See the over 150 photos -Photo Gallery - So is this the end? Is there any chance of a late October run? I am guessing by then the leaves will be gone and it won't compare to yesterday's amazing colors and warm temps. It was a bittersweet day filled with a lot of amazing colors going up the Fox River to the Appleton Yacht Club. We had some of our favorite crew with us - our very good friends the Wallace's. Usually they are blessing us by taking us out on their amazing Formula Fasttech. But today we jumped on the floating bar pontoon boat and launched in Menasha at the 9th St. launch on Little lake Butte Des Mortes. We had planned on just doing a river cruise. We made a call to the Appleton Yacht Club and they informed us they allow boaters on the water to come into the club even if your are not a member, which was a pleasant surprise. We took a slow run down the Fox River and enjoyed all the amazing colors. Timing for colors was about perfect. We stopped into the marina at the Appleton Yacht Club and headed up to the clubhouse. We were greeted by a very nice young lady and she set us up with a round of drinks and we had to do a round of birthday shots for our birthday girl. We took the drinks out to the patio and sat and enjoyed the views and the company of great friends. We hung around for a few hours then decided we would go find a place to float and hang out on the pontoon bar. We ran up the river as far as we could go. We made it to the locks and turned back around and went about half way up the river. We found a wide spot in the river, threw an anchor and parked. We were surprised to see so many other boaters out enjoying the day. We hung out till we started losing light and headed back to the the launch. If this is the last day on the water it was a hell of a good day! Great friends, good food, great views and even learned something new. Pretty hard to beat that. So farewell summer of 2020. It's been a mixed bag of highs and lows with everything going on. But overall I have enjoyed the great times we had on the water with the pontoon bar boat and all of the great friends and family we are blessed with. Now get out those bottles of antifreeze! I hope you enjoy the photos! See all the photos - Photo Gallery
The Donald Trump Boat Parade in Oshkosh
Donald Trump Parade on Lake Winneabgo in Oshkosh Wi
See the over 200 photos -Photo Gallery - We got invited to go to the Trump Boat Parade. No, this website is not a political page but we do cover boating events. So before you yell at me about shooting this event let me know if you have something planned for a Biden Boat Parade send me an invite on your boat and I will be happy to come to shoot it. Now back to the day. We meet up with our friend Chris at the Pioneer Marina to launch the boat and head over to Asylum Bay on Lake Winnebago. With the winds coming out of the west at about 15mph it was a little rough. We ran in a pack of other boats heading over and ran with them up the lake. Took a little beating and had to pull some flags down before we got to the bay. As we came around the corner there were a load of boats pooling in the bay and driving around amongst each other. Chris drove us through the crowd and we hung around for about 15 minutes. Then we noticed a pontoon heading out and starting the parade. They were blasting "Proud To Be An American". Everyone started to follow and we headed along the west side of the lake with the group. I had Chris cut back and go against the grain to get some photos of everyone in the parade. I am not good at guessing numbers but would have to believe 150 - 200 boats. It really was a fun sight to see. Everyone was very friendly and seemed to be having a blast. Unfortunately, about 1/4 mile up we found a rock pile and heard that horrible grinding sound. Chris didn't want to even see the prop until later so we continued down to Streich's. I would say about 1/4 of the boats stopped in and tied up. The rest kept going down the lake. My understanding is they were going to run down towards Wendt's. We stopped and took the opportunity to take a look and the prop. Not so good. But he was prepared with another prop so we did the swap out. The waves were about 2' to 2 1/2' and the wind picked up allot. We had a friend call and said she was over at Terrell Island and the wind was not as bad. We broke from the parade and headed to Terell which was a good call - allot of boating friends we knew were there so we got to sit and enjoy time with friends and sunshine. We hung around till about 6pm and decided we need to get some supper. The crew all talked about heading to Winneconne to Biggers Supper Club. Off we went. The wind had calmed way down so it was a very nice ride into Winneconne. We had a nice dinner and a beautiful ride back to Oshkosh. Another fun day on the water. I hope you enjoy the photos and video. See all the photos - Photo Gallery
Donald Trump Boat Parade
Donald Trump Boat Rally
Donald Trump Boat Parade
Boat with Trump Flags
Donald Trump Boat Parade
Donald Trump Boat Parade
Trump Bikini
Trump Shorts
Donald Trump Floaty
MERICA
Donlad Trump Cut out
Wisconsin Donald Trump Supporter
Lake Winnebago Prop damage
Boat Camping in Winneconne
Sunday Funday - Vic Ferrari at Waverly
The view from Waverly Beach August 30th
