As a seemingly endless bolt of alluring, white carpeting is rolled out across the two peninsulas, Michigan is fit for winter royalty. Downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, tubing and snowshoeing in Michigan offer enough thrills to cure any case of cabin fever. This diversity of snowsport options, often within a single resort or ski area, invites families to vacation together, and still lets everyone do their own thing.      

Many Michigan resorts and ski areas offer outstanding learn-to-ski programs for beginners of every age, and for experienced skiers looking to stay sharp. Check our list of downhill ski areas and cross country destinations to find the perfect class.

Ski areas across the state have teamed up with Michigan McDonald’s restaurants to offer an exciting and very affordable introduction to the sport of skiing and snowboarding, Discover Michigan Snowsports. The program includes a beginner lesson, ski or snowboard rental equipment and a beginner-area ski lift pass or cross country trail pass. Twenty-one ski facilities are offering the package. The lesson normally covers basic maneuvering on skis or snowboards, including stopping, turning, riding the lifts and getting up from a fall. The prices for the Discover Michigan Snowsports program are: $20 for Discover Michigan Cross Country Skiing; $30 for Discover Michigan Downhill Skiing; and $40 for Discover Michigan Snowboarding. The program is open to everyone seven years and older. The cost includes the lesson, lift ticket and rental equipment.

For the most up-to-date snowsports information, contact the Michigan Snowsports Association. 

The 95,000-acre Seney National Wildlife Refuge, in the heart of the eastern UP, is home to more than 250 species of wildlife, from trumpeter swans and bald eagles to river otters and black bears. From the visitors center, take a 1.4-mile stroll on the Pine Ridge Nature Trail to view songbirds and beavers. If you’d rather stay in the car, there’s the Marshland Wildlife Drive, a seven-mile route through wetlands, meadows and forests. More adventurous visitors can hike or bike miles of trails.

Canoeing along the Manistique River, hunting, fishing, and mushroom and berry picking are other highlights of a visit. During the winter, bring your cross country skis and snowshoes or go ice fishing.

For a complete list of Michigan nature preserves and parks, click here.

- Vacation location in Michigan:   Grand Haven, Michigan, an idyllic fishing and recreational and camping town on the shores of Lake Michigan--the stroll along the boardwalk to the historic lighthouse is breathtaking. The evening sunset is spectacular! And there's nothing better than the soft, soothing sands along the beach!

- Appetizer:  the barbeque meatballs at Win Schulers in Marshall, Michigan--melt in your mouth. Four generations of family members have been operating this historic restaurant since 1909. First class service and exceptional food are just some of the reasons this epicurean delight has withstood the strains of a changing economy.

- Hotel:  The Ritz-Carlton (Dearborn) ambience and personal attention are the hallmarks. The Ladies and Gentlemen of the hotel as they are called provide some of the best guest service on the planet! And having won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice separates this prestigious hotel from the other wanna-bes.

- White bean chili soup: Kirby Grill in Grand Haven--soup so good your knees will buckle when you taste it.

- Summer vacation:  Mackinac Island with lunch at The Grand Hotel. The Hotel boasts the world's longest porch. No cars allowed on the Island just horse drawn carriages. The aroma of fudge and equine droppings fill the air but travel there in June for the lilac festival for a nostril treat!

- Pizza: Buddy's in Detroit

- Amusement Park:  the Michigan Adventure Park in Muskegon takes high honors and a ride on the roller coaster Shivering Timbers is spectacular. Over 60 rides and attractions and a spectacular water park with 20 wild water rides.

- Michigan restaurant:  The 1913 Room at the Amway Grand Plaza in Grand Rapids. This is the only AAA Five Diamond restaurant in our state and the service and the menu selections are first class. In 2008 it won that distinction for the seventh time.

- Canoe trip:   the White River in Montague, Michigan. The site of blue heron taking flight, ducks swimming frantically away and startled deer racing through the grass and the occasional muskrat swimming in the river provide memories that will last a lifetime.

- Golf course:  Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville, Michigan. Panoramic views of northern Michigan foliage and firs and well manicured fairways.

- Romantic getaway:  the Betsie Bay Inn in Frankfort, Michigan. Rooms are outfitted with hot tubs, saunas, canopy beds, and wood burning stoves. Perfect getaway for married couples and if you weren't married when you arrived, you will be when you leave!

- Snack:  the Pronto Pup Stand in Grand Haven has been delighting hot dog aficionados for over 60 years. Grab a couple of doggies and then stroll along the boardwalk. And then settle in for the Musical Fountain at dusk along the Grand River.

I think the surpirse October 2007 heat wave delayed the color peak a bit this year. More color would have been a bonus, but even the subtle changes looked stunning from the water. I will definitely do this trip again in 2008!

Written by Dan Donarski, a noted professional outdoor and travel journalist

Michigan is nearing the top end of the grouses’ 10-yr population cycle. While next year is predicted to be better, this year is no slouch. Drumming counts are way up. Big broods were raised this spring due to excellent weather. And folks like Tom Carney are smiling.

You see, Carney is a bird hunter, bird dog man.

"Watching a good bird dog work is simply good poetry, it’s like watching and listening to a well-orchestrated musical" says Carney. "Without a good melody and good lyrics the thing doesn’t work. If it wasn’t for the dogs I wouldn’t hunt. If it wasn’t for the birds, I wouldn’t have the dogs. The two are that intertwined."

Hunting for Carney isn’t what most people think. Sure, there are days when the game bag is weighted with ruffed grouse, also called partridge, and complimented by what he calls feathered Artful Dodgers, a woodcock or two that more often than not pick his pockets of 20 gauge shells. But, for Carney, success isn’t measured by the weight of the game bag, it’s measured by the number of flushes that result from Lucy and Belle searching out and pointing the birds. Birds that are stumbled into and flushed but not pointed don’t get counted by the abacas-like beads strung on a lanyard hanging around his neck. The pointing is the score.

It’s a sport of arm scratching brambles, berries and thornapple branches. A sport of swamp edges and aspen thickets so thick you can’t see more than 10 or 20 yards in front of you.

According to Carney it’s best to start looking for aspen cut-overs, places where the forest has been clear-cut and the aspens are starting to reach to the sky. Ten-year-old aspen stands are the tried and true stereotype of perfect grouse and woodcock habitat but as long as the tree trunks are anywhere from broomstick to wrist size in diameter, you’re in bird heaven.

In dry spells you’ll find more grouse near water sources like creeks and streams. Grouse need water as much as they need food. These bottom lands provide both with food like dogwood, rose hips, berries and tender buds in the trees for their supper. Wintergreen and wild strawberry leaves are two other favorites.

When a grouse does launch itself in a staccato whir of wings you can bet that the bird will quickly fly behind the only pine tree in the county. And for the woodcock, when it twitters up from some tightly packed alders, be prepared for the darndest acrobatic flying this side of the flying circus.

Upland bird hunting is also a sport of mornings that linger over frost-wrapped fallen leaves. Of the sweet mustiness of the autumn forest and the rhythmic tinkling of a dogs bell as it works through aspens, the bark glowing a pastel green in slanted sunlight, maples and oaks dressed in Sunday best. A sport of afternoons where thornapples and abandoned grapes cling to branches like so many miniature Christmas bulbs, sunsets of deep red, the leafless trees sending craggy fingers of scars into the dwindling light. All this while wearing a favorite flannel shirt, and sporting flushed cheeks from the crisp air. It is autumn, full-glory autumn.

Trying to pry out the location of a bird hunter’s favorite locations, called coverts in bird hunter parlance, is like trying to get a trout angler to tell you his favorite hole for catching 20-inch brookies. It won’t happen. Thankfully, due to Michigan’s wealth of public land, held by both the state and the federal government there’s an abundance of forest lands to search in your quest for feathered royalty.

The season could only happen in autumn, after summer’s swelter has been swept away by dwindling daylight and Canadian winds bringing the promise of frost. The season where clouds are well defined bursts of white and grey against honest blue skies. When maples burn orange, oaks blush red and tamaracks burst yellow. It is the season of the harvest and hunter’s moon.

Autumn is the season of the bird dog, the birds, and those who chase them. For Carney and those like him, it is a season of celebration.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Peninsula

 Minden, Deford and Sanilac State Game Areas - Cass City Area 

Allegan State Game Area - Allegan

Northern Lower Peninsula 

Pigeon River State Forest - Gaylord Area  

Manistee National Forest - Cadillac Area 

AuSable State Forest - Mt. Pleasant Area 

Upper Peninsula

Lake Superior State Forest - Newberry Area 

Ottawa National Forest - Wakefield Area 

Escanaba State Forest - Escanaba Area  

Written by Dan Donarski, a noted professional outdoor and travel journalist

Looking for a new spot to hunt whitetails this year? Look north and heed the advice of two deer hunters who have hunted the back country of the U.P. for dozens of years.

"Do ya really wanna jump? Huh? Do ya?" said a maniacal Mel Gibson in the movie. Gary Lubinski and Jim Junttila ask in the same maniacal voice, "Do ya really wanna hunt? Do ya?"

If your answer is yes, then come prepared. These two guys live and hunt in the harshest environment of the upper mid west, the Lake Superior watershed of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The area they are particularly asking about is from Silver City, northeast to Copper Harbor and then southeast to Big Bay. The Superior shoreline takes in parts of Ontonagon, Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, Marquette, Alger and Luce counties.

Right from the start they'll tell you this is not a numbers game. "Go somewhere else if you need to see a deer every day. That is not going to happen here," says Lubinski.

"During a two-week hunt we may only see a dozen or so deer. The farther north you go the fewer deer there are. The climate's just not right for them, you can tell that from a whitetail range map," adds Junttila, "Their natural range ends right here. Heavy snows come as early as September and often linger well into May. Twenty feet of snow each winter is a distinct possibility. It is so far up north that the range of the whitetail goes precious few miles farther in the direction of the compass needle.

Besides preparing for the threat of heavy snows and sub zero temperatures during hunting season come prepared to hunt. The habitat here is thin when it comes to food. Deer need to move around a great deal to fill their bellies. Characterized by expansive stands of mature forests and swamps, the area can get downright ugly. Cedar and hemlock dominates with parcels of hardwoods scattered throughout. The swamps are often sink holes of muck and, if that's not enough, add massive blow downs to the mix. Then there are the high granite hills. Moss and lichen covered, they are slick. Few trees have the gumption to push roots through the cracks in the rocks. In short, the area is hostile, rugged, and beautifully so.

So, the question begs, why hunt here?

"Because of the deer," says Lubinski. "We may not have the numbers most other places do, but do we have the bucks. If I see a dozen deer in a season six are probably bucks. Of those six, there's certainly going to be one or two heavy-racked trophies." For Junttila, it's the deer, too, but there's one other important factor. "It's the hunt itself. This is no sitting-on-a-stand, watching-a-bait-pile hunt. This is a scout-pray-stalk-pray-shoot kind of hunt. It's what hunting really is, you against the animal, and the deer has most of the advantages."

You need to know how to use a compass and a map-there are precious few roads in most of the area. The deep hemlock swamps can be real interesting, even if you do have a compass. If you are uncomfortable in deep and dark swamps then these will be very intimidating. Only fools hunt alone here.

Oh, besides the National and State Forest acreage found here there is even more "public" land. The Commercial Forest Act has thousands of acres available via the lumber and paper company holdings. A list of these is available, by county, from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

What about south of the bridge?

Going south from the Mackinac Bridge you’ll begin seeing more deer. The climate is less harsh, the food more plentiful, both wild forest fruits and much more agriculture. You will see more deer here. In the far southern counties you may even see bucks as large as those in the Superior watershed.

Be prepared if hunting the far southern part of the state to do a lot of door knocking asking for hunting permission. Whereas the U.P. and northern lower peninsula have acres and acres of public land, the southern reaches are privately held for the most part. Most of the public land here is found in small patches of State Game Areas. Certainly there are deer here, but there are also more hunters.

The northern lower peninsula might just be a very good compromise. Lots of public land and good to very good deer numbers. A fair amount of this public land is in huge holding so you truly can hunt, rather than just sit on a bucket and hope.

For more information on the Michigan deer season go to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Pay particular attention to the regulations pertaining to legal deer in the Upper and Lower peninsula as they are very different.

Written by Dan Donarski, a noted professional outdoor and travel journalist

You may be itching to break out the shotgun right now, but don’t put those rods away just yet. No matter your preferred method, there are big fish just waiting to be caught.

Salmon anglers and steelheaders have two seasons, open water on the big lakes and the river season. Fall brings these big brutes into the rivers for the spawn and there’s no better time to get in on the action across Michigan’s Great Lakes than September through November.

From the west end of Lake Superior New Buffalo on Lake Michigan’s southeast coasts, salmon and steelhead are invading the near shore waters– big salmon and steelhead. Cooling temperatures and shortening days have signaled them that it’s time to head for their birth place, the tributaries, and prepare for the spawn.

Small and large boat anglers get into the action by concentrating their efforts off the mouths of the tributaries. The fish aren’t that interested in eating right now so anglers troll erratic baits that tease the fish into biting. Any style of body bait or large spoon that has either a tightly defined wobble or a very erratic wobble seem to work best across the region.

If you don’t have a boat you won’t be left out. Pier anglers working casting spoons off any of the long piers at the mouth of the major tributaries take plenty of fish. Generally this is an early morning or late afternoon bite. Just make sure your reel has a good drag and plenty of line if you want to bring one of these big boys to the net.

Then there are the rivers themselves. It’s the river anglers, both wading and in drift boats, that get up close and personal. Once in the rivers the fish are concentrated. Early in the fall they’ll be hanging out in the slower runs and deep pools of their natal rivers. Now’s the time to back-bounce wobbling baits through these deeper sections. These wobbling, big-lipped baits sit in front of the fish’s mouth and tease it to the point of the fish lashing out in simple frustration.

Another great method is to tease them with jigging spoons. Anchoring at the head of a deep pool and simply working a flashy jig throughout will get those salmon riled up to the point of serious anger. No matter the technique you use, it’s time to hang on as chinooks may well be pushing the 20-pound mark and steelhead pushing into the mid-teens.

One of the very best methods is to use spawn bags for these big fish. Theories differ as to why these fish chomp on the eggs of their own kind. Whatever the reason it doesn’t matter, they just do. Using just enough weight to get the spawn sac to the bottom while still allowing it to drift naturally with the current is the trick. Don’t expect a slam for a strike. Rather, a subtle tick or pull signals the strike and you better strike back hard to get that hook into a good hold in the fish’s mouth.

As September wanes the chinooks will start looking for shallower water, riffles and shallow runs with gravel. They are searching for a spawning bed, called a redd, and they’ll hang out there until their biological duty is done. Fly anglers have a hay day now. Using a two-fly system, an egg fly high and a nymph set on a dropper, they work the redds and runs just below. 8-weight rods are the rule now, and that fly reel better have a drag on it that works.

In-line spinners tossed above the fish and worked so that the swing brings the spinner about a foot above the salmon is another time-honored successful method. Spinners also work well in the deeper pools. The trick here is to toss the spinner upstream and work it so the blades are turning and the spinner hugs the deeper sections or along any obstructions like a downed tree.

Once the salmon are through, or nearly so, the steelhead, along with coho salmon start with their annual fall run. The techniques and patterns are the same, the rivers are the same.

A word of caution on regulations is needed here. Some of Michigan’s rivers have sections designated as "flies only." Make sure you are following the method rules. Also, all foul-hooked fish must be immediately released.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Michigan

Grand River, Grand Haven

Muskegon River, Muskegon

St. Joe River, St. Joseph

Northern Lower Michigan 

Pere Marquette Rive, Ludington

Manistee River, Manistee  

Betsy and Platte Rivers, Frankfort   

Upper Peninsula

St. Marys River, Sault Ste. Marie 

Carp and Chocolay Rivers, Marquette County

Manistique River, Manistique 

Enter the Pure Michigan Hunt drawing and you could be selected to hunt for elk, bear, spring and fall wild turkey, and antlerless deer in the same year. You're busy and your leisure time is limited. So, if you're a hunter, you need to take advantage of this unique sweepstakes offer. The Pure Michigan Hunt gives hunters the chance to participate in Michigan's most in-demand, limited-access hunting opportunities with just one application.

Winners of the Pure Michigan Hunt drawing will still be eligible to apply for other limited-access hunts. Furthermore, being selected will not negate any preference points for bear, nor weighted chances for elk.

The first Pure Michigan Hunt will take place in 2010, when three lucky hunters will be selected by random drawing for this great opportunity. Applications for the 2010 hunt will be available from July 27, through December 31, 2009, for a $4 fee. Apply as many times as you like.

For details, guidelines, restrictions and applications, visit a DNR license agent or the DNR Pure Michigan Hunt page online.

Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erie, four of the five inland seas comprising the Great Lakes have Michigan shoreline. And ports. Superior, Michigan and Huron ports are the gateway to big fish. Fish like chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, rainbow, brown and lake trout. Fish that surpass the 20-pound mark regularly. Fish that make your reels scream and your arms ache.

