Fichigan

Small Stream Trout fishing in Michigan

27 Dec 2014

Hook-Jawed Brown Trout

Feral with a hook-jawed brown trout, Pigeon River

Feral with a hook-jawed brown trout, Pigeon River

We don’t focus on catching on big male brown trout when working our way up a remote stretch of stream. Trout fishing is more than that even though the idea seems to pop up when a deep hole offers some hope. Catching a hook-jawed brown trout is a rare occurrence and should be. If it were easy there would be no magic. I took a friend /novice fisherman out fishing one time on the Pere Marquette and he caught a 21 inch male brown trout on his first trip and I thought: Oh oh.. this ruins it for him. It will be years before he catches another brown like this. That’s if he sticks with it. It would have been much better if he worked at it for a couple years so he could appreciate the event.

How magical is it? The lure stops and you realize there is some anchor heavy weight there and then the line starts moving and maybe you see the fish and maybe you don’t. You pray your line doesn’t break while computing the odds of moving whatever it is past the blowdowns and logs out to a clear patch of stream where you may be able to get the net under the fish and oops, did you did you remember the net? Things move quickly and the odds are not so great. There are a million ways to lose a good fish – even for those detail-oriented responsible anglers that oil their reels and change line often.

I was fishing the Sturgeon River up by Vanderbilt one time and the river was high and muddied up to where I could see about a foot into the water. I had been tossing big minnow baits, floaters, but knew if the trout were on the bottom they would have to be in pretty shallow water to glimpse the lure. So I put on a big spinner, a Mepps Black Fury which has yellow polka dots against a black blade. There was a fairly deep run off to my left and I cast above the run and wound the reel slowly so the spinner would go deep. The lure stopped. The pole did some slow bends and then I felt the fish rise toward the surface. The fish was coming up for a look.

Luther with hook-jawed brown trout, Sturgeon River

Luther with hook-jawed brown trout, Sturgeon River

It reminded me of a spotted leopard when it materialized into view. The colors were stunning and bright. My heart stopped and I knew that moment, that picture, would always be lodged in my random access memory. I can still see it.

Feral and I have caught a few monsters – and we are not alone in our group. Mike, Denny, Jake, and more recently, Natch, have had those magical days when the lure suddenly stops and they wondered how to get the lure off that darn sunken log. Then the logs starts moving. Two foot brown trout with hook jaws. If you have just taken up small stream trout fishing, streams the width of a two-lane blacktop and under, and have not caught a hook-jawed brown, your time will come. They’re in there.

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18 Oct 2014

Northern Pikeless

Luther at Dog Lake

Nightmares of Esox Lucius have haunted me since our failed excursion to Dog Lake Flooding a year ago. Oh we made it to the lake Ok which was an adventure in itself, but the missing esox still weighs heavy since I had sold my buddies on the sort of monsters you only see on Canada fishing youtubes. Were they in there but refusing all manner of spinnerbaits and lures? Not likely is all I can figure. Maybe a freeze out of the shallow lake destroyed the population. It couldn’t have been fished out since you almost have to parachute in. Three men in three kayaks working the shores could not convince a pike to attack in three hours. Three, three, three, does that ring sinister?

So we failed miserably and as the organizer I was grateful they did not leave me in that remote god forsaken bog. But the experience left me with an itch unrelated to the oak and ivy which has been germinating for well nigh a year.

Feral, as you recall, did not make fall trout camp. Did he secretly go Pike fishing on his own while Natch and I cast the raging rivers of the 45th parallel north? I suspect yes because my built in lie detector, call it a sixth sense, has been beeping in my brain like a Geiger counter whenever the topic of fall trout camp is on the table. Feral’s a sly one and admits to nothing. But in my minds eye, call it a seventh sense, he is sliding his kayak into the blue green waters of Lake county every day and reporting nothing.

