$4.00JULY 2015

Great Lakes Trifecta Project Appleseed Jig Pitching Beaver Pond Brookies The M-1 Whitetail Rifle Embracing The Other Side Crankbaits Rule July

Staying Hooked More Food Plot Tips Trail Cam Photo of A Missed Opportunity!

Michigans Premier Outdoor PublicationWoods-N-Water NewsWoods-N-Water News

www.woods-n-waternews.com Like us on facebook Follow us onwww.woods-n-waternews.com Like us on facebook Follow us on

2014

BoonerBUCKS

CHRONIC WASTINGDISEASE FOUND!

Improve Lake Productivity

SweetSmallies

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Unfortunately it seems the outdoor commu-nity is being blitzed by diseases. We saw EHD kill deer, the states first confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2 in the state. The disease was found in free-ranging Canada geese in Macomb County. Avian influenza is a virus that can infect both free-rang-ing and domestic poultry such as chickens, tur-keys, quail and geese. Canine influenza, or dog flu, a highly contagious respiratory infection in dogs, has been found in three dogs here in Michigan. Now...CWD has been found in Michigan. This is the first case of chronic wasting disease to be confirmed in a free-ranging Michi-gan white-tailed deer, said DNR Director Keith Creagh. While it is a disappointing day for Michigan, the good news is that we are armed with a thoughtfully crafted response plan, Creagh said. We are working with other wildlife experts at the local, regional, state and federal level, using every available resource, to determine the extent of this disease, respond appropriately to limit further transmission, and ultimately eradicate the disease in Michigan if possible. According to the DNR, The confirmed posi-tive finding triggers several actions in the states surveillance and response plan for chronic wasting disease. The plan was developed in 2002 through cooperation between the DNR and MDARD, and was updated in 2012. Actions the DNR will take include: 1) Completing a population survey in the area where the CWD-positive deer was found. 2) Establishing a Core CWD Area consisting of Alaiedon, Delhi, Lansing, Meridian, Wheatfield and Williamstown townships in Ingham County; Bath and DeWitt townships in Clinton County; and Woodhull Township in Shiawassee County. Unlim-ited antlerless deer hunting licenses will be avail-able. Mandatory checking of deer will be required in this area during hunting seasons and restrictions will apply to the movement of carcasses and parts of deer taken in this area. 3) Creating a CWD Management Zone, which

will include Clinton, Ingham and Shiawassee counties. 4) Implementing a deer and elk feeding and bait-ing ban, which will include the Core CWD Area and the larger three-county CWD Management Zone. 5) Prohibiting the possession or salvage of deer killed by collision with a motor vehicle within the Core CWD Area. Also, residents are asked to call in the locations of road-killed deer within this area so DNR staff can pick up for testing. Research shows CWD-infected deer are more likely to be hit by vehicles because of their illness. For a complete understanding of CWD see Lydia Lohrer-Beviers story on page 10 of this issue! Changing the topic completely; now that spring turkey hunting season is finished, the DNR reminds all turkey hunters of the online harvest reporting option. Turkey hunters are encouraged to report their hunting activity by visiting https://secure1.state.mi.us/wildsurvey/.n

By Tom Campbell ... Field Notes

Diseases hit home

SEASONSNow-Dec. 31-Michigan Pure Hunt Application periodNow-March 15, 2016-L.P. inland waters muskie, pike, walleye season.Now-March 15, 2016-U.P. inland waters, Great Lakes and St. Marys River muskie, pike, walleye season.Now-Dec. 31--Bass catch-and-keep on all waters, including Great Lakes (except Lake St. Clair, St. Clair and Detroit Rivers)June 13-14--Michigan Free Fishing WeekendJune 20-Dec. 31Bass catch-and-keep on Lake St. Clair & St. Clair & Detroit RiversJuly 1 Aug. 1--Fall Wild Turkey application periodJuly 15 Aug. 15--Antlerless Deer application periodJune 27 Summer Run Steelhead Clinic Saturday, at Tippy Dam Recreation Area in Brethren 10 a.m. (www.michigan.gov/huntfishcenter)

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State natural resource, agriculture and envi-ronment leaders announced the appointment of a scientific advisory panel to evaluate proposals to allow commercial net-pen aquaculture in Michi-gans Great Lakes waters. Net-pen aquaculture is named for the offshore floating enclosures (usually located off coastlines) capable of raising large numbers of fish. These operations take small fish from a hatchery and raise them to a harvestable size for the consumer food market. Currently, the only commercial aquaculture net pens in the Great Lakes are located in the Ontario waters of Lake Huron in the North Channel and in Georgian Bay. The state depart-ments of Environmental Quality, Natural Re-sources, and Agriculture and Rural Development are working jointly to review the concept and make a policy recommendation to Gov. Rick Snyder. In addition to the work of this scientific advisory panel, the state will analyze the economic and legal implications of net-pen aquaculture in Michigan to provide a comprehensive review. The proposal to allow this activity in Michi-gan waters raises many questions about protect-ing the Great Lakes ecology and our fisheries, said DEQ Director Dan Wyant. We take seri-ously our charge to protect Michigans natural resources. These panelists were selected on the basis of their expertise in many key areas, and we look forward to their help considering some critical issues. Panelists include: Dr. Eric Anderson, NOAA, Great Lakes Ecological Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. John Dettmers, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Jim Diana, Michigan Sea Grant director and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michi-gan. Keith McCormack, P.E., vice president, Hubbell, Roth and Clark, Detroit. Dr. James Morris, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Coastal Aquaculture Planning & Environmental Sustain-

ability, Beaufort, North Carolina. Dr. David Scarfe, OVA-CAP Veterinary & Consulting Services / Aquatic Veterinary Associ-ates, Bartlett, Illinois. Dr. Roy Stein, professor emeritus, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. (chair) Dr. Craig Stow, NOAA, Great Lakes Ecologi-cal Laboratory, Ann Arbor, Michigan.The volunteer panelists have agreed to objectively assess the scientific information surrounding the issue of commercial aquaculture net pens in the Great Lakes. Dr. Stein will serve as chair of the panel, which expects to deliver a findings report in October 2015 to the DNR, DEQ and MDARD directors. The panel will work independently and seek information and input from other scientists as needed. Its important that Michigan looks at the issue of commercial net pens with a critical, deliberate eye, given the wide range of issues and interests affected, said DNR Director Keith Creagh. We want to have a firm understand-ing about the impact of aquaculture net pens on water quality, health of fish populations, and the Great Lakes ecosystem things that greatly influence quality of life for residents in the Great Lakes region. MDARD Director Jamie Clover Adams de-scribed aquaculture as an important industry in Michigan, but agreed its one to be thought-fully studied and evaluated. While closed or recirculating systems or flow-through facilities are well supported, this new approach to raising fish in the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes will need to be carefully consid-ered. In late June, there will be an opportunity for the public to provide input to the panel regard-ing commercial net-pen aquaculture issues and information. The three agencies will host a stakeholder workshop this fall for the purposes of reviewing the information and providing com-ment and input toward the development of any future policies to govern this activity in the Great Lakes.

New scientific panel to examine effects ofcommercial net-pen aquaculture on the Great Lakes

Larry Piotrowski shared these wonderful Oakland Co. photos of a 45 minute old fawn. He missed the delivery by five minutes and commented, What an amazing morning to witness the fawn taking its first steps, its first kiss from mom and its first nursing.

