Fichigan

Small Stream Trout fishing in Michigan

Archive for the category “Trout Gear”

20 Jan 2014
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1961 Apache Scout Camper & JC Higgens

Scout 1

I’ve had so much response to the post “1961 Apache Chief Tent Camper” that I thought I should do one on the Apache Scout. Some years back Feral’s son Jake spotted a Scout for sale on the side of the road and told Feral, who bought it. The Scout turned out to be a JC Higgens brand version made for Sears, but is identical to the Apache Scout. Sears sold camping and sporting goods equipment under the JC Higgens brand up until 1964 including campers, camp stoves, lanterns and coolers. Searching the internet I see the brand extended to fishing equipment including reels and tackle boxes. Most of it is collectible and considered vintage. So if you happen to find a JC Higgens camper you have the option to find other vintage items to go along with it – to me that adds value!

Feral passed the Scout camper onto Jake who has been considering redoing the canvas, which is usable, though Feral used to throw a tarp over it if it looked like rain. The Scout is similar to the Apache Chief but takes a little longer to set up. It uses regular tent poles at the corners rather than the expanding interior pole system of the Chief. The door is on the side rather than the front as seen in the photo. It has the same floor space, bunk for sleeping, and compartment storage space. And coolness factor. You just don’t see these campers often. From what I have read, after the canvas dies a lot of people turn them in to utility trailers. That’s a shame but understandable. The boxes are made of aluminum so they never rust out.

Here’s an original ad for the Apache Scout. $345 dollars. I guess that dates it!

1961 Apache Scout Ad

If you would like to see the post for the Apache Chief, including a similar ad, type chief in the search bar in the right column.

Posted in Trout Gear and tagged , ,
05 Jan 2014

Subaru Trout Car

Mike and Denny at Pickerel lake

Mike and Denny at Pickerel lake

It was and still is a tough winter in Michigan and I’m sad to report the death of my last trout car. I have moved on to a 2001 Forester previously owned by Mike who offered a great bargain I couldn’t refuse. Mike is a consummate angler, wilderness explorer and used car salesman/former attorney that may be related to me depending on just how dependable the new ride turns out to be. Or not be.

I am counting on a couple things here including the Subaru’s on board computer which will hopefully have an auto pilot that takes me into remote stretches of trout stream that have previously been kept secret. Mike and his fishing partner Denny have driven down half the two-tracks and back alleys of northern Michigan in search of virgin unmapped trout streams and have on one or two occasions actually outfished Feral and myself. If I can hack the computer that will be the end of that nonsense.

Mike disclosed absolutely everything wrong with the car before handing me the keys including the small piece of black electrical tape hiding the check engine light that would otherwise be aggravating to look at. He also pointed out the annoying Door Open warning light and his theory that it may have something to do with the rear hatch, which it didn’t, but the light wasn’t cover with tape so I was forced to think about it. Using my extensive garage mechanic skills I was able to isolate the problem by opening and closing each door. It turned out to be the spring loaded passenger door switch which I fixed by pushing it in and out a couple times. Gee that felt good. Something fixed and zero dollars invested.

When I got the car home I took my wife for a joy ride and was surprised when she rolled down the window in sub-zero weather. There is a burning oil smell that barely registers with me but apparently made her almost sick. I shouldn’t have been so surprised. When I come home from fishing she always greets me with a clothes pin on her nose and points anxiously at the shower so you know she is hyper-sensitive. I have vowed to figure out the oil smell even though it is a minor distraction.

The car has a 5-speed manual transmission. Strange thing, if I am thinking about taking off smooth I can make the car jerk like a bucking bronco. If I am not thinking about it I become part of the machine, almost Borg like… so smooth onlookers may wonder if the car is electric. So I need to train myself to never think about the transmission. No problem.

If I add up all the features on the car it may actually be the best trout car yet. It’s a station wagon so there’s room for my fishing gear. I can sit on the rear gate to put on waders. There is a roof rack for a kayak or two. There is a trailer hitch for my 61 Apache Chief camper. The car is all-wheel drive so I should be able to drive it anywhere (famous last words). And it has a 6-CD stereo so I can listen to ancient rock songs on the long drive to my favorite fishing streams. Thanks Mike!

