5 yrs 😂

Finally, and better late than never, I guess.

Just got word that the boating access sites at the various bigger Lake Menderchucks,

that have been close since last year (ice up) due to massive flood damage, have been opened for public use.

BUT, and this is a big but, the lake levels are still so high that officials have placed a NO WAKE restriction on all of these entire lakes.

Mostly to keep the circus from smashing into half-submerged debris

and to keep the lake from waking into people's summer homes.

So it's nice that they are open, but who the heck is going to travel 10 miles at clutch speed to fish?

Not this guy.

More importantly, these are big lakes.

Who's enforcing that no-wake deal, and will they be willing to make a wake to do it?

Curious minds want to know.

I'll need to take a ride to at least one of these bodies of water and see for myself just what the heck is going on.

Either way, if things start getting back to 'normal,' mid-August will be the next time

I'm seriously targeting plus-sized fish on any of them.

You just can't make this stuff up.

A-Jay

The late-summer big brown bass bite here can be pretty special at times.

Not that I'm asking summer to fly by, but it's hard not to get a little amped up when there's this kind of potential.

Fish Hard

A-Jay

I've been stalking the Lake Minichuck & vicinity weather forecast for the middle of this week pretty hard.

And in typical fashion, it's been wavering back and forth.

Rain—no rain, rain, no rain.

At some point we need to make a call, so I'm making it.

Fishing tomorrow.

It will either be a cloudy sort of killer green bass fishing morning into early afternoon.

Or we'll get hosed with a sad soaking rain.

Fishing in the Old Town Canoe rapidly loses its charm in the rain.

Hoping for the best with plenty of hump day green bass.

Here we go . . .

A-Jay

On 6/9/2026 at 5:59 PM, A-Jay said:

Excited, happy, and a little anxious.

This morning I made the drive over to Traverse City and placed the order.

Freight & residential delivery is expected to take a couple of weeks.

😎

A-Jay

Just got the word—"The Beast" will be delivered on Monday, 22 June. (HS1336i)

So I'll have plenty of time to figure out how to use this thing.

The Noco Genius 2x2 is already mounted and ready to keep the 2 onboard big boy batteries charged & conditioned. https://no.co/genius2x2

Also went with a pair of GC002 M6 Eyelet Connectors that are compatible with the X-Connect on Genius Chargers. https://no.co/gc002

Permanently mount eyelets on battery terminals to create a convenient connection to quickly plug in your NOCO Genius battery charger for daily charging and battery maintenance.

I use the Genius 2 and these connectors on both my rider & walk-behind mowers.

Almost too easy.

I can't remember the last time I actually hoped we got HAMMERED with snow for an upcoming winter.

But that's the deal—at least this year.

A-Jay

Heading out to Lake Minichuck this morning. Hoping to get some fun time floating in between rain showers.

Starting out on the coolside, high 40's.

Just a touch below refreshingly. More like slightly frozen nads.

Here we go......

A-Jay

Good luck! 70 on its way to 90 here right now…with + humidity. Already dreaming of our Fall which is like your summer…

Yup, a tad bit chilly and rainy today. I just turned the furnace on to take the chill out of the house. 😁

Been on a bit of a Claymore kick lately.

A-Jay

Those are some nice looking knives.

Last night while positioned perfectly in front of the game camera,

Rocky Raccoon may have answered an age-old question.

"Do raccoons fart in the woods?'

You can decide for yourself.

#stinky

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BLMLkDH69/

A-Jay

Yesterday was a good day for me.

Being able to take a plan from concept and bring it to completion is just about one of my all-time favorite deals.

Clearly not the most complicated evolution I've had the pleasure of involving myself in.

Having the time, the right tools, and a little know-how, as well as possessing sufficient physical & mental capacity, can be very helpful. And it does seem that as the decades pile up, this stuff takes on a whole new meaning. During the hour or so familiarizing myself with the operational control of this unit, I can already tell that I will be required to expend what seems like, at this point, less than 25% (and that's being generous) of the physical energy I was required to operate my previous unit. It's almost too easy and makes me smile just thinking about it. As I age, being & staying self-sufficient (and not moving to Florida) becomes priority one.

As are all things related to said mission.

Either way, on a weather-perfect, northern Michigan, 75-degree day, I mounted & completed the final charger-wiring system install in the kennel yesterday. Putting on the custom Honda-branded cover proved to be quite the challenge—#rubikscube—took several tries, mostly because I'm a knucklehead.

But once done, the Freak is set up perfectly to enjoy the remainder of the non-snow-flying season in peace.

Feels good to be done with that. But no rest for the weary.

I'll be starting a small repair project on the Lund next week.

More to follow.

A-Jay

Seems like it's been months since I've had the Pro-V bass on the water.

Because it has been months.

Gearing up for the late summer into fall brown bass action.

As always, it's Black if my Land & Black if my Sea.

Or in this case, Lake Menderchuck.

😎

A-Jay

I haven't been on the water in the Lund for, well, let's call it too long.

My gear was still all set up with the pre-spawn flavors, which generally don't play well moving into these warmer and then eventually late summer conditions.

So the past two days I finally got around to pulling out the entire arsenal and going through the re-rig.

It was fun, but I can't lie—somewhat arduous.

Either way, I have just a few final touches to get through, and the Lake Menderchuck Machine will be properly rigged and ready to go.

Expect to make a few late afternoon local runs just to get back in the groove.

And then the real fun begins as I revisit the Reach Out America plan by getting out on some bigger water.

Reacquainting myself with the lakes, the areas I'm expecting to fish, my electronics, and a few new rods, reels & presentations all need to happen well in advance of what has been fairly epic late August / early September big brown bass opportunities.

Crack of dawn topwater often starts the show.

Need to bust out my workout first, and then I'll be sweating to the oldies in my garage.

A-Jay

It's been a minute, but today I'm planning an afternoon / sunset trip out onto local Lake Menderchuck.

Hoping the somewhat distracting wildfire smoke we've been seeing again the past week either rides high in the atmosphere or, if it does drop lower, the moderate NW winds thin it out enough to make it bearable. Either way, I'm really looking forward to floating around for a while. There will of course be some RECON and a bit of casting mixed in there somewhere as well.

I used to catch bass.

A-Jay

Got to practice my hook-setting form several times yesterday.

Humming "Smoke on the Water" seems appropriate.

A-Jay

Fire in the sky!