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HUNTINGCOVER STORY

Bow Booners 2014Richard P. Smith page 8

Beating the odds fora spring gobbler

Joe Rovison DNR page 47Trail camera photo tells of

a missed opportunityRichard P. Smith page 60

Corn based food plots for bow and firearm hunting

Ed Spinazzola page 88

FISHINGCOVER STORYSweet Smallies

Kenny Darwin page 12

Master Angler ProgramMDNR page 14

Crankbaits rule in JulyBuck Mallory page 16

Saginaw Bay WalleyeDave Mull page 20

COVER STORYThinning Sucker

PopulationsBill Ziegler page 22

Advance bottombouncer tactics

Michael Veine page 32

NEXT BITE...Shivering summer walleyesGary Parsons/Keith Kavajecz

page 40

Staying HookedMark Romanack page 50

Fake and Fastwhen the heat is on

Mark Martin page 55

Sight FishingGeorge Rowe page 56

The perpetual motion fly...Joe's Hi Tail BuggerJoe Delaney page 62

It's Salmon-Fest TimeBetty Sodders

page 74

Slamming St. ClairSMALLIES

Mark Sak page 77

The multiple personalities of the

Northern PikeRobert Dock Stupp page 78

Beaver Pond BrookiesPatrick Bevier page 81

Jig PitchingMark Romanack page 86

PERSPECTIVE Project Appleseed

Rifle Marksmanship and Early American

HeritageJennifer Brozek page 18

Guest Column:The Camps of the Ottawa

Ed Zeidler Jr. page 28

Losing the GripTom Carney page 36

Fishing is more than fish:Roger Beukema page 64

ORV operationin Michigan

Jeff Pendergraff page 71

FEATURES

Sharing life for nearly four decades

Randy Jorgensen page 24

Kids, sportsmen help DNR improve habitat

page 26

"How much wood can a woodchuck chuck..."

Tom Lounsbury page 30

Cumberland GapDarryl Quidort page 42

Blister-Busting Basics!Jonathon Schechter page 44

Boat Smart...Alternative Power Choices

Capt. Fred Davis page 66

DNR fisheries research vessels are out on the water

page 69

MUCC urges huntercooperation with

Chronic Wasting Diseasepage 73

Trail Cam Photospage 80

Sporting Collectibles...Made in MichiganOutboard MotorsTerry McBurney

page 82

OUTDOOR NEWS

CWD in Michigan!Lydia Lohrer

page 10

Angler input soughton UP brook trout

page 34

Wildlife Habitat grants available

from DNRpage 57

Black PowderShooting Sports...

The best thing in the worldDennis Neely page 58

SHOOTINGGUN CHAT...

Shirtsleeve ShotgunLee Arten page 46

The M1A asa whitetail rifle

David Pierce page 48

OPINIONSMichigan Meanders...

Embracing the other sideTom Huggler

page 70

Guest ColumnLife jackets save lives!Tim Muir/Shawn Elliot

page 72

Dear Fish Diary...How close are we to Robo Fish Cop? I 'drone' know!Ron St. Germain page 72

DEPARTMENTSTrophy Page. . . . . . . . .76Letters-Op-Ed . . . . 70-73

Classifieds . . . . . . . 90-91Real Estate . . . . . 92-101

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COVER PHOTO

$4.00JULY 2015

Great Lakes Trifecta Project Appleseed Jig Pitching Beaver Pond Brookies The M-1 Whitetail Rifle Embracing The Other Side Crankbaits Rule July

Staying Hooked More Food Plot Tips Trail Cam Photo of A Missed Opportunity!

Michigans Premier Outdoor Publication N-Water News

www.woods-n-waternews.com Like us on facebook Follow us on

2014

BoonerBUCKS

CHRONIC WASTINGDISEASE FOUND!

Improve Lake Productivity

SweetSmallies

Booner Bucks...page 8Sweet Smallies

Kenny Darwin...page 12Chronic Wasting Disease

MDNR photo...page 10Improve Lake Productivity

Bill Ziegler...page 22

Great Lakes

muskie rearing

program...page 68

GREAT LAKES TRIFECTA

Mike Gnatkowski ...page 52

WOODS-N-WATER NEWS PRESENTS...29th Annual

O U T D O O RW E E K E N D

September 11-13Friday 5-9 pm

Saturday 9 am-7 pmSunday 9 am-5 pm

Eastern Michigan State Fairgrounds - Imlay City

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Celebrating Our Outdoor Heri tage

! Over 200 Outdoor Vendors Hunting Seminars

Puppies Gun Auction Wild Animals Much More

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or many years, the major-ity of the bucks with the largest antlers that were bagged by hunters in Michigan were killed with firearms; either centerfire rifles and shotguns or

muzzleloaders. More recently, bow-hunters have taken their share of big antlered bucks. It makes sense. Bowhunters have always had a longer season than gun hunters and mature whitetails have always been more vulnerable to hunters during the days leading up to November 15, but what has tipped the odds in the favor of todays bowhunters of bagging bragging size bucks is they are more knowledge-able than ever before and have better equipment than ever before. The improvement in equipment applies to bowhunters using vertical bows as well as crossbows. Equipment alone isnt enough to make hunters more effective, but that combined with knowledge and experi-ence is. Thats why, for the first time in Michigans deer hunting history, all of the top end bucks bagged during 2014 seasons were tagged by bow-hunters, according to Commemorative Bucks of Michigan (CBM). By top end bucks I mean those that qualify for entry in all time national records maintained by the Boone & Crockett Club. Typical-antlered bucks must net a minimum of 170 and nontypicals 195 to meet that criteria. Four bucks that fall into that cat-egory, three typicals and one nontypi-cal, were entered in state records from last fall. Chris Evenhouse from Three Rivers collected the states highest scoring buck of 2014 in St. Joseph County, an 18-point nontypical that nets 196 2/8. Scott Hunter arrowed the highest scoring typical in Branch County, an 11-pointer that nets 172. Two more typicals were col-lected during archery season by Jacob

Rizkaliah from Wayne and Garrett Shembarger from Niles. Jacob got a 12-pointer in Washtenaw County that netted 170 6/8 and Garrett nailed an-other 11-point in Berrien County that scored 170 1/8. It was the evening of October 21 when Evenhouse got his monster nontypical. He and hunting partner Paul Kruger had plenty of trail camera photos of the buck, enabling them to figure out where the whitetail was spending most of its time. The deer

was living in a 35-acre tract of woods surrounded by large crop fields in all directions. They first tried to ambush the buck on October 6, but ended up spooking the ani-mal, so decided to give the area a break until the 21st. Chris tree stand was on the

edge of a thick bed-ding area and Paul was posted about 200 yards away.

