Fishing in Michigan
Almost 24 hours after Sage and I returned from our Alaskan cruise, I jumped on a plane to Chicago to see my brother Ian in Michigan. Why fly into Chicago? Because it was half the price of flying into Detroit. Weird huh? It all worked out though because my good friend Rob Jarvis (see the Who's Wrinkle page of my blog) lives in Kenosha WI, about an hour north of Chicago. He swung down, picked me up from the Chicago Midway airport and then drove us to Grand Rapids Michigan where my brother Ian was waiting for us. The next morning we all went fly fishing in North Western Michigan…
… Okay, so we didn't go fly fishing right away. First we drove around Western Michigan looking for everything from a fly shop (for advice and flies), to a Best Buy (so Rob could buy a new laptop), to a new place to stay that was close to all the action. We finally got on the water in time for some late afternoon/dinner time fishing. SIDE NOTE: I brought my laptop so I could do some work at night while on the trip… but I forgot my freaking power cord! I tried to find a new power cord or adapter for my laptop at a few computer stores and Best Buy to no avail. It appears I bought the only laptop in the world that has such a weird power adapter that NOBODY creates a universal adapter to fit it. I was SOL the whole trip. 
We started out on the Pere Marquette river ("the PM") as the locals call it. I could see some big fish in there, but they were too smart for us. The next day we decided to go a bit further north to the Manistee river just below the Tippy Dam. We didn't have much luck there either, but Rob and I both caught 1 small trout each. That night though… we stayed on the river until about midnight watching the locals throw out gigantic treble spoons to snag salmon… and boy did they snag em! We watched several guys haul in 25lb salmon and then turn around and let them free. We tried our luck, but didn't snag anything but a few zebra mussels. Zebra mussels are weird… they are like little clams that actually "bite" down on your hook if it comes across them.
After our adventures up north, Rob had to hit the road and go back to work so Ian and I headed to Lansing where Ian and Natalie live. However, on the way there, we hit a little river called the Flat river. We found an ANCIENT covered bridge and fished until dark. As much as we'd like to have caught the big trout we could see sleeping on the bottom, we had to settle for small and large mouth bass… but boy were they biting! We caught about 25 fish each and had a blast. Granted, the biggest whale of the day was about 12 inches, but it was fun nonetheless.
After spending the night at Ian and Nat's in Lansing, Ian took me on a tour of downtown Lansing. We saw a few of his school buildings (Cooley School of Law), Michigan State University, and Oldmobile stadium where the Lansing Lugnuts baseball team plays. After our short tour of Lansing, we drove down to Battle Creek and caught a train to Chicago… after all, I had to get there somehow to fly home.
The train ride was interesting… A lot like a plane only with more leg room. If I had a power cord for my laptop, I could have plugged it into the wall next to my seat. Why don't planes have A/C plugs on them? We arrived into Chicago's Union Station and then walked down to a Holiday Inn where we were to spend then night. We had time, so we walked around downtown, had dinner, and then wandered around a huge pare where a gianormous latino festival was being held. We saw a big colorful fountain called the Buckingham Fountain, had some icecream, then wandered the streets back to the hotel.
The next morning, I caught an "L" train to the airport and came home. It was nice to sleep in my own bed for a change. A HUGE thanks to Rob (who paid for our lodging and drove us around the state) and my brother and sister-in-law for letting me come visit and have the wonderful time that I had.
September 27th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
I didn’t know you went with Rob too! Robby talks a big fish game but come to think of it he couldn’t catch anything in Arizona either.