admin September 30th, 2009

Anglers for centuries have touted the sporting value of trout fishing. But what is it that makes thousands of anglers like you and me dream all winter about catching these lake and river game fish? Why would any sane person count down the days to the trout opener?

Does Size Matter?

Why are 10-inch trout prizes to be cherished? Why should people spend good money to buy fine fly-fishing tackle just to catch a small trout? Or, on the other hand, why would anglers gloat over a 10-pound brown trout or a 14-pound steelhead?

What is it about this game fish that stirs our piscatorial juices, captures our thoughts and engages our soul on a day like this? It’s just an eternal question that trout anglers try to rationalize as they tour Michigan’s greatest trout lakes and streams.

What follows are just a few of today’s idle thoughts that have made me wonder about my addictive 60-year trout-fishing career. There are thoughts a-plenty from trout seasons I’ve covered since the early 1950s.

Idle Thoughts, Deep Waters

Think long and hard on trout, and make a list of some of your favorite trout fishing memories. One often will find that these experiences, sights, sounds, and other sensory perceptions are far more important to us at day’s end than the fish we’ve caught. Here are just a handful of why trout captured my soul over a half-century ago.

• These beautiful, colorful and fragile game fish are the canaries in our environmental coal mine. They are a key barometer of our times. What harms trout can’t be good for humans, and when these grand species are gone forever, can the end of our civilization be very far behind?

• Brook trout are the prettiest of all. They come in four sizes: tiny, small, legal-size and lunker, each with an array of spotted beauty that hints of wild places that stir our senses. With their tiny blue spots, and white piping along the outside edge of orange fins, brook trout take first-place in any fishy beauty pageant. I look at a trout, all smooth-skinned, and painted up in all their finery, and it takes my breath away.

• Trout respond well to a careful approach and a delicate delivery. Fancy waders and top-of-the-line fly rods, reels and nets do not impress this char and trout clan. They feed when hungry, fast when not, and nothing we do can or will change this pattern.

• Trout inhabit some of the world’s most beautiful places. They live in a land of towering pine and spruce, beaver ponds, impenetrable cedar swamps, sparkling streams, gurgling meadow brooks, remote Upper Peninsula rivers dotted with waterfalls, high mountain lakes — all such places and others are home to lake and stream trout, and humans are nothing more than infrequent visitors to their world.

  As such, it behooves anglers to put back more than we take. Conservation of wild trout means joining and backing such organizations as Trout Unlimited, who fight for our fish and their special environment. Their needs include clean water and an environment friendly to the fish. They are truly game fish worth fighting for.

• I fish because of soft dimpling rises, blanket hatches, selective trout, wild places, stream-side camaraderie with other like-minded fishermen, wild fish and the history and romance of trout fishing. Trying to outwit these game fish is for the thinking angler, not the gluttonous fisherman intent only on a full creel.

• One of the last and untapped world-wide trout bastions are the inland lakes. Such waters produce robust fish, and for those who learn lake-fishing secrets, the rewards are many. Huge trout are taken from inland lakes that seldom, if ever, see a bait, fly or lure. These lake-dwelling trout are a thrill to catch, and it requires a heap of specialized skills to do so.

• My familiarity with trout forces me to fight for them and to proceed in a manner that gives each fish every advantage and opportunity to escape. Trout fishing means much more than a limit catch. This sport is and always should be a major challenge. The greater the challenge, the great the reward when we catch one.

• Seldom are trout kept. Trout deserve to be caught more than once, and on occasion I will keep a few small ones for the frying pan. My thoughts are that big trout should be allowed to spawn and reproduce, and small ones should be released as gently as possible to avoid harming them.

• There are places where brook trout live that rarely see a fisherman. The fish are naïve, easily caught, and some anglers take advantage of this trait. Often, in such areas, the spot may be over-fished in one day by one greedy angler. Catching a limit, day after day, doesn’t prove someone a good fisherman. Instead, it points out what might be considered a serious character flaw.

• For years it’s been my practice to fish those back-of-beyond spots where brook trout hold at the base of a cedar tree. Such black swamps with brownish tannic-acid water have produced numerous sightings of bear and deer as I slip slowly from tree to tree, dapping a fly or single-hook wee spinner in the water between tree roots. The fish come hard to fly or lure, are easily hooked, and quickly released without taking them from the water.

• I have a problem with those anglers who regard trout fishing as a social event. The fish are not impressed by the size of our homes or the cost of our cars, so why clutter a stream with people who are there only to impress clients or other fishermen with fancy creels, fly rods and vests filled to overflowing? My thought is to leave such people in my dust as I continue my solitary search for solitude.

