- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out-of-Doors."

I'm Jenny Ciolek, and we've got an exciting show lined up for you this week.

I'll take you out on Lake St. Clair for a morning of targeting multiple species of fish, and that's exactly what we got.

You won't wanna miss that adventure.

And we've got a couple of other great stories lined up for you this week.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

We do have a couple more stories on this week's show, and if you caught the show last week, you got to see one of the most beautiful brown trout we've probably ever had on "Michigan Out-of-Doors" television.

On this week's show, we're gonna sit down with that angler who's also an artist and kind of see his rendering of that fish.

You won't wanna miss that story.

And this past weekend, I was able to spend some time with the big hounds over on the east side of the state doing a little water race.

If you don't know what that is, you're gonna learn all about it on this week's show.

Lots of variety, lots of good stuff.

You stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger, and it's time for "Michigan Out-of-Doors."

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(stream babbling) (upbeat music) - We're in Harrison Township right near Metro Beach.

We're gonna go out right in L'Anse Creuse Bay here and troll, crankbaits for the most part.

We do have a couple crawler harnesses on board too, and hopefully get a multi-species plus walleye day.

Went out last week, primarily checking to see if the walleye were reacting, and we had quite a day.

It was after another, probably 35, 40 fish, multi-species, muskie, pike, bass, even catfish, which was kind of strange to get on our bandits, but.

- And walleye?

- And walleye.

We did get our eight.

Well, we got eight walleye.

- Right.

- So, we're gonna have eight lines, four per side, mostly crankbaits, but I'm gonna try... On each side we're gonna have a crawler harness too just to see if they're... And it's a little early for crawler harnesses, but it may work.

Coming over from the launch this morning, I could see the wind was south last night, and it's really kind of muddy here near the shore.

So we'll go out until it cleans up a little bit, try and find 12 feet or so and start trolling right there.

- [Jenny] Many anglers here in Michigan have moved from using what may be considered a traditional fishing boat to a cushy yet well-equipped pontoon fishing boat like Dennis's Angler Qwest boat we are using today.

- [Dennis] I've had five.

I had a a Starcraft, a Lund, Crestliner, and a Ranger, and I absolutely love this one the best out of all of 'em.

So maybe it's because of I like trolling now, and it's the best troller, so, yeah.

And my wife Lori, she definitely likes this boat better than my other four that she didn't spend a whole lot of time on.

They were smaller, and they bounced around the lake, and this one's a lot more comfortable.

- [Jenny] You have something, Dennis?

- It's something.

(Jenny laughs) Hopefully it's not a clump of seaweed, but I see it back there.

I think it's acting like a walleye.

- [Jenny] All right.

- [Dennis] It could be a... Usually if it's a bass, it'll flop, but.

(water babbling) - [Jenny] This is a fight.

I was gonna say that's not a walleye mouth.

- [Dennis] Now it is.

(Jenny laughs) - [Matt] Get him on this side.

- [Dennis] All right.

- [Jenny] All right, nice.

Okay.

- A pike.

- [Jenny] Cool, our first fish.

The first fish of the morning ended up being a nice little Lake St. Clair pike and not the walleye Dennis originally thought he had on.

But we were out here to target multiple species, so Dennis and Matt were happy to catch and release this first species of the day.

And right on the heels of the pike, Dennis connected with another species.

- [Matt] Yes.

- Let him go.

- [Jenny] Just like that, two fish, two species.

- And my inside board going out, oh!

- [Jenny] Are you gonna let Matt bring one in?

(Dennis laughs) - I intend to, as long as I don't botch you that job.

- [Jenny] Yeah, (laughs) don't knock 'em off.

- And it's another keeper.

- [Jenny] Most anglers trolling Lake St. Clair here in the springtime are focused on catching walleye, and that bite will be heating up here very soon.

The next rod to go off in Dennis's setup did end up producing one of those tasty sport fish.

- [Matt] There we go.

- [Jenny] Whoo.

- All right.

- [Jenny] That's happening in a flurry.

Yeah, what have we got here?

- [Matt] Left side both on fire.

- [Dennis] 17 1/2.

- Okay.

- Okay, let 'em go.

- [Jenny] What's happening on your side?

- Well, three for three on that job, so I haven't knocked anything off yet, which is promising.

- [Jenny] Dennis kind of set your boards up right in the stream of sunlight, right?

- Yeah, you know, I think there's some strategy there keeping mine out in the sun, making 'em a little bit harder to see, but we'll see if the right side will pick up a little bit.

- [Jenny] Matt says he enjoys spending time on the water with his buddy Dennis whenever he can.

- [Matt] It's always been a good time.

He always puts us on the fish, learn a lot.

