- Hello everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors".

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

I'll take you to Port Huron High School, where we checked out the sturgeon in the classroom project that's happening there.

You won't wanna miss that story.

Jordan will take us out chasing after steelhead on the Grand River near Grand Rapids.

And Jimmy's got another exciting winter adventure in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

Just a week or so back I was able to get out and do my first ice fishing story of the year.

I tell you what, it was good to be on the hard water.

Make sure you stay tuned.

We've got a great show lined up for you.

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

♪ From the first spring rains (turkey gobbles) ♪ 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 ♪ The wonder and the love of Michigan ♪ ♪ As the wind comes whispering through the trees ♪ (bird caws) ♪ 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 ♪ - [Narrator] "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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(upbeat music) (ice fishing drill whirring) (upbeat music) (bubbles swimming) (equipment beeping) - [Narrator] "Jay's Sporting Goods", trust the tradition.

(mellow music) - [Speaker] Just before the holidays, I had the opportunity to spend a day on the water with a couple of anglers targeting steelhead on the Grand River, taking advantage of some warmer weather and hoping to find some active fish.

- Today we are on the Grand River doing a little bobber fishing for steelhead.

Got some little bit warmer weather today.

It's above freezing, which is a nice change from what it's been.

We still have some ice flowing down the river today, but fishing's been (gear clicking) pretty good.

We're gonna try to put a few steelhead in the boat.

Today we're gonna do a lot of bobber fishing.

That's probably the most common tactic this time of year.

A lot of guys are fishing beads, spawn bags, jigs and wax worms, things like that.

A lot of people do troll and plug this time of year as well, which can be really effective.

But I really enjoy bobber fishing.

There's one.

Yep, that's fish.

- Nice one.

Ooh, that's a tank.

(gear zipping) It looks like a big female.

She just aired out a couple times.

(gear zipping) For cold water like this I'm pretty impressed she jumped aways.

(water splashing) Silver fish, very nice.

- [Speaker] Nice fish.

- [Jordan] Nice.

- [Speaker] Good job.

- Super silver, still got the chrome rays in her tail.

Super cool fish.

This is about our average fish this year.

We've had good numbers.

This is, you know, nothing to complain about as far as size.

We've had a good fall, a good start to winter so far.

We've had really low water compared to years past, which has kind of changed, I would say, where a lot of the fish have been spending their time.

But I don't think the numbers have been down.

(water splashing) Fishing's been good.

I've crossed the four or five different river systems that I've been on.

Yeah, it's just a different scenario than years past.

They are kinda limited in what areas they can spend time due to the shallow water.

But still good fishing to be had.

We've had a very, very dry fall.

Basically, I don't think we've had significant rainfall since August, July, maybe even.

So our water levels are about as low as we've ever had them historically on most of the rivers across West Michigan.

Like I said, it's not necessarily a bad thing for the steelhead fishing.

It's just different than years past.

- We have a nice steelhead on (plastic hitting) my first hit for the day.

Pretty exciting.

- [Jordan] Oh, nice fish.

- Oh yeah.

- [Jordan] Big adult.

Try to keep him down over to the left here, Tim.

(rod cranking) - [Tim] All right.

- [Jordan] If he'll let you reel all the way to your bobber.

- [Tim] What's that?

- [Jordan] If he'll let you, try to reel all the way up to your bobber.

- [Tim] Okay.

Not quite ready, is he.

(water splashing) - [Jordan] Doesn't want to be.

Try to gimme that head.

Swing him right back to me.

- [Tim] Okay.

(water splashing) - [Tim] There we go.

- It's a long fish.

(throat clearing) - [Tim] Mm-hmm.

- That's a really nice fish for this time of year.

- [Tim] Yeah, it is.

Good job captain.

- [Jordan] Well, we were off to a good start with the first two areas we fished both producing steelhead.

After a little while we dropped down river and it didn't take long to get hooked up again.

Brett has this style of fishing pretty dialed in and knew right where to go.

That one hammered it.

That was awesome.

(rod zipping) Got it.

(Jordan grunts) (water splashing) - [Tim] I was gonna do a little rodeo action.

- [Jordan] Yep.

- [Tim] I love it.

These fish are so much fun.

They're so powerful.

- [Jordan] Strong fish for sure.

They're so pretty this time of year too.

- [Tim] Mm-hmm.

(throat clearing) - [Jordan] Like I said, the main predators for steelhead are- (Tim laughs) Ospreys eagles.

Tim Honeycut.

- [Tim] Nice.

All right, he's starting to spin and flip.

(water splashing) Get that head out away from the boat.

Out away from the boat.

There you go.

Beautiful.

- [Jordan] Another beautiful hand.

(throat clearing) (gills flapping) It's another tank, dude.

- [Tim] That's awesome.

- [Jordan] What do you think?

