Other than fishing, I also spent family time with our extended family, the Jozsi's. Some of you have met Tomtom, he's been my fishing and hunting partner for the last 25+ years. And his wife Mary is pictured way above, running in the team Triathlon I participated in. Our families are very close. My youngest daughter is best friends with their daughter Mary Ann. Mary Ann, drives my old BMW that I still maintain. Tomtom's father Alex comes from Hungary and is a super duper outdoor enthusiast. I have learned a lot from him, fishing and hunting with him for as long as I've known the family. Tomtom gets his fishing tenacity from his father, never giving up till he figures out how to catch them. Alex being Hungarian knows how to make some awesome dishes. Here he is cooking up some Shrimp Scampi.

Oh, and here's a rare picture of Tomtom having a beer. He only occasionally will have a beer with me anymore! Oh well, I guess that why I like hanging around Billbob so much. Billbob always has a beer on hand. Lol

I've also been able to spend time with my youngest daughter Michele, taking the new puppies for walks through the Forest Preserve. You may have seen the puppy pictures here when they were first born:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/off-t...y-deliver.html


We even survived her shoulder surgery. Her second one. The first screwed up her shoulder more than it fixed it, in my opinion. She used to be a multi-athlete in high school and screwed up her shoulder. They tightened her shoulder up with what looked like braided fishing line, and a piece was loose in her joint causing lots of pain. They removed that piece in her second surgery, and whoa-la, her shoulder is all better. Why can't they get things right the first time.


My mom turned 81 years old. I'm still trying to get her down to Kentucky Lake to visit my aunt. She seems to have so much fun when she's down there. Here's an article from last year when I bought her and my aunt to Fall Camp up at Big Bear Resort on KY Lake. Check out the big fish she has in that firstpicture. Better yet, take a look at the last two pictures where my mom and my aunt are drinking moon shine. Jeff White might remember that too!
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/conte...-big-bear.html

Well, after fishing the close by Lakes, getting familiar with some of them, Jessica and I finally decided to expand our scope. We took a drive and cased out 5 different lakes and launch ramps. We decided to go to the biggest lake of the bunch. We went to Lake Geneva Wisconsin, a rich resort community, with mansions on the lake from the likes of the Wrigley family. It's a wonderful lake, very deep, very clear water, prized by the pleasure boaters. But, if you go early in the morning you can still get out there and get some good fishing in. Well, at least that's what we heard.

We take the boat out of Williams Bay on Lake Geneva. They have a real nice launch facility, with friendly attendants. We had met John there the day before. He's one of the attendants, and his friendly conversation, plus the discussion with him about the lake, is what made up our mind to go back there.

We start around the lake, it's all so deep. Even 20 feet from shore, you're in 40 feet of water. What the heck. No weeds, no structure.

So we tool around the lake a little and then cross the lake to see if the grass was greener on the otherside. It gets to 80-90+ feet deep, wow. I hug the shore on the otherside of the lake, looking for a weed bed to fish off of and finally come across a small one. We're fishing in 15-20 feet of water, 20 feet from shore, but at least there's some structure. No fish, just structure. I do end up catching a small perch, but that's it. We stayed there a while, because while we were there, three other boaters showed up to fish our little space. I thought we were on to something, thinking they knew we were in a good spot, but since we did not have any luck, we finally decided to move. As our luck would have it, they were probably noobs to the lake too. They were just following this noob cause we at least looked like we knew what we were doing. Little did they know! Lol



I cruise the shore a good way, and come across what looks like a big weed bed in 15-20 feet of water on the South side of the lake. Lots of docks, and quite a few other fishermen, with pleasure boat traffic starting to pick up too. We try it anyway, and low and behold, we start to catch fish. Lots of Rock Bass and Perch, but that's it. At least we are using up them minnows, getting our moneys worth, and having some fun. We caught a couple dozen, many small ones, threw them all back, but we were keeping busy. It turns out, we stayed on the water together the longest we have ever done this year, that's how much fun we were having. And yes, Jess was happy to count who caught how many, and she beat me. Yes again, my daughter catches more fish than I. Oh darn, I'll just have to go out try to beat her next time.

Not bad for a Perch, but not the Jumbo Perch we catch on Lake Michigan.

A nicer Rock Bass.



Oh, and one last picture of the puppy named Pepper that we now call Plopalotigous.
The goofy dog will just be walking along, and then plop down like this like he was shot dead.
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