Michigan Memories

I just got back from a week's vacation in Michigan, and I managed to do pretty much everything that I wanted to do. My time was consumed with visiting both sets of families, camping, going to weddings, and, yes, a decent amount of fishing. It was a vacation to create memories and bring old ones to mind. Since this is a fishing blog, I will focus on the fishing memories I managed to create.

I hopped off the plane in Detroit at around 12:30 am. 8 hours later I was fishing the Huron River near Ann Arbor with a good friend of mine. We definitely didn't kill it, but we managed a few small ones. Surprisingly, the woolly bugger I started with produced less than the Chernobyl Ant I eventually tied on. I was happy to land a few fish on the Chernobyl Ant as I had tied it specifically in preparation for fishing in Michigan (adding one more pattern to my slowly increasing repertoire). The Huron River is known for its healthy insect populations, and the bass were actually rising fairly regularly. I believe they were going after damselflies, as there were abundant damselflies just above the surface, and the bass were sometimes flying completely out of the water. Next year I will be armed with this.

I certainly criss-crossed the state on this vacation, and on the way from Muskegon to Harrisville my wife graciously allowed me to stop briefly at the White River near Hesperia, MI. One hour of fishing brought me my first couple trout of the year, two small brown trout taken on a Parachute Adams fly.

This was just a primer for the real trout fishing I managed to do the next two days while camping in the northeastern part of the mitten. I sampled a couple truly fantastic small trout streams and was greatly rewarded. The first day I fished a picture perfect brook trout stream. The trout were easy to find - they literally inhabited every single spot you might think would hold a trout. I was using a black, rubber-legged fly in the general shape of a Stimulator, and they hit it on any drift that didn't drag. I had plenty of action and brought several brook trout to hand. After a year without trout fishing, I was in heaven.

The second day was even more spectacular. Amidst some national forest land with no human actvity in sight, I found a beautiful trout stream awaiting. This 15 ft wide stream contained rainbows (plus one lonely brook trout) that struck my flies with reckless abandon. I quickly lost count of how many I brought to hand. The stream was my ideal image of a Michigan trout stream. Small, clear, surrounded by cedar trees, and full of trout. After catching several on my preferred black Stimulator, the stream opened up into a beautiful meadow, and I switched to a grasshopper fly. This was my favorite part of the stream, not to mention the most productive. My favorite memory from the day came upon reaching the head of the meadow. I had decided that this was the last spot I would fish before heading back to camp. My first cast brought a small rainbow shooting out of the water, and the resulting fight brought the "big one" out of hiding, chasing the small one around in the confusion. After releasing the small one and giving the spot a brief rest, I made a few more casts. A cast to the far seam brought the "big one" to the surface and I landed a handsome 9 incher.

After roughly a 2 year absence from fishing in Michigan, I made a serious comeback. There is something about trout fishing - especially in small streams - that really gets me. Landing even a small trout can rival the excitement of landing a good sized redfish. But I suppose it is the diversity that really does it for me. If I fished in Michigan all year, a redfish would really be something. Regardless, it was a great trip, and I am already dreaming about future trips to trout country.

An Evening Out

Its the wonderful time of year when as long as the tide isn't too high, you can successfully sightfish for reds pretty much every morning and evening if you look in the right places. I haven't been taking advantage of that as much as I'd like for one reason or another, but I did manage to take my friend Jason out on the boat recently after work. We headed into the Pascagoula River Marsh around 4:30 pm and immediately found redfish making wakes.

Why are you taking a picture of such a small fish?

Jason used a spinning rod, and it allowed me to really see the pros and cons of redfishing with a spinning rod vs a fly rod. There are a few obvious advantages to the spin fisher, particularly ease of fishing deep, and ease of casting. One fairly obvious fly rodding advantage is the fact that flies land more gently on the water, preventing fish from spooking. But the main fly rodding advantage that I finally realized on this trip is that a fly fisher can pick up a cast and immediately make another when necessary, but a spin fisher has to reel all the way in first. This was a big one on the day because Jason did a fair amount of blind casting (which was somewhat successful), and I kept calling out fish locations, expecting an immediate response from him, but forgetting that he had to reel in first. In sightfishing, it is sometimes crucially important to get a cast out quickly, particularly if the fish is close to the boat or moving toward the boat with pace.

Plans almost derailed by this thunderstorm

It was a different day than what I was used to, but still successful. We pulled a few fish out of the channels and a few off of mud flats that we knew held a fish or two but couldn't pin point their exact location. We found several crawlers, and Jason had 2 nice fish follow his jig up to the boat, but we couldn't seal the deal. I was disappointed about that, but overall I was glad we caught fish and glad we got to see some redfish doing their thing.

