There are eight Pine Rivers in Michigan… I had to look that up. Normally my posts refer to the one in Lake county, but Feral and Jake also fish the one in Alcona County. It’s smaller water but has nice brown trout and brook trout depending on which stretch. Jake and Feral sent me photos and some background on a recent trip. According to Jake:
It was looking like a stormy day. Feral and I had been itching to fish the stretch we cleared out. We had gone through a month or so ago and trimmed the pesky branches out of the prime casting locations. In my opinion this stretch from the bridge up to the pine river campground is the most beautiful trout stream there is. Lots of small meadows along the stretch give dynamic views with the perfect mix of trees. I’m already looking forward to getting back through there.
The rain kept up the whole time we fished. The stream was up but not too muddy or deep. Wading was comfortably easy. We both lost decent size fish early on and we each caught several small keepers but let them go. I kept two trout for dinner. One was about 17” and the other as around 13”. Ended up soaking wet by the time we finished but it was a great day.
Feral cooked up the big trout with some asparagus and baked beans that evening and it was excellent. The perfect meal after a day of fishing. I gave the smaller trout to a friend who likes it when I drop one off every now and then. Lots of fun.
Just hang and forget life’s complications. That was my reason to suggest a one night camping trip to Vanderbilt. I arrived first and set up my backpack tent and put my camping chair in the shade. Looking into the canopy of trees surrounding the campsite it seemed like time was standing still. There was no wind. A million leaves and none fluttered. No mosquitoes. I sat there for a long time. Time stood still while years rolled by.
Feral and Jake showed up mid-afternoon. They set up Jake’s tent camper and then it was time to consider fishing. We knew the streams would be low and clear. It’s hard to buy a trout in broad daylight under those conditions. Feral and Jake took off for a stretch we call Fontinalis and I headed for the gravel pits. You drive a two-track though a gravel pit to get to a dead end turnaround, then walk down a long steep path to a field (cover photo) that has a bend in the Sturgeon river. The river actually looked pretty good for fishing. I didn’t fish long. Good casts were unanswered.
Jake and Feral did slightly better if one small trout counts. They relayed pretty much the same story – good casts unanswered. But the stream looked okay meaning the water level was higher than any of us expected.
The day before we figured out this camping trip I went to a garage sale and bought a BB pistol for twenty four dollars. I thought if we camped in one of our remote dispersed camps we could set up a couple beer cans and have a competition. It’s a model 188 Daisy from the 1970s. It has a single-pump lever to cock the cylinder. I brought it along to show Jake and Feral, both hunters and gun knowledgeable.
Jake sent me the second photo. The pistol on the left is Feral’s Hy Score .22 caliber single shot pellet gun made between 1948 and 1961. The one on the right is Jake’s Webley & Scott Mark One single shot pellet gun in .177 caliber made from 1924 to 1935. Both are air powered by lever. My understanding is the Daisy 188 shot both .177 pellets and BBs when introduced, but later just BBs like the one I purchased. We are set for plinkin’. Can I compete? They have to reload after every shot so a timed competition for the number of cans hit in a minute works well for me 🙂
I picked up a bundle of firewood in Vanderbilt on the way in and started a fire in the fire pit. I have a couple garage sale forked hot dog sticks. We loaded three brats on each and had a hot meal around seven (the time we should have been on the stream if we really wanted to catch trout.) Feral nursed a couple large cans of Bud and I knocked down some cold Coronas. Jake doesn’t drink that I know of. We talked till dusk and were surprised it was still light at 10:00. We really should have waited much later to fish.
It was a fast trip considering it took a three hour drive both ways for me but the ride was nice. My new used 2013 4runner has a CD player and I listened to some good music both directions. Pickin’ on Modest Mouse (Iron Horse, bluegrass versions of Modest Mouse songs). The best of Simon and Garfunkel. Some various live stuff pulled off youtube. Anyway, a nice cruise with good jams in both directions. Natch didn’t make this trip but we’re looking for a couple days in a row when we can all get together.
Shortly after posting this Natch texted us and said he was going to camp up at Pickerel next weekend – any takers? After all that driving I was slow to respond but both Feral and Jake chimed in right away saying they would camp too. I said count me in. I met Natch on Friday and Feral and Jake came over from Alpena area on Saturday. That gave Natch and I a chance to fish the Cornwall stretch of the Pigeon on Friday evening. We figured “the later the better” for fishing and were on the water at 7:30 PM. Natch took the lead and I suffered watching him sling his lure right next to the bank and drawing out a couple decent fish. Seriously, Natch is turning into a tough water vacuum cleaner. He caught three keepers to my one.
