Beginning of the end

[wicklundrh]

Although Northern Michigan will be going strong for a little while, our lakes in the south are turning bad in a hurry. Thursdays snow brought slushy conditions on marginal ice on Friday. I took the day off (schools were all closed) and after finishing up plowing snow I managed to head out to the new lake on State Land.

My buddy has a friend that owns property on the one end of this lake (only house on the entire lake). We were able to gain permission and drive to within 100 yrds of the water. That beat the nearly 1 mile walk through state land to get to the lake. Ice conditions were lousy. Slushy, previous holes not froze over, water on the ice and in the snow.

Fish were moving everywhere. Marks did not stay in the hole for long. You were better staying in one "good" spot as opposed to hole hopping. I found a "good spot over 6 feet of water. My buddy punched a hole within 6 feet of me. If the fish came in, you had to be fast, otherwise you were one and done for a couple of minutes. My friends biggest crappie was 13 inches on the mark and he had 3 blue gills over 9 inches. I managed a couple crappies at 12 inches and 3 gills at or over 9 inches with the biggest being 9 1/4 inches.

[Crappie 1]

Nice catch Rich. We got rain most of the night. Snowing now. Sandy & I got 4 Crappie and 3 Perch after dark last night. It's a real sloppy mess up here.

[wicklundrh]

When we got to the lake we were surprised to see a two man shanty with guys on the ice. We knew they came off from state land and were surprised that, with all the new snow, they managed to pull the shanty that far to the lake.

At one point during the evening, I saw one gentlemen walking with a pale. I said to my friend "he has a long walk back to the truck for whatever he is going to get". A couple of minutes later I heard a car door close. Soon after he stepped on the ice. We yelled over to him and he walked over. We asked if he drove back and he seemed to avoid the question. He admired the fish on the ice and said "we have been here all day and have not caught anything". He then said, we are waiting for the crappie bite. I had to walk up and get some more beer and another propane tank. I again asked if he drove back and he said "yes".

I asked him how he got by the gate blocking the old farm lane. He said "I pulled my ORV sticker off my quad and put it on my truck, I then drove around the gate with my truck". He continued to say that "I am 52 years old, I'm not walking that far". He also mentioned that he had never been to the lake before.

When he walked away, my friend and I had a conversation in regards to how ticked off we were.
1. What the heck is your ORV sticker going to do? You purposly drove around a gate in a closed vehicle area. Gee, atleast you had that sticker you illegally removed from one vehicle to put on another and drive through a closed area

2. You have never fished here before. You really think fishing this lake is worth the nearly $1500 dollar fine you will recieve?

3. They close these areas because of people like you, not because you are 52, drunk, and don't feel like walking.

These are the type of people that ruin areas like this for everyone else. It is a large trackt of farm land. Hunting and fishing everywhere. If one person drives there, then another, and another, the area will no longer be prestine. I do understand about handicap and all that stuff, but there has to be some give and take.

Irritated, pissed, ticked off.... all of the above was what I was feeling. I do have several friends who are DNR officers and one in that area. I do have his number in my phone and his card in my wallet, and yes, I COULD have called in a report. In fact, thinking back, I SHOULD have, but, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. They caught zero fish and hopefully will not come back. Only issue I have is the trail he made around the gate. Others might think it is ok as well.

[yankee doodler]

You run into those type all the time. Unfortunate.