Fishing Michigan

If you you like to spool braid on your walleye and salmon reels at home, here is a little trick to help you get the job done.  An important factor in using linecounter reels is that  you have the same amount of line on each reel.  That way if you are using (for example) all crawler harnesses for your trolling spread and one rod continues to go off consistently you can adjust all the other reels to the same depth with confidence that they are going to be the same.

In my case I was spooling two reels up during the ballgame today, and I wanted to split a 300 yd spool of 40 lb Power Pro between them.  Key here is to convert the number of yards you want to put on, to feet.  So 150 yds, comes to 450 feet of braid.  

Attach the braid to the spool with a piece of tape, set the counter to 000, start spooling until the counter reaches 550 ft on the counter.  Then attach your mono backing, in this case I had a spool of 15 lb Big Game left over from last season.  Use a double uni, or back to back uni knot to attach the two lines.  The bigger the line that you use, the less you have to put on, thus its cheaper to do.

Once the line is attached, reset the counter back to the three zeroes and start reeling.  Fill the spool the rest of the way with the monofilament and keep track on the counter when you have finished.  Once you are done,  fill your second reel by tying off the mono to the spool, and use the first reel as your filler spool.

Now, you go back and fill your first spool again.  This time you know exactly how much mono to put on.  When you reach that mark on the counter, attach the braid, and see how close you come to emptying out the spool of braid.  You are either dead on, or will just have a few feet left over.

Inge is still my Tiger, Cabrera will be worth the investment, Ol’ Gene in the 3rd base coaches box still has to work on sending players, and Leyland still needs to develop a hook with his pitchers.

Inge had a helluva throw from center to nail a guy at home, Cabrera had a homer, Maggs gets thrown out at home, and the pitchers seemed to stay in just a little too long.  One thing I noticed last year, and it seems like the trend is going to continue this year is that Leyland used his “closer” in the ninth inning during tied games.  Granted Bauptisa pitched a heck of game for an inning and 2/3 rds, but why call Jones your closer if you don’t save him for close situations.

Final thoughts, nothing like a good “Chicago style” chili dog  on opening day and its so early in the season, I will cringe tonight listening to ESPN, but its just the first game.  Good things ahead if the bullpen comes together.

For as long as I can remember my heroes on any Detroit Tigers team, always played 3rd base.  It wasn’t because it was the position I played, I caught in little league.  It all started with one player, the original A-Rod, and maybe the Tigers first everyday Latin player.

When I was a kid during the early 1970’s Al Kaline’s career was ending, and so were the seasons of those magic teams of McClain, Northrup, Stormin’ Norman Cash, Gates Brown and Jim Stanley.  My Tigers, to borrow a phrase of the present day promo’s, were Willie Horton, Tommy Verizer, John Hiller, the Bird and of course Aurelio Rodrequez at 3 rd base.  I think it was because I have always identified with those go to work type athletes who beat all the odds and just stand up straight and play the game “the right way”.  Who better than Aurelio who looked like he had a brand new glove for every game?  I found out later that he applied black shoe polish to give it the new glove look.  As a grown man in his late 30’s I cried a bit when he died tragically while sitting down to a meal in Mexian Village by an out of control car a few years ago.

Although I had never seen him play,  I even liked Geogre Kell as an announcer on the television over Mr. Tiger himself, Al Kaline.  I respect Kaline beyond belief, and even got to see him play as a child, but Kell always had my attention.  Maybe it was the Arkansas drawl,  or the way he talked about his family and revered his wife,  cannot explain it.  No offense to Mario and Rod, or Paul and Ernie, but these guys were my announcers.

As the mid 1970’s passed and Ralph Houk was replaced by Sparky Anderson, a little chaw chewing 3rd bagger was recommended to the big club by then minor league manager, Jim Leyland.  Tommy Brookens is just one of those guys who had a so so bat, and it seemed like every year the club brought someone new in to take his place in the lineup.  Every year number 16 took his place at the corner.  I am so glad that he is with the organization again and managing in the minor leagues, wouldn’t be great if and when Leyland steps down, that it is Brookens who takes his place?

As the 80’s slipped away,  Travis Fryman slid into place in the position.  With maybe the best arm on the throw to first in the organization’s long storied history (tied with Inge at least),  he played on a team of heroes.  I admit, the teams were forgettable, and besides Fryman, I can really only think of Mickey Tettleton and Cecil Fielder who were on those teams.  Wait, that little guy…Tony something, number #4 I think,  Tony the Tiger,  see…I forgot his last name.  This was also the heyday for collecting cards, anyone need a Fryman rookie card?  Or Upper Deck first year?  All told I have about 200 or so.

