Friday, May 25, 2012


Trout Unlimited will be assigning an intern to the Miller Van Winkle chapter shortly to study the water flow of the South Branch of the Boyne.













Here are some images of the spillways currently in place under M75 at Boyne Falls and the pond created upstream:



Sunday, May 13, 2012




Slowly adding to my life list.  Yesterday in Young State Park identified 16 species including a Black and White Warbler and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  These are not my images. Heard many unidentified species and need to work on the audible identification although I'm not a subscriber to the hear it, list it school of thought.






Photographing these guys is proving tough and I'm greatly looking forward to spending some time with bird photographer Paul Rossi up in the Eastern UP on May 27.  He says, "We will drive to certain locations and walk to explore each area.  We will start right after sunrise (which is 5:54 a.m.) by birding some open grassland and ponds: LeConte's sparrows, Upland sandpipers, Sharp-tailed grouse, Snipe, American Bittern, Sora, Bobolink, Northern Harriers, etc.  We will also go to the coastal marsh.
After that we will go to locations based on what I find in various locations this year.  There is quite a bit of logging going on up here this year and I must visit certain areas of Hiawatha National Forest and Lake Superior State Forest to see if they are still there.  Rest assured that there are many options.  I will make sure that we will visit a productive inland swamp, mature hardwoods, coniferous woods, etc.  There are many beautiful areas loaded with birds at that time.  I will see what is 
out there and make a plan, making sure that we do not drive too far between walks.  This is the best time of the year for the most variety and visibility of birds in this area."

Friday, May 11, 2012

Northern Michigan Padding Club's recent "Spring Whitewater Rendezvous" at the Bear River Whitewater Park. The river through the park has a 75 foot drop over one mile. 


A great Northern Michigan resource for the paddlers but I think I'll stick to fishing.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012


Chironomidae Chironomus sp.






Great clouds of midges coming off Lake C. all day today.  I know midges make up a huge portion of a trout's diet but what about the other fish in our lake?



Spent early yesterday afternoon exploring the beautiful braided channels of the Jordon headwaters. Perfect weather, perfect scenery, perfect river. One small brookie came out of this nice deep pool. Butterflies rejoicing that spring has finally reached north of the 45th parallel.



Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)








Michigan Fly Fishing Club held it's traditional opening day celebration in the board room at Gates Lodge fueled by the usual Bloody Mary's and doughnuts.  What a fun crowd!  














Not much serious fishing was done that day although the bamboo rod mutual admiration society hit the water pretty hard. I slipped away early to play with the brookies in the solitude of the Manistee.