- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors" We're so glad you're here this week.

I'm Jenny Selick and we've got a brand new show headed your way.

The guys will take us to the Northern Lower Michigan for some pre-spawned bass fishing action that was out of this world.

You won't wanna miss that story, and we've got some other springtime adventures headed your way too.

- Well, that's right Jenny.

We do have a few more things on this week's show.

After we do a little bass fishing in Northern Michigan, we're gonna head to Lake Michigan, go about as far south as you can go down here the New Buffalo area, chase some coho down there.

You won't wanna miss that.

And I was able to get my wife out for her very first spring turkey hunt, and I tell you what, we had a great time.

You won't wanna miss that story.

Make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger and it's time for "Michigan Out Of Doors."

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(dramatic slow music) (upbeat music) (upbeat acoustic guitar music) (upbeat acoustic guitar music) (boat motor humming) (water splashing) - Well, we're doing a little bass fishing today.

We're out on Green Lake, which is just south of Interlochen.

Never been on this lake before.

Captain Tony, kind of our guide today.

He's a good buddy of Chris Noffsinger, who I know up in this part of the state.

I asked Chris if he'd take us out fishing and he said, well, he was busy but, but Tony was available and he's been fishing forever up here and really good angler from what we understand, so we're just getting started today.

And we're here with kind of a mutual friend of a friend of mine from college, Erik, today, and he's got a place here in Northern Michigan, but lives out on the East coast, and so we're looking for a good day.

We got a fish on the line.

(upbeat acoustic guitar music) (water splashing) (upbeat acoustic guitar music continues) - We're actually a little bit behind where we've been probably the last three or four years.

Right now, I think it said the water temperature here is 42 degrees.

This would usually be a little bit warmer and there'd probably be the fish a little bit closer depending on the moon phase and the amount of light each day to spawning than they are now so we're behind by a little bit here, but what we're targeting here is where these fish stage just prior to doing that, so they just came out of that 30 to 50-foot range where they winter, at least the majority of 'em do, and they just started moving up, you know, adjacent to stuff before the spawning area themselves, so right now we're on just a little bit of a deeper edge, but right in front of us, within 100, 200 yards is where they're actually gonna spawn, or at least a good number of 'em, so we're just kind of catching 'em before they do the final move up.

- Well, we are starting to find some fish.

Tony's doing pretty good up in the front of the boat, kind of marking where they're at with the LiveScope and Erik just caught one.

I am usually doing my normal fishing routine of not catching very many fish, but starting to warm up a little bit.

The fish are getting a little bit more active and yeah, there's even a little bit of blue sky.

We almost canceled this yesterday 'cause the forecast wasn't very good, but I'm glad we went 'cause it's really nice.

I mean, it's cold and clear, but beautiful day and hopefully I can get a bite or two here.

Technology has come a long way in the world of fishing.

One of the more recent advancements is the use of LiveScope, and not everyone is a fan, but it's a very effective tool.

- The LiveScope, boy, it is a game changer.

Some people don't like it.

I like to have it because I always want my people to get the most fish and it just makes things a lot easier.

You can see not only where the fish are, you can see how the fish are reacting to it, whether you need to drop a bait behind them, on top of them.

Generally you wanna be above the fish, especially smallmouth.

I use it for a lot of other different things.

Like I can see vertical wood, I can see horizontal wood and mark it.

I can see where the bottom changes from, like say a gravel bottom to grass.

You can actually see that.

I can keep myself closer to an edge to be more efficient, like say, you know, you're fishing, basic edge fishing, you're sitting in 12 feet of water thrown up to an edge is like seven, eight feet, you can position the boat and be more efficient to just cover that water more efficiently, it helps that way.

I mean, it's definitely a game changer.

It takes a while to differentiate between what the fish are, like smallmouth will set up a little bit differently than say perch.

Perch will tend to be with each other and all over the place.

