Love each day to its fullest and be happy

Walleye fishing was a joint adventure when we fished like this.

A number of people who have been near and dear to me may have taken life for granted at one time or another. Most of them, in the final days of their life, realized their mistake.

In other situations, some of us don't take things for granted, but life can still step up and blind-side us.

None of us are infallible, and none of us are invincible, no matter how strongly we believe it. Life can begin and end on a moment's notice.

My life has been blessed in many ways, and I took my vision for granted until I began losing it. Now, every day is a precious commodity to be wisely considered and lived with a fervent passion.
The problem is that none of us know how much time we have to live. My father, who died of old age, had prostate cancer for years. It didn't kill him but 94 years of life did.

Twin brother George lived life to its fullest. He did nearly everything in life he really wanted to, and learned on a Saturday that he had incurable cancer and he died the following Wednesday.

He didn't go to his Maker kicking and screaming. Hours before he passed away, he told me: "I have no regrets. I've lived a good life, and now I'm ready to go."

A good friend of mine died two days later in Oregon. He had made it through perhaps ten years in a wheelchair, and died after having lived a full life before a stroke kept him from walking.

Brother George had seven different kinds of cancer, and his pain levels were mild compared to that of others. Why does this happen? Why do so many people die of this disease in agonizing misery?

My aunt, who died years ago at the age of 84, was a very religious woman. She never smoked or drank, but battled cancer for many years. She attended church two or three times a week, and still the disease finally wore her down.

My first wife died at the age of 40 from cancer. She didn't visit the doctor as often as she should have, but no one should die such a painful and undignified death.

Three good friends died early. Two had families, but died of self-inflicted gun-shot wounds. Only one was physically ill, and he had inoperable cancer and chose his own time of death.

All of these people, with the exception of the two suicides, had cancer. It wreaked havoc on their bodies, and in the end, the pain and the debilitating effects of chemotherapy and radiation probably hastened their demise.

My good friend, Fred Houghton, a friend since childhood, died quietly. He loved to fish for walleyes and yellow perch on Saginaw Bay, was married the second time about four years ago, and kept himself in great shape.

Physical conditioning doesn't bar the way to cancer. It can come calling, as it did with him, and now my old friend is gone. I remember many fishing days from when we both went to Clio High School, and we spent many days over many years hunting ducks and geese.

He lived a good life, retired fairly early, and had everything going his way except for a cancer he didn't know he had until it required surgery. He was pronounced cancer-free, as he told me several months before his death, but the disease took him from us all too soon.

I attended a birthday party for a friend who just turned 90 years old. I've thought about him and another 90-year-old friend all day, remembering their contributions to my success as a photographer and writer.

I remember while duck hunting on Wigwam Bay near Standish in the late 1950s, when brother George and I were hunting from a sneak boat. My childhood buddy was hunting in the cattails, got cold and tried to climb into our boat.

It didn't work, and the boat finally sank beneath the waves as he tried to clamber aboard. I was the only one without waders (who knows why) but I went down with the ship, and got soaking wet and cold during an early November storm.

My buddy always had a much different version of that story, and we argued long and hard about the merits of his or my version. But the boat went down, and in a good-natured way, I always told him it was his fault. He blamed me, and we both had a good laugh about me getting wet.

That story, now that he is gone, was part of the glue that held us together as friends for over 60 years. As is so true with all of us, one day we will all have run our race.

Fred's race sadly ended early, and I shall cherish his memory and that of my brother and father. He was a good man, a kind and considerate friend, and cancer took him much too early.

I will miss my dear friends, family and relatives. They are gone, and those of us who remain, are stuck with memories. Enjoy them for memories are meant to be cherished, and leave the sadness behind where it belongs.

Magic in a small box

Magic in a box: ice flies & jigs.      This angler unhooks a nice walleye.

There is such a thing as finding magic in  a box. Just ask any ice fisherman.

Most of us carry our ice fishing flies and jigs, and our larger jigging spoons in a small plastic box. We walk on and off the ice, and have learned to keep what we carry to a minimum, It’s just a matter of common sense.

We learn to experiment with different lure colors and lure sizes, but tying knot in one-pound line is nearly  impossible. Even when tied indoors, it often takes me 10 minutes of fumbling about to get the knot tied with the wimpy light line.

I always carry a few crappie and perch spreaders in my box. Most come with pre-tied long-shank No. 10 hooks. Add a bell sinker to the bottom of the spreader, bait the spreader hooks with minnows or grubs such as goldenrod, corn borers, mousies or wax worms. The combination of a bit of color and the smell of meat can many these rigs productive when fished near bottom.

