- Hello everyone, welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors."

I'm Jenny Ciolek and we've got an exciting show headed your way this week.

I'm here in Manistee, Michigan.

We're on the river right now in town, staying in a house right here on the river.

We're gonna fish in the morning with Captain Paul Shlafly on Riverside Charters.

But tonight his wife Amy, is cooking up a fish boil for us to enjoy.

We're gonna get well fed, and we're gonna get a good night's sleep, and we're gonna head out in the morning, chasing after some salmon, some lake trout, and who knows what else.

Make sure you stay tuned for that story, and Jimmy and Jordan have some other excitement in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

We do have another story on this week's show.

Once we're done on the west side of the state, out of the port of Manistee, we're gonna head East to Saginaw Bay and do a little bow fishing that is always fast and furious and a lot of fun.

Make sure 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.

♪ - [Speaker] What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Some day our children all will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ ♪ Wonder around 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.

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Angler Quest Pontoons are built with a multifunctional layout to support a variety of fishing adventures.

Learn more at anglerquestpontoons.com.

(soulful music) (upbeat music) - [Jenny] A few weeks back, a group of friends headed to Manistee for a fun adventure on Lake Michigan with Captain Paul Schlafley and Riverside Charters.

We would be staying in a rental house, owned and operated by Paul and his wife, Amy.

Along for the trip were Dave and Kim Jugowicz, Dave Tacconelli, Ruth Holder, and my husband, Matt.

As we gathered at the house the evening before our fishing trip, Amy was on hand, cooking up an amazing meal for the group.

- Working on a fish boil.

It is 10, 10, 10.

Onions, or are potatoes go in first.

10 minutes after it boils, onions go in, and then after that, round of salt, and then the fish will go in, and then I'll drop the corn in, and some sausage, and then it should be done.

So 10, 10, 10.

- [Jenny] 10 minutes for every round you put in?

- Yep.

- Okay.

- [Amy] Absolutely.

- [Jenny] Once the first two rounds of ingredients are done boiling, Amy takes them off the heat, strains them, and sets them aside.

Then she boils more water and adds the corn and sausage for a final 10 minute round.

She used chunks of fresh lake trout caught out of Manistee just the day before.

It was finally time to dig in.

- Ain't gonna take 10 minutes to eat this.

(laughs) - 10 minutes- - Look at that, beautiful.

- [Jenny] This fish boil recipe is super simple and absolutely delicious.

After dinner, we visited a bit with Paul and Amy and met our first mate, Dustin.

The party at the bonfire was enticing, but we dragged ourselves away and into the cabin at a reasonable hour in hopes of getting a good night's rest.

After all, we needed to meet the crew on the dock at 5:00 AM.

Captain Paul was pleased to see all of our shining faces on the boat at 5:00 sharp.

- Looks like a really good morning this morning, got some south winds coming in, finally.

We've got a lot of north wind this spring, more than I've ever seen since I've been around.

And it's usually the south wind helps our fishing.

So hopefully today, it's been pretty good the last few days.

The water's starting to warm up right now, so, should be pretty good, we're hoping.

Hopefully we start right up on 'em.

- Nice.

- They're probably 80 down.

Mark, there's a fish hole.

- [Jenny] My husband loves helping set lines for salmon, just like he and his dad used to do out here together.

- Well this is just my dad's favorite salmon lure.

We used to fish out here, so brought him with us today.

Hopefully he's gonna bring us some luck.

Haven't fished this lure in a lot of years.

So here we go.

(reel clicking) (group chattering indistinctly) - He's striking.

- Made it easy on ya.

- He is, he's almost come.

- There you go.

- [Jenny] Dave Tacconelli was the guest of honor today.

This fishing trip was his retirement gift from Dick Huvaere's auto dealership in Richmond where he worked for 25 years.

Speaking of Dave's, the other Dave was battling a second fish on.

- Woo hoo hoo!

(group chattering) - Oh boy.

- The Davids.

(laughs) - Never fails, we got a wild one going into this other one.

- Well, they might be tangled up.

- Swimming towards each other?

