Photo Essays Archives - Page 4 of 15

From Ottawa to Montreal

August 20, 2022 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

From Ottawa to Montreal- A Photo Essay

Thanks for reading this week’s post, From Ottawa to Montreal. Most of this post is photos with captions!

For the most part, the weather has been fantastic. Upon our arrival to Montreal, however, it was 66 degrees Fahrenheit and raining. We make the best of it!

In spite of camping at some great-looking fishing spots, I haven’t been fishing. It’s killing me, but I’ll be getting back to it before long!

At Byward Market in Ottawa.

Same place, different scene.

House of Parliament, undergoing renovation.

Locks on the Rideau Canal.

Ottawa waterfront scene featuring what truly is a party barge.

Totems, National History Museum.

Totem close-up, National History Museum.

Sculpture, National History Museum.

At the National History Museum.

This is a halibut hook of the type the Northwest tribes like the Haida and Tlingit used prior to European contact. National History Museum.

Susan on a hiking trail Voyageur Provincial Park.

Bumblebee on Joe-pie weed, Voyageur Park.

Leopard frog, Voyageur Park.

Largemouth bass, Voyageur Park.

Bullfrog, Voyageur Park.

Purple asters, Voyageur Park

Voyageur Park.

Susan at the Bank du Montreal.

Mural in Montreal.

At the entrance to Montreal’s Quartier Chinois.

I had no idea what this building was. Looked like a church!

Ice cream, anyone?

One of Montreal’s oldest buildings, the Marche Bonsecours.

We’re having a small problem with the French here in Quebec province, because we don’t speak it. Fortunately, many Quebecois are bilingual! My apologies for any errors in spelling!

That’s the From Ottawa to Montreal post. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: byward market, montreal, nation history museum of canada, ottawa, rideau canal, voyageur provincial park

Between Presqu’ile and Ottawa

August 13, 2022 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

Between Presqu’ile and Ottawa- A Photo Essay

Thanks for reading this week’s post, between Presqu’ile and Ottawa. Most of this post is photos with captions!

We had warm weather when we first got into Canada. The past few mornings have been in the low 50s (Fahrenheit), and the leaves on a few maple trees are beginning to change color.

After the drive from Hell through Toronto, we camped at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, on a peninsula into Lake Ontario.

Lake Ontario shoreline.

A family enjoys the lake.

A twelve-spotted skimmer in the marsh.

A leopard frog in the same marsh.

After leaving Presqu’ile, we traveled east to Cornwall to visit Dr. Mary Ann Perron, a research scientist at the River Institute. This extraordinary young woman went from “bush brat” (her term, not mine), running around barefoot and working in her father’s bait shop in northern Quebec, to Ph.D. in aquatic ecology. She wears shoes now 🙂 and is an expert in dragonfly identification.

Leaving Cornwall, we drove to Charleston Lake Provincial Park, an outstanding place!

Off the highway, you drive through pastoral scenery like this.

We took a ferry at Glenora.

In town, a house with an unusual paint job.

Common loon on Lake Charleston.

Common kayaker on Lake Charleston.

This large lake was very productive, with sunfish, bass, walleyes, lake trout, and more.

I believe this is a Canadian Darner, in the reeds by the lakeshore.

At a geological unconformity while on a hike in the park.

The remains of a sandstone cylinder, on the same hike.

A shoreline cedar tree clings to existence.

Our next stop was Ottawa, now one of my favorite cities. What a place! And we’re only on our second day here.

Susan and the big sign.

Clever sign at a pub. We didn’t go in!

At the National Gallery.

Inside the National Gallery. What I love about artists is that they see art in the most mundane objects!

In Major’s Hill Park. We all need more of this.

In Major’s Hill Park.

In front of the Ottawa College of Art.

Notre Dame Basilica interior.

Notre Dame Basilica interior. Rather plush, methinks.

That’s the Between Presqu’ile and Ottawa post. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: canadian darner, Canadian National Gallery, common loon, glenora ferry, lake charleston, lake ontario, Notre Dame Basilica, ontario, ottawa, presqu'ile provincial park, twelve-spotted skimmer

The Canadian Canoe Museum

August 7, 2022 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The Canadian Canoe Museum- A Photo Essay

Thanks for reading this week’s post on the Canadian Canoe Museum. Located in Peterborough, Ontario, this facility has handmade vessels from all over North America. Before Europeans, before automobiles, canoes are how folks got around. I kept thinking how Tom Mitzlaff would have loved the place. I certainly did, welling with emotion repeatedly.