I'm kind of just getting into, you know, I guess fishing in my own boat and stuff like that, so trying to pick up tips and, you know, anything I can.

I grew up fishing with my dad, and since then, now I fish a lot with my son, who's getting older.

I just like being outdoors in general, you know.

Even if I wasn't reeling something in, it'd be nice to just be on the boat and be outside.

- There we go.

- Cool.

- Yeah, I originally mentioned that we would try some crawler harnesses, but then we came on the boat, and I noticed I left them in the refrigerator, so.

Lori will be happy when she opens the refrigerator for lunch.

(Jenny and Dennis laughs) I've only fished Lake St. Clair probably the last three years, very rarely before that, but it's definitely a multi-species lake, and it's a gem.

I love living here.

And you can catch, like today, you know, bass, pike.

Last week, muskie trolling, and of course, walleye, which is always my first intent, but, yeah, it's great.

I fish right off the dock here and catch largemouth and other small pan fish, and it's a great place.

- [Jenny] So, Dennis, what do you love about doing this?

- (sighs) Honestly, I don't know.

I was telling you earlier my buddy Billy 33 some years ago took me out fishing, and alls I did was puke on the boat the first time.

(laughs) But somehow I got hooked, and I've been doing it ever since, and just being on the water I guess.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- [Jenny] Have you spent a lot of time on Lake St. Clair?

- No.

- [Jenny] No?

- No.

Since I moved here three years ago, yes, but I used to avoid Lake St. Clair.

I always fished down river in the Detroit River or Lake Erie or St. Clair River or Lake Huron.

I always had smaller boats, and that chop on this lake that's always there, just always jarring, and I just didn't like it.

Looks like we got a fish.

- Got a fish.

- All right.

- All right, let me go grab this.

- [Jenny] It's always a good problem to have when an interview is interrupted by another fish on.

Dennis and Matt continued to connect with more smallmouth bass and walleye this morning and took advantage of the conditions before the wind picked up and became too much to fight with the electric trolling motor.

Everything they caught today went back into the water, and the fish were hitting at a good pace, making for a perfect morning.

- Dennis is, I think, reeling in the 11th or 12th fish today, so I can't really tell as of yet what it is, but we're getting close here.

Board's underneath the water, and hopefully it's something impressive.

- [Jenny] Nice, we came to your walleye spot, hey?

- Yeah.

Hopefully get a few more.

- [Jenny] Beauty.

The guys did end up with a few more bass before calling it quits this morning.

All in all, Lake St. Clair treated us well today, giving up pike, smallmouth, and some dandy walleyes.

If you're looking for a place that always seems to have something on the bite, be sure to hit the waters of Lake St. Clair this spring and summer.

It's just another one of our beautiful gems here in Michigan's out-of-doors.

- For our next segment on this week's show, I'm going to do a follow-up to the segment I did last week, where I was able to tag along with an angler for a day of trout fishing.

On that episode, we happened to catch a giant brown trout, and on this week's show, we're gonna bring you a really cool way to preserve that memory.

- Oh, good fish, good fish, dude.

Oh my God.

God!

Monster.

It's a monster.

(water splashing) Oh!

(laughs) There's a 25.

- [Host] On last week's show, I was able to highlight an angler who loves to fish for trout, but that's not his only passion.

He's also an artist.

So after our day on the water, I was able to meet back up with him to learn a little more about his artwork.

- Today we're going to work on a sculpture that's hand-drawn and hand-cut out of aluminum.

But what I like to start with is like my soapstone pencil, so that's my layout tool.

But we're gonna just get a rough outline of the piece we're working on.

And then from there, we'll go to the cutting process, but this is a pretty neat step.

It's like the beginnings of it all, so.

We're gonna tie this into the fishing segment or portion of the show where we were out streamer fishing and had a just a gorgeous brown come out and take the streamer.

So we're gonna recreate that out of metal.

(gentle guitar music) (pencil tapping) My dad turned me on to the, kind of the pierced metal art when I was 16, so that was like 22, 23 years ago.

But my dad was a sign crafter and kind of just a really talented artist growing up, and he did that as a living.

So I was always around art and that creative scene, helping my pops with signage and stuff.

But as a young teenager, I really... Well, I mean, I was always into art as a kid.

My parents would hand me some colored pencils or crayons at a young age.

I would just be content for hours just sketching wildlife art, and anytime I could check out like a Nat Geos movie or film, I was just glued to that.

But so art has just been a big part of my life since I was just a little kid.

But as far as kind of the pierced metal art stuff, that came in in my mid-teens.

And one of the first projects I got to work on was the Bonefish Grill project, and that's now like a franchise or chain restaurant.