Smallmouth like to have just a little bit of space between them so you'll see one here, one here, one here, one here, instead of, you know, even when they're schooled up, they're generally a little bit, they want their space a little bit and you can kind of determine how the fish are reacting, whether they are smallmouth by looking at the screen.

You can see aggressive fish like pike just make a big slash like we had earlier today.

The way they react is they'll travel from, you know, 30 yards away and bam, chase something down and chew through your line real quick.

Yeah, it's definitely a good tool.

- Erik Smith was also on the boat with us today.

A mutual friend got us together as Erik is a big outdoorsman.

He has a cabin up North and is also bringing a new company to our state in the Grayling area.

Erik, tell me a little bit about what brought you to Michigan these last few days.

- We're up here breaking ground on our 10th facility in the United States, so we're building a new weapons and ammunition facility over in Grayling.

- Okay, and what company is it that you work for?

- I work for Saab.

- Okay.

- It's a global aerospace and defense company.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and they used to have automotive part too, right?

- [Erik] Yep, sold the car company in '99 and been strictly focused on aerospace and defense and commercial aviation since then.

- [Jimmy] And how many people will that employ then in the Grayling area?

- [Erik] Oh, we're saying right now it'll be, I'd say the floor of the employment will be about 70 people.

We're at 15 now.

- Okay.

- [Erik] We've already facility's still being built, but we got 15 employees here and we've committed to 70, but you know, the market keeps going the way it is, I would expect that number to be higher.

- [Jimmy] Now having the military operation they're in Grayling, was that a draw for that or just happenstance or how does that work?

- Yeah, the partnership with Camp Grayling's been great.

For what we do, they already test a bunch of our systems there anyway, so having access to the testing facilities right there next to the factory makes it a really efficient way to run the business.

- [Jimmy] Nice.

And what made you come to Michigan versus anywhere else in the country?

- We looked around the country at a number of spots.

I think, you know, at the end of the day, the partnership with Camp Grayling was a big part of it, but the other part of it that is important is the cultural piece.

We're a Swedish company by heritage.

We're gonna have a bunch of Swedish expatriates here working in the factory for a little while.

It needed to be a place where, you know, they would feel comfortable, our employees would feel comfortable and we could make a big investment in the community and be a big part of the community.

- Nice.

- That was a big part of what we were looking for.

- [Jimmy] And you kind of grew up coming to Michigan then, right?

- I did, yep.

I was a Navy brat growing up and, but there you go.

Home for me was always Northern Michigan.

- [Jimmy] Come on, baby.

- There you go.

- Ho ho ho!

(anglers laughing) Right during the interview, that's what I need to be distracted.

(anglers laughing) - Good deal.

(Erik laughing) - That's a big fish.

- Yeah, nice one.

- Oh, yes.

- Way to go, man.

- [Tony] Nice job.

- [Erik] Man.

- Oh, sweet.

- Big right there.

- Sweetie, sweetie, sweetie.

- [Videographer] The biggest one you ever caught?

- Yeah, that's probably the biggest.

- Oh, personal.

- Probably my biggest- - Personal best.

- Biggest smallmouth that I think I probably caught, what is that, 3 1/2, four?

- [Tony] Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

- [Videographer] It's 4 1/2, five.

- Yeah, that one's a five minimum.

- Really?

I mean, yeah, of course it is.

(anglers laughing) I'm hearing six or seven.

- Yeah.

We are fishermen, you ain't golfing.

(videographer laughing) - All right, well, process of elimination, we finally settled on blade baits, which is a great cold water bait.

Again, it was 42 when we first came out here, so 10 above freezing.

And they're diminutive, small, they just react to these blades sometimes when they won't do anything else.

I fish a blade bait, kinda like you might fish a jerkbait as far as pause time.

The colder it is, the longer pause you want.

So what I'm doing, or generally having people do, is just get that bait on the bottom and just pulling it up a little bit at this temperature, a little brrr and back, brrr and back.