 

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01 Jan 2014
2 Comments

Michigan Brook Trout

Feral with brook trout

Feral with brook trout

I’ve been wanting to write about brook trout ever since I started blogging but the problem has been getting photos. Feral loaned me some of his and I found the one above which is a respectable brook trout for the water we fish. Generally speaking, brook trout reside far upstream from where we normally fish. They are more suited to the small headwaters where the water is colder. If we catch a brook trout on the lower stretches of a stream it will often be where a small feeder creek empties into a larger stream. Or where a small spring introduces cold water, sometimes trickling off a hillside.

Brook trout are more aggressive and less wary than brown trout. That works against them (vs fishermen) and may be one reason browns have taken over their territory. According to the Michigan DNR browns were introduced in our rivers in 1883 and say what you will, browns are great sport, run bigger, and are very abundant. That makes catching a nice brook trout all the more interesting. I probably catch one brook trout for every 20 browns. I always release them in the hopes the population will grow and I’ll see more of them. Feral releases them too.

We catch brook and brown trout on the same lures: minnow baits and spinners. If we were to concentrate on catching more brook trout, small spinners with wide blades would be the way to go. Blue Fox lures in gold or silver. Wider blade means more “hang time.” In effect, the trout have more time to see and catch the lures.

Mike and Denny, two trout camp regulars, often fish the Black River in the fall for brook trout. The Black angles through the Pigeon River State Game Area up near Vanderbilt. I fished it once with Mike and the stream was overgrown with a canopy of saplings and brush. It helped to be an expert at underhand flip casting because there is no way to overhand cast a lure into the trout cover. I am sure there are open stretches without so much canopy so that is a good excuse to do some exploring.

I am trying to place exactly where the above photo was taken and have concluded it is  on the Pine River in Lake County. The Pine may be one of the best naturally reproducing streams in Michigan. It’s landlocked with a dam so it doesn’t get salmon or steelhead runs and that may be the clue to it’s health. We catch browns, brooks, and rainbows out of the Pine which makes it interesting. A brook trout over 14 inches is an event that deserves a cold beer back at the truck. Of course, just getting back the truck also qualifies as a beer event.

Feral at truck

Feral tailgating the S-10, Labatts in hand.

 

Posted in Trout Gear and tagged , ,
24 Jun 2013

Pike for Dinner

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After Feral dressed out the 28 incher he had a dinner size plate heaped with boneless fillets. I should have taken a picture of that because I was surprised so much meat could come off a pike that size. Feral put together a mix of some flour and spices and heated up cooking oil in our camping skillet so it was popping hot. Then he browned the fillets so they were crispy on the outside and flaky when split. It was some of the lightest and tastiest fish I have ever eaten. I had always heard Pike was good – and now I am a believer.

It almost didn’t happen. Early that morning Feral caught a two footer and tossed it back. We thought we had a working live well on the bass boat and could hear the live well motor running, but for some reason it didn’t fill with water. And we didn’t have a stringer – so that first keeper pike went back into the lake. Naturally the fishing went south on us but we persevered and tossed a variety of spinner baits and even some crank baits. Feral caught dinner, pictured above, late afternoon on a spinner bait so we let that one flop around on the boat floor while we headed back to the dock.

We will be doing some more Pike fishing. It is a bit of work filleting them but only one of us has to know how.

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16 May 2013
3 Comments

The Zoppa Rig

Alvin, no relation to the chipmunk, provided a lot of entertainment at trout camp in the seventies but his influence on the world of fishing is only now becoming recognized. Maybe it was his supreme confidence about the sport in spite of his lack of the “latest greatest” equipment and lures that became must haves for lesser anglers. Alvin invented as he went along and I am convinced he would have been declared the winner of any Survivor show that included a place to fish. By winner, I don’t mean the guy that wins a million dollars, I mean the guy that makes the absolute best of where he is at, in effect, living off the land, in style. When the skinny survivors from suburbia get hauled back to the mainland, Al would decline the ride back and spend a few extra months enjoying the tropical paradise.

