September’s Photo of the Month: Sunrise Fishermen on Lake Michigan, Kenosha WI

This month’s photo was taken on September 18, 2009 along the shores of Lake Michigan in Kenosha. Every year in September,where the Pike River flows into Lake Michigan, fishermen line the shore trying to catch the Chinook Salmon that have come into the area to head up river to spawn. These salmon can be weigh up to 40 pounds and put up quite a fight for the fishermen. I decided to head out for sunrise one morning last year to to do some fishing of my own. Not for salmon, but for photos of the fishermen.

I knew going in what kind of pictures I wanted. I wanted the fishermen silhouetted against the rising sun. There were plenty of them there on this morning to choose from. I hadn’t expected a boat out in the lake though. It was actually getting in my way most of the time, but in this image the boat helped more than hurt.

This image reminds me of the many sunrises I’ve spent with my dad fishing Sierra Nevada lakes. I’ve seen this scene so many times in my life that it’s burnt into my soul. There’s nothing like a quiet, peaceful sunrise on a lake, waiting for a fish to take your bait.

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Here are some photos of the tall ships from this morning. If you missed it, go back and read this morning’s post to understand.
No slide show today because these aren’t on my main gallery yet. I’ve put these in the order they were shot. The lighting conditions were a little challenging as it was raining and overcast, but the fog made things pretty cool for a bit.

Imagine my surprise when Lynne calls while on her way to work this morning to tell me that there are three tall ships anchored outside of Kenosha Harbor! I was still asleep, that woke me up real fast!! I put on some clothes, grabbed the camera gear and headed down there as quickly as I could. As I rounded the corner at Carthage College ,and saw the three ships, I realized that one of them was big. Could it be ? As I got closer I knew it was. Yes, the Bounty was anchored off of Kenosha Harbor! The other two ships were the Appledore IV and the Roseway.

While I was shooting my first pictures of these three I noticed another ship was leaving the harbor. I took a look through my binoculars and saw it was the Denis Sullivan. That got me to wondering if there were more ships in the harbor, so I headed down there and sure enough, there were two more, the Appledore V and the Inland Sea, both new ships to me.

I knew I had to get photos of the Bounty with the lighthouse, so that was my next move. I then began wondering if a couple ships may have stayed in Racine for the night, so I drove up there and found nothing. I headed back to Kenosha and got back in time to see that the Bounty had set three sails and was beginning to head out. She was the only one of the six left. I was able to get some more pictures of her with the lighthouse and then watched as she started to sail away. I followed along the shoreline and stopped for a few more pictures before I told her goodbye.

It was 3 weeks ago tomorrow that I first saw the Bounty in Sturgeon Bay and fell in love with her. Then to see her up close and walk her decks in Port Washington was very special. Now to have seen her anchored in Kenosha and then to watch her sail away is truly amazing. What a great way to end my summer of tall ships!

I’ll post more pictures later.

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Here’s some video of this weekends snow in the Yosemite Backcountry. It’s not a lot of snow, but it is August after all. In my time living in Bishop I saw it snow in the mountains all twelve months of the year.