Matt and Steve kicked around for a couple beautiful days on the islands and shot some fun video.  The islands are the perfect summer destination even if they didn’t have great fishing… but they also have GREAT fishing.

Beaver Island on the Fly from fishbeer on Vimeo.

Traverse Magazine, This Summer: Discover Lake MIchigan’s Beaver Island by Dianna Stampfler.  June 2010

Kick off the summer of 2010 with a trip to Beaver Island, the Great Lake’s most remote inhabited island, in the waters of Lake Michigan off of Charlevoix.

People come to Beaver Island for its abundant nature and solitude and much of what the island offers is free. With over 100 miles of scenic roads, old two-track trails and beaches, it is ideal for hiking and biking. Pristine woods welcome nature lovers for bird watching and photography, as well as sportsmen looking or hunting and fishing opportunities.

Visitors can expect to discover a wealth of ecological resources, including nature preserves and state land available for walking and exploring. Approximately 35 percent of the Island – located about 30 miles north of Charlevoix in Northern Lake Michigan – is state forest land.

Check Out These Naturally Awesome Beaver Island Adventures

Beaver Island Ecotours: Offering a wide variety of tours for outdoor enthusiasts, such as driving and walking tours, inland lake tours, biking tours and hiking and camping trips. Visit sandy beaches, bogs and inland lakes, marshes, cedar swamps and hardwood forests in search of loons, osprey, turtles, salamanders, deer and a variety of flora and fauna for family enjoyment. beaverislandecotours.com

Bonadeo’s Beaver Island Boat Charters: Explore the outer islands of the archipelago such as High Island, Hog Island and Squaw Island, on half-day or full-day excursions ideal for singles, couples, families and groups. Learn the history of the island lighthouses and former residents as you play a modern day explorer in Northern Lake Michigan. beaverislandboatcharters.com

Indigo Guide Service: Guided fly fishing and casting trips for smallmouth bass, carp and other species on Beaver Island and its surround islands make for some of the best flats-style fishing in the Midwest. indigoguideservice.com

Inland Seas School of Kayaking: Paddle the clear-blue waters of the Beaver Island archipelago where a variety of outdoor experiences are offered for all ages, including sea kayak trips in the St. James Harbor and on Lake Michigan or naturalist-led kayak eco-tours on the inland lakes. Be on the lookout for loons, eagles, osprey and beaver lodges during the morning or afternoon excursions or take part in a full-moon paddle and learn lunar lore while listening to the nighttime sounds of Northern Michigan. inlandseakayaking.com

Lakesports & Paradise Bay Gifts: This is the place to pick up a fishing pole, bait or tackle as well as rent canoes, kayaks, boats with motors, pedal boats, bikes and camp gear. Also offering hourly moped rentals. beaverisland.org/lakesports/index.html

Paradise Bay Dive Shop: Located on Beaver Island’s Paradise Bay – one of the finest harbors in the Great Lakes. The water surrounding the island contains shipwrecks and other underwater scenery just waiting to be explored. Sign up for Scuba instruction, snorkeling, diving classes, cruises aboard The Resolute or out-island adventures. paradisebaydiveshop.com

Beaver Island Boat Company Tours: Beaver Island Boat Company’s knowledgeable and well seasoned tour drivers will guide you through Beaver Island’s beautiful scenery and intriguing history, while giving you an idea of why island life is so unique. Your journey in one of our fifteen passenger vans to the southern tip of Beaver Island will take you through its beautiful dunes and forests and alongside several of the island’s pristine inland lakes, bays and beaches. Ultimately, the tour will pause to visit and climb one of the oldest lighthouses on the Great Lakes, Beaver Head Lighthouse. This is a great way to see the island for eco-adventurers who may not be able to walk or bike the many trails but still want to be surrounded by nature. bibco.com

Visitor Info

Visitors will find two established campgrounds on Beaver Island, both owned and operated by the Island Townships and open from April 1 to the end of November. There are no reservations at either campground and the primitive sites are available on a first-come, first serve basis. Both campgrounds provide pit toilets and hand pumps, there are no showers at either facility.

Saint James Township Campground is located on the north end of the Island, off Donegal Bay Road one mile outside the St. James Harbor. The campground and its 12 sites overlook Lake Michigan and Garden Island, with views of Squaw and Whiskey Islands. ($5 per night, per campsite).
Bill Wagner Peaine Township Campground is located on the east side of the Island, seven miles south of the harbor and accessible via the East Side Road. This 22-site campground is on the shore of Lake Michigan with a view of the west coast of mainland Michigan. ($10 per night, per campsite)
 
Beaver Island is also home to the Central Michigan University biological field station, offering academic classes in biology, other sciences, and the arts. Faculty and students utilize the woods and waters surround the Beaver Archipelago as their outdoor classroom for field trips and lectures.
 
