10/23/21  Posted a photo of some Marigold flowers we started from seed last March by our pole barn.  It's late October and they're still flowering/growing in Manistee, MI.  We have not had a frost, or freeze yet ...which is a long ways from anything close to normal.
               Summers in  the northern lower peninsula of MI have always been volatile, but we have a lot more warm muggy nights. Click October flowers in Manistee
               Last time I checked surface temperature of Lk. MI it was 62°.  That's on the warm side for this time of the season.  Lk. Superior is one of the fastest warming lakes in the world too.  Now experiencing algae blooms.  Is climate change for reel?
                How it effects our Great Lakes fishery tomorrow.... 

10/22/21  Manistee weather can hold off for a day, or 2.  Have a better topic from Michigan Sea Grant's Dan O'Keefe on MI river Steelhead natural reproduction vs. stocked.  Stocked or planted Steelhead contribute to this fishery greatly.  Dan always puts out and informative read and have subscribed to his list.  Click for Sea Grant Article
                Guided fall thru early spring from 1985 thru 2003.  Mostly for Steelhead and have a lot of respect for this aggressive fish.  Great Lakes trolling and river fishing is a different mindset.  In the lean years on Lk. MI after BKD, the river kept me in business.

10/21/21  Production is on the downhill side of Strip Teazers for 2022.  Some old standby colors were overlooked like, Monkey Puke.  This color cycles thru the fleet every 10 to 15 years and matches our heads and spoons.  So, it was a no-brainer to add.
               Big news is the pattern that was neglected that will debut the end of Nov.  This color produced my best and biggest boxes of Kings over the past few years.  Injected 140 strips in this hush-hush pattern yesterday and they turned out sweet!
                          Tomorrow? ....what's up with the weather?

10/20/21  Pine Creek video was made some years back.  Enough for me to critique the camera work.  Most movies the cameras are still and the subject matter moves.  This one is the camera is moving, doing all the work.  This is called panning.
                This video was one my early efforts with acceptable cam work, with zoom at times.  Sound track with the sounds of the water and narration was unscripted and free flowing, just like Pine Creek.  So, I gave myself a C+ rating.  Always room for improvement.
            It's 6:45am and I'm heading to the pole barn to make a new pattern that was overlooked last season.  Stay tuned for a new color to debut around Thanksgiving. 

10/19/21  My annual visit to Manistee, MI's Pine Creek began in 2007 tat's been shared with you.  There's an impressive 15 years of photos all taken from the same place on the same gravel bar with Kings spawning. and completing their life cycle.
                This is a sad and happy event.  Sad to see a bunch of fish dying.  Happy to see there's a new crop on fish to return in 3 to 5 years (mostly). Click Pine Creek pics
                2021 showed more Kings in Pine Creek in a number of years.  Groups of 6 and 7 instead of 2s and 3s working the gravel.  This is a completely unscientific visual  judgment call.  But is does seem to lineup with what July, Aug. and Sept. King fishing was.