I blame Feral for catching, filleting, and cooking my first fresh esox dinner. From lake to skillet it was the best fish dinner in my long fish dinner life. Secret recipe? Hardly. He powdered the fillets with a little flour and dropped them into some sizzling fake butter.  I stand here now in the shadow of great fishermen and say it was the lightest and tastiest fish to ever hit my stomach.

So maybe it was evil intent all along. Hooking me like a junkie with a single meal. Then begging off trout fishing to go after Pike on the sly. All I can say is – It is not over. Maybe there is still time to resurrect all wrongs and meet up for a last camp, this time dedicated to catching the elusive monster Esox Lucius.

Esox Lucius, photo courtesy Jake Lucas Archive

Esox Lucius, photo courtesy Jake Lucas Archive

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29 Sep 2014

2014 Fall Trout Camp

Natch fishing the stretch below Tin Bridge

Natch fishing the stretch below Tin Bridge

In a strange turn of events Feral did not make it to trout camp this fall but that didn’t stop us other die-hards from converging on Pickerel Lake campground up in Pigeon River country. Natch, Mike, Denny and I worked in a few days of fishing. Mike and Denny stayed at a private campground with amenities, which was surprising, since he and Denny have a long history of camping at Pickerel. But they stopped over on Friday night for some campfire and music. Denny had his Martin and played some James Taylor and John Prine and I might have surprised them when I played “Norma Jean” by Elton John (a song about Marilyn Monroe) and a pop song called “Wake me Up” by Avici.

Natch arrived after dark and that was my chance to have him audition as bongo player for Rock Bottom and the Out of Tuners. Unfortunately Rock Bottom (Feral) was not present so he may have to audition all over again. The main thing is Natch kept reasonable good time with the two beer drinking guitar players and he drinks my brand – so he will be getting a very strong recommendation.

Mike warms up the bongos while Denny fingerpicks his D-35

Mike warms up the bongos while Denny finger picks his D-35

The fishing, ah the fishing. Fall Trout Camp is our chance to fish rivers that give up huge brown trout (in the 25 inch class). Giant browns move upstream in the fall but it usually requires blustery cold weather and rain. This year we had perfect camping weather. So camping was great….though everyone kept commenting it’s just not the same without Feral and turning to me for answers. I really didn’t have any answers but suggested next year we camp in Feral’s back yard if that’s what it takes to get him to trout camp. (Trout Camp… It’s not entirely about the trout.)

Natch on the Sturgeon

Natch on the Sturgeon

I fished a couple of stretches of river with Natch and let me tell you – when the going gets tough, Natch gets going. What you don’t see in this photo is the log strewn bottom and gale force river trying to drag him backwards. I often get out and go around this spot on the Sturgeon because the wading is treacherous. The other thing I wanted to say about Natch is he can really zing a lure into tight cover and that’s a requirement for small stream trout fishing. He uses a side arm cast rather than the “Lucas” underhand flip cast so it was interesting seeing him drop lures under low overhead branches and other tight spots.
Natch on Sturgeon 3
Notice the water line on Natch’s fishing vest.

Tin Bridge
I have been wanting to post a photo of the new Tin Bridge ever since the old tin bridge destroyed the frame, exhaust, and brake line on my old Nissan Pathfinder. (see post The Incident at Tin Bridge). The new bridge belongs on a superhighway! Strangely, where the blacktop ends the rutted two-track requires a 4 wheel drive monster truck for passage.

For those wondering about the Pigeon River and the Song of the Morning Dam a sign posted at the bridge indicates they are drawing the dam down to prevent any more accidental spills (the last one decimated the trout population for miles with silt) so measures are being taken. I fished a section called Cornwall Flats and the bad news is it had new levels of silt and the fishing was tough. I caught a ten inch brook trout and a smaller brown but I suspect it will still be a long time before the stream recovers. Areas that did not have silt last year have silt buildup this year. Maybe drawing down the dam isn’t the answer?