After a day, or more, of exploring the rustic nooks and crannies of Beaver Island, visitors can find luxurious packages at the East Wind Day Spa & Hair Salon (beaverisland.org/eastwind/index.html), where facials, massages, manicures and pedicures are offered to help relax both the mind and body.A variety of dining options can be found on the island, with Nina’s Restaurant at the Beaver Island Lodge offering a fine dining menu and extensive wine list.
 
Situated adjacent to Lake Michigan, Beaver Island Lodge (beaverislandlodge.com) has been a host to visitors since the 1950s and is one of many lodging properties on the island. Other noteworthy accommodations include The Brothers Place (beaverisland.org/brothers-place/index.html) – a rustic Northwoods lodge originally built on a 20-acre parcel in 1928 as a retreat house by the Christian Brothers religious order and Shanoule B&B (beaverisland.org/shanoule/index.html) – a rustic three-suite bed-and-breakfast tucked away on a 40 acre secluded wooded lot.

Getting to Beaver Island is easy. The Beaver Island Boat Company (bibco.com) runs from early April through December, with limited runs in the early and late season. The 32-mile ride takes approximately two hours. Fresh Air Aviation (freshairaviation.net) and Island Airways (islandairways.com) both provide plane service to the island. All three services operate out of Charlevoix.
 
Those searching for a truly removed up-north destination will find it on Beaver Island, one of the purist four-season vacation destinations in Michigan. When it comes to natural escapes, nothing compares to America’s Emerald Isle – Beaver Island. For more information: 231-448-2505, BeaverIsland.org.

Michigan Outdoor News, Beaver Island’s fishing bonanza: Sight-fishing for carp by George Rowe

A few years ago, ardent anglers from all over these United States and some foreign places traveled to Beaver Island for the fishing — some of the best smallmouth bass fishing on the planet.

Cormorants are generally blamed for the demise of that fishing.  But cormorant control measures have been practiced on the island in recent years and the bass fishery may be on the rebound.  Now, the lowly carp is a new star of the islands.  Steve West, the enthusiastic Chamber of Commerce guru for the island, calls carp the "Golden Bones of Beaver Island," comparing the carp, of course , to the bonefish of Florida and the Bahamas.  And, it isn’t a bad comparison.  But comparing the fishing to angling for permit off Florida or the Bahamas might be an even better comparison.

Bonefish rarely get to be much heavier than 10 pounds, but the permit grow to enormous sizes and the average fish might be close to the weight of a Beaver Island carp.  The fight in both fish is similar.

This is why one might see in St. James Harbor a strange skiff with a poling platform at the stern and a long push-pole lashed to the deck.  This craft is used to move slowly along the shallow flats, as those aboard search for fish.

This fishing is really part hunting.  First you find the fish, then you work to get in position for a cast.  The fish is apt to ignore your offering, so you go in search of another fish.  Fortunately, there are lots of carp, so you’ll get another opportunity. shortly.

 When I heard about this fishing, I was eager to try it.  As one with a great deal of experience with bonefish and permit in Florida and the Bahamas, it would be very interesting for me to sample some new flats fishing.

I ran some weekend charters while living in Florida, fishing the upper Keys, and visited many locations in the Bahamas for bonefish.  This is some of the finest fishing in the world.  The skiff, set up to operate well in shallow water, is poled across the shallow flats, in gin-clear water no more than 15 or 20 inches deep.  The fish often are spotted "tailing," showing their tails and dorsal fins as they root around in the soft bottom for cabs, shrimp, and other tasty morsels.  You also can spot them just swimming along slowly, cruising.  The fact that they’re often in small schools helps in seeing them.  Sometimes, you first see mud where the fish have been feeding and stirring up the bottom.

Fishing for the Beaver Island carp is exactly the same, except that the fish are easier to see.  Carp are darker and larger, averaging perhaps 15 to 20 pounds.

It’s a good idea to wear polarized sunglasses, especially if the day is cloudy or if there’s much of a chop on the water.  When we were out there, the sun was bright for much of the day and Lake Michigan was as placid as a mill pond, so it was pretty easy to spot the fish.

 Carp congregate in the shallows as soon as the water warms enough for spawning.  The best time is apparently from mid-June through August.

The best fishing technique is to cast a fly that imitates a crayfish or some other small crustacean.  When a fish is spotted, the boat handler maneuvers the skiff close enough so that the angler can reach the fish and drop the fly well in front of it.