Color, size and a bit of bait makes all the difference in success. Just experiment.

Keep the line tight, and replenish the bait whenever a fish is caught, even if the fish doesn’t keep the bait. My thought is it’s better to go with fresh bait than to try to scrimp and lose valuable fishing time because some fish won’t hit bait that has been mouthed by another fish.

It would be easy to state my favorite game fish to catch through the ice, and there would be two choices – bluegills and walleyes. The bluegills provide the biggest problem for me because of having to use light line and retying lost lures. That isn’t a major problem with walleyes.

Walleye fishing is easier. Use a level-wind or spinning reel with six-pound line, a three- to four-foot limber rod, and jigging lures. Fishing lures are being made faster than I can keep up with brand names, but most of my walleyes are caught jigging a jigging Rapala, Sandkicker, Devle Dog, Swedish Pimple or Do-Jigger (made by Bay de Noc Lure Company, the manufacturer of the Swedish Pimple).

The trick is to sweeten up the jigging lure with a minnow. I often put a small minnow on each hook, and the jigging stroke is critical. Many people use a three- or four-foot savage upward jerk of the rod tip, but I must prefer a lighter touch. A three-inch lure movement is plenty, especially if the hooks have been baited.

A too-violent jerk does nothing but make the minnows come off the hook. They lay dead or dying on the bottom of the lake. Play the jigging rod gently. Lures like the Sandkicker (originally made for whitefish jigging) are a great walleye lure.

Sometimes just making the lure “shiver” in one place is enough to make fish bite.

Lower the baited lure to bottom, reel up the slack line, and lift the jig two or three off bottom and let it settle back down on a tight line. Let the baited lure hit bottom, wait a second or two, and move it upward again. Most often, the strike occurs as the up-stroke begins and be ready to set the hook. Sometimes walleyes will hit the lure as it begins to fall, and it should be fairly easy to feel the strike or see the line jerk sideways. Again, set the hook hard.

Ice fishing for trout has always be a fun way to spend a day. Here, I prefer a white or silver Swedish Pimple, and one- to two-ounce lures will work. Buy some frozen smelt, thaw then out and cut off a small chunk of fillet. Put it on one needle-sharp hook, and lower the rig to bottom – often 100 or more feet deep.

Again, pound that baited jigging lure into the bottom. If it kicks up a puff of marl or sand, so much the better. Lake trout can hit a jigged lure extremely hard or simply grab it and hold on. If something doesn’t feel right, set the hook.

Ice-fishing lures are large, small and somewhere inbetween, come in all the colors of the rainbow and in different shapes, and oddly enough, most of them will catch fish.

As is true with all other lures, most lures used for ice-fishing are made with that sole purpose in mind. Granted, they may catch other game fish but their basic use comes once winter cold puts a solid mantle of safe ice on area lakes.

I’m like most people … there often are too many lures in my ice-fishing box of tricks. Too many of anything makes for difficult choices, and I tend to know exactly what I’m going to be fishing for. And mind you, I’ve got some lures in my on-the-ice tackle box that are no-name lures purchased well over 50 years ago, and I still have them because they catch fish.

This box of wee lures was found about 10 years ago after having gone missing for nearly 30 years. It just up and disappeared, and I searched for it and its contents, through almost everything I own. When I finally found it, the box had been stored in with a box of Winchester AA shot-shell cases. I’m clueless about why I stuck it there.

Use lures of the right size for the species of game fish you’re trying to catch.

Many of my ice flies and ice jigs for bluegills and sunfish are tiny. One-pound mono is ideal for these tiny lures, and my vision keeps me from tying them on out on the lake. I’m a great bel
Some general rules apply. Use a hook hone, and keep hook points sharp. Any contact with rocks on the bottom can quickly dull the points.

Bigger lures can twist your line, and a  quality ball-bearing or snap swivel can help eliminate line twist. Deep-water fishing can be much more difficult than fishing in shallow water. One trick that pays off occasionally is to set the hook whenever anything doesn’t feel quite right.

I look at this box of ice-fishing lures, and the box brings back countless memories of long ago fishing trips. I see 10-inch bluegills flopping on the ice, the soft but determined hit of a walleye, and the rugged deep-water battle of a lake trout that doesn’t want to leave the bottom.

