After a week of nonstop work, I checked the weather radar Saturday morning, and what I saw didn’t look very promising – a strong line of thunderstorms was making its way towards Michigan.  Being the optimists we all are, though, we headed out in the hopes that they would dissipate before they reached us, or go south and miss us completely.

And thankfully we went, because we only had to endure a little bit of rain – the thunderstorms never did show themselves.

With both boats launched before 6am, and with only about 4 hours sleep the night before, we motored up and headed out in the hopes that the fish would be active ahead of the front that was on the way.  As my cousin, Ron, powered back and settled us into our first fishing location, he kept the motor idling and began to play around with his Lowrance fish finder.  As with everything in my family, this morning was about competition – our second annual Family Fishing Tournament – so, not wanting to waste time or opportunities, I threw the Rattle Trap into the water while he played around with the electronics.

The first cast was a bust, but the second cast was much more productive.  It didn’t take many rotations of the reel before something grabbed the rattle trap and started to put up quite a fight.  The fight was a short one, but, even though the fish was over 2lbs, I was a little disappointed.  Why?  Because the rules of this tournament were clear – only bass and pike were included – so, this walleye that I just put in the boat wasn’t going to count.  It was legal, though, and it would taste dang good, so in the livewell it went.

After a few hours of fishing, we were still without a keeper fish in the boat.  We had landed many fish – pike and bass included – but just not any above the 14 or 24 inch mark needed to keep each variety of fish.

Finally, though, Ron sets the hook on what appears to be a great fish.  We knew that one good keeper fish, especially a pike, could help us and be the break we needed in the tournament.  I feverishly pulled the net out of its compartment, and netted the fish just as it broke free from the Rattle Trap’s grasp.  We had another fish in the boat – the problem we had, though, was that we had landed another keeper walleye.

We were having an unbelievable morning on the water, but, of course, we weren’t catching the right species of fish in order to win the tournament.  That didn’t manage to wipe the smiles off both of our faces, though, as we kept casting in search of a fish that was included in the tournament.  Though we knew we weren’t winning, having fish of such caliber in the livewell was making “losing” that much more bearable.

Unfortunately, the fishing tournament came to an end without Ron or myself landing a keeper bass or pike.  And, because of that, we had to give Jeff and his son, Tyler D., the win because of the two keeper bass they put in the boat.

Ron and I still had a great time, though.  And even if we didn’t win the tournament, we had a great time catching fish, and we managed to take home 4lbs worth of walleye, which will taste amazing.  Also, I managed to end the fishing curse that had been haunting me so far this year.

And I’ve decided I really enjoy catching walleye, even though I’ve only caught two in my life – both on Duck Lake.  One was 7lbs, and 28inches, and the other was 2lb, 19 inch specimen I caught this morning.

And you can bet that walleye will be included in the list of species that count during our next family fishing tournament.

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I’m fine with the whole concept of having cougars in Michigan.  After all the hype about them for the last couple of years, it was good to finally see some proof  that vindicated many people’s claims, and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they knew what they were talking about.  I know they can be hard on livestock – and people – but I think having a population in the state is pretty cool.

Having Asian Carp in the Great Lakes, though?  I’m not okay with that.   I’ve wrote a post about exactly where I stood on the whole issue, and now the situation is much more dire.

Yesterday, an Asian Carp was discovered in Lake Calumet, on Chicago’s South Side, only six miles from Lake Michigan.  I’m very concerned, and I think John Rogner, Assistant Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources said it best with this quote:

“The threat to the Great Lakes depends on how many have access to the lakes, which depends on how many are in the Chicago waterway right now.”

I completely agree, but the problem is we don’t know how many are in the Chicago Waterway right now.

At first, everyone assured us they hadn’t made it past the electric barrier put in place to keep them at bay.  Then they found Asian Carp DNA beyond the barrier.  Then they told all of us that just because there was DNA didn’t mean any actual fish made it past the barrier.  Oh, but wait, because now, after all the reassurances and testing, they find a live carp beyond the barrier and in an area that was poisoned in order to kill off any carp that might be present.

