My Heaviest Salmon Yet - 32 Inches, 16 lbs

I caught my heaviest King Salmon to date today: 16 lbs, 32 inches!  Caught at Racine Harbor, Racine, Wisconsin at 5:17 AM.  My longest fish to date was my very first salmon caught in 2012 at Kenosha Harbor... a 34 inch female, but only 14 lbs.

I had been fishing perhaps 15 mins when I got the hit. This thing was peeling drag like crazy!  Two years ago, I had a fish do the same thing but to slow him down, I tighten the drag.  After nearly spooling me, the tight drag proved too much and the fish broke off and snapped the line!

I was't going to let that happen this time, so I loosened the drag enough to give him some tension, but not so much so that if he shook too much that it would break the line.  It worked.  After what seemed like a 5 minute fight, the fish started coming in as I reeled in.  But as I got it closer to the edge of the wall, the fish tried to head out again!  It went right and then left and back to the right again.  As my friends and I waited to net it, we saw two other fish near the wall!  We could not just net those of course as that is illegal, but I'm sure we all thought about that!

Eventually, the fish went left again and tired enough for my friend Jim to net him... a 16 lb, 32 inch male King Salmon!

Click here to see a video of the fish being netted.

Click here to see a video of the fish being measured.

Thanks to my friend Gayle for taking photos and video of the fish and to my friend Jim for netting the fish for me and taking a video of me gutting it!

Click here to see the video of the fish being gutted!

I gutted the fish before bringing it home but filleted and skinned it at home.  Rather than just tossing all the skeleton and fish head away, I decided to clean it and cook it on the Weber gas grill.  Really, there was perhaps enough meat still left on the bones to feed two people easily.  Usually, I grind the bones down the disposal at the fish cleaning station in Racine before coming home, but after seeing how much meat really is left on the bones and on the head (I ate the cheeks only... couldn't get myself to eat the head), I think going forward, I will clean and fillet and skin the fish at the harbor but bring back the fillets and also the skeleton and just the cheeks from the head rather than tossing those out!  I'll toss the rest of the head though.

My wife cooked up the salmon with the tomatoes grown in our backyard and I grilled up the bones with Old Bay Seasoning.  Both tasted just fine!  I froze the rest of the fillet portions.

Apple Replaces My iPhone 6s+

My wife and I brought our iPhone 6s+ phones into the Apple store to get replacement batteries for $29. It was a promo they had offered for the "slow down" issue the phones had during their software upgrade a while ago. Our phones are almost 3 years old now.

Apple replaced my wife's battery without a problem, but in trying to replace my battery, they killed my phone! Because of this, they replaced my phone with a brand new iPhone 6s+. So for the cost of $29, I now have a new phone with a new battery in there! Of course, the glass protective screen needs to be replaced, but that's only about $5. Still a good deal!

The only drawback to getting the new phone was that I had to put my password back on every ap on the phone.  Luckily, we had backed up our phones on iCloud, so restoring my phone was relatively easy, although time consuming.  Always back up your data before allowing anyone to work on your phone or computer!

Edit Note: Just one week later, my fishing buddy Jim and his wife brought in their iPhone SE phones for battery replacements and Apple killed their phones too!  A Facebook friend had this happen to her husband's iPhone as well.  It looks like Apple is breaking a bunch of phones while replacing batteries!

Nikon Z6 and Z7 Mirrorless Cameras

Wow, questions are already coming in asking if I plan to switch to the new Nikon Z6 or Z7 full frame mirrorless cameras and what the benefits would be! Let me address them here:

Short answer... not right away, but maybe later down the road, but not now.

First adopters usually also get first problems. Historically, many cameras have some kind of problem which is often found in the first cameras that come out. Software updates usually fix these, but I have had a couple of new cameras in the past requiring these updates. I'm not willing to do that again with the new mirrorless cameras. Best to let someone else "test them out" by being the first owners and see if any issues pop up.

Also, I don't shoot professionally any longer and only teach. If I were still shooting weddings, no doubt, I would get a Z6 or a Z7. The noiseless shooting of these cameras (or any mirrorless camera) would be a huge benefit during the shooting of a wedding ceremony! The loud "clunk" sound from a DSLR is just too loud during a wedding! Shooting a concert would definitely benefit from a mirrorless camera!

Any other benefits that I see with these new cameras? Camera noise (physical noise, not image quality noise) is the biggest reason for me, but also, these are lighter in weight and also weather sealed. They are made from magnesium alloy bodies... it's the same as my Nikon D4 pro camera. The downside though is that there's only one memory card slot! That's a pity as most all pro cameras have two card slots where you can designate one card as a backup card.

