Autumn in the U.P., Part II

Mr. Miller's gracious endorsement and nearly forty years of playing in this
particular field of the Lord notwithstanding, I've barely scratched the
surface of what the U.P. has to offer to the outdoor enthusiast. The
Sturgeon river is a case in point. Little more than twenty miles from the
base from which I've operated in the U.P. since 1968, I first crossed the
bridge just above our campground on this trip and stopped to fish about
fifteen years ago. At that time, I'd guess that the flow was roughly in the
"normal" range, based on the evidence provided by the bed.

This, the middle reach of the Sturgeon, is a boulder and cobble strewn
jumble of moderate gradient. When I first fished it in the company of a
couple of friends, it would probably have been possible to wade the thirty
yards across it in mid-thigh deep water, but it would have been a reckless
act of bravado. We caught a few fish.....smallish browns with big shoulders
and bigger attitude.....on streamers in spite of the water's disconcerting
resemblance to chocolate milk being whipped in a food processor. When Jeff,
Cyli and I fished here last year the mid-calf water presented no problem to
wading, though a bowling ball bottom always carries with it a certain
challenge, of course. As I recall, Jeff had a couple of hookups. This
surprised me a bit, despite my earlier experience, because in low water the
Sturgeon, with its lack of sand and gravel and its scoured bottom, looks
even less like a trout stream than it did in its chocolate frappe stage.
Last week, wading across this reach would have been child's play
for......well, a child. We made a desultory show of casting out behind the
campground (because we were there, and that's what we do) but it was plain
to see that there could be no fish there. There was simply no place for
them to hide in clear ankle deep water. They must all have moved
upstream.....or down.

Common sense says go up.....find the cool water and the shade of overhanging
trees. The map (strangely fuzzy in the evening light in the trailer) says
there's a waterfall downstream.....and a small lake a few miles beyond
that.....and L'Anse Bay on the big lake a few miles beyond that. We had
kayaks. We listened to the map.

Bypassing the falls in our eagerness to paddle, we headed further down and
stopped to take a look from a bridge crossing the river. Low and slow, with
a sandy bottom. Not promising. It looked navigable downstream for as far
as we could see but, with only one vehicle, paddling down to the lake would
have meant paddling back up two miles at the end of the jaunt or hiking up
seven miles of dirt road with only a slim possibility of catching a
ride.....in blistering heat. We opted for driving down the seven miles and
putting in at the boat launch on the lake.

Prickett lake is a four mile long impoundment on the Sturgeon backed up
behind a small hydroelectric dam. Oddly.....VERY oddly for a land in which
any vegetative growth above eye-level has traditionally been viewed as a
natural disaster whose only possible remedy is clearcutting on a biblical
scale....nobody bothered to harvest the trees from what would become
Prickett lake upon completion of the dam. The surface of the lake is
studded with thousands of slowly rotting stumps up to 24 inches in diameter.
In some places the stumps are so closely packed that navigation is tricky
even in a kayak. The hazard is compounded by many hundreds of floating and
partially submerged logs. The latter are doubtless washed down by the river
periodically from the sometimes gargantuan piles of jackstraws that form
upstream.

On launching we found that the wind, barely noticeable in the deep forest,
was blowing hot out of the south at about 20 mph. Paddling upwind with a
view to drifting back down was hard work with whitecapped wavelets breaking
over the bows of the boats. Trolling while en route was out of the question
with so many snags around. I found a small cove more or less out of the
face of the wind but even here eddies swirled the boat around making any
more than two or three quick casts impossible without having to paddle back
into a good position and orientation. After 20 minutes or so of futility I
looked around to see where John was. He had beached his boat on a small
spit of land projecting out into the lake. I joined him near the top of a
tall wooden staircase with a commanding view of the lake. We agreed that it
was time to look elsewhere. Back at the launch we talked to a couple of
good old boys who informed us that there are plenty of pike in the lake. A
later discussion with Bret confirmed that Prickett is also reputed to have a
good population of bluegills and big crappie. John is convinced that it
must also have a resident populations of browns that migrate upstream to
spawn in the fall. I agree that this is possible, though it strikes me as a
pretty warm habitat for trout.

Moving another 5 miles (as the eagle flies......considerably further either
by road or river) we stopped at the hwy. 38 bridge for another look. Broad
and flat, with a mixed sand/gravel and cobble bottom, the river is much
slower here. Looks like smallmouth water and like it would probably be
popular among recreational canoeists and kayakers. So much for the
Sturgeon. Well, almost.

