- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors."

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

I'm here on the Detroit River in April, and we are gonna give you a few quick little tips.

If you're brand new to jigging for Walleyes here on the Detroit River or maybe even the St. Clair River, we're gonna kind of start from scratch, and show you exactly what you can do to learn how to jig, how to find bottom, how to keep your line vertical, and a little boat control.

You won't wanna miss that story.

And Jimmy and Jordan have some other excitement in store for us this week.

- [Jimmy] Well, that's right Jenny.

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

As some of you may know, this weekend, it's the start of the Turkey season here in the State of Michigan, which is always a big deal.

Super fun time.

We're gonna show you a hunt to get you excited for this year's season.

It's from a couple of years ago.

It's one of my most favorite, most memorable Turkey hunts I've ever been on here in the state of Michigan.

Make sure you stay tuned for that.

We've got a great show lined up.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger, and it's time for "Michigan Out Of Doors" ♪ From the first spring rains ♪ To the saw 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 - [Jimmy] 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 ♪ ♪ The sweet smell of nature's in the air ♪ ♪ From the Great Lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shinning like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ - [Announcer] "Michigan Out Of Doors" is presented by.

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

Learn more at AnglerQuestPontoon.com.

(upbeat instrumental music) - April in Detroit is the Walleye's season.

If you've never done it, you're really missing out.

What we're gonna do next is give you a few tips if you're just starting out jigging for Walleyes in the Detroit River.

(upbeat instrumental music) Last week and into the weekend, conditions on the Detroit River were not great for fishing.

Recent heavy rains and wind left the normally clean looking water the color of chocolate milk.

visibility is key with predator fish like walleye, and it was a tough bite to say the least.

I hit the water with my husband Matt, and our good friend and fishing buddy, Doug Batty.

Before we tried to find blue water, we thought we'd lay down some tips for those who've never tried jigging here.

So first of all, I just wanna say that I am very aware that there are many ways to accomplish the same goal.

What we're gonna show you today is just the way that we fish out here, and if you are watching this, and you already know how to jig, especially on the Detroit River, you may have a different way of doing it.

Totally get it.

There's a lot of different ways.

This is just what we do out here and how we have success in jigging for Walleye on the Detroit River.

One key component of fishing the river is boat control.

While Matt manned our bow mounted electric trolling motor, Doug talked about exactly what needs to happen up there for a successful trip.

- [Doug] Okay, our stellar captain up there, the object is he's gonna try to keep our lines perfectly vertical if possible.

And there are several factors that are involved.

It's wind speed, wind direction, current and boat traffic.

Generally, you're going to try to point your bow into the wind using the electric trolling motor, and you have to make constant adjustments.

If a boat comes by, it's gonna push you one way or the other.

And he's gonna have to make a quick adjustment with the remote or a foot pedal to accommodate the changes.

And it can be especially on a weekend or very busy day, it can be a real challenge, and a real workout up there.

You get exhausted after a few hours, but the technique is very effective.

Now, the captain up on the bow, if you're using an electric trolling motor, he's using his own line as a gauge to keep vertical.

And so it's important generally for all the people that are fishing on the boat to use the same weight jig, and hopefully the same line.

The line thickness can be a factor also.

You don't want to have somebody using a 20 pound test, and somebody using an eight pound test because of the diameter difference.

They're not gonna both be vertical.

So if you can match everything up, it really helps out a lot.

Now, it doesn't happen very often of course, but in a perfect world, you wanna have the wind coming straight downstream, your bow pointed upstream, and it makes life a lot easier.

Now, the Detroit River, most people don't realize that it has a big bend to it, nearly a 90 degree bend at the Ambassador Bridge.

So there's generally somewhere you can go and fish, and not be too prone to getting blasted by the wind.

There's a lot of hiding spots, a lot of islands and so don't give up.

You can always go hunting for a better spot, and cleaner water.

When you're jigging, the water color does make a big difference.

If the water is real muddy, it's not great for jigging.

So you can move around, you could go a hundred yards, and have different colored water.

Sometimes there's a very distinct line where it will be mud and then you cross the line, and it's Caribbean blue.

So don't just go out in one area and say, "Oh the river is trash today, we're going back in."

Go do a little hunting, and exploring and you might find, a better spot than you've ever fished.

- [Jenny] So what I wanna start out is just talking a little bit about some of the gear that we use when it comes to baits.

This is what the whole kitten caboodle looks like.

This is what we're tying to the end of our line.

This is the jig head.

It's made outta lead.

Here on the Detroit River because there is about a two mile an hour current, We use a 1-inch, 1-ounce lead jig.

