What an interesting and fun month of June we’ve had here in the Upper Peninsula, with the mixture of people that come to see and fish the Keweenaw… a Stannard Rock fishing trip with retired FAA guy, sightseers from different parts of the country who just randomly picked the Copper Country, transporting environmental protection people, fishing for bass and pike with a “Bat Pro” in Lac la Belle, trolling for Lake Trout with an opera singer and a graphic artist, catching steel head with an Antarctica research scientist and a young consultant who seems to have a lot of free time on his hands. With the clients above, we caught undersized walleye, small mouth bass, norther pike, perch, crappie, lake trout, steel head and salmon.
Almost went pro hockey player, Jeff with steel head
Granpa Jerry with another steel head.
The sightseers were 2 couples, unrelated and not knowing of each other, just happened to do the same thing… looked at a map and selected the U.P. to travel to and vacation for a few days. Coincidentally, both couples ended up on my boat on the same day with the same interest and goal in mind – to see Gull Rock and Manitou lighthouses.
The environmental people hired me for several trips to the above lighthouses to do some research, taking water and soil samples for lab testing.
A nice Keweenaw Peninsula Lake Trout
The bat pro’s job is getting rid of bats from residential and commercial buildings, not by killing them, but preventing them from coming into the cracks and crevasses of buildings. They block all cracks, then install a one-way device that will let the bats get out, but then they cannot get back in… effectively forcing them to find a new home, usually the closest house nearby. 
My Antarctica researcher spends much of his time at the southernmost point on the planet, where it’s so cold, they had to develop “skin glue” to use in place of adhesive bandages because tape doesn’t stick to cold skin. He says there is constant research going on there for almost anything you can imagine… and gas costs above $40 per gallon because of the transportation costs. I’d love to go there, but I’d try to avoid buying their gas.
Consultant Bob (not his real name) wanted to remain anonymous. He skied out west almost 50 times last winter and had a good business head on his shoulders. Andy, my 13 year old deckhand, earned $50 from him on a dare to eat a lake trout’s beating heart. He suggested that Andy start a sideline to get people to pay him to do the same every day.
Rain and wind today, so I can’t wait to get back to work. Margaret’s making a bumper sticker for me that says “I’d rather be working. (fishing)”
A small Pink Salmon, released
A dad and boys fishing Lac la Belle for small mouth bass and pike.
Brooklyn New Yorkers with a few nice lakers.
Nice lean lake trout make excellent table fare.
A happy and proud bass master
Brian Helminen
