Search found 171 matches

by Capt Don
Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:31 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Voyageur II opening trips delayed
Replies: 22
Views: 11442

Re: Voyageur II opening trips delayed

The boats never started running that early in those days. If. I recall correctly, when Earthwatch was involved with the Moose/Wolf project they wanted to get to the island earlier, even April. They settled for early May as it was unlikely the boat could be ready any earlier. Having to face weather d...
by Capt Don
Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:00 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Voyageur II opening trips delayed
Replies: 22
Views: 11442

Re: Voyageur II opening trips delayed

Thanks for posting the pictures Tom. While lots of snow is nothing new, that much ice on the bay is. The bay has been had consistent ice cover for over a month now and is over two feet thick. It has been at over twenty years since anything close to that has occurred. It will be interesting to see ho...
by Capt Don
Fri Apr 04, 2014 9:39 am
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Voyageur II opening trips delayed
Replies: 22
Views: 11442

Voyageur II opening trips delayed

As many who follow this forum or live in this part of the world know, we are experiencing a rare winter. The ice cover on Lake Superior, while vast, is also much thicker than expected for this date. As a result of this we have decided to delay our opening trip until May 14, 2014. We make this change...
by Capt Don
Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:14 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)
Replies: 24
Views: 12961

Re: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)

Friday's winds did a number on it. Tuesday along the north shore from Duluth to Thunder Bay was ice as far as you could see, not thick but ice with 6-8 inches of fresh snow on it. By Friday the ice along the north shore from Grand Portage to Duluth was gone from view, not melted, but piled up on top...
by Capt Don
Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:52 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)
Replies: 24
Views: 12961

Re: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)

I had wave action under the ice this past January during a big SW blow. I don't blame them for turning back that far out. It is freaky when you see the ice moving and hear it groaning. I knew I had at least 10" of good ice, so I cut a hole and watched to see if water level went up and down with...
by Capt Don
Tue Feb 11, 2014 5:19 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)
Replies: 24
Views: 12961

Re: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)

I fish many of the bays that traditionally freeze well enough that the ice can't break off and send one adrift and will have a minimum of 5-6 inches of good ice before I bring a snowmobile on it. The bays I fish begin in Grand Portage and extend to the Pays Plat area of Nipigon Bay. Depending on the...
by Capt Don
Mon Feb 10, 2014 6:19 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)
Replies: 24
Views: 12961

Re: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)

John, I think you've got it! It appears (to me anyway) that some level of estimation goes into these reports, and, these reports are made for use by vessels that might need to transist an area by water and float. Not fools like me on a snowmobile, that sinks, traveling on ice in search of fish. I wi...
by Capt Don
Mon Feb 10, 2014 11:18 am
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)
Replies: 24
Views: 12961

Re: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)

I look at those reports too, I do understand the colors, I don't the understand the letter and number table (if someone knows how to read these tables post it please). I also don't know how they get the data to generate these reports, I don't see any regular airplane traffic or traffic of any kind. ...
by Capt Don
Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:17 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)
Replies: 24
Views: 12961

Re: Lake Superior frozen: Anyone walking to Isle Royale? :)

More meteorological babble, much like the new trend of giving "feels like" temps, give me the real air temp and wind speed and I'll base my decisions on those. There is a lot of ice on the lake, there are also a lot of windy days. With the exception of some bays and areas with traditional ...
by Capt Don
Fri Jan 31, 2014 8:33 pm
Forum: Transportation & Lodging
Topic: Grand portage rates and schedules posted
Replies: 5
Views: 3884

Re: Grand portage rates and schedules posted

That will be experienced by anyone trying to book a return trip at this point. The programmers have not completed the loading of the new schedule and I've been informed that the VII inbound has yet to be loaded. We will update the news and events link on the homepage as soon as things are fully oper...
by Capt Don
Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:05 pm
Forum: Weather and Bugs
Topic: Solid ice from IR to Canada
Replies: 17
Views: 8686

Re: Solid ice from IR to Canada

Hi John,

Fishing has been very good, nice lake trout 8 lbs. and up, whitefish up to 9 lbs. and even a 6 lb steelhead. Hopefully the ice will be here for a while, but I can always head up to Nipigon Bay, that's locked up well.
by Capt Don
Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:18 pm
Forum: Weather and Bugs
Topic: Solid ice from IR to Canada
Replies: 17
Views: 8686

Re: Solid ice from IR to Canada

Thursday it as white with ice and snow all the way to the north side of the island from the Canadian bay I was in. Friday morning had high SW winds, the ice was moving up and down with the wave action as they passed under me 4 miles out on the lake. Soon the ice bewteen the island and me was nothing...
by Capt Don
Tue Oct 01, 2013 6:07 pm
Forum: General Questions and Miscellaneous
Topic: Goverment Shutdown
Replies: 10
Views: 5130

Re: Goverment Shutdown

I am planning to take the VII out Wednesday and head for Rock Harbor, overnight there and pick all of our passengers up at our south side stops. This was scheduled to be our last trip anyway. In earlier conversations with the chief ranger, he made it crystal clear that we were not authorized to brin...
by Capt Don
Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:38 pm
Forum: Trails & Campsites
Topic: Obnoxious boaters
Replies: 41
Views: 18648

Re: Obnoxious boaters

This is getting ridiculous, and really has slipped far away from the original post and is quiclkly turning into a "who hates who more" thread by a few individuals. Tightlines, your ferry ride costs far less than operating your own boat to the island, even the gas costs more, trust me, as a...