The leak originated south of Marshall, Michigan, but has started to make its way towards the Kalamazoo area.  Officials have assured the public that they will be able to contain the spill within Morrow Lake, a dam pond east of Kalamazoo, but we all know how that can go.  I’m hoping for the best, but trying to prepare for the worst, because if the spill cannot be contained in such a location, there is the possibility it could reach Lake Michigan; that gives me chills just thinking about it.

Obama has already pledged a swift response to the spill, and local legislators are speaking out against Enbridge, the company responsible for the pipeline.  I’m holding my breath, though, and hoping that this spill is contained and cleaned up in a timely manner.  If history is any indication, though, I have fears that this will take much longer than anticipated to get under control, and who knows what longing affects it will have on the local wildlife population.

Right now, heavy rain is inhibiting the clean up duties, as well as a lack of trained personnel to help with wildlife clean up and rehabilitation.  I’ve already read and heard stories of people who were willing to help, but who have been turned away because they don’t have the proper training.

The river in question is only about 25 miles south of my hometown, and though I haven’t seen the devastation first hand, we will be in the area for a wedding this weekend.  There is a part of me that really doesn’t want to see, and to say I feel pretty damn helpless is an understatement.

Let’s all hope that everyone works together, and gets this thing cleaned up as soon as possible with as little environmental impact as possible.

It’s all just very depressing.  It literally makes me sick to my stomach.

Update: After working through my helpless feeling, and after thinking to myself “How can I help?”, considering there is no way I’m trying to pick up a ornery goose covered in oil, I did manage to find a few ways that us simple and untrained people can help:

If you want to volunteer your time to help animals in need or oil cleanup, try one of the following options:

— Call the official assistance number, 1-800-306-6837.

— Call Pam Decuypere with the Circle D Wildlife Refuge, 269-778-9181 or 269-365-5349.

— Visit the Circle D location at 13500 East U Ave. in Vicksburg. Bring donations of money, buckets, vegetable oil, dish soap and rags.

— Call Matt Davis at 967-3321 or e-mail him at biggfoot18@aol.com.

— Join the Facebook Group Kalamazoo River Oil Spill.

— Drop off items such as non-fitted sheets and soft towels, cardboard boxes, small white boards, duck tape and firewood at Crossroads Church and Ministries, 717 N. Old 27, Marshall.

We are going to do our part and drop off some much needed supplies at the church listed, which is close to my wife’s work.  If they need duct tape and cardboard boxes, I am more than willing to oblige.

Manchester, New Hampshire – July 20, 2010 – Gray Ghost Productions, a Manchester, New Hampshire outdoor adventure film company unites with Outside Television and Maine PBS with and edited version of its newest film “The Good Life: Tall Tails from the East Side.” Broadcast schedules include- Maine PBS: July 22nd at 10pm, and Outside Television: July 26th at 8pm with multiple rebroadcast dates to follow.

After celebrating the release of their third fly-fishing film in three years, Carter Davidson, creative director and president of Gray Ghost says this film represents more than great scenery and big fish, “The Good Life presents something more than the typical fly-fishing film. I think what it does is extend an invitation to anyone with even a small interest in the outdoors to take a closer look at the addiction that is fly fishing on the East Coast.”

Filmed in locations from Florida to Labrador and throughout New England, from fresh to saltwater, trout to stripped bass, The Good Life examines the motives of a wide range of anglers who fish in areas ranging from urban to desolate, and seeks to explain the unknown element that drives the fly fisherman to distraction between outings.

“There is an unknown element to fly fishing – I don’t know if you’d call it obsession, or addiction, but whatever it is, there is an interesting cast of characters for whom fishing is more than a hobby. It becomes a way of life. That’s what we wanted to look at. Its even sweeter to share these experiences with the larger audience that both Maine PBS and Outside Television has to offer,” Davidson adds.

As with most of Gray Ghost’s offerings, The Good Life makes a point to examine the current state of conservation, ponders where fishing is going and where it’s been, and introduces the viewer to some of the sport’s biggest stars.
Gray Ghost Productions is a producer of outdoor adventure films. For more information on broadcast schedules go to: www.outsidetelevision.com and www.mpbn.net

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WTF?

A beer can.  And another beer can.  I hate trash!

It amazes me as to how little respect some people have for their natural resources.   Apparently, since they don’t take their mom with them everywhere they go, they don’t know enough to pick up after themselves.  And with their lack of respect for such a pristine stretch of river, I can only imagine what their home or vehicle looks like.  It has gotten to the point that I have started to carry a plastic bag in my backpack, just for such an occasion.  But, honestly, some of the things I’ve seen wouldn’t even fit in my backpack; there was that much trash.

