Josh's favorite pic of Grandpa Mike

(It's the picture of dad that looks the most like Josh).

We've speculated a lot about this photo over the years.  Of course that's dad, facing the camera, and while both women look familiar, are they Helen and Irene, dad's cousins, or is that aunt Fronie in front?

The story in my head is that dad, Helen, Irene, and whoever took the picture stopped by the river on their way home from a wedding or celebration.  The man closest to the camera was fishing...was he someone we know now, or just a friend--like, was that Eddie Janish, or Gene Kulig, or Leo Karasch maybe?

 By the curve of the shoreline, it looks like the Mississippi in a low water year, and I imagine this is North Prairie........

Why didn't I ask Louise right away? She says the two women are definitely her sisters Helen and Irene, and that the second man is Gene Kulig.  She thinks it was taken near the Karasch farm along the Mississippi because Irene and Gene visited there often.  As to a date this might have been--I think it was the summer after dad came home from WWII, so 1946. The photographer might have been Aunt Fronie, using Helen's camera? 

And, what does dad have in that box?  Why would he schlep something down to the river unless it was something useful?  It's the wrong size for a cigar box, and bait didn't come in cardboard...but it could be the box the camera came in.  And, if that's Helen, was she demonstrating how to cast?  lol...more likely, she was telling about something that happened at the event they just came from. I like that both women are wearing their scarves on "backwards", with the point over their foreheads.  (By the time we wore scarves, 'backwards' was considered silly by mom, and wasn't allowed, but this pic was before we were born, I think.  Dad's not wearing a ring ☺).

Any opinions on this?
THANKS to Kath and Louise!!