Due to the presence of crunchy leaves, Chris sneaked into his stand as quietly as possible. Evenhouse had only been in his stand for about 10 minutes when he saw the buck they were after stand up from where he was bedded in thick grass. When the whitetail moved out, Chris originally thought the deer was headed toward Paul, but then he saw it coming toward him. When he was 20 yards from me, he passed behind a tree and I drew my bow, anticipating him stepping into my shooting lane, Evenhouse explained. Instead, he stopped one step short of giving me the perfect shot and remained there. He stood there and just stared motionless for at least a minute while I held my bow at full draw. I could barely keep my bow held back for that long and thought I was going to have to let down. Finally, I noticed there was a small opening to his vitals and decided to try and make the shot. I released the arrow, but, to my horror, the buck took two bounds and stopped dead in his tracks. Thats

when I realized I had shot right over his back. Fortunately, the buck didnt know what happened and eventu-ally turned back to go in the direc-tion he was originally headed. Chris got another arrow tipped with a G5 Montec Broadhead on the string of his 65-pound pull Mathews Creed Bow and made that one count at a distance of 30 yards. The buck was estimated to be 5 years old and had a dressed weight of about 210 pounds. Last fall marked the second year that Scott Hunter from Tecumseh was trying for the 11-point Booner that he finally got during the first week of November. During 2013, the buck had 12 points, with one of them being a 4-inch drop tine. The whitetail failed to grow a drop tine on his rack during 2014. To make sure there would be mature bucks on that property, we didnt hunt it for four years, Hunter said. Scott normally hunts with his son. Scott arrowed the buck from a tree stand in a funnel between bedding areas. He shot the buck had a distance of 17 yards. It ran 30 yards and fell over. The buck had been doing a lot of fighting, Scott said. The left side of his head was scarred up and he was blind in his left eye. The deer also had a stab wound from an antler in the armpit area of his right front leg. The

wound was four inches deep. The deers dressed weight was only 170 pounds, but it had an es-timated age of 5 1/2. Scott shot the whitetail with a 60-pound pull Bow Tech Assassin Bow and 2-blade ex-pandable G5 Broadhead. It was 11:15 a.m. on November 13 when Jacob Rizkaliah connected on his 12-pointer. The night before the 13th, Jacob hung a stand in a dif-ferent part of the property that had not yet been hunted that turned the tables in his favor. About 10:15 a.m., the bowhunter had a shot at a trophy 10-pointer that he passed up because one of its tines was broken. The fact that Jacob knew the bigger buck was in the area contributed to his decision to let the 10-pointer walk. An hour later, the bigger buck crossed a river while in pursuit of a doe. With the use of a grunt call, Rizkaliah lured the bruiser to within 25 yards for a shot with his 71-pound pull Bow Tech Experience bow. A fixed-blade 100-grain G5 broadhead brought the buck down. Jacob said the deer was aged at 3 years old. Its dressed weight was 183 pounds and its live weight would have exceeded 200 pounds. The Booner that Garrett Shem-barger nailed on the evening of Octo-ber 30 was his first buck with bow and arrow. Garretts sister had seen the buck earlier in the day while bow-hunting and she described the deer as

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Archers Take Biggest Bucks...

Chris Evenhouse of Three Rivers collected the states highest scoring buck of 2014 in St. Joseph Co. with an 18-point nontypical that nets 196 2/8.

F

By Richard P. Smith

Two more typicals were collected during archery season by (lt) Jacob Rizkaliah from Wayne and (rt) Garrett Shembarger from Niles. Jacob got a 12-pointer in Washtenaw County that netted 170 6/8 and Garrett nailed another 11-point in Berrien County that scored 170 1/8.a horse due to its large size. The trophy whitetail was chasing does near the tree stand Shembarger occu-pied that evening. He eventually got a 37-yard shot at the deer with his Bow

Tech Assassin Bow, scoring a fatal hit with a 2-blade Rage Broadhead. Two reasons why gun hunters most likely did not collect any Boone & Crockett caliber bucks during

2014 is standing cornfields remained over much of the state while firearms season was underway and deep snows in the northern UP prevented hunter access to some areas where booners

were known to be in gun season. I saw trail camera photos taken on No-vember 16 of at least one UP Booner from a stand that a hunter was not able to get to.n

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Recently the DNR announced the first case of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in a six year-old free range doe in Ingham County. CWD belongs to class of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopa-thies (TSE). All TSE are prion diseases, and prion diseases are notable for turning brains into to swiss cheese. Mad cow disease and something humans get called Creutzfeld-Jakob syndrome are examples. They are all deadly. Prion disease isnt caused by a virus or bacteria. No one knows exactly what causes these diseases, but usually a build up of damaged proteins is found in the brains of animals and humans with this disease. TSEs are virtually indestructible. Forget radiation, heat, and bleach. And by heat, I mean flames. No mat-ter how much you burn your steak, if its infected with mad cow, you arent safe. In the wake of this somewhat dismal news, nearly everyone has questions.

Can Humans Contract CWD? The short answer is , No, probably not. So far, theres no proof that a human has ever contracted the disease from a deer. Even if they did, it would be immensely difficult to prove. The dis-ease takes years to incubate, and symptoms resemble dementia. The day after I discovered that we had CWD in our deer herd, I mentioned it to my doctor. His wife had died of the human version of the disease. He

claimed that there was a 21 year-old at U of M with the disease who they thought had possibly gotten it from eating venison in a state where deer are contami-nated. Again, this would be virtually impossible to prove. Encouragingly, states with high rates of CWD do not seem to show any correlation between deer prion disease and human prion disease. Still, caution is sug-gested.

Can Other Animals Get CWD According to studies, if you inject it directly into their brain, some animals can get it, including cats. CWD can be transmitted and adapted to the domestic cat, thus raising the issue of potential cervid-to-feline

transmission in nature, was the studys conclusion. Again, it was directly injected into the cat brain, so who can know. A mountain lion was fed infected carcasses for years and didnt contract it. So far, no realistic evidence of cow-to-cervid transmission or vice-versa has been found.

Which Areas Are AffectedWhat Is The DNR Doing About It? The DNR has drawn a ten mile circle around the area in Haslett Township, Ingham County, where the deer was found. They have been testing deer within that circle for several weeks as of the date this article, and no others have come up. See a sidebar for the regulations for affected areas. If another deer is found, they will again draw a ten mile perimeter and re-focus their efforts. The DNR is doing an excremental ton of work. They are shooting and hauling in deer in the area for lab tests. Its critical to determine how far the disease has progressed. Theyre fielding endless calls from people concerned about the disease, and calls from people who hate the thought of shooting deer at all, as well.

When Was The Disease Discovered? In Fort Collins, CO, around 1967, researchers were studying TSE in sheep. According to one of the biologists, Gene Schoonveld, the deer and sheep were penned together from 1968 to 1971. About three dozen deer died of what later would be identified as classic CWD symptoms. Many of the penned deer were released into the wild. Since then it has spread to wild deer populations in 19 states.

How Did It Get Here? That is the great mystery. It could have been transmitted animal-to-animal. Theres a map on the DNR website that shows where else CWD has been found in the country. Basically if it were transmitted from animal to animal it would show up as a chain of cases from Wisconsin, through Chicago to Michigan. Since thats not the case, thats the least likely scenario. It could have arrived through infected deer urine that a hunter used as an attractant. This scenario is fairly unlikely, but is being investigated. Nearly half the hobby farmers/petting zoos in Michigan ten years ago are no longer in business. A hobby deer farmer could also simply have quietly released their deer. Finally, it could have arrived via a carcass or ani-mal parts. Non-hunters dont understand this expla-nation. Hunters know people hunt out-of-state and bring bodies, heads, whatever back all the time. Then they dump it. Remember that little fact about prions being inde-structible? Theres strong evidence that they basically form a biofilm on plant roots and other areas where an infected animals may have left saliva, blood or feces. So a dumped carcass could deteriorate but the prions could remain for years, waiting for an unsus-pecting deer to munch some undergrowth. Local dumpsites have been tested, the soil tested

and so have all carcasses found in the area Odds are we will never know, but it wont be for lack of trying. In the meantime, every forest trail, backyard and flower bed that deer came in contact with is contami-nated.

