- Hello, everyone.

Welcome to Michigan Out of Doors.

I'm Jenny Ciolek, and we have a brand new show headed your way.

I'll take you out fishing with a group of ladies on the Detroit River for their very first time chasing after Walleyes.

You will not wanna miss that story.

We had a blast out there.

And Jimmy and Jordan have another interesting story in store for us this week.

- Well, that's right, Jenny.

We do have a few more things on this week's show.

We're actually gonna do a little food plot work on this week's episode.

Give you some tips and tactics if you're gonna be putting in a food plot here this spring.

Hopefully, this will maybe make it a little bit more successful for you, and I think we're gonna have time for a bragging board as well.

So make sure you stay tuned.

I'm Jimmy Gretzinger.

It's time for Michigan Out of Doors.

(turkey gobbles) ♪ From the first spring rains ♪ ♪ To the soft summer breeze ♪ (surf whooshes) ♪ 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 ♪ - What a beautiful day in the woods ♪ Some day our children ♪ ♪ All will see ♪ ♪ This is their finest legacy ♪ (water whooshes) ♪ The wonder and the love of Michigan ♪ ♪ As the wind ♪ ♪ Comes whispering through ♪ ♪ the trees ♪ (duck quacks) ♪ The sweet smell of nature's in the air ♪ ♪ From the Great Lakes to the quiet stream ♪ ♪ Shinin' like a sportsman's dream ♪ ♪ It's a love of Michigan we all share ♪ (gentle music plays) Michigan Out of Doors is presented by, by Country Smoke House, a sportsman's destination since 1988, featuring varieties of homemade sausage, jerky, brats, and gourmet entrees.

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(edgy echoey music plays) (bold upbeat music plays) (uplifting upbeat music plays) - Last Wednesday morning in downtown Detroit, hopes were high for cleaner water and better weather conditions as a group of ladies were ready to hit the water and try jigging for walleyes for the first time out here.

The brave men who volunteered their time and boats today were good friend, Doug Batty, and my husband, Matt.

Doug had his buddy, Andy Wallace, acting as first mate.

And over on our boat, I'd be running the camera and helping the ladies.

- Good morning, - Good morning, good morning, good morning.

- Good morning, ladies.

- We are so excited down here at the Detroit River with these lovely ladies that have never jigged for walleye in the Detroit River.

I'm so excited to watch them pull one up.

Maybe more than one.

So we got a contest going on.

The biggest fish and the first fish.

Not sure who it's gonna be.

Maybe me, we'll see.

I'm so excited.

It's gonna warm up.

Sun's gonna shine.

We're gonna catch some fish, walleyes.

(ladies cheer) - Woo-hoo.

- [Tricia] Let's go.

Doug?

- Morning.

- [Tricia] Morning, are you ready for this?

- Let's rock and roll.

(Tricia laughs) Safety first (laughs).

- Have you ever taken a few rookies at a time with you?

- No.

- [Jenny] The guys were up for the adventure.

On our boat, we'd be fishing with Tricia, who has experience with jigging here, and Monica Dunbar, who is quite new at it.

Doug and Andy were fishing with rookies Shayna Levin, Kelly Brusso, and McKyla Edelbrock.

Andy held a quick jigging tutorial from the dock when their jigs hit the bottom of the river, and then it was off to find some fish.

Shayna was helping with footage from Doug's boat and a competition was in the works with which boat would land the first fish of the day and the biggest fish of the day.

The wind was strong and building, but Matt wrestled the boat into position and got the ladies' lines vertical.

Our boat started out strong in the competition as Monica connected with the first fish of the morning.

(fish splashes) - We got the first fish.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry.

- Keep it in the water.

Down, down, down, down, okay?

Now slowly lift him up.

(water splashes) (ladies cheer) - What time is it?

¦ - (laughs) Good job, girl.

- Way to go, way to go, girl.

- Long one, Monica.

- Awesome.

- [Jenny] There we go, so you got the, oh, Matt just got one.

- Oh, wow.

- Woo-hoo, you got the first fish of the day, and your first walleye ever - First walleye.

- And it's a 19 inches at 7:35.

- Yay (laughs).

- Good job, Monica.

Today's fishing trip came together when Tricia reached out to tell me about a new organization she started to inspire women to get outdoors.

- [Tricia] So I'm super excited to share with you Wilderness Warriors.

We want to give more women opportunity to be curious about the outdoors, fishing, hunting, hiking, whatever that looks like, foraging.

And sometimes, women don't know where to start.

When I started my outdoor journey, I didn't know where to start either.

Yay, fish on.

I find it very important, personally, myself, my journey was, if I was curious about the outdoors, I felt and hoped my kids would be curious about the outdoors, and it has worked out that way.

