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
The article "The Pere Marquette – A Two Way Street" by Kevin Morlock appeared in Beaver Island’s NorthernIslander in the November 2009 issue. You can visit the NorthernIslander web site here.
The Pere Marquette – A Two Way Street by Kevin Morlock
 Jeff Powers with his 39 inch king salmon |
Spending the last few summers working as a fishing guide on Beaver Island has become more than a means to and end, it’s become my lifestyle. The easy going demeanor of the island, inspired by the residents who make up the fabric of Beaver, has provided the perfect haven for expanding my business and charting new territory in the world of Michigan fly fishing.
Of course, I’ve learned to recognize Beaver Island for what it is; a throw back to a way life once lived all across America. A place where community means something. Neighbors helping neighbors, and individuals working together to inspire a sense of togetherness amongst all who
 Guide and author Kevin Morlock |
carve their life from the pristine natural elements of a place yet to spoiled by the hands of progress.It has taken a couple years, but I’m really beginning to feel at home. I hope it’s because you recognize my understanding of how special your place is; just as it is. My goal has been to fit in as a believer in Beaver’s mystique, while bringing the right kind of visitors to your home. Hopefully, my fishing clients have made a little impact on the overall economic achievement of the island.
One aspect of advancement I’ve made with the locals that has made me especially proud, is the fact that some of you are beginning to come down to fish with me at my home near Ludington on the beautiful Pere Marquette River.
Dr. Jeff Powers and his son, Forrest, came down this past August to fish for King salmon. Jeff, an avid Beaver Island salmon fisherman, caught the largest king of his life, a 39-incher.
The Pere Marquette River is a very special waterway. The history of the river includes the first stocking of brown trout in North America, and today the PM is the only major river in West Michigan that doesn’t receive stockings of salmon and steelhead. All of the fish we target are naturally produced fish. I assume that you, my friends from the pristine
 Forrest Powers and a king salmon taken on the Pere Marquette River |
natural paradise of Beaver Island, can appreciate this fact.
The last two summers, I have hosted Indiana based outdoor writer Brandon Butler on Beaver Island. Aside from serving as Public Affairs Specialist for Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources, Brandon writes for a number outdoor publications, including Michigan’s Woods N Water News. He’s fished with me a number of times on the PM, as well.
“I just don’t know how you can stand it, dividing your time between the two paradises you call home,” he said. “Of course, I tell all my fly fishing friends about how amazing Beaver Island is, but that’s not to take away from the Pere Marquette. I’ve lived in Montana and Colorado, and given one day left to live, you’d find my standing knee deep somewhere in the steelhead and salmon filled waters of the PM. There’s definitely be some Beaver Island “sand in my shoes,” though.’”
Gavin West has taken several guided trips with me on the Pere Marquette. We’ve fly fished for spring steelhead, and thrown both crankbaits and flies for fall salmon. Each trip has been wonderful. I’ve greatly enjoyed learning more about life on Beaver Island from my new friends.
"Steelhead fishing on the Pere Marquette with Kevin is amazing. He and the other guides who work for his company, Indigo Guide Service, are just simply great guys and incredible fishermen. There’s lots of fish, lots of action, and the beauty of the Pere Marquette River is breathtaking. But what really brings it all together, is the strength and aerial acrobatics of the fish in the PM. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced anywhere else."
 Gavin West and a steelhead |
You have been so gracious to me as a new business person on the Island. I can only hope I have progressed in ways that have made you comfortable with my presence. All I can say is that I love the lifestyle of Beaver, and respect your desire to maintain your special way of life. So please accept this invitation to come on down to my home water, the Pere Marquette River. I’d love to share a day on the water with you.
Guided fishing trips for salmon or steelhead can be booked with Kevin by email at Kevin@indigoguideservice.com or by phone at (231) 898-4320. For more information and to view pictures of what PM fish look like, visit www.indigoguideservice.com.
<<You can find lots of information about the island at the Beaver Island Chamber of Commerce site.
>>Jeff Powers is the islands veterinarian and owner of Powers’ Do it Best Hardware and Lumber.
<<Laurain Lodge is a great place to stay!
>>McDonough’s Market — We often have guest happily stay at some of the McDonough’s rental properties.
<<Fresh Air Aviation is a great way to get on and off the island quickly.