It sickens me.

I truly do not understand not picking up after yourself, whether it be on a pristine waterway such as the Pere Marquette, your favorite local fishing lake, or your favorite hunting spot.  Just pick up after yourself!

I always have trash in my backpack, whether it’s picked up while walking the trail or it’s my own from the day’s packed lunch and/or snack.  And my tackle box was a mess for quite some time, because of some leftover fishing line that I had put inside it; I didn’t want it to get caught up on some unsuspecting waterfowl, or person for that matter (If you don’t think it can happen, check this out).

So, please, if you’re one of them, try picking up after yourself.

And, even if you don’t leave your trash lying around, do your favorite outdoor place a favor and pick up what you can while you’re there.

Sometimes we just have to be other people’s parents.

The day trip was planned to consist of a hike and some fishing. No big deal, right? I’ve been on plenty of hikes and logged hundreds of hours with a rod and reel in my hand. Not quite! This was a fishing experience like I’ve never had before. We started our journey by hiking  3 miles along the coast to our fishing spot. Along the way we did some “whipping” which is the term used  for casting or whipping your lure out off the edge of the coast and retrieving it at a fairly high rate of speed. You usually won’t hook into any giants by any means, but you can catch some wahanui like I did. I managed to land two on our hike into the spot. One got thrown back and the smaller one was taken as bait for our next fishing tactic. Wahanui reminded me of a largemouth bass in looks, but with a little different colorization. There were several other hookups along the way; however,  it is tough to not only hook a fish, but bring it up the edge of the cliffs without losing it.

After taking in all the scenery and enjoying some fishing on the way in, we finally arrived at the spot. I was in awe. With the beautiful view of Mauna Loa behind us and the vast Pacific Ocean in front of us, this place was surreal. It was cool to realize that this was truly a rare place on this earth. Where else can you hike across 3 miles of hardened lava and still enjoy such beauty all around you? And, to top it all off, the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

Well, now that we had arrived, I was in for the treat of learning about “sliding”. Sliding is where you take a bigger pole and cast the line out with nothing but a lead weight on it. You let the weight get snagged on the bottom and then you slide additional small lines with your bait on them down the line. When a fish is hooked it will basically break off the line that has the lead weight and allow you to fight and bring in the fish without the hassle of the weight too. It is also best to attach a bell to your rod to notify you of any strikes. It was a completely new concept for me, but made sense for dealing with the conditions of the surf and the depth that you are trying to get down too. We set our sliders up with some white eel and the small wahanui. After setting up the sliders, I jumped right back into whipping and managed to snatch a nenue, which looks like a giant bluegill. We added this to one of the slider setups as an additional meal for a larger gamefish. I did not manage to take a pic of the nenue, but just imagine a bluegill on steroids.

After several hours of whipping and several false alarms from the slider rod we finally got some action on one of the sliders. The bell started going crazy and then all of a sudden stopped. The line and the rod seemed to be greatly relaxed so we decided to check it out and see what was going on. After reeling the setup in we were stunned to see that the nenue (which was not tiny) had been bitten completely in half and the piece of white eel was gone. To top it off, the steel leaders that were used to slide the bait down had been mangled and twisted together as if they were pieces of yarn! After seeing the evidence of power we knew that whatever had decided to grab our bait was no small fish. It was definitely exciting!

During the afternoon, while hanging around our spot, I did manage to land several of these guys. Apparently they are equivalent to a sucker fish or carp. So, why did I even mention the catch? Ah, glad you asked. These little guys make quite an interesting sound which I was unaware of. So, after catching the first one and trying to remove the hook from him, I first noticed that the little guy had an amazing set of teeth. His mouth was very small, but the teeth quickly caught my attention. Secondly, I was abruptly introduced to the loud chattering sound these guys make. I will be perfectly honest here. Between the teeth and the chattering sound, I was a little intimated by this 10-12 inch fish. It was quite the experience for me!

As our fishing time was coming to a close we decided to take a little swim on this tiny remote black sand beach. After spend most of the morning and afternoon in the hot sun, it was a great way to cool off. Of course as soon as we decided to take a dip the cloud cover did roll in, but it was a great way to re-energize for the 3 mile hike back out.

We did manage one other spectacular tidbit on our hike out. We managed to discover a natural spring that was merely feet from the ocean. It was down in a large crack in the hardened lava and was completely shut out from the saltwater. It was epic! It was the highlight of the day and allowed us to take a dip in the cool water and rinse off all of the saltwater from swimming earlier. Just as a sidenote, I will not divulge any information pertaining to the location of the spring!

