- Well, hey, everybody.

Welcome to Michigan Out of Doors.

Thank you so much for joining us this week.

We have a classic springtime show for you this week.

We're gonna kick things off by doing a little trout fishing.

Then we're gonna hit the turkey woods with my parents, actually.

Then we have kind of a turkey hunting, mushroom hunting combo, all sorts of good activities on this week's show.

Make sure you stay tuned.

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

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(creek trickles) (calm folk music) - [Jordan] Trout season is now open around the state, and recently, I was able to spend a day on the water with an angler who loves to target trout.

Today we would be fly fishing, looking for big browns in a small stream.

- We are gonna bounce around on a couple tributaries around West Michigan.

We're trying out the fly rod, a little streamer fishing early spring.

So just wanted to show you guys that there's so many different techniques to target trout or small mouth, any fish on the Michigan tributaries, but we're gonna be streamer fishing primarily targeting large brown trout.

So hopefully we find some.

What I like on smaller water, and today, the water's kind of clear, but there's still a light stain to it, but I love fishing yellow, white, and like olive patterns, but this little dude is just perfect, because it has the dumbbell lead eyes, and so it has a nice small kind of bait fish body, but it also drops pretty quick.

So you can almost jig it through the water, and from my experience, like that pause when it drops and then starts to go again, a lot of times that's when the fish comes to eat, but we're gonna start with this little dude today, but we might switch it up.

Yeah, so I'm just using kind of a, I mean, honestly, a similar technique from if I'm out spin fishing with crank baits or something like that.

It's just a strip-strip and then you can just give the fly as much action as you want.

I mean, sometimes, if the water's cold, you don't want a ton of action.

It's more just a slow kind of pause with a little bit of jitter, but me, I just switch it up.

Ah, look, I got his lamprey, but that was a good fish, dude.

- [Jordan] Wading through a stream provides some different opportunities than fishing from a boat or from shore, something Caleb loves about this style of fishing, and although the bite had been pretty slow so far, that was about to change in a big way.

- It's kind of a, it's not a technique.

You're gonna just sit on one in one spot and cast and cast and cast.

You kind of just move along, and that's what I love about wade fishing.

I mean, it's really cool to be in a boat and drift down, and you can cover a ton of water, but I love wade fishing like this, because you can take your time and you can be pretty thorough and cover these holes really well, but I'm someone that doesn't really stay on that just one spot.

I love to just just go.

Oh, good fish, good fish, dude.

Oh my God.

God, monster.

It's a monster.

(fish splashes) (Caleb laughs) There's a 25, dude.

Are you kidding me?

Ah, you gotta be kidding me, dude.

It's beautiful fish, Jordan.

It's just a stud, like every bit of what a big buck brown is supposed to look like.

Look at the colors on him, man.

Almost, I just had like a little miniature heart attack there for a second.

That fish is thick, buddy.

What's nice about this is this is, it's a tapered leader that I make, but it's 30 pound, I'm sorry, 20, 25 to 20 to 15.

So that fish isn't, it's not like you're nymph fishing or fishing like a worm where you're worried about them spotting your leader.

So I was able to put the brakes on him with 15 pound, 'cause he had six or eight pound tests.

He could easily be into any of that brush in no time.

Okay, thanks, big guy.

(kisses) Unbelievable, dude.

Wow, wow, that, I mean, that's why, I mean, as far as artwork goes, but just inspiration in general for my art, that's it right there, and then just the fact that we're able to be out here in the elements like this on such a beautiful day, and catching fish, once in a lifetime fish, that's hard to beat, dude.

That's hard to beat.

Growing up in western North Carolina, just from a very early age, six, seven-years-old, we had beautiful waterfalls right below our house, gorgeous river systems, but I started fishing at that age, six, seven-years-old, and it has not slowed down since.

It's just been such an addiction, passion, and I don't know, man.

This is why I think I keep doing it, because you just don't know what's gonna happen.

Like you could totally go out and have a really slow day and still a beautiful time doing it, or you can go out and have a beautiful day and catch a 25 inch brown trout.

So that's what keeps me coming back for sure is that not knowing what's in that next hole.

So it's good stuff.

- [Jordan] Having landed a giant brown, the day was already a success, but we had some time left.

So we continued on, and as we did, I asked Caleb what it was that he liked about fly fishing.

- I love all techniques of fishing or styles, but fly fishing, I've been doing it for about 20 years now, and it kind of comes down to just adding more challenges to the fishing game.

You get really good at one thing and it starts kind of feeling repetitive and like that excitement starts dwindling a little bit.

I feel like fly fishing adds a whole nother element to technique, finesse.

It's tough to strip a big streamer through a tight stream and land a big fish.

I mean, so I think it's primarily just the challenge, the extra challenge, that it is, and then, yeah, I don't know.

In a way, it feels like a bit more organic to me.

That's what's so cool about brown trout, like the variation in their patterns, their colors.

She's more like chrome and blue, kind of a sage color, and that other big dude was just like green back with a bright yellowish gold stomach.

From the time I was big enough to really get out of the house and scoot around, six, seven-years-old, I have always been just drawn to nature and growing up on water, it was just an immediate thing that I had to go explore and do, and it was like a daily thing that would happen.

