Michigan Doubleheader ~ Muskegon & Manistee Back To Back

[solopaddler]

Border Guards And Mystery Meat

 

Almost every single time I cross into the States at Port Huron it's an ordeal. I don't think I've ever been just waved through.

 

The most memorable occasion I was enroute to meet Dick Swan in Michigan and was pulled aside for my usual inspection.

Lesson learned that time? Never pack a zip lock bag of borax in your duffle bag.

After finding my suspicious bag of white powder all heck broke loose. My explanation that it was basically just soap and was used to cure fish eggs fell on deaf ears.

We spent a good 2 hours waiting while a guy in a hazmat suit chemically analysed the powder.

 

Last Nov with Dave we were pulled over for inspection as well. Disturbingly the border guard scrawled "Chaos" on the slip he handed us.

Thankfully it was just some kind of weird border guard lingo. Nevertheless we waited for a good hour while they performed their Chaos search on my truck.

 

With the kind of bad mojo I've got with that border crossing Ferg was getting tense as we approached.

"Do you think we'll be okay dude?" he says.

"Oh we'll likely be pulled over for a check. Why?" says I.

"What's their policy on meat?"

 

UH OH

 

Ferg you see is a hunter and had filled his cooler with pounds and pounds of caribou and deer tenderloin.

It looked quite similar to beef....and that's a big no no.

 

After a few perfunctory questions the guard handed me my usual slip of paper.

"Pull over to the left sir, exit your vehicle and hand this slip to the guard in that building over there." Sigh...

 

Of course they found the wild game. I thought Ferg was going to have a heart attack when the guard walked into the building carrying his cooler.

 

"Sir what type of meat is this?"

 

"Well", says Ferg, "It's all labeled. Some as you can see is caribou, some is deer".

 

"It looks a lot like beef sir"

 

"I can assure you it's not beef. I would know, I mean I did shoot the animals myself....."

 

That was not the right thing to say.

Ultimately we were let go, but not before the most thorough reaming yet.

Incredibly the guard took all our deer tenderloin. Said it was impossible to differentiate from beef.

He did leave us with our caribou. What a prince.

I figure with Easter approaching he needed some meat for the table.

 

 

Pee Wees Rustic Playhouse

 

Last year our guide Tim had us staying in a divey motel a good 30 minute drive from the river.

This year I searched and found a cool looking place right on the river 1/2km from the dam. Perfect.

I can't even begin to describe this place.

Owned by a spunky octogenarian by the name of Candy it was like stepping into another world.

Candy you see is the queen of kitsch.

As nice as the day is long, but eccentric to the max, every square inch of our room inside and out was decorated with all manner of strange old oddities.

It was actually very cool and made for a pretty interesting venue.

 

These pic's don't do the place justice at all:

 

 

 

 

 

The woman was an absolute sweetheart. Upon arriving back at the motel after our first day she rushed out with a huge pot of venison chili.

"I figured you boys might be hungry!" and handed it to me.

Venison chili? Hmm..that's kind of ironic thought I.

 

 

Chromapalooza Ensues

 

I fished the Muskegon for the first time last year with my guide and friend Tim.

2008 was Tims first year as a guide and in many ways he was still learning.

This year his experience on the river shone through. He was a fantastic boat handler and had learned a great many new holding spots....head and shoulders above my experience with him last year.

The Muskegon is a big river no two ways about it.

While quite a bit lower than last year it was still flowing at roughly 3500 cubic feet per second. That's some serious water!

It's an absolutely stunning freestone river. Mile after mile of classic riffles, pools and tailouts. To truly work it properly would take a lifetime.

The water, loaded with zebra mussels, was glass water clear as well.

With the power of the current and unbelievable strength of these fish you've got to go big or go home. I was running 15lb mainline, and because of the extreme water clarity 9lb fluorocarbon tippet. As it turned out the fluorocarbon was not a good idea. After losing 3 fish in a row due to break offs I settled on 8lb Maxima Ultragreen (most guys use that for mainline ) and had zero issues.

