The Salmon are Biting in Ludington

A quick fishing report from Ludington. The Salmon are here. Anglers launching before daybreak were back in port by 9 a.m. with limit catches.
I wish I could have been so lucky Saturday. I think I was sleep walking or sleep fishing, preoccupied, something. I went 1 for 6 confirmed bites. The fish were biting, but I must have been too slow. I did snag a lost lure when I sent my cannonball too low.
The only fish I brought in was a 10-pound King and I think the only reason I landed him was that he tried to swallow the Blue Dolphin lure he mistook for a bait fish. All of my strikes came on the lead core I was trailing or the dipsy.
Listening to radio traffic, fish boated later in the morning and afternoon came on lead core and dipsys more than 100 feet behind or downriggers with lures dragged far behind the cannonballs. That indicates the fish had become spooked by that early-morning pack of boats congregated around the harbor mouth.
As the day wore on, the fish scattered into deeper water. Most of my bites came in 100-150 feet of water on spoons 50 feet down, The depth of water varied but the hungry fish were consistently between 40 and 60 feet deep.
The big producers were green and blue dolphins, blue flies behind Hootchie Mammas and root beer. A lot of my hits came on a Fickle Pickle. Imagine a cucumber picked before ripe, boiled too long with a glow added and you have Northland's recipe. It works.
I am going to try Lake Huron next week to see if I can disprove the dire predictions that Huron's fishery is crashing. A report is coming.

We're Already Computerizing Hunting

Some developments in hunting and fishing technology have me concerned. We fight off the anti-hunters and animal rights activists with the argument that our recreation is a tradition, a return to the land, a way to match wits with our prey.

So what the hell is technology doing in our sport?

It's not just the recent flap over the Website that offered the chance to log in and remotely blast the big one. Thank goodness hunters had the sense to express their outrage over living room hunting. But how hypocritical is the condemnation when the silicon chip is already becoming the silver bullet.

Digital trail cameras relieve us of the chores of tracking and scouting. They also take the fun and fair chase out of hunting. Underwater view cameras and fish finders show us right where the fish are swimming. We don't have to find land points, dropoffs or water depths.

The GSM Digital Scouting Camera is a motion-activated camera that has a video-out jack and cable for viewing images on the Stealth Cam TV monitor. It is even solar compatible. Cabela's advertises prices so low you can afford multiple units for all of your stands. Why, you don't even have to go into the woods, except to set up and retrieve the cameras.

Upload the images to your home PC and you nail down the right spot and the right time to nail the "Tirty-point Buck."

Oh I confess, I get lazy sometimes and use my boat's sonar unit to keep me on Salmon and Walleye, but I can't see what fish are down there or what they are doing. It could be a big ol' Carp laying on the bottom.

The Aqau-Vu underwater camera Website proclaims: "These days, (named proponents of changing fishing to catching) insist on seeing what’s really down there! They’re learning more than ever — and finding and catching more fish! — thanks to their Aqua-Vu Underwater Viewing Systems."

No more trial and error, gaining experience after numerous trips to the water, and guessing which lure is best. Any newby can limit out.

This incorporation of technology into outdoor recreation has to have an effect on our game stocks. If technology allows hunters and anglers to harvest and catch more, the rate of the game's ability to reproduce or the game managers' budget to stock becomes critical. Just like punt guns drove ducks and geese down to disastrous levels, this new technology opens the cupboard door to a new market hunter.

Most sportsmen believe in fair chase and many of our laws are written with fair chase in mind. This does not sound like fair chase to me.

I'd Rather Be Fishin'

I’ll never say any fishing trip was lousy. I firmly believe a day on the water is better than hitting the daily three straight and boxed.

The annual Herring fishing trip promised to be another success. Saturday morning WCMU public radio kicked off its jazz and blues show with a fish theme. "The Fishin' Blues" (My baby catches more fish than me), "Fish for Supper" and Leon Redbone's "Goin' Fishin'" set my tone.

A quick stop at Jay's Sporting Goods qualified me for one of their "free" hats. Dan Hudak, PJ Dennis, Tom Freiheit and I met at Riverbend Resort in Detour for four days of chasing Herring on the St. Mary's River system. But a quick check of local fishing reports found that this was probably the oddest year on record for Herring. Not good for Detour merchants like North Country Sports, gas stations, resorts, restaurants and bars who have six weeks to make their year.

The air temperature had been 90+ degrees for two+ weeks and that changed the water temperature. The Herring were in deeper water than I had ever found them. The Mayfly hatch was the largest anyone remembers. In good years the fish have to stack up in the areas where flies are hatching, but this year flies were everywhere scattering the fish. Some anglers said the fish never made it to prime Herring grounds at Lime Island.

The fish had feasted on so many flies they were like my family after our Thanksgiving triptofan fix. I can envision the adults lying on the bottom around Butterfield and Long islands keeping a half-closed eye on the little ones zipping around the baited hooks. The good-sized Herring and Whitefish were not biting.

Tuesday we switched to Salmon and had limited success. We marked a lot of fish between Frying Pan Island and the Detour Reef Lighthouse, but few trips on our program and only one King.