- Ah, they're raiding- - Ah, one that was on the side, or he shot right to the surface.

(group chatters indistinctly) - Got one.

- Woo hoo!

(group chatters indistinctly) - [Onlooker] Ah, that's how it's done.

- [Fisherman] That's as far as I can go.

- [Fisherman] I'll get one quick back and we'll just have to hand land.

(group chatters indistinctly) - Hey Sean?

- Yeah.

- [Onlooker] Woo hoo!

Oh mama!

- I want yours.

(fisherman laughs) - I want to hear my fish too.

(everyone laughs) I'll put it out.

♪ My fish is bigger than your fish ♪ - I tried.

- Fish on.

(group chattering indistinctly) - Yep, yep, yep.

- [Onlooker] Captain, that's fast and furious.

- Awesome.

- Yeah, hope it keeps up.

- Yeah.

- You will.

- Yeah, it's a nice day out today, boy.

- [Onlooker] You will.

(group chatter indistinctly) - There you go.

- Woo hoo!

This is her first fish at Lake Michigan.

- Nother one coming in the boat.

- [Onlooker] Matt finally got his in.

Nice.

- [Onlooker] We got fish flying everywhere.

- Beautiful.

- Well, how'd it feel?

- [Onlooker] You gotta kiss your first fish.

- There.

(laughs) She's so ladylike.

- [Onlooker] Your first Lake Michigan fish.

Nice.

Good job.

You did great.

- Thank you.

(group chatters indistinctly) (reel rattling) - [Onlooker] Never gets old, does it?

- No, I love it.

Grew up doin' this.

Gotta love it.

(reel rattling) The excitement of getting fish on.

- [Onlooker] Yeah.

How long have you been doing this?

- [Captain] My whole life.

I've been chartering since '83.

So yeah, I just grew up doing it, and- - You're not even that old.

- I know.

Sixties, just turned 60.

- Wow.

- [Captain] But yeah, it's a passion.

We love it.

You know, it's something, you know, beautiful area to live, and Lake Michigan's great resource we have here.

- Another baby.

- Oh, she's a specialty.

(group chatter indistinctly) - I'm going for the fish sandwiches today.

(group chatter indistinctly) - Babies?

- No.

- Throw 'em back?

- Yeah, throw 'em back.

- It's the wrong size.

- It'll get bigger.

- [Fisherman] Oh, there he goes.

(group chatter indistinctly) - [Onlooker] Got your work cut out for you on this one.

- Yeah, see it back there?

(chuckles) Mile back.

(onlooker laughs) (reel rattles) - [Fisherman] Oh, there's a big fish!

- Oh, I just brought it up.

(group chatter indistinctly) - Here, let me hold your water.

- [Onlooker] Oh, the sun's comin' up.

(group chatter indistinctly) - [Onlooker] Oh, what happened, Dave?

- I blew it.

He outsmarted me.

- So Dave Tacconelli has been a wonderful salesperson for our dealership for the last 25 years, and he decided- - A dedicated employee.

- [Kim] Dedicated employee too.

Yes.

And he decided to quit on us and retire.

So for his retirement present, we tried to come up with something that he would appreciate and something different, since he kind of has everything.

Right?

What do you get a guy that's got everything?

So we're on a charter fish trip with Paul, and we're out here on Lake Michigan catching some big fish.

- And I'm glad to be here, enjoying Captain Paul and Dustin, and I want to thank Kim and everyone else from the dealership for bringing me out here.

It's been a great day so far and it's gonna continue to have more success.

- And you brought Ruth along.

- Ruth's my sidekick.

- [Onlooker] First time out here on a charter boat.

- [Dave] Yep, she's used to wildlife fishing, but now she's getting a taste of what real fishing is.

- Yeah, flying fish.

- Mine's way, way a while.

(group chatters indistinctly) - [Onlooker] There we go.

Nice fish.

Oh, that's a eater.

- Woo!

- [Onlooker] That bad boy's going on the grill.

Oh!

- [Onlooker] What do you think of that?

- Oh, that one hurt.

(laughs) But it was fun.

- Awesome.

