Summer present for Blue

[john brennan]

Hey Blue,
She is still there. Lazy follows all week long, always on orange and purple. However did chase a huge black Suick with orange eyes into a figure 8 that my little guy was throwing. Left her there for you. Kept finding her out a ways though about 50-60 yards. Also, she now has a nice little sister on the same point, about 40-42.

Also, check out the island behind you to the left of this spot with the big boulders. Find the small weed patch on the south side of the island. I raised a nice one there as well, big black bucktail with orange Colorado blade.

I'll be back up in Aug, so you better get her now. Ha! Good luck. Hope to see pictures and a measurement this summer.

[BlueRanger]

Haha! Thanks for the news! I've been thinking about her frequently, and I'll get my next chance in a week. I spent plenty of time on a boat last weekend, but not the usual variety. I had an opportunity to shoot virtual tours of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum and USS Cobia WWII submarine in Manitowoc, and this weekend I'm sitting in front of the computer dealing with the 1800 photos that resulted. Lots of work, but I was happy for the chance to cross it off the top spot on my wish list and it should lead to some good referrals.

[Mark Benson]

Blue, Congrats on the opportunity!!!

Mark

[BlueRanger]

Thanks Mark, they were as excited as I was, and so far the results are looking really good despite some significant challenges involving the lighting and tight spaces. And I should mention again that it was George who sparked my interest in this unique form of photography when he e-mailed me a link to some panoramas of the desert southwest.

[George]

Thanks Blue. I've been enjoying your work ever since! You guys gotta see his latest. Awesome.

[Flambeau dreamer]

Love to read these posts! It just keeps getting me more "pumped" for my seventeen day trip....actually... in seventeen days.
I can't wait to be there
Go get her blue
chris

[AndrewR]

Hope to run into you guys during that same timeframe.

Will be fishing August 10 thru 21.

[BlueRanger]

Well, she's still there, and despite a lot of effort, she seems camera-shy. She did swim up to take a close look at the boat on Friday, and I would guess her to be all of 47-48", but I don't think she's a 50. However, her entourage has grown, and provided plenty of entertainment on Friday and this morning...

I'll put more pictures in the Picasa gallery later - I got some nice sunsets, clouds and fog, plus a bear on the way home.

About 10 minutes into my Friday morning, this very feisty 42" engulfed a Jackpot at 6:40 and put on a nice aerial exhibition. It had completely ignored a bucktail 10 minutes earlier.

What a gorgeous fish! 1:00 Friday afternoon on a bucktail - saw the bigger one just a few casts after releasing this one.

Almost headed straight for the landing this morning after a very dead Saturday and a lot of lightning overnight, but fortunately I decided to fish a while and caught this 38" on a bucktail at 8:20. Also had a nice mid-40s follow in Baraboo just before pulling out.

As a person with a fair amount of statistical knowledge, I feel obliged to point out that the old "10,000 casts" thing mentioned on another thread is an average. So a half-hearted apology goes out to the guys who had to make about 29,500 unproductive casts to offset my weekend Actually, I think the TFF average is about 25 hours/fish, which is probably more like 1,000 casts.

[BlueRanger]

Had her, lost her. Hooked her Saturday evening, and she swam right up to the side of the boat without much of a fight. As I was going for the net, she bumped the side of the boat just hard enough to dislodge the hook. Hopefully it wasn't enough to scare her off that spot. She went for a very old-school lure that I'm sure she's never seen before, and the only detail I'll give is that it wasn't purple. I did catch two more of her entourage, a 36" and a 32", and saw the 42" again. Released the two small ones in the water, so no pictures this time.

[BlueRanger]

Anybody see this story?

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/...126269383.html

[Ruff Fish]

Anybody see this story?

http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/...126269383.html

Gosh, Blue... Nice fish.

Do you think you'd fish 'em anymore after that? First fish is a monster. Tough to beat your personal best....ever!

[BlueRanger]

Yeah, it's hard to imagine it won't be all downhill after that one...

[George]

You're right Blue! It's like the kid that shoots the 14 point, 220 lb. buck in his first season. Okay, now what?

[Floating Dock]

Actually it may be much more of the same for this girl, her father seems to have the big ones figured out.
http://www.justbigmuskies.com/about.htm

[BlueRanger]

Leaving that part out makes the story seem a little contrived...