EdB

Good luck next time on those geese. It was kind of slow for us too. My partner got 2 and I got blanked yesterday. We each got a goose today and he got one duck. We both missed a few shots. At least we had more than a few good laughs in the blind!

A Yeck Wart Frog was an oldie but goodie this season.

Congratulations, even more special taking him with a bow!

I've been hunting hard the last 4 days. Saturday, we took a local conservation legend to the duck blind. Martin is 83 years old and he still hunts a lot. Martin has built 100's, perhaps 1000's of wood duck houses in his lifetime. His design is unusual, he builds them from old water softner tanks. They are all over Jackson county. If you're around this area, you probably have seen a few. He has also banded loads of wood ducks in his lifetime. It was bluebird day and I wasn't expecting much but I was wrong. The duck action was great the first hour and we got 8 ducks for the morning. I bow hunted the evenings and no big deal, does and a couple yearling bucks. Back to the duck blind Sunday, another blue bird day and the ducks acted like it. We only shot 2. We chased pheasants on Monday. It was our worst opener ever and we only flushed one rooster out of range. It's kind of sad to the steady decline of pheasants in our area the last few years. I went to a wood duck marsh the last two evenings by myself. This is a honey hole on state land that doesn't get much pressure. Had some good shooting there and I got 3 wood ducks each night. Looking forward to Saturday AM and hopefully some ducky weather.

Good job guys, way to rack up the bands!

That sure was a great way to beat the August crowds Matt. That was a heck of a nice box too for the time slot you fished.

We had a good opener. My partner and I got 4 geese and 6 ducks. We had our 4 geese by 8:00AM and they keep coming into our spread even after we put the goose calls away. Wish we had a couple more gunners in the blind. Got one nice drake widgeon too, we don't see a lot of them in our neck of the marsh in the central part of the state. We got 4 geese again Sunday but only 2 ducks. A little better shooting would have helped the duck bag that day:rolleyes:

Three bands on the opener-wow! Good shooting! Congratulations!

Those little spinners catch coho's on the south end of the lake in Spring. Orange ones are deadly behind a 2 oz keel weight run off inline boards near the surface. Kings rarely hit them. The kings will hit the 8 inch and 11 inch spinners when the water warms in May off St Joe. There aren't many coho's in Ludington in the spring. They may be worth a try then but I wouldn't load up a spread with them off Ludington that time of year. Overall in the spring, spoons are more effective than spinners, except for coho's, in my opinion.

Mike,

Do you winterize it when using heated storage? If not, might want to consider at least draining the block in case we get an ice storm knocking out power in the cold weather months.

The gear is packed, the dekes are stacked and I hope I can get some sleep tonight. Duck season opens tomorrow here and I can't wait! This is the first year in many that I missed the northern openers in our state so the anticipation is burning. Anybody else heading out, let's hear your reports?

The kid got a doe!!!! I had a blast

He was in a ladder stand, I took my light weight spike'n tree stand, locked it in in the dark and sat next to him. I never get excited when a doe comes in but for some reason this morning, my heart was pounding watching it unfold. I spotted her coming in and wispered to Rigel to turn around. He got turned, saw her and got the gun up. She presented a nice broadside at 30 yards, at least from my seat. Rigel said her vitals where behind a tree from his position. I was wispering, shoot, shoot, and she started coming directly at us. She came into 15 yards and you could tell she got a wiff of us or sensed us in the tree and she started to turn around. Rigel shot and dropped her. It was a great morning. I had lot's of fun! We are buck hunting tomorrow!

Anyone going out for the youth hunt this weekend? I'm taking a friends 16 year old, his last year for this hunt. It's rare when I say this but I can't wait for the alarm clock to go off in the morning.

It was a great year with a family milestone. My oldest daughter who is 7 has been on the boat occasionally since she was a baby but usually for short trips in the afternoons. This year she started getting up early with me for the first time for morning trips. She would jump out of bed at 4:15AM and couldn't wait to go. I'd ask her if she wanted to pull lines after the morning flurry and she would want to stay out. Then she couldn't wait to go again the next day. We fished in some big waves and she doesn't get seasick. She could handle the fish ok too. We had some great trips together and she talks about wanting to go all the time now. It melts dads heart. Looks like I might have a new "hardcore" fishing buddy!

