EdB

Very neat, we see them once in a while on Hamlin Lk by Ludington. I've never seen one in southern Michigan.

It's always nice to turn that key the first time in the spring. Even better when you put some fish in the box. Good start to the season Frank!

Nice box!

Nice to get a grand slam, congratulations!

Some nice fish there!

Yeah Mike, that's turkey ugly. Don't those eyes look tired. Here's the other turkey pics:

It has been a tough but very fun turkey season so far. It was great to sleep in today for the first time in a couple weeks. I got my bird 4:45 PM yesterday after an all day hunt. The short version is he had a 10-¼ inch beard and one inch spurs. I’ll get some pics up later from my buddies camera. If you want the long version, read on. I even labeled it for you. The BS: My hunt started Monday and I hunted every day. I enjoyed some great hunts and close calls all week. I called some jakes and hens in a number of times. Got some morals! I saw some cool birds. The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and Rufous Sided Towhee’s in the branches close around me were an awesome sight. Hummingbirds are hitting the early tree blossoms. I saw a few snakes too. I always tell people that I guide to walk in front on the trails and have their gun ready. On Tuesday, I had mine slung over my back carrying my decoy when I crested a hill to see a long beard and 3 hens well in range. They all stick their heads up for a pause before they ran and flew off. At least my hunt didn’t end early and it’s more fun to use my calls. The public land birds around here had me covering lot’s of ground. I lost 8 needed pounds since turkey season started. I scout very hard prior to the season and during the early hunt periods ahead of me. I know the area well and had numerous roost locations pinpointed. I also scout where other hunters are at so I can focus on spots without a lot of pressure. Even with that, every single first morning set up this week stunk. I’d get in early near a great roost and their would be no birds in it that morning. I’d hear them a long ways off and have to make a move. That is the best part of a general hunt permit, you can chase some long distance birds sometimes. I never found birds in the same roost two days in a row. I still had some good 2nd and 3rd set ups. I had some ground gobbling and tom’s in the 60 to100 yard hang up zone and I couldn‘t close the deal. The real hens were better than my calling. But I’m a big believer that if keep turkey hunting hard, you are going to cross paths with a lonely gobbler sooner or later. I have read other guys here talking about the tough hunting they were having this year and I was too. On Friday morning the day I got my bird, once again I set up in the wrong spot. The birds were a long ways off. I waited too long to move hoping for a nearby bird and by the time I got there, they were on the ground and shut up. It was the toughest morning all week. I hunted till 11:45AM and never heard another gobble. I had 3 coyote’s cross a field in front of me. I was supposed to get to work but I called my boss to take the afternoon off and hunt all day. That was a good call! The hunt: I took a break for lunch and was back out by 1:00PM. I went to a very large track of land that held a lot of birds and got way back in deep. I forgot my face mask in my truck, darn it, that was a long walk. I rigged up a mask with my gloves. I set up near a big field opening in the forest. I’d call a bit every 20 minutes or so and finally heard a gobble back about 2:30PM. He wasn’t real close but not real far either. I couldn’t get a second response. I little while later a hen popped out the far side of the field and then a strutter popped out behind her. I gave them a few calls but the hen wasn’t buying it and just fed back and forth in a small area. I got to watch him strut for a ½ hr until the hen went back into the woods and he followed her. About 4:15PM, I get another gobbler to answer my call. This one is close just off the field. I see them step out into the field and it’s 2 gobblers. They see my decoys and head my way. The gun is on my knee and call on my lap. They hang up out of my sight behind some thick brush but if they come past it, they’ll be in range. I can move and give one soft purr and a cluck and ready the gun. It seems like forever before they step into view and they move in to about 30 feet away looking at the dekes. I watch the big one strut but I can tell the smaller one spots me and he goes on alert. The biggest one drops his strut and sticks his neck out and I drop him. On the walk out back to the truck, I spooked two different hens off nests. Both had big clutches of eggs. One was in a thick briar patch and one was in the leaves in a wide open part of the woods. I get back home and the celebration begins with my girls! Good luck to everyone still out! I'll add the turkey pics when I get them. Got this with my cell phone, not to bad for a camo glove mask:

Nice job Adam!

You know Frank, I always tell the kids I take fishing and hunting that they better take me out when I'm too old to get around very well.