How Long Does It Incubate? An infected fawn could spread the disease for years before it showed symptoms.

What Are The Symptoms? As mentioned, they may go years without symp-toms. When they do show up, they vary. Deer can lose their fear of humans and cars. This is the reason the DNR is testing all the roadkill deer in the area where the infection was located. Its a great place to start looking. Deer may also stagger or appear starving. They may excessively salivate. If you see a deer with these symptoms in the tri-county area where the first deer was found, call the Wildlife Disease Hotline 517-614-9602 immediately.

What Will This Do For TheFuture Of Deer Hunting? It may not affect your hunting immediately. It will affect future generations of hunters. It will take 30-40 years, according to models. The concept of QDMA may ultimately need to be reconsidered, because older bucks are the deer most likely to be highly contaminated.

Is There Nothing AtAll That Destroys Prions? Nature actually has a solution, and we are on our way to discovering it. Perhaps. A 2012 study pub-lished in Pubmed claims, We have now tested more than twenty lichen species from several geographical locations and from various taxa and found that ap-proximately half of these species degrade prions.

What Can I Do To Help? Great question. First, dont panic. If you live in the affected area, follow the rules to a T. No kidding, skip no steps. Affected areas are required to turn the heads in for testing, which will take a week. Only licensed butchers are allowed to handle meat taken in that area. If you dont, consider using only deer urine products made in Michigan from licensed facilities. High-fence facilities in Michigan are highly regulated tested tens of thousands of times by the DNR for CWD. If there is CWD in their herd (which happened once in 2008), they are the first to know and take ac-tion. Conquest Products has taken the step of having their products certified CWD and TB free. Report deer that are acting strangely. Dont ever bring an out-of-state deer or elk parts back to Michi-gan and dump them. And urge your representatives to vote for extra funding for the DNR if they ask for it to deal with this scourge. Hunters will play a key role in how this affects our state from taking out potentially infected deer and/or reporting them to following guidelines to keep the herd safe.n

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By Lydia LohrerCWD

The DNR is doing an excremental ton of work. They are shooting and hauling in deer in the area for lab tests. Its critical to determine how far the disease has progressed.

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Legendary fisheries have developed in East Grand Traverse Bay, Lake

St. Clair, the Detroit RiverSystem and in many lakes and

rivers. World-class smallie fishingis available in Michigan and

bronzeback are eager to slam avariety of presentations. This

is beyond a doubt one ofMICHIGANS SWEETEST FISHERIES...

Across the Great Lakes state the smallmouth population is on the rise and anglers are finding fast-paced fishin fun from early spring until ice up. Michigan is fast mold-ing into a leading smallmouth bass state yielding 100 fish days and trophies topping 6 pounds on any given cast. Smallie behemoths were taken last year in the bass-rich East Grand Traverse Bay while anglers shrugged off the chill of a brutally cold winter. May water temperatures were just 38 degrees when the Ranger dodged ice flows and the day barely hit high temperatures in the 40s. Still, crystal clear cold water yielded a five pound bass limit weighing 30 pounds to a duo of anglers who used jerkbaits and tubes in 1-8 ft. depths. The biggest was a whopping 7-pound 2-ounce giant! Fishing friend Brandon Conner zipped along the Lake Michigan beach in a fast-moving Skeeter boat and ran from Muskegon to Pentwater in an effort to ambush a huge school of smallies crammed at the pier head. He used umbrella rigs by Yum and Booyah with Money Minnows or Teaser Rigs and trailing twister tail to fire em up. On his first cast he drilled a pair of five pounders and eventually boated around 40 smallies. The long run was worthwhile and he placed at the top on the board at days end. His larg-est smallie pushed the scales just over 6 pounds. Lake St. Clair angler Tommy Wilson is a smallmouth fishing nut. He loves to set up on the edge of huge weed beds and work the edges with spinner baits jerkbaits and craw tubes. He runs far from shore, locating smal-lie hideouts and enters them into his Lowrance Gen2 fish finder. His goal is to pinpoint several hotspots and return any given day when conditions are ideal. Its not unusual to land several smallies over the 6-pound mark. I love the way they aggressively smack presentations, take to the air like a Polaris missile on the hook set and dive into the weeds as line melts off the reel drag, he explains. We are living in the golden age for bronzeback because St. Clair is simply a huge smallmouth fish factory, says Wilson. And this fishery is producing bigger bass than ever. Some think the rise in bass is due to skyrocketing goby numbers or perhaps extended growing seasons but some anglers feel we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg for smallie numbers on St. Clair. Its not surprising that many Michigan fishermen are on a quest to land a world-class brown bass. The list of likely locations to take an impressive fish keeps growing, Charity Islands, Mitchells Bay, Alpena sand bar. Many of Michi-

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By Kenny Darwin

Jigs tipped with live bait, crawdad imitation plastics, tubes and pork can provide fast-paced fishing fun and hefty catches. Author photos

gans top monster smallie hotspots are the Great Lakes and connecting waterways where giants grow to impressive proportions from feeding on high protein diets of shad, alewife, goby, smelt, Johnny darters and other forage minnows. Big water smallies grow faster than the average north-ern-strain smallmouth because of the abundance of food. Fact is, most of Michigans Great Lakes shoreline is ideal habitat for producing giant smallies and with the increasing goby forage fish, smallies are finding abun-dant food. Michigans Great Lakes are experiencing a bronzeback boom. Some predict 8-pound giants are soon to become common catches in the Wolverine state. I like floating the Grand River near Lansing on a warm day when insects are hatching and smallies go on a feeding spree. The boat glides silently along the river bank as I ap-proach a deep run full of fish. The first cast with a Rapala produces a savage strike and a fun-filled day of casting and catching begins. Once in a while all hell breaks loose when you stick a five pounder but most of the smallies are smaller, eager to

bite almost any presentation and the action is non-stop. The ease at which numbers of smallies can be had in the region is impressive. The fish tend to gather in deeper holes and structure holding forage minnows and an abundance of bass food. This is an overlooked fishery and the same holds true for a long list of Michigan Rivers: St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand River, Muskegon, Tittabawassee, Saginaw, Cass, Flint and many more. If you want to sample these fisheries,

plan an outing soon. Michigans smallie populations have benefited from what some biolo-gist refer to as perfect environmental conditions. Zebra mussels have increased water clarity, the average mean water temperature has in-creased, and the fast-increasing num-bers of gobies provide infinite supply of easy to catch food. Michigans smallie numbers are very strong, ever increasing and I think the peak is yet to come. Population increase in Lake Erie is stumbling because of pollution. Remember the algae bloom in the 1960s that shut down Erie? Well, the same problem has returned and officials are doing nothing to stop the pollution. Last summer Eries western basin was so thick with green algae that smallies could not survive and beaches were closed to swimming. The culprit is sewage from Detroit and Toledo in addi-tion to crop land chemicals draining into Erie. Detroit does not remove nutrients from sewage and the City has a permit from Lansing to dump UNLIMITED raw sewage. So, every time it rains the Detroit River is filled with untreated sewage from the city. The explosion of nitrates and phos-phates from the Detroit and Maumee Rivers has catapulted the ecosystems fertility. Soon the pollution will ruin Lake Eries splendid perch, smallie and walleye fisheries. In the next few years you can expect Lake Eries western basin sport fisheries to totally collapse and rough fish will take over. Gee, DNR, are you going to continue to sit on your thumbs and do nothing or begin the much needed restoration of these valuable fisheries? If I had to pick one location for a new state record it would be East Grand Traverse Bay. Last summer I pounded fish at the mouth of Yuba Creek where it drains into east Bay and swirls around boulder-size rocks. This used to be one of my secret