Cornwall Flats section, Pigeon River

Cornwall Flats section, Pigeon River

Notice the silt on the bank. The bottom of the stream was black from silt throughout much of this stretch of river. The water was clear so the black steam bottom made it seem like I was walking in a pool of India ink. A bit strange…

So no giant brown trout to report this trip – you’ll have to search the archives if you want to see photos of the real monsters that come out of the Sturgeon and Pigeon in the fall. Maybe next year it won’t be summer weather in late September. That would help.

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24 Aug 2014

River Kayaks

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You have to love Michigan. The kayakers and canoeists, almost every one, apologized for interrupting our fishing. After a while Feral started telling kayakers we were the ones interrupting so don’t apologize! It soon became clear that they were having more fun than us and catching just as many trout. This was up on the Pine River, Lake County last weekend. Every ten minutes or so another group would come by.

It was my lame idea to go trout fishing on the hottest day of the year with the stream low and clear. So the mid-day sun was bearing down on two brain fried fishermen saturated with bug spray on top of sunscreen but Feral was sharp enough to mention how thirsty we were to a a couple guys that were leading one small group kayakers. They asked if we would like a beer and we knew our luck was about to change for the better. A cold bud  (thanks!) brought us back to reality or so we thought.

Around the next bend three guys were lined up on shallow gravel and appeared to be panning for gold. Feral mentioned the Pine was panned out back in the 1800s and it turns out they were just looking for something that fell out of a kayak. From there the talk degenerated to trout fishing. Their mildly amused wives and girlfriends did not want to stick around for fishing talk even though Feral was wearing a muscle shirt that displayed his crouching tiger arm tatoo.
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One of the guys, first photo, owns a place somewhere on the river downstream of Edgetts bridge. I felt a tinge of jealousy because the stars are aligned for him. He need only launch a kayak from his yard and he has a lazy trip down one of the most picturesque trout streams in all of Michigan. And when it rains, go fishing!

 

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16 Aug 2014
5 Comments

The Truth about Trout

Anyone with a stick, six feet of monofilament, a hook and a worm can catch a trout. I did, age 9, fishing the Baldwin River at Bray Creek campground. I lowered the worm down in front of a log so it swept underneath and was rewarded by a 12 inch brown trout. It was a thrill that kept me at it the rest of my life. If I remember right that was also the trip where I fell into the river and had only a single pair of pants so I had to sit at the campfire in a blanket while the pants dried out. The pants fell off a stick perch into the fire but were rescued more or less.

We were camping with my grandpa and grandma, Jake and Gladys Lucas and maybe because my brothers and I were such a handful Jake would send us on foot races though the walking trail at dusk to tire us out and thereby get a chance at some peace and quiet. He’d time us with a pocket watch and in my mind’s eye we ran those trails at about 30 miles per hour. One time I passed a deer fleeing wolves and was fortunate it didn’t follow because Grandma would have shot the deer and Grandpa would have had to wrestle it from the wolf pack.

Jake and Gladys Lucas

Jake and Gladys Lucas

Jake taught us how to appreciate the outdoors and even more important – how to earn money with honest work (mowing his lawn, weeding Grandma’s vegetable garden, shoveling the driveway in the winter). There was no free ride. We would go fishing on our camping trips but we had to cut our own fishing poles from saplings and dig our own worms. Jake was good for a hook and a little monofilament. It was one great adventure and the lessons we learned you don’t find in books or school.

Back to trout and truth. If an obnoxious nine year old can outwit a trout so can you! And you don’t need expensive equipment. My current rig consists of a 25 dollar Zebco underspin reel and a Gander Mountain cork handle spinning rod that cost about forty. My only real expense is lightweight Hodgeman waders which run about a hundred and now have so many patches that I am patching the patches with Seamgrip at five dollars a tube. There is one other major expense – fishing lures and count me in if anyone wants to march on Washington in protest. Or Finland.