>>Beaver Island Boat Company — One of my favorite things is standing on the ferry deck in May watching the island get closer and knowing that I won’t have to leave until August!
The article "A bowfin for the books… The 30 inch bofin/dogfish is a world record" by Brandon Butler (Driftwood Outdoors) appeared in Woods-N-Water News in October 2009. You can view the article on the Woods-N-Water News site here.
A bowfin for the books… The 30 inch bowfin/dogfish is a world record
Reaching a point of satisfaction when in pursuit of spawning steelhead is an anomaly. You don’t really want to leave the stream, but every part of your body says it’s time. Cold feet, a sore forearm and the knot on the back of your head from a chuck without the duck, are just a few of the many possible physical strains of a day spent battling silver explosives. One 
day last spring, I was experiencing my share of discomfort, but had no intention to pull off the river before sunset.
Standing mid-stream with a look of delirium in my eyes, my guide, Kevin Morlock, broke my trance, when he asked if I’d had enough. Snapped back to the world of reality, I politely but assuredly said "no." Like a greedy Wall Street banker dissatisfied with only 15 million, I wanted more. I’d lost track of the number of steelies hooked and landed that day, but who was counting anyways.
As a fulltime guide, Kevin has had to learn to deal with obsession. Guides with any number of days under their belt are familiar with the psychological effects fishing can have on a client. So like a doctor promising a sucker at the end of the visit if you don’t cry while getting your shot, Kevin coaxed me from the frigid river with the promise of rounding out the day on Pere Marquette Lake stripping streamers for northern pike.
With a few hours of sunlight remaining, we launched from Sutton’s Landing. Michigan is home to so many species of fish; it’s hard to say what you might stumble upon any given day. Our intentions for this trip were to try and boat northerns and possibly smallmouth on fly rods in open water. If we happened across a stray steelhead, salmon or brown trout, all the better. What we never expected though, was to catch a new world record bowfin, or dogfish.
Kevin, my wife Melissa, and I were taking turns casting along the rocky shore just east of the gigantic car ferry, the S.S. Badger. Bank fishermen were scattered about, sitting bundled in layers of clothing. Their motionless bobbers and stagnant tight-lines sat idle. The obvious contentment of these sportsmen to stare at the water as opposed to a television is a great testimony to the resolve of northern outdoorsmen. Southern bass fishermen should be forced at some point of their life to spend a few days of patience apprenticeship by northern ice fishers. Clarity can be found in long stretches of monotonous angling.
In the shadow of the enormous S.S. Badger, we were completely striking out. Across the lake, reeds extend out into shallow water forming numerous little coves. Kevin motored us over there, in part to get out of the wind, and in part to search for fish along a break dropping off a reed covered flat. First, he asked if we wanted to rest and have a snack with some hot coffee. Melissa and I said yes, so we pulled deep into one of the coves, and anchored in only a couple of feet of water. With coffee brewing in a peculator and sweet rolls on the grill, the three of us kicked back to relax.
As I stared at a log lying on the bottom mere feet from the bow of the boat, I took a double-take when its fin began to flicker.
"Look at that fish," I said. Pointing to the prehistoric, aquatic monster.
"Oh, man." Kevin said. "That’s a huge dogfish."
I removed my chartreuse and white Clouser minnow from the hook keeper, just above the handle of my fly rod. With only 8 feet or so of line, I jigged the streamer in front of the fish. No response. I then lifted the Clouser over the top of the fish, and proceeded to bounce the weighted fly on the fish’s head. It stirred.
"He’s ready," Kevin said.
I moved the fly in front of the fish’s mouth, and it disappeared. I gave a strong hook set. Then the water erupted. Bowfin can fight, and a fish of this size can fight well. I struggled with the monster for a few minutes. It took a few runs, before eventually it glided into the net.
I hoisted the fish out and quickly recognized it to be the largest dogfish I had ever seen. It had been years since I had caught one, and none I had ever landed looked like this monster. Its fish was old and tattered looking. A hue of red mixed with yellowish-green created a unique fin color. The fish’s teeth resembled the mouth of a miniature shark, and its body a python. I was in awe of the magnificent specimen’s repulsive beauty.
Kevin asked me what I wanted to do with the fish. I never considered any option other than returning it to the water. We took a measurement-a hair over 30 inches. Kevin said that he had no idea what size bowfin would qualify for Michigan fish of the year program, but this one would have to be close. We took some pictures and slid the dinosaur back into the abyss.
