Potato Lake 2016

fishing and viewing the lake | ASimpleHomestead.com

I’m exhausted.  We just returned from a 4-day camping trip.  I find it hard to believe that we used to do this for up to 9 days at a time!  No more – 4 is my absolute max.

fishing and viewing the lake | ASimpleHomestead.com

That’s not to say we didn’t have fun, because we did.  I mean, how can you not enjoy camping someplace with a view like this?

fishing on the dock | ASimpleHomestead.com

There was quite a bit of fishing going on.  There usually is – or at least attempting to fish.  Most of the guys cast out and hope to catch northern pike (aka Northern) or muskellunge (muskies).  It’s slow fishing – you cast and wait, sometimes for hours.  Since we’re camped right on the edge of the water it isn’t a bad setup for that type of fishing.

We’ve had many years where they’ve caught little to nothing.  This time, there was a huge cold front that came through on Wednesday and Thursday – lots of thunderstorms and rain.  We arrived on Thurs after the rain had stopped.  The fishing after that was better than we’ve had in a long time!  Each of the guys caught at least one Northern or muskie – or those that fished.  Papa only helps Little Chick fish.

giant turtle | ASimpleHomestead.com

Some just like seeing how many times they can get “Stumpy” on shore.  He’s a giant turtle they remember catching a few years back.  He’s grown since then – probably feeding on all the bait fish thrown out in the water and meant for larger fish, not him :-).  They got him on shore 3 times over the weekend.  The last time they weighed him – a whopping 42 lbs!  Each time they released him off the opposite shore but he always made his way back around for more free fish.

camp activities | ASimpleHomestead.com

This picture is in the shadows but maybe you can see everything that’s going on how we keep “busy”.  Reading books, playing card games (Go Fish or Cribbage), eating … that’s always a big event.

spiral striped mittens | ASimpleHomestead.com

I spent a lot of time knitting, mostly on a pair of spiral striped mittens.  I tried working on them two-at-a-time but doing stranded knitting AND two-at-a-time gets a little crazy managing four balls of yarn, even if they are mini balls.  I eventually moved one pair to dpns to finish them.

sleeping after camping | ASimpleHomestead.com

After four busy days with great weather, exercise, sunshine … this is what we all feel like.  Unfortunately, someone still has to drive home and then unpack the pop-up camper and car.  Regardless, it will be an early bedtime for us all…

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