Luther and Al, late 70's

Luther and Al, late 70’s

As a fisherman, Al wrote new rules. His tackle box doubled as a tool box and carryall for odds and ends. When he opened it around other fishermen, there was a collective gasp as his peers tried to mind sort the congested mess of strange artifacts cobbled into a Rubik’s cube of pointy objects, rusted hooks, copper blades, smoking paraphernalia, and monofilament line bird’s nest. That’s where Al’s genius took over because in less time than it takes to read the bible Al would have a conglomeration of mostly fishing things half-hitched to the tackle end of a yard sale spinning rod he stopped to buy on the trip to camp.

There has been some speculation that the “Zoppa Rig” was invented strictly for Musky fishing on the Roger’s Dam reservoir, but now the word is out – The Zoppa rig can and has been used successfully for most every game fish in Michigan including all species of trout, catfish, bluegills, crappie, suckers and carp, as well as large and smallmouth bass. In the right hands (Al’s) the Zoppa Rig transcends species.  And that’s why it is so dangerous.

There are no known photographs of the Zoppa Rig but Feral Tweed did make a sketch based on memory. I concur on the accuracy but should point out that minnows or chicken intestines can be substituted for the two crawlers depicted in the sketch, though crawlers are the preferred generic for the widest assortment of game fish. Note also that the AC spark plug should have more rust and a silver key can be substituted for the gold key for rainbow trout.

Zoppa Rig

Al passed away several years ago but whenever Feral Tweed and I are hard pressed to figure out how to get a fish, when the fishing is shut down cold,  I will look over at Feral who will nod slowly and say “Yeah, it’s time for a Zoppa Rig.”

Posted in Trout Advice, Trout Gear
08 Feb 2013

Spring Steelhead in Small Streams

Mike with Steelhead

Mike scores a Steelhead on the Baldwin

Michigan has an early opener for spring steelhead and depending on how you look at it – it is either the most fun you can have or a good way to destroy your Chinese made fishing reels. Spring steelhead can run upwards of 25 pounds and aren’t shy about hitting lures. It is a science and passion for a lot of anglers. Depending on weather and stream conditions the spring steelhead spawning runs can overlap the opening of the general trout season so you might find yourself casting for a keeper Brown and think you snagged a beaver.

I remember the first time I saw Steelhead in a stream, on the Little Manistee back in the seventies, and it was spooky looking down and seeing these huge fish cruising right next to your legs. There is a momentary panic where you wonder if you are on their menu.

Mike and Denny, if they don’t head up to Pigeon River country for the general opener, will usually check the Baldwin for Steelhead. If they are there, they are game. I should point out that they don’t test their Zebco underspin reels against the big fish, but rather use Shakespeare 1810 reels (circa 1960’s) and stout seven foot rods, equipment more geared to hold and keep bruiser fish out of the log jams. As far as I know they toss lures, not spawn bags, the most popular bait.

The Baldwin River, north and east of the town of Baldwin, is a great brown trout stream in the summer. South of town it empties into the Pere Marquette River which is on everyone’s list as a great steelhead and salmon river. So the big fish take a left turn at the Baldwin and find themselves in some pretty small water comparatively – think 15 foot wide and a foot deep most of the year.  Lots of gravel and lots of tight cover. So hooking a steelhead and landing it on the Baldwin are two separate things.

According to Denny, and this sounds familiar, every year one of them catches all the fish and they go back and forth. The above photo, taken by Denny, is from May of 2010 – so that must be a Mike year, and he’s holding one that may go 12 pounds (best guess) which he may weigh in on if he reads this post.  I wish I could say steelhead was a priority for me, but I’ll trade them all for a twenty inch brown.

Posted in Trout Advice, Trout Gear and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
12 Jan 2013

The many days before Trout Camp

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A quiet moment at a rainy opener, Pine River.

