- Well, hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors."

Thank you so much for joining us this week.

What we're going to do on this week's program is take a look back, way back to the early 1950s.

This week's show is really a tribute to Morton Neff and really the beginning of outdoor television here in the great state of Michigan.

Make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger.

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 - [Person] 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 Greater Lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shining like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ - [Announcer] "Michigan Out of Doors" is presented by.

By Country Smoke House, a sportsman's destination since 1988, featuring varieties of homemade sausage, turkey, brats, and gourmet entrees.

Holiday gift boxes can be assembled in store or online.

Details at countrysmokehouse.com.

- [Announcer] By Great Lakes Firearms and Ammunition, a family-owned and operated firearm manufacturer in Sparta, Michigan, offering a wide variety of calibers and colors, backed by a lifetime warranty.

More information available at glfallc.com.

- [Announcer] By True North Services, offering full service land management for residential and commercial property.

From overgrown acreage to wooded lots to shooting lanes.

True North services include cleaning and leveling for the next step.

Information and quotes available at truenorthsurfaceslm.com.

(tense music) (gun bangs) (energetic music) (light piano music) (light dreamy music) - [Mort] Shadows of the skyline of Detroit, still another phase of springtime fishing lures thousands to try their luck on the Detroit River in quest of walleye pike, or pickrel, as they are often called here.

The strong current requires a unique tackle setup.

No rod is used.

The lore itself is oddly shaped, sometimes called a pencil plug.

And the line is handled from a spring-loaded reel clamped to the boat.

A sinker of a half pound or more is on the end of the line and above it liters from 12 to 40 feet long stand out in the river current.

With a sinker bumping bottom, the line is chugged by hand to impart action to the lore.

A fine touch is needed to feel the strike of the fish.

And as the line is taken in, the automatic reel gathers it, and these Detroit River walleyes run to a choice size.

(gentle playful music) Both the Detroit River and the St.

Clair River from Port Huron to Alganac are favorite sites for this sport.

And by late May, the run is normally at its peak.

While walleyes of 12 and 15 pounds are taken every year in Michigan, the average in these waters is smaller, but choice for food.

(gentle playful music continues) Within the easy reach of Michigan's largest city, it is a little wonder that fishing here finds so many followers each and every year.

And the net results make fine picture postcard shots with that popular caption, "Wish you were here."

Michigan's Lake St.

Clair has been called the nation's best for musky fishing, and as many as 2,000 of these freshwater tigers have been caught in a single year.

Solid wobbling plugs or big spinners, whichever you choose, both must be preceded by powerful swivels and a heavy sinker to take the line down while trolling.

You must be ready for a smashing strike as the lure runs no more than two or three feet under the water, just above the weed tops.

The drag is set carefully now.

And often a fish will strike only a dozen feet off the stern.

From here on, your musky is unpredictable.

Some respond easily to the pressure of the rod until they get a look at the boat.

And to the fisherman seeing his first muskie like this, well, the reaction may be, "Let's just cut the line and go home."

And you can't blame him.

But our first one of the day is not too large.

He's lifted aboard without incident.

A 30-inch fish is minimum size.

Is this one large enough?

Well, we get out the tape measure.

Yep, 33 inches.

Heavy duty rods and reels are best for trolling in Lake St.

Clair because a fighting muskie is the most powerful of all fresh water game fish.

There's another strike, and about now you begin to understand the thrill of taking these great fish, of feeling the surge of power from that mammoth body, and of finally boating a fish that's an everlasting challenge to the best of anglers.

More than half the muskies cooked break away during the fight, but today we're pretty lucky.

And this one's of still better size.

Back in 1966 for frosting on the cake, Michigan Fisheries biologists decided to add Chinook salmon to our fishbowl.

These were planted as fry only a few months old, mostly in the Muskegon River.

After a three-year feeding spree in Lake Michigan, the Chinook, or King Salmon, as they're called on the West Coast, returned and things began to happen.