So trout fishing kind of followed suit there.

So I have always loved it, not just trout fishing, I love salt water fishing as well, but yeah, it's just become a huge passion of mine is fishing and out chasing really nice trout around so.

Yeah, yep.

It's not the big dude, but it's a pretty fish, buddy.

- [Jordan] What an incredible day on the water.

Truth be told, we didn't catch very many trout, but the ones we did were the right ones, and anytime you catch one over 25 inches, it's going to be a great day, but there's more to Caleb's story than just fishing.

He's also a very talented artist, and on next week's show, we're going to see him take the brown trout we caught today and turn it into an incredible piece of artwork.

- Well, as you can see, those guys had a heck of a day on the river, and make sure that you are joining us next week for kind of part two of that story where you get to see more of Caleb's artwork.

It is simply amazing.

You won't wanna miss that.

We're gonna shift gears right now and head to the Turkey woods.

I was able to get out this past weekend with my parents who are 79 and 80-years-old.

I tell you what, we had a heck of a morning.

(birds chirp in the distance) The start of the late turkey season took me home.

Both my parents wanted to hunt turkeys this year, and when you're 80, well, sometimes, that means you need a little help.

We put the blind up a few days prior to season and now the sun was rising on the opener, and we were ready.

Two guns, one camera, and birds were sounding off all over the property that we were hunting this morning.

(turkeys gobble in the distance) (turkey call sounds) Get ready.

Get your gun up, Brenda.

Brenda, get your gun up.

(turkey call sounds) (turkeys gobble) Okay, get your gun over there.

Get your gun on it, Brenda.

Dad, see if you can get even through that window.

You gotta get ready to shoot.

They're getting spooky.

- [Brenda] That's too far from me.

- [Jimmy] No, it's not.

Dad, see if you can shoot that bird.

Can you get in on the other window?

Just wait.

They're coming, they're coming.

Yep, if you could shoot that one, Brenda, go and take your safety off.

- I did.

- Okay, shoot him.

- [Brenda] Off, shoot.

- [Jimmy] Go ahead.

(gun fires) You got him.

Okay, let's see if this other one comes back.

Put your safety back on.

(Jimmy laughs) (turkey call sounds) Nice job.

- Gosh.

- [Jimmy] What do you think?

- Oh, my heart is still pounding like crazy.

- [Jimmy] Oh, that one worked out perfect.

- Well, it's too bad we couldn't get the other one for him.

- [Jimmy] Well, they were getting a little-- - A little spooky.

- [Jimmy] They didn't like something.

- Yeah.

(Brenda exhales) - [Jimmy] Oh, that was awesome.

Well, we couldn't quite get on that second bird, but what a morning we had.

- Woohoo.

- [Jimmy] Well, tell me about the hunt this morning, young lady.

- Oh wow, we had to get up really, really early, and it was just a beautiful morning, and we heard so much gobbling that it was really exciting, and then fortunately one came my way.

The tree was in the way for Richard.

He couldn't.

I wanted him to get the first shot, but-- - [Jimmy] Yeah, sure.

- Yeah, it just had to be me, I guess, today.

So it was really fun.

- [Jimmy] Pretty exciting.

- Very exciting.

- Lots of gobbling.

- Yeah, it was a great time.

- [Jordan] What'd you think, dad?

- I think it's quite a bit of big time.

(mumbles) - Big time?

- Big time south.

- [Jimmy] Well, let's go see.

It looks like a nice big bird.

- [Richard] Okay.

- [Jimmy] I'd say 11 inches or so, nice big bird.

- [Brenda] Yeah.

- [Jimmy] Well, he stuck around just a little too long.

Let's see his spurs.

- [Brenda] Okay.

- [Jimmy] Oh yeah, nice.

What a hunt.

(calm folk music) I dare say there weren't a lot of 79-year-old ladies tagging birds on Saturday, but I know one that was.

You never know how many spring mornings you have left.

So get out there and enjoy some time with your family and oh, happy Mother's Day, mom.

Love you.

- For our next segment on this week's show, I was way down in southern Michigan to do a little spring combo hunt for turkeys and morel mushrooms.

(cheery country music) - All right, we are in Manchester, Michigan this morning.

We are on the field edge trying to get a nice tom off the roost, and then this afternoon, if we successfully harvest our turkey, we're gonna go try and find some morels on some public land just down the road.

Been on 'em pretty good since we got that rain this weekend.

So hopefully we can find a bunch more.

(turkey call sounds) - [Jordan] Despite having this hen work her way right into our setup, none of the other turkeys made their way out to the field, and after a few hours in the blind, we decided to switch gears and start looking for mushrooms.

- So this morning's turkey hunt was a little bit slow.

We just had one hen kind of hang out with us most in the morning.

So after coming back to the truck, got some breakfast, and we're gonna walk out here and check some of these undergrowths for some morels that I've spotted last year and see if we can't get on some and get a bag full.

- [Jordan] Jonathan has been mushroom hunting for several years, but has recently started spending even more time looking for them, and he does it a little bit different than any mushroom hunter I've met before.