Another nice thing with the new cameras is 5 EV of Vibration Reduction (image stabilization) BUILT INTO the camera body! This means any lens placed on the camera would now be a stabilized lens! Even my old Nikon lenses without stabilization would now be stabilized!

Here's an interesting thing though... typically, Nikon Professional Services sends out an invitation to NPS members (pros) to purchase pro cameras before the general public get them. So far, I have not gotten this invitation email. That's not to say that I won't be getting one later, but it could also mean that Nikon doesn't see these cameras as a "pro" camera and see it only as an "enthusiast" camera which does not count towards NPS camera counts (we must own a certain number of cameras and lenses along with pro credentials to be part of the NPS). The lack of two card slots could be an indication right there that these are not "pro" cameras in their eyes. This makes me think that down the road, perhaps a BETTER pro camera in a year or two will be coming out! This is just speculation though.

So why should I consider a Nikon and not a Sony for a mirrorless camera? Well, I have a lot of Nikon lenses. With the new lens adapter for the new cameras, I could use all of my old lenses. If I jumped to Sony, I'd need to repurchase a bunch of lenses as well as a camera. That would cost over $10,000.

These are my reasons that I won't be buying a Z6 or Z7 camera immediately. Ask me again later and the answer may be, yes... I'm getting one. But I doubt it. I'd need a really good reason to buy yet another camera any time soon!

Possums, Skunks and Cats Are Waking Me Up at 3 AM

This possum woke me up at 3 AM!  Click here to see the video.

His buddy the skunk decided to do that another day at 3:30 AM!  Click here to see the video.

The biggest offender at 3 AM is this black cat.  He has come by the most often!!  Click here to see the video.

Finally, two skunks are better than one!  He's brought a friend!  Click here to see the video.

All of these animals seem to like coming by around the 3-3:30 AM time period.  I wonder what would happen if they all stopped by at the same time?

2018 Wisconsin State Fair - August 2, 2018

All Images Were Taken With A Nikon D3400 and Nikon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Lens

All images were custom white balanced with a Balanced Exposure CWB Reflector

Click on the photos and use your arrow keys to see larger versions

Commentary below the images

This was my second time at a Wisconsin State Fair.  I went back in 2016 and decided I'd go again this year.  This year, I went on opening day and got there around 9:15 AM.  I got in for only $2 because I brought two cans of peaches to donate for Hunger Task Force (a promo for opening day).  Parking was $12 and I parked in approximately the same spot I did two years ago in the handicapped parking spaces at Gate 3.  To get around the fair, I used my mobility scooter, like I did 2 years ago.

The Fair was very similar to the one I attended two years ago, but I was expecting that.  I wanted to go this year to take photos using the entry-level Nikon D3400 with the basic kit lens to see how well it would do shooting an event.  I'm impressed!  The images are very comparable to images taken with a much more expensive camera.  Plus, the kit lens really did a great job too!  The images were taken in aperture priority mode with Auto ISO and the lens at f8.0

Obviously there was plenty of light being an outdoor event, so the camera had no issues taking the photos.  At times, exposure compensation was needed to get the proper exposure due to backlit situations.  All images were processed with Adobe Lightroom, but even so, they were processed minimally.

There were rides (I did not go on any) and of course animals and competitions.  I really wanted to sit in on one of the animal competitions to watch the judging, but my nose told me no.  Still, I went through the various buildings housing the animals and took photos of them there.

Ouf course, there were LOTS of food vendors and I took a bunch of photos of the various booths, but I'm only showing a handful here.  The fair's famous Original Cream Puffs was the only thing I purchased.  You've got to get a Cream Puff if you attend the fair!  $4.00 for one, but it was less if you ordered 3 or more.  I only ordered one.  Being lactose intolerant (like many Asians), I couldn't take the chance with any more than one.  So far, I've had no adverse effects from eating it though!

I did not order any food there as I'm still on a diet and watching my calories, plus I just could not get myself to spend the amount of money needed for the food there.  Instead, I waited and went to Costco in Pleasant Prairie and got a bratwurst and a cheese pizza slice and a Diet Pepsi.  Much cheaper at $1.50 for the brat and $1.99 for the pizza slice.  I'm cheap... what can I say!  :)

If you have a chance to visit the Fair this year, go!  It's a fun time.  I was lucky in that the weather was very nice.  Upper 70's and low 80's when the sun came out, it was much easier to be out there with my mobility scooter than last year.  Since I don't walk the fair, it was easy for me to scoot around quickly there.  I stayed just under 3 hours, but really, I saw it all.

Costco food for the day (images taken with an Apple iPhone 6s+):