steelhead/brown trout locations but with the decline of Great Lakes trout/salmon the habitat now supports a strong population of impressive smal-lies. But on the other hand record-size smallies are caught on a daily basis from the vast waters of Lake St. Clair and there is a good chance 8-pound smallies will be caught there on a regular basis. Smallmouth bass are super bass and catching them is no big deal. Some anglers prefer spinnerbaits with flashing blades and tantalizing trailer offerings. These fish are aggressive and smash metal willow blades that flash gold or silver, brightly colored shirts and shad-looking trailers. Oth-ers like to cast jerkbaits like YoZuri minnow, Jerkmaster, Megabass, Bagley Shad, Smithwick G-Finish Rouge, Berkley Flicker Minnow, Rapala and more. Working tube jigs has long been a productive tactic for catching smallies. Some anglers like swimbaits, others go for crawfish plastics, fat grubs with twister tails or plastic tubes. During the dog days of summer try casting shallow running cranks like Livetarget Baitball, Ra-pala Scatter Rap, and Strike King Pro Model 1.5, Lucky Craft, Storm Silent, Rebel Wee R and more. Because they are aggressive, fish anglers should practice catch and release to protect adult spawning fish and promote the valuable fishery resource. Keep in mind the big bass numbers will suffer if you continu-ally harvest large trophy fish. Fishing for smallies in Michigan is a sweet deal and if you want the population to grow handle them with care, release them at boatside, immediately. If you want to record the catch, have your smart phone or camera ready, hold the bass by the bottom lip and get snapshots quickly and release the fish unharmed. Taking photos is a sure-fire way to remember the catch forever, which can make landing a lunker fish even more sweet.n

A hard fighting smallie can keep anglers busy trying to get hooked fish coaxed into the net.

Smallmouth bass are fast becoming one of Michigans most popular sport spe-cies and are easily available to fishermen throughout the state. One of the authors favorite smallie spots is the Detroit River system. When the spring walleye run subsides he moves to smallies and works lures around the many islands, gravel bars and other structure.

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The Department of Natu-ral Resources popular Master Angler program, which recognizes those who catch fish that exceed certain minimum standards, has undergone a major change for 2015. Originally, Master Angler status was determined by the weight of the fish. But with catch-and-release fish-ing growing in popularity, in 1992 the program began recognizing anglers who released specimens by the length of the fish they caught. Now, in a move to simplify the program in 2015, the DNR no longer will require weights for Master Angler consideration, even if the fish are kept. Weights, however, still will be used to determine state-record fish. Michigan anglers submitted fewer

trophy fish to the program in 2014 than they did in 2013, but they set five state records nonetheless. New state marks were established for black buf-falo, brown bullhead, flathead catfish, quillback and white perch. Overall, the number of fish en-tered into the Master Angler program was down in 2014 from the previous year, said Lynne Thoma, who runs the program for the DNR Fisher-ies Division. It was down in both categories catch-and-release and catch-and-keep. But we did have five new records. I think thats the most new records ever. As has been the case in recent years, more anglers chose to release their Master Angler fish rather than keep them. The DNR recognized 658

fish in the catch-and-release category (down from 724 in 2013) and 327 fish that were kept, down from 483 the previous year. The decrease in the number of Master Angler fish kept largely can be attributed to Chinook salmon. Anglers reported weighing in seven Chinooks that met or bested the minimum 27-pound standard compared to 117 in 2013. The number of Coho salmon entered dropped, too from eight in 2013 to three in 2014. Anglers reported releasing four Chinook salmon that measured 39 inches or more, down from the eight kings caught and released in 2013. But 2014 turned out to be a good year for anglers pursuing trophy specimens of several species of prized game fish, including bass and walleye. Catch-and-release anglers reported

catching 32 Master Angler largemouth bass (a minimum length of 22 inches) compared to 23 the previous year. Anglers reported keeping four Master Angler largemouths (a minimum of 6 pounds) compared to five in 2013. Master Angler largemouths came from all over the state, though the ma-jority came from the southern Lower Peninsula. Mud Lake in Livingston County produced the most with three. The largest largemouth bass reported a 7.75-pound, 23.5-inch speci-men was taken by Eric Campbell of Plainwell from Schnable Lake in Allegan County. Walleye anglers did well in 2014, too. Catch-and-release fishermen reg-istered 25 walleyes (measuring at least 29 inches), more than doubling the

12 certified in 2013. Catch-and-keep anglers reported 12 walleyes weighing 11 pounds or more, down from 20 the previous year. The Detroit River, Saginaw River and St. Clair River all produced multiple Master Angler walleyes. The largest brought to the scales was a 13.19-pounder taken by Mark Phillips of Rapid River, caught through the ice of Little Bay de Noc in February. Smallmouth bass anglers enjoyed

an excellent year with 69 fish released and 15 kept, though the overall total is down from 2013 (88 and 14, respec-tively). Lake St. Clair produced more Master Angler smallmouths than any other fishery, as well as the largest that was kept a 7.88-pounder caught by Ralph Marino of Roseville. Smallmouth bass represented the most Master Angler applications in 2014. For most species, Master Angler

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Joshua Teunis of Grand Haven took this record 41.25-pound black buffalo with a bow and arrow from Bear Lake in Muskegon County.

Master Angler program continuescelebration of prized Michigan catches

Dale Blakley caught this record 52-pound, flathead catfish on a wax worm and crappie jig from Barron Lake in Cass County.

fish numbers caught in 2014 were down slightly from 2013. Anglers reported 76 bluegills total (for both categories combined), compared to 90 in 2013. Anglers registered 60 crappie (72 in 2013) and 11 yellow perch (28). Muskellunge fishermen reported releasing 30 Master Angler fish, down from 38 in 2013, and keeping four fish, up from three last year. Lake St. Clair produced the lions share of master angler muskies, which has been the trend in recent years. The state-record fish recorded in 2014 were unique in an unusual way;

none of them was caught by hook and line in open water. Three were taken by bow fishermen and the other two were taken through the ice. Joshua Teunis of Grand Haven set the record for his 41.25-pound black buffalo, taken with a bow and arrow from Bear Lake in Muskegon County; Jared Gusler of Fairview arrowed the record 3.77-pound brown bullhead from Alcona Dam Pond; and Benjamin Frey of Grand Rapids shot the record 8.25-pound quillback often commonly called a quillback sucker from Hardy Dam Pond in Newaygo County.

Dale Blakley of Niles started the record-setting in January 2014 with a 52-pound, 46-inch flathead catfish that he caught on a wax worm and crappie jig from Barron Lake in Cass County. Less than two weeks later, Aaron Slagh of Holland made his way into the record books with a 1.93-pound, 13.25-inch white perch, caught from Muskegon Lake on a Hali spoon. Complete listings of Master Angler fish from 2014 and previ-ous years can be found on the DNR website at www.michigan.gov/masterangler.n

(rt-lt) Aaron Slagh of Holland caught a record 1.93-pound, 13.25-inch white perch, from Muskegon Lake on a Hali spoon. Jared Gusler of Fairview arrowed the record 3.77-pound brown bullhead from Alcona Dam Pond with his bow. All photos courtesy the DNR

Benjamin Frey shows off his record 8.25-pound quillback, taken with a bow.

