- Well, hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors".

Thank you so much for joining us this week.

We sure do appreciate it.

We're gonna kick things off on this week's show on the Muskegon River, doing a little bass fishing, something pretty popular at this time of the year.

We're also gonna have part two in a two-part series on food plots and getting your ground ready for the upcoming deer season.

And we're gonna stop in with a musky lure manufacturer in the southeast part of our state.

I tell you what, we got a lot of variety on this week's show, you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger.

It's time for "Michigan Out Of Doors".

♪ From the first spring rains to the soft summer breeze ♪ ♪ Dancing on the pine forest floor ♪ ♪ The autumn colors catch your eyes ♪ ♪ Here come the crystal winter skies ♪ ♪ It's Michigan ♪ "Michigan Out Of Doors" - [Hunter] What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Some day our children all will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ Wonder and the love of Michigan ♪ ♪ As the wind comes whispering through the trees ♪ ♪ The sweet smell of nature's in the air ♪ ♪ From the great lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shining like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ - [Announcer] "Michigan Out Of Doors" is presented by.

By Country Smoke House, a sportsman's destination since 1988.

Featuring varieties of homemade sausage, jerky, brats, and gourmet entrees.

Holiday gift boxes can be assembled in store or online.

Details at www.countrysmokehouse.com.

By Great Lakes Firearms and Ammunition, a family-owned and operated firearm manufacturer in Sparta, Michigan.

Offering a wide variety of calibers and colors backed by a lifetime warranty.

More information available at www.GLFALLC.com.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) (bright music) - Today, we're fishing the Muskegon River for some summer smallmouth using a few different techniques today, but mainly kind of targeting that deeper water where they're gonna be holding this summer, a little bit more current, finding the food.

- Yeah, what are these fish doing when it's 90 plus degrees out?

- [Brett] This time of year on this river, a lot of 'em are still pretty active.

They're feeding aggressively.

A lot of these fish I think come up from Muskegon Lake 'cause the river stays a little bit cooler, a little bit more oxygen in the water and a lot of bait up here.

So the hot summer days can produce some pretty awesome fishing up here.

- A little better one.

Not a giant.

(bright music) - [Brett] Nice fish.

(bright music) - He was hungry.

(bright music) (birds chirping) (water flowing) Oh, that's a good one, Brett.

- [Brett] Yep.

(bright music) Little nicer class fish, right where he was supposed to be.

So you have any players with him?

- [Zack] I already put my rod down so I hope not.

(Brett laughing) - [Brett] Oh.

(water splashing) A lot of strength in that current.

- [Brett] There's the boat, flip 'em.

- Looked a lot bigger back there.

- Yeah, it did.

(Zack laughing) A lot of strength in the current, that's for sure.

So the Muskegon River is a great system for a lot of migratory and resident fish.

So there's three main dams in the system, Rogers, Hardy, and Croton.

Above those dams, there's lots of good fishing, lots of good inland stuff.

And then everywhere from Croton down to the lake, there's a lot of great migratory run, steelhead, salmon, and even in some cases, some big smallmouth coming up from Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.

So a lot of opportunities.

It's a tailwater fishery so it doesn't freeze up very often at all.

So good year-round opportunities.

Good one.

- [Zack] Just tell me if you need the net.

And I'll try not to spear it.

God, it's sitting back there like a steelhead, dude.

- [Brett] I think this one's a little better.

- [Zack] Oh, well.

- [Brett] It's not.

- [Zack] I think it's about the same, I think he's just in that current.

- [Brett] Yeah.

- [Zack] Nice one though, fun one.

We're getting bigger.

- It's definitely a little bit better.

Well, threw a bait in there and I was pretty sure there was a fish there and I didn't get bit so I switched it up and first cast in there, he ate it.

- [Jimmy] These guys use a variety of different lures when targeting smallmouth this time of year, most of which involve maintaining contact with the bottom of the river.

Even if that means donating some gear from time to time.

- If I'm not fishing top water, I really like to be making bottom contact.

So any kind of jig, Ned rigs, swim bait, anything like that.

I like to be hitting bottom often.

If you're feeling the tick off the rocks, more often than not you're getting bit.

I go through a few more baits that way, but to me it's worth it to catch a few more fish each time out, to snag up a few more times.