Sometime in January every year I start exchanging emails with Feral about the upcoming trout opener and we will discuss with great déjà vu where we should do the opener and our choices always boil down to the Pine River in Lake County or the Pigeon River area near Vanderbilt. Someday we might break out of the cycle by trying something new but for now both places are like old clothing, comfortable with plenty of holes. Feral and I started doing the opener on the Pine back in the late 70’s so there is a lot of history there with good catches of brown trout, memorable camp fun and antics, good guitar jams, and memories of people that would camp with us for one or many years.  Another nice thing about the Pine is we finally know where to find morel mushrooms after years of fruitless search. There’s nothing like frying up a bunch of those after dark and knocking down an icy Labatts.

A not so quiet moment, Pigeon River.

A not so quiet moment, Pigeon River.

The Pigeon River area has its own set of enticements, namely, larger trout potential, and more miles of river including the Black, the Sturgeon, and the Pigeon. Also we might meet up with Mike and Denny and then there’s a little competitive spirit about the fishing, a bigger bonfire, and maybe some lake fishing over at Pickeral when the sun goes down.

It doesn’t really matter which place we go. We always have a great time. Our souls seem to renew with the spring air. Only 15 weeks to the opener.

 

Posted in Trout Gear | Leave a comment
18 Nov 2012
2 Comments

Movie Starlet holding Trout

I do patent illustration as a free-lance business and as an exercise using adobe illustrator I decided to try doing comic book style line art of movie starlets looking at movie starlets and was getting some interesting results but then thought with a little extra work I could share the art on fichigan. Not sure if the original drawing lost some mystique… but here you can see a Vampiress looking at a Sorceress holding a trout, not to mention a Shakespeare Reel and Wonderod!

I know what you’re thinking: These girls should be wearing waders.

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19 Aug 2012

Volkswagens for Camping

It’s a guy thing. Moving from vehicle to vehicle as a statement. Jake, like Feral, gravitates to unusual vehicles. I doubt he’ll ever drive a Ford. I never know what he’ll show up with at trout camp but I am often inspired to take a photo. For a while he was on a VW mode and that was entertaining.

The bug was cool though I seem to recall packing a guitar and camping and fishing gear was an exercise in physics or at least bending atoms. We insist on a guitar since he does some very interesting finger picking including some Chet Atkins. He also plays bass and one time he showed up with a stand-up bass packed into the rear end of a GEO tracker. Another exercise in physics.

Jake pulled into fall trout camp with the above VW camper van several years ago and that drew a crowd. I believe the pop top allowed a person to stand up inside though you couldn’t walk very far.  Also, there were some clever mechanics that positioned a cot near the ceiling. I wish I would have taken more pictures because it really was a classic. He sold that and that seems to be the way with him and Feral. Life is too short to keep driving the same thing for very long.

This year Jake showed up with a new Jeep which is a little surprising because Feral, his dad, has a history with Jeeps and many Jeep repair stories. Below is a photo of Feral back in the seventies ready for bow hunting, something we keep talking about because in Michigan the second that trout season ends – bow hunting begins. So that would be an excuse not to break camp and head home. I’m not interested in harvesting a deer, but the woods are spectacular in October.

Here is another Feral Jeep with some guitar jamming in the foreground. Feral had good luck with this Jeep and drove it for a while – at least a year and maybe longer. Jake is finger picking a classical guitar, Feral is playing a Dobro, and that’s a 1970 Martin D-35 in the foreground which I sold. Guitars are like cars: Life is too short to keep playing the same one your whole life. Going back to Jeeps, check out the one Natch brought to trout camp a couple years ago on the post about Pickerel Lake. Natch drove us down a treacherous trail to the  to the Sturgeon River that still makes me smile. Deep ruts and odd angles. Jeeps are good for that – going where no man has gone before. Something Feral did with the Dobro.

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27 Jun 2012
2 Comments

These Fish were not Photoshopped

This nice brace of trout was caught by Feral some time before the turn of the century.  If I recall the story correctly he passed a couple worm fishermen walking the bank upstream, caught the trout in ten minutes, and walked back past them heading downstream. The worm fishermen couldn’t believe their eyes.  A proud moment.  They were kind enough to take this photo and I have been trying to figure out ever since where exactly on the Pine River he caught them.  If you look closely something doesn’t seem right.  Feral assures me the trout have not been photoshopped, but concedes everything else might have been.

Original photo!

Posted in Trout Gear

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