Here at Nuego where an obsolete power dam partially blocked the river, fishermen of the big Chinook literally came face to face.

(cheerful music) The Chinook matures at four years, but these younger kings gave the fishermen plenty to think about with a display of acrobatics hard to match anywhere.

(upbeat energetic music) The fall of 1907, he wrote the biggest headlines with the biggest fish.

The mammoth four-year-old Chinooks came home, some topping 40 pounds.

A few were taken in Lake Michigan with a male displaying the vast hooked upper and lower jaws, characteristic of several species of salmon.

But the real action came in the Muskegon River, where in 1966, his tiny fry scarcely an inch long, the king salmon got its first taste of water in the world's biggest fishbowl and how he prospered since then.

(cheerful music) (cheerful music continues) Farther south, Manistee Lake, with a shipping channel connecting it to Lake Michigan, was the entrance to the Chinook's homing waters in the little Manistee River.

Here they ran the gauntlet as hundreds of small bolts trolled tempting lures and baits of every description.

Many an angler was actually towed around this placid lake by giant kings.

And despite tangled lines and a compounding comedy of errors, the Chinook won the hearts of popeyed fishermen, setting spectacular records almost sure to be broken again and again in the years to come.

(bright triumphant music) Michigan, Wisconsin, and now Indiana have all been quick to recognize the economic potential of this burgeoning sports fishery.

Municipal and privately owned launching sites are expanding, making it easy for the boat owner traveling from afar perhaps to find adequate facilities upon arrival at his choice of scores of communities bordering on a scene that truly challenges the imagination.

Giant game fish by the million on easily accessible inland waters.

The coveted Pacific salmon, both silvers and kings, now an established species in strange environment, living and growing at an astounding rate from planting stock only a few inches long to giants weigh more than 40 pounds.

And in the self-same waters with the salmon, the mighty steelhead, the lake trout, and brown trout thriving to produce the most fantastic story in the entire history of sports fishing.

It's all waiting for you now in the world's biggest fishbowl.

- Well, I tell you what, it is fun to look back at some of that old footage and the technology has changed so much, since Mort was doing the show back in the early 1950s.

And even in the last 28 years that I've been doing "Michigan Out of Doors," the technology has changed a lot.

But one thing remains the same: it's all about telling a good story, like in this next segment where Mort was at the headwaters of the Muskegon River.

(gentle music) - [Mort] This is the backwater area of the Muskegon River, just a few miles from its origin in Houghton Lake.

We're standing at Michaelson's Landing, once a thriving lumbering community, now a ghost town.

But no ghost is Mr.

Wade Miller, boat delivery operator and naturalist with whom we'll explore this extraordinary wilderness area in search of nesting marsh birds.

An airboat is the all important vehicle that makes such a trip possible for the wide, smooth hauled raws, only about three inches of water.

And with no propeller underwater, it's actually possible to move over mudflats and, well, almost wet grass.

A low powered aircraft engine and propeller furnish the power.

And with cameras poised, we're scooting along toward an unforgettable adventure.

Air rudders over the stern plus a foot throttle control the craft.

And because of the hull construction, floating logs or other obstructions present no problem to us, we simply wish over them harmlessly.

(gentle dreamt music) Great blue herons build huge high nests here annually.

And now in July, the young herons are pretty well grown, but they'll stay in the nest almost another month, perfectly contended to let the parents feed them day in and day out.

An Osprey, eagle-like member of the hawk family, feeds on a bluegill on his lofty perch.

And we're going in search of an Osprey nest.

Wade swings the airboat now toward an Osprey nest that's not too far distant, one of seven such nests in the area.

This one is only a few feet above the water.

And as we approach, one of the parent birds guards the massive structure, departing in whistling protest as our boat swings alongside carefully.

Within the nest, which is used by the same pair of birds year after year, we discover this single youngster, which is normal for Ospreys, although occasionally there are two.

The little fellow here, only a few days old, will grow astoundingly fast and will remain in the nest until late July until his wing spread is over four feet.

He's a little ticklish about our attentions.

