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.

Here are a couple of sunset views from the Headlands in early April. The night of the owl banding.

Encountered three red fox kits while motoring around Walloon Lake this afternoon. They were walking down the side of the road and showed no fear of the car.   Two of them hung around the roadside long enough for me to grab some quick pics with the point and shoot from the driver's seat.  I wish I'd had the Canon handy.

Spent this morning with the TU guys cleaning the Maple River downstream of Woodland Road. I floated down with fly-fishing guide Phil Croff.  A self-taught boat designer, Phil builds his drift boats with characteristics that suit the rivers of the Tip - the Maple, Sturgeon, Pigeon, Bear, Black, etc..


Very little trash was found but there were many downed trees across the river as a result of the monster early-March snow storm.  Phil came well prepared with a chain saw and hatchet and he created a narrow passage down this fine stretch of trout stream whilst leaving as much deadfall as possible for improved fish cover.

Later in the afternoon I met an angler with Indiana plates about to fish the TU section. Earlier in the day he had caught a nice Rainbow on a Hendrickson dry.  Interesting since Phil and I saw very few rises during our three hour float. Even more interesting was the astonishing coincidence that that this man's wife's maiden name was Miller and his name was Van Winkle.  He said, no connection whatsoever with the originators of the host TU chapter.  Almost unbelievable but he seemed to be an honest man.  And he was fly fisherman so he was probably being truthful.

Back to the Straits from 3:00 - 4:00pm for more hawk watching.  Steve reported it had been a very big day for eagles.  Sure enough, we saw several immature Golden Eagles and at one point saw a group of four Bald Eagles mixing it up as they prepared for the crossing.
Plenty of other hawks came through plus several Turkey Vultures and one American Kestrel that sat in the trees near by. (Not my Kestrel image.)

Great article in this month's Guitar Player magazine about Peter Green, one of my all time favorite Brit-Blues guitarists.
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/148104

The print edition article is full of insights into Peter Green's note selection and more.  This inspired me to begin transcribing some of Greeny's early work on Someday After a While (You'll be Sorry) off A Hard Road by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.  Really great stuff.  Of course, playing it convincingly is another matter and I'm still struggling to approach the guitar tone on the recording with the Epiphone Les Paul, Fender Blues Junior and various pedals.  Yes, these licks had been played earlier by many of the blues greats in America but why did the same exact notes not have the coolness factor subsequently generated by Green and Clapton?