- Well, hey, everybody.

Welcome to "Michigan Out of Doors," thank you so much for joining us on this week's episode.

We are gonna stay on the hard water on this week's program.

We're gonna start in the northern part of the lower peninsula, doing some trout fishing through the ice.

You won't wanna miss that story.

Then we're gonna drop a little further south and do some pan fishing, and maybe show you a few techniques that you could try yet this year.

And I think we're gonna have time for a recipe 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 (turkey gobbling) (acoustic country music) ♪ To the soft summer breeze (waves swishing) ♪ 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.

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(lively rock music) (augur whirring) (water burbling) - [Announcer] Jay's Sporting Goods, trust the tradition.

(augur whirring) (upbeat country music) (augur whirring) (water splashing) - Here in Mount Morrissey County, targeting brown trout and rainbow trout.

We're using Jaw Jackers to do this.

So what these do is basically automatically set the hook on the fish.

So the fish is gonna come by and see the bait.

When it grabs it, it triggers that release and sets the hook on your fish automatically for you.

I find when we run tip ups a lot, these trout will want to dump it, they'll dump your minnow and leave the bait, so you'll get a false flag a lot, they'll end up running with it for a little bit and letting it go.

So the benefit of these is, when that fish gets the bait right away, it's gonna set the hook on 'em.

And it's also important where you hook the fish, where you hook your bait, you're gonna wanna hook 'em right behind the head.

Because these trout come in and usually grab your bait head-first.

So that's also important when using these.

Now, if you're fishing for pike or something, you want to do a stinger rig, you'll want to do a head hook and a tail hook.

That way when that pike comes up and grabs either the head or tail, it's gonna get hooked when this goes off.

- [Jimmy] We had quite a few anglers on the ice today, and the plan was to set as many Jaw Jackers as we could in hopes of catching a few trout.

The opportunity to fish for trout through the ice is a little bit unique, but there are resources available for those who want to learn more about it.

- Yeah, I got started fishing for trout when I first moved up here.

I'm originally from Grand Rapids, so we didn't have a whole lot of lakes downstate that give you opportunities like this.

So when I first moved up here and started seeing the DNR stocking database on what these lakes have, and a couple other people that were fishing 'em, just had to try to figure it out.

(line jingling) And so the DNR database has a lot of information on there, you can pretty much narrow it down to any county within the state, and all the body waters in that county that have specific species stocked into them.

And you can narrow your search down, whether you're looking for strictly pike, strictly walleye, trout, even panfish, they stock panfish in a lot of these lakes too.

So it's a good resource that the DNR has for anglers to use.

It's been quite a bit of a learning curve, only doing pan fish and pike mainly, but it's a challenge that makes it fun.

- [Jimmy] Fishing for trout on an inland lake through the ice is a lot different than fishing for some of the other species around.

They are always on the move, and can be a little hard to pin down.

- Typically, I target the shelves, from anywhere from 12, to 30, to 50 foot of water.

And I usually try to work off the shoreline out, and usually nice bends in the river, or the creek, where it comes in, like in the mouth here, where it bends around, the fish typically like to run through there, and they get the bait.

And they do it like, you know, several times in the day, it's not just a morning bite.

And then like over here, (child laughing) there's some nice little points that come up that the fish like to swim up to and catch the bait.

And a lot of rainbows come off of the higher shelf areas, and then the browns are usually in the mid to the bottom range.

So, usually we set our lines, you know, so everything can see from high to low, and come in, that way we don't really miss any anything.

'Cause sometimes these browns are in mid columns, (child giggling) sometimes they're bottom, they just don't have anywhere they like to stay in one spot, you know?

But other than that, that's pretty much it, just targeting the shelves and working your way off.

The trout like to work the shallow, and then work their way out, it seems like, throughout the morning time.

- [Jimmy] Another thing these guys pay close attention to is where the bait fish are, and what the oxygen levels are around the lake.

- So, normally the bait fish, you know, they're gonna be in the highest oxygen part of the lake.

So, that's typically, like with these feeder creeks, if there's a lot of oxygen.

And sometimes it's with the shorelines, when the snow is melting off the edges of the shore, it creates a lot of oxygen, which will pull a lot of the bait fish into that area, and then, of course, the big predator fish will come in.

Most of the time in the wintertime, it seems like I do really good around the feeder creeks, around the even open water, where, you know, people don't really want to go, but that's where I do the best.

Yeah, most of the time.

And that's where I normally see the bait, is up in, you know, around the feeder creeks in the wintertime.

- [Child] Oh, it's big!

- [Heath] And you can see 'em out here when it melts, you'll see 'em jumping and shooting across the top of the water, so.

(upbeat country music) I mean, if I see the bait fish, that's usually where I like to set up, you know?

So that's just usually what we target.

