Below you will find a map that highlights family-friendly fishing locations throughout the state of Michigan. Just click on a county to get started!

Do you have a location you’d like to see listed? The DNR will continue to collect Family Friendly Fishing Waters location submissions. Just visit our online form at www.surveymonkey.com/s/FFFWand fill in the necessary details.

Our established format asks applicants to share digital photos of any suggested Family Friendly Fishing Waters location. To do so, an email can be sent to DNR-FamilyFriendlyFishingWaters@michigan.gov with the photos included as JPEG attachments. The email subject line should reference the suggested location. Photos should be relevant to the suggested location and highlight the fishing area(s), the parking area and/or the water body itself. Be sure to take several photos from various angles and we will select the best ones to use.

Please note, all Family Friendly Fishing Waters submissions and locations are vetted by DNR staff to ensure they fit the necessary requirements. Submission of a water body does not guarantee it will be included on the Family Friendly Fishing Waters website. The DNR will make every effort to include as many water bodies that are submitted as possible.

For additional fishing locations in Michigan (particularly those located on the Great Lakes), check out the Pier Michigan website located at www.piermichigan.org.

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Below is a map of the known Muskie waters through out the state of Michigan.

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“A fall turkey hunt is a pretty unique experience,” said DNR upland game bird specialist Al Stewart. “It’s an entirely different feeling when you’re out in the fall. The leaves are changing, and even better yet, no mosquitoes.”

Sept. 15 – Nov. 14 marks the fall turkey hunting season in 59 of 83 counties. Turkey licenses still are available in Units J, HA and YY, with a large number of licenses still available in Unit YY, a multicounty, private-land-only unit in southern Michigan that includes Beaver Island.

“The fall season is used to manage turkey populations, so you can take a hen or a tom. You can even purchase one turkey license a day, until licenses are gone for that unit,” said Stewart. “With two full months of hunting, the fall turkey season offers many chances for a wild Michigan Thanksgiving turkey.”

Stewart added that turkey hunting is a challenging and interactive activity that can be fun for a group, or alone, while providing great local and organic protein for the table.

To hunt turkey, a base and a turkey license are needed. To learn more about turkey hunting, please visit mi.gov/turkey or see the Fall Turkey Digest, which is available online at mi.gov/dnrdigests.

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The 1^st is the Jighead and Grub Combo. I believe Field and Stream once called this the best lure of all time. There is so many color options out there that you’ll be able to find some colors that work for you. I have three bread and butter colors I always have on me. White, Chartreuse, Motor Oil. Rig them on a simple round jig head in 1/16oz with a size 1 or 1/0 hook. The beauty of this bait is that you can fish this bait has a search bait just casting and retrieving it or you can hop it along the bottom. It is also a deadly bed bait. I have even used this bait for jig fishing suspended smallies in a deep quarry. If you can think of a technique you can probably fish this bait that way.

Key times to Fish: Winter, Spring, Fall

My second all time favorite is a soft plastic jerkbaits. I fish a Zoom Super Fluke and Jr. size weightless on a EWG hook. I fish the pearl color a lot I also reach for Tennessee Shad and Pumpkin colors. I use this bait almost all year round, but someplace this bait really shines is during the Pre-Spawn through Post Spawn. These are deadly baits for bed fishing. I will cover that at a latter date.

Key times to Fish: Spring, Fall

The third go to bait for me is the 3/16 oz spinner-bait in the compact size. Booyah and Strike King both make great models for this. I use this bait to cover water fast. If you ever seen KVD burn water with a spinner-bait you get the idea of how I fish this. I will cast it to every current break and slack water I can find. This is key in the dog days of summer when smallies in these river will spread out and find some shady cool area to spend the day time.

Key times to Fish: Late Spring, Summer, Fall

Fourth is the smallie classic the tube. I fish 3.5 and 4 inches most of the time. One thing I look for is that the tube has been cut 50/50. What I mean it that it is 50% body and 50% tails. The brands I use are Extreme Bass Tackle and Economical Bass Baits. EBB makes a hot pink color tube and I have done really well on that color. So don’t over look those crazy colors. EBT makes tri-laminat tubes I love, Great Lake Perch, St. Clair Goby NFT.