• People go through three trout fishing phases. The first is to catch as many fish as possible; the second is to catch the largest trout of all; the third is to exact a challenge from trout and tackle while giving the fish every chance to get away.

• I’m in Stage No. 3, but can remember as a kid passing through stages 1 and 2. It’s easy to remember the heavy catches, huge fish and the bragging of yesteryear, and I’m ashamed by the number of big trout taken during my earlier years. But those days are long gone, and my efforts now out-weigh my heavy catches of 30-40 years ago.

• For 10 years, guiding trout fishermen was my life and the major way to make a living. The hours were long and hard, the weather sometimes bitterly cold, and although memories of those days with large numbers of browns and steelhead still linger, they foster no strong feelings of returning to that way of life. It was a tough way to make a living, pay bills and put cooked groceries on the table.

• I fish for trout now because I want to, not to prove anything to myself or to others. I fish because of the tremendous enjoyment it brings me, and the challenge of hooking trout from difficult places with tackle that gives every edge to these fish.
  
  
• I now fish for trout because fishing soothes a troubled soul. It energizes tired fishermen, and it provides me with something I deeply love and something to look forward to in beautiful areas where it’s not necessary to rub shoulders with other anglers. It offers me peace and tranquility in a world of turmoil and unpleasantness.

Simple, Wild & Free

That’s me. A guy with simple ideals and needs that continue to make me very happy. And just think: an eight-inch brook trout can make me giddy for weeks on end. No amount of money, big house or fancy ride, can do the same.

Cold running water, wild places and wild fish, are why trout make me feel good in a way I’ve tried to explain but I still find it difficult to express myself any better than this. So, if you’ll excuse me now, I’ve got a date with a trout.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

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daverichey September 29th, 2009

A bow and arrow is pretty tough piece of equipment, but there are certain things that can mess up a bow. I know because I’ve probably made every mistake with a bow that any one person could make, including backing my car over one bow.

Don’t ask why it was lying on the driveway in plain sight or why I forgot about it. Duh!

I’ve used a haul rope to pull my bow up into a tree stand. Somewhere between the ground and me, the wheels fall off and the bow plummets to the ground. Often the bow lands on the end of one limb, and numerous bad things can and do go wrong.

Major bow problems

The string can break, it can knock the bow entirely out of fine-tuned condition, and in many cases the bow may need a complete overhaul. If the bow lands flat, it can knock the sights out of kilter, and necessitate sighting it in again.

A week ago I picked up my bow, checked the string as I always do to make certain there are no frayed ends, a serving that is coming undone, or any other visible sign of a problems. The bow string looked perfect.

I nocked an arrow, came back to full draw, and on the shot the string broke. One of the nocks came whipping back and hit me on the hand near my thumb, and made a slight cut.

That’s good. I’ve seen times when the string breaks where a bow literally self-destructs. All kinds of bad things happen, and it requires the aid of a talented bow tuner to put it back together again.

Get professional help with bows

I took my C.P. Oneida Eagle bow down to Marion to Claude Pollington’s Buck Pole Archery Shop, and although he was still in Colorado chasing elk, I had the string replaced. Then came the crucial test: shooting it to determine if the bow was still on or way out of whack.

I shot several shots on their range, and the first two arrows hit side by side in the bulls-eye. Skill, talent or good fortune? One always hopes for the former but must sometimes settle for the latter.

I nocked another arrow, aimed carefully, and stuck the arrow smack in the middle of the bulls-eye. Several more shots produced a grouping of arrows in the target that probably would have made The Whitetail Wizard happy with me.

The bow was brought home after the minor repair, and I’ve shot the bow in my basement target range, outdoors and most importantly, off my front deck at a target 15 feet below and 15 yards away.

I concentrate even harder on the downward shots, remembering to maintain my proper anchor point and bend from the waist. If a person doesn’t bend from the waist when shooting downward, the chances are very good that the anchor point will shift and the shots will go high or low. Seldom will the shot be accurate if your anchor point moves.

I’m not as good at shooting targets as I would like to be. Granted, as happened once the new string was attached, I shot a good group but I am not consistently as good as I feel I could be.

The bottom line for me is that I don’t concentrate enough on targets. It isn’t totally meaningless because I don’t shoot in leagues or major 3-D shoots, so I find myself not concentrating hard enough. However, it’s a completely different story when shooting at a bear, caribou, deer or other game.