All of these thoughts, and many others, are found in this small box of ice-fishing lures. Isn’t it amazing that a box of lures can bring back so many memories?

Think cold weather and ice, and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Fish the hot, muggy nights

There is a certain excitement about fishing after dark that isn't experienced with other angling methods. Gone is our sense of vision, of seeing a strike, and our ears become what helps guide our casts.

It tells us how far away the fish is, gives us a sense of its size based on the commotion it makes, and we know that accurate casting based on what our ears tell us is all the help our body can deliver.

Night fishing for bass and walleyes is a great way to spend time on the water.

Years ago there were a number of lakes I'd prowl with a small row boat. The oars were evenly matched, which is always good, because it helps us row quietly and lets us ghost up on feeding fish. The same can be done with an electric motor  but rowing provides some exercise.

My bass lures came in two basic varieties, and both were top-water models. I liked a black Jitterbug because it was easily silhouetted against the night sky. A frog-colored Hula Popper was the other.

The boat would glide along smoothly with less noise than a stalking cat, and I'd ship the oars onto rubber pads (to muffle that noise), and I liked the Jitterbug best. It could be cast near docks, swimming rafts, lily pads and it was a very productive lure.

The lure would hit the water on a tight line, and I'd let it sit for a minute before taking one or two slow turns of the reel handle. That would make the lure gurgle along on the surface for a foot or so, and then another pause. If a largemouth bass didn't hit after the second pause, I retrieved it just fast enough for it to chuckle all the way back to the boat.

However, strikes often came after the first or second pause, and I wouldn't strike at the splash but once the fish was felt, and then, as they say in the great state of Texas, I'd cross their eyes on the hook-set.

Fish key locations hard.

Probing into likely areas was always fun because night fishing for bass is a bit problematic. One fishes all the normal hotspots, and hopefully one or two fish will produce the desired results. At times, a fish can be heard actively feeding, and an angler could concentrate on that fish until repeated casting put it down or the bass struct the gurgling lure.

Walleyes have always figured highly in my night-fishing escapades. I preferred to cast for them rather than troll because even though trolling allows an angler to cover more water faster, casting allow us to cover the water more thoroughly. An important point, to my way of thinking.

My casting lure of choice for these game fish was a Heddon River Runt Spook in the black-and-white shore minnow pattern. It came in floaters and sinkers, and the floaters usually produced the best action for me.

Walleyes, on drowned river mouth lakes that are connected to the Great Lakes, fed on alewives after dark along a drop-off, point, gravel or sand bar, shallow bar with nearby deep water, or around and over old slab docks left behind after the timbering era ended. Hitting  walleyes is a matter of good timing; missing them means bad timing.

Blind casting with a lure off points and other key locations can produce although night-time feeding walleyes often herd alewives up close to shore, and slash through the bait fish like a school of piranha. One can prospect by motoring to key spots and casting. If you fish a lake often enough to know where walleyes beat up on the alewives, go there to wait.

Sit and wait for feeding fish to move your way.

Sitting silently and waiting in an anchored boat makes sense. A dark quiet night, and the hot muggy air will wrap you up like a hot dish rag, and anglers wonder why they sit there feeding mosquitoes.

Suddenly, out in front, small splashes are heard as alewives leap from the water as walleyes move up from below and start shredding and gobbling the hapless bait fish. The trick is to be able to cast accurately without seeing. Turn on a light, and the walleye school will vanish.

Pitch the lure tight to shore, and reel just fast enough to bring out the lure action. The floating model River Runt will dive on a steady retrieve, and if the lure is close to a fish, it will hit and start tugging for bottom.

I always used 8-pound line, and I never broke off on a big walleye, and landed many fish to 12 pounds. Keep the line tight, keep the fish coming, net it, grab another rod rigged up with the same lure, and cast again. I've landed as many as three big walleyes before the school breaks up or moves off.

Most of the big fish are released. If the school holds 18-inch fish, allow the first hooked fish to lay in the bottom while you get another lure in the water.

Night fishing for bass and walleyes can produce great action but it's important to work them hard and fast while a school hangs around because once it moves on, the chances of finding it again are slim.

For me, fishing at night means dealing with the unexpected. Sometimes the fishing is great, and often it is poor. Do it often enough, and fish enough nights, and the good-bad times seem to average out.

And that is one of the nice things about after-dark fishing. It is great fun, and at times, will produce fast action.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Sputtering about DNRE's wildlife problems

Guess what? Fishing and hunting isn't the same as it was 10 years ago, and it won't be the same in the future as it is now. Many changes have taken place over the past several years.

