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.

Kevin Morlock will be talking about Michigan Steelhead to the Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers (NKFF) on Thursday, February 4th, 2010.  The NKFF meetings are held at the  Briarwood Banquets, 2134 Petersberg Road, Hebron, Kentucky from 5:30 to 9:30.  The NKFF are a great group of folks and Kevin is looking forward to heading down.

Click here for a good looking single page pdf version of this west Michigan guide report… perfect for a counter top or bulletin board.

For a more detailed report on the Pere Marquette River visit Pere Marquette River Fishing Report site.  The latest update is "Perfect PM River Steelhead, steelhead fly — the Glow Nuke Egg" it was updated on November 10th, 2009.
Pere Marquette River
Temps – 40’s          Water Conditions – perfect
>>>Good numbers of steelhead in the PM River with perfect water conditions.  The lower water is high with a dark color, go big and bright.  Salmon are about gone so the steelhead focus around spawning gravels is slowing down.  Kevin Morlock
USGS Real-Time Data for the Pere Marquette River at Scottville, Michigan

Big Manistee River
Temps – 43          Water Conditions – good
>>>Reports are that the steelhead bite has slowed on the Manistee River.  Steelhead are moving into slower holding and feeding waters, large streamers are still producing.
USGS Real-Time Data for the Manistee River near Wellston, Michigan

Muskegon River
Temps – 49          Water Conditions – slightly stained
>>>Water levels have slowly fell, current cfs is 2480.  Recent high water has brought decent numbers of steelhead in the Muskegon River.  Additionally, once the flows stablilize, trout should find their way back to traditional holding areas.  Phil Cusey
USGS Real-Time Data for the Muskegon River near Croton, Michigan

Perfect Michigan Steelhead!  A couple of the perfect steelhead that have been caught and released in our west Michigan streams in the past few days.

Steelhead Fly — Glow Nuke Egg… A good choice when you need an attention getter in high dark or dirty water.  You can see the recipe for this fly here.

See other fly patterns on our west Michigan fly pattern index page.

Barothy Lodge in Walhalla, Michigan is the perfect place for your next Pere Marquette River vacation. For more information on what to do and see in West Michigan visit the Ludington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (Ludington CVB) web site.

Click here for a good looking single page pdf version of this west Michigan guide report… perfect for a counter top or bulletin board.

For a more detailed report on the Pere Marquette River visit Pere Marquette River Fishing Report site.  The latest update is "Solid steelhead numbers but the PM River has high water" it was updated on October 30th, 2009.
Pere Marquette River
Temps – 40’s          Water Conditions – high and dirty
>>>PM River Steelhead numbers are solid but high dirty water and lots of leaves are going to make things tough for the next few days.  Kevin Morlock
USGS Real-Time Data for the Pere Marquette River at Scottville, Michigan

Big Manistee River
Temps – 47          Water Conditions – high
>>>Few spawning salmon and dropping water temps are moving the Manistee steelhead into slower holding waters.  Large streamers swung seems to be the best bet… something that stands-out against the gobs of leaves drifting downstream.
USGS Real-Time Data for the Manistee River near Wellston, Michigan

Muskegon River
Temps – 51          Water Conditions – slightly stained, rising
>>>Some salmon are in the Muskegon River.  Spawning has reached its peak.  Try eggs and caddis larva making sure to cover the dark water behind salmon beds searching for a nice Muskegon River trout or steelhead!  Some larger trout have been caught on streamers in the deeper runs.  Phil Cusey
USGS Real-Time Data for the Muskegon River near Croton, Michigan

Ethan and his first steelhead with Grandpa holding, caught yesterday on the PM River!

Martinez’s Halloween Caveman
***Materials in tying order
Tube… Eumer, small
Cone… bronze, medium
Tail… barred rabbit strip
Body… Hareline Dubbin, uv polar chenille, silver
Tinsel… pearl crinkle
Collar… barred rabbit strip

See other fly patterns on our west Michigan fly pattern index page.

Barothy Lodge in Walhalla, Michigan is the perfect place for your next Pere Marquette River vacation. For more information on what to do and see in West Michigan visit the Ludington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (Ludington CVB) web site.

Visit our West Michigan Fly Index page for a quick look at our collection.