If you decide to try trout fishing for the first time you could do worse than fishing the Baldwin River. Check DNR maps for access spots – but you can get in at Bray Creek campground and fish upstream or walk the trail downstream and fish back up. Catch it on a rainy day when the river is rising. Wade slowly upstream and throw a few casts at the tail end of each log or stump. Try to place a cast in front of cover at a 45 degree angle. Use small spinners if you want to catch a lot of fish. Use floating minnow baits and reel like mad if you want to catch bigger fish. Bring some bug spray for mosquitoes. Wear Polaroid sunglasses (make sure they are polaroid). They cut the glare on the water and that saves lures since you can see where you are casting. Then also enable you to see trout that follow the lure. If he doesn’t take your lure, count to twenty and cast again at the same spot.

I don’t think I’m up to saplings and worms anymore. Wading and casting cover for trout is a lifetime adventure with it’s own challenge: you need to become proficient at casting small lures next to the bank under overhanging branches at 30 feet. I suspect the satisfaction is not unlike a golfer that makes a 30 foot putt. Except I get fresh trout for dinner.

Posted in Fishing Stories, Trout Advice
04 Aug 2014

Hauling Kayaks

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Feral and I decided to attack the kayak hauling problem last weekend and went though several “floor engineering” solutions ranging from PVC pipe to galvanized pipe to a couple treated lumber designs and finally cobbled together the construct in the above photo. We may have overengineered the final product but then we won’t be worried about the kayaks falling off and the upside is we can use it to store the kayaks off the ground in his garage this winter. Drop the tailgate and it slides right out of the back. The whole project took us a couple hours and of course we had to try it out so we ran over to Big Leverentz.

I heard thunder as I was setting up my tent and ten minutes later the rain came down in sheets so we killed about and hour back at Feral’s while it blew through and sure enough the sun reappeared like magic and the temperature went from 80s to 70’s and it doesn’t get any better than that for camping. The lake was calm as glass and I know from experience a summer rain can turn on the fishing so we launched the kayaks and proceeded in opposite directions around the lake and met midway to compare fish stories as we didn’t have actual fish to compare. By the time we reached the dock we had 3 bass total and decided to sell the kayaks and go back to trout fishing. Not really, but we should have gone trout fishing.

Jim and Eric at Leverentz

We met a couple interesting guys on the dock that were casting for bass. Eric and Jim were up from Indiana for the weekend. Jim has some property over by Wolf Lake and they had spent the day checking out smaller lakes and happen to end up at Leverentz. Jim showed us his top bass lure, a Heddon Baby Torpedo which is a floater with propellers at the front and back that churn the water. He said he caught one bass off the dock and we were inclined to believe him in spite of the fisherman’s code.

Back at our campsite a young guy stopped by and asked us if we had change for a twenty so he could pay the camping fee ($13). He mention he was from St Joesph, MI and we mentioned a nephew who’s a photographer that lives in St Joe and he came back with Josh Nowiki? and we said: That’s him!  So Josh is getting famous. I mentioned the photo he took of the Chicago skyline from across Lake Michigan and the young camper said he had seen that one also and knew Josh’s work. So we need to mention that to Josh next time we see him.

Feral had his mandolin and I had my guitar so we jammed out some Tom Waits and even a couple original songs before calling it a good night.

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26 Jul 2014

2000 GMC Sonoma Troutmobile

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The 2001 Subaru Forester Troutmobile (see earlier post) turned out to be a temporary solution which developed a head gasket problem that even a part-time weekend mechanic like myself was afraid to tackle. Too bad because I liked the car but it did have a major drawback in that it was too wimpy to pull my 17′ fiberglass bass boat – so that was an issue I could never resolve. I sold the forester to a mechanic that understood the engine problem and likely replaced the gaskets in a day – so happy trails to him and I mean that sincerely.

After much anxiety and a couple test drives of vehicles found on craigslist I went with the GMC Sonoma pictured above. It has 98K on the odometer, auto trans, 2.2 L 4 cylinder for better mileage (but still tough enough for towing the boat), a third door with the extended cab, heated side view mirrors, broken radio, and darn it, no trailer hitch. So I have that ahead of me but know I can install a hitch myself and save a couple bucks. Coinciding with purchasing the truck I pulled a muscle or disk in my back so the vehicle has been parked in front of my house for a week with the sad face you can also see in the above photo. That might be my imagination.