It was nice to finally get out in the woods with a call in my hand after the last few weeks of scouting. I took my friend's son Rigel. We got set up and had 5-6 gobblers in the area sounding off from the tree's as it got light. I waited awhile and then gave a soft tree yelp. They all sounded back from the tree's. I waited some more until we heard one fly down. Gave another soft yelp and come clucks, they gobbled back, some from the ground and some still in the tree's. Then we heard a hen on the ground clucking so I started talking with her. She was yelping, clucking and purring and coming our way. The toms keep gobbling. I shut up and let the hen do all the talking. The gobblers loved it but I could hear they had hens with them too, all on the ground now. The lone hen came into our decoys and she must have liked them as she stayed around for about 20 minutes. We see a strutter coming about 150yrds out. She is still talking and he is answering. Cool, we have a live decoy. She starts to head his way and I cluck 4 or 5 times and she turns around and comes back. The strutter on the ground had hens and he is not coming our way, he is on a parallel path and drops out of sight. Another strutter come into view but follows the same path as the first. Even our live and still very talkative decoy can't bring them to us. She finally heads their way, I can't turn her and she goes out of sight. I waited a bit and gave a few clucks and purrs. Another gobbler answers back, he is close but just behind a knoll and we can't see him. I give a another cluck and a purr and we see the top of his fan and he is coming. He comes into full view just out of range and he gobbles. A couple soft clucks and he is moving our way again. I can see he's a jake but Rigel was going to shoot the first legal bird he could. He stop's and struts about 30yrds out. I tell Rigel he is in range and to get the gun up when his head is blocked by a tree or his fan. The bird stands there for about 5 minutes and the mosquitos's are biting both of us. I've got one on my nose and one by my eye sucking blood and nothing I can do. Rigel takes one in the face too and doesn't move. The bird finally struts in a cricle and Rigel gets the gun up. We get to watch him gobble again, I give out a really hard set of clucks, more like a putts and he drops his fan and sticks his head up and boom, Rigel drops him! Awesome morning! My hunt starts Monday and I just packed the Deepwoods Off in my vest. Here's a pic, the smiles says it all!

Nice job, the hunting conditions were tough with the wet weather. Way to hang in there and put a nice one down! Good job on the Rap call too. Did the poacher kill and take the turkey or did they miss?

Mike, you made a good call, nice box!

Nice catch Salmon Slammer! We had a tough go to start out Saturday at St Joe. We didn't lift a rod trolling south until we go to the Cook plant. I didn't see anyone hitting fish on the troll south. We finally starting getting some fish south of Cook in 50-60 ft of water. We ended the day 7 for 11, one king and the rest coho.

Very nice box! The best thing I got for my boat a few years back is a large clear plastic storage bin big enough to hold a king with 6 inch sidewalls. When we land one, we drop it in there, remove the hooks and in the cooler. It's really nice for cohos and their loose scales. It's holds all the scales and blood and we just rinse it out. No more scales and blood all over the floor.

I will be there. Not sure yet if I'll splash my boat, ride on a friends boat or sit on the beach one more time.

We had a good day yesterday in the surf near St Joe. We had some ideal breakers, not to big and not to small. Most of our fish came on steelie skein fished on a single hook, we did get a couple on spawn bags. I ended up with a brown, 3 coho's and 3 whitefish. To bad I let my brown slip out of my hands and swim away just after I unhooked him. Once I bagged and packed these fish, I got another whitefish just as I pulled lines. I also had a real hog brown on and lost him in the breakers when trying to beach him. My buddy got 2 browns and 2 coho's. We hit a few other fish too. The bite was hot before sun up and then we picked a fish every once in a while all morning. Good luck!

That's a real nice brown!

Nice pics! They usually stop by on our lake for a week or two but they haven't shown up here yet.

I use a 9 ft medium action rod with a spinning reel. Some guys like longer rods off the beach to keep your line above the surf breaking near shore. You can compensate by using long rod holders. Our rod holders are PVC pipe duct taped to a 3/8 inch steel rod. Just push it into the sand on the beach. We use a typical pier rig. You run your main line through a snap swivel, don't tie it on, it should slide up and down, then attach to a barrel swivel. Then tie on a 2-3 foot leader to a #6 single egg hook. Attach a 1oz to 2oz pyramid sinker to the snap swivel. If the surf is up, you might need to go a bit heavier but too much surf makes it tough to fish. The barrel swivel will keep the weight from sliding down to your hook but allows a fish to hit with out feeling the weight. You need to wear waders and walk out to the 2nd sandbar. You will go over the first sandbar and the 2nd trough is usually just about to the top of your waders. Keep going until the 2nd sand bar, it usually comes back up to waist or knee high depth, and cast it out as far as you can. Walk your pole back to shore leaving the bail open so your bait sits where it landed and put it on a rod holder. Reel up the slack, get a lawn chair and wait for bite. Fresh steelhead spawn bags or skein is my favorite bait but you can use salmon spawn, nightcrawlers, shrimp, minnows. We had a night crawler out on one pole but it never took a hit. The best conditions are to have some waves breaking in. Calm days are not the best. Beach fishing is not the most productive way to catch trout but it sure is relaxing on a nice day.

Hit the river on Thursday. There are still some steelies around. Had a good day with my buddy, we got these and let 2 go. Those 3 hens on the right sure reloaded my spawn supply, all set now. Now that I had some fresh gold, we hit the beach on Saturday. I got this nice brown and a small steelie. My buddy had some hits but blew it. One time his pole just about got ripped out of the holder but I think he was sleeping.

Life on the beach was good yesterday!

Congratulations on the new baby! And good luck on the water!

Here is another tip not mentioned yet. You need to be very carefull in deploying copper line. Keep your clicker button on and strip it out or keep your thumb on the spool. It will back lash very easily if you free spool it and try to let it out quickly. More so on the 45 lb copper than the 30lb.