Oh, nice cast.

- [Zack] I got the log.

- Attaboy.

- I knew as soon as I tried to get under that tree, I was like, this is a bad idea.

- [Jimmy] Both of these guys love to fish and have been doing so for quite some time.

- I've been doing it my whole life, probably since the age three.

My dad started taking me out there and got me into fishing tournaments pretty young too.

And I don't know, I really like smallmouth fishing is preferred, but I do a lot of largemouth fishing too and love that.

And just the diversity, especially in Michigan, what we have of fishing shallow water, deep water, rocks, docks, fishing, you know, frogs up in the scum.

It's just always something different and you can kind of catch fish however you want to catch them.

And that's something I've always enjoyed my whole life, so.

(bright music) - [Brett] Welcome to the boat (bright music) (water splashing) (water splashing) - [Zack] Buddy.

(bright music) (water splashing) - The quantity of fish obviously has been pretty good for us.

It's definitely overlooked for a summer fishery.

It's pretty popular for steelhead fishery.

A lot of people know about it for that.

(water bubbling) These are one of my favorite fish to guide for, for sure.

Spend a lot of time each year fishing for 'em.

They fight hard, they can get big, and they're relatively easy to catch for beginners.

(bright music) Fishing in the Muskegon since I could walk.

So it's been quite a long time.

I spent a lot of time here growing up and as soon as I was able to drive around and whatnot, I was up here pretty much every day that I could be.

It's a beautiful river.

Awesome variety of fish here.

- [Jimmy] Zack and Brett both work at the Outdoorsman Pro Shop in Jenison.

And although their lives revolve around fishing, it's not very often that the two of them get to get out and fish together.

- [Zack] Oh, there's another one with 'em.

- [Brett] Yeah, reel in, try to get that thing.

- [Zack] There's two more with 'em.

Oh, there you go.

Got 'em.

- [Zack] Got 'em.

- Got 'em.

Doubled up.

Oh, mine popped off.

(both laughing) Wanna try to get that third one down there.

- [Zack] You got right ahead of him and you just watched his mouth open, just smoke it.

- [Brett] Yep.

- We're starting to figure some stuff out a little bit.

Starting to notice a few key areas and a few key spots that they're starting to really kind of load up on.

Typically, where there's one, there's more.

Still doing a little bit of the site fishing thing, primarily around wood in pretty shallow water, actually.

They're not quite in the holes like we kind of anticipated.

Still kind of using crayfish imitation.

We noticed that earlier on we were doing a lot with swim baits, not doing so well, but a lot of these fish are spitting up crayfish, which the areas that we're in has a little bit of scattered weed on the bottom and very crayfish-looking water.

So just trying to find those bigger ones, which I think we're starting to get close to there.

A lot of fish, just gotta find the bigger ones here.

- [Brett] Yep, that's big.

- [Zack] That's a good one.

- [Brett] That's a big one.

- [Zack] Yep.

That was right where he should be too.

Oh yeah.

- [Brett] You can't call that shot any better.

- [Zack] Oh yeah, that's a good one.

- [Brett] I saw him going along the log there and I was like, oh yeah.

Crazy strong.

It's like a steelhead, like you said earlier.

(rod whirring) It's probably a 17, 18-inch fish.

- [Zack] Yeah.

Like I got this figured out.

If I stay under the boat, they can't get me.

(bright music) - [Brett] There you go.

- [Zack] Yep.

Let me get that one.

- [Brett] Yeah, go for it.

Yeah.

Switch from there quick.

- [Zack] Yeah.

(bright music) (water splashing) - [Brett] There we go.

- [Zack] That's a better one.

(bright music) - [Brett] Now, we're talking.

- [Zack] Look at that fat little chunk.

- [Brett] Much better quality fish.

Big gut on that one.

He's been eating well.

- [Jimmy] One of the best things about fishing for small mouth bass is that everyone, regardless of how big they really are, thinks they're about a five-pounder, which makes them a ton of fun to fish for.

Special thanks to Brett and Zach for inviting me out for a fun night of fishing here on the Muskegon River.

(bright music) (calming music) (tractor engine whirring) - Well, hey, everybody, we are here once again with Justin Morgan, food plot guru.

Now, we were here what, two months ago-ish.

And we were doing, explain what we were doing there.