There are lighter jigs, and maybe even heavier jigs depending on the current that you're fishing, but we like to use the 1-ounce jig here.

It helps you get to the bottom, and stay on the bottom without the current really ripping it around.

So what I'll show you next is this is the stinger hook, which I'm gonna take off for a moment.

So this is the separate plastic body.

You buy that separately from the jig head.

So this is your lead jig head with a hook on it.

You slide the plastic on, like so.

And then what a lot of people do is put, I think almost everybody does, we put a stinger hook on here to increase your chances.

A lot of times what happens in that current, the fish detects your bait, and strikes at it and they miss it.

They miss that main hook.

So you increase your chances with this little stinger hook.

It's just got kind of a slip knot on it, you put it on, snug it up, and it stays right there on the hook.

I've seen 50/50.

Some guys like to leave them loose, some guys like to hook 'em into the end of their plastic body there.

So and then a lot of times if you're in a water where you can use Minnows or live bait, you might hook a Minnow on there too.

So this is what we're tying on.

So in the perfect world, your bait is going to be presented to the fish going downstream as we go along.

We're gonna be bouncing off the bottom, and it will stay vertical because your line is staying vertical.

So what I found, one of the great ways to find bottom without getting hung up, and having the current just sweep away with your jig without you even realizing it, is to do kind of a controlled drop.

So we're gonna open the bale, but you're never gonna let go of the line.

You're gonna let some line out as you raise your rod tip up, and then you'll hang onto the line as you lower it.

If you don't feel bottom, you'll do the same thing again, letting line out as you raise the rod tip up, and then lowering it back down.

You'll know when you hit bottom.

This way it'll feel like a big thump, like you're dropping something on the bottom, and we just found bottom.

And if you're not sure, you can kinda let it go, and you'll see your line actually sag like that.

That's when you know that's laying on the bottom.

So now we'll close the bale.

Like Doug mentioned, those fish are laying almost with their bellies on the river bottom right now, and they're just waiting for bait to kind of come to them.

So we're touching the bottom mostly to make sure that we know we are still fishing right near the bottom.

Just a little tap, and then you're gonna lift it up.

Tap, lift it up.

Just keep it in front of their face hopefully.

And we just went into a little bit shallower water.

So I'm gonna take up a little bit of my slack.

Get back down.

You wanna make sure that you're not holding your rod way up high up here because when a fish actually hits, and you feel it thumping on your bait, you wanna have room to actually set the line, right.

Set the hook.

So you wanna kinda keep your rod down close to the gunnel of the boat if you're fishing off the side here.

And just little hops.

As the water warms up, and the fish are more active and aggressive, you can actually you know, kinda snap your line up when you're jigging it up off the bottom to trigger them to be a little more aggressive and come after it.

So now our line is vertical.

Not sure if you can see that, but we are vertical.

We're just hitting the bottom.

Quickly hitting the bottom.

If you leave your jig on the bottom of the river, the chances of snagging become a lot better.

Now keep in mind you are cruising down the river close to two miles an hour.

If you snag in as some big snag on the bottom of the river, some big object, you're gonna end up taking out a lot of line and either losing your equipment down there and snapping your line or having everyone pull back up and go chase it.

So try not to leave it on the bottom very long.

Just a little tap to know you're still there.

Fishing close to the bottom, and just bringing it up.

And when you feel a fish, you'll know, it'll feel suddenly heavy.

And a lot of times those fish will hit it on the way down while you're lowering it back down to the bottom.

And then you'll go to lift it up, and you'll feel it.

Right now we don't expect to catch any fish.

We are fishing in some pretty dirty water on the wrong side of the river today, but we are just over here showing some techniques without getting in anyone else's way so.

The following day, we met up with Captain Lance Valentine as he was finishing up with some charter clients.

Lance had a couple more great pointers for refining our jigging techniques out here.

- You know, a couple things I like to teach my clients when we come down on Detroit River, the first thing I like to do is have 'em hold the rod properly.

Most hangers wanna grab the reel like this, and when you do that, it stops your wrist, and really doesn't, it really locks up your hand.

I like to take my hand, put it forward to the reel, and just cradle at my fingertips, and just really not grab the rod.

Just kind of hold it there like you would if you're grabbing onto a golf club.

And that makes it a little frail, a little easier to actually jig.

So another thing I think is important when you stand up is keeping your rod tip down.

You want your rod tip as close to the water as possible when you hit the bottom.

Having rod tips up in the air allows the wind to catch this extra line and it really makes it hard to stay vertical and feel strike.

So standing up, gets your rod tip down, gets your rod angle close, and gets you paying more attention.

You know, I think out here it's really fun to enjoy everything that's going on in Detroit River.

Enjoy the scenery.