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W hen July rolls around through most of the upper Midwest, finding bass means finding what theyre eating. No more worrying about what stage of the spawn theyre in. Lots of methods work in July, from skipping jigs under docks to swimming swimbaits over the tops of weeds, but a strong pattern that can pay off big time is blasting into a basss world with a crankbait. Ac-tively feeding fish will engulf a wig-gling crankbait with zeal; less active fish can get surprised into biting a fishy-looking piece of plastic wiggling through its strike zone. Crankbaits in the summer not only cover water, but also pick apart a piece of structure. Lets look at each scenario. When youre finding fish scattered across weedy flats, a crankbait can be the ultimate lure for covering water. Bass wait in ambush among the weed tops and a plug buzzing through their overhead strike zones can get them to react and eat. The right lure for the job dives right to the tops of the weeds without digging into the green. The key is to have a lure that ticks the tops of the weeds now and then. When these bass are aggressive, crankbaits burned along just below the waters surface will get them to come up and strike. For covering water on flats, a shallow diver such as the Strike King KVD 1.5 or the Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap (which dives a bit deeper) can do the job. Both of those lures feature square bills, which can hit the weeds without getting a big scoop of them. So, lets talk about the second sce-nario of picking apart structure with a crankbait. In most of Michigans natu-ral lakes, this means probing the edges of tall weedbeds along drop offs. This is an especially good tactic in lakes where bass eat lots of bluegills. When July rolls around, schools of bluegills move out along weed edges and suspend at varying depths, and the bass follow. Here, a Strike King Pro Model 5 Series crankbait in a natural finish that approximates a bluegill works. Patterns such as the Green

Gizzard Shad, Sexy Sunfish and even Blue Chartreuse and Black

Chartreuse do the job. Before you jump to a conclusion that something like Blue Chartreuse doesnt look anything like a bluegill, remember that what youre seeing in the pack-age is nothing like what a bass sees as a crankbait goes whizzing by in its watery world. Youre just trying to give an impression of a fleeing panfish or baitfishthe amount of flash and the right color makes all the difference in provoking strikes. Incidentally, in lakes that are connected to the Great Lakes, such as Muskegon or White Lake, a pattern that approximates an alewife can rock the basss world. No pattern does this better than the Sexy Shad with its yellow lateral line color. Positioning the boat correctly will put your lure in front of more of these weedline fish, too. Remember, youre fishing a drop-off, a distinct line where the depth changes. You can cast perpendicular to that line, putting your lure over the weeds and bringing it down over the edge. Its usually bet-ter, though, to position the boat so you can cast at an angle toward the weed line and bring it along, just outside of the weed edge. This often presents the bait to fish that are hanging in the open water outside of the weeds as well as those bass in the weeds wait-ing to ambush prey. When reeling a crankbait around weeds, my favorite method is to point the rod at the bait while Im reeling, and whenever I feel resistance, give the rod a good upward snap. If its weeds causing the stoppage, a quick jerk can break the crankbait freeand it is in this moment that bites often occur. If the resistance is from a fish, snapping the rod sets the hook. So what kind of rod works best for this? Awhile back, long, softer fiber-glass rods got popular for crankbait fishing, largely due to the success of David Fritts, a bass pro who revolu-tionized hardbody fishing about 20 years ago. Hes still fishing tourna-ments and now designs a lighter com-posite rod series for Lews Fishing. Those old, soft fiberglass rods were great for larger reservoirs and bang-ing lures off wood and rocks, and the softer action helped keep fish hooked

on the way back to the boat. However, they were not so great for the kinds of weedy cover we fish in natural lakes. They made it more difficult to snap the baits free of weeds. My favorite crankbait rod has been a G. Loomis CBR 954 GLX.Its 7 feet, 11 inches longgreat for long castsand gives me plenty of sweeping power to set the hook. It also has a great backbone for snapping lures out of weeds. On a recent trip, a buddy let me check out a Lews 6-foot, 9-inch Custom Speed Stick (Model LI-MC69). It is actually a rod in their inshore series for sea trout and redfish, but it was great for shallower cranks. It has a soft tip and medium action with enough backbone to snap through weeds and can smaller lures a long distance. As you might imagine, if it can handle a big redfish, it has enough power to battle most of the bass you hook with it.

For reels, its hard to beat a Shimano Curado with a quick 6.3:1 retrieve ratio. Some guys get real particular about line and will even have four or five identical rods, identical baitcast-ing reels, identical lures, but different pound tests of monofilament line to vary the depth of the lures. Smaller, lighter line has less water resistance and lets lures dive deeper. Im not that particular, and usually stick with 12 or 14-pound test fluorocarbon line, which has slightly less stretch than most kinds of monofilament and helps snap lures free of weeds. Its also invisible to fish, and that can make a difference. One last note: If you find leafy cabbage weeds, remember the spot. They are a basss favorite kind of greenery, and if you get that crankbait down along the edge, youre highly likely to have some fine bass-catching fun.n

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By Buck Mallory

A Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap crankbait is designed to be reeled super fast and get reaction strikesits terrific for covering summer weed flats. Its one of many square-bill crankbaits that can tick the tops of weeds without digging in.

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Rejoice Michiganders, the Fourth of July is at last upon us. It is a time of barbecues, picnics, fireworks, camping, beaches and all around fun in the sun. But the Fourth of July is so much more than just a summer celebration. As our na-tion grows yet another year older, we are reminded of the sacrifices that our founding fathers endured in order to establish the freedoms we now have. While this spirit of patriotism waxes and wanes at times in our great nation, the Revolutionary War Veterans As-sociation (RWVA) rekindles the spirit of red, white and blue across our land, reminding us of what it means to be an American through an operation called Project Appleseed. The RWVA is a nonprofit orga-nization dedicated to two primary objectives: educating Americans about our nations founding principles, and

teaching rifle marksmanship. The RWVA began Project Appleseed to achieve those two objectives. By organizing early heritage programs and rifle marksmanship clinics that are held across the country, Americans are offered a unique and exciting learning opportunity.

Project Appleseeds early American heritage program presents a compelling por-trayal of the Battles of Lex-ington and Concord which captures the spirit of courage that spurred our ancestors to pursue independence against all odds, regardless of the

costs. The heritage program poignantly conveys the tough

decisions, heroic deeds, and sacrifices made by early Americans. These are the stories behind the story; these are the stories that make American His-tory come alive. Complementing the early Ameri-can heritage program are the rifle marksmanship clinics. Project Apple-seeds combination of history lessons

and rifle training realistically illus-trates how the marksmanship skills of the colonists played a pivotal role in the course of our nations history. By offering the clinics, Project Appleseed emphasizes the importance of marks-manship not only from a historical viewpoint, but also from a modern-day perspective, as a means of build-ing positive character traits. Patience, focus, determination, attention to detail, and persistence are among the traits that the study of marksmanship can develop. RWVA instructors have extensive marksmanship training and teach-ing experience. Many RWVA in-structors are certified National Rifle Association and Citizen Marksman-ship Instructors, plus they have met additional instructional and shooting requirements of the RWVA. RWVA Instructor and Shoot Boss Miki Marciniak highlights the thrill that comes from developing marks-manship skills and the positive impact it can have on ones self-esteem. She explains, Appleseed is a program that teaches people how to hit a 4 MOA (20 inch) target at 500 yards (the traditional riflemans quarter mile) us-ing field positions and iron sights. At first glance, this seems an intimidating task. When you hear the lovely ping of lead hitting steel at 500 yards, your