Size matters folks. It’s that simple.

To get into this big lake, big fish game you could go out and buy a boat in the 20-foot or above size. Add a 100-horse or better motor. Then come the downriggers, electronics, rods, reels, lines, lures, nets, gas and insurance. Add in a decade or better of education on how and where to fish these behemoths and you’re all set. Besides the time you’ll only be looking at a $25,000 or better investment, if you go for used and cheap equipment.

Been there, done that. After a sharp slap up beside the head by the CEO of the house, my wife Kris, I found religion, or at least a better way to do it.

Now when the big lake beacons I hire a charter boat with a group of three or four buddies and leave the buying and the education to the professionals. Me, heck, I just want to catch some fish and have a little fun.

Imagine how many charter trips I could go out on at around $350 a pop – that’s for the whole boat folks. Adding in a generous tip, and assuming four of us are on that trip, each chartered trip comes to roughly $100 a person. Even on the cheap side, and forgetting about gas, that’s 200 fishing trips for the same low-ball price of a boat rigged for the lake.

Jim Swanezy, of JJ Sportfishing, fishes out of the Yacht Basin Marina in Holland. Swanezy runs a tidy operation and is well known as one of the top charter skippers in the area. In fact, when it comes to the numerous tournaments on Lake Michigan, Swanczy’s name is normally at, or near the top of the leader board.

Early June through early July is a mixed bag fishery. Chinook are cruising north along the lakes following the alewive spawn. Steelhead and lake trout, along with browns, will be found in more in pockets, or pods, than scattered across any one area. As they are very temperature and prey oriented, you may find the fish hugging the bottom, or at the mid depths and sometimes even on the surface.

In late June through July and early August steelhead take center stage. You’ll make the run farther off shore to the deep water where the steelhead play.

"Steelies like the deep water when the weather is hot. The lake forms a thermocline, a temperature barrier, and we can see it by finding something called a scum line. This line is formed by the meeting of two different water temperatures, water of two different densities. The scum line is filled with bugs and small debris blown into the lake. The bugs and debris draw baitfish up to the surface which, in turn draws the steelies. These open lake steelhead can really put on a show. It’s common for a fish to jump a half dozen or more times."

"August is the major transition time for kings, and the best big fish fishing" says Swanezy. " They are getting ready for the spawn. In most places on the Great Lakes, and definitely from here in Holland and north, that means that the adult kings will be moving into the near shore shallow water in the evenings and then move back out to deeper water, say 120 to 140 feet, when the sun comes back up. The kings don’t like making that long swim any more than the anglers like running the boats that far so if you can find these two styles of water in close proximity to one another then you’ve got a leg up on the salmon."

Now, before you start counting your chickens before the eggs hatch, there are no guarantees. Fishing is fishing, even in a trout pond. But, Swanezy, along with his fellow captains, do their best each and every time they go. Think about it. It’s their job.

There is one other thing I like about going out on a charter fishing boat. The folks that run the boat also clean your fish. Michigan charter boat captains are licensed via a rigorous instruction period and testing through the U.S. Coast Guard.

To find a list of charter boat captains, and the ports they work out of, go to:
www.michigancharterboats.com

Travel Michigan has received permission to reproduce this article.

From the expansive flats of Lake St. Clair in the southeastern section of the state to the interconnected lakes of the Cisco Chain in the Upper Peninsula’s western end, muskies rule the water. In the words of Don Miller of Motor City Muskies, "There’s the muskie, then there’s everything else." Whether you like to live bait these water wolves, toss huge baits of plastic, metal or wood, or troll at seemingly ridiculous fast speeds, if you’re after the supreme predator Michigan waters are where you want to fish.

During the summer the best times to fish for muskies are early and late in the day, or after dark. If a good storm is brewing, particularly one bringing in cooler weather, so much the better.

During the fall there is a switch or sorts.

Early and late in the day are still good bets but don’t discount the midday periods when frost is on the pumpkin. Remember that these fish are in a heavy feeding cycle and aren’t at all afraid of the light. If there is a bit of masochist in you, the fall night bite can be down right spectacular.

Trolling is the preferred method for Miller on St. Clair. Swim Whizz and Believer baits, huge wooden and plastic stick-baits are the dominant lures used by anglers here. Perch patterns are the favored finish. Troll at 5- to 6-mph, (yes, that fast), and work the 4- to 12-foot depths. Be sure one lure is placed back only 20 feet or so and is running right in the prop wash.

On the inland lakes and rivers, casting takes over with a variety of glide baits, spinner and hard baits. Magnum Shad Raps, Muskie Killers and the like will all work. In off-colored water the mantra of color, though debatable, seems to be "if it’s not hot, it’s not." In other words, work finishes like fire tiger and chartreuse. In clear water natural finishes like sucker, whitefish and perch stand out.

Muskie pro Lance Christensen has two rules when casting. "First, always watch behind the bait, don’t watch the bait. That’s where you’ll see the fish or the swirl. Second, always finish smoothly, no stopping, with a large figure eight or a very exaggerated L-shaped finish. Nearly 75 percent of my fish strike while ending the retrieve with these."

Muskies are tough, toothy fish. Setting up a proper rod, reel and line combination is absolutely critical to you successfully bringing in a fish. Rods should be heavy action sticks with very a lot of spine. When you reef back to set the hook you don’t want the rod to give the fish any mercy.

The same goes with the line. Mono is a definite no-no. Old timers still swear by braided Dacron, but you can do much better. The "super lines," such as my personal favorite, Power Pro, don’t have any stretch and when you set the hook you really cross their eyes. These newer super lines are also much thinner than the old standard Dacron, and they cast like a dream. You do need to be careful as these thinner super lines will cut you if you try to release a snagged lure by hand. At the end of the line you’ll want a good quality barrel-swiveled leader at least 12 inches long to prevent the fish from biting through the line.

Your reel should have a good quality drag, something reliably smooth and steady. Bait casting reels are preferred over spinning reels. In most every case your reel need not be spooled with any more than 150 yards or so of line.

So, where is the absolute best place to catch these freshwater wolves? Without any doubt Lake St. Clair gives up more muskies each year than any two bodies of water put together. The habitat and abundance of prey is second to none. Couple that with a good number of very skilled charter captains pursuing nothing but muskies and you have an ideal situation for catching these fish. Take Captain Mike Pittiglio of Muskie Mania Sportfishing for instance. Over the past five years he’s boated just shy of 3,000 from Lake St. Clair. On one 8-hour trip the net brought in 28 of these!

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Peninsula

Lake St. Clair, Wayne, Macomb and St. Clair Counties
Muskie Mania Sportfishing Charters
Miller’s Sportfishing Charters

Thornapple Lake, Barry County
Barry County – County Parks and Recreation

Bankson Lake, Van Buren County
South Haven Visitors Bureau

Northern Lower

Lake Skegemog/Elk Lake, Kalkaska and Antrim Counties
Elk Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce

Manistee Lake, Manistee County
Manistee County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Ross Lake, Gladwin County
Gladwin County Chamber of Commerce

Upper Peninsula

Lac Vieux Desert, Gogebic County
MichiganLakes.com – Gogebic County

Craig Lake, Baraga County
Craig Lake State Park

Lake Michigamme, Marquette County
Marquette Country Convention & Visitors Bureau
Michigamme Shores Campground
Van Riper State Park

Additional Information:
Department of Natural Resources: Large Lakes Program
Michigan Recreational Boating Information System: Find an Access Site

Travel Michigan has received permission to reproduce this article.

There are hundreds of bodies of water in Michigan that hold huge numbers of bass. There’s a mighty river in the Upper Peninsula, however, that has hands down, the finest river fishing I’ve ever seen for smallies. Fishing here is next to a sure thing. Here is the Menominee River, the wide and beautiful river that borders the U.P. and northeastern Wisconsin. Wading the river or by boat really makes no difference, the smallies are there. They are everywhere.

Mike Mladenik guides the river over 100 days a year, mostly for smallmouth bass. Big smallmouth bass. He has nearly 20 years of experience on the river and has an easy-to-get-along-with personality. "The river is full of bass, and a lot of really big bass. We’re talking fish over five pounds, and a good number in the six-pound plus range. The structure is everywhere, there’s a great forage base, and the best ways to catch them are often the easiest ways to fish."

Mladenik started the day with my partner on this trip, Dusty Routh, from Seattle, Washington, throwing white with silver flecks Senko four-inch worms. He had us hook them "wacky-style" and without any weight except for the hook itself. The hooks he had us use were No. 2 Kahle-style but any wide gap hook would work well.

Hooking them wacky simply means hooking them in the middle so that the worm is balanced. Basically the rig looks silly, or wacky, and looks like it would never catch a fish. It does.

The retrieve is twitch and sit. You simply throw the thing out, let it sink and drift in the slow current or around the structure, and slowly twitch it. That’s it. When the rig is tossed to any shoreline cover or mid-stream boulder field the strikes can come hard but more often you’ll feel a slight grab or the line will start moving in the wrong direction. When this happens count to two and set the hook. That’s it– it’s that easy.

We were fishing the river around the Dickinson/Menominee County line. The river is slow moving in this section, and there are a number of islands. The banks are lined with a mix of maple and beeches along the higher ground, and cedars and hemlocks in the lowlands. The river bottom is a mix of cobble rock and boulders. There are some weeds in this section but they are limited. The water itself is stained with tannins from the cedars and hemlock lowlands giving it a copper or root beer hue.

As for the fish expect some seriously marked smallies. They don’t make them any prettier than they are on the Menominee. Almost all of then will sport that distinctive blue chin. Their stripes will be vivid, almost tiger-like. Their backs a dark green and their fins almost bronze.

The day started at 7 a.m. under brilliant skies, calm winds and temperatures in the low 70s. Routh was quickly into the first fish. It did everything a smallmouth is supposed to do. It bulldogged the bottom– thrusting its head down and the tail beating strong and furiously, digging for the cover of the boulders. When that didn’t work it attempted to leap over the sun, but "only" cleared a couple of feet. It cleared that height at least a half dozen times before the three-pound fish tired and joined us for a spell on board. I followed suit soon after. For the next hour it was near constant action.

Then the winds came. So did grey clouds and a rumble or two of far off thunder. Those grey clouds opened up with the rain coming in buckets. Luckily the thunderstorms skirted us, never coming close. Being rather obstinate, we continued to fish. For an hour and a half, nothing. The barometer and fallen through the cellar and winds and rain and plummeting temperature had the fish in the hide mode.

Not for long. One of the beautiful things about rivers, specifically bigger rivers like the Menominee is that a front only affects the fish for a short while. Once the barometer settles it only takes a short while for the fish to get active again, or at least active enough to get a few of them to bite.

In our case that "few’ turned into about a 40-fish day.

If you are looking for a great place to stay in the Iron Mountain area, the Edgewater Resort,  right on the Menominee, is a perfect place to stay. The cabins are superb and come completely equipped. They also have small rental boats for the do-it-yourself crowd. The afternoon before our trip with Mladenik an hour of flyfishing from right in front of the resort yielded a half-dozen smallies.

Visit Edgewater Resort Lob Cabins on the web at www.edgewaterresort.com.

Visit Mike Mladenik on the web at www.mikemladenik.com.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower

Lake Erie/Lake St. Clair (smallmouth bass), Monroe County
Click here for Monroe County fishing info

Patterson Lake/Strawberry Lake (largemouth bass), Livingston County
Click here for Livingston County info

Gun Lake(largemouth and smallmouth bass), Barry County
Click here for Barry County parks and recreation info

Northern Lower

Lake Charlevoix (smallmouth), Charlevoix County
Click here for Charlevoix area fishing info

White Lake (largemouth and smallmouth), Muskegon County
Click here for White Lake area info

Peach Lake/Sage Lake, Ogemaw County
Click here for Ogemaw County fishing info

Upper Peninsula

Lake Gogebic (smallmouth), Gogebic County
Click here for Lake Gogebic area info

Bays de Noc (smallmouth), Delta County
Click here for Bays de Noc area fishing info

Potagannissing Bay (smallmouth), Drummond Island - Chippewa County
Click here for Drummond Island fishing info

Travel Michigan has received permission to reproduce this article.

The city is not only home to the Great Lakes' first store devoted exclusively to surfing, Third Coast Surf Shop, but it also was named by Outside magazine as a top places to learn to surf - the only location between the East and West coasts to earn that honor.

On days when the wind is right, you'll see cars with license plates from states across the Midwest and surfboards of all sizes strapped to their roof racks, their drivers in hot pursuit of the perfect wave. Their search can be elusive, frustrating - until they end up here.

"In New Buffalo, we're ideally located at the southeastern corner of Lake Michigan, so you'll find great surfing conditions here when the wind is out of the north," says Ryan Gerard, owner of Third Coast Surf Shop. "Although Lake Michigan doesn't have waves as consistently as the ocean, you can count on surfing a few times a week if you watch the weather carefully."

But while you may not be able to count on surf as often as you might in Malibu, it doesn't make the New Buffalo surf scene any less rewarding. In fact, the local surfers say they treasure the waves more than their coastal counterparts because it takes a little more patience and meteorological savvy to catch them. And it makes them more enthusiastic about sharing them, too.

"The feeling you get surfing on a lake is just as amazing as surfing on an ocean," says Jack Nordgren, a surf instructor with Third Coast Surf Shop who spent more than two decades teaching surf students in Hawaii. "But here, the waves are a lot less crowded and the people cheer each other on - it's like surfing with friends."

This makes New Buffalo especially welcoming for beginners, as evidenced by the recognition from Outside magazine, and by the booming enrollments in Third Coast Surf Shop's surf lessons and kids' day camps. Each summer, hundreds of people from across the country arrive at the city's beach to - over the course of a 90-minute lesson - learn to surf.

But the experience is about more than just paddling, paddling, paddling, catching a wave, and riding back to the beach. It's an opportunity to get acquainted with Lake Michigan in a way you just can't sitting in your beach chair. The crystal-clear depths of the water under your board, the feeling of each wave pushing you along, the camaraderie you share with your fellow riders, is only known by those who surf.

Third Coast Surf Shop NBC's Today Show, June 3, 2009.

Ever wonder how sausage was made? Me neither. If I sat down and thought about it, I probably would no longer enjoy one of my favorite breakfast side dishes. I had the pleasure to be a crewmember on board one of the yachts racing from Port Huron to Mackinac Island. Much like the sausage, sailboat racing is awesome to the casual participant, but there’s another side of the story for those who actually grind and hoist their way to Mackinac Island every year. Welcome to Port Huron to Mackinac Island: Sailing 101!

In order to be invited onto a boat you better be a great sailor. Only the best sailors are chosen to grind, trim and pilot these silent, majestic boats to the straits. If you happen to be “lucky” enough to be chosen to participate in the race, be sure to expect the unexpected.

My boat, “Comfortably Numb,” allowed me to bring one bag that could weigh up to 10 pounds. This bag included shoes, rain gear and life jacket. Wait, these things alone weigh 10 pounds. So much for toothpaste, deodorant or a change of clothes. Think I am kidding? Most captains have a scale on the dock and will eject any non-essentials on the spot.

Once sailing, you soon forget about the lack of creature comforts and ease into the actual act of sailing. This sport is awesome, if there is wind. When there is no wind, I guess it could be classified as “floating.” For the first nine hours of this race the entire fleet was stuck in the “floating” mode. The only problem with floating is that there is no breeze to cool you off from the 95-degree heat.  It is during this time the black flies start to emerge. From where, I don’t know, but they want a piece of you, and they take it, over and over. The easy solution to both problems would be to jump into the cool water, but don’t forget we are in a race. No swimming! So there you sit, on the rail, staring at your toes that are dangling just centimeters from cool, refreshing water. If I could just touch a little bit. Damn!

On the “rail” there are no cushions, just hard fiberglass. Deck rigging is extremely uncomfortable to sit on, but essential, therefore can’t be moved. In order to have a seat you have to position lines, clasps and whatever else lies on the deck between the cheeks of your buttocks.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the sun finally started to drop below the horizon. As the cool wind caressed my skin the realization that skin hurts when it has been baking in the intense sun is only surpassed by the smell that radiates from you and the crew. Sorry, no showers, water is heavy and is dumped from the holding tanks before the boat leaves the dock. Remember, we left the deodorant. At least the sun is going down and it is time to eat.

On our boat we were lucky. We were able to use our own plate. Many boat crews pass a dish and share the same bowl as the guy next to them. Some crews have to pass the spoon as well! I have heard tale of crews that bring only power bars and cereal, which they eat for every meal.

After your gourmet meal it is time for a sleep shift. Mine came at 2 a.m. This was good because I got a chance to cool down in the 65-degree night air before I turned in. I entered the cabin, rolled my bunkmate out of bed and recoiled from the smell of the day’s sweatfest. There’s nothing like being the lucky recipient of a warm bunk containing someone else’s perspiration, sunscreen and drool. Some people avoid this situation by simply sleeping hung over the rail. I didn’t particularly care to spend any more time with the rigging in my butt, so I opted for the bed of sweat.