That was an existing plot and we did what to that spot?

- Yeah, so that was the existing plot I had.

It was a clover plot, you know, in the springtime I like to feed the clovers, you know, what we talked about last time, really addressing the minerals and stuff on that side of it.

But today, we're looking at a brand new food plant.

- Okay.

And so you had to do quite a bit of clearing here.

How big is this space and kinda what'd you have to do to get it to where we're at today?

- Yep.

Yeah, if you look around, you see all this like this thick kind of brushy environment we're in now.

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

- There was some open pockets, and then we took the brush hog, and we brush hogged it down.

Now, the reason is the deer are funneling through here and we thought instead of finding a food plot that may be open, we'll create an open spot with the brush hog.

- Okay.

And so first steps on something like this, now, you did do a soil sample to kinda get an idea of how important is that and what does that mean as you attack this to get some food plot stuff in here?

- Yeah.

Without knowing our soil, even though, you know, we've kind of walked on this dirt for a long time, it's really hard to dive into what the soil is without a soil sample.

We did pull a soil sample.

It come back, the pH is low on it, which is normal for Michigan soils.

Nothing surprising.

So, after we looked at the soil sample, we said, okay, this area that we're looking at, the entire area is about three-quarters an acre.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Justin] You know, there's 43,560 square feet in an acre.

This is around 36,000 square feet.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- Because I'm doing brassica, the FoodPlotDoo, the 844, is designed for like a brassica plot.

Brassicas like that higher nitrogen.

So when we put that FoodPlotDoo in there that has Dairy Doo in there, we put humates from North Dakota in there.

So again, building this organic matter is important because when we do get rains, we wanna make sure we use that as like little sponges.

So it sucks that water in.

And then when our plants grow and our roots need that water, it releases it for our brassica plot during the summer months.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

And so we'll spread what, we're gonna do the lime first, is that?

- [Justin] Yep.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- We'll put the lime on, and we'll spread that, and then we'll come in with the FoodPlotDoo.

Every bag of FoodPlotDoo does 3000 square feet.

So then we'll put that on here and then I'll have my main helper that does all my food plots with me, my grandpa.

- Now, is he for rent?

Can you hire him out?

- No, he's only mine.

Like I don't share 'em.

- Okay.

- Yeah, see, he runs the tractor for me.

He'll be rototilling it.

I like to make sure that when we put the fertilizer and the lime on I could mix it in with the soil.

- [Jimmy] 'Cause this is still pretty, not wooded, but there's a lot of stuff on here.

That's okay?

- [Justin] Yeah.

Yep, so what we'll do is, we'll rototill that in, that stuff, that thatch, that grasses, and stuff, and you'll even see some sticks and stuff on top.

I'm not too worried about that.

As we rototill that in, over years, that will break down.

The grasses will break down quickly and the actual kind of like a straw mat on top.

So it'll help hold water once we get rain so I don't get too hung up on that.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Justin] So once we rototill that in, then we will put the seed down after that.

- Okay.

And then once you see how this year goes, so we get into the hunting season.

Now, do you do another soil sample later in the year, again next year to see, like if this doesn't go exactly as you hope it does, do you do another soil sample or?

- Yeah.

By next year, if I see, I'm like, man, I just struggled a little bit on spaces, then I'll do another soil sample, and I'll really start diving in a little bit more with my agronomists, and we'll start doing this.

We do this across the board for farmers all the time.

We cover over 400,000 acres of farmland in Michigan.

So that's where that really stems back to the soil sample.

And then we start, you know, really diving into the deficiencies in your soil.

'Cause yours are different than mine, right?

- Now, when you take the soil sample you do it from several spots on the, because you have another food plot that's, you said what, quarter mile?

- [Justin] Yeah.

- [Jimmy] A couple hundred yards from here?

- [Justin] Yep.

- [Jimmy] And that soil sample was different than this one.

Correct?

- Correct, yeah.

So that's grandpa's spot.

We've been working on that for the last couple years and we've taken that pH from like under six and now we're at a high six, even at a seven right now.

So we don't need any more lime there.

So now, I've got a balance and that's the nice thing with our products.

Once you get this balance, this engine running, it really is just kind of a maintenance program and you can get that organic matter built up, and the biology, and that really starts helping us feed this crop.

