Despite the financial ruin, no propane, feelings of despair and depression....and despite what will now go down as the coldest and snowiest winter on record in weather history in MI- right during the peak of our fantastic December, January and February winter steelhead runs and guiding which we have done for 20 years without interruption until this year, coupled with the Great Lakes being 100% frozen over from Ontario to Superior, our amazing and resilient Michigan spring -fed rivers and tail waters like the Muskegon River, still remains open from bank to bank. Regardless of - 20 F nights and single digit temp days...not even shelve ice!. This is a true testimonial to the hundreds if not a thousand tiny underground spring seeps that come out of the rocky morainal cliffs even 8 miles downstream from the spill gates at the dam. Michigan's ground is sandy glacial till, like the chalkstream downs in England that trap every drop of water and stores them in subterranean caverns releasing them as little spring creeks- pushing out water between 48 and 59F all year long.
You could see these areas along the river like the one pictured above with the watercress/duckwort alkaline loving weeds...these springs save trout in brutal hot summers, keep steelhead cozy in brutal cold winters...the MO is getting fresh fish despite all the polar vortex. All is gonna rip loose soon and warm days ahead- with all the lack of winter pressure, the spring run will be amazing imho.....the agony has to come to an end...cant afford the Prozac anymore.......On the positive side, the river has been quiet...rested, fish not harassed....peacefulness is a nice part of brutal winters...nature in its magnificent full circle..last year Europe had the brutal blob of arctic air mass of the Polar Vortex- Alaska and the west are part of the flip flop of that warm air mass over Europe...this year its our turn!...c'est la vie!...natural cycles not the political crap!..BTW two days ago we broke the cold record set in the late 1880's....was it global whatever back then?....peace , cheers..and acceptance
WE ARE READY AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS...THE WORST IS BEHIND US...LETS PRAY!.....NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I APPRECIATED THE HONOR OF GUIDING AS MUCH AS I DO NOW AFTER THIS WINTER....WHEN SOMETHING IS TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU WITH NO CONTROL, THE DESIRE BURNS EVER SO STRONGER TO GO OUT AND DO WHAT I SO LOVE!....THIS WINTER'S EXILE, AKIN TO JAIL TIME, LETS YOU REFLECT AND APPRECIATE ON WHAT YOU HAVE LOST, WHAT YOU HAVE...AND WHAT CAN AND HOPEFULLY WILL BE TO COME!
EVENTS/MEDIA...........Special thanks to all!...Rich, Jason and Shawn- Royal Oak Orvis, Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s Alden Hoksbergen and to the great crowd of hearty souls that endured the -10 F below temperatures and the western blizzard to come out last Thursday night to buy my books , enjoy the outstanding micro brews of GL Brewing Co. so kindly offered by Alden and hear my presentation and see my DVD on Selectivity...hope you survive the next blizzard and stay warm and enjoy the books!
I will see you at the Detroit Expo this weekend at the author's booth and at Great Lakes Fly Fishing's booth signing books for Glenn Blackwood. They did not ask me to speak this year , but I hope to do so next year.
March 12th--I will be at the rescheduled Nomad "Tie One On" fly tying event, at Schmotz Brewery in Grand Rapids tying some new cool fusion flies featuring some great realistic products from Hareline and J;son Sweden.
March 15th- I will be doing a daylong presentation on Selectivity and Steelhead Dreams at Orvis Cleveland with the noted Jim Lampros. We again are fortunate to have Great Lakes Brewing CO. of Cleveland be there to offer free a unique micro brew beer tasting during my presentation.
And finally...thanks so much Ross at Fly Fisherman for the kind review you did on 'Selectivity'.....it is a great issue with awesome articles by Vokey, Rosenbauer, Bright, Mallard..much more...good stuff!