RTWO Editor-In-Chief
A third deer in the "target" area in the middle of Michigan tested positive for chronic wasting disease, according to a Aug. 6 news release from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Strangely as I get more into the thought of the upcoming hunting seasons, bad news just turns me back around.
OK, maybe not that much, because seeing the honkers starting to flock up by the pond behind the Monroe County house, along with having a full-on credentialed black Labrador old enough to step up has me practically walking on air.
Yes, the early bird seasons should be good, to include the fall turkey season in an area I really didn't expect to pull a tag. It'll just be another option for a place to walk around with my sidekick Augustus. The more time he gets in the woods, the better he'll get.
For those of you who didn't draw a turkey tag but still would like one, the leftovers are available today for unsuccessful applicants and then Monday, Aug. 24, all hunters can buy licenses until the quotas are met.
And believe me there are always plenty to go around in Unit YY, upwards of 40,000 each of the last three years.
There are those hunters who thrive mainly on the whitetail, but if there is a collapse of the season because of CWD -- which probably won't be the case -- yet if it did, I would still have a good time.
I like to diversify my challenges in autumn's golden backdrop and mix several game bird seasons in with the king that is the quest for a large antlered deer.
But most regular readers of this site know this and can count on getting excerpts from following all of these different travels.
***
Those endeavors include the river challenges and bass conquests, as well, which up to Tuesday, July 28, hadn't proved eventful.
Oh, sure I hauled in a few dinks from the backyard pond ... and then there was epic canoe dumping in the River Raisin with Bill Brisebois on July 11, but no fatboys. I was wondering if I had lost my bass finesse.
So with the river still running high I thought I could find another way around the swift currents to get at those majestic smallies I know the Raisin holds.
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RTWO photo by Mac Arnold
No surprise: Chartreuse with pepper flake Senkos
were the hot bait on River Raisin in midsummer.
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I wouldn't say I outsmarted the river because as the hero of the 1972 film "Deliverance" Lewis Medlock was quoted as saying, "you don't beat this river; you don't beat it."
OK, that was a different river.
OK, that was a different river.
But maybe just maybe I stole some glory back from it for a moment on that humid midmorning at the end of July.
On a hunch I paddled out to the rocky wall at the other end of the river where it widens before going out into a harbor of Lake Erie and slammed an 18-incher smallmouth on a buzz bait.
On a hunch I paddled out to the rocky wall at the other end of the river where it widens before going out into a harbor of Lake Erie and slammed an 18-incher smallmouth on a buzz bait.
Man did it feel good to hoist that baby.
Finally. But I wasn't done. Oh no. Soon there was another one about 16 inches and a nice largemouth to go with them.
And then as fast as it turned on in that half-hour window it was over. The Seaguar flurocarbon line that I was told by the Cabela's salesman was top notch started blowing up on the reel. In fact, not only repeatedly going into bird's nest city but also snapping off lures during casts. (Trust me, never again. Went back to Cabela's and picked up my long-trusted monofilament, Stren, in clear 10-pound test.)
The silver and white-tasseled buzzes worked their magic until they sunk to the depths of the mighty Raisin.
But at least I lifted my bassing confidence.
I'm not done just yet. I can see at least one, if not two, more bass gigs before I stow the canoe for winter. Especially in September when the leaves are changing. What a great time to be on the water.
UPDATE: Last night, Scott Watson, an old Little League and high school alum, joined me in an impromptu bass fishing gig at the pond.
The evening action was good yet I'm still in the process of getting the rigs set up again after putting three poles in the drink in July.
We both lost nice fish.
Scott said he saw the one that came off my line, and stuck a dagger in me by saying it "was a real monster."
I know it was because the fish used the preferred Houdini tactic of big bass everywhere by jumping out of the water and shaking off the lure.
This resulted in a skunked night.
I blame the new pole I was using -- a Berkeley -- which likely would be fine other than its medium action specification seems more "medium" than most.
The fish really bent the rod down and allowed it too much give, which will result in bass-fishing failure.
That's right, failure, I said.
But it was a fun time having dinner with our wives beforehand and then watching a fight on TV with dessert after the fishing.
Oh the ones that got away will haunt you if you let them.
***
UPDATE: Last night, Scott Watson, an old Little League and high school alum, joined me in an impromptu bass fishing gig at the pond.
The evening action was good yet I'm still in the process of getting the rigs set up again after putting three poles in the drink in July.
We both lost nice fish.
Scott said he saw the one that came off my line, and stuck a dagger in me by saying it "was a real monster."
I know it was because the fish used the preferred Houdini tactic of big bass everywhere by jumping out of the water and shaking off the lure.
This resulted in a skunked night.
I blame the new pole I was using -- a Berkeley -- which likely would be fine other than its medium action specification seems more "medium" than most.
The fish really bent the rod down and allowed it too much give, which will result in bass-fishing failure.
That's right, failure, I said.
But it was a fun time having dinner with our wives beforehand and then watching a fight on TV with dessert after the fishing.
Oh the ones that got away will haunt you if you let them.
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