Key times to Fish: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Last and my fall go to bait crankbaits. The two go to baits for me is the Bandit Footloose or Series 100.One thing I do with these baits is take the front hooks off so I don’t get hung has much on the bottom. I fish these baits and bang bottom hard. If it get stuck I let off and let the current free it for me. I get a lot of strikes right when I do this. You might be wondering why I don’t use a deeper driving bait.Well it is really simple I snap and crack way to many of those bills no matter what brand I have tried.

Key times to Fish: Late Summer, Fall

If you don’t have these 5 baits in your tackle bag you might want to go pick a few up before spring is here.

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Michigan Wild Turkey Hunter Association members release turkeys in Lake County.

For the first time in history, wild turkeys can be found in every county of the Lower Peninsula, plus several areas of the Upper Peninsula. In 1977, only 400 birds were harvested during the season, and today harvest numbers are over 30,000 birds! This success didn’t just happen overnight, but over the last half-century.

At one time in Michigan’s history, turkeys were very plentiful, although over time they vanished from every county in Michigan because of unregulated take and loss of habitat. Many efforts to re-establish the population were made from 1919 through late 1983. Michigan biologists took notice of Pennsylvania’s success and received birds from that state in 1954, matching the Pennsylvania habitat with an area of southern Michigan. The area chosen was the Allegan State Game Area.

Through the 1980s, wild turkeys were relocated from Iowa and Missouri to establish the southern Michigan wild turkey populations. Turkeys also were taken from southern Michigan to northern Michigan in order to help achieve the statewide success we experience today. Just getting the birds there wasn’t the only concern – year-round food and cover for turkeys also needed to be provided.

“We know effective private-land management is key to turkey survival in areas that receive higher snowfall,” stated Rex Ainslie, DNR regional wildlife supervisor. “We are lucky to have great cooperation with so many turkey supporters.”

Pat and Josh McKenna harvest a spring gobbler in Gladwin County.

In 2013 alone, over 70 landowners – with the help of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and the DNR – have put in over 450 acres for an annual winter food source, such as corn or other grains and crop mixes that withstand winter conditions. Crops are not harvested and are left standing through the winter to provide a food source that turkeys can reach. Although a turkey can go up to 14 days without food, trees that hold their fruit through the winter and permanent unharvested crops provide a food source that is readily available above the snow.

“With winters like we had this year,” said Bob Garner of Three Corners Chapter of the NWTF, “the private-land turkey food plot program is even more important for a great spring turkey season.”

DNR wildlife biologists from across the northern Lower Peninsula have been working with turkey enthusiasts such as the NWTF, Michigan Wild Turkey Hunters Association (MWTHA), private landowners and the U.S. Forest Service for over a decade. These partners have been able to adapt new techniques and maintain a high level of performance for the program.

“I would recommend this great opportunity to someone who wants to make a difference during the winter for turkeys,” said Garner.

NWTF members can get grain seed for winter plots from the NWTF Conservation Seed Program, where outdated corn from large seed companies is distributed to NWTF members for only the shipping and handling fee, approximately 10 percent of the retail cost.

“This program allows NWTF members to make a significant contribution to wild turkey winter survival in the Upper Midwest,” said Rick Horton, NWTF Midwest conservation field supervisor. “Ideal plots are planted near woody cover, where large concentrations to turkeys roost in the winter.”

How can you get involved? Work with your local turkey hunting group, such as your local NWTF chapter.

As part of the new license structure, funding will be dedicated for public and private landowner turkey enthusiasts to create outstanding turkey habitat and hunting opportunities.

So this year, when you are out listening for gobbles, you’ll know you’re experiencing, first-hand, one of the best conservation success stories in Michigan history!

To learn more about wild turkeys, visit www.michigan.gov/turkey.

