Lots of good things going on this time of year in Central Michigan's Out of Doors. The steelhead are spawning in the rivers off the coast of Lake Michigan. Crappies will be spawning in the inland lakes soon as well as blue gill and bass. Walleye season will open back up on April 30th, along with pike, muskie and trout.

Spring Turkey hunting opens on April 18th, check you local season restrictions as dates may vary.

Also don't forget about some upcoming festivals. Shepherd holds is annual Maple Syrup Festival the last weekend of April as well as the Walleye Festival in Freeland the same weekend.

Below is a nice steel head from the Betsie River.

Well I'm going to say that winter has wound down and spring is upon us. Last ice usually means for good fishing and this year was no different. My kids and some friends of ours fished Halls Lake for what I'm sure will be the last time this year, at least on the hard water. The bluegill bite was steady all afternoon, however we had to do quite a bit of sorting to separate the nice one's from small one's. My daughter caught the biggest of the day which made for a nice ending to s good ice fishing season.

 This past weekend, with temps breaking 60 degrees, we truly made the most of last ice. The north end of Coldwater Lake is all open while the south end still has ice on it. As we sat in our lawn chairs in shorts watching tip-ups, the neighbors to the north were cruising around in their pontoon. Pure Michigan....

So as the winter month's wind down and spring starts to break in, you start to think, what to do with all these fish in the freezer? While personally I wasn't exactly running out of freezer space just yet I do know a few people who were.

This weekend we drove up to Michigan's smallest city, Omer! The Ott family up there puts on one heck of a fish fry. We fad perch, walleye, pike, bluegill and lake trout. Along with that french fries, dinner rolls, salad and desert.

It was my son's 10th birthday and my Dad's 69th birthday so we even had cake!

What a difference a week can make, single digit temps last weekend and highs in the 50's this weekend. Like they say, if you don't like the weather in Michigan just wait five minutes. Ice conditions can deteriorate quickly with a little warm weather and wind. The ice can litterally leave a lake in a couple of days.

With that being said we opted to stay off the ice this weekend but that doesn't mean there aren't things to do outdoors to enjoy this beautiful weather. With the warming temps during the day and colder, freezing, temps at night, the sap in sugar maples starts running.

Saturday we went to Steere's Sugarbush in Crystal Michigan. The Steere family has been gathering and boiling sap to make pure maple syrup for years. It takes approximately 40-50 gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of syrup. The family runs the operation from mid February through mid March depending on the weather and they produce 80-120 gallons of syrup each season.

Saturday was a perfect day for it. The buckets were full and we hauled over 1,000 gallons of sap out of the woods and up to the sap shack for boiling.

Well the bitter cold temps this past weekend combined with the wind kept us off the ice but did not keep us indoors. The 7th Annual Crystal Lake Winter-fest in Crystal Michigan was going on and is always a good time. The festival happens each winter during the Michigan DNR free fishing weekend. Activities include a fishing derby, vintage snowmobile show, chili cook off, polar bear plunge, and several other family friendly events. Its a great way to get out of the house and celebrate Central Michigan's Out of Doors.

What a great weekend in Central Michigan's Out of Doors. While warmer than average temps have moved in there is still plenty of good ice to be out on. We started the weekend a little early on Friday by heading way north and west to the famous Lake Gogebic in Ontonagon county. The ice conditions were pretty good other than areas that held heavy snow and slush. We were walking which made travel difficult but since this lake is long and narrow with plenty of access sites we never had to walk more than a half mile out. The bite was still a little on the slow side but we did manage to put a few walleye and perch on the ice. We stayed at Bear's Nine Pines Resort on the south west side of the lake which was an ideal place for people looking to fish. They not only set us up on local fishing spots but they also offer a self serve bait shop and fish cleaning station. The cabins were warm and cozy and offered a great place to warm up, dry our clothes and cook a good hot meal.

 We also received a good fishing report from Higgins Lake where ice conditions are not good and caution should be used but nice limits of lake trout, perch and pike are being reported.

This next weekend we will be headed south to the Crystal Lake winterfest for the fishing derby, and lots of other outdoor festivities!

Well this past weekend we once again headed north to Houghton Lake for the second weekend of Tip Up Town. This weekend wasn't so much about fishing but just spending some time with the kids, having some fun and enjoying the festivities.

We couldn't leave until after my son's basketball game on Saturday morning so we didn't get to Houghton Lake until afternoon, just in time to catch the Polar Bear Dip!! We spent the afternoon checking out the carnival, rides and other activities going on.

We did spend a little time fishing late in the afternoon but no luck. You can see there is a lot of empty spots still on board for the fishing contest.

Here's a quick video of my daughter and I on a ride.

 

And lastly a reminder to be safe on the ice, this truck fell through Saturday evening. 

So, what a weekend of fishing....and I mean fishing, NOT catching. LOL. We spent the entire day on Friday up on Houghton Lake setting tip ups and pike spearing. The weather conditions were good and there was plenty of ice, the fish just did not cooperate. At least we were not the only one's, we did talk to several other anglers on the lake and the common theme was that the fishing was slow.

Here is a picture of a my buddy Nate setting a tip up on Houghton Lake.







From Houghton Lake we traveled to Bay City on the Kaukawlin River to spear pike. There was about 6" of ice on the river and beautiful conditions on Saturday. We did see a few pike come through the hole but nothing big enough to spear. If you look closely in the picture, next to the decoys, you can see a pike that is about 24" long.

I did finally get some news on sunday that someone was catching fish. My brother was on Higgins Lake, which only had about 3" of ice, but they were doing pretty good catching pike on tip-ups in 25' to 50' of water. This one measured 34" in length and weighed in at 10lbs.

Well, I had hoped to be writing this second post along with some pictures of a mess of fish laying on the ice. Unfortunately that is not the case....

My kids and I did visit Shaffer's bait shop in Weidman on Saturday afternoon and got the local ice and fishing reports. After talking with the owner there we decided we would drive to Lake Isabella and check the conditions there. There were people fishing on the lake however the ice conditions at Gilmore Park on the west side of the lake were not favorable enough for me to venture out on, especially with my kids.

From there we drove to Halls Lake which is located just north of Blanchard. There were several people fishing and 4-5 inches of good ice. We set tip-ups along the north side of the lake near the drop off in 5-8 feet of water. We then drilled several other holes working our way out to the middle of the lake in 15-18 foot of water in search of panfish. After about two hours we were empty handed and with the sun starting to set a the temperature dropping we opted to pack up and cal it a day.

In one last effort and to make use of the pike minnows we had purchased the day before we ventured out onto Coldwater Lake, where we live, and set three tip ups out in front of the house Sunday morning. After several hours the reality sank in that I would not have any fish pictures to post this week. Luckily I don't measure my success by how much fish or game I bring home at the end of the day. It was a great weekend spent with my kids and we had a great time in Central Michigan's great outddors.



To the left is my daughter jigging for panfish on Halls Lake.




Stay tuned as we will be heading to Houghton Lake for the kick off of tip-up-town this weekend and will be doing some pike fishing and dark house spearing.

Welcome to Central Michigan Outdoors. My name is Mark Wilson. I have lived in central Michigan my entire life. I have traveled to other places and and spent a lot of time hunting and fishing in other states and Canada but I have a true love for Michigan and all it has to offer. I have two hunting and fishing partners that accompany me on many of my adventurers, they are my children Luke and Aubrey.

Over the next several weeks we will be sharing our adventures in Central Michigan's great outdoors.

Enjoy!