Thursday, March 29, 2012


After preaching to Meg about the training value of hill running, self-motivated myself into running some hills this morning. Great to be back on the "Wilson-Marsall Loop".  Then, this afternoon, hiked, birded photographed my way around the Dead Man Hill Trail. Stacks of trillium pushing through but no blooms yet.  And no morels that I could see. Great view of the Jordan Valley with two hawks flying closely together and later a bald eagle gaining altitude using the updraft. When it was almost at the limit of the range of my binoculars it suddenly stopped circling and headed off dead straight to the north-west possibly for it's summer rendezvous with its better half. I did not know until today that raptors are monogamous, but the male and female winter in different areas, so they re-establish their pair bond each spring. http://www.wingsofwonder.org/

Tuesday, March 27, 2012


Portland, Oregon - August 2011

Tigers Spring Training
 Lakeland, Florida - March 2012
In cricket this would be a "No Ball!" but I can't say about baseball.
Invested in some new bins today. Got some Nikon Monarch 5 8x42's which are a real step up from the binoculars I've been using up until now.  However, I did not need to use binoculars to see the Bald Eagle circling over the lake this morning. Very cool. Planning a trip to the UP soon to learn about bird photography from one of the best, Paul Rossi. Take a look at his work:

DIRECT LINKS TO GALLERIES:

COLORFUL FAVORITES

SCENERY, ANIMALS, FLOWERS, ETC

VARIED FAVORITES

SPRING SONG BIRDS

MALE WARBLERS

FLIGHT FAVORITES

BIRDS HUNTING

HAWKS IN FLIGHT

COMMON LOON

BIRDS IN SNOW

FALL WARBLERS

BIRDS FEEDING

BIRDS WITH YOUNG

BIRDS IN ACTION

SHOREBIRDS

OWLS

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK

ECUADOR BIRDS ONLINE GALLERY 1 

Just the small matter of how to come up with a 600mm lens on the cheap.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Attended an interesting concert last night in Charlevoix put on by Boyne City's own master guitar builder Bob Howard.  Bob has a small shop here in town and makes beautiful acoustic instruments from scratch. http://www.howardguitars.com/
Bob told me he has two guitars in production at any given time and construction time is three to four months.  He invited me to go over and talk some more which I will certainly do. It seems that most of Bob's instruments are built with sides and back of African mahogany and tops of sitka spruce although other materials are available. The star of the show for me was J B Davies whose guitar "Dreamcatcher" is a small jumbo with cutaway using red cedar for the top and (really beautiful) padauk for the back and sides. This guitar was made to JB's highly exacting specifications to suit his (for me at least) highly unique fingerstyle/tapping playing.

According to Taylor Guitars "Cedar is less dense than spruce, and that softness typically translates into a sense of sonic warmth. If Sitka has a full dynamic range, cedar makes quieter tones louder, but it also imposes more of a ceiling on high volume levels driven by an aggressive attack. If one tries to drive a cedar top hard, at a certain point it will reach a volume limit. Typically, players with a lighter touch sound wonderful on a cedar-top guitar, fingerstyle players especially — that lighter touch will be amplified a little more, and one's attack never reaches the ceiling. Flatpickers are likely to hit the ceiling fast, and might be frustrated by an inability to get the tonal output to match their attack."  

In my opinion, the tone of JB's guitar was head and shoulders above the other three and seemed ideally suited to his aggressive tapping/hammering/pull-off/drumming style.
JB told me he he has been playing on and off for about 25 years; he divides his time between Detroit and a place on Walloon Lake.  His  style was quite intriguing and I shall dig deeper into his work and that of his Canadian guitar hero Don Ross.

JB http://jbdavies.com/cgi-bin/p/awtp-home.cgi?d=jbdaviescom
Don Ross http://www.gobyfish.com/Home.html

Other musicians playing were Bill Wilson, traditional finger-stylist on a small jumbo with rosewood and Sitca spruce top; Darrin Brown with a 00 size guitar suited to his eclectic, bluesy style - narrow body, short scale with larger fret wire making for easier hammer-ons and pull-offs; Michael Arp gospel/bluegrass singer/songwriter.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Today we finally had some rain and much cooler temperatures driving the crowds off the river and bringing the Steelhead in.  I went one for two landing this nice fish after it put up a monumental struggle.  It took an egg fly and the fight was much, much too long on the seven weight with 6 pound Maxima.  After such a fish drought I didn't want to lose such a good fish but going forward I'll be much more aggressive about landing fish quickly even at the risk of breaking off.  As it was, this fish couldn't be properly revived and so for the first time in my life I "harvested" a Steelhead.  This will never happen again. Hated myself for causing the courageous fish's death although "Robert" sitting fish-less, cold and soaking wet in jeans and hoody on the bank at the river mouth downtown was so very appreciative of a nice dinner ahead it almost (almost!) offset the guilt. He simply couldn't believe such generosity.  As it was I just wanted to be rid of the evidence of my crime. Strange how some of us eat meat and fish bought from the grocery store all the time without giving it a second thought.  If we had to personally kill the cow, pig, chicken, duck, salmon or whatever it might be different.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Great Blue Heron - Florida - February 2012

Did a small thing for the environment today by installing a "Monofilament Recycling Bin" on the BR on behalf of The Friends of the Boyne River.  It'll be interesting to see how much use it gets and what goes in apart from mono.  There is another of these at the mouth of the river downtown but I don't think anybody ever empties it.  I found a bunch of barbed wire in the river yesterday and was sure to collect and recycle that; I was almost immediately rewarded by the Steelhead hook-up so maybe that's the answer - give and you shall receive.  Can't wait to get back in the river tomorrow and see what the fishy pay-back is for future generations of anglers not leaving their mono on the bank.  Of course my good intentions may be more than off-set by the sewer pipe blot on the landscape that I created.