- It's an awesome fish.

They're so powerful.

It's such a joy to be out here.

- [Jordan] The whole idea of the float, the bobber fishing, the float fishing is we're just trying to present our bait, roughly the speed of the current.

Whether it's a spawn bag, a bead, a jig, whatever you're using.

Generally steelhead will lay close to the bottom within a foot of the bottom.

So ideally, you'd like to set your bobber depth accordingly.

So I'm adjusting my bobbers constantly.

Every run we fish is a little bit different.

As far as what kinda water you're looking for, it really depends on the timing of the run.

So, you know, spring and fall when the water temps are a little warmer, let's say over 40 degrees, usually looking for a little bit faster water, a little bit faster, shallower water and you know, I'll kind of adjust my rigging accordingly.

I like to add a little bit more weight when I'm fishing these deep slow runs in the wintertime.

So when I say slow runs, I mean walking speed water.

You don't want fast riffly water necessarily and you don't want it to be dead still either.

You want a good consistent current through it.

You can kind of see what we're fishing here there's constant current through it.

It's not swirling, it's just straight current.

And a lot of times in the winter time, that's where these steelhead will spend most of their time.

(water splashing) (Brett shudders) - [Jordan] There you go.

- [Brett] Came off right there.

- Did he?

I released it right there.

(everyone laughs) - [Brett] Yeah, the hook's still in him.

(everyone laughs) Beautiful fish.

(Tim sniffs) - [Tim] It is.

Nice job.

- [Jordan] This is what I get for talking about the grade of fish being lower this year.

- [Tim] Yeah.

- [Jordan] Now we're catching big ones.

Eventually the bite slowed down a little bit and we decided to make a big move back upriver where we knew we would have to dodge some ice along the way.

Brett has lots of experience on the river and wasn't too worried about navigating the ice, but more concerned about finding a spot we could fish through it, which proved to be a challenge.

(mellow music) Well I'm not so much worried about getting through that.

It wouldn't be that hard.

The problem is once we get above it, all the water I wanna fish is covered in ice.

I see a ton of flow right over top of the spot.

So.

So the spot I wanted to fish down here though is still wide open.

So give it a try.

(engine putters) It's kind of sheltered from the ice flow.

The outside corners get the brunt of ice when we get bad ice flow like this.

- [Tim] I do like the salmon land.

- [Jordan] Here, I'll get 'em over here.

- Big lake land.

- I'll get 'em low.

Hold on a second.

There we go.

(throat clearing) (Tim sniffs) It's like a minefield.

(water splashing) Another really silver one.

Pretty fish.

Sweet.

The bite was good on this trip and we were catching plenty of fish.

But more importantly, the three of us were all enjoying some quality time on the river.

Something that's very important to Tim, in particular and the veteran organization he's a part of, Zero Day.

As we made our way along, he shared with me a little bit about the organization and what they do.

- One of the big differences with Zero Day compared to a lot of the outdoor fishing adventures for veterans that you'll see that like the "Tight Lines for Troops" and "Wildlife for Warriors" and some of these bigger events is, this is the type of trip that we do, with one or two people at a time.

So it's relationship building, it's getting out every week trying to find ways to help guys learn how they can make something like this that's a passion, doable for them on a very limited budget or despite disabilities they may have as a result of their service.

But just trying to find ways to help them get in the outdoors more and enjoy it.

So I don't think I'd have to convince you or any of your viewers how important the outdoors is to everybody's health and wellness.

The natural healing that comes from the outdoors.

The challenges that it comes, the fresh air, the getting out and expending all that energy, the endorphins that come from a successful day out in, out in a mountain or catching giant steelhead or whatever the case is, those are all parts of the healing that we find in the outdoors.

(water splashing) - [Jordan] We ended up boating eight steelhead for the day and even enjoyed some sunshine along the way.

A pretty rare occurrence this time of year.

Thanks to Brett and Tim for inviting me out for a great day on the water here in West Michigan.

(mellow music) - With some of the cold weather that we've been having, there has been some good opportunities to get out onto the hard water and just a week or so back I was able to get out for my first ice fishing story of the year, we had a lot of fun.

(plastic dragging) (mellow music) (ice scraping) (water splashing) - We're looking at probably five inches, I'd say, four to four and a half, five inches at least.

I've been fishing this for probably eight or nine years.

I had a couple buddies show this to me that were a little older than me when I first moved down here and it's just always been tried and true.

You know, some days are a little slower than others but we always seem to pull out a decent amount of fish out of here every year.

Nice.

A lot of the bayous around here are very similar to this one.

I mean, if you go out there the right times of year and get out there first ice, you can tend to have some really good mornings.

What body of water you're fishing at and what they're feeding on is a kinda what you gotta play with.

(ice scraping) We got a lot of shad and shiners that are naturally in this water.