Click here for a turkey target to pattern your shotgun for turkey season.

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DUO Realis Spinbait

A spy bait is a sinking hard bait that is shaped in a way that the bait wobbles as it sinks. It also has two small props on either end of the bait. These props are setup to start spinning at very slow speeds. It is finished off with masterfully done paint jobs for ultra realism and light wire treble hooks. Right now here in the US there is two major players DUO Realis Spinbait and Jackall i-Prop. Other major Japaness style hard bait companies also have offerings such has Lucky Craft, Megabass and Evergreen International.

Jackall iProp

How you fish these baits is really quiet simple and the equipment needed is also simple and can be bought at just about any quailty tackle shop. For the rod your going to want a Med-light or a Light Power rod with a fast tip. I really like the Med-Light 13 Fishing Omen Black 7’1″ spinning rod for this. This rod lets you cast it a country mile and the length helps you fight those big bass on light line. The reel needs to be able to hold and manage 4 -8lb fluorocarbon line so I like the 1000 or 1500 size reels for this technique. I use the Shimano Stradic CI4 1000 for this technique. For line I like Sunline FC Sniper or  Sufix INVISILINE, both of these lines are cast-able fluorocarbons .The reason you are wanting to use fluorocarbon and not a braid or mono is because those lines tend to want to float on you so it will affect the action of the bait and pull it up out of the strike zone to soon.

These baits are designed to sink at about a foot a second so when you make your long cast countdown to the depth your wanting. Once you reach that depth begin to reel the bait in at a slow steady pace just fast enough to get the props spinning but not to fast that it comes up and not to slow that it continues to sink.Your wanting it to maintain and consent depth. You want to point the rod low and at the bait has you reel back to you. With practices you will get a feel for the speed and cadence you need to reel. There is no need to jerk or twitch the rod to impart action to the bait. The action is already designed into these baits. The props disturb the water going along the bait which makes the bait shimmy side to side. This bait also has a killer wobble to it has it sinks so stopping and starting can be deadly at times with it.

The areas this bait shines are on clear lakes such St. Clair, Burt , Mullet and Traverse Bay. You want to work it on or around ledges, rock piles, and just over the tops of large sand grass and perch grass flats. This is not a bait you want to fish down in the weeds you want to make sure you fish in a way that it will stay above them. I even have had success fishing this bait around the docks in the large marinas here St. Clair. What time of the year you throw, I really don’t know if there will be a time not to throw it. But I can see it being deadly in the spring and fall and working deep hump holding smallmouths.

Even tho this was a Largemouth bait over in Japan, here in the US it has shown it self to be a deadly smallie bait and I see no reason why Spotted Bass wouldn’t eat this up has well.Below I have attached a few youtube videos that explain this style of bait well; warning you will have to read captions has the guy is speaking Japaness in the 1st one.

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The Ducks and Bucks 4 Season Hunting and Fishing Cartblind.

“How many _____ does it take to change a lightbulb?” Here’s a better question “How many different products do I have to buy to hunt and ice-fish?” Well, here’s one that does it all…

Ducks&Bucks Cartblind is a Michigan-made product that’s great for anyone looking for the most versatile hunting blind, fishing shanty in the industry. This design won the most prestigious award in the hunting industry in 2011 and they have been working hard to bring this product to the market ever since.

Here is the Ducks and Bucks Cart Blind being used on state land to hunt in the manage units here in Michigan

You can hunt ducks, goose, deer, prey, wolf, or just about anything. This blind carries 350lbs on the land and FLOATS 200lbs on the water. It is perfect for those of us who don’t mind getting a little wet to reach those hunting areas where we can really have fun. Duck hunters, carry all your decoys into the field and get to whatever area you need with ease. Deer hunters, setup wherever you need, get the right shooting lane, adjust with ease and haul your deer out of the woods when you are done. Fishermen, this makes ice fishing a breeze. Cart right from your vehicle to where ever you need to get. Bring your auger, fishing poles, bait, lures, etc.

