The 2011 season is over & we put the chain across the driveway.  The long trip back to Baraboo was especially lovely since we drove east to Thunder Bay & crossed at Pigeon River instead of our normal route through Int’l Falls.  The drive along Lk Superior was lovey but we weren’t the only ones wanting to take in the color along the shore.  All the motels along the way had “No Vacancy” signs so we thought we might have to drive all the way to Duluth to find a room but were able to get a room at the Grand Superior Lodge right on the shore.  We had a relaxing evening there & continued on home the next day.  Everything is unpacked & we’ll work on our year-end letter & mailing list as soon as we return from a trip to Sedona, AZ.  Our daughter & her fiancee are getting married there so we’ll play tourist & be there for the wedding as well.  We’re  so happy to be part of the start of their life together.

We had our last guests of the season the wk of Sept.17th-24th.  They had a couple of nasty days to put up with when we had wind, rain & cold.  In spite of that they were able to catch walleye one after the other on the good days of the week in about 14ft of water.   One lady caught a 27″ walleye – her biggest ever.

That makes for a good memory of their fishing trip to Cedar Lake Camp.  Fishing off the east dock was also very productive in the evening.  Our guests left on Sat & the weather turned summer-like as soon as they drove away.  It was 79 here yesterday & they are calling for 75 today!!  Jerry was able to get some final painting done & I finally got through all the laundry.  Everything is clean, folded, ironed and ready for next yr.

It’s always sad to leave in the fall when the fall color is so pretty & it is so peaceful here.  Deer don’t feel threatened with everything so quiet around & come down by the fish house to eat the grass.  Another year is behind us & we look forward to next year & the return of many regular guests.

Another day of rain here at Cedar Lake Camp.  With lake level low the rain is definitely needed but we feel bad for the people in camp this week.  I guess that is what rain suits are for.  We also had a couple of windy days previous to the rain so some of our guests were fishing off the east dock & doing very well with walleye.  No one is fishing for musky this week so nothing to report there.  Jerry & I walked down the driveway a couple of days ago and there in the middle of the driveway were 5 grouse.  It’s that time of year.  (Seas on opened

on Sept.

15th.) 

We had been getting some painting done but that is on hold with the rain.  In the meantime, we are closing down any empty cabins.  This is our last week with guests so it will look really empty around here next week.  It’s always a weird feeling when we look down the line of cabins at night and don’t see any lights.  Hard to believe that another year has gone by so quickly.

It’ s definitely mu

sky time. Last week we had a group of 3 fishermen who spent every possible minute of the day f ishing

for muskies.  They did well as they do every year.  This past week we had a father/son duo here – mainly for musky fishing.  They’ve boated 5 so far with the biggest being a 50″ musky today.  There is more action in store for them since they always stay for 2 weeks.

Walleye have been caught in 20 ft of water this past week but also in as little as 5-10 ft.  Smallmouth fishing is tailing off at this time of year.

Fall is in the air so fishing patterns are changing.  Canadian geese seem to know cooler temps are coming so they are heading south.  We’ve seen 4 flocks flying south honking to all the slackers in the back to keep up.  Our hummingbirds seem to have gone already as well which is the earliest they have headed south.  The weather forecast did call for 32 degrees toward the end of the week so that sounds like the end of our hot weather.  It’s been quite hot the past few day - hard to believe that it’s almost the middle of Sept.

Rain threatened all day on Wed & finally arrived Thurs morn w/wind & some lightning.  It looks like this is an all day affair & then cooler temps for a few days.  We’ll take the rain since lake level is about a foot below normal.  Walleye are still in the 15′-20′ range & biting on minnows.  In the meantime we always find something to do here.  Jerry was able to do some painting & I’ve been doing paperwork both of which are never ending.  We did take time for a campfire last night – one of few this year.  Early season sees few campfires since it stays light so late then the dry period set in.  There was a fire ban on for quite some time so no fires allowed until just a couple of weeks ago.  The fire fighters are making headway with the many Ontario fires.  Some rain & cooler temps m ade

a big difference.