Night sailing seems to be everyone’s favorite.  At night the speed of travel generally increases and so does the danger factor. The decks become slippery with condensation and bow spray. Sail changes have to be done in pitch dark. Well, maybe not pitch dark. If you hold a flashlight in your mouth wile pulling down the 50-foot spinnakers, your vision increases by a few candlepower. The problem is, the flashlight generally gets knocked askew while trying to stuff the huge sheet into a 2-foot deck hole. I suppose you could straighten the light back out but if you let go of the sail with one hand, the wind could grab the sail and snatch it out to sea.

Deck ropes are a familiar culprit during the wee hours of the night. They often like to wrap themselves around an ankle and with any mislaid step, pull folks over the edge. Many captains make crew members clip into a harness so they don’t go overboard at night. Good idea I guess, but as I watched, I could not help but think that if you were on the low side of the boat you would be dashed repeatedly against the side of the boat by the force of the enormous 9-knot waves. I think I would rather simply fall overboard than to be beaten unmercifully for the five minutes that it would take to drag me back on board. On the other hand, if I went overboard, how would the boat see me? Ever been in the middle of Lake Huron at night with cloud cover. Goodbye sweet prince.

My favorite part of the race is morning. Sunsets and sunrises are the reward for endurance and hard work. Our crew worked in silence while taking in the amazing sights. This time is when you begin to reflect on the race, your role in the race, your role on the earth, your family…then you are jolted by a loud voice commanding “Time to change the spinnaker," and it's right back to work. After all, there is still another day of this competition to come.

For some reason I can’t explain, this was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I think one of the crew members explained it best when she said, “It’s like giving birth. If I remembered the pain I would never have another child. I only remember the enjoyment of the accomplishment.” I never have given birth, so I use the sausage analogy.

However you explain it, the result is the same. If given the opportunity, I would do the Port Huron to Mackinac Island race again and again. I may even add a few more miles to the race. I did not really want the race to end.

Special thanks to Mark Miller, captain/owner of the “Comfortably Numb” boat, for letting me become a member of the crew. By the way, we WON the race! For more details on the crew and boat go to Numbsailing.com.

Travel Michigan has received permission to reproduce this article.

Oftentimes it seems we adults get wrapped around the axle when it comes to fishing. We "need" the newest graph, the best rods and reels, the wonder baits, the biggest fish and, of course, to accomplish all this, a boat. I received a lesson from my kids a while back. And it’s a lesson that can be re-taught to each of us within a 30 minute drive from anywhere in Michigan. All you need is a lake, river or pond.

The boat wouldn’t start when we got to the bay. Karen didn’t seem to mind. "That’s OK dad, we don’t need the boat. We’ll just fish off the dock. The dock will be fine."

Eric agreed. "Yeah dad, we’ll catch fish off the dock."

Fishing off this dock in years past has been worthwhile. Karen and the neighbor’s little girl caught a mess of nice yellow perch last summer in late August. Earlier in the summer she caught bullheads, white perch and more than one sheephead gave her quite a struggle.

On the way to the cottage we bought bait, candy, hooks, candy, bobbers, candy, sinkers and no, not more candy, but those Cheetos fried to a crackly-crunch. Oh yeah, and some soda pop. (Mom, the Supreme Ruler of the Free World, was out of sight.)

We arrived at the cottage late in the day, full of promise. Karen ran down to the water.

When she returned her expectant expression was softened to resignation if not dejection. "Dad, come look at the water. It’s green."

It was certainly green. That pea soup algae didn’t look inviting.

OK, dad, I thought, gotta come up with something quick or it will be an awful long week. "Karen, remember when I’ve told you that bright light sometimes makes the fishing real bad and cloudy days and early mornings are often better than at noon because it is not so bright? Well, kiddo, this pea soup will help keep the water dark so we might even have better fishing."

"Really?"

"Sure, kiddo. You bet." (I hoped.)

It was my job to mind the rods while the kids went for candy or pop or Cheetos or all three. It was also my job to keep Eric from performing crude, rock-tossed autopsies on a few dead carp that he found along the beach.

We even caught fish. Sheephead were numerous, as were perch. Eric did come up with the best catches. One evening he brought in a channel catfish. One morning he found himself attached to his ScobbyDoo rod while a 4½-pound smallmouth found itself attached to it, too.

On the drive back home to the Soo I told Karen that she was right, that we did catch fish off the dock.

"I like the dock. You never know what is out there. It’s simple, dad," she said. "You don’t have to worry about rocking the boat or anything. It’s simply fishing."

Right again kiddo.

Pan fishing, fishing off the dock, or off the bank, or even from a boat is simple. You need a rod and reel. Nothing fancy mind you, a simple outfit will do. Six pound line is just fine, four would be even better. Hooks in the No. 8 or 10 sizes. A few split shot and a bobber. For bait a dozen worms or crawlers, maybe some wax worms. That’s all.

Well, not quite. When fishing with kids it is absolutely vital that you fish somewhere where the kids are going to catch fish. I know that sounds like a no-brainer, but it isn’t. This fishing excursion isn’t about you catching fish; it’s about the kids catching fish. Size doesn’t really matter. They just want something tugging on their line and feel the fish while they reel it in.

The best banks or docks will be those that allow you, or them, to cast the line into four feet of water or more. Set the bobber three feet above the bait so the bait goes to a foot or two off the bottom. There is no need to be in water more than six feet deep. There will be fish there if there are any weeds at all.

If you do have access to a boat, look for water in the eight to ten foot range. The edge of a weed bed is a great place to anchor. Bobbers here are optional. Simply have the kids let the weight go down to the bottom and then reel in a foot or two of line.

Bluegills, pumpkin seeds, crappies, perch, bullhead and a host of other species are just waiting for your kids to send them down some food.

One more thing, bring a bit of patience and snacks.

Hot Spots
(These areas may not have the biggest fish in the water, but they will produce panfish for you and the kids.)

Southern Lower

Big Portage Lake, Jackson County
Click here for Jackson County fishing info

Kent Lake, Oakland County
Click here for Kensington Metropark info

Mona Lake/Muskegon Lake, Muskegon County
Click here for Muskegon State Park info

Northern Lower

Spider Lake, Grand Traverse County

Cooke Dam Pond, Iosco County

Lake Cadillac/Lake Mitchell, Wexford County
Click here for Lake Cadillac/Lake Mitchell fishing info

Upper Peninsula

Fortune Chain of Lakes, Iron County
Click here for Iron County fishing info

South Lake/Big Manistique Lake, Mackinac County
Click here for Manistique Lakes area fishing info

Prickett Dam Backwater, Baraga County

Travel Michigan has received permission to reproduce this article.

You Want: A Course to Wow Women...and everyone else

PLAY AND STAY: The Heather, Boyne Highlands Resort

Credit its gracious curves or the thick forest and blueberry bog it wends through, but beauty isn't the only reason Golf for Women magazine named Boyne Highlands' The Heather one of the world's top 50 courses for women. Exemplary conditioning, fair play from the forward tees, and course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s ruthless demand for accuracy all played roles in the ranking, as did Boyne Highlands' 415+ luxury accommodations. Hotel rooms, suites, condos and cottages are available here, though business groups may appreciate the recent hotel upgrades most: ultra-plush bedding and wireless Internet is available in each room, the latter in most common areas as well. Harbor Springs, 800-GOBOYNE,

You Want: Short but Oh So Sweet

PLAY AND STAY: Threetops, Treetops Resort

No course offers so much fun in so few strokes. Huge on dense woods, sublime vistas and elevated tee boxes that make you feel like you're swinging from a cliff top, the beauty of Threetops besides the fact that it's ranked the No. 1 Par 3 course in the nationis that no matter how poorly you or your crew play, everybody's got a shot at starting anew about 150 yards up. Heck, even nonplayers will enjoy this placethe twisty, roller coaster cart path ambles through some of the prettiest scenery in Northern Michigan. Bonus: Treetops resort offers excellent dining optionsfrom catered meals to the resort's secluded River Cabin. Gaylord, 989-732-6711 ext. 2660,

You Want: To Shake in Your Spikes

PLAY AND STAY: The Bear, Grand Traverse Resort & Spa

Home to Michigan's oldest and most prestigious golf tournament, the Michigan Open, Jack Nicklaus's The Bear  is where scratch golfers go to test their mettle. Credit the links-style course's menacingly deep pot bunkers, ten holes' worth of water hazards, deep grassy roughs, moguls, mounds and the highest slope rating in the state. Surviving a Bear attack isn't easy, but the resort makes it worth your while, offering at day's end a retreat into a resort that's fresh from a fabulous multi-million dollar renovation. Fine and casual dining, shopping, meeting spaces that can accommodate 10 to 2,500 people, and a 100,000-square-foot spa complex are on site. Traverse City, 800-236-1577,

You Want: The Wilderness Experience

PLAY AND STAY: The Rock, Drummond Island Resort and Conference Center

The Rock is a course carved out of limestone. Each generous fairway is framed by dense stands of hardwood and cedar, ensuring that scenic solitude is the only standard of play. And besides the island course's many ponds, lakes and waterfalls, you're likely to find another awe-inspiring hazard: whitetail deer and other wildlife jaunting across the fairway. A true sanctuaryand certified as such by the Audubon Nature Preserve SystemThe Rock is the place to go for any golfer looking to get wild Up North. Waterfront cottages, full-scribe log cabins and a luxurious, rustic-chic hotel, plus a pizzeria-bowling alley, fine dining and excellent meeting accommodations are all par for the course here. Eastern Upper Peninsula, 800-999-6343,

You Want: A Course Everyone Will Love

PLAY AND STAY: Cedar River Golf Course, Shanty Creek Resort

Working with Cedar River's natural glacier-carved terrain may have been an odyssey for famed golf course architect Tom Weiskopf, but for golfers (and photographers), its breathtaking vistas, deep ravines and rolling terrain are an inspiration. Fives sets of tees and expansive, undulating greens accommodate golfers of all abilities. Likewise, while some holes demand accuracy and control at the outset, several offer a wide landing area to keep newbie spirits up. Bring clubs and a camera for this one. Cedar River Village, serves up 72 elegant suites and studios, 14 condos and 7,100 square feet of meeting spaces that come complete with Internet-connected task tables. A complimentary shuttle provides access to additional services and facilities at Shanty's nearby Schuss and Summit Villages. Bellaire, 800-678-4111.

You Want: To Be a High Roller

PLAY: Arcadia Bluffs Golf Course

Hop in your GPS-equipped golf cart or summon one of the ready caddiesat the esteemed Arcadia Bluffs, you are king. Your kingdom? A course ranked No. 10 in Golf Digest's list of 100 Greatest Public Courses in America. Arcadia provides nearly 300 acres of windswept lakefront property etched in the style of ye olde seaside Irish links and perched high above the roiling cerulean waters of Lake Michigan. Hole 16stretched out along a cliff of shoreline frontage with a 225-foot drop to the beachis just one of the reasons folks call this place majestic and awe-inspiring. We call it the closest an American golfer can get to Ballybunion without boarding a plane. Arcadia, 800-494-8666.

You Want: Unforgettable Golf and an Extraordinary Meal

PLAY: Black Forest Golf Course

Black Forest, the first masterpiece of the world's preeminent minimalist golf course architect and Traverse City local, Tom Doak, is secreted deep in a forest of pine, oak and maple. But trust us, this hidden gem is worth finding. Each hole is isolated in the woods like an island unto itself, making it possible to go an entire round without ever seeing another foursome. Expect wildly contoured greens, dramatic bunkering, impeccable conditioning from tee to pin andno matter how you play a grand finish: the clubhouse's elegant Osprey Grill feels more like a vacation retreat than a restaurant. Kick back with a cocktail on the richly appointed second-level deck, then cruise inside for Chef McKay's always in-season, always Northwoods-inspired menu of freshwater fish and premium cuts of steak, pork and chicken. Gaylord, 866-585-7090,

You Want: To Bypass the Velvet Rope

PLAY: True North

Get in while you still can. True North Golf Club is private an exclusive, first-class course built for True North Estates, the emerging gated community that surrounds it. But until the last home site and membership is sold, the club allows nonmembers to play once as a guest between June 19 and September 2 each year. The single-round restriction doesn't apply before and after those dates, or for group and charity events, but however you slice it, time is running out on the chance to experience the course Golf Digest named best in the state last year. Harbor Springs, 231-526-3330,

MyNorth.com the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

I ran into a guy at the gas station that a good old boy and saw that I didn't know anything about the place and was freezing. He loaned me his coat and explained to me that the diesel fuel up there was treated for cold weather and not to worry about it, and then he showed me where to go for my initial nights reservation in town and where the hosp. was located. I showed up for work the next morning bright and early. I met a large number of people that first morning that were more than nice to me and took me out to eat at a place that would become one of my regulars called Spikes Keg of Nails on the Au Sable River.

After eating, they took me to a sporting goods store out past the old Bear Plant and showed me what to buy to stay warm and what I needed to keep in my truck for an emergency. Then they showed me where my apartment was located in the North Country Lodge owned by Jim and Judy Craft, who were expecting me through my company.

Long story short, my first weekend I was off with nothing to do and the old boy from the gas station showed up along with some others that I worked with at the hosp. and brought me a black and tan hunting dog, which I still have. We all went to the Grayling Cafe' for breakfast and then went ice fishing on Houghton Lake. So we all hit it off great and started hunting and fishing together and I sent home for some of my guns, rods and tackle to be shipped to me. In the end, I stayed for four years in the area and spent another one year pulling assignments in the UP. I worked, fished and hunted all over that state.

People from down home warned me that northern people would not like me, but the only hatred that I ever encountered was out in New Mexico in the west. All of the people in MI took me in like I was family and I love that place. Yeah, they made a little fun of me because I'm from the country in the deep south, but they are just like me with a different accent and way of talking.

I love MI so much that I brought my children and parents up there several times to visit fish, hunt, etc. Not to mention just to eat at Big Buck Brewery in Gaylord, it's awesome!!!!!

I am getting married in May and my wife and I are planning our honeymoon for guess where? We're coming up to fish for two weeks and visit with all of my old friends. They are the best friends in the world and we have have always stayed in contact. Going from the low landers to the upers, the people of MI are the best that I've ever seen in my life and the state how so much to offer that one could not take it all in within twenty years.

My current goal is to one day have a home in MI, even if it's just a vacation spot around Higgins Lake. My next dream will come true in short time if it's warm enough in July. My wife and I are going to take the plunge off of the bridge behind Spikes in Grayling into the waters of the Au Sable River at the deep hole. Hold onto to the moment, cherish and preserve it and the great state of MI for future generations, it's wonderful.

The 16-mile-long Clinton River Trail system has been slashing through more and more of Pontiac recently. A 1.5 mile extension was added last year, connecting the trail to downtown and major institutions, like the Phoenix Plaza Amphitheater. The Friends of the Clinton River Trail plans to connect that extension to Auburn Hills soon.

The Clinton River Trail is a recreational trail on an abandoned rail line through the heart of Oakland County. It connects the cities of Sylvan Lake, Pontiac, Auburn Hills, Rochester Hills and Rochester. It also connects with the existing West Bloomfield Trail to the west and the Macomb Orchard Trail to the east.

"It (the bridge) will close one of the last remaining gaps and it's one of the most difficult gaps because its a state highway," says Dan Keifer, a member of the steering committee for the Friends of the Clinton River Trail.

Crossing that section of Telegraph Road isn't exactly friendly to people trying to get around in something other than an automobile. Car regularly whiz through the seven-lane highway, one of the busiest in northern Oakland County.

Source: Dan Keifer, a member of the steering committee for the Friends of the Clinton River Trailand State of Michigan
Writer: Jon Zemke
Story Courtesy of http://www.metromodemedia.com/

A lovely, languid drive along Old Mission Peninsula; the hilly green finger of land that divides the east and west sides of Grand Traverse Bay;is the perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon. From the base of the peninsula, follow Garfield Road north out of Traverse City, then head left on M-37, also known as Center Road.  Brake for the tasting rooms of the half-dozen Old Mission wineries to pick up a bottle of vino for dinner, then swing by Fox Valley Gardens Farm Market (231-883-8337) for in-season fruits and veggies as well as honey, fresh cut flowers and maps of the peninsula.  Cut across Wilson Road and cruise the coast, turning right on Nelson Road for a captivating detour: latticework branches intertwine overhead, shading a sun-speckled lane that skirts one of the peninsula’s many orchards. This hidden two-track will bring you back to M-37, and a left leads you to Peninsula Market (14111 Center Rd., 231-223-9500) for picnic provisions like sandwiches and cold almond cherry chicken salad.

Follow the signs to the eclectic Old Mission General Store (18250 Old Mission Rd., 231-223-4310), where shafts of sunlight illuminate a happy clutter of penny candy, coon caps, antiques, toys and more. Ask owner Jim Richards about the history of this store: the first outpost between Detroit and the Straits of Mackinac. Nab a few more goodies for your picnic, then head north to Lighthouse Park  at the very tip of the peninsula. Here’s the spot for a sweet sunset picnic: beach access, a lovely lighthouse and curling sand paths calling you to the water. Make your way to the old metal swing set nestled in the sand, take a seat and let the swing’s soft creaking fold into the sound of the evening waves.