- And it's much bigger.

- That's a good- - Today, we went a little bit farther south.

Yesterday, I did pretty good straight out.

We had a lot more lake trout yesterday, so we try to, you know, today we're trying to target more salmon, but I did have a lot of salmon yesterday too.

But today we had a pretty good early bite, but now it's, here we go died.

(chuckles) So now we gotta start looking here.

So probably go out in deeper water and check it out, or turn the boat around head North.

But yeah, there's fish kind of scattered all about.

They're getting 'em down South really good, down all the way to Grand Haven.

So it's a good fishery.

I think it's gonna be a really good season.

Yeah, we're gonna move.

I got a good report, so hopefully it'll pan out.

Kind of died for us pretty bad here.

So we're gonna make a move.

I don't normally do this, but some days, you have to.

- Fish on.

Finally found some after we moved.

- Nothing on your dad's yet?

- Not yet, not yet.

I just had a little conversation with him.

Gonna be a little divine intervention here.

- [Onlooker] Can you tell how this one feels yet?

- Yeah, I'm gonna go with medium.

It's not huge.

It's not pulling back a lot, so.

(group chattering indistinctly) (water sploshing) Nice little spring-ish king.

Be good on the barby tonight.

- We usually fish on Lake St. Clair.

- [Onlooker] Okay.

- So this is the first time really, ever on the big waters, Lake Michigan.

- [Onlooker] What do you think so far?

- It's pretty amazing.

Kind of a little choppy.

- [Onlooker] How about fighting those salmon?

- It's a lot different than walleye.

- [Jenny] Before we started this morning, Kim said she was really hoping to catch a steelhead out here.

As we were wrapping up the trip, her wish came true.

(group chatter indistinctly) - [Onlooker] Woo!

Kim, you wanted- - Steelhead!

- Yeah, you got one.

- [Fisherman] There we go.

- [Onlooker] It's always a good day when the camera lady gets to catch a fish.

- [Kim] That's right.

(group chatter indistinctly) - Got him?

- Yes.

- All right.

- Yeah.

Beautiful.

We're having a great day out here.

- Nice.

- So much fun.

- Great job Captain Paul.

- Thank you.

- [Jenny] Captain Paul and first mate Dustin did a great job finding the fish today.

Special thanks to Dave Tacconelli for inviting us along.

After 26 years of running the camera, my favorite part of the job is the lifelong friends I've made here in our great state.

Kim and the gang at Dick Huvaere's started as business acquaintances.

Many years later, Matt and I are good friends with Kim and her husband Dave.

Paul and Amy Schlafley are also on that list.

And after this adventure, we consider Dave and Ruth to be counted among friends too.

And that's really what it's all about, here in Michigan's out of doors.

- Well we as Michiganders have a lot of options when it comes to fishing this time of the year, and if you're into archery as well as fishing, you may wanna try your hand at doing some bow fishing.

It is a ton of fun.

(upbeat music) - Well we are in Saginaw Bay, and we are gonna do one of my favorite things in the world to do, and that is bow fishing.

I got my son Tommy and my very good friend Dave Tenet.

So we've been bow fishing now for, oh my goodness, almost 20 years.

And I look forward to this bow fishing season like I do deer hunting.

And I tell you what, if you want to take your kids, and the thing about deer hunting, when you take your kids, they're always on their phone, right?

You are not gonna be doing that today.

I promise you.

We're gonna get after 'em for sure.

And that's what you gotta like about it.

If you enjoy archery hunting and you enjoy fishing, this is the sport.

And what people don't understand is we have an amazing fishery here.

There's not a ton of bow fishermen, and what we do, we offer a conservation service.

You know, I mean, adult carp have no natural predators.

And I was doing some research, and they're invasive.

There are four or five different types of carp that are invasive, and they can eat up to 90 pounds of vegetation a day, and they excrete half of that.

They don't even process half of it.

It's kind of amazing.

So whenever we get into an area that's full of carp, inevitably, the vegetation is tore up and the water's extremely dirty, and you know, besides that, it's a lot of fun to go out there and get after these fish.