You would rather have mama or papa Osprey shading him from this summer sun.

Papa whistles reassuringly.

(Osprey whistling) Seconds after our departure, the adult bird drops back to the nest to check on the precious youngster.

And as she comes in, we note a half devoured blue gill in her left talon.

Osprey are able to dive far under the water to catch fish, and some have been seen capturing a pike weighing up to three pounds or more.

Miller visits these birds regularly and they have become completely accustomed to him and to his strange airboat.

A mile to the north, the water begins to shallow somewhat becoming typical marsh cover.

Only an airboat could maneuver in such a spot where a scant four or five inches of water covers bottomless mud flats.

Wade is now seeking in the nest of the pied-billed grebe, a wary and somewhat furtive bird of our Michigan marshlands.

When the parent is not setting on the egg, she keeps them covered with wet marsh grass, which helps to incubate them.

Now we move carefully for within a few feet of the airboat is a grebe nest with an unhatched egg already pipped.

If we're lucky, we'll see the miracle of life emerge from this egg and we move again.

(gentle music) Once out of the egg, the baby must move from the grassy cover to dry off.

A matter of minutes and he'll be ready for a swim.

(gentle music continues) Finally, he clears all encumbrances and he moves without hesitation toward the warmth of a human hand.

Deep in the reeds, his recently hatched brother, dry and fluffy, floats like a little cork.

The grebe is a very poor flyer, but a great diving bird disappearing beneath the surface with incredible speed.

Wade heads for another nest of youngsters now, and we arrive in time to find three of them still in the nest.

And Wade Miller then turns to me and has a suggestion to make.

- [Wade] Mort, see if you can call one of those baby grebes in.

- Oh, I never tried that, Wade, but here goes.

(Mort clucking) (chicks peeping) - [Wade] Well, it works.

- [Mort] Sure does.

And in no time at all, young grebe were moving toward our outstretched hands completely unafraid.

(gentle triumphant music) While we were able to decoy the babies to us by calling, were you to see these tiny youngsters in the marsh, you might also see one of the fastest diving acts imaginable.

For the web feet of these waterfowl are so far back that they propel the bird almost straight down and nothing flat.

The fact that the legs are so far back is a disadvantage because the grebe is unable to walk on land and has difficulty taking off on water.

All this time we suspected the adult bird could not be too far away and suddenly she was in sight.

Two babies were trailing her.

And as we hastily sighted a telephoto lens in her direction, the young birds dove.

We watched in the super slow motion camera in an effort to slow down her dive, but as if by magic, she was gone.

We're off again now toward a remote area.

The airboat picking its way through channels to avoid actual nesting places.

Miller edges toward cattails, points to the swaying reeds, a long, long neck with sharp bills straight up and yellow eyes peer at us.

And this marks an adult least bittern, crouching in the cover.

She is on her nest guarding four young bitterns no more than a few days old.

Under such circumstances, a bittern will fight off all intruders and it's best not to get too close to that needle sharp bill.

The tiny bitterns imitating mother strike forward at some uncertain enemy.

(gentle music) Downey fetched heads sway hypnotically from side to side.

The adult bird is extraordinarily handsome with a purple cast to her wings blending into a marsh brown.

Wade reaches for one of the youngsters as I divert her attention.

The least bittern is the smallest of the Heron family.

Although it is a poor flyer, it does migrate each winter to Texas in the Gulf States.

This one looks at us curiously, showing no great fear and probably enjoying the warmth of the human hand.

A rare picture of a bird not often seen in Michigan.

And so for now, our exploring has ended in the great backwater country of the Reedsburg Dam at Houghton Lake.

Wade Miller has taken us into a wonderland of marshbirds, a wonderland where the giant osprey is lord and master of the skies.

And now is the time for you to visit our wonderland of marsh birds in Michigan Outdoor.

(dramatic music) - Well, I think it's really fun and I think it's important for us to look back at what has worked for "Michigan Outdoors" and Michigan Out of Doors" over the years.

And really this week's show, we just wanted to say thank you to Morton Neff, the pioneer of outdoor television.

(light music) - Well, he was real, real versed in electronics.

I wouldn't say that he was an electronic technician or anything of the sort, but he was well versed in it.

And he thoroughly enjoyed AmRadio, thoroughly.

He spent hours on talking all over the world, as well as I did too.

Of course, most of mine is on voice.

I do some CW, but most of it's on voice.

He had wires strung up all over the place and he was quite a man to say, "Well, I don't need an antenna built for that particular frequency.

I can string up a piece of wire, use my tuner, and go anywhere I want to go."

- Well, I think that he was a conservationist, which doesn't mean that you should not shoot something or that you should not catch something.

But you realize that you have to protect the resources.

And he was one of the first to get behind the bandwagon of being a place where you catch and release the trout.

He had a place on the Asabo for quite a while and got rid of it finally because too many canoes went by.

- Mort died and I lost one of my old friends, one of my best friends.

So Mort is one of a kind, was one of a kind.

I don't think that you ever would replace a man of his caliber.

Anywhere you go, if they know you know Mort now, they wanted to talk about him.

So I miss him, because it's part of my life is gone because we were together all the time.

And like I say, I miss him a lot.

- And as long as I live, I shall remember this statement he made about me, which I'm very, very proud of.

And I'm not ashamed to make the content available.

He said, "You know, Howard Shelley has always been my best friend and he still is."

Oh, I cherish that.

Always have, always will.

(gentle music continues) - Well, hey everybody, thank you so much for watching "Michigan Out of Doors" this week as we kind of take a look back at the early 1950s and the origins of "Michigan Outdoors" and "Michigan Out of Doors."

And we're just kind of the current day version of the crew trying to steward this outdoor legacy when it comes to outdoor television here in the state of Michigan.

We're going to do our part and we want to say thank you to Mort, Jerry Chiappetta, Fred Trost, Bob Garner, all those big names that came before.

We're going to do our best to kind of keep it moving forward, and thank you so much for watching each and every week.

Make sure you are joining us over the next several weeks.

We've got a lot of brand new stuff coming for you.

Get out and enjoy everything our state has to offer.

And if we don't see you in the woods or on the water, hopefully we'll see you right back here next week on your PBS station.

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

- [Announcer] Get away from it all to your own place.

With GreenStone's recreational land loans, we'll help you finance acreage of any size so you can own your own place in the great outdoors.

GreenStone.

- [Announcer] By Morgan Composting, a family business located in Michigan, Morgan Composting offers a variety of products all powered by Dairy Dew Organic Compost for homeowners and farmers.

To learn more about all the product options available for your food plots, visit dairydew.com.

By Saab, providing defense and civil security products and services for over 85 years and now part of the Grayling community with our new advanced munitions facility.

Career opportunities are available.

More information at saabinc.com.

- [Announcer] By GreenMark Equipment, GreenMark Equipment is a John Deere dealership network in Southwest Michigan and Northern Indiana.

GreenMark provides sales and services to farmers, commercial businesses, large property owners, and homeowners.

Information about pricing and products available can be found online at greenmarkequipment.com.

(light cheerful music) ♪ When I wander far a way ♪ A dream stays with me night and day ♪ ♪ It's the road that leads to my home state ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan Man ♪ Changing seasons paint the scene ♪ ♪ Like rainbow trout in a hidden stream ♪ ♪ The white tail deer and the tall pine trees ♪ ♪ I am a Michigan Man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan Man ♪ Ask where I'm from and I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above, I love this land ♪ I am a Michigan Man ♪ From the Keewenaw down to St.

Joe ♪ ♪ Kalamazoo east to Monroe ♪ To St.

Marie and back again ♪ I am a Michigan Man ♪ I am, I am a Michigan Man ♪ Ask where I'm from and I'll show you my hands ♪ ♪ Lord above, I love this land ♪ I am a Michigan Man (bright music) (singer vocalizing) (light music)