Some people have never been here before, looking at all the bridges, everything that's happening.

But if you stand up, you hold the rod right, you get that rod tip close to the water surface, and you hit the bottom, you're gonna catch a lot more fish out here, and have a whole lot more fun.

You know one of the questions we get a lot is about color.

And I have a theory about color.

I like to fish dark bodies.

And if I want any color to attract fish, I like to put it on my jig head.

You know, remember.

Everything that lives on the bottom of the river is dark, it's brown, it's dark green, it's black.

There's not anything down in the bottom of the river that's bright orange, bright red, or white with blue dots on it.

But sometimes having a little bit of color, especially if the water gets a little stained or dirty, can attract Walleyes.

I like to use color on my jig head, keep my bodies a natural color so they look like the minerals, and the other bait that lives down there.

I think that's a big key to catching a lot of fish.

So this year's kind of been a little bit of a challenge.

We had some great fishing late in March, early April, and then on April 1st the mud rolled in.

We had some really, really big winds, muddied up Lake St. Clair, and brought a lot of that mud into the Detroit River.

And it hasn't cleared up yet.

It's still kind of dirty down here, but the fish are starting to buy it.

As you find clean pockets of water, you can find fish that wanna bite.

And actually what's happening, the water has been dirty so long, even the fish that are in the dirtier water are starting to bite.

So traditionally, we avoid water that's kind of brown.

But you know what?

It's been long enough, it's been dirty.

The fish are adapting.

You can actually catch the fish in that brown water.

But if you can find a pocket of green water, you're gonna catch a lot of fish.

It's been a tough, tough spring.

The guys are on 'em, are on 'em Some folks are struggling.

You just gotta keep coming down here.

Keep trying and don't give up.

- [Jenny] Special thanks to Lance, Doug, and Matt for taking the time to share some of their tricks of the trade when it comes to jigging for Walleye on the Detroit River.

It's a great time of year here in the city, and it's getting better every day.

If you have a chance this spring, head on down and join in the fun out here in "Michigan Out Of Doors".

- Well, we here at "Michigan Out Of Doors Television" have been pretty lucky over the years when it comes to Turkey hunting from the Upper Peninsula, Beaver Island, Drummond Island, Northern Michigan, Southern Michigan, there are so many great spots to chase these birds around the state of Michigan.

But this hunt that we're gonna show you right now stands out because of who we were with.

And it was one of the most special hunts I can remember here when it comes to the Turkey season.

The hunt this past weekend started in a gun shop, but not to get some last minute ammo, I was gonna be hunting with David and Jodi Simpson.

Jodi is 100% blind and when the scope and rail on the gun fell off, well we had a problem.

But with the help of a heaven-sent gunsmith, we may still be able to pull this hunt off in the morning.

- So we were getting ready tonight to let Jodi shoot a couple times, just get used to the gun, and everything like that.

Got our communication going, and was getting ready to put our mount that we have with our video camera on here that I look out and I'm his eyes, and the scope popped off.

So we're up here at Center Shot, getting this all taken care of.

Rich, the Gunsmith is an awesome guy.

So yeah, hopefully we can get this fixed.

- He didn't give you the bill yet though, did he?

- No, he hasn't.

That part, but it's priceless at this point so - [Jimmy] Rich Seavers was nice enough to come in after hours, and re-drill the gun so the rail was more secure.

Put in some heavier screws, grind those down so they all fit together.

Center Shot also has an indoor range, so we quickly recited the gun in, and were able to get Jodi to take a few shots with David as his eyes.

- Down in Eight.

Hold.

That's there, right.

Dead center right there, Jodi.

Hold left at eighth.

Hold right there.

- Right there?

- That'd be right there.

Down at eighth.

Right at eighth.

Fire.

(gunshot bangs) - [Jimmy] It was pretty amazing to see how this all worked with the phone attachment on the scope.

Morning came pretty early, and as we hit the woods, I asked Jodi how long he has been without sight?

- Originally lost the sight in my left eye in 1994, and then unfortunately the same virus that caused the issue with scar tissue on my retina in my left eye started affecting my right eye in 2014.

And the vision in that eye slowly started to go as the scar tissue built.

And in 2016, I basically lost my sight.

I stare into fog all day long.

It took a toll on me.

- Those fowls are getting closer.

- Yeah, they are.

(turkey gobbling) - [Jimmy] We had two blinds set up this morning with our callers in the other one.

As we headed to breakfast, I had Jodi talk a little bit about how he got back into hunting after growing up with it, and really thinking it was over after going blind.

- I thought it was all done.

And a good friend of ours, Danny Malone, he come over one day and thanks to him, he kind of, he pushed me to get back to it, but I still had issues.