When the fish approaches the fly, the angler begins a hopping retrieve, right in front of the fishes nose in hopes the carp will turn and pursue the fly, taking it in his mouth.  More often than not, however, the fish will ignore the offering and continue to cruise.

Sometimes the fish will show some interest by turning after the fly and then turning away again.  Like bonefish, carp are easily spooked, and they’re not likely to take any lure.  As a matter of fact, they often scoot right out of sight.

They don’t seem too sensitive to the waving of the rod or even the little splash when the fly hits the water.  They’re sensitive to sound, however, so if the boat handler makes too much noise with the pole or if a wader makes much noise with his feet, they quickly will swim away.

Gearing up

The tackle we used was sturdy fly-fishing gear — an 8-weight rod with a matching weight-forward or torpedo floating line.  The leader was about 5 feet of 10-pound-test mono.  The flies were large, mostly multi-colored but dark, and most were weighted slightly.

Expect to make good casts to many fish before hooking up.  Our guide said carp are poor predators and not very effective in chasing down prey.  Apparently their vision is not great.  When you do hook up, set the hook and hang on.  These fish will make long initial runs and yet another long run after you battle them back to the boat.  They are large, of course, very strong, and they have terrific stamina.

The reels the guide uses are large with a good drag and there is ample backing behind the fly line.  You’ll see it on virtually every fish.  The fight is frantic.  A carp will run, run and run then get sideways and resist all the way back to the boat.  They are great fun to catch.

Some of the reward is the setting — way back in some remote bay by Hog Island, all be yourself, in a pristine wilderness, surrounded by crystal clear water.

The cormorants are still very much evident, despite serious efforts to limit their impact on the area.  They have created absolutely barren rocky ruins on some of the smaller islands where they have roosted, killed all the trees and other foliage with their droppings.  The new import — the goby — may have a good impact on the fishing.  The cormorants eat them and thus might eat fewer bass fry.  The goby is also bass food.

The smallmouth bass fishery has apparently recovered somewhat.  There is again an open season for them, starting July 1, and you can sight-fish for them just as we did for carp.

We spotted many smallmouths, including a few fish that had been tagged by CMU researchers aboard a vessel operating in the area.

If you want to try this fishing, contact Kevin Morlock who operates the Indigo Guide Service out of Walhalla.  Comfortable accommodations are available on Beaver Island.

Want to try sight-fishing for big, powerful fish in a beautiful setting?  Try those Beaver Island "golden bones."

This YouTube video was shot in August of 2009 with Brandon Butler of Driftwood Outdoors, Bill Konway of Bill Konway Photography and Kevin Morlock of Indigo Guide Service.  In the early part of the salmon run we often throw crankbaits to kings in the lower parts of our west Michigan rivers.  The kings are fresh, strong and full of fight!

Bait debate: Some seek tighter PM River regulations by Brian Mulherin

A group of guides, anglers and landowners along the Pere Marquette River has been lobbying the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment to do more to protect spawning salmon and steelhead in the Pere Marquette River, which they believe to be in steady decline.

The way the group chose to try to protect those fish was to ask the DNRE for special “gear restriction” regulations on the river from Gleason’s Landing downstream to Walhalla Road. Gear restrictions can ban live or natural bait or can outlaw everything but fly fishing on a given stretch of water. The DNRE declined, spelling out its reasoning in a report released this week.  Anglers will have a chance to “wade in” on the topic — and the fate of several other rivers — at a series of public meetings in June.

“Although there is much public support for more gear restrictive regulations in the watershed, there is similar strong public opposition to additional gear restrictions on the river,” the DNRE report states, noting that catch-and-release is prevalent on the river.

The DNRE report also states “a majority of anglers of the Pere Marquette fishing river sections outside the no-kill water prefer to have the option of angling with a variety of gear types that might include bait such as spawn or wigglers as well as with artificial flies or lures.

Kevin Morlock, a river guide who spearheaded what he called a “grassroots” effort to get special “no bait” regulations on the river, said he believes this has been among the worst years for steelhead fishing he can remember in more than 20 years on the river. The Pere Marquette gets no stocked steelhead and he believes because of that, the naturally reproducing fish deserve some special protection.

“We put an effort in to see if we could make some arguments toward the PM because really we have no other alternative, if it’s true that the fishery is declining,” Morlock said. “Wild fisheries shouldn’t be treated like hatchery fisheries.”

Morlock said there’s no hard science backing his claim that the fishery is in decline, but he believes that’s all the more reason to tread carefully in what is allowed on the P.M.