My concentration is much better on game

My shots are picked well and I never take low percentage shots. My shots are always taken at a high-percentage angle, and in all sincerity, I can’t remember missing a bow shot at a whitetail in many years.

Of course, I wait for what I want to shoot at, and don’t miss. There are two reasons I don’t miss a deer or other game animal: I know how and when to draw on game, and I never rush my shots. I also know my bow and my ideal distance for a shot.

It’s far better to pick the time and place for the shot, and when the situation is perfect, ease back to full draw, hit your anchor point’s sweet spot, aim and make a smooth release. I’ve learned that shooting with a release aid gives me a consistent release that I never had when shooting with fingers.

Don’t follow what I say when I mention I’m usually not very good when shooting targets. Don’t do as I do; do as I say, and shoot as much as possible at targets. It will make most people a better game shot.

It doesn’t work for me, but when the time comes to shoot a buck, I don’t miss. And I take great comfort in making clean kills.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: accuracy, bow, dave richey, help, Michigan, outdoors, pinpoint, professional

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daverichey September 28th, 2009

Positive thinking can take anglers and hunters farther down the road to success than negative thoughts. I’m going walleye fishing later this week, and I’m already feel confident and positive about catching fish.

One thing I’ve noticed over many years in this fishing and hunting business, and writing about trips and photographing them during my freelance career and my 23+ years as the staff outdoor writer for The Detroit News, is that negative thinking is a downer. People who also plan to go fishing tonight are probably asking themselves: “I wonder if we’ll hit the walleye bite tonight? I hope we catch some fish.”

Think positively at all times

Not me. I know we will hit the bite, know we are going to catch some fish, and feel good about our prospects. I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit to being wrong on occasion, but none of us bat 1,000 percent. I find myself being successful far more often than not wit this attitude.

For me, my glass is always half-full while pessimists believe their glass is half empty. I am the eternal optimist. I try to see the upside about everything I do, and although that doesn’t work all the time, thinking positive thoughts are important to personal success.

I’ve used this analogy before. A red-white Dardevle has always worked for me when casting or trolling for northern pike. There is something special about the spoon’s wobble and paint job that turns on big pike.

So, do you suppose I’d make a pike fishing trip here in Michigan or in Ontario without carting along 10 pounds of Dardevles of various colors and sizes? It’s not very likely I would trust a day or week of my fishing time without bringing along lures that have always proved themselves as being superb fish-catchers.

Positive thinking leads to making better decisions

Positive thinking can make any fisherman or hunter better at these pastimes. Looking on the bright side of things is like carrying a lucky rabbit’s foot in your pocket. It gives you a mental edge, and often, that’s all it takes to become productive on the water or in the woods.

One of the key things about positive thinking is it has a tendency to point your brain in the proper direction, and that allows the human mind to filter out extraneous stuff and narrow our focus onto things that will help.

There isn’t a night I hunt deer that I don’t believe an opportunity will present itself. That I turn down many opportunities to shoot a buck or doe, or once or twice a year, hunt without seeing a single animal, is beside the point. It doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm or cause me to second-guess my reasons for being afield.

You see, I believe in myself and my personal abilities. I know what to do, when to do it, and am confident that my tactics will work. If they don’t, regardless of the reason, I still continue to believe in myself and that makes me much more confident when fishing or hunting.

Seek out opportunities & make ‘em work for you

Looking into the crystal ball doesn’t show me doom and gloom. It shows me a vast number of opportunities to succeed, to catch fish, shoot deer, and to do all of the other things that I write about.

It allows me to believe in myself. A personal belief that the fish will hit, the deer will move, the roosters will flush in front of the pointer, are deeply held beliefs. These thoughts bring hope to my heart, and with such positive thoughts, it makes me a better angler and hunter.

When and if something goes wrong, and the fish don’t bite or the game doesn’t move, it’s not my fault. There are days when such things do not happen, and it’s somewhat easier to chalk it up to how nature works. But, even though I get skunked on the lakes and streams at times, it’s not because I wasn’t thinking positively.

My beliefs are simple: I believe in my personal fishing and hunting abilities. I believe that I can catch fish and shoot a buck if I wish, and even though I pass up deer every year, the opportunities for success are there whether I choose to shoot or not. I believe my thoughts on fishing and hunting are positive in my mind, and that those thoughts and this whole concept is what makes me successful.