So I firmly believe there's, like, a lot of youth programs out there, which are fantastic, but if we get the moms out there, the kids are likely to follow.

We wanna make sure that everybody understands Wilderness Warriors is to provide women the opportunity and primarily, women that have never hunted or fished or are curious about the outdoors, opportunity to get out there and do so.

So this summer, we have another fishing for walleye here in the river, when it's maybe a little bit warmer.

And we're also doing a novice duck hunt in September.

So please follow us.

Stay tuned.

Nominate women to come.

And we also would love any mentors, women that do fish and hunt, to come help us with this project.

- [Jenny] Despite the high winds today, the ladies were enjoying success as they boated some of their first walleyes ever.

The competition between boats was neck and neck, and Monica connected with another fish to take us into the lead.

- No, no, no.

- Oh, that's okay.

- I'm so sorry.

- That was me.

(Monica laughs) I'm so sorry (laughs).

I'm so sorry.

That was me.

- No worries.

- Epic.

Epic fail.

I'm fired.

I'm so sorry.

- [Jenny] Well, you win some, and you lose some out here.

And Monica was a good sport about it.

Tricia was about to get a chance to redeem herself as the netter, and Monica was having a blast out here.

- [Monica] I have always loved to play outside.

That's always been my favorite thing, playing outside.

I grew up camping with my family.

Probably since I was one-year-old, we camped almost every year, and I fished as a small kid.

- Look at that; look at that.

- [Monica] Never went walleye fishing.

That was my first walleye.

So I was, my first time walleye fishing was Saturday and then Wednesday.

This is my second time.

Saturday, it was super windy.

The river was very muddy.

I didn't catch anything.

Had a hard time standing up in the boat even.

Today was absolutely perfect, I think.

First walleye, first time catching, catching anything bigger than a perch.

I'm hooked.

I can't wait to do it again.

They hit a lot harder than a perch does.

- Got a good feeling?

- It's gonna be a good spot.

I have a good feeling.

Sun, low wind.

Sun, did I say sun?

Sun (laughs).

Let's go.

- You having fun?

- I am having a blast.

- Awesome.

- Yes.

- [Jenny] It was great to see the smiling faces and the live wells with some fish in them.

Of course, none of this would've been possible without our volunteers who worked hard to make it all happen.

- So we had some wonderful players in the game today, I wanna say.

We had some captains.

We had Captain Matt, Captain Doug, and First Mate Andy, and they just love to fish.

They wanted to share their love for fishing with us.

Met 'em at the dock, gave a little tutorial.

Hey, let's go do this.

Regardless of the weather, the weather was a challenge, but went out there, and they worked their tails off navigating the current, getting the lines and the position that we need to catch fish, and just an honor to have them volunteer their time with us like that.

(everyone talks at once) Honestly, I think the guys had just as much fun as the ladies today.

We got the lowdown back at the dock.

All right, what do we think?

What did we think of today?

- Awesome.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- Was your first time out there?

- Jigging.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, what'd you think?

- I thought it was pretty great.

I liked how interactive it was on the waters.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Cool.

- It was great; good time.

Fun challenge.

- It was my first time, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you, everyone, for the experience.

- Cool, Tricia?

- I'm excited to see all these women out here jigging for the first time.

But Mama Nature, she has some other plans today.

She was in control.

- She - That's what I think.

- spanked us a little this morning.

- Yep.

- Monica?

- I can't wait to do this again.

(onlookers laugh) - [Jenny] You got your first fish out there today?

First walleye?

- First walleye.

- on the river.

- Nice.

- Yes, yes.

- Now you're an old pro.

(Monica laughs) - Giant, giant.

- [Jenny] What'd you guys, what the captains and the first mate thing?

- Oh, we had fun.

- It was fun; it was challenging.

- It was a rough day on the control, boat control.

- Officially, I'd fish with this crew anytime.

- Aw.

- Likewise, Andy.

- You did a really good job.

- I'll sleep well tonight.

- Now, we're gonna take these from hook to fork at Sinbad's.

- First, the guys fileted (electric knife whirs) most of the fish and showed the ladies how to cut out those delicious walleye cheeks.

Then they offered a little hands-on time for anyone who wanted to try cleaning their own fish after that.

We hit the road and headed to Sinbad's, a Detroit staple since 1949.

Monica enjoyed every aspect of the day.

- [Monica] That was actually a highlight of the day was having not, I didn't catch a ton of fish.

I don't think anyone limited out or anything like that, but we had enough fish for a really amazing meal and one of my favorite things to do is share a meal with people and get to know people.

- The crew headed into the restaurant with their filets and were greeted by Sinbad's owner, Marc Blancke.

Marc explained that they can cook up their fish, either blackened, sauteed, or fried.