MyNorth.com, the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

By Jeff Smith with permission of MyNorth.com.

When 16 men gathered in the Au Sable River cottage of George Griffith in 1959 to form Trout Unlimited, now an internationally respected river conservation group, they chose a location worthy of the event. The Au Sable River  is an American treasure, with unmatched stable water-flow and steady, cool temperatures that make it some of the premier trout water in the nation.

Get a dose of that legendary H2O by stepping into the current, fly rod in hand, in the same stretch where Trout Unlimited began, a run called the Holy Waters. Start your fishing day with a from-scratch breakfast at Gates Au Sable Lodge  (at Stephan Bridge, 989-348-8462). After breakfast, take some time to read the old fisherman's logbook then duck into the on-site fly shop.

The Holy Waters runs about eight miles from Burton's Landing, just east of Grayling,  to Wakeley Bridge.  Longtime fishing guide Bob Andrus suggests the three access points that follow:

Keystone: Broad water here makes it easy to keep flies out of the brush and not spook fish. Wade easily downstream on the solid bottom a half-mile or more then walk back on the public land along the south shore. Take M-72 to Keystone, north to the river.

Guide's Rest: Owned by Trout Unlimited, this stretch of publicly accessible shore runs a mile on both sides of the river. Start at the north parking area and work the river down to the south parking area. Walk back on the road that connects the two. Andrus suggests a compass because the trail in gets a little confusing as it commingles with deer trails. North Down River Road to a half-mile west of Stephan Bridge.

Knight Tract: Make a few attempts at the giant but wily trout said to populate Gould's Hole here, but then move on to wade the four-hour trip down to Wakeley Bridge; walk back on the road. M-72 to Wakeley Bridge Road, north over the river. Look for the subtle sign to the west.

MyNorth.com, the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

Photo Credit:

MyNorth Media/Todd Zawistowski

Start your island day on the mainland, at Cheboygan's State Street Coffee Company (211 W. State St., 231-597-9575) for a cappuccino and croissant. Buy a bag of roasted cashews for the ferry trip to Bois Blanc Island, a quiet Lake Huron hideaway only eight miles away. The Plaunt family has run their Plaunt Transportation passenger ferries out of Cheboygan for more than 75 years (412 Water St., 888-PLAUNTS). Take your car across if you wish—reservations required—or book passage for your bike. There are no rentals in Cheboygan or on the island.

On the 40-minute trip over, set your sights on the freighters plying the Straits, and a glorious view of the Mackinac Bridge.

Debark and set out: The winding dirt shore road that circles the secluded 12-by-6-mile island is a flat and easy bet for biking. The speed limit on the island is 25 miles per hour everywhere—a blessing for bikers—but still watch for cars wending around the bends.

Three miles east of the ferry docks, find Bob-Lo Tavern (231-634-7100) for chef-owner Barb Schlund's spicy dill pickle spears and a Bob-Lo Burger, topped with shredded slow-cooked ham. Before an island treat of fried ice cream anointed in Kahlua, sneak in a round of shuffleboard on the vintage board in the bar.

Another mile east, take a dip at the beach between Rosie Point and Snake Island. Locals named it Snow Beach, as it's one of the only sandy;not rocky shores on the island. Dry out in the sun before circling back the way you came past the island woods filled with chicory, ferns, Queen Anne's lace and black-eyed Susans. End up at Hawk's Landing (231-634-7375), a restaurant, gas station and general store within sight of the ferry docks. Pick up some Bois Blanc paraphernalia and a treat (owner Missy fixes fine apple pies, strawberry shortcake and banana splits to meet the whims of the islanders), then head to your ferry home. Most days the last ferry from the island leaves at 5 p.m. and the Plaunt family runs a tight ship.

MyNorth.com, the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

By Elizabeth Edwards with permission from MyNorth.com.

Whether you come by air or sea, Beaver Island's 60 square miles of beautiful terra firma beg exploring. The quiet back roads that wend out of Beaver's only hub, the village of St. James, lend themselves to mountain biking (fat tires are a must for the island's miles of clay-gravel roads). Bring your own bike, or stop by Lakesports' Paradise Bay Gifts and rent one (231-448-2166). Once your wheels are turning, set your sights on the picturesque 46-foot Beaver Head Light on the island's south end. There, you'll climb the circular wrought-iron staircase for a big blue lake vista. You might turn around before you make it the full 18 miles (remember, you'll need to ride back to St. James to catch your ride to the mainland). That's okay, the spectacular tapestry of forest, rocky shoreline and dune beaches you pass along the way are a destination unto themselves.

Stoke up for your ride at Dalwhinnie Bakery and Deli (231-448-2736), where everything from the bread to the bear claws are homemade. Pack along a ham and cheddar on cheese bread for a beach picnic. As you head south on King's Highway, take a moment to stop into the Old Mormon Print Shop Museum  (231-448-2254) to learn about this island's rich history—and why the road is called King's Highway. (Hint: Beaver Island once had a king.) Pick up Elizabeth Whitney Williams's book Child of the Sea. The author grew up at the Beaver Head Lighthouse in the 19th century. Now get pedaling. You'll want time to lounge on the beach by the lighthouse and let Williams's book make this beautiful spot come alive.

Getting to Beaver Island: The 32-mile flight over Lake Michigan from Charlevoix is less than a half hour (Island Airways, 800-524-6895; Fresh Air Aviation, 888-359-7448). The ferry the Emerald Isle takes two hours (888-446-4095), but the payoff for the extra time is freshwater spray on your face. For island lodging info contact the Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce  (231-448-2505).

MyNorth.com, the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

There's much to be said for the traditional shoreline ride around Mackinac Island  (877-847-0086). Lake Shore Boulevard, the eight-mile main loop, is, after all, Michigan’s only state highway that’s absolutely automobile free. But bikers can also steal away into the forest for quiet trails. Just be prepared for some heart-pumping hills.

For a woodsy escape, ride up the center of the island, past Fort Mackinac, to Garrison Road. Be ready to pop the kickstand and ramble around historic sites; along the way, you'll come across old stone-walled Protestant and Catholic cemeteries, Skull Cave and the battlefield-turned-golf course, Wawashkamo. Garrison Road dead-ends at Lake Shore Boulevard, where you’re treated to a panorama of the spectacular five-mile Mackinac Bridge  that links Michigan' Lower and Upper Peninsulas.

Pedal along toward the island' southwest lobe to spot some of Mackinac Island's most famous features. Arch Rock, a stand of fragile brecciated limestone, is instantly recognizable and a popular photo-op. Several winding bike trails and carriage roads, most of them paved, lead back to another famous limestone tower: the pockmarked and craggy Sugar Loaf, a ritual burial site of the island's early Native American inhabitants, juts up 75 feet into the air at a horseshoe in the pathway.

QUICK BITE: Try Mary' Bistro  for relaxed dining at the west end of Mackinac Island's historic downtown. Think chicken potpies, and sirloin with horseradish sauce and grilled bananas. Grab a seat on the back patio to watch the rooster-tailed ferries zip in and out of the harbor. 906-847-9911.

YOU SHOULD KNOW: Established as a national park in 1875 (second only to Yellowstone), Mackinac Island State Park  became Michigan's first state park in 1895. Eighty percent of the island is still parkland.

MyNorth.com, the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

Leave the lounge chairs at home and reinvent your beach day with three sun-soaked adventures. Survey the city from five stories high, fly across the water on wind power, master the waves from the deck of a massive ship. Whatever your pleasure, we guarantee you'll never look at Grand Traverse Bay the same way again.

A good way to start? Spend a wild weekend on the water with Broneah Kiteboarding's "Northern Exposure" kiteboarding camp. Brothers and co-owners Matt and Keegan Myers keep class sizes to a minimum, no more than six students per weekend - allowing for one-on-one training time. Kiteboarding is a fast-growing sport, popular in places like Hawaii and Western Europe; it involves a rider strapping his or her feet to a board and holding onto a bar connected to a large kite. By maneuvering the bar, the rider is dragged across the water on the board and can lift into the air to pull stunts - a seasoned kiter can jump as high as 30 feet in the air. Not sure if you're cut out for kiting? The Myers claim anyone at any age can learn; it's just a matter of determination and a willingness to respect nature's elements. By the end of the weekend you'll walk away with a new hobby, new friends and a deeper appreciation for two of Michigan's best natural resources--wind and water. (231-392-2212)

Looking for even bigger air? Get high with a sky-scraping ride courtesy of Traverse Bay Parasail. For 15 minutes, a very long 15 minutes  that brave souls can dangle from a parasail up to 500 feet in the air. Several hundred feet of line is fed out from a boat, allowing those in the parasail to experience a rare bird's-eye view that stretches from both bays all the way to the city's limits. If the thought of going it alone gives you the willies, consider sharing the experience with a friend for a tandem flight. Holding hands is optional. Reservations are recommended; no penalties if the weather does not cooperate. Expect to spend about a half hour on the total excursion, from dock to water to dock again. (231-929-7272)

Balance out all that airtime by planting your feet on the deck of the Tall Ship Manitou,a sturdy and stately replica of a 19th-century cargo schooner. Call ahead to reserve a two-hour midday, afternoon or evening cruise; prices include boxed meals on some excursions. The midday and afternoon cruises are perfect for families. Kids can look up at the giant billowing sails and pretend to be a pirate cruising the high seas. If your family is strictly a party of two, sign up for the more subdued evening cruise. Stand with your sweetie at the helm and let the breeze tangle your hair, give the crew a hand, or simply lean into the wind and consider the feeling of freedom that comes with cruising open water. (231-941-2000)

Finally, rest those sea legs at Boathouse Restaurant (14039 Peninsula Dr., 231-223-4030 ) for fantastic food and a decidedly delicious view of the bay. Grab a table on the patio out back in the evening and you're guaranteed a sweet sunset over West Bay. Your time on the water might be done for now, but with dishes like fried tempura asparagus and crab-topped whitefish on the menu, you'll be glad you returned to the dry land.

MyNorth.com, the vacation site of the North, is refreshed daily by the staff of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine. Deborah Wyatt Fellows is editor-in-chief.

There's a small creek not far from my home. Just a quick two and half hour drive to the west and south and I'm there, on top of a small ridge overlooking the water below.

No more than 15 feet across at its widest, in most places it is much smaller. The kind of creek that with a quick, two-step start you can easily hop across and never get your feet wet. Even if you do it's not much more than two feet deep, except for that one hole where a fella could drink standing up. That one hole where a century old cedar fell over in the big blow a few years back.

Of all the miles of rivers, streams and creeks I've traipsed over and in, of all the secret spots that I've been led blindfolded to, this one small unremarkable piece of flowing water holds my heart.

Why?

Because I have held its heart, too. Crimson spots, hallowed by neon blue, all on a background of forest green waved in black. Pumpkin-orange fins, fringed with a band of white and then black- I have held its jeweled heart, its trout.

Its heart is as big and as full as the entire expanse of the Upper Peninsula. I know that if I take my time, if I do not abuse the water with aimless thrashing, that I will catch an 18-inch brook trout. Everytime.

Does the size of the fish measure the heart of this small creek? Is it the size that holds mine?

Hardly. What does measure and hold is that these are brook trout, wild brook trout to be exact, brook trout that have no single strand of DNA tainted by cement hatchery engineering- trout that have never had to choke down some brown pellet for food.

Am I going to tell you where this special place is? Nope.

There are a number of reasons for this. One reason is that small creeks like this can easily be over-fished. Another is that the size of the fish found here is unusual and that alone would certainly increase the numbers of anglers.

While both these reasons are valid, the main reason is much different. The main reason is that while this particular stretch of water is, in fact, a single real place, there are countless other places in the Upper Peninsula, and a good number in the lower, where flowing water holds similar fish, maybe bigger fish. And, when it comes to brook trout, it's the simple joy of discovering your own Church Of The Fallen Cedar that makes these places so special.

Early in the season, due to spring rains and run-off from winter’s snows, the rivers may be high and a bit dirty. When they are like this you'll need to use larger flies and spinners than you normally would. Big sculpin patterns, large nymphs, Number 2 spinners rule when the water is high and stained.

As the waters subside the more normal offerings come into play. Spinners in size 0 or 1 are perfect when worked along an undercut bank or log jam. Early flies like blue-winged olives and Hendrickson's shine. As the water warms grey drake nymphs come into play as do any number of caddis larvae as well as the adults.

Spin anglers need nothing more than a short rod, say a five-foot UglyStik with a light reel matched with no more than four-pound test line. You casts will be mainly short and precise ones. While casting down and across is the easiest method, you will vastly improve your catch rate by casting up stream and retrieving the lure back to you. Most food the trout sees will be coming down stream, your lure should do the same.

Fly rodders, if they are working the smaller streams, should leave the nine-footers at home and bring the seven or eight foot rods. While not able to cast quite as far they more than make up for it by being able to cast easier in a tangle of alders alongside the bank. A 4- to 6-weight will suit any purpose on these trout rivers. In most all cases a floating line is the only line you'll need. Tippets in 3X or 4X will be plenty stout enough if you don't try and horse the trout in. In gin clear shallow water it would also be a good idea to bring along a spool of 5X.

The Au Sable, Manistee, Pere Marquette and Sturgeon; The Escanaba, Fox, Ontonagon and Paint; all these large rivers hold amazing fish. But don't discount the little rivers, the rivers that you discover and explore. It is in these that you'll hear the organ and the choir while you're inside the Church of the Fallen Cedar.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Peninsula

Kalamazoo River cool water tributaries; Calhoun County; Brown Trout very good to excellent; Click here for more Battle Creek info

Galien River; Berrien County; Brown Trout good to excellent; Click here for more Harbor Country Info .

Rogue River; Kent County; Brown and rainbow Trout good to excellent; Click here for More Info

Northern Lower Peninsula

Au Sable and Manistee Rivers; Crawford County; Brown and Rainbow Trout very good to excellent/Brook Trout good to very good;

Pigeon and Sturgeon Rivers; Otsego County; Brook, Brown and Rainbow Trout good to excellent; Click here for more info .

Jordan River; Antrim County; Brown and Brook Trout good to excellent; Click here for more info .

Upper Peninsula

Paint and Brule Rivers; Iron County; Brook and Brown Trout good to excellent; Click here for Iron County Lodging.

Ontonagon River branches; Ontonagon County; Brook, Brown and Rainbow Trout good to excellent; 

Indian River; Schoolcraft County; Brown Trout excellent, Brook Trout fair to very good; Click for more info on Manistique.

Michigan may be known as "The Wolverine State" but in the fishing world, come spring, "The Walleye State" may be more appropriate. Big rivers like the Detroit, Saginaw, and St. Marys have monster eyes. Big waters like Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay and the Bays de Noc are known throughout the angling world for their huge fish.

Now add hundreds of other lakes, big and small, as well as dozens of rivers and you have a state full of walleyes and walleye anglers. The tactics for catching them changes with the seasons, but the two methods described below will give you an good idea on what to expect both in spring and early summer, no matter what body of water you find yourself on.

Beginning in April and lasting until early May when spawning is complete, the Detroit and Saginaw rivers in the east, and the St. Joseph and Muskegon in the west are a haven for big fish.

That's what brought me to the Detroit River a year ago at the invite of walleye pro Mark Martin, the chance to fish with the best, and fish at arguably the best big walleye hole in North America.

"The key to this fishery, actually any spring fishery, is the water," Martin told me. "You have to find water that is slightly warmer. Once you find the warmer water you will find the fish."

We found warmer water behind a small wing dam. There the current eddied and held fairly still, and where the sun had time to work its magic and push the temperature a full three degrees higher than the main river. We concentrated on the river bottom where the walleyes congregate in the river. Both jigging and trolling Rapalas was the game plan.

"Got one," cried Martin as he heaved back on the rod. His rod bucked and shook telegraphing the walleye’s head shakes as the fish struggled for freedom. Bending the medium action rod into a perfect U, it was evident that this fish was no light weight.

Walleyes aren't known for their vigorous fight but this fish was giving him all that he could handle. A number of short speed bursts later the net slipped underneath the 10-pound class fish, a big Rapala hanging from its mouth. The big female was released back into the river to complete her task.

Then it was my turn as another fish hammered on the end of the line. But, fishing being fishing, this one soon struggled free.

That's how it continued for the rest of the day. Find warm water, find fish, hook a fish, and just over 50% of the time net a fish and then release it.

In May I booked a charter trip to check out Lake Erie out of Monroe.

The sun hadn’t risen yet as I pulled into the parking lot, but you could tell it was coming- already the temperature was 65 and climbing. Mid 80s were expected along with the same amount of humidity.

We motored out of the marina and into Lake Erie. Once past the final buoy the Captain pushed the throttle forward and headed out.