And not all of them are for the better. Fishing and hunting has become fragmented. How so? There are many ways to look at our natural resource problems, such as:

Years ago, a bear hunter bought a license and went hunting. Now, we have sound, scientific wildlife management, and that means more bears are being killed each year under a quota system than were ever killed under the old rules when anyone could by a tag and hunt bruins.

And that's OK for now because we have more bears than ever before, and the animals are moving into new territories, and management means determining the social carrying capacity of bruins. How many bears will people tolerate near their homes before they start squawking?

We have elk hunts now with some rather new rules. The rules only affect those who draw an elk tag from now on. I've applied for an elk tag ever since they had their first hunt in 1964. I've never been drawn, but instead of drawing names from those who have applied and have missed being picked, the DNRE are enforcing the newer rules.

Bear numbers are up and the animals are spreading out.

And frankly, I'm not the only one who has applied and been denied. It means that hunters who drew an elk tag years ago can still draw another one. Does this make sense? Is it sour grapes on my part? No, it just means that me and many people are dissatisfied with a system that makes no sense. No one should ever draw another elk tag if they've already drawn one but that's not how it works now.

The DNRE has had ample opportunities to allow Region II turkey hunters to obtain some private-land turkey tags that would guarantee them a first- or second-season hunt for those applicants who own property up here, but pressure from other groups is louder than the mumbles of regional landowners. So, private-land turkey tags can be obtained in the Upper Peninsula in those counties where birds are hunted, and throughout southern Lower Peninsula counties, but again Region II landowners get the short and dirty end of the turkey-permit stick.

It appears the DNRE is caving in to special interest groups. In case you haven't noticed, the special interest groups are in the face of the DNRE biologists to get what they want, not what is fair to the general public.

Do you remember when Michigan had their statewide trout season opener on the last Saturday in April? And then, in hopes of streamlining our fishing seasons, the DNRE allowed Lower Peninsula muskie, pike and walleye fishing to open at the same time as the trout season. There are many sport shops in the Lower Peninsula, and this ruling 10-15 years ago, denied sportsmen two opening days -- trout and walleye, etc., and simply lumped them all together.

There is nothing streamlined about our fishing or hunting regulations. Some conservation officers say they must reader the annual fishing or hunting digests time and again before trying to enforce the law. The language is stilted and cumbersome, and an attorney would probably have trouble defining what some of the DNRE legalese language really means. Some rules can make violators out of perfectly honest people. Make anything too difficult, and many give up for fear of unwittingly breaking the law.

Guess which one season most people prefer, and in resounding fashion? It isn't trout, which are harder to catch. Those people who once opened the trout season, and then on May 15, opened the walleye season years ago, jumped for joy. They got more than two additional weeks of walleye fishing, and the sporting goods stores lost a wonderful chance to make money on the second opener, which is now gone.

The DNRE, currently backed into a corner by angry deer hunters, have been taking it on the chin. The DNRE's little dog-and-pony show went on the road to discuss issues with deer hunters several years ago, and they were confronted by many angry people who were tired of not seeing deer and even more tired of horrible deer management policies.

Deer numbers are down in Regions I and II.

Trust me, in many parts of the state, the chances of seeing and killing a deer is as high as drawing one of the aforementioned elk tags. Southern Michigan counties still have lots of deer, but such is not the case in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula.

These hunters were and still are clamoring for change, and rightfully so. I've backed the DNR for more years than I can remember, but things are changing ... and frankly folks, it's not for the better. Deer are plumb hard to find in the U.P., and things aren't much better in the northern half of the Lower Peninsula. But guess where the deer are: on private land in the southern Lower Peninsula counties. The big numbers aren't Up North, no matter what anyone says.

This deal over deer and deer hunting is far from over. The DNR needs to begin mandatory deer registration, and do away with the two-license deal. If they want to make more money, make it mandatory that hunters register their first deer before they can buy a second license. Hunters no longer believe the estimated Oct. 1 deer numbers, and they certainly don't believe the  final totals that show deer kills higher than what anyone believes, especially those sportsmen who do not see a whitetail buck during the combined hunting seasons.

Last year was the first time in history that I can remember when the DNRE came out and positively admitted the deer kill was down dramatically. Is this a harbinger of things to come? I suspect it is.

