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Mike Schoonveld

Mike Schoonveld: Anglers go coast to coast in same day for great fishing on Michigan’s Great Lakes

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing /

I was intrigued when I saw a Facebook post highlighting an unplanned, coast to coast escapade made by three men from Hillsdale, Michigan.
Tim Parker, Mitch Lige, and Mark Sigler are all retired, all boat owners and they share a passion for fishing. Sure there are places to fish near Hillsdale, but they are especially passionate about fishing big water, specifically, in Lake Michigan on Michigan’s west coast and on Lake Erie on Michigan’s southeast coast.

Mike Schoonveld: Anglers go coast to coast in same day for great fishing on Michigan’s Great Lakes Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: Be sure your fishing sunglasses are doing everything they should

Featured, Features, Fishing, Gear & Gadgets, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing /

Every day of the year commemorates someone or something, and when I checked www.timeanddate.com to check the exact sunrise time where I planned to fish, I inadvertently learned the 27th had been proclaimed Helen Keller Day. The only reason I noticed was I’d just gotten a spam email announcing June 27th was also National Sunglasses Day.
I don’t know who gets to nominate when we are supposed to celebrate what. In this case I suspect it was the company who was trying to convince me that their sunglasses were the latest, greatest assortment ever to grace a face. I actually have a pair of that company’s sunglasses and loaned them to one of the guys fishing with me that morning.

Mike Schoonveld: Be sure your fishing sunglasses are doing everything they should Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: Quick lessons on electric knife blades

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan /

A group of friends and myself were headed out for a couple days of walleye fishing and even more friends were on a second boat. All of us were expecting the captains/guides to put us on fish during the trip and to clean, or arrange for the fish to be cleaned, at day’s end.
The first assumption was right. Limit catches were made by all and the walleyes caught were huge by any standard. Wow, what a day. When we returned to the marina, we found the fish-cleaning station was closed for repairs and the guy usually at the station cleaning walleyes for a fee was nowhere to be found.
“No problem,” I said. “I brought my electric fillet knife.”

Mike Schoonveld: Quick lessons on electric knife blades Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: Senate bill introduced to collect taxes on foreign-made hunting, fishing gear

1 Comment / Discussions, Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing, National Hunting, Opinion /

Several months ago I wrote a column with the title, “Who Funds Fisheries Programs.” It highlighted a report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the difficulty of collecting excise taxes on foreign-made fishing tackle.   
Most anglers understand that each year the money spent on purchasing fishing licenses is what funds state fisheries agencies. I hope they do, anyway, but not so many understand that in many cases, their license dollars are actually used as “matching” funds to qualify for federal dollars from the Sportfishing Restoration Program.

Mike Schoonveld: Senate bill introduced to collect taxes on foreign-made hunting, fishing gear Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: De-extinct carp predators to curb the problems caused by these invasives?

Featured, Fishing, Michigan, National Fishing, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion /

The dodo bird, which lived only on the island of Mauritius, had an IQ similar to that of present day domestic turkeys. They were the size of turkeys and must have tasted like turkey as well. Sailing ships made regular stop-overs at Mauritius to stock up on dodos to feed their crews.

Mike Schoonveld: De-extinct carp predators to curb the problems caused by these invasives? Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: No more winter magic would be tragic for Great Lakes’ food web

Featured, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing, Nature Page & Night Sky, Opinion /

Top researchers are worried that warmer winters will end the annual magic that happens on lakes Michigan and Huron most years.
They don’t call it magic, but I do because one seemingly unbreakable rule of physics gets broken all the time by the most abundant substance on earth – water. The rule is that as things get warmer, they expand and conversely, as they get cooler, they shrink. As stuff swells or shrinks, it becomes more or less dense. This expansion or contraction works at the atomic level and only a physicist could explain it.

Mike Schoonveld: No more winter magic would be tragic for Great Lakes’ food web Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: Low water levels return in Great Lakes cycle

Featured, Home Page News, Michigan, Nature Page & Night Sky /

One of the topics I’ve repeatedly covered for Michigan Outdoor News is the ups and downs of the water levels in Michigan’s four Great Lakes (five if you include Lake St. Clair). Those water levels have fluctuated from extreme highs to extreme lows since MON began publishing in 2000.
I remember over-zealous accounts of the damage high water levels were causing, including warnings that low-lying roads, piers, and buildings would soon be inundated by the rising waters.

Mike Schoonveld: Low water levels return in Great Lakes cycle Read More »

Mike Schoonveld: Are fish guts food, fertilizer, or garbage when a fish house isn’t available?

Featured, Features, Fishing, Home Page News, Michigan, National Fishing /

My first fishing trip of the season was successful. The cohos were in southern Lake Michigan, right on schedule, and my friend and I caught our limits plus a bonus brown trout.
This column isn’t about the baits, the place, or the other strategies that made a fun day on the lake. It’s about the work at the end of the trip. The marina we used has a fish cleaning station, but of course it wasn’t open.

Mike Schoonveld: Are fish guts food, fertilizer, or garbage when a fish house isn’t available? Read More »

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