A pack of Feral Brittanys

I am not sure how my brother managed to get off our frozen bay on Shag lake with this pack of killers closing in, but some how, he did. Perhaps he rubbed their bellies. We'll probably never know.

S.Coast Coaster decision delayed

Agency delays decision on coaster brook trout
by The Associated Press
Saturday December 06, 2008, 10:42 AM

MARQUETTE, Mich. - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delayed a decision on whether to place the coaster brook trout on the endangered species list.

The agency had planned to make a tentative decision by Dec. 15 about the fish, which once thrived in the upper Great Lakes.

But Jessica Hogrefe, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife regional office in Minneapolis, tells The Mining Journal of Marquette for a Saturday story the agency is pushing back the decision until April to get more data.

"Coasters" are a type of brook trout that migrate from streams to lakes. Their historical range took in parts of Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior, with spawning runs in more than 50 streams flowing into Lake Superior from Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Fall cast and blast IV

Today I did morning and evening blast and no cast as we really did have to do the winterizing.

Some landscapes with gun and dog. My Brother took these so no claim as to composition or real pic value.




Some shotgun pron.


and no boyds but me & and the dog had a good time.

The one on the top is my grandfather's Winchester 12 gauge model 1897 total take down made in 1913.The one on the bottom is my uncle's 1985 Montie Ward WesternField 20 gauge. This is the same Winchester as above with two ducks and my grandfather in 1958.


No woodcock or grouse were harmed in the production of this blog post.

Fall cast and blast III

Decided to flip the day and fished first and then did the bird hunt this evening. In an an effort to work on the south shore coaster projetc we went after the lake runs this morning. Hit one of the U.P. streams with one of the greatest stream names ever.






Some dead stuff on the stream bank.




We brought home some Lake Superior Coho.

And this evening the shotguns were exercised. The woodcock and the grouse remain unscathed.

Fall cast and blast II

Day 2 results much similar to Day 1. Grouse flushed with none accidently flying into the direction that the birdshot was flying. The day was warm and the dog got a work out. Here he is lying down on the ground drinking from his bowl refusing to make eye contact with me because he is so disappointed in one half of the team.


As usual the cast portion of the day went much better.





With no grouses to bring home I took a couple of trout for the old man back at the cabin.


There are essential vitamins and nutrients in fresh caught brook trout that are very beneficial for 86 yr olds.

Fall cast and blast

under the "time to close the U.P. cabin" category I did the late night north woods run after work Tuesday. Headed out Weds morning with the dog and the shotguns, left the camera at home, and the hunting was good but the shooting was bad, which is our traditional family way. Spent the afternoon on stream.



a rock ledge in the cedar swamp off of the river, with a free flowing seep, and seep where it goes into the main channel.



some of the locals trouts.

U.P. Report: The Triple AAA Road

The Kennecott Eagle sulfide mine project is looking like is it is going to happen in Marquette County. All that is left is the ruling by the state supreme court. I figured I should get up there one more time, as i haven't fished there in a while. Saw some of these along the way.



So I had along my handmade map to get us out there from Big Bay. Don't know why but the Triple AAA road is really well known in the U.P. Say - "I'm going up by the Triple AAA" and every one knows where you're going.



The trackless forest primeval, the Yellow Dog Plains, headwaters of three great watersheds, the Salmon Trout River, The Yellow Dog River and the Escanaba. It look pretty good from the map book even.



But the Google tells a different tale. The MDNR, and the MDEQ haven't yet met a logger they don't like. Lots of good toilet paper there yah know. Notice the interesting pattern of cutting and how it looks so much like the Escanaba River state forest outline ?



On the ground the jack pine plains don't look so bad, but its one of those things. What did it look like before it had been parcelled out, and parcelled out again, and parcelled out again.



The rivers that cut through the forest were super pretty.












Caught a ton of these little guys. There were alot of foot prints on the bank. A lot of expensive new cabins along the river, too.









Packed a righteous snad for dinner.



So I imagine I'll be posting about the acid rock runoff flowing into these streams, putting three watersheds at jeopardy, including one with the last moderately healthy run of coasters on the south coast. I have some pictures to look at now.

August Ties followup

looks aside ...





the ugly flies do work ...

Any U.P.er can tell you ...

In today's Wall Street Journal a story about Hemingway and his yarn about the "big Two-hearted River"...

"The narrative begins with Nick Adams, Hemingway's protagonist and alter-ego, having just gotten off the train in Seney, a town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He hikes into the wilderness and fishes for trout. The problem is that the Two-Hearted River lies about 20 miles north of Seney and flows into Lake Superior. On foot, it's virtually impossible to get there with Nick's apparent speed. The Fox River -- a perfectly good stream for brook trout -- runs right through the town, on its way to Lake Michigan.



Hemingway visited Seney with a couple of friends in 1919. Wouldn't he have just fished the Fox?"

This was settled long ago, in the 1960's in fact by a real fishing writer, one of the greats, and one of the U.P.'s own sons. Read the chapter about this topic in Robert Traver's ( née John Voelker) book "Trout Magic". Some other good stuff in there as well.

Chanterelles

It's that time of year in the U.P.









My preferred preparation. Wild mushroom omelette.

What we've lost - Michigan Grayling

If you want a really good read about what it was like in 1879 and what we've lost:



From the Cornell University "Making of America Project", a destination article about the fabulous Grayling fishing in Northern Michigan, for Scribners in 1879. The whole article is linked from the image above.

A determined and serious effort was undertaken to re-introduce Thymallus in the late 80's and early 90's - statewide, and it failed.

I don't beleive it can be conclusively said why the fish disappeared, beyond of course overfishing, destructive logging practices and introduction of exotics.



For me, this is what I think:

When the glaciers receded from Michigan 13000 years a relict population of grayling found a niche, that was allowed to gently and gradually evolve to fit an ecosystem that was unique, for them. This subspecies perfectly fit the rivers and streams that it had evolved into. Due to all of the above reasons, which simultaneously coincided with the widespread settling of Europeans in the area the fish didn't stand a chance. It was an ineffable expression of chance and evolution that is now gone - but maybe not for good.

At least with coming of the next ice age, which some say is imminent, the mile thick sheets of ice will come down from the artic in the next 5000 years or so, pushing the grayling in front of it, bringing it back to Michigan.

In 1920 on the Otter river in the U.P. an angler caught the same Grayling three times, and then no more, that was the end. That was less than 100 years ago.

So, the Michigan grayling is gone, but I think it is coming back. Maybe next time... things will be different.