A light wind had the water in a one foot chop. Over the noise of the engine Captain Tom said that the wind would help. I agreed that it would help beat the heat.

"Heat nothing. The wind is putting a chop on the water and the chop will put extra action on the baits as well as help diffusing the light which will, or should keep the fish active. If it was calm we wouldn't have a chance."

The Captain's program for Erie walleyes is simple- put your baits off of planer boards and as long as it's a Wiggle Wart, it's the right bait.

By placing the Warts 60 to 80 feet behind the boards the baits work themselves down to a depth of 12 to 15 feet. Active fish aren't found on the bottom out here, rather they are suspended in the mid depth range.

Two other boats were already at the Captain's spot when we got there. Both were waving a net, ready to net a struggling walleye. "Looks like this could be the place today," he said.

And it was. Over the course of the next few hours Erie showed what she is capable of, that all the stories I've read and been told were not merely fish tales. Four guys, 20 fish. In four hours.

Yup, The Walleye State. From the skyline of Detroit to the little hamlets of the U.P., walleyes rule this state in spring.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Peninsula

Detroit River/Northwestern Lake Erie; Wayne/Monroe Counties; Click here for more Monroe Info..

Saginaw Bay and River; Saginaw County; Click here for more Saginaw info.

Grand River; Kent County; Click here for Grand Rapids info.

Northern Lower Peninsula

Houghton Lake; Roscommon County; Click here for Houghton Lake info.

Mullet Lake; Cheboygan County; Click here for Cheboygan info.

Lake Cadillac; Wexford County; Click here for Cadillac info.

Upper Peninsula

Portage/Torch Lakes; Houghton County; Click here for Keweenaw info.

Big/Little Bay de Noc; Delta County; Click here for Bay de Noc info.

St. Marys River/Munuscong Bay; Chippewa County; Click here for more Sault info.

Quick man on the street quiz: when I say fly fishing what is the first thing that comes to mind?   The majority of answers surely include some variation of trout fishing in a river or stream, right? That perception does define some fly fishing and it is a big part of our Northern Michigan tradition, Trout Unlimited was founded in Grayling 50 years ago, the brook trout is our state fish, the Adams fly was created for the Boardman River, and we have over a dozen blue ribbon trout streams in northern Michigan. However, with regard to flyfishing it's time to; think outside the trout.

Am I saying to forget trout fishing? Absolutely not, to do so would be missing out on one of life's great pleasures, but by restricting your fly fishing to trout, you are only eating a small piece of the pie. I often tell people that are unfamiliar with the fishing in our area that we may not have the very best of anything but we have very good everything! Whatever you'd like to fish for, it's here: trout, bass, pike, salmon, steelhead, carp (yes, carp), bluegill, and more. They are all fair game for a fly rodder, the only real limitation to fly fishing is depth, if it swims in less than 20 feet of water, it can be caught on a fly. Not only are there lots of fish but you can fish any type of water: lakes, rivers, ponds, the bay, tiny creeks, Lake Michigan, try to drive 10 minutes in any direction up here without running into some body of water. Apparently I am not the only one that holds this opinion, Field and Stream Magazine in February named Traverse City #3 on their list of best fishing towns in America! They used the term A Freshwater Wonderland; and their choice was based on the diverse fishing opportunities that the area has.

Fly fishing for other species will extend your season and never leave you wondering where to fish because the river isn't today. Open up to fly fishing for bass and carp then all of the sudden those dreaded trips downstate can become fly fishing destination trips. Seriously, have you every fished the hex hatch on the Huron River for smallmouth bass (it can be awesome), smallies on the Grand, muskies in Lake St. Clair, good fun!

Many people have wanted to try fly fishing for years but are intimidated by what they see as a very difficult sport. It can get a little complicated but lake fishing is the perfect place to start and fun too. How about getting the kids or grandkids into fly fishing? Trying to fool a selectively feeding trout in a river with a small fly and a perfect presentation probably won't stick as well as bluegill in a lake with fish caught on every other cast during the middle of the day and the occasional 14 inch bass surprise. Many of us started that way and have forgotten the joy of that type of fishing.

Alright, so you've decided to eat the whole pie, good news, you do not need to go out and buy all sorts of species specific fly rods and reels (I could help if you want to). With a 5 weight rod and an 8 weight rod you can effectively cover everything that swims in Michigan. Again, I don't want to come across negatively on trout fishing, I love it as most fly fishers do but you are cheating yourself if you don't sample all that our area has to offer!

Article written by Kirk Novak, dedicated fly-fisherman and owner of The Northern Angler.

This excerpted article is reprinted with permission from the website of Michigan's Department of Natural Resources.

As an experienced hunter, a clerk at a private hunting club and the spouse of a taxidermist, Linda Bolda was very much aware last summer that she'd won the lottery when she learned her name had been drawn for an any-elk tag for the December 2008 elk hunt.

The only thing she didn't know was exactly how big her prize would be.

On the second morning of the season, she found out. Bolda killed a massive 6 x 7 bull elk that tipped the scales at an amazing 750 pounds.

"I'm just overwhelmed by it all," said Bolda, who had applied unsuccessfully for years for an elk tag.

Bolda is one of about 450 Michigan hunters who had an opportunity to hunt elk in Michigan this season, the 25th consecutive year of elk hunting. Since elk hunting resumed for good in 1984, more than a million applications had been submitted. Through last year, some 5,310 licenses had been issued and hunters have taken 4,520 elk.

Elk hunting was very good in the 25th anniversary season. In August and September, hunters brought in 80 animals, including 37 bulls. In December, hunters killed 191 elk, including 84 bulls. And another 40 hunters killed 27 elk, including 11 bulls, during the Jan. 14-18 season. Not bad, considering elk were completely eliminated from the state more than a century ago.

Indigenous to the Lower Peninsula, elk disappeared by 1877. Conservation officials made several unsuccessful attempts to reestablish elk in the state until 1918, when seven Rocky Mountain elk released near Wolverine in Cheboygan County flourished.   By the early 1960s, the herd had expanded to an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 animals. Despite the fact that a tourism industry had grown up around the herd, the elk caused heartburn for some folks, mostly farmers, foresters and some deer hunters. As a result, the Legislature authorized the Conservation Department to hold elk hunts during 1964 and 1965.

In 1964, 23,000 hunters applied for 300 licenses for the Dec. 5-13 elk hunt. Hunting conditions were ideal with good tracking snow and the 298 hunters enjoyed a 90 percent success rate, killing 269 legal elk. The following year, some 35,000 hunters applied for 300 licenses for the Dec. 8-16 hunt. Mild weather (and almost no snow) dropped the success rate to 61 percent with 183 elk killed.

But by then, elk habitat was in decline and the hunts coincided with a period of significant real estate development in elk country. Reproduction suffered and the increased human activity, including poaching, took a toll on the herd. The population dropped to an estimated 200 elk in the winter of 1975.

In the late 1970s, however, more public attention was focused on the elk herd, in part because of the controversy surrounding oil and gas development in the Pigeon River Country State Forest. As the DNR worked to improve habitat, and reduce poaching, the herd responded. By 1984, it was estimated at 850 animals, around the current-day management goal for the herd.

That year, the DNR held the first of what is now 25 consecutive elk seasons. In 1984, 45,908 hunters applied for 50 licenses for the six-day, Dec. 11-16 elk hunt. The following year, a record 52,658 applicants applied for 120 licenses.

To read the full article, go to the Department of Natural Resources website

Yes, Michigan. Yes, pheasants. And yes, in winter.

Of course we're talking about hunting preserves now that the New Year has broke, but when it comes to die-hard bird hunters and their love of dogs, there is simply no better time to try your hand at a hunting preserve and the pheasants they raise. If you don't have a dog, no problem, the preserves all have their own kennels and dog handlers and they can join you.

Most hunters using a shooting preserve do so for their dogs. After a glorious Michigan autumn of following their setters and pointers and retrievers through countless coverts and fields, they simply can't stand the thought of their dog, or dogs, not doing what they are intended to do; hunt birds. Others use Michigan's hunting preserves as a quick escape from knowing the regular hunting season is nine months away. And these folks can't stand the thought of that. For both dog and man, Michigan's hunting preserves extend the season into the spring.

Preserve hunting isn't necessarily easy as some would have you believe. Sure you can call up a preserve, reserve a day or half day for you and your buddies, tell them how many birds you want released, and have at it. Certainly you'll see birds. If your lucky you'll see the number you asked to be released. If the Gods really smile on you you'll see many more.

A simple truth in preserve hunting is that the hunters do not generally shoot all the birds they ask to be released. More than a few are never found, and more than few, when found, simply escape the bird shot that wasn’t quite aimed correctly.

A number of preserves also allow you to come in cold– that is to come in with no birds released for you. Many hunters call this a clean-up shoot. If you are a part of one of these the standard fare is paying the preserve hunter a blanket fee, generally a quite reasonable one, and hunting for a designated time. The birds you shoot aren’t charged for as you are paying for the time you spending on their property.

If you’re new to preserve hunting the general way to do things is to pay for the number of birds you want released. Up front. If you don’t shoot them all do not expect a refund. On some preserves, if you shoot more than the number you had paid for these extra birds are free. Not a bad deal if you are lucky and your dog is a super star.

In winter the pheasants, and quail and chukar for that matter, will be looking for warmth. They will be looking for cover from foxes and birds of prey. The birds that have been out for awhile will be looking for cover from you. Expect to find these in the thick stuff.

Work the fence rows and thick stand of cat tails. Even the edges of a mature forest which backs up to a field of switch grass, corn, millet or sorghum can be a hot spot. All of these can provide good cover and protection for the birds. Look for the birds to be in brush piles and blow downs as well.

Three things should come to mind for warmth. If there is a good wind blowing work the leeward side of hills and valleys. If the sun is out, work the sunny areas. And, if there are areas of good-sized drifts, make sure the dogs nose these well. These birds will hunker down into a good snow drift to stay warm as easy as an Eskimo uses an igloo.

Assuming you'll be working at least a few birds that have been worked and worked again, don't expect all that many close flushes. For that reason a 20 or 12 gauge should be the preferred gun. If pheasants are what you are after then shot in size four to six is perfect. For quail and chukar, six to seven and a half will serve you well.

Due to heavy snow fall in the northern half of the state, most preserves that will be open throughout the winter are located in the southern half of Michigan. Expect to find large areas of flat to rolling grasslands with some timber and more than a few fence or hedge rows.

Hunting Michigan's pheasant preserves extends the hunting season for many in the state. More and more they are also being used by some companies as a quick retreat from the work place as a reward for their best employees.

Either way, seeing a good bird dog work through a winter's field, snow tickling their bellies and then going on point is a sight to behold. Then, when the bird erupts in a raucous cackle and a shower of snow it becomes one of those rare and precious Michigan Currier and Ives moments.

To find a hunting preserve near you, or near where your Michigan vacation or convention destination is, go to www.michiganhuntingpreserves.com. This Web site lists the preserves by county as well as detailed list of gamebird species available.

Pike are great sport, as anyone fishing for walleyes with a Jack's spoon will tell you when a big toothy critter takes a swipe at the spoon and minnow-head combo. For the died-in-the-wool pike angler the fun is even better. It becomes a hunt.

You hunt the places where pike are found. You look for weedbeds, now mostly dead. Specifically you hunt for the weedbeds that are still standing up in the water. These provide cover for the baitfish ands the pike.

Not all weeds are created equal. Look for the coontail, the pickerel weed, the cabbage. For big fish, fish you'd be proud to put on your wall, look for 12-18 feet of water. Even when you find these pike magnets you should go one better.

Look for the outside edge of the weedbeds, or a hole inside a big bed. Even better is to find that weedbed adjacent to deeper water or some other structure. All these things add to the Welcome! sign for the pike.

If northern pike are truly your quarry use both of your ice fishing rigs for them.

Of course, use a tip-up. Tip-ups are easy. Not much more than a set-it-and-wait-for-the-bite rig, which will be tell-taled by the flag. Then it's a simple matter of hoofing it over to the hole and seeing if a fish is taking line from the spool. A nice thing about this rig is that you can fish dead bait off it very well using a Swedish-style hook.

In fact, dead smelt, sometimes called floater smelt in the bait shops, is more than likely the finest bait of all to use for huge pike. Smelt are oily fish, oily fish put off a lot of scent, pike like that. You will, too.

On the second rig I do like live bait. Bait in the form of big chubs, suckers if you can find them. Fished below a float that is tuned to just keep the bait from swimming away, these can be quite deadly. So you don’t loose the rig down the hole use rubber bands to secure the line to the rod handle, keeping the bail open. When the fish takes the bait it pulls the line from underneath the rubber bands and the line leaves the bail without any friction or resistance. Set the table with both rigs and chances are quite good that any self-respecting pike will come by for a quick bite.

That quick bite is something you need to watch. Generally speaking a pike comes in on a bait, dead or alive, and T-Bones the thing, taking it at the middle of the body.

When the pike T-Bones the bait the toothy critter will swim off with it. Sometimes they swim a good long way. Then they stop. While they are stopped they turn the bait around and swallow it, head first. After they have swallowed it they again slowly swim off.

It is not until they start to swim off again that it is a good idea to set the hook. Do it any time beforehand and chances are good they will be able to spit the bait out. So, flag goes up or bobber disappears, you watch line leave the reel. The line stops moving after a time and then starts to move again. Now set the hook. Oh yeah, and hang on.

When it comes to big walleyes the bottom structure is equally important. Instead of weeds look for rock humps along the bottom. Ledges where there is a significant drop-off is another good area. Walleyes work the humps for their meals, and they cruise the ledges looking for baitfish as well. A good graph comes in real handy when chasing big eyes.

Assuming you are using two rigs use the first as a dead stick rig. Rig it up with a sensitive float that keeps the minnow from just barely pulling the float under. A lively emerald shiner is a perfect bait to use here. Just brace the rod along the hole and let it sit. When the bobber starts to go under, hammer it home.

On the second rig use a jigging spoon like a Swedish Pimple. While you can use live bait why not save the live ones and use one of the dead ones? Since you are going to be jigging the spoon you are making that minnow look like it is alive. Six to 12-inch jigs, a couple of shivers, and you’ve got the method down pat.

With either species, finding trophy-sized fish isn't all that easy. The following hot spots will put you on the right track to your wall-hanger.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Peninsula

Gillets Lake; Central Jackson County; Click here for area info.

Pike; Hemlock Lake; West-central Hillsdale County; Pike;  Click here for more area info.

Muskegon Lake; Southwestern Muskegon County; Walleye and Pike; Click here for more Muskegon info.

Northern Lower Peninsula

Saginaw Bay; Eastern Bay County; Walleye; Click here for more local info.

Portage Lake; Western Manistee County; Pike;  See Manistee CVB Web site.

Mullet Lake; North-central Cheboygan County; Pike and walleye;  See Cheboygan Web site.

Upper Peninsula

Big Manistique Lake; Northwestern Mackinac County; Pike and walleye; Click here for more local info.

Portage Lake; Northeastern Houghton County; Pike and walleye Click here for more local info.

Green Bay/Little Bay de Noc; eastern Menominee and West-central Delta Counties; Walleye and Pike; Click here for more local info.

Once Michigan's lakes and rivers ice over it is everybody's game. Fishing that is. The ice makes all anglers equal across both peninsulas. All you need is a simple rod and reel set-up, something to chop a hole, or drill a hole in the ice with, an ice skimmer to keep that hole open and a bucket to sit on. Oh yes, and you'll need some bait. Don't forget the license.

Bait for ice fishing for panfish comes in a variety of forms. You could use minnows, which means some sort of minnow bucket or can will be needed. Then there are mousies, wigglers and maggies. These last three are strange looking little morsels that panfish seem to relish. And the container you buy them in will fit in a pants pocket.

All across the state panfish provide anglers hours of simple enjoyment. The hundreds of lakes and small sloughs off our rivers make a perfect habitat for the perch, crappies, bluegills and pumpkinseeds that call those waters home.

One more neat thing about targeting panfish is this, where you find one, you'll generally find a bucketful. Panfish are schooling fish, they like to hang out in groups numbering from a dozen to over 50 in size. And, if you catch a good-sized one, you can be reasonably be certain that the others in the area are of the same size as the schools are more often than not in the same age class.

Your rod and reel should be loaded with thin diameter line, nothing more than four-pound test. Some of the more successful anglers go so far as to use monofilament sewing thread, which tests out at one-half to three-quarters of a pound.

The rod itself doesn't need to be any longer than two to three feet and be very limber. Die-hards of the sport use spring bobbers, attached to the end of the rod, as well to detect the notoriously light-biting fish.

When using such light lines and limber rods, the reel's drag should be smooth and delicate. Thought the fish may be small, they can and do make runs. You'll need a reel that will let them run and not break the line when they do.

Time of day plays a part with one species in particular. Crappies tend to bite best as the sun is rising or in the late afternoon as it is setting. They just don't like the bright light of mid-day. Perch and bluegills don't seem to be so picky but if there is no snow cover on the ice then it's likely that you'll find early morning and late afternoon your best catching times, too.

