Here it is May already and the fishing season is starting. I launched the boat yesterday afternoon and checked on it this morning hoping to find it still floating. It was. Next week we’ll be starting the season with a lake trout fishing trip, but before that there are morel mushrooms to hunt, brook trout to catch in the Manistee river, and a new English Setter puppy to bring home.

My friend Wayne has already caught some great steelhead below Tippy Dam in late March and I’ll post some of his photos if I can figure out how to get the images he emailed me into this blog. Mike, another friend, was sharing with me stories of all the perch he caught on Suttons Bay this spring. A couple of turkey hunting friends told me of the big toms they almost got this spring. And my close bird hunting friend Mike W. emailed me a picture of a woodcock chick that his dog found while on a woodcock banding expedition. So spring is here in full bloom as they say and there isn’t enough time to do all the fun stuff.

If you are ever in Jupiter, Florida and want to go reef fishing for snapper, grouper, and a multitude of other species call Cory at Native Fishing Charters. I’ve been out with many of the different boats and Cory is my favorite. He’s honest, works hard, and never quits trying to get you into fish. Here is an example of a regular sized mutton snapper I caught on his boat.

I drove through Fishtown this afternoon and it looked cold on the docks and even colder out on the lake.  Still, I could see that is wasn’t rough and the longer I gazed, I thought it might be fun to be out there all dressed for the cold. I could probably have talked myself into going out only the boat is in a big barn in Suttons Bay all snuggled in for the winter.Fishing this time of year out on Lake Michigan would be more fun than ice fishing, which I think is a punishing sport. When I ice fish I am reminded of how stupid I am standing on the ice staring a round circle of water cut in the ice while I slowly and painfully freeze to death. And on top of that I’ve probably wasted twenty or thirty bucks on gear and bait. And, as I stand there, I wonder why I didn’t remember the last time I spent  twenty or thirty bucks to stand there and freeze painfully and slowly to death and how I could be so dumb as to repeat the performance. Ice fishing is sort of like hangovers. When you have one you vow not to drink again, but you do. The next time I think ice fishing sounds good I’m going to stare into a circle of liquid, only it will be a short glass of whisky and I while I might be spending a few bucks, I won’t be freezing slowly and painfully to death.

Here’s some of the best photos from our summer charters out of Leland. To view any of them larger, just click the photo!

Quite a haul of salmon from off North Manitou Island in Lake Michigan (near Leland).