Canoe Museum entrance.

Paddle rack. You see this just inside the entrance, a compilation of paddle designs.

The birchbark canoe, a classic craft. A few folks still make these.

Inuit kayak, covered with sealskins, complete with hunting gear.

This is a sailing, whaling canoe, used by natives of the Pacific northwest, used for hunting gray whales. It’s an enormous dugout, made from a single log.

A piece of art- a drum made from a canoe. I foolishly failed to record the artist’s name.

A decorated birchbark canoe made by William and Mary Commanda.

Detail of the Commanda canoe.

Part of a plaque about William Commanda.

Instructions for building a birch bark canoe.

Mock-up of birch bark canoe construction.

Men used to be tougher. Blackflies have nearly driven me insane.

Rick Schuett, who hand-builds beautiful custom canoe paddles, works on one in the demonstration area of the museum. You can learn how to build paddles or canoes here.

A dugout canoe. These were built in areas where birch trees did not grow.

A beautiful board canoe, built for and used for recreation.

And as a bonus, a few highlights from our trip-

We stopped at a few wineries…

We stopped at a few farm stands, too!

An actor portrays a French soldier during the time of the French and Indian War, at Old Fort Niagara.

Niagara Falls.

My wife the angel.

A giant woodpecker near the CN Tower in Toronto.

Fishing on the Trent River, Ontario.

That’s the Canadian Canoe Museum post. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: birch bark canoes, canadian canoe museum, canoe history, niagara falls, old fort niagara, ontario, paddle craft, peterborough

On Another Road Trip

July 30, 2022 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

On Another Road Trip, A Photo Essay

Thanks for reading this week’s post. Susan and I are on another road trip! I type this from a campground in western New York.

Interior, St. Mary of the Assumption Basilica, Marietta, Ohio.

Sycamore, Leith Run Recreation Area, Wayne National Forest, Ohio

Susan and Oil Well, Scenic River Trail, Wayne National Forest.

Revolutionary War Memorial, Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio.

We Want Beer, Marietta Brewing Company, Ohio.

Campsite on the Ohio River, Leith Run Rec. Area.

One of many power plants on the Ohio River.

Presque Isla Environmental Center, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Susan on a Presque Isle State Park beach, Lake Erie behind her.

The Lady Kate is a Lake Erie excursion boat. We did not take the excursion!

Elk Creek, Pennsylvania, where the famed steelhead run happens.

Wild flowers along the creek.

Orchard Beach Light, Pennsylvania.

Dunkirk Pier, Dunkirk, New York.

This woman was enjoying a not hot bite on the pier.

Boating in Dunkirk!

We were a week early for these blackberries in Lake Erie State Park, New York.

Quaker Lake, Allegany State Park, New York.

A bumblebee collects pollen from bulrushes, Allegany State Park.

On the Bat Cave Trail, Allegany State Park.

That’s all, folks, the On Another Road Trip post. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Photo Essays, travel blog · Tagged: Allegany State Park, Lake Erie State Park, Lieth Run Recreation Area, Marietta, Ohio, Ohio River, Presque Isle State Park, St. Mary of the Assumption Basilica, Wayne National Forest

Ode to Paddle Craft- A Photo Essay

July 20, 2022 by john kumiski · 4 Comments

Mike Conneen, River the Dog, Banana River Lagoon.

Ode to Paddle Craft- A Photo Essay

Thanks for reading this Ode to Paddle Craft. Once again, no fishing this week, or paddling, for that matter. But I am reading John McPhee’s “Survival of the Bark Canoe.” It inspired this ode to paddle craft.

My paddling career started on Maine’s Little Sebago Lake. A friend’s parents invited me to go with them to their cottage up there. They had a wood-and-canvas canoe. I liked it much better than the motor boat, in spite of, or because of, my young age? I may have been 12.

Putting this post together reminds me again of what an extraordinarily blessed individual I have been!

What follows are a couple dozen photos taken between 1976 and recently. They are captioned as well as memory allows.

Maxx on a trip down Maine’s Saco River. Three years old at the time, he just turned 33! Boat is an Old Town Tripper.

Mike Conneen and I await the pummeling this storm gave us while we were on a kayaking trip in Everglades National Park.

Your blogger paddling across Maine’s Third Machias Lake, 1978? Boat was an Old Town Tripper.

Alex paddled a kayak into the Banana River Lagoon to find this fish.