The lake or river bottom plays a big part on where you'll find these fish. While i's true that all species seem to like hanging out in or near weed beds, not all weed beds are created equal. The deeper the weed bed the better the fishing will generally be. And, weed beds that rise up like trees, rather than simply covering the bottom, are the best types of weed beds to try fishing around.

Keep in mind that panfish do move about a great deal. Be prepared to move about the lake or river and drill more holes as needed. A good rule of thumb is if you haven't caught anything in a half-hour or so it's time to move. If at all possible move deeper rather than shallower, say moving from eight of water to 12 or 15 if you are fishing mid day. As the light starts to fade the opposite is the rule.

Sure, you get all fancy with flashers and underwater cameras, portable ice shanties that look like the Taj Mahal but you don't need to. Panfish in Michigan's lakes and rivers are a sport everyone can enjoy.

Hot Spots:

Southern Lower Peninsula

Lake Orion; Northeastern Oakland County; Blue gills, pumpkinseeds and crappies rated excellent, perch good; See Visit Detroit .

Randal lLake; North-central Branch County; Bluegills, black crappies rated excellent, perch fair to good;  Learn more at Discover Michigan.

Muskegon Lake; Southeastern Muskegon County; Yellow perch rated outstanding, bluegills and pumpkinseeds rated good to excellent;  See Visit Muskegon.

Northern Lower Peninsula

Fletcher Pond; West-central Alpena County; Cappies rated excellent, perch and bluegills rated good;  Read more at Alpena CVB .

Upper Herring Lake; Southwestern Benzie County; Bluegills, crappie and perch rated good to excellent; Cooke Dam Pond;  More info at Visit Benzie.

North-central Iosco County; Perch, bluegill, crappie all rated as excellent;  More info at Tawas Bay.

Upper Peninsula

Lake Ste. Kathryn; Northwestern Iron County; Perch and bluegills rated good to excellent, crappies rated good; See also Iron County Lodging. Greenwood Reservoir; Central Marquette County; Crappies rated excellent, perch good to excellent; Marquette Country.

Pomeroy Lake; South-central Gogebic County; Perch, bluegills and crappies all rated excellent; See more info at Western UP site. 

For many hunters rabbit hunting is something you do when there’s nothing else going on, or when a hapless hare darts across your path when you’re after more worthy game like grouse or woodcock.  Not in Michigan, not with great numbers of both cottontailed rabbits and varying hares, most often called snowshoe rabbits.

A few years back I met Millard, a rare breed of a fellow. A fellow who lives for his beagles and the thrill of the chase as much as any man lived for anything. Probably more.

He doesn't just go rabbit hunting, he goes RABBIT hunting, and when he does, it is pure, virtually uninterrupted music.

"I do it for the dogs," he told me, "they really like to run."

I met Millard while cruising a snow covered trail on the east end of Drummond Island. After chatting a few minutes he invited me to join him in a quick hunt for snowshoe hares.

While he was getting his seven dogs ready I asked him what was the best condition to chase rabbits. It's also best when the temperature is somewhere between 27 and 35 degrees with nothing more than a little breeze.

Less than five minutes later one of the beagles sounded off in a loud bawl and was soon joined by the others.

"Got one going," Millard said, "now we wait for them to circle the rabbit back to us."

And we waited, and waited, and waited some more until the sounds of the beagles running through the thick cedars grew faint and then disappeared altogether.

"They'll be back," he said, and sent me down to a bend in the trail where he thought the rabbit would cross as the dogs circled it back towards us.

As I was walking to the bend a white streak leapt across the road in a single bound. Millard saw him, too.

"Probably not our rabbit. Just one that got spooked by the dogs as they worked ours."

Ten minutes later the sounds of the beagles grew louder as they approached us.

Before long I saw the beagles approaching. Then they turned and paralleled the road not more than 20 feet away. Watching them they reminded me of a living train in miniature.

Their legs pumping in a fast, short-step rhythm they were lined up in the chase nose-to-tail in perfect step. It was almost comical.

I never saw the rabbit they were trailing. Millard did, however, and the sound of his shotgun finished the chase. A large snowshoe hare was securely in his game bag.

During the 90 minutes we, or, more correctly, the dogs chased a number of other rabbits.

All are still safely in the cedars of Drummond's forest.

Where snowshoes relish the cedar and hemlock forests, especially those with borders thick with alders, cotton tails seem to prefer a bit more open county. Not open mind you, but the openness of fields and wooded blocks thick with brush piles and blow downs. If these are adjacent to some agricultural fields, so much the better.

Unlike the snowshoes, whose coats turn from brown to white as winter comes on, cottontails remain brown all year long. Which makes them easier to see. That doesn't mean easier to shoot.

Beagles and basset hounds are used on these, too, and they will increase your percentage of success. That doesn't mean you have to use a dog to be successful however.

Tom and I were busting through a State Game Area in the southern part of the state by ourselves on a sunny January day. We started hunting right from the parking lot and within just a few minutes cut across what looked to be rather fresh tracks of a rabbit. Tom immediately became my bird dog.

Tom followed the track while I stayed put. A few minutes later he shouted back that he jumped the rabbit and it was heading to the right. I quickly moved right and found myself on the edge of an aspen woodlot bordered by an old fallow field thick with shrubs. The rabbit found it, too, and was quicker on his feet than I with my gun. Tom was not pleased. I became the dog the next time. Tom sealed the deal after I chased the next rabbit toward him.

Hot Spots

Southern Lower Peninsula

Flat River State Game Area; Northern Ionia/Southern Montcalm County; Cottontails; See Grand Rapids.

Barry State Game Area; West-central Barry County; Cottontails; See Discover Kalamazoo.

Sanilac State Game Area; Northwestern Sanilac County; Cottontails.

Northern Lower Peninsula; Manistee National Forest; Northen Lake/Southern Wexford County; Cottontails; See Cadillac info .

Pigeon River Country State Forest; Cheboygan County ;  Cottontails and rarely snowshoes.

Mackinaw State Forest; Emmet County; Cottonttails; See Mackinaw City info.

Upper Peninsula

Copper Country State Forest; Iron County; Snowshoe hares.

Hiawatha National Forest; Chippewa County; Snowshoe hares;  See Sault Ste. Marie.

Lake Superior State Forest; Alger County; Snowshoe hares.

Every season travel prizes will be awarded for winning photos selected by "People's Choice" for the most online votes.

Enter the Autumn Contest Today! Michigan makes it easy to fall for autumn, the most colorful of its four seasons. With more than 19 million acres of forest, the annual display of reds, golds, oranges and yellows wash across the state.  It is a spectacular sight and truly a Pure Michigan experience. Entrants can upload up to five images a day, absolutely FREE! Send your prize-winning autumn shots today and win great travel prizes. Entries for autumn can be uploaded until December 29, 2009. Enter now!

Classic cross-country skiing is one of the easiest winter sports: By the end of their first afternoon on skinny skis, most people have not only survived the beginner’s trail but also are attacking those downhill sections with wild enthusiasm. Here’s where:

Independence Oaks County Park: The steepest hills and the best-laid tracks in Southeast Michigan are found at this Oakland County park near Clarkston, accessed from exit 89 off I-75. For beginners, the beautiful 2.5-mile Lakeshore Trail around Crooked Lake is easy. For daredevils, the Ted Gray Trail features an incredible, steep downhill run with a sharp curve in the middle of it. Independence Oaks also offers rental equipment and a warming shelter.

Muskegon Winter Sports Complex: The complex is located in the middle of Muskegon State Park and best known for its luge run, one of only five in the country. But extending into the wooded hills from the warming lodge are nine kilometers of cross-country trails. The heart of the trail system is two loops of 7.5 kilometers equipped with lights and underground wiring. The trails are illuminated until 10 p.m. and they make for a very unusual, even eerie, experience on skis.

Cross-Country Ski Headquarters: This Nordic center, reached from exit 239 off I-75, guarantees snow. That’s because the center owns a snow gun that is used even when Mother Nature is not cooperating. When she is, the center features 19 kilometers of trails in a rolling, wooded terrain. Also, you'll find one of the largest Michigan Nordic ski shops and the Stone Turtle Day Lodge, where homemade soups and giant muffins are served.

Forbush Corner: Groomed trails make it easier to learn how to ski, and nobody grooms them better than this Nordic center, located just north of Grayling via exit 264 off I-75. The center has a warming lodge, ski shop, rentals and a trail named Rollercoaster.

Vasa Pathway: The best destination for a variety of cross-country skiing experiences is Traverse City, and its crown jewel is the Vasa Pathway, home to the largest and most prestigious Nordic race in the Lower Peninsula. During the rest of the winter, Vasa belongs to recreational skiers. The trail is reached from US-31 just north of Traverse City in Acme

Garland Resort : The terrain is flat, and occasionally you’re skiing across a golf course, but this resort south of Lewiston has two things that appeal to many skiers: luxurious accommodations and the Gourmet Glide. Every Saturday in January and February, skiers follow 10 kilometers of trails, pausing along the way at five buffet stations to feast on smoked trout, cheese fondues, spiced wine and other treats.

Crystal Mountain : This downhill ski resort on M-115 near Thompsonville also offers a wonderful system of groomed cross-country trails, along with rentals, lessons and a Nordic center. The 40 kilometers of trails wind around the base of the ski hill and include Hawk Ridge, where you ski past overlooks of the Betsie River Valley and then enter the unique Michigan Legacy Art Park.

Sand Dune Cross-Country Ski Trail: Just across the Mackinac Bridge in the Upper Peninsula is a set of wooded sand dunes in the Hiawatha National Forest. The rolling topography of the dunes and abundance of lake-effect snow from Lake Michigan attracted local skiers, when a 16-kilometer, seven-loop trail system was built; a log cabin warming shelter was added later. You’ll love the names that have been given to the steepest slopes, including Feelin Lucky, Holy Cow and Goforit.

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park : Michigan’s largest state park has 42 kilometers of groomed cross-country ski trails that take you deep into this wilderness. Scattered along the trails are five ski-in cabins, the frozen shoreline of Lake Superior and stands of 300-year-old hemlocks. Hop on the ski area’s chairlift to quickly reach the crest of the Porkies and the dramatic views from West Vista.

Author and world adventurer Jim DuFresne resides in Clarksto and is a regular contributor to Michigan BLUE. Michigan Blue magazine, Michigan's Lakestyle magazine is published bi-monthly by Gemini Publications. Lisa Jensen is the editor.

Hiking in late afternoon from the Gillette Sand Dune Visitor Center toward Lake Michigan, we quickly emerged from the forest to open dunes. It may have been February, but the winds off the Great Lake had swept the snow off the rolling hills of sand, which, in the low angle of the winter's sun, took on a golden brown hue.

We trudged across the sand and then stopped on the beach, stunned at the sight: Lake Michigan was open water, but the shoreline had been transformed into a thick shelf of ice and frozen formations that on this clear, cold day glittered like a jeweler’s display case of diamonds.

This is the season for ice hikes. For the next four to six weeks adventurous families and others can head to the nearest Great Lake to take in some of nature’s greatest sculpture: shoreline ice.

Call it winter beachcombing. Those long stretches of sandy shores that you love to stroll during the summer are just as interesting in February and March, after the prevailing winds have piled up ice bergs into craggy but impressive shapes and figures.

Arrive on a calm day like ours, and each jagged edge of the ice becomes a prism reflecting the sun into sparkles of light and bands of color. Better yet, try to arrive on a windy day when the surf is rushing toward you. The waves disappear under the icy shelf, and then suddenly erupt through cracks and holes like mid-winter volcanoes.

Any Great Lake shore can provide this spectacle to some degree. The most impressive ice is found in the western Upper Peninsula along Lake Superior in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, where the volcanoes are so big, you could climb them.

The most accessible volcanoes — eruptions that can be witnessed without leaving the warmth of your car heater — are found at the northern end of Lake Michigan where US-2 skirts its shorelines just west of St. Ignace.

We ventured to P.J Hoffmaster State Park on the outskirts of Muskegon.

From just outside Gillette’s visiting center we picked up the park’s half-mile Lake Michigan Trail and headed west for the big blue. The trail begins as a massive boardwalk and viewing area that are handicapped accessible, designed to allow everybody to experience the solitude of the sheltered back dune.

From the boardwalk the Lake Michigan Trail continues as an easy-to-follow path, even in the winter, until it breaks out of the hardwoods and pines into the park’s grassy foredunes. In about three steps we went from the sheltered winter forest to a sweeping view of the beach; we headed toward the lake and then gingerly walked onto the frozen shelf and across its ragged surface.

We peered down at its overhanging edge, made smooth by the continuous slaps of the surf, and admired huge icicles pointing toward the open water. For a while, the hope that a volcano will erupt is enough to keep you warm.

Author and world traveler Jim DuFresne resides in Clarkston and is a regular contributor to Michigan Blue.  Michigan Blue magazine, Michigan's Lakestyle magazine, is published bi-monthly by Gemini Publications.

(This article first appeared in the January/February 2008 issue of Michigan BLUE Magazine.)

The rustic cabins at Harlow Lake near Marquette are headquarters for a perfect winter weekend adventure.

The snow-covered forest is a patchwork of blues as the full moon filters through towering, old-growth pines. An open expanse of snowy lake is painted pastel, but deeper in the woods, shadows drip inky indigo.

Creaking snowshoes and the soft squeak of fresh powder underfoot are the only sounds this winter night as we tramp down the trail to our cabin for the weekend. The night tightens around us as the moon slides behind a cloud bank harboring another band of Lake Superior-inspired snow squalls. But the cabin's cheerful window glow guides us the rest of the way to where four friends and a roaring woodstove await.

These are the Harlow Lake cabins of the Little Presque Isle tract of the Escanaba River State Forest, just north of Marquette in the central Upper Peninsula. Though Marquette (population 20,000) is the U.P.'s biggest urban area, these cabins and surrounding acres of mature hemlocks see relatively light use, so a winter day spent in the woods at Harlow is often a solitary one.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources maintains five rustic, one-room, walk-in cabins generously spaced around the 64-acre, kidney-bean-shaped lake. An additional cabin perches on the high bank of nearby Harlow Creek. While the cabins lack electricity or plumbing and are only spartanly furnished, the surroundings are luxuriously wild. In this region of northern Marquette County, the sandy plains of the southern U.P. collide head-on with ancient bedrock slabs. The result is a series of rounded bald-rock peaks and forested valleys that parallel the undeveloped Lake Superior coastline.

Cover it all up with a couple feet of lake-effect powder, and you have the perfect setting for a winter-weekend adventure.

Our friends are thinking the same thing, poring over trail maps by candle and lamplight on the big pine plank table that dominates a corner of the small room. Everybody is stripped down to their long underwear as the woodstove chews through birch and oak splits from the overflowing wood rack outside. Besides warming us, the stove is working on a simmering stew and pot of red wine mulled with cinnamon and cloves. The food smells almost win out over the odor of our wet dogs and wool socks drying nearby. Almost.

At daybreak, four of us set out for an ambitious snowshoe hike to bag two of the 1,000-foot peaks that shoot out of the woods near the cabin. A series of loosely marked trails and a converted railroad grade link the bald, granite knobs of Hogback and Sugarloaf mountains. A three-mile section of the North Country Trail running along the Lake Superior coast will bring us back to the cabin door at day's end.

In all, the Harlow Lake area boasts about 20 miles of trails that range from flat to ambulance-ride steep, allowing for several days worth of exploring on skis or snowshoes.

Scrambling up the last yards over icy granite to the top of Hogback is a hands-and-knees affair. However, as soon as you top out on the 1,200-foot precipice, all the gasping, sliding and scrambling of the previous hour disappear. The air is still; everything is quiet under a bluebird sky. We dangle our legs over the cliff's edge and lay back on the sun-warmed rocks. This is sunbathing, Yooper style.

The hike up Hogback and exploration of side trails would have been enough to fill a great day, but Sugarloaf Mountain beckons from across the valley, where it rises dramatically right from the Lake Superior coast.

This three-mile hike from Hogback to Sugarloaf offers a lesson in Lake Superior weather, as deep snow inland dissolves into mere inches as we approach the lake. The big water sends bands of heavy snow clouds to the interior where they dump on higher terrain, while the shoreline stays relatively mild in both temperature and snowfall.

The view from atop Sugarloaf is astounding. To the north, the scimitar shoreline swings out to Little Presque Isle point, an island a hundred yards offshore, beyond it, only the endless blue of the world's largest body of fresh water. Look west or south and you'll see only forest, broken here and there by rocky outcroppings and lakes. Turning to the east, you see Marquette, tiny and tidy tucked between the shore and hills.

The historic city, founded by our lake's namesake, Amos Harlow, is experiencing rejuvenation along its once-commercial lakefront. A suite of silent sporting events like the Noquemanon Ski Marathon and the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Race have given it a reputation as a playground for the active traveler. Northern Michigan University's 8,000 students keep the old town feeling young, and an abundance of unique local restaurants and eclectic coffee shops cater to visitors and locals alike.