Much more abrasion resistant than fluoro with all the mussels in the water and quite simply a lot stronger.

The fish didn't care. No need for finesse at all, they hit with abandon.

With the notable exception of those fish we hooked on shore each fish took us on a long ride downstream with Timmy pulling anchor and following the fish as they shot downstream.

 

Here's a shot of Croton dam and the launch just downstream:

 

 

 

Last year on the Manistee my buddy Karl showed me a technique he uses when you don't want to pull anchor and are forced to fight these big strong fish back upstream to the boat.

Plunge the rod tip in the water and with the force of the current piling against your rod and line the fish can be reeled right up to your rod tip.

Don't really understand the physics behind but it works. Every time.

 

There were a few instances where we didn't pull anchor and we used this technique. Sole reason being we were trying to get a double before we slipped downstream...

 

Only problem with this it's not a very fun way to fight fish.

Ferg was amazed at the effectiveness of this fish fighting technique, but in his words "Gawd I'd rather stick pins in my eyes dood!"

 

Here he is standing his ground using Karls technique waiting for me to hook up:

 

 

And a few selected pic's of the action:

 

 

 

 

We hopped out of the boat at this point, a sweet little seam where I had success last year.

With this years lower water it was easier to walk and wade and once again the slot was loaded with steelhead.

 

On 3 occasions I had fish take off like a bullet downstream with me stumbling and bumbling after them.

At one point there was a large deadfall sticking waaay out into the heavy current. I was forced to wade out to the very top of my waders grasping onto branches with one hand while battling the fish with the other to get around it.

 

One was immense. Never caught a single glimpse of it, and I fought that thing for over 1/2 an hour. An absolute eternity.

I don't generally get ruffled when I lose a fish but I almost cried when my hook finally pulled more than 1/2 km downstream from where I hooked up...

 

(You can see the tree sticking out into the water just downstream from me in this pic)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last year Tim was new to the centrepin, but he caught on fast.

Being on shore with plenty of room for all three of us I rigged him up with my back up rod and after some minimal instruction he hooked and landed one himself.

 

 

It was nice to see and man was he pumped. We were just feeding off of his excitement!

 

I managed one more colourful buck before we hopped back in the boat and slipped down river....

 

 

 

 

Every seam and slot held at least a couple of fish, sometimes a bunch as we boondogged our way downstream.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you get lower down in the river there's a lot of high sand banks, very reminiscent of our Nottawasaga

 

 

 

There's a beautiful spot lower down where the river splits around an island.

The narrower left channel is beautiful holding water. Deep and dark with a ton of wood along the opposite bank.

Last year we pulled out on this very same island and managed a bunch of nice fish.

This year I managed the feat again....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pullout was just downstream around the bend.

 

 

Perfect end to a perfect day.

 

 

Muskegon ~ Day Two

 

While waiting for Tim at the launch this young feller runs by with a steelhead on, raising his rod high to get around Ferg and our boat:

 

 

An omen perhaps? Indeed.

 

We repeated our previous success with another banner day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little guy had a noticable lisp:

 

 

As did this one.

 

 

Most were more normal in appearance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right near the end of our drift a flock of turkeys flew across the river and landed right beside us.

 

 

Suddenly Ferg pulls this little slidey box turkey call thingy out of his vest and gets the one big tom all riled up.

Not being a hunter that was pretty cool to see, and a great way to end the Muskegon chapter of our trip...

 

Continued...

[solopaddler]

Manistee Madness Revisited

 

The second leg of our quest for chrome began with a trip north to the small town of Wellston.

Located on the south side of the river right at Tippy dam it's a beehive of activity when the steelhead are running.

Last Nov we stayed at Ray Schmidt's place and were very impressed. So impressed that I booked my nights for April before I left.

Last year Ray had us in "The Steelhead". This time we were residing in the "Brown Trout".

What a cool place!

 

 

 

The weather was perfect on the drive up, but they were calling for a cold front and snow to roll in overnight.

Not the greatest conditions to catch steelhead in, and even worse tomorrow was our only day in a boat...

But what are you gonna do?

