fish on

Last weekend I snuck away for a quick fishing trip to Michigan with my friend Joel, Aaron Spears (an old friend from high school) and my brother-in-law JB. It turned out to be one of the best fishing experiences of my life. We spent two days on the Muskegon River near Grand Rapids, Michigan float-fishing the gin-clear waters with our guides from Bett's Guide Service. If you're ever thinking about fishing the Muskegon, I definately recommend you give them a call. We hooked fish after fish (over fifty in two days!) while every other angler on the river was casting in vain and shooting searing looks as we floated past while fighting another big lunker. We had travelled to the river for the Steelhead spawn... the photo above shows me with a small-ish female and she's showing off the reason they're known as 'chrome bullets'. In addition to steelies, I managed to hook a bunch of other species as well. Here are the highlights...


This is a walleye who, to our disappointment, was still out of season. A week later and he would have been our shore lunch!


And here's an elusive brown trout. It was sheer luck to hook up with this beautiful fish. I've been trout fishing for 15 years and have never caught a brown this big. What a gorgeous creature!


Here I am with Chad, our guide, holding the trophy of the weekend. I battled this 14+ lb. monster for what seemed like an eternity before finally bringing him to net with legs quivering and heart thumping. While we released most of the fish we caught, this big boy came home and ended up on the smoker at Moveable Feast. Delicious!


Here's Joel with the biggest chromie of the trip. She's a beauty, and that s#it-eating grin suggests that Joel might be having a good time!


Finally exausted, we headed upstream to meet up with the boys. Our timing was perfect and we got to watch JB jockeying around the boat while this big buck stripped line off his reel. He landed the fish and posed for photos in his finest Orvis waders and Pata-gucci fleece. You've got to look good to fish good, baby! On a sidenote, JB got the 'one-liner-of-the-weekend' award when he asked the manager of the hotel where we could purchase lingerie and whipped cream as we were all checking into rooms together. Priceless, JB... Priceless.


I'm bummed I didn't get a picture of Aaron with a fish, but here he is with JB. I know he caught his share and from what I saw, he was probably the best angler in the group. Maybe he'll send me a photo to post (send me a photo, Aaron!)