Fishing the Detroit River

Today on the ol' Patio Boat blog we take a photoblogging fishing trip on the Detroit River with your humble correspondent; Malcolm and Henry Paret from Paris, France; and our captain, internationally renowned walleye master Dean Cushman.

We launch from Wyandott. Malcolm demonstrates the size of the fish we expect to catch.

Henry gets ready to cast.

Dean keeps a cool head and his rod in the water, despite the giant barge passing by.

Malcolm still has high hopes.

Dean shows of our first catch of the day, an enormous goby.

Henry and Malcolm keep on fishin' as we head downstream towards Grosse Ile.

Success! Malcolm lands a nice walleye.

Slightly less success! Malcolm lands a freshwater drum called a sheephead. They aren't edible, so we tossed it back.

That's not a sheephead. This is a sheephead!

Even Dean got in on the sheephead action.

With two walleye in the live well we decided to leave the sheephead behind and head upstream to Detroit.

The captain and crew were optimistic that we'd catch some cool industrial views.  Of course, they were once optimistic we'd catch more than two walleye.

US Steel Mill.

The old Boblo Boats awaiting restoration. They were used for decades to ferry people to the Boblo Island amusement park. The park closed in 1993.

A freighter gets loaded from a Canadian grain elevator.

Zug Island and the Ford Rouge steel mill.

Still upstream: the Ambassador Bridge and Detroit.

Henry and Malcolm enjoying the ride, which did move along a bit faster than the average Patio Boat ride.

The Ford Rouge steel mill.

Molten steel!

Henry and Malcolm enjoying the industrial ambiance.

The Ambassador Bridge.

The old ferry terminal.

We get closer to Detroit.

Cobo Hall and the Renaissance Center.

Windsor.

Captain Dean, still at the wheel!

The Detroit Princess Riverboat.

The Renaissance Center.

Urban blight on the river.

Chene Park, the Belle Isle Bridge, and Belle Isle.

The Hiram Walker distillery in Windsor.

The Belle Isle Bridge. This was as far north as we could go because of the Gold Cup hydroplane races on the other side of the bridge. Captain Dean was willing to push the throttle of his fishing boat to full speed, but it still wasn't enough to compete with the 200 mph boats beyond.

We turned around and headed back downriver.

Goodbye Ambassador Bridge.

Goodbye ferry terminal.

Goodbye Zug Island cranes.

Goodbye abandoned cars dredged out of the river.

We stopped at another US Steel mill and tried again to up the walleye score. Sadly, the walleye weren't hanging offshore the 80" hot strip mill.

Finally, back at the launch.  Malcolm proudly shows off his fine walleye while Henry -- for reasons unknown -- attempts to strangle the other walleye we caught. Despite the inexplicable strangulation of one of our fish, we're happy to report that after our most excellent cruise of the Detroit River, a very tasty walleye fish-fry was enjoyed by all.

Thanks, Dean, for a great day of fishing and a great day on the river!

A Fast Ride in Search of a Sunset

Another day in Northern California, another cruise out to the coast to catch a sunset ... or so I thought.

When I got out to San Gregorio today, the coast was totally socked in by a fogbank. So I started driving south on Route 1 to see if I might be able to see the sun farther down the coast.  That may sound foolishly optimistic, but I've seen it happen quite a few times before.  And what the heck, I was on Route 1 in a fast car.

First stop, the foggy rocky shores of Pescadero:

Lovely glamour shots of a Dodge Challenger in a fogbank, but no sunset. Onwards!

Finally, just around the time I hit the Santa Cruz County line and Big Basin State Park, I got ahead of the fog bank.

But I could tell by the way the fog was still rolling in that I'd probably need to make it another 50 miles down the coast if I wanted a sunset.  Sigh.  I gave up the chase and decided to turn around and head back up the coast.  At least the fog had discouraged the tourists, so I could blast back up Route 1 at an unsavory speed in my ridiculous muscle car with nary a bit of traffic ahead to slow me down....

Hey, where'd this guy in the anti-muscle car come from?

As you might imagine, the Challenger made quick work of this cute obstacle.

Then much to my surprise, as I neared Half Moon Bay a crack in the fog appeared!

I pulled over and took a look.  Somewhere out there, across the farm fields, the beaches, and the waves, a sunset was trying to crack through the fog!

I hopped back in the car, drove up the coast a bit further, took the first left-hand turn I could find, and headed out to the coast.  The sunset chase was back on!

As I drove on a little side road out to the beach, a bright orange Sun dropped beneath the clouds and took a brilliant plunge into the sea. Truly spectacular.  Alas, I was driving and didn't capture a picture.

But I did stop the car, jump out, and take these two photos about ten seconds later. It looks like it was a very pretty sunset on Pillar Point, if you happened to be there:

And a few minutes later I got down to the beach and enjoyed a very pretty afterglow. The light coming in under the fog and reflecting off the water was really something special:

And so it was that my fast ride on the coast did indeed find a sunset, though hardly where I expected to see one and long after I'd given up hope!