You gotta make sure you're getting that, you know, there's no wobbling or anything, so you're being efficient and you're just kind of almost envisioning that the hook's kind of settling into that sand grass just a little bit, not enough to get hooked up, but making contact with that sand grass and pulling free a little bit, kicking up a little silt at the same time.

Any fish that sees that happen just can't resist it.

- I tell you what, we found 'em today.

It's a nice lake.

Good, healthy fish.

Hard to argue with this day.

- [Tony] After you get those, you know, a lot of the fish, even on the bigger lakes now and the bay are still kind of a post-winter thing.

They haven't really went to the pre-spawn yet, so once you get a few of those sunny days where it warms up a little bit, you know, where that water goes from that 33, 34 and jumps up to the 40 range, that kind of triggers 'em, especially on these inland lakes, and what I generally do, like the smaller inland lakes, which is what we're on here, they of course will heat up a little bit quicker so they can be one cycle ahead of even the bigger lakes, whether it be the bay or something giant in the lakes we have up here.

- Well, we're having a great day on the water today.

Captain Tony's getting us on the fish.

We're fortunate enough to have 'em run into our baits a couple times.

It's been a perfect day.

- It's been a great day.

- Well, as you can see, we had a ton of fun on that trip and special thanks to Tony and to Erik for making that possible.

Caught a lot of fish that day.

What we're gonna do now is head to Lake Michigan, go about as far south as you can go while still staying in the state of Michigan down to New Buffalo to chase some coho.

That is a popular thing to do this time of the year.

(upbeat acoustic guitar music) - Oh, we're gonna run a little North today, about two miles north of the harbor here.

These fish have been anywhere from 30 to 50 foot and we're gonna catch some kings, hopefully.

We got some good reelers on the boat today.

We're gonna burn 'em up.

- [Jimmy] Nice, and you're catching some kings and some coho?

- [Jared] Yep, A few cohos still around.

I think they're a good lot of them probably pushed offshore.

That like 160 to 200 I'm sure is really, really good, but when there's big kings around, you don't really chase coho.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

And where are we launching out of today?

- [Jared] We are in New Buffalo, Michigan.

We are down here in our seasonal slip.

We start down here about March 15th on this big boat and we're here until May 1st before we head back to St. Jo and kind of follow the fish back North.

- [Jimmy] Nice.

Fishing's been good?

- [Jared] It's been really good.

Great year so far.

Looking forward to seeing how big some of these kings get come fall.

We had 23-pounder yesterday, so for this time of year, that's a pretty big fish.

- [Jimmy] Friend of the show, Tyson Lemon, invited me along today.

He had his daughter Hazel with, as well as a coworker, Celeste Reed, who'd never been on a charter boat before.

We had high hopes and a fish on the line.

- Good job.

- Fish on.

- [Jimmy] Is it a monster, is it a little dinker?

- I don't know.

- [Jimmy] It's a decent one.

You got a nice little fish on there.

- I guess we'll see.

- [Jared] Lift up, walk back, lift up.

- Oh nice.

(water splashing) - Got it.

You're good.

- Whoo!

- [Jared] It's in the net.

It's in the net.

No need to reel, it's already in the boat.

- [Jimmy] Right here, I can take her out of here.

Oops, sorry.

- It's right in front of you.

- [Jimmy] This time of year, the Southern part of Lake Michigan is a destination for a lot of anglers.

The warmer water tends to hold the coho in, and with a few kings thrown in as well, it can make for a great day of fishing.

We had dead calm water and sun today, not always a good sign, but we are making it work.

(net clunking) (reel buzzing) - [Videographer] What colors do you like right now?

- For these kings and stuff, it's a bright day, some orange, greens and yellows, but soon we just hooked that to coho on a three-color, we're gonna go to orange, gold back.

They usually like it gold when it's cold.

Oh, that was a five-color.

We're getting 'em on, early spring like this, we get 'em on a lot of mini streaks and super slims, but that was a five-color, so that's about 25 foot down in the water column.