Morlock’s UV Rabbit in brown by Kevin Morlock

This is a very good all around fly for Michigan salmon and steelhead, though the Pere Marquette River salmon seem to really have a thing for the uv tying materials.  With the bunny tail it has lots of action on a dead drift but really comes alive when it swings out.  While I tied this pattern for use on the PM River and other West Michigan Rivers for salmon and steelhead, I have used it successfully as a streamer for Michigan trout as well as Great Lakes carp and smallmouth bass.

Best For… salmon            Could Also Be Used For… steelhead, bass, carp and trout

***Materials listed in tying order
Hook… Mustad Signature R74, size 4
Eyes… large silver bead chain
Tail… natural brown rabbit
Body… tan yarn
Hackle… Hareline Dubbin, uv polar chenille, olive copper uv

Variations… I use this pattern in a dozen or more variations, including some that are very bright.

	Morlock’s UV Rabbit in purple/black
	Tying Morlock’s UV Rabbits

References Links:

Kevin Morlock

Salmon…The Right Way by Kevin Morlock

Pere Marquette River Fishing Report (Hot Pere Marquette River King Salmon Fishing)

Pere Marquette River Fishing Report (World Record Bowfin, Morlock’s UV Rabbit)

FlyMasters of Indianapolis (source for uv materials)

Feather-Craft of St. Louis (source for uv materials – home page)

Feather-Craft of St. Louis (uv polar chenille page)

Hareline Dubbin, Inc. (home page)

Hareline Dubbin, Inc. (page with uv polar chenille)

Mustad

Mustad Signature Fly Hooks, R74 Streamer

Indigo Guides Steve Martinez and Kevin Morlock will be attending the FlyMasters of Indianapolis open house Saturday, October 24th, 2009.  We are looking forward to answering questions, tying flies and eating that great lunch.  FlyMasters is a great shop that is just stuffed with everything fly fishing and they also have a very experienced and knowledgeable staff.  If you have the time stop in and please say hello. Visit the FlyMasters site for more detail and directions.

Saturday October 24th is the BIG DAY

Beginning our 20th year in the Fly Fishing business. It is going to be a great year, come and have some fun with us in the coming year.

>>>New York Strips for the first 200 people, prime rib will be served as back up.

>>>New Rods and other fun equipment for 2010 from our various reps.

>>>We will have guides from Alaska, Great Lakes, and the Caribbean to discuss fishing opportunities near and far!

>>>Wine Tasting from 1-3 p.m. Taste some white and red wines and get ready for the holiday season.

>>>John Shaner, from Hardy, will be here on our 20th year kickoff party October 24th and will service any Hardy reels you have. John can tell you everything about your reel. It is just like the antique road show for fly fishing reels!

More details to come before October 24th. Reserve the day for yourself and have a great lunch on us!

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

Kevin,

"Thanks for a terrific 2 days on the water…the screams you hear in the morning will be me realizing I have to go back to a JOB instead of doing what I really want to do.  Maybe we’ll see you for steelheads!"

Jerry Quintiliani

Fishing for king salmon and steelhead in West Michigan on the Pere Marquette River in August. With Mark Knee and Kevin Morlock of Indigo Guide Service and Walt Grau from the Spey Rod Outfitter and Guide Service. We were casting Storm Thundersticks on spinning gear and the fish were red hot.

The article "Carp Of Beaver Island… Champagne dreams on a beer budget!" by Brandon Butler (Driftwood Outdoors) appeared in the Woods-N-Water News in July 2009.  You can view the article on the Woods-N-Water News web site here.

 

Carp Of Beaver Island… Champagne dreams on a beer budget!

Settling into my seat on the Emerald Isle, anticipation gave way to acceptance. Month after month had been crossed off my calendar as I awaited the arrival of this 4th of July expedition. In the back of my mind, I slightly questioned driving over 500 miles to fly fish for carp; the same rough fish that swim a stone’s throw from home. But I had been guaranteed by a fisherman I trust too well, that this experience would be one I would never forget. So as the ship’s engines began to rumble I took heart, yearning for the unknown.

As the two-hour, thirty-two mile ferry ride closed in on the tiny town of St. James, I realized all I knew about Great Lake Islands would not summarize this place. Beaver Island’s weathered old lighthouse greets travelers much like a great-grandparent too feeble to rise from his rocking chair, but happy to see you nonetheless. The harbor moors only a handful of boats and the pier at the marina looks as if Roosevelt commissioned the Civilian Conservation Corps to modernize the Island.

