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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Boys weekend in the UP
Took a couple day's extra on a short week and went north to the UP.
This is my regular annual trip to our cabin, where me and my boy meet up with my dad, and brother.
On the way up we stopped at a well loved and memory filled but now vacant farm.
We found morels.
Our morel guide, my cousin, came through big time.
Once at the lake - the BLUEG harvest was on.
Some Big Lake rocks and rock climbing.
This is the boy casting a dry fly upstream to rising trout. Don't know where he picked that habit up from, obviously not inherited.
I netted the one keeper of the dozen or so he hooked.
He ate it.
He also ate the Morels.
These are morel stuffed thai dumplings with plum sauce and my cousin's home brew.
I got out for one evening on the stream fro a couple of hours.
Fished with this fly.
With all of the brown line blog talk I should feel good about catching nothing but these, but, the experience left me hollow.
A flowering Dogwood on the great cyr swamp plain.
This pic speaks for itself.
Last night at camp bonfire.
This is my regular annual trip to our cabin, where me and my boy meet up with my dad, and brother.
On the way up we stopped at a well loved and memory filled but now vacant farm.
We found morels.
Our morel guide, my cousin, came through big time.
Once at the lake - the BLUEG harvest was on.
Some Big Lake rocks and rock climbing.
This is the boy casting a dry fly upstream to rising trout. Don't know where he picked that habit up from, obviously not inherited.
I netted the one keeper of the dozen or so he hooked.
He ate it.
He also ate the Morels.
These are morel stuffed thai dumplings with plum sauce and my cousin's home brew.
I got out for one evening on the stream fro a couple of hours.
Fished with this fly.
With all of the brown line blog talk I should feel good about catching nothing but these, but, the experience left me hollow.
A flowering Dogwood on the great cyr swamp plain.
This pic speaks for itself.
Last night at camp bonfire.
Coasters not endangered ?
From MLIVE
Federal officials reject coaster brook trout as endangered
by John Flesher | The Associated Press
Monday May 18, 2009, 4:23 PM
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Federal officials have decided against placing the coaster brook trout on the endangered species list, even though the fish has become increasingly rare after long flourishing in the upper Great Lakes.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday said a yearlong review had concluded that coasters were not distinct enough from other brook trout to list them as endangered or establish protected habitat.
"Coasters" are born in rivers and streams, but migrate to lakes and spend most of their lives there, drifting along the coast. They tend to grow larger than other brook trout, which remain within their native streams. Many coasters are 1 to 2 feet long.
Their historical range took in parts of lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. Roughly 119 Superior tributaries and a half-dozen streams flowing into Huron once supported coasters. But overfishing and habitat degradation in the 1800s nearly wiped them out.
Today, just 15 stream-spawning and three lake-spawning populations are known to exist -- all in Lake Superior.
The Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club, a private hunting and fishing preserve in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, petitioned the government in 2006 to designate the coaster as endangered.
Marvin Roberson, a Sierra Club policy specialist, said the group would consider its options, including a lawsuit in federal court to overturn the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision.
"We strongly disagree with it," Roberson said.
Peter Dykema, fisheries manager for Huron Mountain Club, said: "We believe that the surviving coaster population easily satisfies the statutory standards for listing. We are reviewing our legal options to seek review of the Service's decision."
Researchers are uncertain whether the coaster is a genetically separate species. Still, the conservation advocates contend its unique migratory behavior qualifies the fish for listing as a distinct segment of the brook trout population.
But the Fish and Wildlife Service said its review did not yield convincing evidence the coaster was a distinct population segment, much less a separate species or subspecies.
Instead, the agency labeled the coaster a "life history form" that could be reconstituted from other brook trout under the right environmental conditions.
"Thus, the population health of coasters is essentially equal to the population of brook trout in the upper Great Lakes," the agency said in a statement.
"Although coaster brook trout have declined and threats remain, there are at least 200 brook trout populations within the upper Great Lakes and the overall population numbers of brook trout within the upper Great Lakes remains high."
Roberson said the government acknowledged coasters differ from other brook trout in numerous ways, including size and behavior. "And then, incredibly, they say there's no genetic difference between them," he said.
Self-sustaining coaster populations are found in the Salmon Trout River in the Upper Peninsula, which flows through property owned by the Huron Mountain Club, and in the waters of Lake Superior's Isle Royale National Park.
Coasters also live in a few streams on the Canadian side of Superior and in Ontario's Lake Nipigon.
Government agencies, nonprofits and Indian tribes in the U.S. and Canada are trying to restore the colorful fish. Strict limits are imposed on catching them.
Other efforts include habitat improvements such as removing or redesigning dams that block stream access. Some sections of Lake Superior have been stocked with brook trout.
Logging and road construction can harm coasters by causing sediment to erode into spawning areas, Roberson said.
Opponents of a proposed nickel and copper mine in the Upper Peninsula say it also could pose a danger. The mine would extend beneath a section of the Salmon Trout River. Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co. says its project would not harm the fish.