Interesting!  Is anyone, like me, starting to not trust all the speculations and promises?

I’m starting to lose a little faith here, and I’m starting to wonder if Michigan, and the surrounding Great Lake States, is on the verge of  a complete ecological disaster.

And no one is doing anything to stop it.

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As I get older, I think my outdoor fortunes are changing – for the good and for the bad.

There used to be a time when I could step in a boat, put a few hours in with rod and reel in hand, and actually land a few fish.  And there also was a time when I would spend hours upon hours in the deer woods, and never put meat in the freezer.

The last two years, though, I’ve put meat in the freezer – I was lucky enough to arrow a few deer, and even luckier to down a few turkeys.  But this year, on two different trips, I’ve put almost 8 hours behind a rod and reel, and haven’t been able to put one fish in the boat.

What gives?

The worst part of it all is that some of it isn’t my fault.  It isn’t my fault that two of the bass who decided to feast upon my top water offering this morning must have cataracts.  I didn’t change the tempo of my retrieve, or change the angle of the retrieve, or anything – these fish just plain missed; they hit a big mass of stirred up water, and left my buzz bait and Jitterbug to continue on.

Thankfully, we still have a lot of bass season left, so maybe I’ll be able to put one fish in the boat before it ends.  I’ll just keep telling myself that I’m about quality, not quantity.

Yeah, that’s it.

And I’ll keep wishing for deer season to come back around.  At least then – maybe – I can find the quarry I seek.

*Sigh*

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“Dolphin Safe Tuna” – I’ve always had a problem with that particular phrase.  I mean, isn’t it weird that nobody cares about the tuna, only that the dolphins are safe?  I think dolphins are cool too, and very intelligent, but why isn’t anyone concerned about the tuna?

And when was the last time you heard an organization standing up and demonstrating against turkey hunting?  But why would they?  I mean, turkeys are kind of ugly.  And, to go back to the tuna for second – oh yeah, they’re ugly too, so nobody cares.

And if you doubt me at all, when was the last time you saw a celebrity spokesperson gracing your television screen in order to save the Angler fish?  It isn’t going to happen, because they’re ugly – whether they’re endangered or not.

I truly believe that the cute-and-cuddly factor definitely has an impact on what animals are deemed worth an effort to save, and what animals are not.  And, particularly, I think it definitely has an impact on the animals that organizations decide to help/promote.  Also, I’m sure that the cute and cuddly factor is playing a huge part in the wolf debate that is beginning to grip a big part of the United States.  Let’s see, if the wolf looked like a turkey, would there be so much of an outcry?

And because these organizations only pick easy-on-the-eye animals, I think it puts a feather in the caps of hunters.  We promote and protect habitat, which sometimes help to save animals, and other times allows them to flourish – and we don’t care how those particular animals look, or how photogenic they are; we just simply care about animals.

But many organizations – the ones who “help” protect polar bears, emperor penguins, dolphins, etc. – only care about the good-looking animals, and leave the other “ugly” ones to fend for themselves.  Rational thinking and scientific facts get thrown to the wayside, because they’re just so darn cute and cuddly.  Right?  Not dangerous.  Not destructive.  Just cute.

Not us hunters, though.  We want to see the turkey flourish, as well as the cute and cuddly Whitetail deer.  We’re not prejudice when it comes to what animals we want to protect.

And if you doubt the cute-and-cuddly factor, here is a study about just such a thing.

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It’s been way too long since we posted a new video for everyone to enjoy.  So, without making anyone wait another minute here are two new videos for everyone.

Pick your poison: You can watch kids catching night crawlers, and then a father/son duo using those worms to catch some nice bluegills.  Or you can watch Jeff and his buddy, Luke, trying to put a gobbler on the ground with a bow.

Whichever one you choose, I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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