I brought my camper this time and found a shady spot to set up. Shady until about noon that is. It was another sunny, scorcher weekend. I need a neon sign that says “Diner Open.” I made camp breakfast both days. Natch handled dinner.
Two ways to enjoy the lake, in the water or in the shade. Photos by Natch and Jake.
Some Grand Rapids, Michigan music history: In the late 70’s I played in a band called Preston Arendson with Scott Zystra, Jack Gant, and Abe Rhoorda. We played the local bars and achieved some local fame as a folk/rock/country band with 3-part harmonies. We all wrote original songs but Abe and I really worked hard at it. Scott and Jack were the music talent that took our raw songs and turned them into something special. We played local bars like the Intersection, Eastown Saloon, Olsen’s Rib Shack, and others. We broke up after two years. It just suddenly happened and I think all of us view the breakup from different perspectives but maybe the best answer is that it was time to move on. Jack and Scott went on to play in various bluegrass bands but it was the end of the road for myself and Abe, at least playing bars.
Long after the band breakup I still dreamed of writing a “concept album.” Popular bands like Jethro Tull, The Eagles, and others had done concept albums in the 70’s so as a songwriter it seemed like an interesting goal. Scott had purchased a farm up near Mesick, MI and built a recording studio in his barn so the timing was good (around 1996.) I was working two jobs, a day job as a technical Illustrator and part-time evening job as a patent draftsman. I used about half my evening job pay to run up to Scott’s studio on weekends and lay down tracks. I insisted on paying his studio rate but he did more work than he ever charged.
It was clear to me then and now that we were partners in the project. He is an accomplished musician/guitarist with the best music ear of anyone I’ve ever met, and creative, and the quality of our work rested on his talents. The “Without a Hitch” music CD is an great effort produced at the wrong time. I was raising daughters and he was raising sons. We both had too many responsibilities to actually play the music publicly which was further complicated by the one hundred mile drive between us. And Jack Grant, our bass player from Preston Arendson, was living in Colorado. He drove to Michigan to lay down tracks under tough conditions – learning new songs on-the-fly and playing flawlessly. I was amazed (and thankful!)
Yesterday I found a copy of early cover artwork which I proposed to Scott. But he would have none of it, insisting he was doing his job and that my name should be on the CD. We reached a compromise with the band name Wrong Agenda which actually was prophetic: A strange collaboration at the wrong time in our lives. No way to promote and sell it – people need to hear bands play live, and songs on the air, in order to get sales and recognition. I did send a copy to our local PBS radio station, WGVU, and heard one song, Thirty-Nine Steps, playing on my car radio while waiting in line at a bank. I couldn’t believe it!
I have a case of the CDs tucked in my basement. I tried selling them on this site but no orders. Music needs promotion!!
We centered our trout camp on the first weekend of May which worked out well. We had the Pine River to ourselves. Jake, Feral, Natch and I met up at our remote spot on Thursday. Natch brought his new trailer, the first use for him, and he had set-up figured out like an old pro. It’s pretty large (compared to my Scamp) and has lots of new technology including solar panels, a TV with antenna, wireless booster, hide-a-bed, full bath, etc, things to sell a wife on it but not practical for the low tech camping experience we typically enjoy. We generally don’t spend time in campers – it’s all fishing and campfires. Except for breakfast which I took over when I bought the Scamp. I should mention Natch went from a 1964 Apache tent camper last year, a slightly new camper than Jake’s, to this. Natch is a technology wiz so in a sense this makes perfect sense. His tent camper went to one of his boys.
The fishing was good, no big trout but several 16-17 inchers. I cooked up a trout dinner on Friday night which was good since Jake and Feral, who rode together, mysteriously had to leave on Saturday. I’m still scratching my head about why they had to go considering they were both so anxious to camp. Jake brought the Apache Chief camper. They set it up on the edge of the hill. They had breakfast and Feral said something about his legs were sore and they packed up. The regular plan was head home Tuesday. A sad moment for Natch and I who were counting on their company.
Jake’s Apache Chief
Natch and I sometimes fish together but with so much river and good stretches to fish we sectioned off the river and went for it. Fishing alone is really the ultimate experience. Each bend and piece of cover, logs, holes, are a playing field to explore. Figuring out the best cast to a new piece of cover is a science. Where are trout likely positioned? Where to stand to make that cast? What type of cast will drop the lure in the right spot? Should I put on a bigger lure? (big lures for big trout) Frankly, you are too busy calculating to miss having company on the stream. Counterpoint: Sometimes it’s nice to have some dialog while fishing and see the other guy catch a nice trout. It’s all good.