- [Jimmy] We ended up catching a handful of trout throughout the day, but a weather system moved in in the afternoon and really slowed things down.

The next morning, our plan was to try a different lake, this time targeting rainbow trout.

(upbeat country music continues) (snow swishing) (snow swishing) (upbeat country music continues) (augur whirring) - So we're on a different lake today in northeast Michigan, targeting rainbow trout.

It's a little bit different than yesterday.

Yesterday, we were fishing the bottom half of the water column for those browns, today, it's gonna be the top half of the water column.

Even if we're over 40, 50 feet of water, you're still gonna put your bait literally 5 to 10 feet under the ice.

The reason is, these rainbow trout tend to cruise to just surface just under the ice, and they eat a lot of bugs and minnows that float and get trapped up underneath the ice, it's an easy food source for them.

And for some reason, they like the security of having a deep hole underneath them where they can go down to deep water really fast if they want to or need to.

So this lake has a max depth of about 90 feet, there's two lakes connected by a channel, and there's streams that come into each one of them.

We're kind of set up along another stream today (augur whirring) just for the different oxygen level content, different water temperature, and the minnows that tend to congregate around these streams.

Make sure you check the drag.

These rainbows, with your bait right under the ice like that in these Jaw Jackers, when they come by and hit it, and this thing releases, that fish is gonna need to run.

It's two feet under the ice, so it's gonna bring that fish literally right under the ice, so you wanna make sure your drag is loose with them.

Load it up in the Jaw Jacker through that loop.

(Jaw Jacker clicking) And keep your rod in the loaded position so when the fish comes and strikes your minnow, it's gonna release.

(Jaw Jacker clicking) - [Jimmy] And timing's pretty important, right?

You guys are trying to get to these as quick as possible.

- [Jeff] Absolutely, yeah, 'cause these fish are gonna run instantly, so we gotta get to 'em quick when these go off.

- Basically the difference between yesterday and today is we're targeting rainbows, just basically two to six feet underneath the ice, even into one foot of water on the shoreline.

Basically just hanging grubs and wigglers.

Basically the difference between that, these fish out here are only five to six feet down most of the time, so they're eating the bait that's up high in the water column.

Typically, I don't find anything in this lake that's, you know, further down than 10 feet.

But basically we're targeting the same way as on the shelf, but higher in the water column.

- [Jimmy] Two feet down, wiggler.

- [Jeff] Two feet down.

- [Heath] Two feet down.

Told you, you need to come up with another one's, so I just brought 'em up.

Nice bow.

- [Jeff] That is a nice bow.

- [Heath] Nice bow.

(rod jingling) - On the bug.

- On the bug.

(pants) Oh, look at that thing!

- [Jeff] Oh, nice bow.

Nice bow.

You got him?

- [Heath] Be patient with him.

Be patient with him.

(fishing rod jingling) - [Jeff] He's tail-wrapped.

- [Heath] Yep.

- [Jeff] He's tail-wrapped, you got it.

(fishing rod jingling) - [Heath] Ooh.

He's a nice 20 incher.

19, 20 I think.

- [Jimmy] Here it comes.

- [Heath] Jeff.

Jeff!

(water splashing) - [Jeff] Oh!

- [Heath] Lost him, dude.

(child laughing) You got that fish.

(laughs) - [Jimmy] That counts.

- That counts.

(laughs) - [Jimmy] We touched it.

That counts.

- [Jeff] Sorry, guys.

(Heath laughing) - [Jimmy] Well, sometimes you lose the fish.

That's just how it goes.

But it helps to have someone around to lift your spirits.

How's it going so far today?

- Yep.

- [Jimmy] How's it going?

- It's going so far today, camera.

(giggles) - [Jimmy] Where are all the fish at?

- They're over there.

- [Jimmy] How do we get 'em over here?

- They want them some food.

- [Jimmy] We need to get 'em some food?

- Yep.

- [Fisher] You might have to call 'em again.

- Fish, you like the food?!

I think they hear me.

(fisher giggling) They heard me.

They heard me.

- [Jimmy] What's your favorite fish to fish for?

- I like to catch rainbow!

(laughs) (group laughing) - It's been a couple good days out here in northern Michigan.

(water splashing) Kind of slower bite today, (upbeat country music) but we managed to get some good browns yesterday, so that's nice.

You know, the scenery, you can't beat an area like this, fishing on these beautiful lakes.

So even with a slower bite, at least you have something to look at that's nice around you.

It's nice getting family out here, and friends, enjoying the outdoors.

You don't see many people getting into ice fishing nowadays, so I'd encourage it to anybody that's willing to try it, get out on the ice, give it a shot, put some fish on the ice, I'm sure you'll love it.

- [Jimmy] Just as I was getting ready to hit the road, the guys had another one on.

Trout fishing is certainly not a numbers game, but it's pretty cool to watch one come through the ice.