- I think the first time I ever found a morel mushroom was I was actually out on this very piece of property with my little brother, Nathan, and we were turkey hunting, and we found one at random, and I think about four or five years ago, we came out here doing the same kind of thing, Turkey hunting, randomly found some more, and then I started to get back into it.

I was like, I wanna actually invest a little bit more time, and I didn't really know a lot.

Went on the internet, kinda learned some things, a lot of things didn't work, and that's when I just started walking, and once you find your first big patch, it's a very addicting habit after that.

You're like, oh my gosh, I wanna do more of that, and so after I found my first big patch and I started walking and walking.

The more I found them, the more I was like, I gotta do this every year.

I just cover ground.

I just, I wanted to find them, and I didn't really know how.

So I just kind of implemented the strategy of walk and look, and when you find them, stop and address the area, and I started to find them kind of in the lushed up overgrowth areas, and like I said, other people do it with trees or grassy fields, but this is just what works for me.

So I'm gonna keep doing it, because I like these puppies in my dinner and with my walleye, with my venison.

This is my only disclaimers is I am in no way a professional.

(laughs) So far, we're going good.

We haven't even left the ring, the immediate original area, and we've already found about 40 or 50.

I don't know what it is about this undergrowth, but they don't seem to grow huge, but there's a lot of 'em.

So we're just kind of picking away, and the more you get, the more you can do with it and the better the recipes you can make.

Deposit it into the bank account.

Outside of like the normal butter and olive oil, maybe some onions, I like to do a mushroom risotto.

You can get a regular risotto mix or you can get like an actual mushroom risotto mix and then just substitute the morels, and then I tried a morel fettuccine this past winter with the morels I had from last year, and they turned out very good, and so I like that too.

I think those are my two new go-tos after just the standard butter, olive oil, and frying 'em in a pan with your favorite wild game.

Half 'em, clean 'em, kind of keep 'em moist if you wanna keep 'em for a couple days or a week.

You can keep 'em in your refrigerator like that.

I just cover 'em with a moist cloth, and then if you're gonna keep 'em long term, dehydrate 'em and then store 'em in a bag.

That's the best way, and I heard that reinvigorating them with a white wine is also a very popular method.

Restoring them and having them with dinner later on.

(turkey call sounds) (turkeys gobble in the distance) Went out this morning, we heard one gobble on our way to the blind.

Sitting in the blind, nothing really happened.

Now we're out here on public land picking mushrooms, and we got one who Jordan's called at like six, seven times now, and he's coming in quick.

I don't think he'll come into this thickness, but he's close.

- [Jordan] We got no tag.

- No tag, no gun.

(laughs) Whereas this is why you bring your turkey call, though.

(turkey call sounds) (turkeys gobble in the distance) That's awesome.

(laughs) Get 'em all fired up.

This is why we need universal turkey tags so you can flip from private to public whenever you want.

(turkey call sounds) (turkey gobbles in the distance) He's literally right there.

We're going right at him too.

Let's go.

- [Jordan] After calling this tom into about 25 yards, we decided it was time to get back to mushroom hunting, and as we continued to search for mushrooms, we also made sure to pick up any trash we spotted along the way.

- So I always say pick up your trash, whenever you see it, just good karma, and I reach in and this was sitting just back here about three or four feet, and Jordan, I don't know if you can see it, but if you look past there about eight or 10 feet right kind of towards the base of that tree, I can see at least two sticking up right there and maybe even more right through here.

So that's not just a one time deal.

This is a reoccurring trend where I pick up trash and I look down and there's morels next to it.

So pick it up, take it out, good karma, you're cleaning up the woods, and you might find some morels.

Oh yeah, here we go.

Jordan, I got a couple, hopefully there's more right here.

I got at least three.

So we got out, we did the turkey hunting, we got out, we sat out and just watched the hen, tried to call in some turkeys from the adjacent property, didn't work out.

So we came out here, we'd been found a good sack full, had a turkey come in that Jordan called into about 25, 30 yards or so before it spooked off, and then on right back out here just talking through the rest of this, trying to pick as many as we can before the season ends.

It's gonna get warm, and once it gets warm, morels seem to disappear.

- [Jordan] Although the turkeys only wanted to cooperate when we didn't have a tag, the mushroom hunting was fantastic.

Special thanks to Jonathan for inviting me down for a fun day of turkey and mushroom hunting here in southern Michigan.

(cheery country music) - Well, hey, everybody.

Thank you so much for watching Michigan Out of Doors this week.

Make sure you are joining us over the next several weeks.

We've been out in the Turkey woods quite a bit.

Actually, a lot of good spring fishing is happening right now.

So get out and enjoy everything that our state has to offer, and as always, if we don't see in the woods or on the water, hopefully we'll see a right back here next week on your PBS station.

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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 - [Announcer 3] By Alta Equipment Company providing sales, rentals, service, and parts, because uptime matters.

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♪ When I wonder 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 ♪ ♪ White tail deer in the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan man ♪ Ask where I'm from, and I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above, love this land ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ From the Kiwanis down to St. George, ♪ ♪ Kalamazoo, east to Monroe to St. Marie and back again, ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man