Mike Conneen and I were paddling on the Hillsborough River when he caught this one.

Maxx and I were in the backcountry of Everglades National Park in the Old Town Camper when he got this snook.

Mosquito Lagoon redfish. Boat was an Ocean Kayak Drifter.

Tim Deveau and Ward Thrasher tend the campfire at Cape Sable, Everglades National Park. We were on a nine-day canoe trip, early 1980s.

Nick Colantonio pulls in at dusk after a long day during the 2013 Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure, a nineteen-day paddle trip from New Smyrna Beach to Jupiter.

BC (before children) Susan naps in the Old Town Tripper while on a paddle trip in Everglades National Park.

Vic and Alex with a flyrod, seatrout double in the Banana River Lagoon. One canoe, one kayak used to get the three of us in there.

Mangrove tunnel, Everglades National Park, Ocean Kayak Drifter.

My buddy Ricky with a fat black drum on fly. Banana River Lagoon. My boat was a 17′ Dagger Reflection canoe.

Mike Conneen paddles down the Suwannee River.

Mike Conneen in Louisiana’s Barataria Marsh. The cabin boat is wrecked, courtesy of Hurricane Katrina.

Your blogger about to drop through Nantahala Falls, North Carolina. Boat is an Old Town Camper.

The manatee just wanted to say Hello. Chassahowitzka River, Ocean Kayak Drifter.

Me, Mike Conneen, and River the Dog watch the sun set while on a kayak trip in Everglades National Park.

Mike Conneen, St. George Sound.

Rodney Smith, Banana River Lagoon.

Mile Conneen, Peace River.

Barbie and Tammy go fishing, I think on the Mosquito Lagoon.

Poling the Dagger Reflection, Banana River Lagoon.

Susan, Alex, Maxx, and Ken Shannon swim while on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Wilderness in Minnesota.

Jim Tedesco getting ready to shove off, Maine’s St. John River, circa 1976. Boat is an Old Town Tripper.

Maxx’s first fly-caught redfish, Indian River Lagoon. We reached the spot by canoe.

Jim Tedesco paddles on East Bay, a chilly morning just after sunrise.

Tammy negotiates a blowdown on the Econlockhatchee.

Alex with a fly-caught tarpon, Everglades National Park. Boat is an Old Town Camper.

Peter Camuso (not happy!) and I on Massachusetts’ Westfield River, 1979? Boat is an Old Town Tripper. Note the plentiful snow on the banks.

Jim Tedesco rests at a cabin we found while on a canoe trip on Maine’s St. John River, about 1977.

Mike Conneen, Gulf of Mexico, during our eight day paddle along the Big Bend Paddling Trail.

White pelicans flock along our route on the 2013 Indian River Lagoon Paddle Adventure.

Mike Conneen paddles among crocodiles in the Everglades National Park backcountry.

Maxx. Snook. Dagger Reflection. Everglades National Park.

Question- Which images are your favorites? Please let us know!

For more on paddling in New England, see The Maine Book.

Bonus- I just had an article titled “Fishing with Lefty” published at Rivers and Feathers.

Bonus- if you want to see some incredible fish videography, watch this-

That’s the ode to paddle craft. Thanks for reading!

Every day is a blessing. Don’t waste it- Go fishing! Go paddling! Take a walk! Stay active!

John Kumiski
www.johnkumiski.com
www.spottedtail.com
www.spottedtail.com/blog

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2022. All rights are reserved.

Filed Under: Paddle Fishing Florida, Photo Essays · Tagged: camping, canoe camping, canoes, kayaks, paddle fishing, Paddle Fishing Florida, paddling

The I Sock at Trout Fishing Fishing Report and Photo Essay

June 10, 2022 by john kumiski · Leave a Comment

The I Sock at Trout Fishing Fishing Report and Photo Essay

Thanks for reading the I sock at trout fishing fishing report. The fish in North Carolina are all still there after four days of my mostly unsuccessful attempts to catch them. This blog will be fairly long- you might want to save it for the office!

This is what we fantasized about…

Note to subscribers– some of you have been emailing, telling me the photos are not going through. They appear in your email back to me! At the bottom of the blog email you get are links to my websites and the blog, www.spottedtail.com/blog. Hit the link, see the original blog.

Back to business…

Left Friday morning on my way to Flat Rock. Stayed off the interstate. Hated driving near Jacksonville, hope to go home a different way. Went through Folkston, stopped at Okefenokee NWR headquarters for a lunch stop and a bit of walking (and dragonfly photography).