See the over 150 photos -Photo Gallery - SUNDAY FUNDAY out on the pontoon boat bar at Waverly Beach to see Vic Ferrari Band. A little cooler weather but still was a fantastic day out on Lake Winnebago. We brought out some friends and did our usual eat, drink, and enjoy the sun. There was a nice crowd of boats scattered around the beach area. I think everyone was thinking the same thing. Get out and enjoy as much summertime as possible. Around 3 o'clock Vic Ferrari came out and got the crowd going. We hung out till about 6 and headed for home on a smooth lake. It was a great day and night. Sad to think summer is coming to an end. See all the photos - Photo Gallery
Waverly Beach Boating
Seaplane flyover on Lake Winnebago
Vic Ferrari Band
Vic Ferrari Band
Vic Ferrari Band
Sunday Funday run-up Neenah Channel and Waverly
The view from the Neenah Channel by Shattuck Park
See the over 200 photos -Photo Gallery - Sunday Funday with some great weather. We packed up the pontoon and hit the water. The wind wasn't bad and the waves were about 1 to 2. We decided to go take a little run up the Neenah Channel. Never been up that way and figured it was a nice day to try it out. Coming off the lake you will see a single red marker about 150ft out from the Kimberly Point Park Light House. From that point, the channel is very well marked right into the city of Neenah. The first thing you will come across is the lighthouse. It is a very pretty old lighthouse that looks like it needs some new paint soon. As you run down the channel you go past a number of beautiful homes and go past Riverside Park. Just past the park is the bay where the sailboats all tie-up. Seemed like there was not that many in the bay for some reason. Still cool to see from the water. Across the river from this bay is the Whiting Boat House and Doty Park Boat Launch. A little farther up the river, you run past the Thedacare Hospital and the WG Bryan Bridge. The Dam is right past the bridge on the Northside. Just past the bridge is the Neenah Marina and Shattuck Park. There is a nice boat dock and sea wall here. Which is right on the East end of Downtown Neenah. There are a number of places you can go to for food and drink from here. We spun around and headed back up the channel and off to Waverly Beach. As usual, we pulled up close to the bar at Waverly. The band outside was Saddlebrook. We went up and got a few drinks and watched the band and ran into a few people we know. On the way back out my wife pulls up a bottle from the water. It was weird because it looks really old. It was marked as M Koester & Sons Bottling company of Appleton. Never heard of it before. I am guessing it has been in the lake for a long long time. We also got a big kick out of a pontoon next to us that had a train horn. When he left he lights it up and scared the crapola out of a bunch of people. It was really funny. He drove off and we couldn't see him but could hear the horn yet. Overall the music was great, Sun was great, the water was great. Another fun day on the water. See all the photos - Photo Gallery
Kimberly Point Park Light House
Whitting Boat House by Doty Park In Neenah
Theda Star
Downtown Neenah
Neenah Dam
Neenah Marina
Neenah Dam
Neenah Light House
Pontoon Boat Bar
Wiparty Pontoon Boat Bar
M Koester Bottling Works Bottle from Appleton WI
Pontoon Boat Bar
Saddlebrook Band
Train horn on the Pontoon
Sunday Funday on the Taqener Klozov Formula
Taqener Klozov 353 Fastech Formula owned by the Wallaces
See the over 200 photos -Photo Gallery Sunday Funday with the Taqener Klozov Formula, we got an invite to go boating with our good friends the Wallace's. We meet up at the Pioneer Marina in Oshkosh and headed out to Streich's Beach. Captain John was sporting his Speed on the Water T-shirt. I commented on his shirt and he told me I had to see his Speed on The Water blanket. Turns out we are fans of Speed on the Water. It was a fantastic day and the water was nice and smooth. The 353 Fastech Formula cruised across the lake at about 70 and was super smooth. We got out to Streich's and anchored up than eat some food and watched everyone rolling in. One cool boat we noticed come in was a 2108 Chaparral 287 SXX. Very nice-looking rig with a very interesting looking tower. I walked over and got a chance to talk to the owner. Super nice guy! I asked about the tower and found out it was an electric folding tower. It folds forward and sits just above the window. Pretty cool design. We decided the crowd was getting a little too big and fired up the Formula and headed toward Terrell Island. John and Gina knew a cool little spot on the South end of Lake Butte Des Mortes just past Terrell. So we headed over there and meet up with Sean. Sean lives in the area and brought out his 28' Kryptonite with a 400HP Mercury Racing Outboard. What a fun boat! He tied up for a while and we all shot the shit. Talking about things on the Lake and noticed a rather cool house. Sean had us jump in his boat and took us for a little run to go past the house. This boat is like a go-kart and takes off like a shot. He told us the boat was going a little slow due to us weighing him down. It was a damn blast. We came back and decided we should all run up to Winneconne for some food. It was a quick run-up to Winneconne and we stopped in at the public docks. Then walked over to Langs Landing (The Landing) to get a beer. We ran into a few boating friends we knew. We all hung out on the deck at Lang's watching the boats and talking. We made a stop at Fin N Feather for a quick one and ran into more friends. We finally headed back and ran with Ryan & Molly in there Baja. We ran into a closed train bridge but snuck under and took a few minutes out to shoot some fun photos with the ladies and the Speed on the Water blanket. It was pretty funny we had a boatload of people circling us hoping for a good show. No such luck for them. Another awesome day on the water with friends! I hope you enjoy the photos and the small video we have! See the over 200 photos - Photo Gallery