first reaction is a ginormous smile. Upon further reflection, your self-esteem grows. YOU did it! Attendees at Project Appleseed events have an opportunity to earn the coveted Rifleman Patch when they shoot a score of 210 out of 250 on a reduced-size Army Qualification Test. Instructors teach students all of the basics of shooting and more. Some of the topics covered are safety, how to shoot from standing, prone, and kneeling/sitting positions, how to use a GI web sling wrapped around your support arm, how to find your natural point of aim, how to analyze your shot group and how to make adjustments for improvement. Marciniak goes on to explain the key to acquiring excellent marksman-ship skills. She says, Persistence, a rifleman is persistent.It takes the average shooter three Appleseeds to score Rifleman. Some do it quicker, some take longer. Many set their goal on earning that Rifleman Patch and persist until they accomplish that. She also describes how a team-building mentality grows out of learn-ing rifle marksmanship. She stresses, Team work, riflemen work in teams. She continues, We offer some fun shoots in which we put students into teams and they have to work together to accomplish their goal. We teach

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Rifle Marksmanship andEarly American Heritage...

By Jennifer BrozekDeemed the Mona Lisa by the RWVA, or sometimes referred to simply as the Appleseed Girl, this photo is part of a poster used to promote Project Apple-seed. Kirk Wheeler photo

Project Appleseed

Demonstration of shooting from a prone position at an Appleseed Event. RWVA photo

how riflemen work together as a shooter/spotter team. That shooter than pinged steel at 500 yards did it with the help of their spotter. Project Appleseed events can be an exciting event for the entire fam-ily. In fact, some events have been held with three generations of the same family learning marksmanship together. Appleseed events are open to participation from all individuals, men and women alike, along with youth that demonstrate a sufficient level of maturity. Members of law enforcement, active duty military and disabled are invited to attend events for free. Those with special needs and physi-cal challenges are afforded an adap-tive Appleseed. Special Appleseed events, called LadySeeds are also held specifically for women. For those who want to go further with their marksmanship skills, there are Riflemans Boot Camps (RBC) and Instructors Boot Camps (IBC). At an RBC, a rifleman takes his or her skills to the next level. The train-ing is longer and more in-depth and the RWVA calls it the fast-track to becoming an RWVA instructor. At an IBC, the emphasis is on how to

teach shooting, rather than how to shoot. These camps sound like work, although boot camp graduates and instructors say participants will have the time of their life. John Adams once said, Poster-ity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to pre-serve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the pains to preserve it. Despite the fact that Adams spoke these words over 200 hundred years ago, they seem to pull us back into his time by giving a glimpse of his perspective about what it took to establish our nation. In the same way, Appleseed events convey a historical perspective in a very illustrative and tangible way. Project Appleseed events are a two-day affair and are offered all over the country. More information on the Project, prices and locations can be found at www.applelseedinfo.org. Additional information can also be found on the website, such as recommended items to bring, how to register and more great details about our nations founding era.n

Cold, muddy and having a lot of fun, these shooters are putting their rifle marksman-ship skills to the test at a Project Appleseed Event. RWVA photo

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t all has to do with water tem-peratures, the weather and what the fish were doing in early June. Only a stretch of severely hot weather might put the whammy on it, and even then, the fish will

probably be close by, and the tactics showed me on June 4 this year still ought to work. Everyone knows the acronym KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stu-pid, and Brads spread of nine lines out of his impressive 22-foot Angler Qwest Tritoon was so simple that stu-pid ol me cant wait to get back to the bay and try it out of my boat.The main components of Brads approach were Church Walleye Boards, Size 30 Luhr Jensen Jet Div-ers and small spoons from Dreamweaver. Brad also added rods with 20- and 30-yard stretches of 27-pound lead core for the farthest out planer board lines. With well-known Michi-gan syndicated radio host Mike Avery also along, we were able to fish nine lines, so we added a corner rod without a Church Board, but with an Offshore Tadpole diving weight to take the spoon down. From there, things got maybe even simpler. Four lines were sent out on each side of the boat. We deployed the lead core lines first, putting a two-color (20-yard length) on one side and the three-color lead core on the other side. Then the shallowest Jet Divers went out. The port side went 30 feet behind the planer board; the starboard side Jet went 35 feet behind. The lines closer to the boat were set to run pro-gressively deeper. Port side Jet went 40 feet behind the board; starboard side was 45 feet. Then the closest inside lines were 50 feet on the port side and 55 feet on the starboard side. Avery set the small Tadpole on the starboard side corner 45 feet back. We didnt start setting lines until shortly before 10 a.m. and by 1 p.m. we had our limit of 15 walleyes some barely 15 inches, several in the 16- to 18-inch range and the biggest a 20-incher.

Location Brad ran the 24-foot Angler Qwest Tri-toon that he designed for St. Louis, Michigan-based Apex about four miles out from Linwood Ma-rina, where he docks the boat. The water depth in this area near The Pencil Buoy was only in the 16- to 17-foot range where we did most of the trolling, and we stayed mostly on the fringe of a pack of other walleye trollers. The Humminbird unit on the dash of the boat constantly showed fish

and balls of bait below us. The bay is full of walleyes and other species (although our only by-catch was a pair of white bass). Because there are so many walleyes there, the state is consider-ing reducing the length limit from 15 to 13 inches, and increasing the creel limit

from 5 to 10 fish. Hope-fully our DNR will make a wise choice based on

good research. Both Mike and Brad, who fish the bay a lot, said that its common to catch three or more fish to get one over 15 inches throughout the course of an excursion. However, we only released about seven short fish, which both said was unusual. Brad deployed a trolling bag on each side of the boat to help slow down the spacious boat powered by its 150-hp Mercury Four-Stroke outboard into the 2-mph range. The drag from the bags on either side of the boat, Brad said, enhance the ride of the already steady fishing platform.

Nitty Gritty Brad and Mike both said they prefer spoons and usually spurn nightcrawler and spinner rigs because the spoons are so quick to reset with the 30 Jet Divers and no worm guts get spread around the boat (although the 24-foot Angler Qwest did have a nifty high-pressure washdown system installed in the aft rigging table). The 30 in the Jet Diver, incidentally, designates the divers approximate maximum depth. Whats nice about Jets for trolling shallow Saginaw Bay

is that they float, so we didnt have to worry about the spoon sinking to the bottom and picking up debris when we let a planer board back behind the boat with a Jet Diver attached. Brad uses 14-pound monofilament for the main line to the Jet Divers, with a 15-pound leader of 100 percent fluorocarbon about 7 feet long and noted hes been using the Seaguar product for a number of years with no complaints. The spoons Brad favors are the diminutive WD models from Dream-weaver, which measure 2-1/2 inches long and feature red Bleeding Bait hooks. Brad deployed a wide range of colors, noting some of them were custom jobs from the company. Some of the spoons featured varying degrees of pinks and purples, while others had green and orange. Most were on cop-per blanks. The walleyes didnt show

a marked preference for a particular color during our excursion. Brad is a designer for Apex Ma-rine and the Angler Qwest Tri-Toon is particularly well-suited for trolling on big water and capable of fishing any-where else a pontoon can go. Because its so packed with fishing features and unique design elements, its well worth a lengthier article here some-time soon. For now, suffice it to say that it was an awesome trolling craft for the big bay. I hadnt fished Saginaw Bay in at least six years before our June trip, but you can bet Ill be back soon. With so many walleyes that seemed pretty easy to catch with a simple system of Church Walleye Boards, Jet Divers and Dreamweaver DW Spoons (and a couple of leadcore rods for good measure), how can I stay away!n

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By Dave Mull

Based on nearly a lifetime of trollingwalleyes on Saginaw Bay, Brad Dupuis of Bay City, thinks the phenomenal fishing of June should stretch well into July in 2015!