Another conclusion I drew from this trip is that sightfishing weeds out the little ones. Most of the fish I usually catch are in the low 20's (inches), but these were much smaller. I guess it makes sense that the big ones make the most commotion and therefore are easier to sightfish.

On a side note, Aaron was fishing out of his kayak in the same area, and it was fun to have all of us in the marsh at the same time. He one-upped Jason and me and found the biggest redfish of the evening.

Horn Island

When I moved down to Mississippi almost three years ago, I quickly developed two main goals in terms of outdoor pursuits. Number one was to figure out how to sightfish for redfish. Number two was to kayak to one of the barrier islands.

Five barrier islands grace the relatively short coastline of Mississippi. They are Petit Bois, Horn, East Ship, West Ship, and Cat. Horn Island is considered to be the prize of the Mississippi barrier islands due to its large size, tidal lagoons, numerous trees, and beautiful beaches. There are barrier islands all along the Gulf of Mexico, but the Mississippi barrier islands are special because they are almost completely undeveloped. This is probably due to the fact that they are further offshore than most Gulf barrier islands, but for whatever reason, there are no bridges to the islands, there are very few man-made structures, and all except Cat are completely within the Gulf Islands National Seashore. So while there are no condos, beach houses, or high rises to attract tourists, the lack of development, in my opinion, makes the islands much more special.

Horn Island lies near the cities of Gautier and Ocean Springs, ranging from 6 to 10 miles directly south of the coast. The Mississippi Sound in between is a large, shallow body of water where waves can kick up in a relatively short period of time, making it a serious open water paddle. Most people look at me funny when I say anything about paddling out to Horn. Fortunately, I found a friend who is just as crazy as I am!

The trees of Horn Island are just visible above the pelicans - roughly 7 miles from our launch point

We planned to meet at our launching point at 6:00 am Saturday morning. Due to alarm clock operating error, I didn't show up till 6:15, and on top of that, I had to run back for my life jacket! Life jackets are somewhat important for extreme kayaking expeditions... We ended up leaving at 7:00 and some fairly large waves awaited us. I was very glad for my sprayskirt and waterproof hatches. Despite the waves, our trip was uneventful, and we paddled about six miles across and then four more miles down to the west end of the island where we camped.

Did I mention the fishing is good? Right, so I'd actually been to Horn once before, and this happened. I did some fishing this time around too. The only luck I had was on a sand flat with some patches of grass on the Sound side. Strangely, I caught three different types of fish standing in almost the same place over the course of about an hour.

Redfish, sheepshead, speckled trout. Pretty cool to catch all three in the same place. That was the extent of my fishing luck, and sadly I caught them too early in the day to be cooked for dinner. Despite my tendency to release fish, I was hoping to cook one up on this trip.

The west tip of the island where we camped is very popular due to its access to both the Gulf and Sound and the fact that the mosquitoes, gnats, and flies that thrive on Horn tend to be less of a problem on the treeless tips. The downside is that with no trees and only short dunes, the tips are much less scenic compared to the middle. Regardless, boats were parked all along the tip during the day, but most left around 6:00 pm leaving us in relative peace, just a couple other groups spread out along the shoreline for the night.

These short dunes are all that separate the Sound from the Gulf at this point.

Lantern light and  Biloxi in the distance

No trees on the west tip - helps keep the bugs away

Morning brought a beautiful sunrise, but swarms of gnats sent me scurrying back into my tent. When I emerged for a second time, my mosquito head netting slowed the gnats down but was too coarse to keep them out completely. Eventually the wind picked up and we were left in peace.

With the direction of the wind, we were going to have to fight it all the way back to our launching point, so we got an early start to our 8 mile journey. It was a long three hours of steady paddling, but we made it back early Sunday afternoon, exhausted, but with a feeling of accomplishment.

The Islands

I had forgotten how wonderful the Mississippi barrier islands can be. My parents visited two weekends ago and we managed a trip on the ferry out to West Ship Island. We toured the fort and brought a picnic lunch. And of course I did some fishing. The island has a rich history and rich marine life. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The only needlefish I've ever managed to hook

Non-stop speckled trout action with a croaker, needlefish, and hardhead making for a slam of sorts. We also watched big redfish chasing mullet around like they were dolphins, which was very exciting. I actually had a really good chance to cast to them at one point but of course had some very curious bystanders right in the way of my back cast.

My dad was fishing too (and took a lot of the pictures) but I was a horrible guide and failed to get him onto any fish. His fly casting was a little rusty, probably because he fly fishes on a yearly basis - that is, whenever I force him into it.

The barrier islands used to be my be all end all when it came to fishing. Lately I've been focusing on the marsh. This trip has me rethinking my focus. It was a lot of fun.

First Connection

Aaron and I got out on the boat after this work last week and finally christened it with its first fish. I've owned the boat since March, but in my defense, I would say this was just its second serious fishing outing. And to end another poor streak, I caught my first redfish since December! Yikes...