Natch walking the stream back after fishing the first turnaround
The locals (at the Tustin Store) said no one was getting Morels. We had to try. Natch found a few and I found one. Maybe it was the weather. It was pretty cold at night and after the back and forth spring/winter weather this year the Morels may have come up early and froze or maybe they’ll show up this week. We did have one Morel to split four ways with the trout dinner. I dropped it into a puddle of butter next to the trout fillets.
A Morel Mushroom withDinnerWaders Drying
Natch and I camped until Tuesday. Played some chess and scrabble. Had a great time fishing and Morel hunting. Some great campfires. Too much beer and brats (gained 3 pounds). Ready for this new year of fishing.
If you view the above photo you may be surprised to know that this was once a beautiful access spot to the Pine River in northern Lake County, Michigan. The stump in the middle of the photo was a beautiful mature tree. I parked under it last fall (and for the last 30 years). A nice shady spot. Just beyond the stump there was a faint two-track (not drive-able) under a canopy of mature trees that led to a spot next to a steep bank down to the river. I would scale the hill and fish upstream from there. I should mention that the Pine Rive is a blue-ribbon trout stream with a healthy population of trout: Browns, Rainbows, and Brooks. This spot is visited by trout fishermen from around the state. I have talked with many of them. It (was) a treasure.
I discovered this last Saturday on the opening weekend of trout fishing. Another appalled fisherman was there and we lamented the senseless destruction of what had been a beautiful spot. And a nice ‘”disperse”camping area. A large family group use to camp in the large clearing just north of the tree every year on opening weekend but stopped camping there after some clear cutting done in 2017. In 2017 the clear cutting stopped at the edge of the large clearing where they camped and was sickening to look at. So goodbye to that family. This year they clear cut up much closer to the river. Finished the job so to speak.
I don’t know who makes these decisions. A google search of clear cutting in Michigan brought up a story in Grayling, Michigan where residents tried to find answers and frankly the only answer is there is a bureaucracy in State Forest Management that is untouchable. They hold hearings that nobody is aware of and they say they always send a representative to an area before it is clear cut. And they follow guidelines set forth by other supreme bureaucracies. I can only say this: No human being in their right mind would have approved of this destruction if they understood the importance of this spot to so many Michigan fishermen.
Okay, I am not camping in the Amazon and probably never will. But I do want to share a couple things I purchased which I’m very happy with. Starting with some flashlights. What I like about these is they use an AA battery which I always have on hand. They fit in a pocket and/or use the belt clip. The beam is adjustable. They won’t blind anyone – just practical illumination. And well made.
This canvas duffel is pretty amazing and macho. Beats toting several days of clothes in a flimsy tote or carryall. Good size for a few pants, shirts, etc. Well made. Inexpensive. Great gift for any camper or weekend traveler.
I have one 20lb propane tank on my camper and I was worried about running out halfway through cooking a trout dinner. Buying a second tank and hardware to switch tanks seemed like the only option until I read about this. This allows you to switch from a twenty lb tank to a 1 lb propane canister and finish the cooking. Genius.
This portable camping toilet is perfect for remote camping and has a snap on lid to use as a camping stool. Enough said.
The general trout season opens the last Saturday in April in Michigan and it is maybe the second biggest holiday for sportsmen next to rifle deer season. For more years than I can remember I met Feral and other buddies up on the Pine River in Lake County on the Friday before, remote camping near the river. At midnight we took a mountainous hill down to the river and lobbed crawlers with a load of split shot into a hole below camp. The weather was alway in question – sometimes balmy spring and sometimes snow. It didn’t matter because it was a ritual, our New Year’s.
Fishing was never too productive. If we had followed lessons from our mentor, Jake Lucas, we would have worked cover along the river using long rods and non stop casting to feel the bait crawl along the river bed waiting for that subtle nibble. Instead we propped rods on fork sticks and cracked a beer. Sometimes we reminisced about previous years and sometimes it was enough to just hang with our buddies and watch the rod tips for any sort of action. The real fishing, at least for us, started at daylight when we put on waders and cut off stretches of river to work with spinners. The real lesson we absorbed from our mentor: wading upstream and hunting trout with pinpoint casting.
Our camping evolved from pup tents to leaky cabin tents to classic tent campers and now, at least for me, an actual trailer. Natch is looking too. Something pretty nice about not having to worry about the canvas which requires extra care to keep in good shape. In my case, my buddies warmed up to breakfast in a warm camper last year rather than time consuming trips to local restaurants.