This product has a 1-year warranty on all parts, except for the wheels which have a LIFE-TIME GUARENTEE.  Because they are rubber and not plastic, you don’t have to worry about temperature or terrain damage.

Ice Fishing in the Duck and Bucks Cart Blind on Lake St. Clair.

So, if you’re sick of investing in hunting/fishing supply that comes out for a couple months a year before going back into storage, make this one investment for sporting year round.

Take a look at this website for more information. www.ducksbucks.com
Call/text or email. 586-260-4727 sales@ducksbucks.com

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This past July, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) conducted a diving expedition to obtain footage of aging oil pipelines strung across one of the most sensitive locations in the Great Lakes, and possibly the world: the Straits of Mackinac. Footage of these pipelines has never been released to the public until now.

This NWF map simulates a 3, 6 and 12 hour spill from the tar sands oil pipeline based on Enbridge spill response plans, average current speeds and “worse case” discharge estimates.

The Straits of Mackinac pipelines, owned by Enbridge Energy, are 60-years-old and considered one of the greatest threats to the Great Lakes because of their age, location and the hazardous products they transport—including tar sands derived oil.

For nearly two years, NWF has been pressing pipeline regulators and Enbridge to release information about the integrity of these pipelines, including inspection videos showing how the pipelines cross the Straits of Mackinac. These requests have gone largely unanswered from both Enbridge and the Pipeline Hazards Safety Administration (PHMSA), who regulates pipeline operations. Because Enbridge hastily moved forward with plans to increase pressure on the aging pipelines, and has bypassed critical environmental permitting for changes in operation, NWF decided we needed to obtain our own:

The footage shows pipelines suspended over the lakebed, some original supports broken away—indicating the presence of corrosion—and some sections of the suspended pipelines covered in large piles of unknown debris. This visual is evidence that our decision makers need to step in and demand a release of information from Enbridge and PHMSA.

Heightening our concern around this pipeline and the company that owns it: despite having cleared our dive work with the U.S. Coast Guard, several Congressional members and Homeland Security, our staff and the dive crew had uncomfortable interactions with Enbridge representatives. As soon as our team set out on the water, we were quickly accompanied by an Enbridge crew that monitored our every move. This monitoring did not stop at the surface: Enbridge also placed a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) into the water to watch our team.

These actions and our video have raised our level of concern for the general operational behavior of this company and their overall safety culture—including the way they treat the concerned public living near their pipelines. If these aging pipelines rupture, the resulting oil slick would cause irreversible damage to fish and wildlife, drinking water, Lake Michigan beaches, Mackinac Island and our economy.

To make matters worse, the recent shutdown of our federal government has left communities and wildlife with an increased risk of oil spills and failed response because pipeline safety and responding agencies have been scaled back or closed all together. The recent oil spill in North Dakota, of approximately 800,000 gallons, is living proof.

This article was originally published on National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise.

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I know right off the bat some of you are either saying, “hey, I’ve been using a fly reel for ice fishing for years. This isn’t new. ”  Or you’re saying, “my spinning reel works fine, I don’t need no stink’n badges, I mean fly reel”…(spaghetti western joke)..

Here’s the straight scoop on many fishermen are using fly reel style ice reels. This type of reel allows the line to come straight off of the spool with out any spinning motion. ALL spinning reels twist your fishing line. They twist it coming off the spool when you drop your jig, they twist it when reeling line in and they really twist the heck out off it if a fish pulls drag out or you reel against the drag. All this spinning energy is stored up in your line and wants to uncoil. It will either uncoil when you open up your bail and cause a snarl of line, or a loop. Or it will uncoil itself down where you can’t see it at your jig and cause the jig to spin. Most fish won’t hit a spinning jig. Now it is true, that if you keep the jig dancing, swimming or jiggling, it will resist spinning. But many times we need to at least pause that motion in order to get bit. And shortly after we stop, that twisted, spring like energy is going to try to unwind.