So this is like a natural bait fish that they see quite often.

- [Jimmy] Hmm.

(ice scraping) (water splashing) - [Dillion] Solid gold (water splashing) tungsten with a wax worm.

Smaller the better.

But we've been having pretty good luck on gold.

Gold and black are two really good options to, especially when you're in these murkier waters, they seem to either want a bait that blends in or they want one that really sticks out.

- [Jimmy] Hmm.

Dillion had been doing pretty well the week or so before I was able to join him.

We had a few tip ups out and we were moving every five minutes or so trying to find some active fish.

We also had Dillion's buddy Nick Keen with us today (ice scraping) and Nick was running a camera and not seeing much for fish.

So we kept moving.

We did have a spearing setup as well since this bio was known for its pike.

As we got settled in for some spearing, I asked Dillion, what does he look for when picking a spot to do some spearing?

(ice crunching) - We usually drop offs really good.

Any points anytime that there's a point.

So that tends to be really good depending on the water clarity.

I like to be in anything from 6 to 15 foot.

You know, the spear that we're running right here is only 5 foot long, but we've got some that are, I've got one that's 10 foot, one that's 16 foot.

So I mean we could really- - [Jimmy] Wow.

- Spear just about any depth up to 35 feet.

Higgins Lake is one of the ones that we like to go a little deeper and get on a drop off with a weed bed and that 16 foot spear helps us get down there.

- [Jimmy] Hmm.

Well Bruce's bayou was not working today, so we did the often tried and seldom effective pick up and go to another bayou.

Well, we made the right choice.

We were not far as the crow flies from Bruce's to Stearns Bayou, but much different as far as fish biting.

We finally found them.

(mellow music) (rod zipping) (person laughs) (boot squeaks) - I'm three cranks off the bottom and they just really, (water splashing) I mean, I guess wherever the bait's at and the water temperature's right.

You know.

(water splashing) - [Jimmy] Hey, that's a keeper.

- Nice.

(throat clearing) It's a start to a good finish.

(Dillion laughs) - [Jimmy] Better late than never.

- Right.

Better late than never.

You just, you know.

- [Jimmy] Ooh.

- What you need is a lot of people go from 25.

I just need 10 of those good ones.

(gill flapping) Oh, beautiful size.

- Yeah, that size'll work all day.

(mellow music continues) (rod whirring) - [Dillion] Oh, this spot is just, it's deeper.

I think there's a little bit of flow that goes 'cause of that creek that's back there and it's kind of deep here so it kind of filters out.

I mean there's spots in this circle right here that probably get what, 20 feet deep?

- [Speaker] Yeah.

It's probably 20, 25 feet, right?

- [Dillion] Yeah, 20, 25, it gets deep.

So, and then bluegill, they can sit in any bit of that water column from top to bottom.

So if it, there's no reason for 'em to be here all the time.

- [Jordan] Oh, that's a dandy.

Yeah.

- [Jimmy] Poking young baby.

(Jordan laughs) - [Dillion] And then I just take 'em, I just hook 'em right through the end and that way they dangle, they flop.

Got a lot more motion in the water.

That's pretty much it.

- [Jimmy] That tungsten head then?

- [Dillion] Yep.

Yep, three millimeter tungsten.

- [Jimmy] You had the same one on the whole time, Safari?

- Yeah, that was the first time I put a new spike on.

- [Jimmy] Oh jeez.

(both laugh) Both the wax worm and the spike were working good today.

It's amazing how fishing can vary in two bayous that are not that far apart.

- [Jimmy] You think makes this spot better than the other spot today?

- [Dillion] I think it's just deeper water.

Now that our water got back to, I think it's almost somewhat normal.

Everybody thinks it's low.

Those weeds just get choked out in there and here they got, I mean, 20 yards in front of us.

You probably got 20, 25 feet of water and they can slide up to weeds, feed in the shallow water and they can slide out (water splashing) to the deeper water and suspend.

- [Jimmy] Hmm.

(water splashing) - A little bit of everything for 'em really.

Then you got a creek flowing in back here, so you got a lot of nutrients flowing in through the water.

- [Jimmy] And we're not even changing colors or anything, we're just going- - [Dillion] No, usually when you find- - [Jimmy] Just wax worm on a- - [Dillion] Yeah, this is pretty simple.

I'm a big fan of like the smaller stuff, three millimeters, pretty much all I use.

And they, if you got a finickier fish, you know, you can still entice 'em to bite, but even if they're aggressive (mellow music) you still got a decent hook on it.

- [Jimmy] This part of the Grand River has several bayous and offers some good fishing year round.

I guess what we learned today is, well, if you can't find the fish, just keep moving.

Good luck and stay safe on the hard water here in "Michigan's Out of doors" (bubbles gurgling) - Over the last couple of decades here in Michigan, there's been a great effort by many organizations to promote, conserve, and even grow our sturgeon population here.