The searing back pain spasms are subsiding and my wife left a grocery list on the counter so I must be doing something wrong. I’ll make that tortuous trip to Meijers but you know I’ll be tempted to buy a twelve pack of Labatts and make a detour north to visit Feral because wading a trout stream is doctor recommended medicine for a sore back. OK, the doctor recommended yoga but anyone that has ever waded a trout stream can appreciate the similarity.

It remains to be seen whether the Sonoma can live up to the reputation of my earlier troutmobiles because it has some giant shoes to fill. Like the Pathfinder (see The Incident at Tin Bridge – try the search tool) which may have been disintegrating below my feet but it sure got the job done. Or the Xterra which saved me from extinction in spite of the concrete wall, but that’s another story.

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15 Jun 2014

Wading Deep

Wading Deep

One of the interesting things about trout fishing is meeting whatever challenge comes up. In order to catch trophy trout you have to put yourself into a position where you have a genuine shot at getting a big fish to take your lure. It may be necessary to wade though deep holes, balance on invisible and unstable logs, lean into a hard current, and try to lob an awkward cast into thick cover while swatting that mosquito that is buzzing you ear.

Successful trout fishing is all about making the perfect cast and to do that you need to be in the right spot whether in the middle of the stream or near the bank. And you have to be on the move – continually working cover with a few select casts and then pushing further upstream to the next piece of cover. Generally you stay on the inside of bends so you cross the stream constantly. Imagine a shoot-em-up video game where you are constantly moving forward and blasting enemy that come into view. Sort of like that but you need to be as accurate with your casting as you are with your imaginary rifle.

But this post is about wading deep. If I take the route up through the stream that others don’t – I know may be rewarded. I am often on my tip toes in water so muddy or stained that my feet are my eyes. It’s ballroom dancing on a minefield. You learn to walk sideways in a fast current to reduce drag and gauge the steepness of the decline into pools and whether you can muster your way around some trash or blowdown to stay in the stream. Climbing up on the bank to go around blowdowns or deep pools is a last option – you want to stay in the water because that is where to make the next perfect cast. The one that takes a big trout.luther on Pigeon 2

 

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14 May 2014
3 Comments

Spring Trout Camp 2014

Natchl with 66 Apache Chief

We had a late start camping this year finally meeting up at Leverentz Lake which is centrally located in Lake County, Michigan and therefore putting us close to several great trout streams. We set up camp on wet ground and were surprised when Natch showed up with a vintage 66 Apache Chief camper. I had my 61 Apache Chief so if you are a fan of old campers and swung in you would have seen two classic campers made in Michigan a half a century ago. Natch’s 66 Chief is in great shape including the canvas. His version has a rubberized floor (Nice!) and an add-a-room option that zips into the awning. (click on any photo to enlarge, backbutton to return) I’ll do a separate post on his camper sometime in the future.

We ran up to the Pine River with the idea of stopping at our morel mushroom spot first and then hitting the stream. The morels were up. Feral scored a nice bag of about 30 and Natch and I picked up another dozen or so. The Pine River was flooded but we had guessed that ahead of time. We went in south of six mile road and cut off a couple short stretches mostly casting from the bank. I caught a brown trout about 17 and tossed him back figuring we were camping for a few days and would likely catch more if we wanted a trout dinner.

Thunderstorms blew in and the next morning we woke to a downpour. When that happens, and in Michigan we count on it, we put on waders and rain jackets and look for fishable trout water because hanging out at a wet camp is no fun. We knew the Pine was flooded and, from experience, the Little Manistee, The Baldwin and main tributaries to the PM, the Middle Branch and Little South would be at flood stage and impossible to wade. So Natch, Feral and I drove to a far upstream (headwaters) stretch of the Little South where the water is is normally a foot deep. It too was flooded but at least we could get in the river. Rain came down in sheets and wind gusts rocked the treetops. Feral commented it looked like tornado weather as the sky took on a strange color.