So we're marking some good ones right now, so hopefully we figure it out.

- [Jimmy] We were slowly picking away at 'em, definitely not the fast and furious that tends to be the case down here in this part of Lake Michigan, but we were getting some, and from what we were hearing from other captains today, we were gonna have to work for the fish.

What are you hearing from the other captains today?

- Slow day across, pretty much from Portage, Indiana, all the way back up to St. Jo.

Sounds like a pretty slow day.

A buddy of mine down in Portage, good fisherman, says he's had two fish, two bites, and doesn't sound like St. Jo's much better, so kind of hard king fishing day here, bright sun, no waves.

We're thinking about eliminating some flashes we have down there to maybe we're spooking 'em with it is what we're thinking, so we'll probably pull the divers here, put some spoons out on 'em, see what we can do with that.

- [Jimmy] So we left the shallow water and ran out deeper in hopes of finding some more fish, and as we set lines again, I asked Tyson how he ever got hooked up with Jared.

- [Tyson] So Jared and I have a mutual friend named Chris, who is also a charter captain, and he's who introduced me to Jared.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and how long have you been fishing?

- I've been fishing my whole life.

Big lake fishing out here for salmon, probably only for the last 10 years or so.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and what got you into that?

- [Tyson] Just started going with friends that had boats and started coming out here fishing and it's like a bug.

You get on it and start doing it and you can't stop.

It starts at one or two rods and then you buy a boat, then you buy another 30 rods, and then you're fishing the big lake.

Oh, I think we got a laker on here.

- Laker, eh?

- Uh-huh.

- [Jimmy] All right.

(reel buzzing) (water splashing) - [Jared] That's you, Tyson.

- Yeah, thank you.

- It is not (indistinct).

- [Jimmy] Well, it appeared that our move to deeper water was paying off.

We got a couple of quick coho, found a laker as well.

It doesn't take a good captain long to figure out what can work even on a slower day.

- Definitely a slower day it sounds like across the whole lake from talking to guys from down in Portage, all the way back up to St. Jo.

We set up inside there for those kings.

We had minimal action at best, I would say.

I think we boated, what, four fish in there.

We had seven bites or so, so usually that then transitions to going and trying to find some coho offshore.

We ran out to about 160 foot of water.

We're looking for that 39 degree break and that's usually where those coho stood out.

We found some colder water, then it got warmer, hit a few coho, but nothing crazy, so I don't know if it was too nice of a day or what.

We'll regroup and see what we're gonna do tomorrow.

I'll actually be moving back to St. Jo beginning of May 'cause these fish that are down here are kind of gonna migrate North.

They're gonna transition probably to that 80 foot to 120 foot as these water temps warm up.

You're kind of just gonna follow the thermalcline and look for that 42 to 53 degree water.

There's usually a seven mile range that holds 'em, but when you find 'em, it's pretty good, and then as the bait fish move North, the water attempts warm up, you know, that's when Ludington, Grand Haven, all those ports will really start picking up and seeing some nice big king action and we'll transition back into some lake trout and coho fishing.

- Well, we ended up having a pretty good day overall.

Found enough to keep us going and Jared did a great job of finding some deeper fish after our morning in the skinny water didn't quite go as planned.

Thanks to Tyson for letting me tag along, and thanks to Celeste and Hazel for reeling in most of the fish.

Always fun to be in the water and not many glass days like we had today.

So if you haven't been on the big water yet, there is plenty of time as the season progresses, the fish will move up the coast as well, so pick your port and get out there.

It's hard to beat a morning on the water here in "Michigan Out Of Doors."

Well, one of my favorite things to do this time of the year is to chase spring gobblers.

I tell you what, that is so much fun.

If you've never tried that, you gotta give it a shot.

In this next story I'm gonna show you the hunt that happened this year.

I was able to get my wife out for the very first time.