- [Onlooker] Nice, first fish.

- [Fisherman] What'd that take, Jenny?

About two minutes?

- [Jenny] (laughs) Yeah.

- Not bad.

- [Onlooker] Nice shooting, David.

- [David] Got lucky.

(onlooker laughs) - [Jenny] So despite the stormy cold front that had moved through before we got out here, the guys were into some fish right away.

David's bowfin had bright green fins, which they see quite often out here when algae discolors them.

Tom connected with the next fish of the afternoon, a gar pipe.

- Hey.

What do we get?

- Got a gar pipe.

(water sloshing) Decent little fish.

- [Onlooker] Woo hoo.

Wow.

That is a nice long one, huh?

- Yeah.

- Nice shooting.

- [Tom] Thank you.

Thank you.

- [Onlooker] Do a lot of people, be curious, what do you do with the fish after you kill 'em?

- [Fisherman] Well, we have a garden, and to this point, I haven't put any in my garden 'cause I haven't planted it yet, but, so they've all gone to my friend, Dave's father's garden, and I can tell you, fertilizing them, it's amazing fertilizer.

It really works extremely well.

So.

- [Jenny] It's nice to see the bow fishing sport, keeping the fish population in check on Saginaw Bay and helping to fertilize gardens and farm fields alike.

This next big carp gave the guys a run for their money and had them on their toes.

(fishermen chattering indistinctly) - It's not- - It's not on yet.

- Yeah, that's all right, bring it in.

Bring it in.

Good one.

Bring it in.

- [Onlooker] Holy moly.

(group chatters) (onlooker laughs) He's comin' around this way.

He's under the boat.

He didn't come out from under the boat.

(group chatter indistinctly) - David, are you good?

- Oh here he is, here he is.

- No.

(laughs) - Oh there it is.

(arrow splashes) - [Fisherman] Oh.

(laughs) (group laughs) (group chatters indistinctly) - [Onlooker] He's got a little scar on his back.

- There's two in there.

- Yeah, he just swam towards another one.

- [Fisherman] I don't even know why I shot at that.

- [Onlooker] He was fast.

(group chatters indistinctly) - [Fisherman] That's the one.

That's the one.

- [Fisherman] I got him.

- [Fisherman] (laughs) That's the one too.

- [Onlooker] Oh, wait there's two, right there.

There's one coming at us.

Can you see him over there?

(group chatters indistinctly) - That's the same one, right- - Yeah, he's big.

He's coming back.

He's right by that log.

- He's right there.

- He's right there.

Who can get him?

Oh.

You got him!

- You got him.

Dad!

- Put an arrow in him, David.

Put an arrow in him.

- A little bit closer.

- [Fisherman] I can't believe I got him.

- [Onlooker] Nice, nice, nice.

- [Fisherman] A little bit closer.

- [Onlooker] Can you bring him in a little?

- [Fisherman] Okay, we'll just get another (indistinct) (arrow rattles) All right, we're through now.

We got it.

Boy, this one gave us a struggle now.

(people laugh) It's a log.

- Oh my word!

- It's a big one.

- [Onlooker] Somebody's gonna have to hold this up, you know?

- So Jenny, one, two, three hits.

(laughs) - [Onlooker] Tommy, you gotta hold this beast up.

- [Fisherman] Come on buddy.

- [Onlooker] (laughs) What?

Woo!

Tell me what happened with this one.

- So I shot him and then he started swimming away.

Then my dad shot him.

Then he just started like swimming around the boat and then eventually went off, and then we found him again a couple minutes later.

Dad shot at him, missed, and then I took a far shot, got him, started reeling him in, and then dad finished him.

- He's been shot three times.

- Yeah.

(everyone laughs) - That's great, guys.

- Good stuff, bud.

Good stuff.

- This is fat.

- Yeah.

- Woo!

See one over here?

(group chatters indistinctly) - We usually get 'em in these channels here and they have really nowhere to go, and it's shallower.

That's a good sign.

That means that they'll be all through here.