(tracker engine whirring) (calming music) - So it seems like maybe talk to the person out there that they're watching this and they're like, gosh, this seems like a ton of work, and a ton of gear that I gotta get, and do I rent it, do I do it?

But this can be a lot of fun too, right?

- Yeah.

You know, grandpa and I, my dad, my uncle, our buddy, you know, we all get together and have fun with that.

You know, things that you do that are successful, they're a lot more fun, you know?

And that's one thing we do, you know, at Morgans here, we wanna make sure you get the right fertility outta the gates.

Then after that, it grows, and you're having fun, and you're out there, and we mentioned off camera, Jimmy, about, you know, guys really enjoy just riding around a tractor.

- Their tractor time.

I mean, I think some guys like it as much as the hunting time.

- Yeah, yeah.

You know, we think of, you know, a lot of people think of hunting as just the kill and that's such a small part of hunting today, right?

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

- [Justin] The food plots, you know, hanging out with your family and friends, putting that in in the summertime or the spring or whenever you get time to do this kind of stuff.

But, you know, riding this side-by-side together with my grandpa's 88, right?

- [Jimmy] That's awesome.

- [Justin] So enjoying every moment we can together.

And then having success behind it because as you're sitting in your stand in the fall time, just getting your own therapy, how that is.

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

- And looking over top of a food plot that you put in and knowing that you addressed the minerals and addressed the things for the deer to make a stronger, healthier deer herd.

Of course, trying to put the minerals in for the bone growth, the calcium, and stuff like that.

That's something we take pride in.

And going back to just having fun with it and being successful.

- [Jimmy] Nice.

Well, I appreciate your time and all your knowledge today.

- [Justin] Yeah, thank you, Jimmy.

- [Justin] Thank you, sir.

(calming music) - If you're passionate about musky fishing, you've probably heard of Ziggie Lures.

Well, Mr. Ziggie Obidzinski lives right here in Michigan.

So we thought we'd check in and see exactly how those famous lures are made.

For nearly 20 years, this little backyard shop has been producing the stuff that big fish stories are made of.

Ziggie Custom Musky Lures are made here on the shores of the St. Clair River, just a few miles from some of the best musky fishing in the world.

- Prior to that I was making ice fishing decoys.

And you know, it requires the same type of painting, and colors, and patterns that are on ice fishing decoys.

And my musky fishing friends got me to start repainting their beat up and lures at their patterns that they didn't like, you know, or the colors they didn't like.

So that's how I got started, you know, repainting other people's lures, so.

- [Jenny] Okay.

- And then after a while, a couple of my friends decided that I ought to make my own, copy my own.

But for the first year or year and a half, none of 'em worked very good, you know, so the charter guys here on the American side and the Canadian side, I started giving them samples out and they started critiquing my design, you know, make it fatter, shorter, change the bill, change the angle.

And after about a year of that they said, stop, that works good, continue, don't just, you know, change another thing.

So that's how my shape and pattern evolved.

- [Jenny] Captain Tom Loy has been musky fishing Lake St. Clair for over 20 years and he won't leave his dock without an arsenal of Ziggie's Lures on board.

- Ziggie and I have been friends for a long time and I enjoy coming over here and talking to him and just being in this environment is fun.

Just to see what he's doing, and what he has, and to talk to him is fun.

It's just nice to be here.

And all of the musky guys feel the same way.

He's good friends with all of us.

We were talking about St. Lawrence's a little while ago.

The most consistent color and Ziggie Lures are the most consistent bait on the lake.

I would bet that 98% of the charter guys who know anything about fishing have at least one Ziggie St. Lawrence, six-inch, eight-inch, and probably a 12-inch as well.

We all have, as Zig was saying earlier, we all have chewed up baits, and as Zig says, those are the most productive baits.

But it gets to a point where you can hardly use them anymore.

I have some that you can't tune up, you can't make 'em go straight.

They're so chewed up.

But I have some hanging on the garage wall and people always go, ooh, look at that, that's a really good one.

So, no, I like 'em.

I like the chewed up baits and they're always good to have around.

Everybody knows Zig, everybody knows Zig.

Every charter captain on the lake, like I said a moment ago, has Ziggie baits.

I don't know how many, many I have 20, 25 in there somewhere and I have from six inches to the bigger ones.

