FACELIFT!!

Before

Looks like my buddy Jason is serious about fishing this spring and summer.
...I am all for it!
This is the before and after pics of the Hydra-Sport he bought off his uncle.
It is amazing what a little paint can do.
Centre consoles are my favourite design for fishing and I can't wait to get out with Jackass again.
Very Cool
The Screamin Seamen flies again!

After


Ella and I went fishig tonight and she caught a HUGE catfish in the pond behind Brians house...it was awesome!!
...and I ...like an idiot forget the camera....
ugh!

I Think It Is GAMERA!!!!

During a slog through the Bear Creek watershed looking for Steelhead Morin and I happened across this cool little turtle.
The Steelhead were someplace else so we took the time to snap a few photos and take some video.

Bye Bye Turtle from Gene Norland on Vimeo.

We are mental....no question about it.
LOL


If for no other reason my daughter Ella loves this BLOG entry.
We argued a bit about what kind of turtle this was.
Typically we were both wrong.


Morin thought it was a 'Pileated Snapping' Turtle and my guess was a box turtle.
After a bit of searching it looks like we ran across a Blandings Turtle which is a big deal because it is kind of rare.
I am glad he was wrong about it being a snapping turtle or I am sure I would've had difficulty typing this BLOG entry.

Two Morons arguing over what kind of a turtle this is...sad from Gene Norland on Vimeo.

Pretty cool.
:o)

I Love Suicide

By all accounts we mis-timed the Michigan trip by 3 or 4 weeks.
According to the locals and by the condition of most of the fish we caught a majority of the Steelies had been and gone and finished their bit 'o business.

We didn't see as many fish caught as last year but all of us avoided a skunk and caught some really great fish in a really great place.
After some thought that really is the bottom line and I am grateful for it.

Two thumbs up from me.
We left Tuesday on the 6th at about 6pm.

I happened to turn 41 on this day and I really can't think of a better present to ones self than to go fishing for a few days with The Boys.
Giddy-yup.
The weekend before saw me sift through all sorts of wacky Bullshit at work and I was dying for some windshield time and some peace and quiet.
That is what I get paid to do and I am pretty good at it but it takes its toll on you spiritually.

I think we have all decided that the mad dash trips are behind us and when you plan a multiple day trip it is understood that you roll the dice a bit with the conditions.


The Michigan Rivers are nothing like ours.


It rained and rained...and then it rained some more. I was convinced that we would be fishing a mudslide on the first morning at least but it was clear.
Crystal in fact ..
Our rivers would've been at least 48 hrs from fishable.

On the first morning we decided to gamble a bit and run up to the Betsy River.

This is a river that I had only read about and I was dying to fish it.
OCD Morin had researched it a bit and after a pregame pow wow the night before over copious amounts of alcohol we were gung ho.


It sucked.

It was nice to look at but the shitrat factor was 9 mile-esque.

Arnold managed a fish and I will hate him forever for it.

The late evening bite had a Sawdust skunk waiting for us on water that was less than ideal.
Thats fishing...and I will take the good with the bad but I could feel the Michigan Black Cloud starting to settle above me and it was the sure beginning of a bummer.
It didn't help that the game plan for the morning was to fish Tippy Dam.

I personally wouldn't choose to fish Tippy Dam even if I could be guaranteed a 40 fish day.
I would rather stick a Michigan cricket in my eye but a fishing trip is a democracy and also I have learned to follow Morins nose when in Michigan.
Tippy Dan here we come.


That night saw even more rain and the river rose about a foot overnight....but still no colour.There were some fresh quality fish in the river.
Both Brian and I executed a couple of long distance releases right off the hop just down from the first bend.
As per the Michigan usual there were about 20 million smolts and Browns in the river and we hiked like mad to get away from them.

At Suicide opposite the stairs we got to watch Morin find his groove with some pretty sweet droppies.
As for me?..
I fell in the water and just about drown....a snow storm came in and I was just about ready to kill myself in honour of the place.
Long story short...
We regrouped and hit the Suicide run from the opposite side after some HotDogs and Beer back at the cabin.


The first fish I hit was a beauty and I was sure I was going to lose it....but I didn't and just like that the weight was gone...

LOL
Then just in case I missed the point the fish gods threw me another one on the next drift.


Morin got a beautiful dime bright fresh fish that I just about lost for him when I tried to tail it whilst filming...
Very dumb..
Surely Beer induced...

I am stupid when I am sober so you can just imagine.


Great trip regardless of the timing.


During the last morning I overheard a Driftboat Guide that I am pretty sure was Tim Roller say the following to his clients.

"Do you see those Center-Pin guys over there?....Those are Canadians...that is a pretty good indication....
If they're not catching fish then the fish aren't here"
LOL
It actually filled me with a rare moment of Canuck pride.
The evening bite at the Suicide run was very low pressure and was a very peaceful moment that I am sure wouldn't have been available if the run was teeming with fish.


That is a trade off that I am fine with..
Good times.
Now back to reality
...Or is it away from reality??????
The lines are starting to Blur...

What are Friends For?

Turn the sound down if kids are in the room.
Here I try and tail Morins hot fresh run fish while filming it with the camera....
Maybe not such a good idea after all.
Some fish you can do everything right and still lose them while some it seems you can do everything wrong..
Funny.
Nice fish.....
I'll have to try harder next time to knock it off.

Morins Dime Bright Steelhead and my clumsy tailing effort from Gene Norland on Vimeo.

Roe

A roe crisis has seemed to have snuck up on us.
The last season or so has been riding on the gift of Muskegon roe that Jeff Stuhan so generously provided.
The gift came with such alacrity that we(I) foolishly assumed that we'd get more this winter when we made our what has become a yearly trip in his boat for Muskegon Chrome.
Jeff wasn't so free with his roe this year.
:o/


I don't blame him one bit and he is still a great guy and all that but we were kind of counting on him to replenish the stock.
Not so lucky this year.

With the Michigan trip looming things were looking pretty grim.
I had about a half a days worth of the Magic Muskegon tied up left over and I seemed to be in denial about my predicament.



I left it until yesterday to really start looking into buying some.

Apparently roe is a little hard to come by this year?

The three tackle stores I tried just laughed when I asked them about Rainbow roe but I did manage to procure some pretty sweet looking King Roe.

The local store The Outdoorsmen had 2 lbs for sale loose...SCORE!

I would've bought both but the girl that worked there begged me not too until they could see if they could get more in.

LOL

Suffice to say that there may be a few unlucky Michigan Hens with very little time left.

Having said that I am sure to get skunked.

Other than that ...nothing really fishy to report....
My nuts are still a little tender and I bought a really cool amp today....