Fishing Report

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January 12th 2005

Hi All,

The river looks good right now. It has light stain and there is easy wading. I know there is at least a couple of fish in the good wintering holes and runs (where they are supposed to be). Being there and getting them to bite is the trick. We have had several warm days as much of the state has. This has made for some good snow run off in the last couple of weeks. There is hardly any snow in sight anymore. Kind of looks and feels like spring. A few weeks in the end of November and the beginning of December were cold and snowy but it has since taken quite a turn around.

Since the last report, I have been out on the water several times. I made it down to the Muskegon river a few times plugging. We caught a fish or two each time but never really got into them. I went up to the Manistee river once over Christmas with some friends, Vince and Rick and my son Adam. Vince invited us out on his jet sled for a day of plug-gen. We got to the launch and there were 13 trailers on the lot. We had 5 rods out with all of Vince's favorite plugs. All in all we had 4 hits but nothing stayed on. They were just barely touching the plugs. We were all disappointed it was so slow because we planned on letting Adam do all of the catch-en, or at least until his arm got tired.

Early December I had a trip with Curtis and Jeff.It was one of the cold days this season on the PM. We were able to hit all of the good holes. Most of them we know had fish in them. Indicators were going down but only felt a fish once and maybe a couple of trout hit. The words was slow on the water. Another guide I spoke with went 1 for 1 fun fishing by himself. There were only a couple of more walk in's we saw and they were 0 for 0 when we passed them. The second day was a half day trip and it was even colder. We went to the Muskegon plug-gen. Jeff caught a 15" rainbow but boy was he cold, even in a fur hat.That was my wife's first reaction when looking at the picture of him as well. I dropped them off at the launch and went back out for 3 more hours. I did see a guy above me boat a fish or two on bobbers and spawn bags. That was the most action a saw that day.

I also spent some time before Christmas on the PM with friends Frank and Chris. Chris landed one steelhead, someone landed a sucker and I landed two steelhead. Chris and I also went out last Thursday. Mid river, Chris hooked one steelie and lost it. He did land a trout. I, on the other hand, didn't touch a fish. Chris and I went out again this past Sunday to the lower river. Chris went 1 for 1 and again, I didn't touch a fish. Most of these trips have been for 3-6 hours. Almost every time out it has been above freezing, great river conditions, Eagles flying and a great time had by all.

During the holiday I had a trip with Jim. We went down to the lower PM both half days. Jim was a great guy and we took out skunking like men. The first day was flies and the second was plugs. It was a lot like my day on the Manistee with Vince. Indicators were going down and plug rods were going off but they wouldn't stay on. They were just not committing to eat. The only guy I talked to that landed a fish was floating spawn bags on bobbers. A few other guys fishing plugs got hits and no hookups either.

My son spent the Christmas break with dad this year so subsequently, he also spent a lot of time on the water. The fishing was slow but he did great. Special thanks to Vince, Rick and Jim, all of you were great to be on the water with and you helped show my son that fishing can be fun. He now thinks it's great to be out on the water with the guys and looks forward to fishing more often.

Early December I went to Nebraska on a bird hunting trip with my dogs. Getting good bird work was hard for the dogs. There was 110" - 12" of snow on the ground along with 2' - 4 ' drifts. Temperatures were anywhere from 5 below to 8 above with 20 below wind chills. All the hay fields were buried and matted. Cover was hard to find with all of the snow. By the second day we were onto where all of the birds would be. They were hanging around old farm lots in the trees. A lot of farmers plant Cedars and Pines near their farm houses to form a snow and wind break. The birds were taking advantage of these smart farmers. We did not get a lot of great points or flushes. Birds were just busting out from in or under the trees. It wasn't great practice for my new Lab "Bear" but I did get my limit for the 3 days I was there. Bear did good for her first year of hunting and her maiden voyage to Nebraska. She earned her keep and confirmed why I bought a Lab. The first field I dropped a Quail, my Brittany ran right by it and kept on hunting. The Lab kept looking around me because I had a pretty good spot on the bird. Bear turned on the bird vacuum and under a foot of snow came out with a Quail that would have been lost for sure with my Shorthairs and Brittany's. I know there are some pointers that do good retrieving, I just have not had one yet. I just know that pointers point and retrievers retrieve. Having the two different breeds of dogs that live and hunt together is a deadly combo. A pointer that goes out and finds long range birds and a close working Lab for all the close birds = 95% - 100% of birds found and retrieved. Bear did some other great retrieves and showed no signs of being gun shy. She stays close and listens well. She does tend to bug Jody while hunting but she will grow out of that when the desire to find her owns birds takes over. Now that bird season is over, all we have to look forward to is some training with pen raised birds and retrieving all summer on the back yard. I need to focus more attention on taking Bear alone for a couple of 20 bird hunts and let her get bird crazy.

Other than hunting and fishing I have been working on finishing odds and ends of past projects. I have been splitting wood and stacking ricks, getting them ready for the next cold blast. I have been waiting a while for an installer to help me with a wood burning stove insert with a stainless steel liner for my living room fireplace.

We have our new sign in the ground.

The new web site is also up and running (as you could probably tell). We are just in the learning stages of the new site. Please let us know what you think of it. If there is anything you think needs to be changed or is missing, let us know. We now have the tools to make changes much easier than before.

Tight lines & Shoot straight

Clint

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November 29, 2005
July 26th, 2005