It's easy to see why anglers like this style of fishing, and it's a great example of the diversity we have here in Michigan.

Thanks to Jeff and the crew for inviting me up for a fun couple of days on the hard water here in northern Michigan.

- That's a really nice bow.

(fishers shouting excitedly) - Holy cow!

(upbeat country music continues) (upbeat country music continues) - Well, that last segment was a lot of fun, and it's been so nice this year to have good ice conditions around the state.

It's allowed us to spend a lot more time on the ice than we had the last couple of seasons.

And with that being said, our next segment on this week's show, more ice fishing, this time from Central Michigan.

(water swashing) (upbeat country music) (augur whirring) - We're targeting giant blue gills here in central Michigan.

And right now what we're noticing is, a lot of these fish, we've got a high sky right now, a lot of sunshine, some breeze running through, but a lot of these fish are parading around, (augur whirring) we're marking some suspended fish, but the bite on this body of water is gonna get a whole lot better as we get closer to dark.

We're just trying to figure out where they're patterning to and see if we can pick off a few of those fish before the heavier bite picks up.

Presenting several different things, anything from three millimeter to five millimeter tungsten, all plastics, different colors, really just trying to figure out exactly what they're gonna go on big time tonight.

(augur whirring) (upbeat country music continues) So I have a really erratic jigging presentation, I know a lot of people like to finesse jig and kind of work their way up through the water column in a bit more subtle way.

My, my jigging presentation, I go about as wild as I can right above the fish that I'm marking, assuming that I'm marking any fish, and I'll just sit there, and I'll jig really hard in the water column right above those fish until they start shifting, and then I make 'em run after it, and then usually they'll break away from whatever group they're with if there's a couple of fish on the graph.

And I just continue that jigging pattern until the fish changes what I'm doing.

Mine's not a beautiful jigging pattern, but it definitely produces fish, and you'll see the guys that are out here very different, every single one of us is a little different, sometimes they're triggering on one person's cadence over the other.

(water splishing) - [Jimmy] The afternoon bite was a little tough.

We were catching a few, but they were hard to find, and spread out, not uncommon for panfish during the day.

As we waited for the fish to move into shallower water, I asked Phil a little bit about where he likes to fish and his setup for today.

- In general, I normally like that 9 to 14 foot of water.

And as far as my presentation, it varies day to day.

I like to stick in the bug families, like the ice bugs, or the little nymphs.

But if I find that the fish are really stonewalling me, and they're just not wanting to take those bigger profile baits, I downsize to something like, like this guy right here, which would be a tiny tad, so a much smaller presentation.

So, again, we can change a lot of things with size, shape, profile, and the color.

I got the white on here, and that's 'cause we're fishing really dark, murky water.

And these blue gill actually bite really late here on this piece of water, so it's something that really highlights in the water for 'em, makes 'em easier to key in on.

I prefer to stay in the four millimeter range of tungsten, it's just a great fit for me.

It still gets me down there, it's not overwhelmingly big to the fish.

And then if I have to change in a deep basin, I can go to that five millimeter, or if they get really finicky, I can switch down to that three millimeter, so.

(Phil chuckling) That's kind of how I start out, and then my fish finder tells me the rest.

I just watch what they're telling me, what I'm giving them, and then I just adjust accordingly to try to get more bites.

So.

12 feet there.

There's a good mark.

Yeah.

(reel clicking) Real nice mark.

Oh, there's another one coming in to meet me.

There we are.

Oh yeah.

More good head jigs.

Oh, a nice croppy.

Real nice croppy.

(water splishing) Well, come here, buddy.

I don't know what it is about catching fish through the ice, but it feels like they're so much more valuable than when you're catching them in the summertime.

And so I love not knowing what's coming in right until you get that fish up to the hole, the surprise.

I love finding something to do in the winter.

I mean, I love the winter, I think it's beautiful, but there are a lot of people that struggle in the wintertime, and for me it's an awesome little outlet, I get a chance to get out, be in nature, and just experience the outdoors, just like I like to do in the spring, summer, and fall.

But it's just so different, it's very, very unique.

And certainly some of the catches that we're experiencing here tonight, again, are very unique.

And so I love feeling that bend in the rod.

That ultralight nature I think is something as well that has always attracted me to ice fishing.

You know, you're using really light gear, and whether it be a big panfish, or you hook into a big pike or anything like that, it's just fun, fun, fun fishing.

Have you noticed that when you're watching your flasher too?

Like, so often, like one of them will sit there not doing anything, and then all of a sudden, that second one comes in, and now the first one starts moving.

- [Jimmy] Yeah.

- He's like, "Oh, I don't want you to get that food that I wasn't gonna eat."

Oh my goodness.

The shoulders.