- Well Jenny, you and I have been planning this for three years now, so we haven't really, we've been looking at the weather, and playing, you know, the weather along with, you know, I wanted to give you the best shoot that we could possibly have.

So low wind, and that's the big thing about shooting the bay is the wind can really be a problem.

And tonight, the wind was supposed to be, you know, top out about eight miles per hour, with one caveat.

We had a storm that just rolled through, and we went from 88 degrees down to 60 some degrees.

That's not very good for bow fishing.

Now of course, this is the way it always worked.

You should have been here yesterday.

Well, we were here on Friday, and right here in this cut, we were shooting fish, you know, 20, 25 pound fish that were rolling right here in the cut, not even on the boat- - During the day.

- Yeah, during the day, and that's actually when I called you, it was like, hey, check this out, you know?

And so that has to be timed just right, and I know that, you know, you see a lot of nighttime shoots, but you don't get a lot of good daytime video, and I thought that have been awfully cool.

But you know what, we're still gonna, we're here and we're gonna get after 'em.

- [Jenny] Daytime visibility was not great.

So the guys took a three hour break and came back for nighttime fishing where the lights would increase their odds of seeing more fish.

There was still quite a bit of daylight hanging on tonight, which made it difficult for the camera to see the fish with the glare on the water.

It was getting darker by the minute and the conditions were improving, but we were racing against the clock with the storm that was coming.

Tom cherishes his time on the water with his friends and family, and says, this is a great family sport.

- [Tom] Well no, fortunately this is one of those setups where you can definitely bring your children.

Turn the radio on, have a good time.

I mean, you know, it's all about joking and comradery.

You do not have to be quiet because we're running a generator.

These fish are not scared for the most part.

I mean they will, after they've been shot at a little bit, they'll get a little bit shy.

But I mean, for the most part, you know, especially when it's cooler, they're gonna sit pretty for you.

Yep, he got it.

(engine rumbling) - [Onlooker] All right.

- Another one with the green fins.

- [Onlooker] Good job.

- [Jenny] The fishing action was definitely starting to heat up, but sadly, after waiting three seasons for the right weather and our schedules to line up to do this trip, it would be over before it really got started.

- We got a storm moving in here about half an hour.

We're just getting good light, just starting to see some fish, but we're gonna have to head out pretty soon because we got a storm moving in.

That's Michigan bow fishing for ya.

- [Jenny] Living with the turbulent weather conditions that Saginaw Bay in May can bring is possibly the only downside of bow and spearfishing out here.

Tom's passion for the sport truly shines.

- [Tom] It's incredible.

We are so blessed in this state.

We have some of the, okay, so the Saginaw Bay, in the nation is one of the top 10 in every magazine that you read for bow fishing, one of the top 10.

Also for other things like small mouth fishing, and the wildlife fishery, but we have an amazing resource here, and I think we just all wanna manage it as best as possible.

So I hope people can understand it.

You know, we're all sportsmen and at the end of the day, we all want to, you know, take care of this resource as good as we can.

Whether you're sport fishing or you know, rough shoot fishing, or anything like that, you know, or you're deer hunting, you know, we are the guys that hopefully are the ones that are out there picking up the trash, and trying to keep everything better than we left it.

- [Jenny] Spoken like the great steward that he is, Tom Heatwell and his crew are so incredibly passionate about bow fishing and promoting the sport, and it shows.

I promised Tom, David and Tommy that I would return for another trip with them when Mother Nature isn't so fickle.

We spotted lightning on the horizon and quickly made our way back to the safety of shore, calling it quits.

It was quite the exciting night out here in Michigan's out of doors.

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

If you missed part of this week's show or maybe last week's show, you can always check us out online.

You can do that through our website, or our different social media platforms.

Both Facebook and Instagram are good ways to see what we're up to, kind of on a day-to-day basis.

And make sure you are joining us over the next few weeks.

Lots of brand new stuff coming.

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

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(bright music) ♪ When I wandered 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 ♪ ♪ The whitetail 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 I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above, I love this land, I am a Michigan man ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ From the Keweenaw down to Saint Joe ♪ ♪ Kalamazoo leads to Monroe ♪ (bright music)