 

(Fish harder obviously. ).

 

As expected it was snowing like crazy during the pre dawn drive to meet our guide Brent at the launch ramp:

 

 

No matter, we were stoked. Tough conditions or not it's always a treat to fish the Big Manistee, it's world class.

It's a bit different from the Muskegon, darker and more foreboding, a bit more twisty and turny with deeper holes.

 

We met Brent at the ramp, loaded the boat and were quickly on our way...

 

 

 

We went a bit lighter on the tippet here, 5lb Ultragreen. There's just not quite the same volume of water on the Big Manistee.

It was still quite clear though so we started out using fingernail sized bags of fresh rainbow roe tied in more muted tones like white and peach.

 

They worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next fish was by far the fish of the trip.

 

Just moments before hooking it I had lost another one in the 10lb class. Thrashing wildly beside the boat the hook popped free...

Quickly rebaiting I flipped my rig out onto the seam and let 'er drift.

A long long way down from the boat (good 200' or more) my float tipped over sideways then shot under like a bullet.

I knew before even raising my rod it was a fish.

The second I reared back I knew it was big.

"It's a tank! Pull anchor Brent we're gonna have to chase it!"

At that point she breached, wallowing around way downstream like a corn fed sow.

 

Brent and Ferg suddenly became interested.

 

Try as we might we weren't getting below that fish.

Every single time Brent tried to slip past it she'd take off like a rocket downstream.

Most of the river's bank in that stretch is unwadeable....too deep, too brushy.

By shear luck I noticed we were in an area that looked wadeable.

 

"Get over to shore bud, Im gonna hop out!"

 

Brent beached the boat and we continued the battle from shore...

 

 

 

Note the intense side pressure!

 

 

 

 

 

Success!

 

 

It's kind of deceiving from the pic but this fish was a slab! 34" long and super thick across the back.

Didn't put it on a scale but I'd wager she was 14lb's give or take.

Pure chrome, clear fins, small head and not a mark on her. What a fish!

 

The release was just as sweet as the fight:

 

 

 

Shortly after that the skies cleared and the fish really turned on with both of us hitting multiple fish.

At one point another beauty chrome fish smashed my roe bag and when the fish was still hot I handed my rod to Brent, "Here ya go bud, have fun!"

 

He'd never had a centrepin in his hand before so the fight didn't last too long, still I think he was pretty excited.

(I'm slowly converting all the Michigan guides. It's a tedious process but someone's gotta do it. )

 

Some final porn:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another epic day! (Yes you heard me it was epic LOL!)

 

Before retiring for the day we surveyed the situation at Tippy dam:

 

 

 

We had big plans to fish above the coffer the next day in float tubes.

Tons of fish and no one bumping elbows with us? Yep it was a good plan.

 

That night we grilled some of Ferg's caribou tenderloin and kicked back:

 

 

There were 2 full loins, but I was eating as I cooked.

 

They were yummy, (thanks Ferg ).

 

 

A Deflating Ending?

 

As mentioned we had big plans for our last day on the river.

For months I'd been dreaming about battling huge chromers in my float tube in the slack water above the coffer dam..

 

I hustled down to the river and started kicking my way over to the seam:

 

 

 

Ferg was right behind me:

 

 

We were there for maybe 15 mins. I'd landed a couple of smaller steelhead and Ferg landed a gorgeous little brown when suddenly he began to have problems.

Apparantly the valve on his brand new Bass Pro Shops tube was leaking.

To top it off his almost brand new Simms G4 waders were leaking like a sieve LOL!

So not only was he sinking.....he was soaking wet.

 

Needless to say I helped him back to shore asap.

We took stock of the situation and decided to pack it in early.

We'd caught more than enough fish and I just didn't feel comfortable leaving Ferg to his own devices especially with leaky waders...

 

No matter, it was a trip for the ages and one I'll remember for a while.

 

Hope y'all enjoyed!

 

Cheers, Mike

Edited April 10, 2009 by solopaddler

[jediangler]

Wow, great pics, looks like a great trip.

[tibbs]

Fantastic Report!