We had a great time in the woods.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) (gentle acoustic guitar music continues) (turkey call yelping) (turkey call yelping continues) Opening day of the turkey season found me in the Ravenna area with good buddy Seth McCullough.

My wife, Missy, a first time turkey hunter, was running one of the guns this morning, and the first bird we saw was a nice jake, which would be perfect for Missy.

Now we just needed to see if we could get him close enough for a shot.

- [Seth] Yeah, he'll come right up right to us.

Can you see him, Jim?

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

- [Seth] Okay, just be patient.

He's a jake, but that's cool, he's putting on a show.

(item banging) - [Jimmy] You got it on him?

- [Seth] Want me to make him gobble?

(turkey call clucking) (turkey gobbling) (turkey call clucking) - [Jimmy] Take your safety off.

(safety clicking) You got on his head?

- [Seth] When you have a good shot at his head, you can shoot.

Can you get him?

(turkey call clucking) - [Jimmy] His head.

(birds chirping) Okay, go.

Go ahead and take him.

(items clicking) Stay on his head.

- Whenever you're ready.

- Right there, right there.

(rifle fire banging) Shoot him again, shoot him again.

Shoot him again.

- Shoot him gain.

- [Jimmy] Shoot him.

Well, a good clean miss.

We couldn't quite get Missy back on this bird and he walked off giving us not enough for a clear shot, but we had lots of time left in the season.

That's our second time out turkey hunting with Missy in the early season and we wanted to hunt this part of the property a couple days ago on opening day, and there's a deer blind kind of right in this corner, so we figured we'd just sit in this deer blind instead of just sitting outside, and we had a really close call on opening day.

In fact, it was a little too close.

And with the height of these windows, the bird came in so close, we had the decoys set a little bit too close to us, I think, and Missy was able to get a shot, but it was so close that the pattern was so small and I think she just shot right over top of it so we're out here to see if we can get another one to come in and just enjoy the sunrise, so stay tuned.

Well, hunt number two was a bust, but after a call from a good buddy, we had a new place to try just this past week, so Missy and I met up with Dave Hastings, who was nice enough to let us come try one of his fields for a morning hunt, and as the morning wore on, we had another jake working his way toward our decoys.

(turkey call yelping) (birds chirping) (birds chirping continues) (Jimmy speaking faintly) (turkey call yelping) Steps.

(turkey call yelping) Got him.

(turkey call yelping) Okay.

(turkey call yelping) Good.

Yep.

(gunfire banging) Well, the first shot did connect, but not enough to put this bird down.

The bird ran about 40 yards or so and couldn't decide what to do so we got Missy repositioned and able to get another shot at this bird.

(birds chirping) (rifle fire banging) There you go.

Great.

- Just got my first turkey.

- [Jimmy] What, did you give him a warning shot there?

- (chuckling) Yeah.

- [Jimmy] Well, let's just sit tight here for a minute.

Got birds behind us and see what they do.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) Well, after some tense moments, we were able to make it happen.

Missy did a great job of being patient and we were able to walk up on her first bird.

It was a great morning.

(Missy laughing) Nice.

Was it fun?

- [Missy] It was really fun.

It was harder, I redeemed myself and it was much harder than I thought it was going to be.

- Good job, young lady.

- Thank you.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) - Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out Of Doors."

Make sure you come back in upcoming weeks, lots of great things headed your way.

We'll have some turkey hunting action for you and some more springtime fishing, including night trolling for walleye on the Detroit River.

If you'd like to see where we are and where we're headed next or what we're up to on a daily basis, you can always check us out online.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

Online is a good way to kind of keep track of us, and probably our social media platforms, both Instagram and Facebook are probably the best way to see what we're up to on a day-to-day basis.

There's so much going on in our state right now.

Get out and enjoy it.

And if we don't see you in the woods or on the water, hopefully you'll see you right back here next week on your PBS station.

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(gentle music) Close captioning brought to you by Double D Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

(gentle upbeat music) ♪ When I want to far away (gentle music)