Now, in an effort to raise more money and to potentially alienate more people, the DNRE will be selling some permits for some of the species that are difficult to draw -- like the bull elk tags. If you've got enough money, you too can bypass the lottery system, and bid lots of money. This further tips the scales away from the ordinary sportsman, and will become the most direct cause of higher license fees and perhaps even fewer hunters.

And, while we are at it, it means the rich get what they want while the average sportsman get little or nothing. Go over to Germany and try to hunt. It will cost an arm and a leg, and a lengthy training session before you'll take your firearm into the woods.

Now, because of one case of the Chronic Wasting Disease scare in Kent County a few years ago, baiting has been eliminated in the entire Lower Peninsula. In the meantime, baiting continues in the Upper Peninsula. Many people began cheating in the Lower Peninsula where they continue to bait. Does it make sense to have legal baiting in one part of the state but not in the rest? Not to me it doesn't.

Ask the DNRE about the compliance rate for not baiting. They maintain the compliance rate is high, but bait is still being sold at gas stations, and someone is certainly buying and using it.

And all of this mess because of one CWD disease in a private enclosure. Everyone must pay the price for that solitary animal. Did people resent this, and is it sound scientific management? It makes one wonder. The DNRE and Department of Agriculture should get their collective acts together.

Has deer and turkeys suffered in the northern Lower Peninsula. You bet. Folks, where I live we had more than 180 inches of snow two winter ago and more than125 inches so far this season. I've seen very few gobblers, and only a few hen turkeys this winter. If the DNRE's weird sense of having turkey feeding sites weren't so laughable, I'd cry.

If we have fewer turkeys this spring than in the past, we can look to a lack of a winter feeding program. Turkeys are big birds and burn a lot of energy launching into flight from the ground, but to expect birds to burn up even more fat reserves during winter months by flying up to an elevated position for corn, is a bit silly. Besides, the birds scatter the feed from above, and the deer come to it on the ground, thereby creating another problem.

But never mind me. I get a bit peckish after snowblowing for three months, getting the blower stuck once in deep snow three weeks ago, and watching the road plow fill in my driveway. Some things, like silly management policies, get me hacked off.

Am I in a bit of a nasty mood? You bet! Michigan hunters once stood tall and proud of their DNRE, our deer management policies, and the fact that we had more combined deer hunters and man-days of deer hunting than any other state in the nation was something we were proud of.

We don't have much to be proud of now except in areas where there is a Quality Deer Management program. Hunters in such areas are now seeing more bucks and larger animals in some of those counties than ever before.

The state's deer numbers are down in Regions 1 and II.

Folks, it goes against the grain of Mother Nature to try to maintain a status quo, year after year. It's impossible to accomplish, and management of our deer herd is sorely lacking in its focus.

I never see a wildlife biologist in the field, and in the words of a fine wildlife biologist who retired a few years ago, "the new wildlife biologists don't have any dirt on their boots."

One might wonder if they even own a pair of boots. They spend little, if any time, in the field. They manage by building computer models, and I for one, know that this philosophy really isn't working.

And sadly, the biologists seldom want to talk with landowners and hunters, especially in northern counties. They know they'll get an ear full, and most of the anger generated their way these days is justified.
Perhaps we need a shake-up in state government.

One doesn't have to look hard or into a crystal ball to see that state government has wrecked the economy, our jobs and our livlihood, and politicians have left taxpayers holding the bag ... once again.

This is the adult version of the old snipe hunt trick we played on other kids when we were young. It was funny back then, but nobody is laughing now because many of us are left holding that empty bag. It's difficult to compare deer hunting 20 years ago with what we now have because there can't be a comparison. It gets worse every year.

And excuse me for not being politically correct. The DNRE is no longer correct and proper. The proper alphabet soup name is now DNRE. The "E" is for Environment, and where the DNR once rolled easily off our tongue, adding an "E" doesn't seem to have done much for this once-proud state agency.

The people who are most visible to the public -- our conservation officers -- are often seen in the field but the same cannot be said for many of the DNRE's wildlife biologists. What a sad situation., especially when it comes to some of them and their people skills.

Fortunately, we still have some good wildlife biologists. Not many but some good people still remain, but when they retire, who will we have to carry on proper wildlife management of our natural resources?

It makes me wonder.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

One never has enough fishing-hunting books or lures

There are more tackle boxes in my basement storeroom that any sane man needs. Every one is almost overflowing with fishing lures, so why should I need more?

It's a bit like fishing and hunting books. A man can never have and read too many fishing or hunting titles, and I'm as guilty of buying more of each than I will probably ever need.