Well, I can honestly say that I was truly impressed with my first island adventure. Thanks to Paul McCarty (a former Michigander) and his son Kaikoa for taking me on this amazing trip. It was a long day, but worth every ounce of energy. I thoroughly enjoyed every second. Who knows whats in store next? I can’t wait!

You can find more on the story here.

Tonight’s Sneak Preview will feature flying Asian carp, an invasive species that has taken over the Mississippi River watershed and is threatening the Great Lakes. Hogan and crew go “electrofishing” on the Illinois River.

On July 26, Nat Geo begins “Fish Warrior with Jakub Vagner“. Vagner travels to the Amazon River region in search of a prehistoric giant fish – the arapaima, a predator fish that can yank monkeys from the shore and devour them. Vagner finds one 10-feet long.

Jakub Vâgner and three other men lift the 339 pound 10’1″ arapaima. (Credit: National Geographic Channel)

In addition, Vagner spends time in the Amazon jungle teaching viewers survival skills and in particular finding tasty treats and unlikely places to find good drinking water.

Tom Remington

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Early on the fishing was very slow, and picking our way through the multitude of “fishing spots” was a task in itself.  Houghton is approximately 7 ½ miles long and 4 ½ miles wide, so trying to find the “spot” on this gargantuan of a lake was a crap shoot at best – even my pre-fish “scouting” didn’t seem to help.  And with the beautiful sunset that greeted us that morning a thing of the past, frustration was starting to set in.

Houghton is very shallow and has the grand daddy of all weed beds.  I seriously don’t think I’ve ever seen a weed bed that dense, that thick, that shallow, or that big; it was quite a monstrosity and definitely threw all of us for a loop.   We tried our luck at fishing the drop-offs on the edge of it, but after they only produced one small pike and one huge lost fish, which we can only dream as to how big it really was, we were seriously thinking of throwing in the towel.

Thankfully we all have cell phones.

After 3 hours of slow, slow, slow fishing, Jeff finally dialed us up on the cell phone and let us in on a little secret he had found.  Apparently, after talking with a local old timer who was fishing on the lake, Jeff, along with his son, Tyler, had found a honey hole for walleye.  And, though it was another family fishing tournament, Jeff was still nice enough to share this information and let us in on the secret.

We sped across the choppy water – I’m still sore from a couple of the “bumps” we hit – and headed for the walleye Holy Grail.  Though Jeff and Tyler were using soft tail jigs, I dug through the tackle box and located the rig I sought:  one of the walleye rigs that we used when we were fishing on Lake Erie.  Now, normally, these rigs call for a real night crawler, but not having any of those in the boat, it was time to get crafty – and that is when I remembered that I had some Gulp brand night crawlers in the tackle box, and it was about time they actually caught something.

With the boat positioned parallel to the “run” we wanted to fish, I dropped the rig over the side of the boat, letting it hit bottom before jigging it up and down in the hopes of a strike; it didn’t take two casts before I had a decent little walleye on board; my first fish of the day.  Sweet!  If at first you don’t succeed, keep trying.

The rest of our first drift produced a fish for my cousin, Randy, but didn’t produce anymore fish for me.  After motoring back to the top of the drift, though, I meticulously jigged the rod up and down – slowly and easily – in the hopes of putting the first keeper of the day in the boat and increasing our odds of winning this “tournament”.

Finally, I felt a nice little tug on the line and set the hook.  It was quite a fight, because, not only did I have to fight the fish and the weeds, but I also had to fight the quick drift of the boat – the winds were horrible out on the water.  After a couple minutes of battle, I brought the 15 ½ inch walleye onto the boat – and, since there was only about 20 minutes left in the tournament, I figured this fish was the one that would take home the prize.

But, I forgot I was fishing against Jeff.

Right on cue, and not 5 minutes after landing my fish, I happen to glance over and notice Jeff’s rod bending like crazy.  I started to wish that he only had weeds, but after watching the 17 ½ inch, 2 ½lb largemouth make it to the net, I knew our chances of victory were over.  Obviously, Jeff was going to take home the money.

The trip was worth every penny we had to pay, though.  For one, it proved that you can teach an old dog new tricks – I caught my first walleye actually using a rig and method that is meant to do so, and Jeff caught his first walleye; it only took him 38 years to do it!

It was a great time after a work-filled week.  And, though I lost another tournament to the fish whisperer himself, I still have another walleye fillet to add to the grill.

Yum!