The Pere Marquette Watershed Council board voted to nominate the new stretch for gear restrictions, citing the popularity and “proven qualities” of the flies only water.

Ron Henrickson, an avid live bait fisherman for trout in the lower P.M.

“I’d hate to discourage anybody from any method they use that’s legal right now,” Henrickson said. “My grandson would probably not want to go if he could only fish flies.

“The next step will be catch-and-release-only, and I like to eat fish. You know, a lot of fly fishermen who practice catch-and-release kill fish, too. They might not know it, but they do.

Henrickson was referring to studies that a percentage of fish caught and released can die from the stress, even when handled carefully.

One of Henrickson’s concerns is loss of access for wading anglers. One of the Pere Marquette’s more popular access sites during spring, early summer and fall is the Taylor Road access, also called “the Maple Leaf.” If gear was restricted, the anglers who use spawn and worms would no longer be permitted to fish there by those methods.

“There’s more bait anglers than they know,” Henrickson said.

Morlock’s letter-writing campaign to DNRE officials and state lawmakers was supported by the Ludington and Scottville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau.  Several lawmakers have also been contacted.

Morlock said in spite of that, he’s not optimistic that the DNR will put the stretch from Gleason’s Landing to Walhalla Road into the gear restricted category.  Morlock said it’s unfortunate because the number of restricted miles in the state is only revisited once a decade or so.

Paul Drewry, an avid fly angler who also casts crankbaits to king salmon in the fall, supports the idea of more restricted miles of water.

“A group of guys in Walhalla have been driving that,” Drewry said. “I think it’s a great idea — not necessarily bait restrictions, but to restrict the take of spawning fish during the run, whether steelhead or salmon. The bottom line is we have a naturally producing river there and I’ve always wondered what a difference it would make if we were to protect those spawning fish.”

Drewry said he believes the restrictions on the Au Sable have helped its fishery and its reputation, making the area more desirable as a fishing destination.

“As a businessman, I kind of like that idea,” Drewry said.

But not all businessmen agree.  Bob Viglietti, owner of Pere Marquette Sport Center, said he doesn’t see how anyone but the guides pushing the issue are going to benefit.

“There’s no practical reason to make that stretch of water ‘no live bait.’ It’s not going to change the ecology, it’s purely money driven. Plus, it’s going to negatively affect my business.”

Aaron Persenaire, an avid steelhead angler from Ludington, said he doesn’t think restricting gear would accomplish much in the grand scheme of things.

“Personally, I would disagree with a new restriction, being that we already have a flies-only section on the river,” Persenaire said. “I’m not totally against a flies-only stretch on the river, but one is enough.”

Morlock said another aspect to adding gear restrictions might be to clean up the behavior on the river.

He noted there just aren’t as many run-ins with belligerent, territorial anglers on the upper “flies-only” stretches, even though there are more anglers present at times.

“All of our peak areas (on the lower river) during peak times are unwelcoming to families and visiting fishermen,” Morlock said. “When a family can’t go to a public fishing area during the best fishing times, you’ve got a major problem.”

Morlock said having more conservation officers enforce the rules would be nice, but he knows that’s not likely to happen in Michigan’s current economic state.

MEETINGS SCHEDULED
ON TROUT STREAM REGULATIONS
The local meetings, all at 7 p.m.,  are:
 MONDAY, JUNE 7, at the Bitely Conservation Club, 12016 Woodbridge (M-37) in Bitely.
 TUESDAY, JUNE 8, at the Crawford Au Sable Primary School Cafeteria, 306 Plum St., Grayling.
 THURSDAY, JUNE 10, at the Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center, 6093 E. M-115, Cadillac.
 THE FULL list of meetings is available at www.michigan.gov/dnr.

SCOTTVILLE — Attempting to stop sea lamprey with an electric barrier has become a thing of the past on the Pere Marquette River, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials. The federal agency recently announced it no longer will operate its electric weir there and will resume treating the river only with chemical lampricides.

Officials said the aging barrier didn’t work well and would be too costly to replace. So its river-bottom electrodes won’t be powered up this March as they have been since the 1980s.

“We’ve reduced the larval populations (sea lamprey) in the river to 10 to 20 percent of what the average is without the barrier, but that is still thousands of larvae that still require treatment,” said Greg Klingler a biologist with the FWS Marquette Biological Station.

“We get some benefits from the (electric) weir, but it’s not cost-effective.”

Critics are pleased with the decision. Some claim the electric field hinders the upstream steelhead migration. Others say its presence spoils the river.

No one is happy about the need to continue chemical treatment of the river with TFM, (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol), a lampricide used to kill lamprey in their larval stage. It is applied every three to four years and has no toxic effects on other fish, although it can affect certain aquatic insects.