Fly reels or other level wind reels don’t twist the line. So, you don’t get line twist from reeling in or letting line out. The only line twist you get will come from any spinning that your lure does when raising, lowering or jigging it. So no line twist equals no jig spin, which equals more bites. It’s really that simple.

Ok, so no spin means better performance. What about efficiency? What do I mean by that?  Ice fishing is vertical fishing. We let lures down and we bring lures up. We are not casting horizontally.  You have to worry about getting a bite when the line is going “out” on a cast. You only get bit once your reel is “locked up” and you are retrieving, right? No problem here, because your reel is engaged and your ready to set the hook. That is unless the fish hits right as your bait splashes down…But when you’re ice fishing their is no real travel time in the air. Your bait is in the strike zone as soon as it passes the bottom edge of the ice, especially when fishing panfish or other relatively shallow applications. You have to be ready to set the hook all the time, and I mean ALL the time.  You can’t set the hook with your bale open on a spinning reel. However, you can set the hook 100% of the time with a fly reel, by palming or pencil gripping the fly reel in your hand and using your hand to clamp down on the spool lip. You can even set the hook against your drag as long as you don’t set the hook to hard. But the point is, you don’t have to lock up the spool or close the bale  1st. You’re always, locked, cocked and ready to rock, 100% of the time.

I know some of you are saying ok that’s great, but how do you let line out? Well, in most of these reel designs you simply pull line out against the drag with your other hand. This means that you have to keep the drag set relatively light, at least light enough not to break the line. But you’re drag should be set that way anyway, right? I already hear the rumblings too, saying “man that sounds like it will be really slow getting the jig down” or “that’s a lot of work”. Here’s the truth here too. You will find that in most cases, unless you are using a jigging spoon or relatively heavy bait, you will be able pull line from your reel and keep your jig moving on free fall almost 100% of the time. What you will also find is that you will really want to stop and pause between line pulls anyway on your way down, because you will catch many super aggressive suspended fish on your way down. When dropping your bait with spinning tackle, your bait might have blown right by those fish! I guess this is where I should talk about a new hybrid type of  “free spooling” fly reel.  But 1st, let’s take a look back at ice reel designs, from where they started, right up to the latest designs.

If we go back 30, 40 or even more yrs you’ll find reels like the all metal Canadian made Swish reel. It had a stamped metal frame a rod stand and a very simple fiberglass rod that it was clamped to. You’ll also find the incredibly simple and inexpensive Michigan made plastic Schooley Reel.  It’s simple design attaches using a small wood screw. This reel is still very popular today and still be purchased with several different  length fiberglass rods. The Swish reel and rod combo is also still available.

In the 70’s through mid 80’s a myriad of retailers starting private labeling tiny plastic and aluminum fly reels with an anti-reverse switch that locked the spool. These reels were primarily a spin off from the southern crappie and bream fishing markets. These reels had lousy drags and tiny arbors that caused the line to hold lots of tiny curly-q’s. They were really simply intended to hold line and nothing more. Don’t get me wrong, it was possible to fight and land a big on them.  But it took luck and great deal of skill. This  was also the time that many of us started experimenting with full size fly reels. But unless you spent $150 or more, they were large, heavy and had too small of arbor diameter to be practical. They also had small handles and were usually aluminum,  which is cold on the hands.

In the last 5 yrs the ice fishing market has experienced a real revolution which I believe started with another little Michigan company  in Adrian, MI. These entrepreneurs took notice of how the Schooley Reel had held its market share and even expanded into to top level tournament ice fishermen. They decided to manufacture a high quality machined aluminum version of the Schooley , complete with needle bearings and metal center pin shaft. The company that started this was Ice Tech Fishing Systems. They later came out with a model which positioned his large center pin reel below the rod on an extended foot, like a spinning reel. He called this reel The Razor. He still makes these high quality fishing instruments today, which are used by top level tournament anglers and ice tackle aficionados across the ice belt.