We scramble down the backside of Sugarloaf to meet the lake, a blend of small sandy beaches, cobblestones and smooth-bedrock points. The trail hugs the sinuous shore, climbs to the edge of 50-foot cliffs over the water, then drops to a big sand beach at Little Presque Isle. In summer, the island is reachable by wading waist deep in the shockingly cold lake, but in winter an ice bridge forms, and you can walk right to it. The backside of the island has sheer cliffs that often form wild ice formations after a storm.

We're all moving a little slower after the day's climbs. Even the dog is wondering whose idea it was to go this many miles in deep powder. He'd been bouncing through the snow in front of us all day, but now is taking the easy road, plodding on the packed trail behind us, tongue swinging low.

A yellow glimmer through the trees and the smell of wood smoke guide us across Harlow Lake as shadows stretch to the east. As we pile into the cabin, ruddy-cheeked and tired-eyed, we notice two things are different. Our sopping wet clothes from the day before are dry and folded, and there's a huge pizza and a growler of locally brewed ale waiting for us. The two sleepy heads who opted to stay back today and soak up some cabin time made a dash into Marquette, where they did laundry and restocked provisions.

The Harlow cabins are certainly wild, but with a gem of a town like Marquette nearby, not so wild that you can’t eat well and enjoy dry undies.

Aaron Peterson is a writer, photographer and cabin connoisseur based near Marquette. Lisa Jensen is the editor of MichiganBLUE Magazine.

IF YOU GO

Harlow Lake is about five miles north of Marquette off County Road 550. Harlow Lake Road, unpaved but decent, takes you to a parking area convenient to the cabins. The farthest walk in is about a half mile to Cabin 5 (my favorite). Cabins have water from a hand pump, and firewood is supplied. Furnishings include a table, benches and four unpadded bunks. A standard-issue, MDNR vault toilet rounds out the rustic experience.

Cabins are $65 per night, with a two-night minimum. Reservations are taken beginning in November each year at the Marquette MDNR office: (906) 228-6561. If cabins aren't your thing but hiking is, plop down at The Landmark Inn, an historic boutique hotel in Marquette's charming downtown. A 15-minute drive gets you to the Harlow Lake area.

Downtown Marquette boasts three unique coffee shops and a handful of eating establishments for all tastes. Also, take a drive up Third Street for additional great, locally owned venues. Between Marquette and Harlow, stop by Phil’s 550 Store in the little cluster of homes just north of town, referred to locally as “Philville.” It’s a catch-all convenience store with a good variety of beverages, area maps and lots of local color.

If you need gear, check out The Sports Rack on Washington Street downtown or Down Wind Sports on Third Street for all your silent sports needs.

 (This article first appeared in the November/December 2006 issue of Michigan BLUE Magazine and is reprinted here with the permission of the writer and MichgianBLUE Magazine)

If you’re ready for an adventure that takes you off the beaten trail, head for one that’s gone to the dogs.

Learning to mush sled dogs across the Upper Peninsula in 20-degree weather may not be everybody’s ideal travel excursion.

But I happen to produce a television program that features outdoor adventures that families can enjoy together — activities that are a bit off the beaten path, maybe, but aren't so extreme as to preempt the average viewer from considering getting off the couch to try them.

This is how I discovered Iditarod racer Ed Stielstra and his wife, Tasha, who are sled dog mushers in McMillan. Their business, Nature's Kennel, and passion, breeding and raising dogs to run the Iditarod, are found less than one hour from the Upper Peninsula's scenic Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

From first snowfall through early May, the Stielstras (who own just over 100 adored and enthusiastic canines) conduct dog sledding adventures for the general public. You can take a two-hour ride with them from their kennel in McMillan; you can also catch sled rides from them at Boyne Highlands in Harbor Springs on most winter weekends. Or if you have an adventurous spirit; Ed and Tasha will teach you to drive your own five-dog team.

Equipped with the right attitude, a little training and a willingness to immerse yourself in the challenges and elation of an Iditarod participant, you're ready for a 25-mile, overnight trek through rarely seen wintry regions of the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

My two-day, overnight excursion began at 8 a.m. with greetings and breakfast at the Stielstras; McMillan home and kennel. Our group, at the maximum of six. then headed out for our first sled driving lessons. We learned how to harness a dog and drive the sled before embarking behind a guide along a three-mile practice loop. After lunch at the Stielstra home, we packed our own hobo dinners of meat, potatoes and vegetables in foil packets for cooking later over a campfire. Then we broke apart to each meet our personal team of five dogs.

Mine, Hairy, Dill, Jack, Feta and Violet, included overactive players who couldn't wait to hit the trail. These guys are all wired to run, noted Ed, who was the ninth musher to register for the 2007 Iditarod. The ones who get left behind get pretty upset (Maple, lying pitifully on his doghouse, head on paws, illuminated that sentiment).

For me, the challenge of learning something new is always enjoyable. Ed, Tasha and their guides spent a significant amount of time with guests, teaching us how to properly harness the dogs, hitch them to the sleds and fashion them with booties, if needed. They also demonstrated what to do if we slipped off.

Hooking up the team and leaving the kennel are probably the most intimidating parts of the whole trip. There is no slow acceleration, there is only go! It's a balancing act that entails a little adjustment and a short practice run. Physically, it isn't difficult at all: 70-year-old women and 12-year-olds have made this trip, including winter camping, which is surprisingly warm. (Participants on our run were shedding layers after our first long trip.)

Transforming from timid, uneasy spectator to confident, excited participant is an exhilarating process, and our trip was more than I imagined. The trail system gently wound through an endless array of pine forests, inland lake shorelines and serene, open fields. Frost glinted on various leaves and thistle stalks lining the trail. Once running, the dogs quickly quit barking. The silence was amazing.

As quickly as the day started, it came to an end: Meeting the love of your life on a dinner date and talking for hours straight through until dawn comes to mind as a similar experience. Winter camping is less romantic, unless you can appreciate that you are experiencing exactly what mushers do at an Iditarod check point.

Ed earned 46th place in the 2006 Iditarod. The ultimate dog sled race, stretching from Anchorage to Nome, is equivalent to driving from Detroit to Atlanta in sub-zero weather with minimal food, safety gear, one big gun, the unpredictability of an Alaskan winter — and good odds for an untimely demise if you or one of your dogs gets hurt. The indescribable bond between musher and team is the fuel that drives their spirit on the frozen trail. Survival depends on each taking care of the other. This deep simplicity emerged as we anchored the sleds, removed the dogs from their leads, checked them for bruised or cracked paws, supplied hay for sleeping and fed them their evening meal.

The camp consisted of a rustic outhouse and two tents: one for the guides, one for the guests. Ours was a canvas-walled enclosure outfitted with basic bunks and a steadily burning wood stove that kept the interior 40 degrees warmer than the outdoor temperature. It was no Sheraton, but there was real joy in cooking our self-made hobo dinners over a blazing campfire, while sharing hot cider, coffee and stories from the day's journey.

Bundled on the bunks in insulated sleeping bags, fleece hats and, in some cases, long johns (although I was completely comfortable in shorts and a T-shirt), sleep came easily and quickly for everyone.

A haunting, wolfish howl shattered the silence at dawn, followed by another, then a dozen more. Soon the cacophony of yelps, barks, dog chains and banging tin pans enveloped our camp. We were greeted by sun just cresting jack pine and birch, and the smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes and coffee wafting from a crackling campfire.

The dogs were yelping in excitement, another run lay ahead. Adrenalin closed in. None of us could wait to leap into the wind and onto the winding trail leading home.

Byron Goggin hosts the Emmy winning Wild Weekend. Lisa Jensen is editor of  MichgianBLUE Magazine.

(This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb. 2008 issue of MichgianBLUE Magazine, and is reprinted here with the permission of the writer and MichiganBLUE Magazine)

Gaylord's Aspen Park  is a cross-country skier's haven and an animal lover's delight.

There are two places in Michigan where it's possible to see elk while cross-country skiing; the Shingle Mill Pathway in Pigeon River Country State Forest, and Gaylord's Aspen Park.

We've skied at Shingle Mill Trail  a half dozen times and never seen an elk or even the tracks of one. But the first time we skied at Aspen Park we saw elk; because it was impossible to miss them. There were six of them: huge animals just standing on the edge of the woods a hundred yards away from us before two of the bulls suddenly squared off and clashed antlers.

All of this groomed ski trails, a hemlock forest and clashing elk was in the middle of Gaylord, four blocks from a K-Mart.

Open since 2001, Aspen Park is a dandy. The Gaylord Department of Public Works used a $250,000 state grant to redesign this 100-acre park by building two miles of trails and adding benches, mini-shelters and trail signs.

They finished off the project by installing lights for night skiing: fitting for Gaylord, which averages more than 140 inches of snow per year due to its lofty position. At 1,380 feet, it's the highest incorporated city in the Lower Peninsula.

The reason for the elk is Aspen Park's location: It's adjacent to the city elk pen, a 105-acre enclosure that contains a herd of more than 30 animals. If you've never seen an elk this close, you're in for a treat. They are an impressive species, with some of the bulls easily tipping the scales at more than 600 pounds and crowned with huge racks.

The public works department feeds and manages the herd and also maintains an elk viewing area just off Old US-27, where people can sit in their cars and watch the animals. However, seeing the elk while skiing Aspen Park is much more enjoyable. The park has five short trails that form an easy, 1.65-mile loop with two crossover spurs and are groomed regularly for classic skiing. We skied it in a counter-clockwise direction, beginning with a gentle descent from the parking lot to the first segment of the Hemlock Trail.

Within a few minutes we had skied through the pines, passing a few large hemlocks along the way, and arrived at North Trail. This trail led us out of the woods to the north end of the loop where there was a mini-shelter that overlooked the elk pen. When six strolled out of the woods, we watched them in fascination until it was too dark to see them across the field any longer.

We completed the loop by skiing Elk Trail. Along the way, the lights suddenly popped on, illuminating the trail and casting a soft glow into the dark woods. Reason alone to ski Aspen Park all over again.

Writer Jim DuFresne resides in Clarkston. Lisa Jensen is the editor of MichiganBLUE Magazine.

Legendary rivers such as the Pere Marquette, Au Sable, Manistee and Muskegon are prized by fly anglers from coast to coast and around the globe. One of the country's premier coldwater conservation organizations, Trout Unlimited (TU), was founded on the banks of the Au Sable River near Grayling by sixteen fishermen who championed healthy fisheries for future generations. Now almost fifty years later TU's membership numbers more than 150,000 spread out in 400 or so chapters all across the country.

You might take in some world-class fishing for smallmouth bass, walleye and musky in Lake St. Clair, within miles of downtown Detroit. Or spend the day in nature's wilderness, hiking to remote beaver ponds in the Upper Peninsula, fishing for fat brookies that haven't seen an angler all year. A ferry waits to carry you through magnificent scenery to Beaver Island, where you can sight-cast to smallmouth bass and carp from a flats skiff in the crystal clear waters of Northern Lake Michigan. Or maybe you want to chase trout, steelhead and salmon as they make the run up Michigan's many trout streams. And don't forget the thousands of warm water inland lakes. Almost anywhere in Michigan, you need to travel only a few miles to find a peaceful lake brimming with feisty panfish, bass and pike.

Whatever your personal tastes or your appetite for adventure, Michigan has a fly fishing experience for you. Once you've gotten your feet wet, so to speak, you're sure to come back for more.

Kevin Morlock owns and operates Indigo Guide Service, West Michigan with his wife Joan. He is a frequent contributor for In-Fisherman magazine and television and is a veteran of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

This past spring, in between releasing steelhead during a great day on the river, my good friend and well-known Michigan fly fishing guide Kevin Morlock, of Indigo Guide Service, asked me if I was interested in trying something new. From the smile on his face, I knew it would be good. When Kevin invited me to join him on a carp fishing expedition I began to think all those days on the water had finally caught up with him.   

Always a sucker for adventure, I pulled into Charlevoix, Michigan at about noon in plenty of time to catch the 2:30 ferry. Situated approximately 30 miles off lower-Michigan's mainland (about a 2 hour and 15 minute ferry ride), Beaver Island awaits those looking to get away from it all. When I first stepped off the ferry, I was pleasantly surprised. Having traveled to Mackinac Island numerous times before, I supposed I expected Beaver to be similar. There were no fudge shops, no horse drawn carriages, and most importantly, no lodges requiring a suit jacket at dinner! Beaver Island is rustic and remote, yet completely satisfying. There is one grocery store, a few restaurants and bars, two marinas, a golf course, and 42 miles of beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline.

Kevin Morlock has come up with an innovative idea for fishing the crystal clear, aqua colored waters surrounding the Island. The innovation simply comes from applying ocean flats fishing to the northern waters of Michigan. Kevin has mounted a platform on the rear of his 17' boat and uses a 20' push pole to quietly maneuver around the flats in search of cruising carp. When carp are located in a pod, Kevin anchors the boat so a stealthy approach can be made on foot. The sand and gravel flats are at times only ankle deep a quarter-mile of the shore. I swear, if there had been a tiki-hut, with a bartender offering me a Red Stripe, 'mon, I would have thought I'd finally realized my dream of Jamaica.

The fishing was much tougher than I thought it would be. In two days on the water, I boated 3 and Kevin 7. The wind was ferocious, so Kevin said we did well considering the conditions. He was a little upset that we didn't get into them the way he is used to; when twenty fish days are common. We used 8 wt. and 10 wt. rods, with weight forward floating line, and 7 foot leaders tapered to 12 lbs. The carp took a variety of flies imitating crayfish, gobies, and leaches. Go ahead and hold the dough ball and corn jokes. We got plenty of them our first day on the island!

If you are interested in a true Midwestern adventure, head to the wilderness of Beaver Island. Be careful though, the locals warn, "You'll get sand in your shoes!"

Brandon Butler is a professional outdoor communicator living in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and two daughters. He is a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers, and the Hoosier Outdoors Writers. Brandon writes a weekly outdoor column for almost a dozen newspapers and has been featured in many outdoor publications. You can contact Brandon from his Web site at www.driftwoodoutdoors.org.

I haven't kissed-and-told since writing a story 20 years ago for the most famous newspaper in the world, in which I praised a place some friends had intended for me to keep secret. 

I've paid dearly for that offense. If I understand my penance correctly, the children of my grandchildren will still be making up for it.

I now usually just play coy or lie. But Lisa Jensen, editor of the fine Michigan BLUE magazine, is now a fishing buddy of mine, which has put me in a bind. Not that I wouldn't lie to a buddy -- it's just that she asked so sweetly, and I'm a sucker for that.

So here they are, my Top Five All-Time Favorite Fly-Fishing Rivers in Michigan.

Of course, they're not my favorite secret rivers. And I'm not giving away any favorite riffles, pools, logjams or campsites. For details of that sort, I'll pass on the advice I received from kindly old-timers when I was a pup: The fun part is finding your own places, son. Now run along.

Au Sable River. This is the quintessential Northern Michigan trout river, with steady flow, clean water, gravel bottom and leaning cedars. The mainstream and the south and north branches produce prolific insect hatches, making them dry-fly nirvana.

Manistee River. Almost as lovely as the Au Sable, the Manistee has browns, brookies and rainbows from its headwaters to Tippy Dam, and steelhead and salmon below it. Much of it flows through public land, making it a terrific canoeing, camping and fishing combination.

Boardman River. My personal favorite, not because the fishing is great (it's fair to middlin'), but because the river itself is so beautiful and spirited, and because it gives birth to the toughest-to-catch and most beautifully marked trout in Michigan.

Escanaba River. Flowing north to south across the middle of the Upper Peninsula, it still has sections wild enough to recall the U.P. as it was before the Mighty Mac and quad-runners. The deep, tannin-colored pools and ledge rapids are home to browns, including some giants.

Grand River. After trout, smallmouths are my favorite game fish, and there are few better places to find them than the Grand between Grand Ledge and Portland. Flowing through farmlands and woods and shaded by giant aspens, the riffles hold smallish bass, and the slow, dark pools larger ones. A canoe can get you to water that is rarely fished.

Award-winning writer Jerry Dennis resides in Traverse City and is a frequent contributor of essays, articles and short fiction to many leading outdoor and nature publications in the United States including Michigan BLUE magazine.

Michigan BLUE magazine, Michigan's Lakestyle Magazine, is published bi-monthly by Gemini Publications. Lisa Jensen is the editor.

Travel Michigan has received permission to reproduce this article.

Written by Matt Supinski, Gray Drake Lodge & Outfitters, Newaygo, Michigan

The freshwater bounty of the thousand of miles of crystal pure streams, rivers and lakes that Michigan is blessed with is an endless opportunity for the sport angler. Coupled with bordering on four of the five Great Lakes--with more shoreline than the entire Atlantic seaboard--it is a haven to pursue fishing for trout, salmon and steelhead year-round. 

