Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire " The big lake, it's said:.

One Summer years ago we were camping on the north shore. There had been a steady 20-30 knot SW wind kicking up for a few days. Stopped at one place along the route, hearing a tremendous roar. Went around to have a look at the shoreline and there were huge waves crashing on the beach. Grew up on Lake Michigan but never saw anything like that.

I’ve fished Lake Superior some and you are on your own up there with a rock strewn unforgiving shoreline. Way different than Lake Michigan and a whole bunch colder. A buddy and I scuba dove Superior in August and my temperature gauge was reading 37 degrees down at 90’. Really clear water though. It is kind of spooky remembering that the Titanic sank on my dad’s birthday and the Fitzgerald went down on mine.

They found the ship in 2 pieces, broken at almost the center. It's possible that some of them died from injuries from that instead of drowning. Either way, they sadly died.

LMAO at the guy 'holding' the tent. 😂

LOL, been known to happen, especially when camping right on the beach, since the stakes don't hold in the sand very well. My bro had to get out once in the middle of the night and pound in stakes that were coming loose.

For as big as that lake is, I am surprised at how fast it will whip up. Two of us were trolling up there a few miles off shore when we both felt the wind change. My buddy was raised in Duluth and understood that lake better than I did. He took out his fillet knife and cut off all four of our lines and said that we are going in...NOW!!! I didn’t understand it at the time, but by the time we got in to shore, that lake was wild. Not the place to be in a fishing boat.

I've never seen this documented, but have heard the big lake is navigable by small craft only 17% of the time. Inspite of that I've done plenty of canoeing on Superior, guess we timed it right.

My dad went on vacation to superior last month. Didn't catch much so they headed in. Went to the shipwreck museum and then back to the cabin. Took a shower and walked outside to the dock to see his boat underwater. 16 foot starcraft...pump failed and took less than an hour for superior to drag it under.

Sounds like a dare I am not interested in taking.

There's a website devoted to the Lakes boats (that's what they call them). Here is a link to their AIS map. You can see where any ship is at any time. They also have a list of ETAs for various locations. A nice little factoid is that every Great Lakes captain is also a licensed pilot. Because they go into port or congested waterways every day or so, they don't have to wait to take on a pilot. Only the ocean freighters on the Lakes need pilots.
https://ais.boatnerd.com/
PS--Anytime from April to October is fine. Earlier or later is fine if you don't mind colder weather.

I had forgotten about that. I remember dad bitching about having to go after a bunch of dumb asses that were trying to surf by the pier.

If I recall correctly Butch R. was one of the surfers.I don't remember the names of the ones that drowned, do you?

I grew up on the Keweenaw Peninsula ,Lake Linden.A beautiful place spring ,summer and fall.Then we moved to Milwaukee which was when I was young a wonderful place.So I have spent my life near one of the Great Lakes and could not imagine living any where else.Now I live in NE Wi only a 20 mile drive from The bay of Green Bay.Me and the wife love to go to the lake when the winds are kicking.The waves are enormous.I spent 6 years in the Navy and can say that the only place at sea that gets close to that wild is Cape Hatteras.The power and strength of the Great Lakes is awesome.I have fished on almost all of them and they produce fish like no other lakes.From Great Lakes Musky to Coho and King Salmon.Yowsah!!!

Spent almost my entire life within a mile of two of Lake Ontario. Currently live a few hundred yards from the shoreline. Although in 1975 when that storm hit I was down in the Finger lakes, having just returned from California. Lots of wind but no major damage and I heard about the Fitz next day. The lakes can indeed be fickle and change rapidly. Been several miles out on a 35' Trojan charter fishing and if it wasn't for modern communications, radar, and enhanced weather forecasts aided by satellite we could have been caught in some nasty stuff. It can come out of nowhere. The size and power of the big lakes is something most Americans have no concept of. Years ago I walked the dog down to the lake and struck up a conversation with some folks standing on shore. They were from the midwest, Kansas IIRC, and they couldn't believe that they couldn't see the other side of the lake, even with binoculars.. I told them if you go out 15-20 miles you won't see either side. They began to realize the scale of it all right about then.

LOL

Guys drinking beer on an air mattress going "WTF, man!"

Next time let go ya dumbsh!t... 🤣

There are guys that surf lake waves on a north wind...

They were from GR. Wanted to see the big waves and got swept off the pier. Not surfers as I remember now, hell it's been 45 years,...the surfers actually saved 2 of them. One of the surfers was Bob Beaton and another was an Eastling..Burl I think his name was.