What was the organization thinking letting that guy go?  To bring in the much injured Dean Palmer, who got the same amount of money Travis was asking for?  I’ll never eat Domino’s pizza again, thanks Tom.  To let him go to Cleveland just made it worse.

I admit, after that I kind of quit watching the Tiggers for a while,  then Alan Trammel came back to the club, along with Lance Parish and Kirk Gibson.  Its a shame Mr. Illich was not spending his “dough” back then, those guys deserved better.  I thought it very fitting that Jim Leyland paid “Tram” the tribute of setting the stage for these  players and their success back in 2006.  Trammel started it,  but Brandon Inge is still my Tiger, even though he’s not at 3 rd anymore, but he will be in centerfield in a few hours.  The guy did it all and do not even start with all the errors.  Just because the guy went after balls that no other player at that position could reach, a few of them had to be just out of his reach where he still got leather on the ball.  How many highlights over the past few years did we watch of Inge diving into a camera pit, dugout or front row to get a ball going foul?  I freely admit to the batting average not being there,  to the frustration of some of those awful swings for a 3rd strike.  Maybe it was the 22 yrs of futile teams, and the magic of 2006, but this is not the same player at the plate.  Hopefully he stays with the team, would much rather have him with us, than against us stealing hits.

Miguel Cabrera starts today in less than two hours.  Must admit that my enthusiasm isn’t there for this player, maybe its because it meant the end of Inge at 3rd, maybe its because I never saw him play down the road for the Mudhens in Toledo.  I know the guy is going to play well for this club, too many people who know better than me, say its true.

Just maybe in October, there will be another bonfire in the backyard after an Ida football game.  Maybe the same guys like Mero, Woelmer, Lassey, Whitaker, Golembieski and Meyers will be there watching the game on TV.  Maybe there will be cheers so loud that the neighbors turn on their lights to see whats going, just like when Chet Lemon made a catch over the fence back in 1984.  We’ll be a bit older, 24 yrs later,  I won’t have a pulled “leg” muscle all wrapped up after playing Blissfield and just maybe I will have a new Tiger at 3rd to cheer for.

Its time, got the dogs ready, for Opening Day.

Ok, so I lied a little yesterday.  You start working with wood for one project, and the next thing you know you are building a cart for the smoker.  That’s what happend yesterday,  first I replaced the roof on the kennel duplex,  then just kept going.

Totally made with scrap pieces that I had already, I took a section of 3/4 inch particle board, 3″ castor wheels, few bolts, nuts, washers  and some 2 x 4’s.  A few cuts later and waa-la!  Big enough to bolt the smoker down after I get the base painted, plus in this case store the fryer on the side, but when wheeling out the smoker, also the propane tank.

that’s all folks……………………………..

While I was up to the Bass Pro Shops store in Auburn Hills,  besides the deep fryer there was a smoker on the list to pick up.  Now,  I had a barrel type Coleman charcoal smoker already and it was nice for doing a ham, chicken, turkey, and other meal sized portions of meat.  It looks like I will be getting into salmon fishing somewhere in the near future.  Which means more gear, well some additional new gear anyway.

It also meant new and exciting ways to cook yet another type of fish.  I’ve done the trout or salmon on the grill before.  Your basic get your foil, sprinkle on some  salt, ground pepper, lemon juice and some tomato slices.  Turns out wonderful when eating your meal then and there.  But I had to start looking down the road for a long term solution to what could be a rather large freezer full of fish.

The wheels started turning, sometimes grinding on the solution.  Finally decided that a smoker was going to be the long term solution.  Besides the fish, I can do a host of other large type meals there too,  thinking here is the big family type parties.  Now I can say the word pork butt without getting slapped silly by the nearest female.   I also have to find out this; just what exactly is a dry rub, and can I make my own?!

So I started looking at models, features, electric, charcoal and propane.  I was already heading up to the BPS store for the fryer and to do a lil’  shopping, so I looked over what they had available on their website.  They had a nice deal going on with a MasterBuilt electric smoker, regularly 200 bucks, but on sale for $175 with another $25 off with a mail-in rebate.  Lets face it, fifty bucks is fifty bucks, but it was a bit on the small size.