- [Jimmy] These guys are pretty serious about their equipment, and it's not just what's on the end of the line that matters.

Your line size and type of fishing rod also make a difference when it comes to this style of fishing.

- Two pound test, I really like.

Now, if you're getting into some stuff like we're catching here today, (line reeling) there's nothing wrong with fishing three pound.

The rod, a rod is huge in my selection, I like a good, soft fiberglass rod.

And you guys can see here, that's what happens with those plastics, it's mimicking what they're eating down there, so you're not hooking 'em in the edge of the lip, they're actually inhaling these things.

So, rod though, huge, and I'll show you guys here, just a second, if I can get this jig out.

Like I said on this subtle bite here today, when they're biting really soft, we have this really soft end rod here, and you can see all these awesome bites in.

(upbeat country music) But the end's soft enough that even when it's windy out here and nasty out, and they just barely grab it, I can lift up on that rod.

I know where my tungsten is on that rod, and anything past that, oh, that's a fish, and we set the hook.

So very, very soft end rod.

And just like we were hoping for here, as it's getting a little bit later, I'm starting to see some of these fish coming up in the column, and that's what they're doing, is they're feeding off the stuff that's off the bottom of the lake into the column.

So here's hoping we can get a bunch more.

- What a great day on the hard water.

Matt and Phil really know their stuff.

It's always good to get a few tips and tricks from guys that fish a ton.

It's hard to find anything to complain about when the weather and the fish cooperate on the same day.

Thanks to Matt and the crew for inviting me out for a fun day of fishing here in mid-Michigan.

(upbeat country music continues) (upbeat country music) - Well, we're here once again in Mount Pleasant Wood Shop Social, Jim Wood, chef extraordinaire.

And I believe we have some trout filets here.

- We do.

- What is the plan of attack?

What are we doing here, Jim?

- So, we're gonna saute the trout, and we're gonna serve it with a roasted potato salad.

So where we roasted the potatoes beforehand.

- Okay.

- And then we chill 'em out so it gives 'em just a different flavor profile.

And then instead of using just your standard mayonnaise mix, we're actually using remoulade, which is a sauce we make here in-house, it's mayonnaise, horse radish, stone ground mustard, green onions, more stuff.

There's, I think 12, things in it.

- Wow.

- So it really takes the salad to a different level.

- Okay.

- And then we're gonna make a quick dill citrus sauce to go over top of of it.

- Okay, well, let's get started.

What are we gonna do to these trout filets here?

(knob clicking) - [Jim] Take our fish, skin side down.

(oil sizzling) Put it in away from us so the oil doesn't hit you.

People have a tendency to really overcook fish.

Some fish is forgiving, you can do it.

Other fish, not so much.

But I'd say for a filet this big, one and a half minutes on each side, tops.

- [Jimmy] You really didn't season that really much at all.

Just a little bit of salt.

- [Jim] Just a little bit of salt.

Yeah.

You don't need, especially if you're cooking on high heat, you don't wanna put pepper on here, 'cause pepper has a lot of oil in it, and it burns, and it burns fast, and that'll make your fish bitter.

(oil sizzling) All right so that's good to go, I'm gonna take that right off.

So now we're gonna add fresh orange juice, (mixture sizzling) fresh lemon juice, a touch of salt, and we're gonna add some butter.

And we're just gonna let that do its thing.

Add some dill, fresh dill.

- [Jimmy] Wow.

- [Jim] Which goes really good with potato salad.

So now you've got those potatoes, add a half cup of cooked egg, (cup clinking) a half cup raw celery, quarter cup raw onion, (cup clinking) of red onion, (upbeat country music) and a quarter cup of green onion.

Then you're gonna go in with your remoulade.

- So the butter citrus sauce is just for on top of the fish, and then this is alongside it?

- Yeah, I don't know how much we actually put on the fish, we'll probably put the majority of it around the plate, actually.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Jim] You've done all that work to make your skin as crispy as you can make it.

When you start putting sauce on top of it, a lot of times it's gonna.

- [Jimmy] Okay.

- [Jim] This is gonna be skin-on sauteed rainbow trout with citrus-butter-dill sauce, and a roasted potato salad.

- [Jimmy] Oh my.

(upbeat country music continues) (Jimmy chuckling) - [Jim] Is it good?

- [Jimmy] That's really good.

Holy cow, that citrus sauce.

- [Jim] Well, it's simple.

It's got four ingredients.

(fork clinking) No reason to get crazy with it.

- Well, hey, everyone, thank you so much for watching "Michigan Out of Doors" this week.

If you wanna see what we're up to on kind of a day-to-day basis, you can always check us out online, probably Facebook and Instagram would be the best ways to do that.

We're also on YouTube, so lots of places you can be checking us out.

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

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

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(cheerful country music) ♪ When I wander far away ♪ 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 ♪ (soft music)