For me, believing in myself is very important. Anglers and hunters who strive to be optimistic rather than pessimistic are generally the most successful sportsmen of all.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: beliefs, buck, Dardevles, dave richey, doe, fishing, hunting, Michigan, northern pike, optimism, outdoors, positive thinking, whitetails

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daverichey September 26th, 2009

Over many years, readers gave asked me questions pertaining to deer and deer hunting. Each one is answered in some detail, but seldom is this information shared with other readers of my daily weblog.

Here are several questions asked of me in the past couple of weeks as we prepare for the archery deer season opener next week.

Q. – Are you happy when deer season finally ends after three months?

A. – No, I’m never happy to see the season end. But then, I often go out and sit in the woods and watch for deer providing they aren’t yarded up. There is no bow or firearm with me, but I’m studying deer habits, travel routes, and it is all a necessary part of hunting. I’ll spend an average of 87 of the 90-day season hunting, and watching it end feels like I’m losing an old friend.

Q. – What kind of a tree stand appeals to you?

A. – I enjoy an open tree stand where playing the wind is necessary. I use the Gorilla brand ladder stands made by Eastman Outdoors. They go up easy, come down easy, and put me about 15 feet off the ground. They are safe, stable, easy to climb, and work for me.

Q. – Name your favorite trees for a tree stand? And why?

A. — C’mon, that’s too easy. Cedars and pines. I prefer to sit back in the shadows of overhead boughs with heavy limbs on both sides. The only place I need to shoot is out in front and a bit to my left. I prefer deer to pass the stand from behind me and to my left, and that angle provides me with an easy broadside or quartering-away shot.

Q. – Do you cut shooting lanes for bow or firearm seasons?

A. – No, and here’s why. Remove a bunch of small trees, branches and other cover, and it removes the reason why bucks travel in that direction. I note where deer travel, pick a hole in the brush to shoot an arrow or bullet through, and do as little to disturb the area as possible.

Q. – How often (days in a row) will you sit in a stand?

A. – Much depends on the circumstances, but I try to sit in a new stand every evening or morning. If I’ve got a a big buck coming through on a regular basis, and if the wind is in my favor for two days in a row, I will probably sit in the same spot both days. The big problem is it is very easy for deer to pattern a hunter, and it becomes easier the more often you hunt a stand. I get bored sitting in one stand, looking at the same trees, and when we leased land, we had several tree stands and several coops or box blinds scattered around. It was easy to hunt a different stand almost every day. It paid off with good bucks.

Q. – What is your biggest fear when deer hunting?

A. – Getting spotted climbing into the stand. Each location has a minimum of two routes in and two out, and I always rotate. Even if I hunt the same stand twice in eight days, the second time I walk to the stand is by a different route than I used a week before. I always leave the stand by a different route than when entering it. Some of my stands have three and even four ways into them and away from them.

Q. – What is the biggest problem for most archery deer hunters?

A. – Playing the wind. The hunter must be downwind or down and slightly cross-wind whenever they hunt. How you avoid having deer wind you is up to you. Simply hunting only when you can have deer upwind of your position is great. Some believe in Scent-Lok suits, as I do, and others believe in sprays that help eliminate human odor. Being downwind of deer offers a great advantage. If the wind switches, leave.

Q. – Do you wear rubber boots? Are you that fanatical?

A. – Yes, I am that fanatical. Most of the time I wear knee-high rubber boots, but if I must walk through tall marsh grass I’ll often wear hip-boots or rubber waders. Years ago, when I wore leather boots, more than one deer trailed me to my stand. They don’t trail me now. I also try not to touch any vegetation with my clothing or skin.

Q. – Why do you pass up bucks that others would shoot?

A. – That’s easy. I’ve shot well over 260 during my lifetime, and I no longer derive any satisfaction from shooting small bucks. I’d rather hunt for an old doe because they offer more challenge than a young buck. Hunting doesn’t always mean a kill for me, and if a wee 6-point comes by, I draw and aim as if I’m going to shoot, and then ease off and let him walk. I no longer need to kill a buck every year, and I didn’t shoot one during last season, but passed up 30 bucks I could have shot. Passing up bucks can be more fun than shooting one.

Stay tuned and we’ll do this again soon. Send your questions in.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: dave richey, deer, hunting, Michigan, outdoors, preparation, questions, season

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daverichey September 25th, 2009

Let’s face it. An increase, whether 25 or 100 percent, for fishing and hunting licenses is needed. More conservation officers are needed, but where will the money come from to pay for them and other state programs?