But they started out in Florida and became really popular.

But that was where I feel like we really started developing this style of pierced metal art.

But from that point, I mean, we've been doing this all by hand.

They start out as sketches just like this, and then we cut them with a plasma torch, and I love it.

I mean, it's essentially drawing with fire.

- [Host] The sketch itself was a piece of artwork, but the process was really just getting started.

And next up, it was time to do some cutting.

- We've got the layout finished up, and so the next step is to cut this bad boy out.

And again, we're gonna be doing all of this by hand, like free-hand cutting, so it requires a really steady hand, just really fluid movements 'cause we have a lot of detail in this art piece.

And there's also some really skinny lines like the fly rod, the fly line, and then a lot of these interior cutouts.

So, it's pretty cool.

You'll see it just come to life once I start cutting these pieces away.

(gentle upbeat music) (torch hissing) (torch continues hissing) Definitely feel like what sets my pierced metal art aside from others is that each piece is an original.

It's hand-drawn, hand-cut, and I'm not reproducing this work.

Really want my art to inspire people to be outside, to, you know, get in the elements more and appreciate what we have around us.

Like, nature's such a huge part of my life, and it's huge part of, you know, humanity.

Like, if we're not out enjoying that and taking care of it, yeah, it could slip away.

So I'm hoping my art inspires others to see it in that same or in a similar light.

(gentle upbeat music continues) All right, so we just got the sculpture cut out.

Everything went really well, no missed cuts or anything.

So the next step to this, which is nearing the end, is to grind all the surface to clean up all the cut lines and burrs.

And then I like to do a more refined kind of burnishing technique that allows more shading and really starts making the art look dimensional.

So, yeah, that'll be the second-to-last step.

And then I like to lightly shape and form the art once it's all polished up.

(polisher whirring) Just wrapping this piece up today.

Love how it turned out.

So the inspiration for this piece from a recent trip we took and got on some really nice trout.

This particular fish was the highlight of the trip for sure.

And so that's what I did, is just use that as inspiration to showcase my artwork here.

And, yeah, my work ranges from a lot of wildlife, marine life art, to sign work, to anything really.

I mean, it's just, it's pretty wide open, but definitely love making the fish art for sure.

- [Host] Watching Caleb work throughout the day was pretty incredible.

A process that most people couldn't replicate if they had to almost seemed like second nature to him.

It's great to see someone so passionate about the outdoors excelling in other areas of life.

Thanks to Caleb for inviting me out.

What a fun day here in West Michigan.

- Well, we are gonna switch gears and do something a little bit different on this week's show.

We're gonna show you what a water race looks like for the big hounds.

I was able to take part in that at the Great Northern Raccoon Club in Chesaning, Michigan.

It was a ton of fun.

Just this past weekend, I made my way to Chesaning, Michigan for a rather unique event.

The Great Northern Raccoon Club was having a water race.

"What is a water race?"

you may ask.

Well, you're gonna see.

I was able to run down the president of the club to learn more about what all was going on here today with the big hounds.

- We're in Chesaning, Michigan, the Great Northern Raccoon Club.

- [Jimmy] And how long has this club been around?

- Since the early '60s.

- Really?

- Yes.

- [Jimmy] And how often do you guys get together?

- We have like 30 hunts a year, night hunts, not counting squirrel hunts and water races.

So there's over 30 night hunts and competition hunts here through the year.

- [Jimmy] How many members you guys have?

- [Cary] 50 right now.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

And explain what's going on here today for- - [Cary] Today we're having a water race, and they'll put 'em in heats.

- Okay.

- I'm really not that good with the water races 'cause I do the night hunts.

And then the ones that were first place are in A division.

Then they'll have B, C, and D divisions, and then now they're gonna swim the pond.

They'll have first line and first tree.

Those will be your winners.

Then they'll divide up.

Sometimes dog crosses the line first doesn't get tree first.

- Okay.

- You know?

So... - 69- - [Jimmy] And you got people from all over.

- [Cary] Yes, yeah, I don't know where half of 'em are from.

(laughs) All these are bear dogs, you know?

They're probably a couple coon dogs in here, but most of 'em are bear dogs.

- [Jimmy] So how this all works is dogs are supposed to stay in the water and chase the foam bear decoy that has a bear skin on it.

If the dog leaves the water, they are disqualified.

First dog to make the line gets points.

First dog that barks while treeing the bear gets points as well.

I was able to talk with Don Morris to ask him how he got into this here today.

- [Don] When I would get up in the morning, my dad would tell my brother and me, he said, "Well, there's snow on the ground.

You guys wanna...

I'll leave the car home, or you'd take off from school.

Leave the old car home, and you guys can go hunting."

