Pancake Ice on the Great Lakes

Pancake ice forms from sheets of ice that break off and then are like a broken plate glass window. When these pieces of ice continually knock together by the rolling action of waves, they become rounded and curled up at the edges like gigantic pancakes.  Sometimes the pancake ice looks like bumper cars crashing into each other like a wild carnival ride. 

 Excerpted from The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Read more about ice formations on the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.  This book is available at Amazon.com, bn.com, Schuler Books, The Bookman and many other fine bookstores.

my Amazon page

Ship Stuck in the Harbor: Grand Haven, MI

Today the St. Marys Challenger got stuck in the Grand River and a tug and an ice breaker are trying to get it through.  It may take all day because the ship has not gotten very far after several hours.  The photo shows ice ridges that have formed along the Lake Michigan beach in Grand Haven, MI due to the strong winds and cold weather.  Ice in  the Grand River is blocking the passage of the ship.
video from a drone  click here for a youtube picture of the freighter and ice breaker.

White Fish are Running in November

White fish are running in the Great Lakes now.  Fishermen brave the wind, snow, ice and wind after dark on the boardwalk and piers.  They use a lure called the Swedish pimple and some are lucky enough to catch some whitefish.

Read more about the fish, both native, as are the whitefish, and planted as are Pacific salmon, in my book, 

The Dynamic Great Lakes.

The book is widely available at Amazon.com, bn.com and in many bookstores.

Grand Haven Light

A Walk on the Grand Haven Pier

The pier is at the confluence of the Grand River and Lake Michigan.  We saw fishermen, joggers and strollers.  The fishing was not too good that day.

Read more about the Great Lakes in The Dynamic Great Lakes.

Lake Michigan video

Lake Michigan and one sea gull reflected in the wet sand as waves roll in. 

In the distance the pier with its lighthouse marks the channel where the Grand River flows into Lake Michigan.

I have canoed the Grand River and I have seen the places where fish lurk. I have seen them rise to the surface and splash down.  I have sailed and fished in Lake Michigan as well as the other Great Lakes.

Read about the Great Lakes and their living webs of life in The Dynamic Great Lakes, a non-fiction book available on the www and in bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, Schuler Books and Music, The Bookman and many other places.

Steelhead Fishing in a Great Lakes' Tributary

Steelhead are running from Lake Michigan to tributaries.  Pictured is Norm Spring holding a steelie. He is on the Grand River that runs right through downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Norm is a founder of the Steelheaders organization.

Steelhead are a strain of rainbow trout that spend part of their lives in the Great Lakes where they grow larger than rainbow trout that stay in streams and do not migrate.

Read more about Great Lakes fish in The Dynamic Great Lakes widely available on the web and in stores such as Schuler Books and Music, The Bookman, Barnes & Noble.

Also available on Amazon's Kindle reader.

Steelhead Fishing in a Great Lakes' Tributary

One of the steelheads has the scar left by a lampry eel on its side.  Pictured is Norm Spring holding the fish that were caught on the Grand River in downtown Grand Rapids Michigan.  Their guide, Greg Knapp said he really enjoyed the day.  They all caught their limits by 11 a.m. yesterday, not April Fools Day.  So Norm and I had a fish dinner last night.  Steelhead prepared with olive oil and broiled.

Norm is a founder of the Steelheaders organization.

Read more about Great Lakes fish and lots of facts about the Great Lakes in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.