We have no solid plan this year for the Opener but more and more we wait until the following weekend. Less fishermen on the river and a better shot at finding Morel Mushrooms. We have a general area that produces courtesy of my late brother in law George. His son, Josh Nowicki (a famous photographer) has a post online with a good explanation about how to find morels. Here’s a link. https://www.michigan.org/article/trip-idea/secret-morel-mushroom-hunting-michigan
Feral Chilling – 2007
The fichigan blog gets readers from all over the globe and I like to think folks that don’t have our opportunities in other countries appreciate that we have so much public land and access to trout filled rivers, free remote camping opportunities, and a chance for adventure a short drive from home. I love Michigan. Our New Year’s is coming up.
My wife Jan and I made a trip to California mid-December to see Lisa and Lil, our daughter and granddaughter. It was an early, wonderful Christmas for us. Lisa planned our whole week to perfection, a gift she has, understanding the most interesting and fun things for a family or a group and making it happen.
We spent the first few days in Sacramento for a perfect Christmas. Lisa had helped Lil write a letter for Santa and posted it into a tiny mailbox on the TV stand. Santa came while we were there and took it one night. “He’s sneaky!” Lil said. We had gifts around the Christmas tree and lots of playtime with Lil. She received a camping set from her Aunt Sara and “Gunckle” and we spent a lot of time pretend camping with visits from her stuffed animals, cooking meals in the plastic campfire, flicking plastic bugs, the camp set had everything! Jan read Lil some new books including one about a crayons revolt that had them both laughing – belly laughs! Lil received lots of gifts including a baby doll with lots of clothes and a basket that Great Grandma Phillips, my mom, gave Lisa when she was a child. A family heirloom.
Lisa helping Lil with the pajamas on her baby doll.
For part two of our trip we spent three nights at an airbnb in Glen Ellen, a small burg just north of Sonoma, and took day trips to the Jack London Museum and a Railroad fun park. The museum was really something. I knew a little about Jack London and have read a couple of his books, Call of the Wild, The Sea Wolf, famous books, but didn’t know anything about his life. He wrote over a hundred books and they had first editions behind a glass case. And his whole life story from childhood to his death. There’s a grave marker on the site along with a home he built (which is now in ruins). I felt like I knew him by the time I reached his gravesite. Quite a remarkable man.
Thank you Lisa, for thinking of this! You knew I’d find it fascinating.
The Railroad fun park was a blast. We all took the train ride around the park which included a stop at a kid-size town with a chapel, a jail, a store and other basically kid-size buildings with fun things inside. On the spot Lil joined in play with the kids from another family running from building to building. She’s so well adjusted and social for a three year old. Good job mom! Lisa and Lil went on other rides including a carousel, a small Ferris wheel, an airplane ride, and finally some whirly thing with a strange name.
Back at the airbnb the girls used the hot tub (not my cup of tea) which gave me a chance to catch up on some reading. Lisa and Lil gave me an amazing book about the Rolling Stones for Christmas. There’s an analysis of every song starting back in the blues years up through rock and roll. It says who played what instrument and even points out wrong notes in songs. As a musician I am not alone! This should be it’s own post.
I knew the week trip would go by in a fast blur and sure enough suddenly we were at the airport and heading back to Michigan. I would have loved to stay out in California with them.
Coming soon: Trout fishing stories even if I have to make them up.
I started going to estate sales a few years ago and began collecting vintage cigarette cases. The ones I have are in good shape and some have art deco and art nouveau designs. According to my ebay searches they are worth several times what I paid (which was ten dollars or less.) I think fifteen is the most I’ve paid. There are some very interesting ones on ebay, some listed up to a hundred dollars or more, but I have to remember this is a hobby, not a business – just buy bargains. There are several good antique stores West Michigan but I have seen very few of these and they were priced at ebay levels or higher, so that’s out. This means estate sales and the odd garage sale.
Auctions are another avenue for collectors, and fun, but they are usually an all-day affair and there is no telling when an auctioneer will get to the table that has the item you want. You have to wait for the really big ticket items to be sold first and sometimes there are thousands of items spread out. That said, you never know just what kind of things you might find at an auction including musical instruments, quality art, or that thing you have been thinking about and now here it is and maybe cheap.
Michigan is really in the deep freeze right now and trout season opens the end of April so hobbies, like collecting, is one way to get out, move around, and get some exercise. I’m still working part-time, but not a lot, and I read way to much if that’s possible, so having a hobby to get through a Michigan winter really helps.
Fichigan 