So I never learned anything about fishing, so I learned everything about hunting, so I just... And as far as dogs, I hunt anything with dogs.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- I don't enjoy deer hunting even though I go because I don't like to go leading into tree and wait for an animal to come by.

I just turn the dog loose and listen to the dogs.

That's all I wanna do.

- [Jimmy] Getting to hear from Don, who is 85, you get a sense of what kind of a family atmosphere they have at these events.

- [Don] It's Matt Ruble, his dog.

We've been together probably off and on with our dads and hunting for how long?

50 years, 60 years.

Go ahead, Matt.

(laughs) - About 59.

(Matt and Don laugh) - [Don] Yeah.

- [Matt] I came here with my dad and his dad and him when I was a little boy.

- Really?

- Yep.

- [Jimmy] Are you running a dog today?

- Yep.

- Okay.

- Five of them.

- Five of them?

- Yeah.

- [Jimmy] What kind of dogs you got?

- I got Plott hounds, and I have one tree and walker.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- [Jimmy] Nice.

And is there quite a few of these races then throughout the spring and summer or- - [Matt] Yep, they have one pretty much every weekend somewhere, you know?

- Somewhere.

We had one last weekend in Millington.

- Okay.

- Weekend before was Lapeer.

- Really?

- Millington again this week, next weekend, and Crump.

- [Don] Crump is next weekend too.

- Okay.

- That's a big event.

- Okay.

- Real big.

- Nice.

- Yeah.

- [Jimmy] So what do you like about this coon hunting and bear hunting and running dogs?

- Just the chase, you know?

It's not about killing.

It's just about chasing the bear, making sure our hounds are doing what we want 'em to do.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Yep.

- Nice.

- It gets exciting, especially when you get to take somebody new that hasn't ever seen it.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it's a lot of fun.

- [Jimmy] Of course at just about every dog event I have been to, you have to watch out for the puppy pen because at just about every dog event, someone leaves with a dog they didn't know they needed.

After the first round or so, the group stops the water race for the treeing competition.

Here the dog is timed to see how many barks it has in the allotted time, and the most barks, well, that's the winner.

I was also able to talk with one of the younger dog handlers here today.

All right, tell me the name of this dog.

- Banjo.

- [Jimmy] Banjo, and what kind of a dog is he?

- Walker.

- [Jimmy] A walker, okay.

And what do you like about coming to these events?

- I like the swimming and how he can tree.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- [Jimmy] Awesome.

And I heard you had a little squirrel dog at home?

Do you go out and do some hunting too?

- Uh-huh.

- Nice, and how old are you?

- [Brady] Six.

- [Jimmy] Six, and what's your name?

- [Brady] Brady.

- [Jimmy] Well, thanks for being here today, Brady.

There was quite a few kids today, lots of families, and many women dog handlers here as well.

It was a really fun event, and I learned a lot.

The water race had several heats still to run once the treeing competition was done, and the club had a nice clubhouse that was serving lunch, so many of us headed in there.

And I was told I needed to try the coon burrito, so I made my way in and was able to get a firsthand look at this famous burrito.

Let's just say that we were all a little hesitant.

- [Server] We're having our wild game dinner with a little- - [Jimmy] All right, you gotta give me a taste test.

- Oh boy.

(Jimmy laughs) (diner laughs) - You're right.

(Jimmy laughs) - Good?

- It is really good.

- Nice.

- You can't think about it.

- No, you just gotta try.

- The more I chew it, the more I think about it.

- [Jimmy] Well, it was pretty good, and, yes, it was best to not think about it.

Everyone had fun today from age 85 to young Brady at age six.

If you're looking for a fun and different way to spend a weekend or even just part of it, these water races and hunts that the club puts on are great.

The big hounds are fun to hear.

And whether they are here or chasing a bear, the houndsmen of our state are something we will hopefully have for years to come right here in Michigan's out of doors.

- Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out-of-Doors".

Make sure you come back in upcoming weeks.

We've got a lot of great springtime action headed your way.

We'll get you back out in the turkey woods.

We'll do a little bit of bow fishing and some more dog trials to share with you.

If you'd like to see where we are and what we're up to, you can always check us out online.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

Online is a good way to kind of keep track of us.

You can do that through our website, our different social media platforms as well as YouTube.

You can subscribe to our channel there.

Get an email every time we post something new, and there should be a lot of new stuff coming over the next several weeks.

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

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You can get there with GreenStone.

Whether you wanna hunt, fish, hike, or just watch the sunset, we're ready to help you own your place in the great outdoors.

To learn more, visit greenstonefcs.com.

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♪ When I wander 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 scene ♪ ♪ Like rainbow trout in a hidden stream ♪