Jokes on Me: Clinton River Outing and Tax Day

The afternoon of Friday, April 11th treated me with a spontaneous outing with my friend Tim from Clinton Valley TU on the Clinton River in Shelby Township, MI. It was another beautiful day, high in the 70's, very few clouds, and gentle breezes. You could not ask for better weather for pretty much any outdoor activities, except maybe steelhead fishing.

After sharing a delicious, yet greasy, Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready, stream side, we walked in to access the river near Ryan Road. Tim was trying his luck with various nymphs and buggers using a floating line with weight on his leader. I on the other head, decided to be a little less practical and a little more aggressive given the conditions: 250 grain weight forward sinking line, chucking streamers.

Tim working a run.

Sad to admit, but I have lived in SE Michigan my entire life, and this was my first time fishing the Clinton River. The Michigan DNR plants steelhead smolts in the river every year, and they do ascend the river starting in the fall and continue to do so through to spring when they eventually spawn. I do not know if there is any successful natural reproduction due to the river's summertime low flows and high temperatures. I imagine there is some success in some of the main river's tributaries.

Because of my limited knowledge of the river, I didn't know how to gauge if the river was running high, low, clear, stained, etc.  It seemed to have decent clarity on this day.

I do know the river it is surprisingly beautiful, considering it is surrounded by subdivisions and strip malls. I also learned the river is full of snags; likely submerged branches, rocks, garbage, and human bodies. Between the two of us, we lost more than a dozen flies in a few hours of fishing. Par for the course, I suppose. They say if you aren't losing flies, you aren't fishing in the right spots. Unlike other outings, I did not care at all about losing these flies, because I actually tied all of them.

In summary, I had a tasty lunch with a great guy, lost some flies, saw a yellow perch in a shallow, backwater area, Tim nearly hooked a smaller trout, and we got to soak in some much needed sun.

Tax Day, April 15th, 2014: Joke is on us.

After experiencing beautiful, warm weather for a few days, Mother Nature reminded us good things don't last. This is what I woke up to this morning:

It would be more beautiful if it were in November or December. 

I guess the good part is we officially had the snowiest winter in Metro Detroit history: 94.8 inches.

Empty promise: I promise I will one of these days post a picture on this "fishing" blog with a picture of a fish. It will likely be caught by somebody else.

Snow aside, the lakes have thawed out. Get out there...

Good Day for Fishing, Great Day for Paddling, Terrible Day for Catching

I think the title says it all, but I'll share more. Spoiler alert: No fish were caught... at least by us. Dad and I took the kayaks out for the first time this year. Since I had three days off in a row, I originally planned on heading up north. The responsible part of my brain decided to take over those northern thoughts, and I ended-up staying home. However, staying home on days off means fishing close to home.

I decided to go to Lake St. Clair Metropark. Figured the ice was mostly gone (note last week's reconnaissance mission). We launched at the boat ramp back in the canals and wetlands, figuring it would be too rough and exposed with the steady southeast wind (and probably iced in) from the Day Sail launch right on the lake. Maybe that east wind was an indicator fish would ignore my offerings.

Hey, I'm just happy to finally be out!

 In an attempt to heed some advice shared by fellow bloggers Jason  (http://www.fontinalisrising.com/2014/04/gear-review-fish-like-local-with.html), from northern Michigan, and Mel (http://pondstalker.blogspot.com/), I tried to keep it simple. Admittedly, I am both a hoarder and kind of a boy scout at heart, so I tend to "be prepared" out there. When I go out, I always reflect on episodes of "I Shouldn't Have Survived", and think about how all of the people featured were only going out for a couple hours.

The only gear to set out with this day was my new 9'3'' 8WT Mystic fly rod, three reels (one with a sink tip, one with a floating line, and one with a multi-tip line), and my little Fish Pond chest pack with ONE fly box. I brought my trout/bass streamer box. I brought along the fish finder, too. Not exactly necessary, but I am glad I had it with me. If it were not for the fish finder, I'd swear the lake was fished-out.