I believe this is an eastern pondhawk, a female.

Looks like the raccoons got into the turtle eggs again!

Continued to Ohoopee River Campground. Spent the night. OK place, a little trashy. Sixteen cigarette butts at my campsite- I don’t like cigarette litter at all. The river was small, looked pretty nice though. They have kayak rentals there, and bass, and redbellies.

Saturday

morning I finished the trek to Flat Rock (home of the Flat Rock), to the Tedesco’s house, still avoiding the interstate, and met Jim and Kathy there. Jim and I planned our food and tackle needs and packed up his Honda for the trip to Bryson City.

Sunday

In the morning we headed out for the two-hour trip. Check-in at Nantahala Cabins wasn’t until 1500, so we went to Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and took the two-mile hike through these never-logged woods. AMAZING trees. I am so glad someone left us a few!

We checked in, met up with Tammy, ate a couple vittles, and went fishing in the Nantahala River. I raised a fish to a #16 caddis dry on my first cast- missed it. Raised another. Missed it. It must have been softball- two strikes and I was out. Jim caught three troutlets, the largest of which was eight inches. Like me, Tammy got blanked. Tammy’s sock and my sock react synergistically to give us way more sock than the sum of our individual socks.

Monday

We went to the Tuckaseegee. The gauge was at 3.3, running at about 2000 cfs. I looked at the water flow and depth and said, I’m not wading in that, I’ll get swept away. We ended up on the “Trophy” section of the Oconaluftee River. My trophy brown, caught on a nymph, was perhaps six inches long, and still had parr marks. I made an attempt to photograph it but it squirted out of my hand while I fumbled for the camera.

Although we could have had multiple hookups on tubers, the season on them was closed. Tammy got a junior league “trophy”, too, but we were not near each other, so no photo.

After dinner Jim and I again tried the Nantahala. Not a bite did we get.

Tuesday

Casting in the rain.

We went to a different section of the Oconaluftee. In the rain. I elected to bring a camera instead of a fly rod. Jim raised and missed one fish, but I did get some photos of them fishing.

More casting in the rain.

Yes, it’s still raining.

We did catch some elm, though.

Tuesday evening we again went to the Nantahala. The water was higher and dirtier than the previous two evenings. Again, I took photos. Even Jim’s attempt to fish was half-hearted.

On the Nantahala River.

More Nantahala.

Yes, still more!

Wednesday

The forecast was for an inch of rain. You just can’t trust weather forecasts. The rain did spatter a bit but there was no inch of rain. We hardly fished, choosing instead to look for elk and other critters in Cataloochee Valley. There was a creek there and in a deeper spot I saw a fish rise. I got my rod, cast the caddis out there, raised a fish and missed it, raised another one and missed it, too. Then no more rises. Jim tried, too. All he attracted was an audience.

Jim raised an audience.

A Cataloochee Valley butterfly.

We did see a cow elk, and some wild turkeys, and various bees and butterflies and flowers. The Cataloochee Valley is lovely. It was a good way to spend the day.

Mountain laurel was blooming.

We did not try the Nantahala Wednesday night, even knowing that to catch a fish, one must venture his bait. Sometimes it’s better to admit you’re licked…

Thursday

morning Jim and I visited the Nantahala yet again, just at one of the pullouts along the section that the rafters use. There were two men spin fishing there. I chatted with one of them, who admitted to using sophisticated bait- doughballs. He caught a trout while I watched, and added it to the six already in his creel. I thought, wow, I really do sock.

We got our rods. I cut off the fly and tied on a gummy worm. Of course it worked, although the rainbow trout it fooled was only about seven inches long. Still, it was a trout after several days of catching nothing.

Not exactly like the fish in my fantasy!

After lunch we went and got Tammy, then headed to Cades Cove for some wildlife viewing. So did 250,000 other car owners. It was stupid traffic.

That having been said, we saw several black bears (they caused most of the traffic problems), several deer, some lovely, big draft horses, and various other plants and animals. Then we went to see the fireflies.

Bears with ear tags- what is the world coming to??

I figured fireflies would be hard to photograph, and they were, but I’ve never seen as many anywhere. Tammy’s friends Mike and Jeanette told us that we missed the peak firefly nights, which are completely unpredictable. I would like to see that, but am certainly glad we witnessed what we did! Pretty danged amazing it was!

Fireflies are hard to photograph.

Shut your car off when you’re in a parking lot!