There was a lot of fear and anger from losing my sight.

And it was getting to a point where it was the fear and the anger was starting to win.

And I went to my family, and I told 'em I needed help.

And that's when my brother David, and he got with Lee Murray from Hopkins, and he's a Safari Club member.

And they talked to Denny Sprick.

And about three months later found out that I was able to get a hunt at Allen Creek Ranch up by Bitely through the Safari Club and Denny Sprick, and went up there and was able to take a very nice buck.

And I realized with help, I can still do it.

My perception of the world has changed.

It's not what it was visually, but it's still the same world, and you can still do the same stuff.

It just, you got to rely more on people, friends, family.

You just can't stop.

You gotta keep trying.

I just... - Nah, you're goo.

- Thank you, everybody.

- You're welcome.

I'm glad, glad to be in the blind with you, and your dad and your brother.

- Amen to that.

Denny.

- It's all good.

- [Jimmy] When I heard Jodi's story while sitting at an SCI dinner this year, I just had to try and tell his story to see sportsmen and family rally around someone to get them back into the woods, well it is something special.

As we settled into our last setup of the day, we seem to have a bit of good luck as a group of Jakes, well they were heading our way.

- They're coming down the road.

(turkeys gobbles) (hunters whispering) (hunters whispering) (turkeys gobbles) (turkeys gobbles) (birds chirps) (turkeys gobbles) (birds chirps) - Can you get shot there?

That's it.

(gunshot bangs) (hunters laughs) - Yes!

- Woo!

(hunters laughs) - Guys, we did it.

We got it done.

Good job.

(hunters laughs) - Woo.

- Nice job.

Nice.

That was awesome.

- Wow.

Good job.

- I tell you what, you needed to calm your breathing.

- You can't tell me to calm my breathing down.

Have you seen that before?

Woo.

That was intense.

(hunters laughs) - Wow.

- Dang it.

- Hey, tell us what happened there guys.

- Oh, well.

We actually... Give me a second.

- Take a breath, Jimmy.

- Well, we got set up this morning at a brother-in-law's place, and had birds around us.

Had 'em answering the call.

Just wouldn't come to us.

And we stuck it out for a while, and went and grabbed some breakfast, and went back out there and nothing.

Had one bird gobble way off in the distance, and we pulled the plug on that location and decided to come here.

And just as we got out of the truck, there was three Jakes just close to where we parked, and we made our way down, and the entourage got me set up.

- That was no joke just getting into here.

- No, it was a process just to get us set out.

- But that's- - That's why you got good hunting buddies.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah, wow.

- Good family.

Good friend.

- Now is this the first Turkey you shot?

- Yes.

- Oh my word.

And we got it all on camera here.

As long as I hit the button, that would be good Well, I gotta thank you for coming along for this.

- Oh, that was so fun.

Thank you for letting me be here.

- The other spot was a napping spot.

This one was like, bam, bam, bam.

Let's go.

- Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Then they're like, bam.

There they are, they're coming.

What could you guys see from back there?

We could see we.

- Were like, shoot, shoot.

Dude.

Oh, what took so long?

- Him?

(laughs) - We were waiting for him to get a little bit further.

- I figured.

But they weren't.

That's why I kept trying to do a light one.

Because I could see and I was like, "They're waiting for 'em to clear out."

I was like, "Just shoot through that."

- Well, that's what I got 'em moved over there.

- How far was it?

- 20 yards.

- Not even.

- [Jimmy] Jodi's story is special To overcome daily battles is hard, to get back into hunting, well, that is even harder.

He really is an inspiration for all of us.

- It's amazing.

You can't give up just because you think the world either come to an end or just because you can't see it anymore doesn't mean anything.

It's your perception of it.

And you just gotta do the best you can to make do and you rely more on friends and family than probably a lot of people don't want to.

And trust me, I was one of them.

I tried to do everything on my own for the longest time, but it was making things worse.

So when I finally just went to my family, and friends and asked for help, it came, and it has kind of just came to this day.

- [Jimmy] Every once in a while, a hunt comes along that you will remember for a lifetime.

This past weekend in Allegan County was one of those hunts right here in "Michigan Out Of Doors."

Well, hey everyone.

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

If you miss part of this week's show or if you wanna see something again, you can always check us out online.

You can do that through our website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all good ways to see what we're up to.

We will be in the woods this weekend with cameras rolling.

So stay tuned over the next few weeks to see how we did.

Make sure you get out and enjoy everything our state has to offer right now.

It is a great time to be a sportsman here in the state of Michigan.

We'll see you right back here next week on your PBS station.

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

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Closed Captioning brought to you by DD Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation, working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

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