High Cliff State Park Lime Kiln from Lake Winnebago
See the Photo Gallery Another fantastic day on the water. Friday afternoon our friends came over to go boating on the pontoon bar. We launched in Menasha at the Paris St boat launch and headed for Lake Winnebago. The lake was calm with a soft wind coming out of the Southeast with 6 inch waves. We decided since it was so nice we would cruise over to High Cliff and let my daughter and her friend get some swimming time in. The ride over was very nice and I have to admit it was fun coming back to this area. Its been well over 15 years since I have stopped at the High Cliff beach. As you come across the lake you can easily spot the Lime Kiln ruins projecting out of the tree line at the High Cliff State Park. As we came into the bay there were 6 boats scattered around the edge of the bay. Looked like everyone had brought the family and friends out to enjoy the day and get some water time in. We anchored just outside of the High Cliff State Park Beach. As usual, we had snacks and drinks ready to go. We let the girls do some swimming and playing on the inflatable donut and popsicle they brought. I pulled out the camera and grabbed some photos of the boats and people coming into the park to hit the beach. It really is a beautiful spot to stop. With a very nice sandy bottom beach and fantastic views. We got lucky as the algae bloom was not in the bay. It can get worse over here depending on the wind. After a few hours, we decided it was time to head back and get some dinner. The majority vote was to go back up the river and stop at Parker Johns. We slowly headed back along the lakeshore and checked out all the cool houses on the North Shore. The lake had picked up to about 2 - 3ft waves. We got to see how sea worth the old pontoon bar really was. We have discovered that it is a little nose heavy in these conditions and we needed to use the human trim tab methods to get it smoothed out. We only dropped the nose under the waves twice. Which got a few of our younger passengers a little nervous. We laughed and reminded them they are sitting on 2 big bobbers and unless we put a hole in a pontoon we are not going to sink. As we pulled into the Menasha Channel the waves settled down. We ran up to the Menasha Marina and parked on the West side of Marina. As we tied up I noticed they have about 12" cleats out here that you could tie off a tug boat with. A quick little walk up to Parker Johns and sat out on the deck overlooking the marina and filled our belly's. Back to the boat turned on the lights and headed back to the boat launch. Another fun little journey on the Lake Winnebago System. Defiantly a day we will all remember for years to come. See the Photo Gallery
We think this is a huge Bird House?
High Cliff State Park Beach
Pontoon Bar
Jet Ski on Lake Winnebago
Entrance into High Cliff Marina Lake Winnebago
Homes on North Shore Of Lake Winnebago
Boating in Menasha Channel
Menasha Damn
Huge boat cleats Menasha Sea Wall
Menasha Marina
Parker John's in Menasha
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Boating into Menasha and up the river to Appleton
See the Photo Gallery It was a windy weekend with some storms. But we made the most of it and got the pontoon out and did some river runs and had a fun Sunday at Waverly Beach. Friday night we decided to get the pontoon boat out and take a few friends. We were going to put in at Jefferson Park in Menasha. But when we got to the launch we realized the wind was a little stronger than we thought and the launch was full of some sort of weird foam. So we went back down to Paris St Launch in Menasha. This is a great little launch that is nice and deep right on the river. We got the old Mercury fired up and headed towards Lake Winnebago to see how rough it was. We made it out to the concrete channel marker on the lake and ran into about 2 - 3 ft. So we turned around and went back up the river. With a floating bar, we cracked open the cooler got out some snacks and enjoyed going back up the river towards downtown Menasha. It is a nice little run. About 1.8 miles for the Lake to the Downtown Menasha Marina. The Menasha Channel is marked very well. You just need to stay between the buoys and you won't have any issues. Break out of the buoys and you will hit rocks and be making a run to get your prop repaired. There are a number of beautiful homes to check out on your way up the channel. We ran up to the Menasha Marina and parked along the sea wall. We sat and enjoyed the sun for about 20 minutes and started talking about what to do for diner. We talked about running up to Parker Johns. But the flock of 500 seagulls came off the roof of the condos and became poop bombers. We did a quick untie and got out before we had a white poop colored boat. It was crazy! We started heading back towards the launch and were talking about where to get some food. As we drove down we talked about what was close to the