As it turned out, the best was yet to come......but that was to be the next
day. The rest of this day (after a much needed cold refreshing barley-pop)
was to be devoted to reconnoitering the Keweenaw peninsula.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang typed:
Mr. Miller's gracious endorsement and nearly forty years of playing
in this particular field of the Lord notwithstanding, I've barely
scratched the surface of what the U.P. has to offer to the outdoor
enthusiast.
snip
Sweet. I really enjoy your TRs - so decriptive and full. Someday, when I
grow up, I might just learn to write in that mode. After reading one of your
reports, I realize how little effort I put into retaining (or recalling -
not sure which) details. Or do you cheat and keep a journal?
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj/

"Tim J." wrote in message
...
Wolfgang typed:
Mr. Miller's gracious endorsement and nearly forty years of playing
in this particular field of the Lord notwithstanding, I've barely
scratched the surface of what the U.P. has to offer to the outdoor
enthusiast.
snip
Sweet. I really enjoy your TRs - so decriptive and full. Someday, when I
grow up, I might just learn to write in that mode.

Most community colleges across the nation offer some sort of homolog of
"Turgid 101".

After reading one of your reports, I realize how little effort I put into
retaining (or recalling - not sure which) details. Or do you cheat and
keep a journal?

Nah.......I just make this **** up as I go along.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Tim J." wrote in message
...
Wolfgang typed:
Mr. Miller's gracious endorsement and nearly forty years of playing
in this particular field of the Lord notwithstanding, I've barely
scratched the surface of what the U.P. has to offer
(snip)
Tim wrote:
Sweet. I really enjoy your TRs - so decriptive and full. Someday, when I
grow up, I might just learn to write in that mode.
(snip)
After reading one of your reports, I realize how little effort I put into
retaining (or recalling - not sure which) details. Or do you cheat and
keep a journal?

Wolfgang wrote:
Nah.......I just make this **** up as I go along.
Wolfgang

Hi W,
Ahaaaa . . .I knew it.all along. Making it up. Nice TR as it exists.
(grin)
Liked both from John and you. Pics always help me "try" to put myself in
the place. I always think fun is the best part of any trip. . . and
laughter while fishin' is important to my peasant mind.
Dave Mohnsen
Denver
(can't address the prose stuff . . .I ain't got any . . .on order though)

On 9/22/05 9:16 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:

snip
....and L'Anse Bay
snip

Soooo, did you boys eat at the Hilltop in L'Anse? They've got "sil" on the
smorgasbord and cinnamon rolls to die for!

And if you fished the Huron east of Skanee, for the love of all that is
holy, don't write about it!

Bill

"William Claspy" wrote in message
...
On 9/22/05 9:16 AM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:

snip
....and L'Anse Bay
snip

Soooo, did you boys eat at the Hilltop in L'Anse? They've got "sil" on
the
smorgasbord and cinnamon rolls to die for!

Nope. We never got quite as far east as L'Anse (hell, we never even got to
the Gay Bar!)......Baraga was about it......and we barely got out of there
alive on the way back. 41 is ripped up in town, and they forgot to put up a
sign indicating which way it goes southbound at a Y intersection.
Interviewing locals at a gas station and a Burger King or whatever the hell
it was produced nothing more helpful than vacuous stares. Wha? You no
speaky Ingrish?

And if you fished the Huron east of Skanee, for the love of all that is
holy, don't write about it!

Um.......o.k.

Naaaahhhhh, just kidding! We didn't fish the Huron.

John kept INSISTING that we go fish the Huron......it's all he talked about
all week! The only thing he really wanted to do! But no, sez I (sternly),
the Huron is for when we fish with Bill. Well, he comes back, couldn't we
just go fish it and not tell him about it?. No, that would be dishonest and
unethical......besides, you'd spill your guts and then I'd have to kill you.
I caught him sneaking out of the trailer with the van keys and a four weight
at about 3 in the morning one day, and had to duct tape him to the awning
post till daylight......he stared wistfully at the rising sun and whimpered,
but I was inflexible. He even made a mad dash down 28 when we had to stop
where a construction crew had a bridge over the Jumbo down to one lane. I
had to make a bat turn on the other side of the bridge and wait for another
cycle of red and green lights before catching up with him half way back to
Sidnaw. Luckily, he was pretty much out of breath and moving slow by then.
I didn't have to go very far over onto the shoulder to clip him with the
bumper and knock him into the ditch. He's pathetic.

Wolfgang
who loves ya, baby?