It will come from the same people who have always paid for it: the anglers and hunters. We help fund so many programs, and yet the Department of Natural Resources is always broke. Some sorely needed officers will probably be laid off or have the hours cut.

Some senseless business Where will this madness of state government end? It will end with fishermen and hunters funding more of the increases. And as we pay more for the privilege to fish and hunt, other user groups will skate and not pay anything. It’s always been so, and that ticks me off.

I well remember when anglers no longer were able to let their wife fish free on their license, and when Mama had to buy her own fishing license, and people griped. And then, when salmon were planted in the Great Lakes, it was determined that anglers had to have a special Salmon-Trout Stamp to fish for those species, and they griped but paid their way. That Salmon-Trout Stamp, which was a lovely thing to look at, eventually gave way to the All-Species designation that we have today. The loveliness is gone, but we can fish for those species.

Fishermen and hunters have paid their way, and carried other user groups on their shoulders for many years. That monkey on our back has turned into a two-ton mountain gorilla, and it’s time for other outdoor user groups to pony up some money.

We have nonresident fishing and hunting licenses, and those sportsmen from out of stamp must pay more to fish or hunt than a resident. That’s only fair.

Some hard questions and more difficult answers But, I ask you these questions: Why don’t we have a resident and nonresident forager’s permit to pick berries, leeks, mushrooms and nuts? Why not charge the backpacker, biker, canoer and hiker for the privilege they’ve taken for granted forever?

I am not anti-tourist but I am against those user groups that do not carry their weight. There are areas all through the northern counties where hordes of mushroom pickers flock from out-of-state. Some of them pick as many mushrooms as they can find but spend very little while enjoying our natural resources. They have a free ride.

They take but give nothing back. Why should foragers skate while anglers and hunters foot all the bills?

Is there any reason why bird watchers can participate in their passion without paying for the privilege. The backpacker, biker, canoer and hiker are putting nothing into the economy but are using the outdoors. Shouldn’t a canoer have a canoeing license?

Every user group should pay Should there be user fees for all outdoor activities? Granted, anglers catch fish and take them home to eat. The same is true for hunters who shoot bear, deer, elk, grouse, hares, pheasants, quail, rabbits and woodcock, so I’d appreciate the DNR telling me why berry, leek, nut and mushroom pickers can pick and eat, and why a foragers license isn’t required?

Where is the fairness here? Obviously, there isn’t any. But there should be a user fee for all outdoor activities. Everyone who uses the outdoors in one way or another should pay something for that privilege.

The backpacker, biker, canoer and hiker might gripe that theirs is a non-consumptive sport. OK, I can agree with that but one fact remains: why should they be granted special privileges? They too are part of an ever-increasing population on the water and in the field. They deserve to pay a fee to use the outdoors.

Hell, I can hear it now. Richey must have fallen out of his tree stand, landed on his noggin and is having a bad case of the stupids. Nah, it’s nothing so dramatic as that.

It’s just that this planet is crowded, and many user groups rely on anglers and hunters to foot all the bills to manage our resources. We’ve been doing it for years, and manufacturers who produce boating, fishing and hunting tackle pay big bucks in excise taxes. I can’t understand why they don’t gripe about why others never pay their fair share.

Is anyone out there listening? There’s no doubt in my mind that my rantings will fall on some deaf ears, and this everybody-pays philosophy will be as popular as a hobo crashing a family reunion. However, it’s time for all other outdoor user groups to begin paying for their outdoor pleasures.

Raise the fishing and hunting license fees a modest amount, and start making other groups pay to watch the state’s birds or pick mushrooms on state land. Each, in his own way, is using our environment without paying for that privilege.

Let the resident foragers pay a $5 user fee and the nonresident can get tapped for $10. Require a different type of higher fee for those who pick and sell mushrooms. Canoers pay a rental fee, but they pay no user fee to travel downstream backwards. The examples could go on and on, but any right-thinking person should realize that everyone should pay … instead of just anglers, boaters and hunters.

The DNR needs money. How about charging a user fee? Lansing, is anyone paying attention down there?

Granted, we’d need more conservation officers for enforcement but we already need them. It would generate more state income to pay for those officers, and increased revenue might lead to better relations between the sportsmen and the regulatory agencies that are being paid to wisely manage our resources.

Our resources are not being managed wisely unless all user groups pay their fair share. And that, my friends, is the end of that story.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: anglers, backpackers, birdwatchers, boaters, dave richey, DNR, foragers, hunters, Michigan, nonresidents, outdoors, residents, user fees

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