Kevin Morlock is a well known salmon and steelhead guide on the rivers of western Michigan. Kevin and I have fished together numerous times, and I have come to respect his wealth of knowledge, but when he told me he was designing a flats fishing boat to target carp around the islands of Michigan’s archipelago, I thought maybe he’d finally spent one two many days in the sun.

Keeping within the boundaries of simplicity I had elected to leave my tent at home in favor of a hammock. Hung between two trees where the wind would rock me to a serenade of waves. My weary fisherman’s body rested well at the end of a hard day’s night.

Carp fishing improves as the day grows warmer. There’s no reason to get up early, leaving plenty of time to lounge about sipping morning coffee. Making for a great start to a relaxing day.

With the sun high in the bluebird sky, Kevin and I launched his boat; a brand new, 17 ft. deep-v, with a 40 horse. The real kicker though, is the rear mounted platform and the twenty foot push pole. Like most of us who harbor champagne dreams on a beer budget, I have longed for the Caribbean since reading my first flats article, but have never come close to saving enough money to go. Diapers and milk, you know. So the idea of a steelheading maestro, perched atop a platform, pushing me around in search of tailing carp in the northern most reaches of America, was somewhat of an obscure realization of a dream come true.

We took off from the eastern shore of the island and headed for the southern tip. We wanted to go where the waves would push into small bays. The water temperature reading on the main lake was in the low sixties; a bit too cold for aggressive carp. Kevin knew the water would be warmer in the south bays, causing pods of carp to gather in the shallow water. I never anticipated this trip would change my perception of a species I knew so little about, but as we spotted carp after carp cruising the outer edge of the flats, I began to accept my new found respect for these fish. Many people back home shoot carp with bow and arrow and simply throw them to the wayside as if they are worth nothing more than a moment’s excitement. How the carp ever came to be such a disrespected game fish is beyond me, but I now believe the first time any consummate conservationist sees one of these finicky feeding, beautiful beasts cruising crystal clear water in search of forage, their perception will be forever changed.

We moored the boat in a few feet of water and began a stealthy approach to the shallows. The water temperature in the bay we were stalking was 75 degrees; perfect for feeding fish. Stalking fish with a fly rod, in essence allows me to combine two of my greatest passions; fishing and hunting. I slipped up behind a large boulder, positioning myself 50 feet or so from a small pod of a half-dozen carp. Fly placement is crucial when fishing carp. Their eyesight is poor and they’re not aggressive chasers. It’s essential to present your fly within an area the size of a basketball hoop in front of the fish you’re targeting.

Assumptions are always dangerous when lacking proper research. Based on sheer numbers alone, I figured these fish would be easy to catch, but they are not. I worked this little pod for nearly an hour, before finally, a fish took. The moment is still fresh in my mind. I was growing anxiously annoyed, when I targeted a carp on the outskirts of the pod. The cast was a few feet beyond the fish, perfect for allowing my goby imitation time to sink the necessary two feet. As I strip-strip-stripped the minnow along the bottom, allowing for a pause just in front of the fish’s face, I watched with amazement as its bugle-mouth opened and inhaled my fly. Somehow I kept my excitement in check and executed a solid hook set. The fight was on.

As the thirty-inch fish ran for deep water, I slightly tightened my drag. We struggled back and forth for a good fifteen minutes before I finally brought the fish to hand. As I cradled the

fish, I realized never before in nature had I physically experienced a lesson of ignorance so profound, so obviously wrong. Carp are amazing. I released the fish back into the aqua waters as carefully as I would have a 25 in. Au Sable "Holy Waters" brown trout.

A nearby boulder begged me to take a break. I saddled onto the rock, realizing that in no direction could I see the hand of man. The only sounds I could hear were the waves breaking on the shore behind, and the wind whipping across the endless water. In search of carp on a fly, I found a paradise on Beaver Island.

For more information regarding travel to Beaver Island, contact the Beaver island Chamber of Commerce at (231) 448-2505 or view their website www.beaverisland.org. Travel to beaver Island can be arranged through the Beaver Island Boat Company by calling 1-888-446-4095 or by visiting their website www.bibco.com.

Brandon Butler is a syndicated outdoor writer from Bloomington, Indiana. He may be contacted through his website www.driftwoodoutdoors.org.