The electric barrier was to have made chemical treatment obsolete.

“Having the electric weir and chemical treatment is a double insult to the river,” said Paul Bigford of Branch, president of the Pere Marquette Watershed Council. “Neither seems to eliminate the lamprey, and even though they have had the electric weir running at quite an expense, it has not made a single TFM treatment unnecessary.”

Bigford said his group agrees with the FWS decision to turn the device off.

So does Kevin Morlock, owner of Indigo Guide Service in Walhalla. Morlock, a fishing guide, said he plans to advertise that the electric barrier is kaput.

The Pere Marquette is his company’s “home” river. Winter steelhead fishing, he said, has suffered since the barrier went in. He and other anglers have challenged the FWS to improve fish passage around the barrier.

When the barrier was built in the late 1980s, there was no way for migrating fish to get by it. It was modified twice during the ensuing years to make it easier for migrating fish to get upstream. It will pass from 2,000 to 7,000 steelhead annually, according to Klingler, who estimates 50 percent to 70 percent of the run gets upstream.

“I’m 100 percent in favor of its removal,” Morlock said. “It’s had a significant effect on the upstream migration of steelhead and the downstream migration of young salmon.

“We were originally assured that the fish barrier was going to allow unrestricted fish passage. They made it sound like the bugs were worked out and we would get rid of the evil chemicals. I believed it, and I am embarrassed that I supported it.”

Electric lamprey barriers have been in use on three Michigan rivers, including the Jordan and Ocqueoc rivers. They are among the various methods the FWS uses to control lamprey in an effort to meet a Great Lakes Fishery Commission goal of reducing TFM use by 20 percent this year.

The agency also uses trapping, sterile male releases and low-head dams where appropriate.

The Jordan River electric barrier was turned off four to five years ago and removed last year for similar reasons. The Ocqueoc River barrier continues to operate effectively, Klingler said. But electricity is turned on only when water levels rise to a point that lamprey might swim over the low-head dam that was built to stop them.

Building a similar dam on the Pere Marquette would likely be infeasible, Klingler said. Replacement of the barrier was estimated at $500,000, plus another $60,000 to $70,000 a year to operate. TFM treatments cost $500,000 every three to four years.

It is uncertain whether lamprey migrated upstream before during or after the electric barrier was turned, but they managed to get upstream. TFM is more of sure thing, Klingler said. It kills several lamprey year classes at once.

Lamprey trapping will continue at the electric barrier site. The animals caught there are used in the FWS sterile-male program. But the site will be less productive without the electricity, Klingler said. It typically contributes 250 to 300 male lamprey to the 1,500 to 2,000 collected from Michigan rivers for the program.

“I’ve got no qualms about treating the river with TFM in the future,” said Jim Dexter, the Lake Michigan basin fisheries coordinator for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. “It’s a good decision with regard to the FWS and fish commission business model, too.

“That barrier was expensive to operate and maintain. It was time consuming and it didn’t work the way everyone had hoped. The river still needed to be treated with TFM.”

E-mail Howard Meyerson at hmeyerson@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/HMeyerson

Photo Credits and Captions:
1st photo – Courtesy Photo | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The electric lamprey barrier facility on the Pere Marquette River in Scottville was deemed ineffective, so U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials turned it off.
2nd photo – Courtesy Photo | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  A close-up of an eel-like sea lamprey, considered an invasive species.
3rd photo – Press Graphic
4th Photo – Howard Meyerson | The Grand Rapids Press.  Anglers drift in search of salmon on the lower Pere Marquette River in the fall.

This article by Brandon Butler of Driftwood Outdoors appeared in Eastern Fly Fishing in the January/February 2010 Issue.  This article does a great job of describing what Great Lakes carp and smallmouth bass fishing is like and also describes the islands many qualities very well.

Beaver Island, MI.
Northern Island Angling Paradise

By: Brandon Butler

I will post a copy of the article on the site after their next issue comes out.  For now you can purchase a hard copy or download a free pdf of the issue from their site… click here to download the pdf from their site.

Indigo Guide Mark Knee posted a video/slide show of his favorite photos from 2009 set to music.  He shows off some nice pics of salmon, steelhead, trout and our beautiful Pere Marquette River.  Mark wants to thank everyone for a great year!  Mark posted this on YouTube on December 17, 2009.  You can also view here on YouTube.

Mark also run his own map business… TrophyMaps

You can view other articles and videos on our Articles & Videos Page

May your future and not your stockings be filled with steelhead!!!!!!!