About the same time frame as the introduction of the Razor, the market saw an influx of relatively low cost mid-sized fly reels with unidirectional bearings.  Unidirectional means that they spin freely in one direction, but can be used to engage a drag mechanism when rotated in the other direction. For a fly reel, that’s a beautiful thing. You can reel line or fish in, without fighting the drag, yet automatically engage a fully adjustable drag as line is taken out. Ice Hopper, Frabil, HT and every other savy ice tackle company have either an aluminum or graphite frame version fly reel, if not both that incorporate these bearings.

Most fishermen using these style reels prefer to palm them in their hand and hold the rod almost like a pencil, hence the term Pencil Grip. A similar grip is also used on spinning reels. Which brings up my next group of reels, refrerred to as Extended Neck/Stem or Extended Reel Foot fly reels.

As the name suggests, these fly style reels are suspended 1-2″ below the reel seat,  just like a spinning reel. This is one of those personal preference things. So much so in fact, that Frabil’s version even comes with an interchangeable long and standard foot. Personally, I prefer the low profile or traditional version, as I like to wrap my fingers around the reel and touch the spool with my fingers or palm.  I find this grip  really awkward with a longer stem …but to each his own on this.

Last year also saw some new reels enter the ice fishing market, although their designs aren’t as  new to the European or Asian markets. These are the push button free spooling variants with geared retrieve rates. 13 Fishing and Eagle Claw marketed these style reels last winter at the opposite ends of the price spectrum. Key features of these reels include extended Neck, free spool button, geared retrieve drives and star type drag system. Where I think these reels shine is when using larger predator size ice jigs and lures, in deeper water. Then you can coarse adjust your free spool tension and just let the bait drop.  What I don’t like about this style reel is awkward balance, weight and inability to palm the reel because the reel handle is on the opposite side of the spool. You have to hold one to see what I mean. But for a lot of hard water anglers, this style reel is huge step up.

I should also mention, that in this incredibly competitive fishing market popular designs don’t go unnoticed.  Ice Tech’s Razor was no exception as it saw direct competition from the off shore manufactured Black Betty.

The last significant fly reel to hit the market came last winter when the Tight Line Extreme Reel was launched under the Ice Hopper brand.  This little graphite frame fly reel, which follows the successful Tight Line Reel,  has a unidirectional bearing, gear driven quick line retrieve rate, pulls line in from the top of the spool (unlike traditional fly reels).  And because of it’s design it also allows the reel to be palmed, pencil gripped or fished with a spinning rod grip from above.

This winter both Beam Outdoors and HT Enterprises are offering aluminum frame reels that are very similar to the Tight Line Extreme Reels launched last year. 13 Fishing also continues to advance the market with it’s Tear Drop reel, long stem spinning reel and their plastic version of the Black Betty the Code Blue.

If you haven’t tried one of these style ice reels yet, you have lots of options and price points now. There truly is something for everyone. It’s time to join the hard water fly reel revolution.

The post The Ice Fishing Fly Reel Evolution appeared first on Out In Michigan.

“We anticipate that there will be a lot of people trying to buy a very limited number of licenses in a short timeframe,” said Adam Bump, DNR bear and furbearer specialist. “This is a first-come, first-served purchase, unlike other limited-license hunts that require an application and drawing process, so it presents a new challenge for our retail sales system. We want to make sure the system is equipped for the high volume so sales go smoothly and everyone has an equal chance to get a wolf license.”

Bump said that, in addition to ensuring that technology is up to speed, the DNR is working to put adequate Saturday staffing in place to make the license-buying process as fair and efficient as possible.

A total of 1,200 wolf licenses will be available for purchase beginning Sept. 28 at noon EDT (11 a.m. CDT) until Oct. 31, or until the license quota is met. Wolf licenses cost $100 for residents and $500 for nonresidents.

Wolf hunting season still will begin on Nov. 15. For more information about regulations, see the 2013 Wolf Hunting Digest, available online at www.michigan.gov/dnrdigests or at any location DNR licenses are sold.

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