I had asked around, and the folks that I know who actually have them had said they might have had different models before, but they pretty much said they had finally settled on propane.  Why go through all the mistakes they had made already when I make enough on my own without their help.  So, if that made any sense I really started to center on the propane models.

The nice thing about the BPS website is that they do not only list their products, but they have a space available with each product for those who have bought already,  to post reviews.  These aren’t your basic kissy-up type reviews that you get from field reps,  if there is something wrong with it, you can find out ahead of time.  A good example is the fryer that I also got that day, great fryer, burner works great, but crappy thermometer with the kit.  I studied the subject and said, no big deal, there are good dependable models available for a reasonable price.  I can live with that for being able to cook outdoors.

I settled finally on this $200 dollar model from Smokey Mountain.  Question for those who studied geography a little more than I did, do the Smokey Mountains actually make their way up through Canada, because that is where it is built.  Anyway, figured it was better than China.

So on my list, and heading north to take a look.  Before I finally handed over the cold hard cash, I grilled the employees over details, not only of this particular model, but others in their display area.  Turns out, in this case anyways, the homework paid off and I had done good.  Not only for the money, because there were more expensive models available, but because of the features and personal use, this was a good unit.

The guys up there even recommended using a blend of hickory and apple chips for my wood.  They said, that mesquite tends to dry out meat.  That in retail vernacular is referred to as an add-on sale,  ugh, and for two bucks a bag, I will give it a try.

Next up, I going to build a rolling cart for this bad boy, bolt the smoker down, and build a cradle next to it for securing the 20 lb propane tank.  Don’t expect any pics soon,  getting the boats ready comes first.

One of the reasons I went up to Bass Pro Shops yesterday was to pick up this deep fryer for cooking fish up outside.  Its a 10.5 qt model,  and came with everything you see plus a 5″ thermoter for $29.99.  Why cook outside, less mess and smell in the house.  it was easy to install, but you will need a 10mm nut dryer, wrench or socket.  That or a phillips screwdriver or large fathead.  Notice the extra support at the base?  Its designed not to tip over, plus for extra stability when used with a bigger pot for frying turkeys.

Is there an uglier time of the year than early spring?  On the way north yesterday, everywhere you looked was just ugly.  Everything is brown, the trash covered by snow on the roadside was everywhere,  just a dismal time of the year.

Last night I couldn’t even see the shop from the house through the snow

This morning, everything was beautiful again.

Could even see the shop through the trees

Bonnie, checking out all the birds in the trees that she just spooked off the bird feeder. 

So while everyone digs out, scrapes off, I will be all snuggled in gear getting ready for the next tournament on the Bay.

I made my way through all the traffic around Detroit today, up to Auburn Hills to visit the Bass Pro Shops store in Great Lakes Crossing.

I did some shopping while at the store, but I also brought the camera with me.  Every once in a while a blind dog gets the bone, and this pic came out like nothing I had expected.  Its a muskie in their fish tank.  The first two pics were used with the flash, and were just ok.  I took this without the flash, and it really came out nice.  Between shooting through glass and water, plus getting the reflection  of the lure racks behind me, really made the muskie look like it was in 3-D, without using the funky movie glasses.

I made a phone call today to Church Tackle Company right here in Michigan.  The purpose of the conversation was to get some background information on the company.  Secondly, I wanted to highlight a product made right here in our state, and see what makes the company tick in today’s economy.  What I found out strengthens my belief that Michigan is still one of the top leaders in today’s fishing industry.  I also was tempted to start every paragraph with, ” Did you know? “.

Church Tackle was founded about 15 years ago in Sodus, Michigan.  I have been using their Mr. Walleye Board for years now,  and I learned a lot about the company today.  For their first five years they made fishing lures, then 10 yrs ago switched over to manufacturing strictly trolling gear for anglers.

Since I have been using the Walleye Board, I wanted to know what the appeal would be for a first time angler going out and purchasing their new TX-22 Special Planer Board.  This is a reversible board, meaning you can run it on either the starboard or port side of the boat by simply using a small screwdriver to make the proper adjustment.  The benefit here is when you are trolling a weed edge or drop off, you can be stealthy and still be running two boards on the same side of the boat without actually having to buy two port or starboard boards.  The board also stands up, even while releasing the board out to its proper distance from the boat.  The walleye board lays flat on the release, and can lay down while making some turns.  The TX-22 will stay in position allowing the operator to detect bites that can occur during the procedure.  Finally because of that feature, the board allows for even slower trolling speeds when you want the bait to stay in the strike zone for longer periods of time.

