SUMMER "SIRIUS" WEATHER

There’s nothing I worry about more in my Lake Michigan fishing business than the weather. The weather affects the fish. The weather affects the fishermen. The weather affects where we can fish and affects if we can fish. On a lake the size of Lake Michigan, the weather affects whether it’s even safe to be on Lake Michigan.

So during the season, I’m constantly in tune with what the "great minds" on TV, Internet, the National Weather Service and others are thinking, saying and predicting.
By and large, they are good at what they do. Good enough–most of the time.

We Watched Storms in Iowa quickly blew up and over Lake Michigan on the HDS 7 screen. -> -> ->

But since I’ve been doing this for 3 decades, I’m an expert, as well. I also have the tools I need to make my own opinion of expected weather conditions.

The newest tool is my Sirius Weather Radio module that interfaces with one of the Lowrance GPS units on the Brother Nature. It paid off on Monday when storms grew overnight in the Great Plains and headed for Lake Michigan.

When we left the dock, the wind was calm, the sun struggling to burn through the summer haze. A great day. But the Sirius Weather Module showed storms at the Mississippi River on the screen of my HDS-7 unit. In an hour, it the storms were halfway across Illinois and soon knocking on the west suburbs of Chicago. With 12 miles back to the dock, I pulled the lines and we headed for shore. As we were tying the boat at the dock, the sky unloaded, the wind whipped but we were safe.

The weathermen were surprised about the speed and ferocity of the storm. I didn’t worry about surprise. I used the technology, my experience and was safe, once again.