We got sunburnt, we got windburnt, we wasted 24 bucks on a seven-day Canadian conservation fishing license. My lips were so burnt that I couldn’t open my mouth to eat a hamburger. It hurt to laugh and laughing is a huge part of a trip with these guys.

So the trip was a bust? Not hardly. My wife joined me in the middle of the week for some quality time together on the water. We met some honest, decent folks and the eastern U.P. is God's country.

The green islands rising out of the blue-green St. Mary's River to touch the brilliant blue sky salted with white fluffy clouds are an artist's vision. The natural world of the Detour Passage surrounds you and grabs your attention when the fishing is slow.

The area is home to common and not-so common waterfowl. Loons float low on the water magically disappearing behind a swell to reappear near the crest of the wave. Close to the islands you can spot bald eagles sitting in treetops or soaring on thermals. Geese and ducks are plentiful. The St. Mary’s River system is one of the few spots in Michigan that is the summer home of Gadwalls, American Widgeons and Northern Pintails.

The Lime Island breakwall provides a nesting site for a colony of common terns. The hatchlings sit on the edge watching the boats go by or float casually next to the wall while adults skim the water’s surface for Mayflies to feed the young. Get too close and the acrobatic fliers repeatedly dive your boat. Get closer and mom drops a digested load of morning breakfast on your head.

The locals and the visitors are in no hurry to attend to the matter at hand unless it is human interaction. Talking is important and the locals like to tell you about their home. Everybody has a fishing report from a customer, a brother, a sister or from personal experience. I found that the owner bartender of the Mainsail Restaurant in Detour has a good friend who lives in my tiny hometown of Vestaburg. He and my partner Tom once owned the same Harley model.

So we didn’t catch enough fish to take home. A good place and good friends with or without fish make good times. I’m home now getting ready for another week at the Alma College Public Relations Office. A massive thunderstorm delivering lightning strikes just feet outside my window reminds my of the power of nature and I think back on the healing power of nature I experienced the last week.

The VP Has No Clue Blues

The day before vacation is always the worst. You're trying to get away with a minimum of guilt or worry. Get the stuff crossed off the list so your vacation days are free of work-related grief.

Problem is someone knows you are going, timing their interference, salivating with anticipation. They throw the chimpanzee screwdriver into the mix. Bat guano!

If you are reading a blog, you are probably pretty Web savvy so I think you can empathize with my plight. And if you are an educational administrator peon, you are two-for-two.

The Web has some obvious advantages when it comes to disseminating information. Accessible, up to date, searchable, linkable, COST EFFECTIVE. Drive 'em to your Web site. Everyone agreed the Web is the communication vehicle. Its ready to go live. Instead we have to have a meeting to discuss the need to print on paper a book the size of Vonnegut's Bamboo Snuff Box.

We should not be killing trees and jamming landfills because somebody still thinks technologically-adept kids want to read about it on paper. Academics are a pain in the knothole. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, is only a day away.

Gonna get me some creamed herring

This is my first blog put together hastily before I head out for my annual herring fishing trip in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I love herring. Fishin' 'em, eatin' 'em, creamin' and picklin' em.

We fish the great St. Mary's River that connects Lake Superior with Lake Huron. The best time to catch them is when they are following the Mayfly hatch up the river from Huron. There is a community of hundreds of anglers and seagulls. The seagulls and the herring and whitefish crave the Mayfles; the anglers crave the delicate-fleshed fish.

I have been fishing herring for 20-odd years and have written about the sport for Michigan outdoors magazines. If you want to introduce a kid (or an adult) to fishing, herring fishing is a great way to instill the hunger. A magnificent fighter on light tackle in a beautiful natural setting.

Sun shining, your boat bobbing gently on the waves, numerous water birds wafting overhead takes all your cares away. Of course industry is ever present. You fish in the wakes of tugboats pushing barges and 1000-foot ore carriers.

Why do I fish? Da Yoopers, a UP comedy band sings it best.

WE’RE GOING FISHING WE JUST CAN’T WAIT
WE LOVE THE SMELL OF STINKY BAIT
LEAKY BOATS, WADERS TOO, A COOLER FULL OF ICE COLD BREW
REEL ‘EM IN, WATCH ‘EM FLOP, I LOVE TO FISH I JUST CAN’T STOP
WHEN THIS FISHING TRIP IS THROUGH
I’LL BET I HAVE MORE FISH THAN YOU
I’LL BET I HAVE MORE FISH THAN YOU

MY LINE IS TANGLED AND MY FEET ARE WET
GOT A HOOK IN MY EAR AND A HOLE IN MY NET
THE BOAT STARTS SINKING AND I LOSE AN OAR
ROWING IN A CIRCLE TRYING TO MAKE IT TO SHORE
STANDING IN THE WATER UP TO MY CHIN
WITH A TANGLED LINE AND A STUPID GRIN
I FEEL SO SAD WHEN THE FISHING TRIP ENDS
I JUST CAN’T WAIT TO GO FISHING AGAIN

Try it sometime. You'll know you're alive. I'll post a fishing report when I get back.