They make two additional smaller sizes in their planer board line-up, the TX-12 Mini Board  and the  TX-6 Magnum Board .  Both these boards can be utilized with lighter tackle.   An example of the “12″ would be just running a light action floating crankbait like an F-18 Rapala in the spring while the eyes are shallow with leadcore to get your lure down to the desired depth.  If the TX-12 isn’t a stealthy enough approach for you, the the TX-6 can be utilized on inland lakes and reservoirs with small crankbaits, or running the big water with lead core and just a spoon at the end.

There are ton of accessories available also for the boards.  The biggest selection I have seen online or in retail stores has been at Frank’s Great Outdoors up in Linwood.  Most of your well equipped walleye and salmon tackle stores will carry the flag kits and a selection of boards to choose from though.  Frank’s has the spare flags,  which I have found will make the board level out on the troll, even without the trip wires attached.  Besides the smooth ride, it stops most of the knuckleheads from running over your trolling lines because of the higher visibility.

In addition to the boards that Church produces,  they have gotten into the flasher market the last few years.  Their Revelator and Mini-Revelator and be used in conjunction with spoons and flies for salmon, as well as spoons for walleyes.  What they do is give a relatively lifeless bait the most action possible to attract fish into the bait’s strike zone.

One of the hottest tickets for salmon fishing has been the use of cut bait over the last few years.  The trend has sustained itself with good reason due to the results the rig produces. The Shock Wave doesn’t require toothpicks to hold the bait in place as it clips in.  Because of the material used, you can adjust the amount of action that the lure produces.

They still make one lure, and it is designed to put walleye in the boat.  The Avenger is a weight forward spinner style that many folks use on Lake Erie to catch their limit of walleyes.  What the Avenger offers is action.  While most baits are pulled through the water with the small french blade producing all the appeal, this bait swims adding to its catch rate vs. other brands and models.

My last question during the interview was to ask, where do your sales come from?  I found out that this company is far from your local manufacturer with regional appeal.  I expected New York, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin because of the Great Lakes with all its’ walleye, trout and salmon fishing border these states.  I was mildly surprised to hear about the popularity down south for its striper fishery.  I was downright shocked to hear that they sell a fair amount of their product in places like Russia, Sweden and Germany.  It truly is a global player in the world’s fishing industry.

There was one constant through the interview over the phone that I really picked up on.  So much in fact that I made a point to ask about it at the end of the conversation.  I am on several pro staffs for some of the leaders in the business,  but what I heard throughout the call was how much the company listens to their testers, pro staff members and anglers in general.  I have been asked here and there for some feedback before, but much of their products were either made because of what they hear, or fine tuned in response to those actually doing the fishing.  That impressed me the most about the interview.  It wasn’t the usual company line, and I like using products that I know are going to perform  due to extensive field testing by those who know best.

I would like to thank Steve, from Church Tackle for taking the time to answer my questions and shining some light as to what makes the company tick.

 side note:  for best prices available, find the retailers that carry the product, you just might find some more goodies to pick up while making the trip.

This was forwarded to me by one of the paper’s staff members who thought it might be of interest.  It should be for anyone who has questions about the status of the Detroit River and Lake Erie.  It looks as if the information is a part of a study actually conducted on the whole Great Lakes ecosystem, and since this area’s location is close to the river and our side of the lake, they narrowed it down.

The presentation, ” Coming Home “ will be given by Dr. John Hartig this Thursday at the community college’s theatre in the La-Z-Boy Center.  In the announcement on Monroe Talks  it mentions sturgeon, bald eagles, mayflies, walleyes and falcons.

You know what happens when you assume things, but I would be interested in the return of sturgeon to the river.  When my grandmother (dad’s mom) was alive she showed me pictures of sturgeon stacked like cord wood on the river’s edge,  men stood around while other’s set them on fire like funeral pyres.

Also, to see if he mentions anything about the return of the spawning whitefish to the river.  It is said, that whitefish are one of nature’s indicators that the river is really cleaning up compared to what it was during the city’s industrial heyday.  Dad’s family was from Ecorse,  and it was said you knew what was being produced back then by the color of the Ecorse and Rouge  flowing out to the Detroit River.

Overall, the presentation is free, and takes place at 7 pm  this Thursday.