Federal officials reject coaster brook trout as endangered
by John Flesher | The Associated Press
Monday May 18, 2009, 4:23 PM
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Federal officials have decided against placing the coaster brook trout on the endangered species list, even though the fish has become increasingly rare after long flourishing in the upper Great Lakes.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday said a yearlong review had concluded that coasters were not distinct enough from other brook trout to list them as endangered or establish protected habitat.
"Coasters" are born in rivers and streams, but migrate to lakes and spend most of their lives there, drifting along the coast. They tend to grow larger than other brook trout, which remain within their native streams. Many coasters are 1 to 2 feet long.
Their historical range took in parts of lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. Roughly 119 Superior tributaries and a half-dozen streams flowing into Huron once supported coasters. But overfishing and habitat degradation in the 1800s nearly wiped them out.
Today, just 15 stream-spawning and three lake-spawning populations are known to exist -- all in Lake Superior.
The Sierra Club and the Huron Mountain Club, a private hunting and fishing preserve in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, petitioned the government in 2006 to designate the coaster as endangered.
Marvin Roberson, a Sierra Club policy specialist, said the group would consider its options, including a lawsuit in federal court to overturn the Fish and Wildlife Service's decision.
"We strongly disagree with it," Roberson said.
Peter Dykema, fisheries manager for Huron Mountain Club, said: "We believe that the surviving coaster population easily satisfies the statutory standards for listing. We are reviewing our legal options to seek review of the Service's decision."
Researchers are uncertain whether the coaster is a genetically separate species. Still, the conservation advocates contend its unique migratory behavior qualifies the fish for listing as a distinct segment of the brook trout population.
But the Fish and Wildlife Service said its review did not yield convincing evidence the coaster was a distinct population segment, much less a separate species or subspecies.
Instead, the agency labeled the coaster a "life history form" that could be reconstituted from other brook trout under the right environmental conditions.
"Thus, the population health of coasters is essentially equal to the population of brook trout in the upper Great Lakes," the agency said in a statement.
"Although coaster brook trout have declined and threats remain, there are at least 200 brook trout populations within the upper Great Lakes and the overall population numbers of brook trout within the upper Great Lakes remains high."
Roberson said the government acknowledged coasters differ from other brook trout in numerous ways, including size and behavior. "And then, incredibly, they say there's no genetic difference between them," he said.
Self-sustaining coaster populations are found in the Salmon Trout River in the Upper Peninsula, which flows through property owned by the Huron Mountain Club, and in the waters of Lake Superior's Isle Royale National Park.
Coasters also live in a few streams on the Canadian side of Superior and in Ontario's Lake Nipigon.
Government agencies, nonprofits and Indian tribes in the U.S. and Canada are trying to restore the colorful fish. Strict limits are imposed on catching them.
Other efforts include habitat improvements such as removing or redesigning dams that block stream access. Some sections of Lake Superior have been stocked with brook trout.
Logging and road construction can harm coasters by causing sediment to erode into spawning areas, Roberson said.
Opponents of a proposed nickel and copper mine in the Upper Peninsula say it also could pose a danger. The mine would extend beneath a section of the Salmon Trout River. Kennecott Eagle Minerals Co. says its project would not harm the fish.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
Morchella Angusticeps - May 1
A field report from Delta County - U.P. filed yesterday :
HDW-
Found 2 nice black morels, morchella angusticeps, at Farm and one small one at Devil's Creek. Probably walked 8 miles and drove 80 mi for 3 mushrooms.
The woods are filled with hepaticas, a few blooming trout lilies, and bloodroot. Found one devil's urn. No other fungi. At Devil's creek the wild leeks are about 1/2 of their mature size. As usual, they are profuse.
Wild strawberries are just leafing. No sign of trillium or orchis. Apple trees are just beginning to bud. Daffodils at Farm are in full bloom in the sunny areas and just beginning in the woods along with scylla and a few crocus along the pond. Saw a beautiful 16 in garter snake and 6 painted turtles on a log at Long Lake and 6 or 8 wood ducks. There were sandhill cranes making alot of noise but I didn't see them.
Oddly, only one wood tick.
m
HDW-
Found 2 nice black morels, morchella angusticeps, at Farm and one small one at Devil's Creek. Probably walked 8 miles and drove 80 mi for 3 mushrooms.
The woods are filled with hepaticas, a few blooming trout lilies, and bloodroot. Found one devil's urn. No other fungi. At Devil's creek the wild leeks are about 1/2 of their mature size. As usual, they are profuse.
Wild strawberries are just leafing. No sign of trillium or orchis. Apple trees are just beginning to bud. Daffodils at Farm are in full bloom in the sunny areas and just beginning in the woods along with scylla and a few crocus along the pond. Saw a beautiful 16 in garter snake and 6 painted turtles on a log at Long Lake and 6 or 8 wood ducks. There were sandhill cranes making alot of noise but I didn't see them.
Oddly, only one wood tick.
m
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