Gwizdz’s gadgets

KALKASKA — You have to really want to fish the kind of places where Chuck Emmert fishes for brook trout. It’s not a walk in the park. It’s more like bushwhacking through the jungle.

The time has arrived. Lake Michigan salmon season is on — and so far it has been a story about big fish.

The Pine River has a reputation among the paddling community as one of the Lower Peninsula’s fastest, toughest rivers. Having kayaked different stretches of the river many times over the years with Traverse Area Paddle Club members, I’ll second that. It’s fast, fun and keeps you on the edge …

BELLAIRE — It’s been five decades since Grass River Natural Area became a nature preserve.

Dune Dash

Record water levels are threatening Great Lakes surfing.

Gwizdz’s Gadgets and Gear

KINDERHOOK — The rule of thumb for anglers is that as summer lengthens, fish go deeper. And though that is largely true for a number of species, there are still plenty of fish to be caught shallow. That’s the mantra of one of my fishing buddies, who showed me again recently that there’s no n…

I spend a lot of time trapping and relocating nuisance animals such as raccoons, opossum, skunks, mice, squirrels, porcupines and coyotes from properties in the Grand Traverse and Leelanau county areas. It never fails to amaze me how people will react to an animal encounter.

Friday Night Live

It seems these days there is always a new list coming out with Traverse City or a surrounding town on its Top 10 or Top 25. Best small town to visit in America, best beach, best waterfront restaurant and on and on.

TRAVERSE CITY — Shea Williams spent 11 months training for the 2016 Mighty Mac Swim, getting up at 5:30 a.m. most days to hit the pool or the lake. The grueling Great Lakes challenge tests even the most experienced swimmers with its big waves and strong currents.

A gallery of reader-submitted outdoors photos. Submit your best photo of the week to tcrecordeagle@gmail.com and we'll post it online and pick our favorites to run in our reader-shot roundup in the GO: Great Outdoors section that runs on Thursdays. Please include some information about the p…

LANSING — The American white pelican has established a nest-hold in western Lake Erie for the first time, with prospects of future territorial expansion into lakes Huron and Ontario, according to a new study.

ST. CLAIR SHORES — The original plan was to fish for muskies, but my brother Phil, who booked the excursion, said his freezer was empty and asked the captain, Steve Van Assche, if it would be OK to fish for walleyes for a bit before we started after the ‘skies.

Earlier this year, I wrote about the national trend of fewer and fewer kids opting outside to play and be active.

Northwestern Michigan Fair

I made it to the Timbers Recreation Area to hike the trails for the first time earlier this summer, and it’s now one of my “new” favorite go-to spots for a quick, scenic hike. But I have a feeling that it’s yet to be discovered by a lot of area park users.

OKEMOS — In a small research facility near the campus of Michigan State University, a 4-inch brook trout eyes a school of 20 grayling fry who are hovering at the other end of an 8-foot-long raceway designed to simulate a trout stream. Suddenly, with a barely perceptible flick of its tail, th…

Fluorocarbon line has been around for a lot of years now, but what was once used only for saltwater leaders is now commonly used in freshwater, too. Sufix, which is becoming an increasingly popular brand into the just a few years has introduced a new line that promises to eliminate one of th…

TOLEDO BEACH — Lake Erie has come a long way since one of its major tribs caught fire and everyone called it the ‘Dead Sea.’ It still has its problems; the summertime algae blooms look like something from outer space and it causes some communities to struggle with the municipal water supply.…

In a few weeks, the road groups ride will start to get smaller. After next weekend’s Cherry-Roubaix, more and more riders will be staring at the calendar and wondering, “Maybe I should give the Iceman Cometh route another look?”

Community Sails

Sportsmen, like farmers, are seldom satisfied. Take a disgruntled friend on the Canadian prairie perched atop his combine one day. When asked what would make him happy, he grumbled back, “Rain on one end of the field and dry on the end I’m working.” A relevant statement for any outdoorsmen i…

BEULAH — A local man’s years-long observations about the way humans treat the planet culminated in a new documentary that will premiere at the upcoming Traverse City Film Festival.

LANSING — At Todd Harbor Campground in the middle of Isle Royale National Park, Aaron Sheehan-Dean slowly removed his left boot.

It used to be that fish hooks were basically shaped like a “J” and that was all there was to it, but over the years hook makers have fiddled with the basic design to add additional features — above and beyond simply hooking a fish — to the hook’s performance. One hook that has caught on, esp…

WALHALLA — We’d started out about a dozen miles upstream right after supper time, hoping we could get something going on an attractor pattern as we waiting for the evening hatch. I was floating a Chubby Chernobyl (a large, white pattern) along the bubble lines and near the deadfalls as Kyle …

While walking Manistee National Forest trails near my home last week I encountered a group of young nature camp counselors-in-training. I wanted to tell them about the beautiful fawn hidden beneath ferns just 100 feet from the path. But I bit my tongue.

Summertime and viewing areas at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore can be crowded — and trying to find a spot to enjoy that vista isn’t always easy.

Fishtown 5K

CEDAR — An 80-acre tract folded into the Cedar River Preserve is a unique, undisturbed property with rare flora and fauna that’s now protected forever.

Garden Walk

BAY CITY — If there’s one thing I’ve become convinced about fishing this year — if you want to be successful — it’s the importance of having a Plan B when you set out in the morning. Virtually all of our play books have had to be altered this season because of the weather. It has rarely been…

Gwizdz’s Gadgets and Gear

July has arrived and with it the summer weather that we have all been waiting for.

FRANKFORT — Grasslands and meadows are integral parts of the natural Michigan environment and a pair of local nonprofit organizations want area residents to help restore them.

EMPIRE — Trail riding through the north country is a little like a wagon train journey and a lot like a scenic tour. Riders along the Shore-to-Shore State Horse Trail travel Old West style from Empire to Oscoda.