Cold Summers

Yes, cold weather sucks ass.  I hate it, I bitch about it all damn Winter long.  Then comes Summer here in the U.P.,  I look forward to the long warm Summer days all of the dark months.  This year, not much for the warm days. In fact, it's been rather downright shitty for the most part.  Heck, today a girl who was fishing on my guide trip was wearing winter gloves & it is July pretty much.  What gives! Yeah, we had some days in the upper 80's which was nice but that has been about it.  But as a Trout & cold water angler I kinda appreciate the cooler temps, they keep our finned friends in hospitable water temps and provide for some great opportunities in the fishing dept..  So i'm left in a classic catch 22 standpoint.  These cold Summers will prolong fishing seasons & make for better fishing seasons in the future. So what the hell, bring on the cold I guess as complaining & whining is no longer tolerated!  :)

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Seeing Any?

This is something that I will never understand I have come to accept.  Frequently during this Spring run of Steelhead when you encounter other anglers on the stream they frequently ask "Hey, have you seen any spawning Steelhead?"  They seem saddened or not enthused about fishing unless they can actually "see" Steelhead.  Sure, I used to fish to spawning fish-so I definitely don't hold myself above any other angler who chooses to do so.  But it was because I wasn't informed or didn't know any better to leave these fish alone.  Spawning fish are not fish that eat, they are fish that are getting their freak on.  How many times have you felt like eating a pastrami sammich during the middle of sexy time?  Yeah, prolly not to many times i'm guessing.

 

 

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Off Season

As the snow is falling & temps are downright damn cold I am slowly realizing that the days of being able to fish daily are pretty much over. This is always a challenging time for me, going from being on the water pretty much everyday to having to pick & choose my days because of poor weather. This is really enuff to cause an early case of cabin fever, right now the forecast is terrible-everyday for the near future highs is the low 20's.

This shouldn't be happening this early in the Winter, but I guess we have had a very mild Fall-so this is kinda some pay back from the rotten lady (mother nature). Tasks & projects around the house that have taken the back burner since Spring are now being taken care of.  I was kinda propelled to sit down at the fly tying bench today, but it is much to early to start that Winter routine.  Instead I decided to take a walk through the woods in one of my Deer hunting areas to see what kind of activity was happening.  I was actually surprised at the amount of tracks I saw in the snow, it is so nice from a hunters prospective once the snow is on the ground.  It pretty much blows the cover of the deer movement, areas that didn't seem to have much for tracks now come alive once the ground is covered with snow.  Today upon following a track I stumbled upon an extra large rub from earlier this Fall, probably the largest I have ever seen on a tree that had a diameter of around  approx 20 inches.  I'm not sure if this buck made it through the rifle season mayhem, but if so this is a magnum sized deer that should be a real trophy next season.  That is what is the compelling aspect of hunting & fishing-the hope of the trophy of a lifetime :)

Welcome!

This is a new Blog I have created that isn't just based upon fishing here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Sure there will be plenty of fishing based posts, but Id like to include hunting, environment & other facets that are important.  This blog is going to be more about life in the U.P. and other interesting tidbits of Yooper happenings.  Prolly a fair amount of bitching about the upcoming Winter & associated bullshit that accompanies it :)

Not much to report from the forest lately, low snows here in Marquette County.  Some areas east of here along Lake Superior shoreline have received upwards of 12 inches. But overall low snowfalls for this time fo the year here in the U.P..  Fine by me!