Mike Avery and Brad Dupuis show a spoon-fed walleye caught on Saginaw Bay in June. Dave Mull photo

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U pper Peninsula lakes can-not support as many pounds of fish per acre as southern Michigan lakes. This results from geology and the more sterile water that leads to lower productivity. In the 1970s Up-per Peninsula DNR fisheries biolo-gists started converting from chemical treatments to balance fish populations in problem lakes, to manual meth-ods. Some Michigan DNR fisheries biologists found they could alter an unbalanced fish population with trap nets (called fyke nets) bringing them back to a healthier fish community and an improved fishery. Fish communities in the central states, south of St Louis, Missouri have been measured at approximately 1000 pounds per acre. It is likely that many waters in southern Michigan can support several hundred pounds per acre. U P fish communities are more likely to support closer to 100 pounds per acre. Northern fish communities are also less biologically diverse with less fish species per water body than most southern Michigan waters. In north-ern lakes, fisheries managers felt if one species dominated a lakes fishery, there would be less room for other species that are often more desirable to anglers. Healthy fisheries typically have a good balance of predators and prey fish species. White suckers are a common for-age species to most northern water bodies. White sucker can get relative-ly large (20 to 24 inches) with a large girth. This large size can make them invulnerable to predation by most northern Michigan fish predators. Muskie is the only predator species that can regularly prey on white suck-ers larger than about 20 inches. Pike and muskie are the only predators that primarily target suckers as prey once they reach medium size in most north-ern waters. As a result suckers can

dominate some lakes overall biomass and fish community. In western UP lakes we found waters with up to 60 pounds per acre that were made up of white suckers. Suckers are a valuable forage species, especially as juveniles, although they become a problem when they take up the majority of bio-mass of the lake. Suckers are thought by some to be a fish egg feeder eating spawn from game fish. The evidence is inconclusive on that issue suggest-ing suckers are more of a problem

with indirect competition with other game and panfish. A joint study by Michi-gan State University and Michigan DNR fisheries researchers published in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society found that yellow perch growth and quality increased in years

following a significant sucker removal in a northern Michigan lake.

A recent Minnesota DNR fisheries study of the affects of introduction of muskie to approximately 40 Min-nesota Lakes did not result in signifi-cant changes to any fish population other than a decrease in white sucker populations and an increase in yellow perch abundance. In the 1990s, fol-lowing an extensive reduction of the sucker population in Swan Lake, Iron County, we measured a tremendous natural reproductive success of yellow perch and suckers. This resulted in outstanding forage conditions for a strong walleye population and lead to an excellent walleye growth rate for a couple years following the sucker removal project. For several reasons we found a number of lakes with imbalanced high sucker populations in U.P. waters. Of course our primary goal for conduct-ing sucker thinning was to balance the fish predator-prey community and often to alter the overall sucker size structure. The subsequent increase in sucker natural reproduction resulted in making a much higher percentage

of the suckers vulnerable to predation since the remaining suckers typically brought off strong natural reproduc-tion. Juvenile suckers and sucker fry make excellent forage for predator fish species. To best utilize the suckers we gave them to licensed anglers that came to the targeted lakes boat landing. Suck-ers are very vulnerable to trap nets during their spring spawning runs in lakes. We typically removed several thousand pounds of suckers from lakes that ranged in size from about 60 to 1000 acres. For example, at Swan Lake, Iron County we removed over 10,000 pounds of suckers from this 165 acre lake. At Iron Counties Fire Lake (128 acres) we removed over 7,500 pounds of suckers. White suckers are very good to eat when they are smoked. We usually could give away most of the sometimes thousands of pounds of suckers to local anglers. Suckers are also used for live bait (muskie), cut bait, and if they started to spoil they were often composted by people for fertilizer. This method was implemented on other fish species in the U.P. that were overly abundant. Historically it worked well on yellow perch that were often found to be commonly overabundant during the 1970s and

1980s in many U.P. lakes. The yellow perch harvested with trap nets were transferred live to other district waters where perch populations were low. Although in the mid 1990s yellow perch populations across the region significantly declined in almost all waters. This was not as a result of perch removals, only a few lakes had received perch population reductions and their overall abundance dropped in large numbers of lakes where re-movals had not occurred. Stunted panfish, especially sun-fish/bluegill, were often a typical tar-get of historical chemical attempts to balance lakes fish communities. U.P. fisheries biologists found that manual netting reductions did not work well for sunfish and rock bass that had built up to very high abundance. The sunfish species dont have movement patterns that can be exploited with nets effectively enough to thin their populations. A former supervisor of mine was determined to attempt to thin extremely abundant rock bass populations in two Iron County lakes. In the case of Ottawa Lake we netted for about six weeks over the spawning period of the rock bass for a couple of years. Subsequently, an outdoor sports club sponsored a weekend rock bass fishing contest to remove them and the anglers caught significantly

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Improve a Lakes Productivity and Fishery

By Bill Ziegler

Two U.P. anglers receive a pickup truck load of suckers that were removed from Iron Counties Swan Lake to balance the fishery. Over 10,000 pounds of suckers were removed from Swan Lake (165 acres) and given to the public. These anglers said they intended to smoke them for eating for a large group.

ThinningSUCKERPopulations

more rock bass in one weekend than DNR netting crews had over many weeks of intensive netting. Chemical treatments with a fish toxicant called rotenone are still necessary for limited situations like maintaining single species trout lakes and managing undrainable walleye rearing ponds. Although chemical treatments in multi species lakes became cost prohibitive and often had some local resident concerns due to an unwarranted fear of chemicals. Suckers are often very evident in the spring on shallow gravel and rock bars and shorelines in north-ern Michigan lakes. Suckers also spawn in inlet and outlet streams and if good stream spawning habitat is not available, they readily spawn in lakes. Suckers spawn in the spring as soon as water temperatures reach about 50 F. We found they spawn considerably later in deep trout and cisco lakes than in most moderate to shallow waters in the same area. I routinely see large schools of suckers in recent years in lakes like Chicagon Lake in the southwest UP when I am snorkeling. If you see large num-bers of suckers or incidentally catch significant numbers of them while walleye fishing (suckers typically hit on worm/night crawler presentations) you should report this to your local

northern Michigan DNR fisheries biologist. If DNR surveys confirm suckers are abundant a sucker re-moval project may be desirable to achieve an improved lake fishery. One way to hasten these projects is to pull together volunteers from your lo-

cal sportsmans club or lake associa-tion to assist the DNR fisheries crews conducting a sucker thinning project. During my tenure as a DNR Fisheries Management Biologist we worked with several sportsmens clubs, lake associations, and high school biol-

ogy class volunteers to accomplish numerous sucker removal projects in the western U.P. Often once a lakes fish com-munity is put back in balance with a successful sucker removal project an improved fishery will result.n

White sucker is a forage species that attains a relatively large size, making them essentially invulnerable to preda-tion