Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays !


Hi All

First I'd like to say Thank You from Clint, Debi and Adam Anderson here at the Red Moose Lodge for helping us have a great 2013 season and hope to see you all again next year in 2014. Second is come up and enjoy all the great outdoor activities this Winter. We are buried with snow !!!! Compared to many other December's. We have around 12"-14" of fluffy stuff last week that settled into a good base around 8"-10" over last weekend when we hit 30-34 deg... Sence then we have had another 6"+ of fresh fluffy land on that base to bring us to well over a foot of snow in the woods..That's pretty good for this early in Baldwin..Trails are groomed and ready for you to ride your snowmobiles..

Ice fishing : still be extra careful. The ice isn't super great around here...I went on one local lake last week on Thursday the 16 th. and it was iffy..We had 2" of hard ice and 1.5" of soft slush on top..We just have had to much snow to have real good ice. I'll bet were around 30" of snowfall for December so far..My driveway looks like February.. 4' banks that are built out 8' and already missing 2 or 3 parking spaces..We still have parking but the lot's not getting larger it's getting smaller. We'll probably have to have a front end loader come in by the middle of January if it continues to snow like it has..

Steelhead and Trout fishing continues to be good. There are days when the bite is off totally. Other days when the bite is good..You just have to go !! To find out.. The fish are in the system and when they feel like feeding you have to be there in the right spot with the right stuff on the end of your line. Hiring a guide is the best thing to do even if it's for a half day. That way your in the right spot with the right thing on the end of your line. You have 2 out of 3 things you need covered, now all you need to wait for the fish to decide to feed on your offering. Then the real fun begins..A good guide is a very skilled net man and has a warm camera ready to take your picture also a heater to warm your hands back up. This time of year is when good guide can make the difference in getting skunked (which is a bummer but happens) or landing a couple Steelhead and having a great time..Plus you will learn new skills each trip despite the number of years you have been doing this sport..

Have fun and enjoy the outdoors this winter !

Tight Lines
Clint


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Been Hunting and Fishing Fool


December 10, 2013

It's cold up here 7 deg. this a.m.. Winter is here ! We have had about 15"-20" of snowfall. Most of it melted last week in a 50 deg. warm up. When I got home there was still some crusty banks and a dusting on the driveway.I'll bet we have plowed 6- 8 times since Nov. 20th. More snow is on the way tonight and we have flurries going on now. 5" of super fluffy stuff is on the ground now and another 4"-6" is predicted overnight.

My Steelhead trips thru November and December were good when I was home. I missed a lot of good fishing while in Missouri bow hunting Deer for 2 weeks. I got a buck a decent 9 pt at 30 yds. with my bow.. The Deer numbers were down really bad this year. The Deer had a second summer where it was hot and dry and as a result EHD or ( blue tong) reared it's ugly head. Last season there were a few less Deer but we had a pretty good hunt all and all. This season SUCKED my Deer sightings were down 60-70%..

I hunt 3 or 4 different farms and all were the same and so were the farms my friends were hunting. Trail camera photo's were down too. My cousin had a family of 10 doe's coming into his green field last season everyday..This season it's the same 3 or 4 doe's coming in everyday. Big bucks took a hit also, very few of them survived. A sickness like EHD affects the young and old the hardest. There was a few medium size bucks left and a few doe's left but I never laid eyes on a giant buck in 2 weeks of hunting hard.

6 guys total hunted. I bow hunted for 2 weeks and 5 other guys went down for 1 week of bow and 1 week of firearm. All in all our group killed 5 bucks, 2 doe's, and 1 wild turkey. 2 Bucks were killed with a gun the rest was with bows and crossbows. Everyone killed something or had shots but the big buck sightings were way down and so was the overall sightings and opportunities. It can only get better next year, but I'm thinking it's going to take 3 to 5 years to get back to normal good/ great hunting again..

Steelhead fishing this past weekend was good. There was a good bite both Saturday and Sunday. It was mostly on eggs. Even saw a  zombie Salmon or 2 floating around. Probably why eggs were good. Had only 1 or 2 fish on the nymphs. One of the 2 days we hooked into 10. Most of the bite was afternoon. So getting out and being the first guy wasn't a factor at all..The 4 guys were cold but they made it and were glad they came up for some solid days of Winter Steelheading on the Pere Marquette River..

That's all for now. I need to put away my hunting stuff, clean the basement and barn and get ready for snowmobiling and ice fishing. Some lakes are already reporting 3"-5" of good ice. Still be careful for the next week or so and I wouldn't try snowmobiling on any of the lakes yet.They just barely have enough to walk on.

Tight Lines
Clint