There are four huge tackle boxes filled just with muskie plugs, and a smaller one that holds some smaller muskie lures. I've got some 10-inch muskie plugs and great huge spinnerbaits in the big boxes. However, every year I see someone with a Bobbie or Eddie bait or a Suick painted in a color I don't have.

It doesn't mean that the other guy's oddly colored Suick hasn't worked for him. It could, and there I'd be without one painted in that strange color that every muskie fishermen needs to own. Sadly, seldom do they produce fish, but against all odds, they could!
 
There are two more beastly huge tackle boxes filled with nothing but salmon spoons and big salmon plugs. I own most colors of J-Plugs, Dardevle, Silver Streaks and other fishing spoons, but I keep bumping into newer sizes with different paint and  tape patterns that seem to beckon to me with eyes that look deep into mine and seem to whisper "Buy me and take me home!" It's the old siren song.

A big red-white Dardevle produced this big Isle Royale pike.

The eyes have it. I've been adding stick-on eyes to my lures for many years, and now more and more lures are being made with prominent and well-colored eyes. I think eyes make lures more appealing to fish but wonder if they really produce more fish.

OK, how about Herring Dodgers? I have two smaller boxes filled with them. There are red ones, white and yellow ones, chrome plated, some home-painted a dull black color (don't laugh because they work ... sometimes), half silver-half bronze, chartreuse models, and some with dazzling tape and some without. There are small ones, large ones, those of normal size, and Hoochies. Got me some of them too.

If we're going after lake trout I tote 50-60 different sizes, shapes and colors of cowbells and perhaps half that many different colors of P-nuts. Another tackle box is filled with various trolling weights for inland trout lakes, and some stainless steel needles to sew shiners onto my hook.

Dardevles are a favorite Canadian lure.

One tackle box is loaded with more Dardevles in a variety of colors although my best pike fishing comes with two color combinations -- red with a white stripe and silver back or yellow with five red diamonds and a brass back. There are other pike spoons and plugs in the box, and although most of my largest pike come on the two colors noted above, there are another two dozen other patterns for when the pike get picky. And then there is a box of spinnerbaits in several sizes that work for muskies and pike.

Oh my, I nearly forgot. One box is filled with body baits like Rapalas, Rebels, FasTracs, Long A Bombers and other similar lures. They too are in an infinite variety of great colors, and some have never been in the water but boy, do they look pretty.

Still another box is filled with wood FlatFish and Tadpollys from my guiding days when I used the dropback method on the Manistee River below Tippy Dam or when trolling Manistee, Pentwater or Pere Marquette lakes for late-fall steelhead. The FlatFish come in two varieties: those with the tiny treble gang hooks or with two larger hooks. In that box are extra hook hangers for the small treble hooks that I prefer to use.

I'm a big fan of vertical jigging on the Detroit, Kalamazoo, Saginaw and Tittabawassee rivers, and there are two heavy tackle boxes filled with jigs weighing from 1/8 to 1 ounce, depending on the depth of water and current speed at each location. Half of one box is filled with oodles of grub bodies and twister-tail bodies in a rainbow of colors.

And as nice as freshly painted jigs look in their trays, I often scrape the paint off and use just the bare lead and a lip-hooked minnow. It works!

One small box holds nothing but Mepps spinners, and another holds nothing but weight-forward spinners like Erie Dearies. Another small box is nothing special except it contains lures purchased when I was 15-17 years old from the Wanigas Fly Shop near Saginaw, Michigan. The shop was owned by Art Neumann, a co-founder of Trout Unlimited, and it holds a bunch of small trout-size spoons that are rarely seen these days except in a lure collection.

A body bait produced this big Georgian Bay, Canada walleye.

Then there are some collectible Heddon lures that I normally leave home, and other scarce Creek Chub Pikie minnows, etc. And did I mention two small boxes of ice fishing lures?

So, do I really need several more lures? Probably not, but once one or two new lures wink at me and catch my eye, I go into a feeding frenzy until I have them. Many times, after such a cabin-fever purchase, I try the lure once and take an active dislike to its action, color or lack of fishing-catching abilities.

Someone once told me that fishing lures catch more anglers than fish, and I suspect that is quite true. However, gazing upon tray after tray of various colors and sizes of lures makes me feel good.

So, why not, honey? All I need is two or three more $20 muskie lures. There are still a few Suick colors I don't have. You never know when one of these odd-ball color combinations will tempt a trophy muskie.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors