- Hello, everybody, Happy New Year and welcome to "Michigan Out Of Doors".

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

Ice fishing is finally kicking off all across the state, and we're gonna kick things off on this week's show with a first ice story, Jordan will take us over to the west side of the Lower Peninsula for some crappie fishing action that you won't wanna miss, and Jimmy's got another ice fishing adventure in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right, Jenny, we do have one more ice fishing story on this week's show, and if you've never fished Burt or Mullett Lake through the ice, well you are missing out, they are some big lakes and they are a ton of fun, you're gonna get to see an adventure from there, and we have a brand new Bragging Board as well, so make sure you stay tuned.

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

♪ From the first spring rains ♪ 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" - [Jimmy] What a beautiful day in the woods.

♪ Someday 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 streams ♪ ♪ Shining like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ (bright acoustic music) - [Narrator] "Michigan Out Of Doors" is presented by.

- [Narrator 2] By Country Smokehouse, 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, details at countrysmokehouse.com.

- [Narrator] By Angler Quest Pontoons, offering fishing pontoons designed by anglers for anglers.

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

Learn more at anglerquestpontoons.com.

(dramatic twangy music) ♪ Change my ways ♪ They told me I could leave soon ♪ ♪ If I change my ways ♪ It's been three dark days ♪ Whoa ♪ Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-oohh ♪ ♪ I'm coming home (dramatic twangy music) (water trickling) (snow crunching) (bright acoustic music) (zipper whooshing) - Yeah, so we're here in Western Michigan today on first ice, hoping to chase down some crappies.

Came out here the other day and had a pretty good night, so thought we'd come and replicate that a little bit.

Today we're gonna be fishing with a lot of different baits as far as minnows, plastics, whatever they want, sometimes they like spoons, so we're gonna try some different techniques and see what they like.

But, mostly run tungsten and plastics, small profile, and just try different colors and see what they like.

What we're hoping for tonight is that they come in suspended, they usually start down low towards evening and then they kinda work their way up in the water column, and we're fishing about 20 foot of water, so throughout the night they'll kinda raise in the water column and we'll get 'em up to like five foot under the ice, over 20 foot of water.

So, we're gonna go pop some holes and see if we can mark some to start off, and see what happens.

Ooh, that's a better one.

- Decent fish.

- [Eric] That's a better one.

- Boy, he hammered it too, it is all the way down his stomach.

(Eric laughing) Yeah, there's a start, nice nine, 10-incher.

- I know, we're set up kinda early right now, just kinda drill our holes and get set so we don't spook the fish out.

They come in later, but we're in this basin, about 20 foot of water, and I don't know where the crappies are before this, but they usually flood the basin to feed after dark, I think they hang on the edges of the weeds, and try to feed on little insects and minnows in the weeds, and then they come out in the basin here, 'cause the minnows and stuff can't see, so they can feed on 'em in open water and kinda school up.

So, the fish will kinda move around in a circle, so you're just trying to be in that feeding pattern of when they come through, but we're usually constantly marking fish in here, so we'll constantly get some small ones, but every now and then the bigger ones will group together and kinda go around.

And so you might see a batch of bigger ones come through, you know, every hour, a couple hours, and there's some pretty good ones out here, the pressure out here is a little high sometimes, but not as bad as it used to be.

So, first ice is definitely the best time to get on the lake just because it's the best fishing, of course, and kinda weird mid-January first ice in Western Michigan, so it feels good to be be on it.

There we are.

(Eric laughing) - [Dallas] There we go, feels like a decent fish.

- Oh yeah.

- Oh yeah.

- [Eric] That's a good one.

- [Jordan] The fishing setup we were using today was pretty basic, a small jig tipped with either a minnow or a small plastic lure seemed to be working just fine.

However, there was a little bit more thought into the rod selection, so I had Eric explain what he likes to use, starting with the jig rod.

- That's a Graphite Blank, doesn't have quite as much flex or sensitivity as the Pannie Stopper, that's what I'm using for my dead stick.

But each person has their own preference of what they like to use, so I like to feel the bite 'cause I like to watch my graph a lot, I don't like to look at my rod tip, so I like to just chase it away from the fish and then wait to feel the little tunk, so that's why I like to use that for the jig rod.

This is my dead stick rod that I'm using over here just with a minnow on it, and I'll kinda show you the action on this.

So this has a lot lighter, more sensitive tip here, and this is a fiberglass blank and it has, so the backbone starts about right here, so the fish will take it and not feel it and then you can go pick the rod up and just load up on 'em and hook 'em.

But this is a fiberglass blank, so you can't really feel the bite as good as the graphite, but you can see it, so that's why it makes a great dead stick rod.

Oh yeah, that's a better fish for sure, he's in my dead stick.

- Yes, he is.

- [Eric] Oh yeah, there we go, that's what we're looking for.

- Much better.

- About 10 and a half, 11, or so.

Got that on a Crappie Candy jig, three mil, and a minnow.

I was using plastics for a while, and now they seem to be liking live bait, but Dallas is still getting 'em on plastics too, so I might have to change back here.

- [Jordan] The bite was a little bit slow, but I think we were all just happy to be on the ice in what has been an almost non-existent winter here in the southern half of the state.

- Size we like to keep to eat.

Crazy year to start out with, we did have some decent ice early December, I was on, gosh, five, six inches on the same water that I had a boat on about six days ago.

I was actually trolling pier heads outta Muskegon Harbor, trolling for some brown trout, what was that, yeah about six days ago, and now we're on four inches of ice.

Crazy year here in Michigan.

But, just getting out as much as we can and enjoying what we got.

- Little guy.

I took a trip to the UP to kinda chase first ice and we got on some brook trout and some crappies and tried some walleye and tried some walleye on Little Bay de Noc, but conditions out there weren't the greatest, so ended up coming home early and doing the same kinda thing, kinda fishing outta the boat, waiting for this cold front to come through.

And just locking up now in our home lake, Muskegon Lake is locked up, so hoping to fish that this weekend for some giant walleye and big perch, maybe set some tip ups for pike and it's gonna warm up next week, so hopefully that doesn't put a damper on the ice too much, so.

- Redemption.

- That was like a couple feet down.

- Yeah, it was, this was probably only six foot down in 20 foot of water, starting to pick up, a little more active.

Let this little guy go, and get after something a little bigger.

- [Jordan] The bite was starting to pick up, especially for the third angler in our group, who was fishing about 30 yards away.

So I decided to make a move and jump in with him to see how things were going.

(bright acoustic music) - He felt a lot bigger than that, jeez.

(bright acoustic music) Well, we're fishing about 20 foot, they've been moving up to 10 foot deep and I'm just dropping down on 'em with a minnow and any type of glow, small jig.

And yeah, I mean it's been one after another since probably about seven o'clock, I think it's going on 8:00 right now.

But, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

- [Jordan] Danny was doing basically the same thing as the other guys, but had a lot more fish on the ice, so I asked him what the secret was.

- Well honestly, could be the light.

(Danny laughing) And just darn luck, you know?

I will say I maybe hook a little different than those guys do, I tend to go behind the dorsal here.

To me, when they're really active, you know, they're gonna mouth it all anyway, so I'm trying to get as much bait into their mouth as possible.

I prefer ice fishing over regular.

- [Jordan] Ooh, finesse.

- I guess I feel like with ice I can go wherever I want, and yeah, I mean, when they're biting, it's unreal, it's a lot more fun.

- [Jordan] It's been a tough year for it though.

- Yeah, yeah, it has.

Last year we had a really good year and I'm pushing my limits this year with the ice.

This one feels decent too, and that one just got hit.

(water splashing) Twofer.

But, I think they're coming in and they're looking for, you know, they're predators so they're schooled up and looking for something to eat, and we're giving it to 'em plenty as much as we're getting them back on the ice.

- Yeah, so it's a little bit slower than the other night, but could be a pressure change or it's a little bit windy out, a little bit warmer out than it was the night before.

But, we kinda moved spots a little bit and found a few more fish.

These fish are more active but there's less of them, so I'd rather have active fish than more fish that don't wanna bite.

But yeah, we'll kinda see how the night goes, probably fish a little bit longer, but we've got quite a few, not quite the size we got the other night, got a couple nice ones, but that's just how it is sometimes, and- - Picking away at 'em.

- Yeah, that's all you can hope for.

But yeah, had a great time and- - Good to be on ice.

- Yes, it is.

- Period.

- Yeah.

(Eric laughing) Yep.

- [Jordan] Unfortunately, ice conditions have only gotten worse here in Southern Michigan, so if you're still trying to make it out, make sure to use extra caution.

Special thanks to Eric and the guys for letting me tag along on a fun night of ice fishing here in West Michigan.

(bright acoustic music) - Well, if you are looking for a new fishing destination this year, I would suggest Burt and Mullett Lake, they are a ton of fun, it is a great part of our state, and if you find the fish, you can really get into 'em.

(bright acoustic music) (bright acoustic music continues) So, Adam, how do you pick a spot on a lake this big?

- [Adam] Yeah, well I mean, if it's walleye you're looking for, this time of year, probably a little deeper than what you normally would want and what you normally would think.

Kind of that cold, cold part of the winter where the fish are a little more dormant, moving a little deeper.

But we're looking for pinch points, so we chose around us, and then we're in that transition of the- - Mm.

- Depth contour there.

So, we're hoping that these fish are cruising along this drop, moving up to that shallower water to feed in the evening bite.

These are some custom spoons from Frank's Great Outdoors, they're JD Customs, so he sent me some to try on this trip, so we're gonna give 'em a shot.

And purple's usually good for walleye, and this is my old standby.

- [Jimmy] Hm.

- [Adam] Got a little rattle in there, buckshot spoon, an old timer showed me that probably 15 years ago, and I caught so many walleye on that spoon, it's crazy.

(lid clicking) - On the dead stick.

- On the dead stick.

And, it's the wrong species.

- Yeah, well, that's a nice perch.

- That's a nice perch, though.

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

Well, we didn't get skunked.

- Didn't get skunked, I think we're gonna let this one go, though.

- [Jimmy] All right.

(water splashing) What'd you hit that on?

- That was just on a blue shiner, a real small blue, or a real big perch minnow, on a dead stick.

So, but I hit him on the jig first and missed him.

- Gotcha.

- You didn't get to see that part.

(Jimmy laughing) I'll admit it.

- [Jimmy] Well, what do we got here, young man?

- Well, Jimmy just caught a walleye.

(Jimmy laughing) On my old go-to that we talked about a little earlier, just a black buckshot- - Well, if the cameraman can do it, anybody can do it, that's a nice Mullett Lake fish.

- That's a nice walleye, yeah.

I'm gonna let you know what it tastes like, Jimmy.

(Jimmy laughing) - [Jimmy] Well, thanks for letting me use your rod there, young fella.

- Awesome.

I think you oughta- - Man, he hit that, I was like, "Oh."

That was the first real hit I've had.

- [Adam] That's a great fish.

Beautiful Mullett Lake walleye.

- [Jimmy] I don't know if I've ever caught a walleye on Mullett Lake, I've seen 'em a few times before, but- - Yeah.

- It's a tough lake to fish.

- It's definitely a learning curve for sure, I haven't quite spent enough time out here to get 'er dialed in, but we have a lot of good fishermen here with us this weekend, there's 15 of us fishing.

We got, oh, about a 17-inch walleye right there.

- Perfect.

- 16-inch walleye.

Perfect eater.

- That's what they look like.

- Man, let's get another one.

- Let's do it.

- [Adam] All right.

- [Jimmy] Well, the fishing was a little slower than we had hoped, but it was fun to get out on the water.

Adam and his buddies were rent a place right on the lake every year, and what a great fish camp.

Fishing tonight was just a bonus, as my main plan was to fish the morning with a couple of local guys.

So the next morning on a different part of this giant lake, I joined good friend, Pat Mousse, and his buddy, Gary Wilke, to see if we could find some perch.

Now you can walk out on Mullett Lake, but if you do, well you're gonna walk a lot, so a sled, a four wheeler, or Pat's Gator, well, it makes life much easier.

(gentle rock music) (engine humming) - Well, we're gonna see if we can get a couple perch on a perch rig with an above water tip up, I see they're pretty typical here in Indian River.

Locals usually make 'em, and with the large wheel you don't end up with the line memory, and they don't freeze up on the cold weather, so it's best of both worlds, and hopefully we'll get a few perch on it.

We're gonna fish with a couple of minnows, you can see we're using buttons to spread the minnows apart, and hopefully here we can get one or two to bite.

- [Jimmy] How's the fishing been?

- It's been sporadic, we get good days and bad days, and unfortunately this year we got great ice and more bad days than good days.

But, pretty sure we'll get a few tonight, or this morning.

(ice crunching) - You got a flag?

- Yeah, got a flag.

Yeah, let's see if we got him, I don't think, we got some weight down there, but a little perch.

All right.

- Okay, that's a keeper.

- [Pat] That is a keeper.

We're on the board.

- [Jimmy] Nice job.

(ice crunching) - [Pat] First one of the trip, hopefully one of many.

- [Jimmy] Probably nine, nine plus.

- [Pat] There we go, Mullett Lake perch.

- [Jimmy] There we go.

- [Pat] Bit better.

(ice crunching) Well, hopefully.

Hopefully we'll get one this time.

Another swing and a miss.

- Oh!

- Oh, hey, hey, behind you, fish running.

- Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

(Jimmy laughing) (ice crunching) - [Pat] Yep.

(ice crunching) This is about the same, maybe a little better.

- [Jimmy] What do we got?

- [Pat] Maybe another perch, oh yeah, nice one.

- Ooh.

- Little nicer.

All right.

- Got a little belly to him.

- All right, that one's slightly bigger than the last one.

All right.

- Good work.

- There we go.

- You got a sandwich there.

- Oh yeah.

(Jimmy laughing) I'm thinking two pieces of bread and a frying pan, we're good to go.

(Jimmy laughing) Came on the top hook too, so, all right, we missed on that tip up and got one on this.

- [Jimmy] And you said one of your buddies has got nine somewhere right now?

- He's got nine so far, yep, just not too far on the ice, he's catching 'em on wigglers- - Huh.

- But he said they're running a little smaller than this, so- - Okay.

- Hopefully we'll get one of the of really nice ones for the camera today.

- [Jimmy] Good.

So, with the couple of keepers here, I opted to head down the lake a few hundred yards to Mike Rekowski's shack to see his setup and continue to see how the locals fish this lake.

- Well, what we're doing, we always have a rod that has some kind of attractor on it, it could be a jigging Rapala that we bounce off the bottom.

In this case, it's a little Cast Master spoon with a four-inch drop and and wigglers on it, and then two dead sticks with minnows- - Okay.

- And the dead sticks are really effective, but the schools roam so much that it's good to have an attractor to bring 'em in, so.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and are you trying to fish drop offs, or flats, or a little bit of both, or?

- You know, it's just kind of counterintuitive, you'd think you'd fish the breaks, but this is just one big flat here, and we think they're in here, you know, chasing minnows and feeding on bugs on the bottom, so.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and how often do you get out and fish?

- Oh, as much as possible.

I'm retired, so maybe four or five days a week.

- [Jimmy] Awesome, nice.

(Mike laughing) Well thanks for letting us poke our head in here.

- Hey, you bet.

- [Jimmy] We were about wrapped up for the day, when wouldn't you know, the biggest fish of the day made an appearance.

What happened here?

- Well, it looks like we had one that didn't trip the tip up.

- [Jimmy] Yeah, we were just getting ready to pull lines and this is, (Jimmy laughing) I've never seen that happen on a tip, that is a nice- - Nice perch.

Yeah, probably 11 inches.

- [Jimmy] Jeez, and he was just on there and never tripped it?

- Never tripped it, yep.

He was just sitting there, holding onto it.

- [Jimmy] Wow, well.

- There we go.

- That's a dandy.

- [Pat] On a beautiful day if Michigan, right?

(Jimmy laughing) - [Jimmy] Burt and Mullett can be hard to fish, but they draw a lot of anglers, and at times, they can be a ton of fun.

So whether it's fish camp or you and a buddy, hard water or soft, come up and try it here in Michigan's out of doors.

(gentle rock music) (gentle rock music continues) (gentle rock music continues) (gentle rock music continues) (gentle rock music continues) (gentle rock music continues) (gentle rock music continues) - Thank you so much for joining us this week for "Michigan Out Of Doors".

Make sure you come back in the upcoming weeks, we've got a lot of great things on the schedule for you, we'll take you out for some nighttime predator hunting, we'll do a lot more ice fishing, and everything in between.

If you'd like to see where we are and kinda keep tabs on what we're up to on a daily basis, you can always do that online.

- Well, that's right, Jenny, online is probably the best way to keep track of us, of course, our social media outlets, both Facebook and Instagram are probably the quickest and best way to see what we're up to on a day-to-day basis, but we're also on our website and YouTube as well if you wanna check us out.

Make sure you are joining us over the next few weeks, lots of stuff happening around the great state of Michigan, and if we don't see you in the woods or on the water, hopefully you'll see it right back here next week on your PBS station.

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

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- [Narrator] By SCI.

SCI helps protect, promote, and preserve wildlife through conservation practices, which include hunting.

SCI supports and funds conservation programs in the state of Michigan.

Learn more how you can get involved at a chapter near you.

- [Narrator 2] By Show Span, producing consumer shows, including The Ultimate Fishing Show, Detroit, January 9th through 12th at Novi's Suburban Collection Show Place.

The show features fishing tackle, trips, boats, and seminars from the top pros.

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Learn more at one of 10 monthly meetups, or online at networkoutdoors.com.

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(bright acoustic music) ♪ When I wander far away ♪ The dream stays with me night and day ♪ ♪ It's the road that leads to my home state ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan man ♪ Changing seasons (bright music)