Michigan's fly fishing heritage goes back to the past logging days at the time of the 1900s. Brook trout (the state's fish) and grayling inhabited the entire state's rivers and streams. In 1876, rainbow trout and steelhead were brought to Michigan from California and some naturally populated the rivers and streams that flowed into Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior. In 1883, the German brown trout were brought to the Pere Marquette River, being the first stocking of the European transplants in North America. Wealthy business tycoons and lumber barons soon drifted wooden boats with river guides on the hallowed waters of the AuSable and Pere Marquette to catch large lake-run rainbows, brook trout and the cunning and hefty German browns.   

June through September sees a plethora of fly fishing opportunities. You can experience some of the best dry fly fishing, matching the insect hatches that large trout will feed on the surface. This is the true art of fly fishing - matching the natural fly with an artificial tied by the angler of animal fur and feathers. 

Great dry fly action can be found on the Muskegon, Pere Marquette, Boardman, Betsie, Manistee and AuSable systems. Their tremendous diversity and heavy populations of aquatic mayflies, caddis and stoneflies make them ideal choices. 

If summer steelhead sounds appealing, the St. Joseph and Big Manistee receive excellent runs of these "bull-in-a-China-shop" beasts that surpass the 20 pound mark - imagine catching these on a fly rod!

Chinook and Coho salmon from the Great Lakes begin to ascend its tributaries as early as July on the Little Manistee. Through September, the Big Manistee, Platte, Betsie, Pere Marquette, Muskegon, White and St. Joseph will review massive runs of these fish, producing close to 6 million wild smolt salmon through natural reproduction. 

Whichever way you look at it, Michigan is at the top of world-class destinations for the trout, salmon and steelhead fisheries. It's time you come and explore this tremendous resource and find that true "Pure Michigan fly fishing experience" of a lifetime!

Matt Supinski is owner of Gray Drake Outfitters & Lodge in Newaygo. For twelve years, this outfitter has provided the very best in fly fishing guiding, lodging and hospitality. Here, the guides take great pleasure in instructing and teaching beginners, novices, children and families-as well as advanced anglers. Conducting guided tours 12 months a year. Their goal is to exceed your expectations.

Standing on the front deck of his tournament-rigged walleye boat, Ken Clark set the hook on his jigging spoon, felt a little bit of heft on the end of his line, and spoke up as he cranked his reel.

"I hope this isn't a walleye," he said. Then he broke into a laugh. "You don't hear that very often, do you?

No, you don't, especially from someone like Clark, a 51-year-old fishing guide and sometimes walleye tournament pro, who willingly calls himself  "a walleye snob."

But the truth is, Clark and his buddies hadn't come to Burt Lake on this cold November weekend to catch walleyes. The walleyes were actually becoming a pain in the patootie.

Clark, who hails from Whitehall and offers a traveling guide service for just about any fish that swims just about anywhere they can be caught, had made the trip -- one that is fast becoming an annual event -- for some deep-water perch jerkin. And while he was getting that mission accomplished, the crew wasn't sacking up the tasty finsters the way they had hoped. That's because the walleyes -- largely undersized specimens, running from just under the 15-inch length minimum to barely larger than the baits we were using -- wouldn't leave us alone.

Clark was fishing a deep hole, 50 to 60 feet (though there was some 70-foot water in near proximity, too) on one of Michigan's larger inland lakes for one of the state's most popular species. Although anglers invest thousands in boats and tackle to chase the state's more glamorous species -- bass, salmon, walleye, muskie -- perch continue to hold an allure over most anglers. That was as obvious as the gorgeous fall scenery as boats ranging from cartoppers to fully-rigged charter-fishing machines bobbed along or anchored in the deep water to pick away at the perch.

That's why Clark was there, though he'll admit that finding the perch in the first place was a fortunate accident. Several years back, he was fishing for walleyes, trolling with planer boards over the deep water, when one of his buddies flipped a jigging spoon over the side, hooked into a bragging-sized perch, and rearranged the day's angling agenda immediately.

Clark, who works in manufacturing when he isn't on his boat, grew up in Grand Rapids and started fishing for bluegills on Gun Lake with his grandfather as a youngster. And though he's turned his hobby into a business, he's never lost his love for angling. He calls his business Fishmas Charters because it rhymes with Christmas .

"Any day on the water's a holiday," he said. "Last night was Fishmas Eve. I had a hard time sleeping."

On a day when the weather changed about four times, from a calm and sunny sunbathing day to blowing and overcast, the kind of day when you wished you had on every stitch of clothing you owned, we sat in a $40,000 boat participating in what is perhaps the lowest tech style of fishing of all. It often doesn't take a lot of style to catch fish -- bait a hook and drop it to the bottom, but I was intrigued by fishing for them with a jigging spoon. Although I have caught a pretty fair number of perch over the years on artificial baits, I always did so by accident, fishing for something else then getting into them, just as Clark did.  But the spoons were too much for the walleyes to ignore and I was having a tough time catching perch. At one point, and I started counting, just for the record, I caught nine undersized walleyes in a row. Finally, I switched to a live-bait rig, put a couple of minnows on a couple of hooks with a sinker below them, lowered it to the bottom and caught . . . another walleye.

But among the four of us, we sifted through enough eyes to get a pretty nice bunch of fish. By the time we called it a day at 1 p.m., we put 52 perch (and four keepers walleyes) in the live well and threw back, I don't know -- 100? 200? walleyes. We caught more walleyes than perch, no doubt about it. When I mentioned that walleye fishing should be terrific next fall when all those fish we'd been throwing back move into the next year-class, Clark just shrugged. "It's been the same way every fall for the last three or four years," he said.

Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist Tim Cwalinski said that of the large inland lakes in the northeastern Lower Peninsula, Burt seems to be in the best shape of them all fish-wise.

"What you have in Burt is a good swing of wild fish that we've seen over the last three or four years," Cwalinski said. "It receives a lot of fish from Crooked and Pickerel Lake, where there's a lot of natural reproduction of walleyes. Burt's just down the Crooked River and it's a bigger body of water and walleye have a tendency to move a lot and I think a lot of those fish from Crooked and Pickerel wind up in there."

Burt is on a swing right now that's really high," Cwalinski continued. "It's had good natural reproduction in the last few years and anglers are catching a lot of small and medium-sized fish. If you really want to catch perch and walleye, do it during deer season and after deer season."

"Ice fishing for both species can be awesome," Cwalinski said, though the lake sometimes doesn't support good ice until late in the winter and a lot of times anglers don't get out on the ice until the winter doldrums have already begun to set in.

"This will tell you how good the fishing was last fall," Cwalinski said. "People were worried when they were struggling with the perch though the ice that they thought they'd caught them all in the fall. You'd see 30 or 40 boats bobbing around out there in the hole. Burt's supporting a lot of angler hours compared to Mullet and Black."

Cwalinksi said growth rates are about the state average, though they're a little better in Burt than in the upstream lakes. (This is the aquarium affect; fish tend to grow larger in larger bodies of water.) As for where they go, why Clark and his bodies are catching an inordinate percentage of throwbacks year after year, Cwalinski said he's not sure. There could be some mortality between the time the 2-year-olds reach year three, but otherwise, they're elsewhere in the lake or perhaps they've dispersed down the Indian River.

"I think Mullet inherits fish from Burt," he said. "Who knows what the bottle neck is there?"

At 17,394 acres Burt Lake is easily one of the 10 largest inland lakes in the state. It's a two-story lake (containing both warm-water species and trout. "If you were to compare it to the Great Lakes, it'd be more like Erie than Superior," Cwalinski said.

"What's nice about Burt is it's not this deep gorge of a lake," he explained. "A lot of Burt Lake is less than 30 feet deep. It's more of a nutrient-rich, productive lake. Like a little Great Lake. We have a burgeoning brown trout population in there right now. Those fish move up the Maple and Sturgeon to spawn. We also have steelhead in Burt Lake. Catch reports have been very good for the last year. And there are lots of incidental catches of trout, often by folks fishing for walleyes and by perch anglers."

"These are not stocked trout," he continued. "Burt Lake gets no fish. These are all wild fish." The Sturgeon and Pigeon (which flows in Mullet Lake) and Maple are such productive rivers that some of the trout produced in those rivers that just make it out into the lakes where they live and they can grow big living on fish rather than mayflies.

There's more, too. Burt's has a small lake sturgeon population, though not a lot is known abut them.

"We're not sure where they spawn," Cwalinski said. "We're trying to figure that out over the next 10-15 years."

There's also a handful of Great Lake strain muskellunge in Burt Lake and a pike population that consists of small numbers but large individuals.

And it's no secret that Burt holds a phenomenal population of smallmouth bass. Although the Burt/Mullet complex is a favorite stop for the state bass tournament crowd, Cwalinski said the smallmouths are underappreciated by the general public. "There's a lot of quality smallmouths," he said.

As for an angling destination, Burt Lake's pretty much got it all. There's a state park on the south shore, there's plenty of access from both road endings and developed ramps and there's everything from the Holiday Inn to mom-and-pop resorts for overnight accommodations.

As we pulled lines in the early afternoon, Clark summed up Burt Lake's perch fishing.

"Well, we caught some good fish, but it's not as impressive as it should be," said Clark, who said the perch fishing generally continues to get better through the firearms deer season. "These are good ones, like the ones that guys say they used to get back in the old days. We get 12-, 13-, 14-inchers and an occasional 15. We've never been able to break that 16-inch mark, but we know they're out here."

And that's part of what keeps him coming back; although he's made fishing a big part of his professional life with his charter business and tournament angling, Clark's back to fishing at Burt Lake for the same reason he did when he was a youngster.

"This," Clark pronounced as we battened down the hatches for the run back to the launch ramp,"is fun."

Reprinted with permission of Bob Gwizdz and Michigan United Conservation Club's Michigan Out-of-Doors Magazine Tony Hanson, editor.

Included in the latter group will be members of Michigan's whitetail deer herd.

Wednesday is the first day of Michigan's 2008 archery deer season. For those who believe the woods is never more beautiful or alive than during those early days of autumn, Oct. 1 each year marks the opening day of a hunting experience that is profoundly special. For most archers, it is a hunting adventure that transcends the firearms season, which begins Nov. 15 and, because the participant numbers are so great (more than 600,000 compared with just under 300,000 archers), is considered the pre-eminent "deer season" in Michigan.

"I enjoy time in the woods more these weeks of the year than during the firearms season," said Charlie Kehr, 57, and a dentist from Beulah who bow-hunts whitetails on private property in Benzie County, in the Lower Peninsula's northwest region. "The deer get so much closer. It's simply more exciting."

"Last year, I had dozens of deer pass within 15 yards of me," said Kehr, who hunts from four different locations, which include two tree stands and two ladder stands. "I even had deer walk between my ladder stand and my tree."

"You're just sitting there, frozen, afraid to move a muscle as they walk by. And because you have to be so super-careful about movement, it can be hard to get a shot. I didn't take a single shot last year."

Michigan's archery deer season is split, running from Oct. 1-Nov. 14, just ahead of the Nov. 15-30 firearms season. Archers can resume hunting Dec. 1, 2008 to Jan. 1, 2009.

It is the archer's methodology that makes the sport so challenging, and so fulfilling, to those who view bow-hunting more as a calling than a pastime. Unlike firearms season, when visibility is premier and blaze-orange is worn by hunters bent on staying clear of a rifle or shotgun's line of fire, the archer attempts to blend with the terrain's natural colors and contours. Camouflage is generally worn, head to foot.

Hunters tend to be as anxious about scent as about visibility. It explains why so many archers opt for apparel made with Scent-Lok (tr), a technology that uses scent-absorbing carbon to mask a human being's odor, which will generally send deer scrambling. Necessary equipment is in step with what most deer hunters would spend on rifles or shotguns. A mainstream bow can run $400-$1,000. Tree or ladder stands are $150-$300. Camouflage apparel can run another $200 or more. But sporting goods dealers agree that a tighter budget is no barrier to easing into a different brand of hunting experience.

You can forego the camouflage and opt for simple earth colors. A tree or ladder stand is by no means essential. A nicely concealed area of ground cover can be surprisingly effective. And a bow, with arrows, can be purchased for much closer to $400 than $1,000, with no negatives.

The trick is to make the deer so unaware of your presence that they move within range, which is the single biggest difference between archery and firearms hunting. Most archers want a shot within 15 yards. More skilled hunters can push distances to 25 yards or more. But the level of accuracy needed, and the need for drawing a bow quickly and without the deer detecting movement, generally calls for a close shot.

"It's not the taking (harvesting) of a deer that excites me," Kehr said. "To me, it's the excitement of seeing the deer and seeing them so close. If I take one, fine. But it doesn’t have to be a monster buck -- any deer taken with a bow is a trophy."

"Last year, I saw deer probably 75 percent of the time I hunted, and generally more than one. It's amazing how quietly deer can get in on you. All of a sudden, you're sitting over a couple of does, or maybe an eight-point buck."

"That's why people who get into it tend to be so passionate," Kehr said of Michigan's deer archers. "They're either into it, or they're not. But once you've experienced it, it's difficult not to be hooked."

This article was written by Lynn Henning of the Detroit News and is reprinted with his permission.

Thornapple

Looking to tangle with a really, really big fish?

As the days grow longer and the nights grow cooler, the fish grow hungry.

Big, toothy fish.

Thornapple Lake, located in Barry County, is the home of the current state record muskie, weighing in at 49 pounds and 12 ounces. That giant fish was taken in 2002. It’s not unrealistic, however, to think that a new state record is swimming in Thornapple’s murky depths today.

And this is a prime month to catch one. Angling pressure wanes greatly as fall approaches and the fish feed voraciously as the weather starts to turn.

Big fish mean big baits and anglers routinely employ oversized spinners, body baits and plugs when targeting Thornapple muskies.

The lake isn’t big at just over 400 acres and you won’t find any clear water there. It’s a eutrophic piece of water with plenty of stain. There is a DNR ramp located off Thornapple Lake Road with a good ramp and parking for about 15 vehicles.

This article was reprinted with the permission of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs and Michigan Out-of-Doors magazine, Tony Hansen is the editor.

Before our mountain bike ride along Ocqueoc Falls Pathway, we walked over to take a look at the cascade itself, one of only two natural waterfalls in the Lower Peninsula. From the parking lot off M-68, it’s a short stroll to this series of rock ledges where the Ocqueoc River quickly descends six feet.

Ocqueoc Falls is not Tahquamenon Falls by any stretch of the imagination. It’s not even what my son, Michael, remembered.

“It looks small,” he said.

“Well, it’s the middle of the summer,” I said, “and you’ve grown.”

Michael was first here as a 5-year-old tyke who viewed the rushing current from a different perspective, about three feet closer to the ground. The pathway is a six-mile loop with two crossover spurs, and we hiked the first loop that day, a three-mile walk that ended with him on my shoulders.

Now, 15 years later, we were back with our mountain bikes, and this time I wasn’t worried about my son finishing the ride on his own. He’s taller than I am, and as a mountain bike route, Ocqueoc Falls is a fairly easy outing.

The trail is a wide, firm single track, the riding non-technical, and the terrain level, with the exception of a few gentle slopes. This makes the state forest pathway ideal for young riders or, in our case, older ones who like to ride as much for the forested scenery as a spirited workout.

From the trailhead in the parking lot, we began our ride like we did our hike, following the pathway in a counter-clockwise direction to save the best for last. Within a few minutes we climbed a low ridge and then followed the pathway along the edge of it for the next two miles.

This is casual cycling, mountain biking so mellow that you spend more time viewing the river and the high hills that encase it to the west than the trail in front.

Eventually, we descended off the ridge, crossed the Little Ocqueoc River and, for a couple of miles, meandered between open meadows and small pockets of woods. At post number four the trail swings sharply to the west and emerges at the banks of the Ocqueoc River. For the first time since we jumped on our bikes, we stopped pedaling.

We were hardly tired. But the idea of sitting on the riverbank, watching the current roll along without a soul around, was too inviting to pass up. There are times when we ride to work up a sweat and times when we ride to slow down.

The final two miles of the pathway is perhaps one of the most scenic stretches for mountain biking in the Lower Peninsula. Here, the trail hugs the Ocqueoc, sometimes dipping down to the water itself but mostly skirting a high riverbank. Near the end we came to a junction with one trail curving back to the parking lot and the other heading straight.

We continued straight and ended this casual ride at Ocqueoc Falls, where we took an extended break, not knowing how long it might be before we were back here again.

Ocqueoc Falls Pathway: Is a 6-mile loop with two crossover spurs that form shorter loops of 5 and 3 miles in length. The pathway is open to hikers and mountain bikers.  Easy to moderate in difficulty. No fees. For more info., call Gaylord Dept. of Natural Resources at (989) 732-3541. To get to trail from Rogers City on M-23, head west on M-68 to reach the trailhead parking lot (12 miles).

Jim DuFresne is a Clarkston-based author of more than a dozen guidebooks. His newest title is “Backpacking In Michigan” (University of Michigan Press).

Michigan BLUE magazine is "Michigan's Lakestyle Magazine" and is published bi-monthly by Gemini Publications.  Lisa Jensen is the editor.