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3. It's finally spring, and a man has to warm up his casting arm somehow

Finally caught something on a fly rod today! Our weather was glorious, mid-sixties and sunny, light winds, perfect day for a hike out to the bass ponds at Clark's Marsh. Not only did I have it all to myself but the ever-larger-and-fatter bluegill were hitting pretty good! An all-black Woolly Bugger, purple WB with grizzly hackle, and a KBF were the flies of the day. Besides the decent fishing, I saw three butterflies, two painted turtles, a water snake, a kingfisher, a couple of pairs of wood ducks, and heard three species of frogs calling (wood frogs, spring peepers, and northern leopard frogs). Skunk cabbage is in full bloom and I found a scarlet cup fungus to boot. Spring is here!

Trout fishing will be within a few days. We have some nice, sunny, stable weather to get the trout streams warmed up and get some bugs in the air!

Jonathon

Its been a long time coming, this spring has been brutal! I have a rod I built over the winter that Iam really looking forward to fishing, and I have been tying some flies on the new vise mrs. Rogers bought me. The weather looks good here in Mi. for a least the next week.

Jonathon,

Nice couple of gills there...Skunk cabbage...Nothing hardly fore tells spring than these...

Went out early Sat morning on an ornithology class field trip...We got drumming Ruffed Grouse, and watched as a Snipe put on a great display with that winnowing sound they produce as they dive. As my car was driving down the road we had a Barred Owl fly over the car...Had to get up at 4:00am to get myself out the door and down the road to where I needed to meet the rest of the class.

Rough list for the 2nd part of the field trip: C Goose, Mute Swan, Wood Duck, Mallard, Ring-necked duck, Bufflehead, Ruddy duck, Wild Turkey (actually got to see one fly...Also watched a male trying to impress the girls), Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, T Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Sandhill Crane, Killdeer, M Dove, Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, n Flicker, Blue Jay, Crow, Tree Swallows, B-C Chickadee, Nuthatch, E Bluebird, Robin, Brown Thrasher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, N Cardinal, Red-winged BB, Eastern Towhee, Brown-headed Cowbird, Goldfinch...We kicked ass!!!

Spring has indeed sprung! Just last Saturday we were at Pte Mouillee fighting cold and wind and white-out conditions, and yesterday in the 70's!

Spence

Spence, a great horned owl was hooting from a red pine tree in my neighbor's backyard a couple of hours ago as I was tying flies (yes, started that finally as well, KBFs for Reid Lake tomorrow!). I stepped out on my back deck and he was nearly right above me, letting out deep hoots every few minutes or so. Also, saw a pair of hooded mergansers on the lake behind my house (now teeming with frogs, can hear them from any open window), and kicked up a blue-winged teal at the Marsh yesterday. Waiting to hear the white-throated sparrows singing (the song of the north country from my youth) and to see the white-crowned sparrows passing through.

I forgot to mention something broke off my fly at the Marsh yesterday, by brute force...went back later and saw some great big swirls, like a 20"+ bass was moving around out there...back later in the week!

Jonathon

Me thinks it's time to try a small frog pattern, or maybe a variation of Gartside's Gurgler...:)

I forgot to mention the pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers. We found their nesting holes in an old dead tree. Our "guide" knows what she's doing...This class is taught by a woman who use to be the ornithologist for the city of Ann Arbor. It's actually co-taught with another woman who is a raptor rehabilitator.

Since I brought up your old stomping grounds, there were Loons and a Red-necked Grebe in Barton Pond.

Spence

I have some "froggy poppers", foam or cork-bodied things that I tied and painted when I first moved up here and discovered these waters. Took the box with me but did not deploy any, next time I will, especially as so many frogs are calling out there right now!

That sounds like a great class, Spence. I have never seen a redhead in MI, but I have in Missouri. I saw a couple of loons on Sylvan Glen Lake over Easter weekend in Troy, see them every year at this time. But no fish were biting then, what you see above are my first of the year on a fly rod. Today I will be hitting Reid Lake in search of perchies and rainbows!

Jonathon