Tales from Pentoga

She's back. The Crappie Queen gave a clinic Tuesday night on how to catch big crappies.

September 22, 2020 - Tuesday evening

54 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Once again, I'm writing this evening so that I can be on the lake at first light in the morning. Seems the crappies hit from sun up until the sun actually hits the water. After that, they go into hiding and refuse to hit any lure that's thrown their way.

First things first. Luke sent this picture of Coleman riding his bike. Nothing unusual about that.

What I find so funny is how their yard looks. Seems as though Coleman had quite the project going.

As boys still living at home, it was a toss up between Luke and Andy to see how big of a mess each could make in and around the garage or as in Coleman's case, in the yard. Does my heart good to see the tradition is continuing, at least for Luke.

What goes around comes around and often, paybacks are less than pleasant.

There is a God.

Tuesday morning's venture onto the water was very productive. The first four casts brought four nice sized crappies.

After that, fishing slowed a bit and I quit after catching a dozen, more than enough for two meals.

The morning was still young when I arrived back home and I immediately cleaned my catch.

I was starving, as was Sargie, so we decided to have our big meal for the day before noon. What makes a better breakfast than fried fish, those caught less than two hours previous.

Fried fish, zucchini squash, and cottage cheese topped with watermelon made for a great brunch.

I received a text from our good friends, Mike and Cosmo, asking if we'd be home. They'd captured around thirty goldfish from their pond with which to stock ours. Cosmo had also gathered several varieties of water plants to donate to the Pentoga Road garden watershed.

There was just enough time to walk to Pentoga Village and back before they arrived. I'd eaten way too many fried fish and needed to burn a few of those calories.

Peak colors are almost here and the walk was beautiful.

Pentoga Road directly in front of our home

Cosmo and Mike arrived shortly after my return home. We carried four buckets of pond life to the garden, three with fish, one with aquatic plants.

As always, when the four of us are together, the time goes way too quickly. It wasn't long before we were bidding our friends farewell with a promise that we'd all get together again sooner rather than later.

Sargie had purchased several large vacuum bags, those in which blankets or clothing are placed after which the air is completely sucked out by vacuum sweeper.

Placing three large quilted blankets in one bag, the vacuum sucked the bag down to a fourth of its original size.

It was time to go fishing. Though my partner claimed to be a bit rusty, if she'd actually forgotten how to catch fish, she quickly remembered once again.

The girl was unbelievable. Sargie battled large fish with a calmness seldom seen by the pros. She caught a couple of crappies that were just shy of 14 inches in length. Had they been fourteen, Sargie could have qualified as a Michigan Master Angler, received a certificate, a patch, and bragging rights to anyone who'd listen.

The colors around the lake are changing by the hour. Look in any direction and a person can see an entire kaleidoscope of color.

Sargie had an outstanding afternoon and evening of fishing. We both caught well over a dozen large crappies each and there were several times when we scored on doubles, both of us bringing in fish at the same time.

The sun was rapidly disappearing when we arrived home. With Sargie standing alongside the cleaning table holding a light, it took well over an hour to clean the evening's catch.