The Michigan fish of the year size qualifications for bowfin are 27 inches or 7 pounds. Mine easily made it, which promoted me to explore the world record bowfin. The all tackle world record bowfin, registered in the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame is 21 pounds 8 ounces, caught by Robert L. Harmon Forest Lake, South Carolina on January 29, 1980. The thing about world records though, is that there are numerous classes. I researched the fly fishing, catch and release class, and realized I possibly had world record.
My bowfin is now the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, catch and release, fly fishing, 20 pound tippet class world record. It sounds funny to me, too. I know it’s not the true "world record," but it was a hell of a fish, and no one else has ever registered a larger one caught in the same method of mine. So I’m pleased to have the accomplishment recorded, and I’m pleased to be associated with the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.
When I was a kid, I stood in the mouth of the muskie. For those who don’t know what I’m speaking of, part of the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame is a large museum built like a muskie. At the top of the seven stories tall structure is an observation deck in the muskie’s mouth. I was taken to the museum 20 years ago by one of the greatest men I’ve ever known, my grandfather. Logging my fish with the Hall, plays upon that memory.
During my youth, I often accompanied my grandparents on fishing trips. We regularly visited Lake Shore Resort in Osakis, Minnesota. Grandma and grandpa, and their old-timer friends would sit on the resort pier late at night filling baskets with crappie. Every once in awhile, one of them would catch a dogfish. They would tell me to take the fish to the shore, cut it open and throw it in the fish cleaning house. I never had the heart for it, though. I always took the fish to the other side of the resort and returned them to the water. I understand the damage bowfin supposedly cause to game fish populations, but even at a young age, I knew they were just trying to survive. I like to think I’ve been rewarded.
The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame is the international headquarters for education, recognition and promotion of fresh water sportfishing. Our mission is to develop and maintain the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and its museum for the preservation and display of historical artifacts of fresh water sportfishing. We strive to conduct and maintain a program for the recognition of persons, organizations and institutions that have made significant and lasting contributions to the sport and heritage of fresh water fishing. (Taken from the Hall’s website www.freshwater-fishing.org)
Brandon Butler is busy maintaining his new blog Midwest Sporting Journal. Check it out at www.midwestsportingjournal.com
You can see an indexed list of other articles on the Indigo Guide Service, Articles & Videos Page.
This article appeared in the Midwest Sporting Journal on September 16th, 2009 by Brandon Butler from Driftwood Outdoors. You can find a link to photographer Bill Konway’s site here.
Dear Lord,
When I die, please send my soul to Barothy Lodge…
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Elkhorn at Barothy Lodge |
Tucked away in the pristine hardwoods of northern Michigan is a lodge so rustic, yet so elegant it redefines the upper crust of sporting passion. A place where campfires are meant to be shared, scotch is meant to be poured, and fly rods are meant to remain at the ready.
Barothy Lodge consists of 320 acres of Pere Marquette River frontage. Deer, turkey, black squirrels, grouse and many more species of birds and animals parade about the private land as if their interaction with man was meant to be.
The fishing, well to put it quite simply, is amazing. Trout, steelhead and salmon swim the river. A pair of waders will allow you access to water as magnificent as any I have ever fished. A wilderness jaunt down the delicate, pleasing waters of the PM in a drift boat rowed by one of the professionals from Indigo Guide Service though, makes the experience all the sweeter.
Lodging at Barothy is reminiscent of the setting for Thomas McGuane’s novel of elite Michigan outdoors, “The Sporting Club.” What was once reserved for sporting royalty can now be yours. The vast log structures range in size from one to nine bedrooms. Fabulously decorated with sporting motifs, all the lodges are set up to provide the ultimate capabilities of north woods relaxation. Pool tables and jacuzzis are highlights.
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Pere Marquette River |
The grounds abound with outdoor opportunity. There are hiking, biking and cross country skiing trails, a swimming pool, a playground, shuffleboard, horseshoes, and volleyball, tennis and basketball courts.
For a true wilderness retreat in luxurious comfort, visit Barothy Lodge.
P.S. Lord,
Please send one of my guide friends with me. I need someone to row the boat.
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Bill Konway Photography |