My old man enjoying time on the water with his favorite son

I am not a flies-only elitist, but I almost always use the long rod. Dad brought a short, ultra-light Ugly Stick (I think) with intention of finding some perch,

Picture of fish finder at random moment along outing. Something is down there.

Another random moment showing evidence of something living down there.

Something bigger, or more likely a bigger group of small guys. This was also right by the ice. Check out that water temp.

And yet more critters below me.

Ice that is still hanging on.

This was the first time I've paddled in water with ice. I was wearing breathable waders up to my waistline, and a long sleeve t-shirt under a fleece. I was very comfortable, temperature-wise. I am really glad I didn't fall out or flip the kayak like I did last summer. That's a story for another post. That summer day I learned to have everything, and I mean everything, secured to the boat.

If you were wondering what flies and tackle do not work in the canals of Metro Beach, they are:
-small white, cone-head buggers
-biggish black, barbell eye buggers
-small muddler-style minnows
all fished on a 250 grain sink-tip line. Dead drifted/trolled and short, small strips. Nothing, nothing, and nothing.

Swedish pimples didn't work for my dad, too.

Oh well, at least we got out. It was actually pretty great.

Thursday, April 10th, 2014

Stoney Creek Lake/Ice Report

Took a brief drive today to Stoney Creek.

As you can see, it's mostly open, but man does it look nasty out there. This was the windward side of the lake today. Even if you go out past the sloppy ice, you'd be getting blown all over the place with the strong wind. Actually, you'd wind up back in the ice.

I'll be out here soon. And with that,

Get out there...

Big Lake Reconnaissance

After a nice breakfast out with my dad, we took a little tour of some access sites on Lake St. Clair. Mission objective: find out where we could access some liquid water.

I am assuming there are some people that come across this blog that have never been to the Great Lakes. Biggest understatement of the day: They are big. While not a "Great Lake", Lake St. Clair is very large, and has gained notoriety for its small mouth bass and musky fisheries.

First stop shown by red mark:

Our first stop was the DNR ramp by Selfridge Air National Guard Base. This is on Anchor Bay, which itself is larger than Houghton Lake (Michigan's largest inland lake). Here is what we saw:

Call me a sissie, but I am not walking out there. 

Meanwhile in the canal by the boat launch:

One could paddle around a little bit in the canal, but you would not get very far. Back to the car to thaw out ears and onward to next stop: Lake St. Clair Metro Park (but it'll always be Metro Beach to me).

Here is what we saw at the day sail access point:

Looking straight out, East

Looking south and east. The little tied structure on the horizon just to the left of the pile of ice is the Renaissance Center (General Motor's global headquarters) in Downtown Detroit.

The view south, along the shoreline.

This is all open water... if you can make it out to it. Good luck crossing the 50 feet of ice slabs and rough, unstable "terrain".

We also stopped by the boat launch at the metro park. It is open. There is still ice in parts of the marina and canals, but there is enough open water to get a kayak or canoe... or SUP (I'm inclusive!).

Final stop today was the mouth of the Clinton River DNR access site. Here is where I am talking. Look at the little bar scale at the bottom right hand of the Google Maps screen capture.

And this is just the central part of the lake.

Because it was so darn cold and windy, we quickly looped around the parking lot and headed back in. The lake is completely open here.

It is amazing how quickly the wind, sun, and current broke up and flushed out the ice. Don't get me wrong, there is still ice out there, as I showed in some of the pictures. I would not walk on it, though. People have been rescued by the coast guard over the last couple days on the lake.

When I purchased my first kayak three years ago, this week is the anniversary of its first outing. However, three years ago, there was no ice to be found. Just goes to show how each year the weather varies.

I'll be headed out in the very near future. Basically as soon as I get the anchor trolley installed on my SOT kayak.

Go get out there...