And the bigger Ziggie's, I think the heaviest fish in modern time was caught on one of the Ziggie's baits.

That's what was 48 and a half pounds.

- [Jenny] Ziggie has built quite the reputation with his work over the years, and it was time to see exactly how these legendary lures are made.

- [Ziggie] The way I make these lures is we start out with a blank piece of wood.

It's either I use either Jelutong or Mahogany.

And we started out with a square shape, and we put it in a duplicator, and we rough cut it out like this.

And then we sand it, then we put in the eyes, and then we put in the mouth, and then we cut it in half, and then we insert a wire, and then we glue it with an epoxy-type glue.

Put it together, sand it again.

And we end up with the raw piece of lure here.

You know, after, you know, the wood, the bit basic wood lure is made, then it has to be sealed, primed, base-coated, and then you can put a color on it.

So the whole process from start to finish from here to here is approximately an hour, you know, per bait.

- [Jenny] Wow.

- So it's labor-intensive, but you know, to make lures, I think you gotta love it.

You know, it ain't very profitable, you know, dollar-wise, you know.

- [Jenny] Right.

- [Ziggie] So you end up working for about $10 an hour or something of that nature.

So I just, I've always loved fishing and after I retired I needed a hobby and this is what I got into, you know, and I just love it.

It just, it keeps me busy, it keeps me away from the refrigerator and the TV.

So, you know, that's the main, and there's a lot of, met a lot of good people.

It's amazing.

But the fishing community and the people that fish in it are just fantastic people.

I paint to order 'cause there's just, the patterns are endless and the colors are endless.

People want different color bellies, scales, backs.

It just an endless thing.

So, you know, you never know what somebody wants.

For me to have inventory of everything I painted is just basically impossible, you know.

So generally, I just have blank lures that I can paint, and whatever, guys send me emails and text me pictures or they bring me a sample of a bait from wherever they found it and tell me to duplicate it, you know?

- [Jenny] Right.

- And that's what I do.

I just paint to order.

That I wish I knew what the best color is 'cause it changes daily, hourly, you know, what's good one day won't catch nothing the next day, you know, or for the year.

I mean, I've had patterns that work continually for one or two years and then all of a sudden it won't catch a fish.

- [Jenny] While he finished up the final steps of the lure-making process, Ziggie talked about the old days on Lake St. Clair.

- Yeah, I Musky fished, you know, with them.

I started in, I think it was about 1964.

Out in the lake at that time, the water was muddy and dirty, and we would fish two days and if we caught one fish we were happy.

But, you know, over the years the water cleaned up and the fishing got better.

So I enjoyed all that.

- [Jenny] Do you still fish?

- [Ziggie] I still fish right to this day.

- [Jenny] It sure was fun hearing some stories from the old days and seeing how these famous Ziggie lures are made.

Special thanks to Ziggie Obidzinski for keeping the artistic craft of custom lure making alive and well here in "Michigan's Out Of Doors".

- Well, hey everybody, thank you so much for watching "Michigan Out Of Doors" this week.

If you wanna see what we're up to on a day-to-day basis, you can always check us out on our social media outlets, both Instagram and Facebook are a good way to see what we're up to on a day-to-day basis.

If you want to see more of the show, more old episodes or more recipes or whatever it might be, or some of our new merchandise, you can always check us out at www.michiganoutofdoorstv.com.

Thank you so much for watching this week.

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

- [Announcer] "Michigan Out Of Doors" is presented by.

- [Announcer 2] Get away from it all to your own place.

With GreenStone's Recreational Land Loans, we'll help you finance acreage of any size so you can own your own place in the great outdoors.

GreenStone.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] By GreenMark Equipment, GreenMark Equipment is a John Deere dealership network in southwest Michigan and northern Indiana.

GreenMark provides sales and services to farmers, commercial businesses, large property owners, and homeowners.

Information about pricing and products available can be found online at www.greenmarketequipment.com.

- [Announcer 3] Closed 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.

(vibrant music) ♪ When I wondered far away ♪ A dream stays with me night and day ♪ ♪ It's the road that leads to my home state ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ Changing seasons paint the sea ♪ ♪ like rainbow trout in a hidden stream ♪ ♪ White tail deer in the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan man ♪ That's where I'm from and show you my ♪ (gentle music)