Natch and Feral are trout addicts like me so we spent several hours getting in and out of the stream and casting every piece of trout cover. I went fishless but Feral and Natch each caught several in the 12 to 16 inch range and released them. Natch was wearing a go-pro camera so at some point maybe he’ll send a video I can post.
Natch and Feral, Little South

This might sound like blasphemy but one reason we released all trout is because we were thinking about pike for our trout camp “fish dinner.” When the weather broke we went out on Leverentz Lake with our kayaks and I was fortunate to catch a pike around 26 inches that provided a nice plate of boneless fillets. Natch also got lucky and caught the biggest bass I’ve ever seen come out of Big Leverentz.  Might have gone 5 pounds but we didn’t have a scale handy. He released it because it wasn’t in season and we don’t normally eat bass.

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Luth with Pike

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Feral prepared a fried morel mushroom appetizer as a prelude to our pike dinner. A couple beers and trout camp magically transformed from dreary Kansas to the Land of Oz.

On Saturday, Keith rolled in. Keith has been to a couple trout camps now and when the guitars come out at dusk it is his job to play the heck out of some of the classic rock songs that we all know but can’t remember the words to. So that puts Feral, lead vocalist for “Rock Bottom and the Out-of-Tuners” in a position of having to make up words on the fly while I struggle to recall old songs that combine killer electric guitar with some acoustic guitar – so I am at least contributing something. Not an easy job if the Labatts beer is flowing.

Keith with Gibson

I always mention Keith’s exceptional guitar playing but he is a story teller like Feral and Natch with a vast reservoir of odd experiences. So the guitar is great but he fits right in as person. When Natch and I took him morel mushroom hunting with dubious results (2) it wasn’t a problem. We just knocked down a cold beer and talked about whatever came to mind. So guitar or not, he’s in.

I’m always circumspect about asking non-fishermen to trout camp mainly because if it rains we fishermen take off for the streams. If it’s overcast we hit the lake.  Keith seems to have a radar about the weather and shows up at just the right time – sunny and seventy and time to jam.

It was all over way to fast. The lake was beautiful and we had the campground to ourselves. We caught trout and pike. Morels were up. A great start to another year.

Camp 2014

 

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05 Apr 2014

The Man Cave

In the off season when good men go crazy knowing trout season is so far away it helps to have a place to escape so their wives don’t shoot them. Of course all men do not have that problem (wives) in which case their entire home is a man cave. I have one buddy in this situation who is kind enough not to rub it in. Each room in his 1920’s two story is dedicated to a hobby such as gas powered model airplanes, guitars, computing, hunting.  There is not enough table space in any one room to sit down a cold beer so when the couch is de-cluttered you set the beer on the floor at your feet. The solution of course is having a dedicated beer room but that could invite other problems like too much time dedicated to the one hobby.
Man cave 1

Feral has maybe the classic man-cave. The basement in his old bungalow could be rated on a variety if scales including horsepower. Feral is fascinated by machines and motors from the steam age forward and at one time or another he has torn apart, rebuilt or even built from scratch most any type of engine devised by man. He’s also fascinated by primitive weapons and has hand built scores of strange rifles including his own invention, the blowgun firearm. His current projects include a mini-bike that looks like a chopper which he wants to have ready for Baldwin’s annual Blessing of the Bikes and an antique Mighty-Mite outboard motor which may end up powering his fishing kayak.
Project Bike 1

There seems to be a direct correlation between square feet of man cave and a man’s hobbies. Fortunately for me my main hobby of trout fishing requires very few square feet so my man-cave is ten square feet of the garage. It’s not much space, but truth be told I am pretty comfortable in the 2000 square foot women cave attached to my small parcel.

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