Also had some primo vacation time with the weather and the fishing all coming together. Tackle losses were way down all year until I lost a probe...ouch. Stuck a hook good one time and had to see the doc. That was a bummer but we made the best of it. First fish of the day and we were a long way out. My buddy called his doc and made a 1:45PM appointment. We cut the hook off, taped it down, I drove the boat and we filled a nice box. I didn't keep count but our overall numbers were probably down a bit but the size was up. No mechanical problems all season! I still have to bring the boat home so probably one more trip before October. I fish hard for 10 months but Oct and Nov are nothing but hunting for me.

Get some good ear plugs and eye protection too. My buddy can't hear as well as I can.

My buddy has a tree service and been doing it for over 25 years. He has used a lot of brands over the years but it's Stihl all the way with him now.

Nice job guys!

To reflect and remember the victim's of 9/11. May they rest in peace, may their families find solace and comfort and may all those responsible receive the justice they deserve.

That's realy cool that you re-lit the fire in you dad Tim! It brings back some memories of fishing with my dad on the pier.

My dad lit a fire in me back on the Manistee pier in 1973. We where sure some salmon green horns back then. We had our share of skunks and learned a lot of fishing lessons the hard way. The fire still burns hard. I sure wish he was still here today to go fishing with me but I cherish the memories.

Here's wishing you and your dad lot's of new fishing adventures in the coming years!

When Church tackle boards first came out, that pin was made of brass. I've replaced those pins a number of time since they went to plastic.

Mike, you could probably sell a lot of those metal pins if they work. Let us know, I'd buy some if you time to make and sell some.

Boomerang, I like your idea too, I'll have to try that.

Had a nice long weekend at Ludington with nice seas and we got out every morning. Started out Friday with a pass inside the bank, we hit 4 and boated 2. The water was warm there so at sun up we pulled lines and ran west to the 38's and trolled west from there. Hit our first fish setting up and had a steady pick till we boxed 15, a nice mixed bag of next years kings, steelies, lakers and coho. We fished out to the 41 line.

The boats poured into town for the weekend so we headed south on Saturday to avoid the crowd on the bank. We set up a couple miles south on the 34 line and headed west from there. Had a slower start but as we got offshore, the bite got better. We boxed 11 fish that day.

Sunday was a great day, just my daughter and I out fishing. Same water as Saturday. We had my slowest bite of the weekend but one of the best days this year. We went 5 for 9 but Olivia was in on every fish and caught every one we landed. She is really getting into fishing this season. The best part of the day was that she wanted to go again Monday after we got back on shore. Mom wouldn't let her and packed the kids up to go home because school started today. Olivia can't wait to go again.

When I turned my cell on Monday AM, I learned my crew hit a deer on the way there so I was on my own. Back to the south water again, hardly any boats were fishing it all weekend. I've got to make my 3 rods count. I put a rigger with a blue bubble spin doctor and fly down 100, a 1-1/2lb with a froggy spin doctor and seaweed fly out 150ft and a 150ft copper with mag moonshine smitty out all in one corner of the boat so the other corner is open for netting. I booted 2 kings early on the 150ft copper and finally land one on the froggy spin doctor. The sun comes up, I keep heading west and I swap the 150 ft copper for a 300 ft one and I put on a super slim blue dolphin with the glow tail(I don't know what it's called?) It goes 3 times and I end the day at 9:30 catching 7 fish and boxing 5. I don't fish solo often but that was a great way to end a great weekend.

A 1/2 core and a super slim fireball was great on the steelies on previous days. A chrome silver streak yellow tail on a full core was also steady earlier in the weekend when I could run more rods. A DW SS wonderbread on a full copper was good too. There is a lot of fish in PM Lake. The bank was still warm and the best fishing there was outside it from 140 to 200 ft of water and between the nets north of the point. Good luck!

Yes, I put the DNR press release (on baiting etc) on the bottom of the orginal post above.

Among the provisions is an immediate ban on all baiting and feeding ofdeer and elk in the Lower Peninsula.