 

Looks like you guys had a blast.

[Handlebarz]

Great report thanks

 

One thing if you have had trouble in the past you will always be sent over that is one thing you can never avoid and now you buddy will be the same since he had the meat they sure do like to make you feel welcome and try and drive people away.

[wallacio]

Great report as usual bud - you know that I would have loved to have gone if I could. We'll hit the lower Man again this November for sure.

 

That 34" hen is beyond words...nice job on that one man!!!

[ozaibak1]

Nice one solo, what a great report, looks like a lot of fun especially with the results to boot

[Radnine]

Another classic. Thanks for taking the time.

Jim

[Joey]

Well that was a long read, but well worth it. Fantastic report Mike

 

I can just see you now with the bag of borax "honest officer, its for curing roe"

 

Too bad about the waders and float tube, what a let down eh!!!

 

Sure looks like Candy is someone everyone should meet in their lifetime. Neat place too.

 

Joey

[lucabrasi]

That's some unbelievable steelheading! My jaw is in my lap. Thanks for another outstanding report!!

[solopaddler]

you know that I would have loved to have gone if I could. We'll hit the lower Man again this November for sure.

 

I know you would've gone bud, and you're darned right about next November!

[solopaddler]

Well that was a long read, but well worth it. Fantastic report Mike

 

I can just see you now with the bag of borax "honest officer, its for curing roe"

 

Too bad about the waders and float tube, what a let down eh!!!

 

Sure looks like Candy is someone everyone should meet in their lifetime. Neat place too.

 

Joey

 

Thanks m'dear. You're right about the borax thing, it was pretty funny.

The waders and tube weren't too much of a downer considering, and yeah Candy was an unbelievable character.

I couldn't believe it when I realized I had no picture of her.

Picture if you can a female version of Burgess Meredith with a liking for floral spandex.

[Joey]

Picture if you can a female version of Burgess Meredith with a liking for floral spandex.

 

 

If I have nightmares tonight...............................!!!!!!

[Leecher]

Great report and pics Mike

 

WOW that's a lot of chrome you guys sure had them dialed in!! Congratulations

Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure with us

Leechman

[Cudz]

Wow!!

Are you kidding me? That is a lot of good quality fish.

I am not jealous at all (Insert sarcasm HERE)

[Joeytier]

Wow! Stellar report. Those rivers are absolutely gorgeous!

[ehg]

Looks like you had a successful and satisfying few days.

 

Thanks for taking the time and effort putting this fantastic report together.

 

 

You can tell in the release shot a little better that it is a huge bow!

 

It's kind of deceiving from the pic but this fish was a slab! 34" long and super thick across the back.

 

The release was just as sweet as the fight:

 

[Bly]

 

I always look forward to your reports Mike and you never disappoint, thanks for another entertaining read and great fish porn and the added bonus of things not to try and cross the border with lol

[highdrifter]

Ah the full Monty..

 

Well done Brah! PHAT CHROME..

 

By the way, I'm being extra good around the house.. Mounday is looking better and better!!

 

yyyeeeeehh

HD

[limeyangler]

Thats an awesome report, how many fish!!!??? great stuff.

 

I too usually get hassled at the border, either crossing to USA and when in europe....annoys the hell out of me...oh well.

 

That shot of the houses on the sand bank/high hill....wow...dont look that secure to me.

 

 

Great report, appreciate the time you must have spent putting that together.

[okumasheffield]

Shhh, I just saw a new way of holding fish for photos!

 

Awesome report!

[solopaddler]

Thanks all for the kind words.

 

Fidel, we'll have to talk at some point....

[tinbanger]

quite the adventure

 

Thanks for posting.

 

TB

[jdmls]

 

The drift boat looks like a blast...

 

Great photo's as usual Mike

 

Guessing the wife strapped you down for good Friday ?

[ccmtcanada]

Unbelievable Mike! I gotta head to one or two of those spots next year when I'm at the in-laws over the Christmas holidays...

 

I'll be calling you...LOL.

 

Awesome pics...awesome fish...awesome story telling...