These two fishermen thought the mono receptacle was a good idea and were kind enough to give me a few tips on catching and smoking their target species - suckers. They claimed that they try to avoid hooking Steelhead because they're spawning and should be left to get on with it.  I couldn't argue with their position although maybe I was the sucker in this case.  We also discussed other fun approaches to putting meat on the table chief among them use of a bow and arrow and spearing each of which apparently have their own season and devotees.


Trout - Henry's Fork, Idaho

Lamar River - Yellowstone National Park

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Air temperature 86F. Water temperature in the Boyne River this afternoon was 58F.  Water clear and low.  We need rain! The Steelhead that are in the river are now very active but extremely skittish.  I watched one fish in a seam which appeared to be regularly feeding on the surface.  Never seen a Steely do that before. I would have tried a dry if I'd had one with me.  (Note to self: Carry lines and flies to cover all potential rig changes.) Later on I finally had a hook up but the fish went straight into the wood and there was nothing I could do about it on 3X fluorocarbon.  Five minutes later the guy up-stream caught this beautiful male on an egg-sucking leach dead drift with a single shot a foot up from the fly.  He had 15 pound test on his open face reel tied directly to the fly.  This was his normal rig and he implied highly productive when there are fish AND water in the river.  Certainly a lesson there but first I want regular hook-ups.  He said this was his sole fish after eight hours of trying. I tried to convince him to release the fish but I'm afraid it's now on the supper table and he's the family hero.
Long hike around Young State Park yesterday afternoon.  The woods up here are tinder-dry right now and it's just a matter of time before there's a serious fire.  Lifting weights this morning and then off to try the Steelies once again.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Water temperature in the Boyne River up from 38F last week to 50F today after the unseasonably hot week-end. A few Steelhead were seen in the river and some splashy behavior observed this morning. No takers of my flies however. Even without hook-ups, fishing today with our low-70's weather was blissful.
A certain guitar-playing ex-fishing guide suggested to me over dinner that I should get the skunk off my back and adopt the two fly, lead-weighted bottom-drifting rig widely used on the Manistee and elsewhere.  And, no, the DNR requirement to use only "one single-pointed unweighted hook measuring 3/8 inch or less from point to shank" does not prevent this, the regulation being aimed at snaggers using large treble hooks cast into lead weights.  But this same fellow volunteered that the two fly rig ends up snagging fish in the mouth due to how the whole mess floats broadside down the river. So doesn't the use of this approach therefore contravene the spirit of the regulation and create hypocrites of those like me who who weep and gnash their teeth over "those damned snaggers" who are much worse than the bait merchants and even hardware tossers.  Yes, the Steelhead hook-up is a blast and unearths the primeval instincts in many of us but at what cost?  Is the very occasional and probably accidental brush with a fish on a single fly worth the angst of standing in the middle of the stream bedecked in our Simms and Orvis finery with our $500+ rod/reel/line combo gawping in impotent frustration at Dwaine from town standing on the bank and hauling in yet another silver missile that took his spawn bag. Maybe best to skip Steelhead season and wait until the Trout opener when Dwaine and the big migratory fish are gone and its just me and the 9 inch Rainbow that came out the fisheries truck but that I know for sure is trying to eat my size 18 BWO.  (Why are there no fish in the Boyne River?  Because they all died of lead poisoning.  Ha, ha.  But that's a moan for another day.)
Sun's now coming up on another spectacular day and it's time for a run.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Lake C. dead calm this morning and first divers seen over the flats. Pair of Common Mergansers. Ain't love grand?  Wonder when the Pine Siskins will be heading north. They're costing me a fortune in seed. Ran out to Porter Creek before breakfast.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Monday it'll be back on the Boyne River trying again for a Steelhead on the fly.  They ARE there as a new Canadian friend demonstrated so convincingly on Thursday.  Center Pin Fishing for Steelhead is big in Ontario apparently.  All that hardware on the line.  But I suppose not so much more than Chuck and Duck.  Maybe I'll pull out the 11 ft split cane rod I used for float fishing on the River Severn in England fifty years ago.  Just need a reel and a stack of mono.  Of course the reels are costly; simpler than a fly reel but more money. Go figure.  I'll give Chuck and Duck one more week.  If it works for Kings, why not for Steelhead? Here's a small King from last fall.
Astonishing weather and can't help but wonder if this trend will continue. Ice on the lake suddenly gone and more birds arriving every day. Walked the Bear River today with the Petoskey Regional Audubon Society. Sally S. saw or heard 27 species.  I was able to positively ID 13 species. So do I count 27 or 13.  I think 13.   White water galore and saw one brave soul kayaking.  Starting April 1 new fishing regulations allow fishing year round on the Bear River from Lake Michigan all the way up to Walloon Lake. Another river to explore with the fly rod.