It felt great to hook up with a redfish again.  Its pure magic when you first feel the line go taut upon strip setting. For that moment when the rod is pointed straight and the fish is trying to figure out what is going on, you are literally playing tug of war, the line in your left hand. In this moment when the fish first feels the tug, the whole scene changes. I have an image in my mind of a back and tail breaching the water and showing the first signs of alarm, writhing for just a second before taking off on a run. This is the image that is seared into my mind. Not the cast, or the eat, or the fight, or the grab of the tail - although those are all good moments. The first connection is what really sticks.

Enough waxing poetically, here's the fishing report. Aaron and I poled around seeing limited signs of fish for about an hour before we finally saw an obvious crawler with Aaron on the poling platform and me on the bow.  It took me two or three fairly long casts to get it within the strike zone.

No visibility...

We switched up regularly and after moving to a nearby bayou, Aaron hooked up casting after a swirl in the channel.

Stylin'

We switched again and I had another really great chance at a crawler.  My first cast was about four feet to his left, and he ignored it.  Coming straight toward me at some speed, I struggled to strip in enough line and make an accurate shorter cast, and he escaped to deeper water. I am realizing that it is much more difficult to catch a fish coming straight toward you versus one that is swimming across your view.

Just a few moments later I hooked up with another red by blind casting into a channel, but he got off after a brief battle.

It was a beautiful evening on the bayou with plenty of action to keep us entertained. Looking forward to many more like this.

A New Goal

Its been a rough start to my goal of catching fish other than redfish. Ever since Alex over at The Flying Kayak posted about catching false albacore (also known as little tunny or bonito), I've been very interested in giving it a try. I got my chance a couple weekends ago on a trip to Pensacola, but despite spending long hours at the beach, my friend and I never even saw any False Albacore. My only action was a pair of fish - I'm guessing reds or black drum - that ignored my fly and spooked after I spotted them in waist deep water. It was rough putting in that much effort without even finding any fish, but I know it'll pay off another time.  Besides, it really wasn't that rough looking at this water in the middle of winter.

One of the other fish I've been thinking about is the tripletail. Tripletail like to hang out under floating objects such as crab trap floats and eat shrimp (at least from what I've read or been told). One of the methods I've heard is to use a shrimp pattern under a foam indicator (like for trout) in order to keep the fly high in the water column. Last summer I got the opportunity to see local fishing guide Rick Lauman talk about fly fishing for tripletail at a HOSSFLY meeting (HOSSFLY is the Historic Ocean Springs Saltwater Fly Fishing Club - I am a not very active member). Instead of using an indicator to keep the fly up, he ties a neutrally buoyant shrimp pattern.  I wish I would've taken better notes, but I've begun attempting my own neutrally buoyant shrimp fly.

Not the prettiest fly in the world...

The body is made of craft foam, and I tied part of a paper clip to the shank to add some weight. Then  I used sili legs instead of the traditional hackle. Testing it in a glass of water, it has suspended a couple inches below the surface although much more buoyant at the tail than at the head.  I'll have to experiment a little more to get it level and slightly deeper.  Fortunately, tripletail don't move inshore until the spring so I've got some time.

Heading North

With my annual migration back to Michigan approaching, I had to make one more trip out on the bayou. Aaron and I headed out on an extremely low tide, expecting superb sight fishing conditions. We found them... for about 30 minutes. We each landed one nice red a piece, and I completely blew a perfectly wonderful chance where I had three redfish feeding right in front of me. After that I paddled around for about 4 hours and only had one more chance where I managed to pull the fly out of a fish's mouth. Bummer. A relatively uneventful day by our recent redfishing standards.

To shake things up I used my 6 wt rod on this trip instead of my usual 8 wt which was a fun challenge. It was pretty difficult to make the quick, line shooting casts required for successful sight fishing. I need a little more practice, but I'm getting there. The goal is to eventually land a redfish on my other 6 wt, a short fiberglass rod. I took it out once earlier this year and was completely humiliated...

I also gave my new Lamson Konic reel its first workout on something other than a hardhead catfish. It performed flawlessly, and its drag is by far the smoothest of any reel I own. I like it.

I haven't seen any alligators on my most recent outings, but the wife and I saw several on a kayaking expedition a few weeks ago before they went dormant, including this one which we found sleeping.

Nice shot honey!

 On our next kayaking expedition, I finally got to show her what redfishing is all about. And she took some great pictures!

In the plans for my trip up north is a repeat of last year's grouse hunting trip. My buddy Nick has once again invited friends to his family's luxurious hunting camp, and maybe this time I'll finally shoot something. Hopefully I'll be back next year with a report on that.

Merry Christmas!