water. I mentioned the Old Grog but figured we couldn't go through someone's yard to get there. As we came up the river we noticed there was a small seawall and the end of Appleton St. I have to admit we have been up the river a number of times and I have never noticed this. Anyway, we decided to pull up and see if we could tie-up. There was a nice gentleman that lives right next door. He told us it is about 4 -5 ft deep. So we pulled in and tied up and walked about 1/2 block to the Old Grog. They do not have any outdoor seating, unfortunately. So we masked up and went in to check it out. It is a fun bar & grill. It has huge exposed old beans and a cool bar back that looks to be very old. The staff was fun and took good care of us. The people that were in the bar were super friendly as well. We ordered some food. Pretzel sticks, chicken strips, chicken wrap, all were ok. I had the steak sandwich which I have had in the past. My bun was hard and the steak was overcooked and dry. I wouldn't get it again. I did see some fish fry plates come out that looked good. We headed back upriver and loaded the boat up and headed home. Saturday, we offered to take some other friends out on the boat. The weather didn't cooperate until late afternoon. We almost didn't go out. Last-minute we decided let's go jump on Little Lake Butte Des Morts and run up the river into Appleton. We loaded up the pontoon and headed to the 9th street launch. We turned on the tunes, popped the cooler open and got out some snacks and started our run down the Fox River, and enjoyed the views. Some fantastic homes along the river and we noticed one crazy green paddle boat. I was hoping to get to the locks but we got to the Memorial St bridge and there were no more marks on the water. So I backed off. With the crazy amount of current that runs into the damns in this area. I figured it was best to try this again another day. We turned around and headed back up past the Appleton Yacht Club. This is an awesome area but again you have to stay between the buoys. The river on the outside of the buoys is super shallow. We came back up to the little lake and hung out for a few hours enjoying the day. We pulled the boat and called it a day. Sunday morning our friends came back over and we headed back to the Paris St launch. We went over to Waverly Beach. It was a little rough with the wind coming out of the south. The kids had a blast with the waves and we enjoyed the band Iggy Rae Vicious playing up at the Waverly Beach bar. Overall we had a great weekend out on the Pontoon. See the Photo Gallery
Running up the Wolf River
See all the photos on our PHOTO GALLERY. A beautiful sunny day going up the Wolf River with some awesome friends. We started off in Oshkosh at the Pioneer Marina and stopped at the Fin N Feather in Winneconne to get some food & drink. With the Sand Bar Bash going on we got see allot of boat traffic heading to Lake Butte Des Morts. We sat outside and enjoyed the view of the river and boats going by. We than headed up river to Partridge Lake. We tied up and worked on our tans. After a few hours we decided it was time to get some diner. The group decided we should go to Jimmy's Whitehouse Inn on Lake Butte Des Morts. We got lucky and found a spot to dock on the Tilly's Too dock. Of course, we had to stop into Tilly's too to have a few drinks. We always get a kick out of this place. We ran into a bunch of fun people. Some with amazing crocs! We finally started getting hungry so off to Jimmy's we went. About a block and half walk from Tilly's. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I had blackened Salmon and a brandy alexander so good! Back on the water heading into Oshkosh we noticed a boat had sunk in front of the docks at Rainbow Park in Oshkosh. I have to admit it was very creepy. One light was still on under water. Hopefully everyone is ok. We heard there was an accident by the 41 bridge? Not sure if this is the boat or not. See all the photos on our PHOTO GALLERY.
Boating Lake Winnebago July 25th Weekend
And just like that July is done! See all the photos on our PHOTO GALLERY. Being blessed with hot sunny summer days. A group of us headed out at noon on Friday for a birthday celebration on the water. What a great way to celebrate, being on the boat, with some shrimp, sandwiches and of course a cooler full of drinks to keep us hydrated. Saturday was another great hot day and we headed back to Striech's Beach for some more sun and fun. It was a great day and I ran into a ton of boating friends. A quick run across the lake for some diner at Harbor Bar in Stockbridge. They had live music from Sam and Tae Band. I snapped a few photos to share! Over 190 for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy! Remember you can share all the photos on the gallery to your Facebook page or tag your friends on the gallery to Facebook See all the photos on our PHOTO GALLERY.
Boating Lake Butte Des Morts July 5th 2020
Another beautiful day on July 5th. See all the photos on our PHOTO GALLERY. This time we decided to take a run out to Terrell's Island. A small sand bar located just north of the HWY 41 bridge in Oshkosh on Lake Butte Des Morts. This area is not all sandy. Some spots are great and fairly firm. Get out a little ways and it gets muddy. Like mud seeping between your toes muddy. But still a nice change up once in a while. See all the photos on our PHOTO GALLERY.