One of the programs happening is "Sturgeon in the Classroom".

We stopped into Port Huron High to check it all out.

(mellow music) - I'm Ryan Kopydlowski.

I'm a science teacher here at Port Huron High School and we're looking at the, our sturgeon for this year for sturgeon in the classroom.

I teach biology and chemistry and the name BrINClHOF comes from the seven diatomic elements on the periodic table.

So it's all the elements that are never by themselves.

They're always found in twos.

So it's rearranged to sound like a name and it's just kind of a memory clue for our students to remember which molecules, which elements those are that are diatomic.

And I think I was climbing the walls once I found out that I was, you know, that we were gonna have sturgeon in our classroom and that first year was nerve wracking.

'Cause you're excited that you're gonna have a sturgeon in the classroom, but then you're worried that what if something happens- (Ryan laughs) You know?

So it- the students really, really took to the program and I even have students come back every year that maybe have our seniors or, or don't have my class anymore to check to see if we've gotten a new sturgeon and how it's doing and things like that.

So they, it's a big buy-in for our students.

They love the program.

They love seeing how well the fish is doing, how big it's getting.

- [Jenny] Ryan expects this sturgeon to grow to a size of 12 to 18 inches before it's released into the St.

Clair River at Sturgeon Fest in early June.

The fish eats a daily diet of blood worms and the students love watching it feed.

- I like having sturgeons in the classroom.

It's definitely something different to look at and it's fun to learn about them, like learning that they're over 120 million years old and they grow up to 6 feet long, I think is pretty interesting.

- [Jenny] Nice.

- It's very interesting.

These guys managed to live on so long and barely changed within that time span and yeah, they're really, really interesting.

So.

- [Jenny] What do you like about this particular fish?

- Well, I like the coloration of it because it almost blends in with the sand so that nothing can almost see it.

So.

- I've learned that surgeons have a really cool swimming pattern and they like to stay in one region and area a lot.

- [Jenny] Okay.

- But I've learned they're very sociable creatures, like Mr.

Kopy was saying.

They're very curious too, and they like knock the masks off of (indistinct).

(Jenny laughs) - [Jenny] Perfect.

- I think it'll just be, yeah, very sad to see him go.

But I also feel happy for the fish because, you know, it's nice coming in here everyday and like watching him grow and then finally releasing him into the wild will be nice.

He can explore a whole new environment and everything.

- [Jenny] Friends of the St.

Clair River host Sturgeon Fest on June 6th this year in Port Huron where they work with Sturgeon For Tomorrow to coordinate the release of these fish.

- Well, we've been a cooperator in the sturgeon in the classroom program for, actually this is our 10th year.

It's been going on a little bit longer than that, but it's really grown in the last 10 years.

And we're partners with the Michigan DNR Fisheries and Black Lake Sturgeon For Tomorrow is actually the ones who originated the program.

Our primary fundraiser for the club for not only sturgeon for the classroom, but all the things that we do is our annual North Channel Sturgeon Classic, which is our tournament that's hosted in the fall.

And that raises all, almost all the money that we use and need for sturgeon in the classroom and all of our conservation efforts just to teach the public about sturgeon and why they're important and why we want 'em here for years to come.

So this is a really special program.

And here, port Huron High School is only one of about 30 schools in the state that have a sturgeon in their classroom right now.

It's a really limited entry.

There's only a certain amount of fish that are made through the DNR fisheries, you know, capped at a certain level.

- [Jenny] This truly is (mellow music) a very special program and it's clear that the students and staff here at Port Huron High appreciate being part of it all.

Our original video was taken in late October and BrINClHOF is already growing.

Ryan sent this updated video this week.

We will check in again in June when the fish are released into the river.

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

Make sure you stick around in upcoming weeks because we've got a lot of great things headed your way, including the December elk hunt.

We'll check out the footage that both Jordan and Gabe were able to capture last month on that hunt.

We'll check out some more ice fishing around the state, of course, some decoy carving, some new recipes and all sorts of things headed your way.

If you'd like to check us out in more detail, you can always do that online.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

Online is a good way to see what we're up to.

Our website is michiganoutofdoorstv.com.

We have full episodes of the show there, old recipes, some of our cool Michigan out doors merch if you wanna check that out and make sure you are joining us over the next several weeks.

Lots going on around our great state.

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

(mellow music) - [Jenny] "Michigan Out of Doors" is presented by - [Narrator] Get away (car braking) from it all to your own place.

(water splashing) With GreenStone's (fishing gear whizzing) recreational land loans (water splashing) we'll help you finance (birds chirping) acreage of any size.

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- [Jenny] 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 lifetime warranty.

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Closed Captioning, brought to you by Double D Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit 501C3 foundation working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

(upbeat music) (piano music)