Of course, we had to try them all three ways.

This place has a lot of history.

So Denise, our server, she's been here 51 years.

51 years, that's how far back Sinbad's goes.

You bring your fish in; they cook it up.

The atmosphere is just that down home, it feels so good, right-on-the-water marina.

Can't wait to eat it (kisses).

- In 1949, the Blanckes bought it in 1949.

- Wow.

- Same family.

- [Jenny] So Marc is the current owner.

He's part of the original family?

- Marc is the son of Buster, which was the original.

And now, Marc Anthony's in the building, which is Marc's son.

- What do you love about being here?

- So the third generation is in the building.

- What do you love about it?

- Listen, they're a great family.

Yeah, we've all been here forever so, you know, they're a great family to work for.

They really are.

- We really recognize the fact that where do women start?

If they don't have a husband or somebody in their life that influences or has the resources, it's not easy to go grab a pole and get on the river and figure out where to jig for walleye.

So it is hard to figure out where to start.

(upbeat music plays) And I wanna lessen that challenge and give more women the opportunity to find their curiosities of the outdoors.

- We commend Tricia Auten and her Wilderness Warriors group for helping to spark a passion for the outdoors in newcomers.

Passing on our love for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation is what it's all about here in Michigan's Out of Doors.

- Well, in our next story, we're gonna sit down with an expert when it comes to food plots and especially when you're talking fertilizer and the different seed mixes that are out there.

Hopefully, this will give you some tips to make your food plot a little bit more successful this spring.

(gentle upbeat guitar music plays) All right, well we are here today with Justin Morgan and Justin, but we're gonna talk about food plots kinda specifically today, but let's start off with Dairy Doo.

You explain what that is and kinda how that business got started and where we are here in the state of Michigan.

- Yeah, so it's a family business.

We were started with the idea that we had too much manure on the land base we had.

So we started making a thermophilic compost way back in 1996, it started.

And we made the thermophilic compost for gardens, and then, most of it goes to large agriculture.

- Okay, and do you have cows yourself around here?

Or how does that all work?

- No, we work with large farms around the state, and then we bring it in, and we process it.

- Okay.

- And then from there, we process it into different, like, more convenient way to utilize Dairy Doo products.

So Dairy Doo was a thermophilic compost and still is.

But now we've moved it into some better use products so it's a lot more convenient to use in, like, food plot world.

- Yeah, and when did you guys kind of get into the food plot world, and what kind of stuff do you guys offer?

- [Justin] Yeah, so as a family we've been doing food plots for 15 years, and we see that there was a kind of a need for a well-rounded fertilizer, something that in the poor soils that we have in Michigan, unfortunately, we have to have something that has body to it and organic matter, high CECs, and ways to build that organic matter with nutrient involved along with these mixes.

- [Jimmy] Okay, so if somebody's got a spot where they're gonna put a food plot in, let's start off with, you know, some recommendations.

What should they do first?

We're here in this, you know, we're kind of that time of the year where I think people are just getting out, you know, and snow's finally melted.

What should guys be doing as they get ready to put in a food plot?

- Yeah, so, you know, that's a good question.

A lot of time, food plot guys will come to me, and they'll have this perfect opening in the middle of their woods, right?

That Mother Nature just left for them to put a food plot in.

(Jimmy laughs) We have to remember that's not the case.

Mother Nature hasn't been able to grow anything really successfully there for 2000 years, meaning that soil is probably needs a lot of work, and that's okay because it's easier to give some love to that opening than it is to clear trees and stumps and maybe we don't wanna take our cover.

So to utilize that open space is intelligent.

It's just, we have to make sure first and foremost our pH is right.

- Yeah, and what, I know that's a crucial thing.

What does that mean for the first time food plotter out there?

- Yeah, so the way to bring pH up, most of our soils in Michigan are low pH, so the way to bring that up is lime.

And we really wanna be at that 6.2 to 6.8 pH.

That's where your seeds will germinate the best.

If it's lower than that, they may not even germinate.

So we wanna address lime.

I talk to guys, too, they're like, they come in and say, "Hey, I'm gonna put lime on," and I'll ask 'em, "Why are you putting lime on?

He's like, "Cause my dad did and my grandpa did."

Well, that doesn't mean you need lime either, right?

So not to talk in a circle, but don't bring your lime up too much because that creates other problems, too.

So one indicator I really go on when I look at my food plots or help guys out, if there's a lot of ferns in your food plot, ferns are kind of like a blueberry bush.

They like low pH soils.

So if you have ferns, you typically will need lime.

If you don't have ferns, you know, you can get, like, those pH testers, and that'll give you a buffer or you can even go into a soil sample and that'll get you dialed into whether you need lime or not.

- Okay, so this food plot that we're sitting on here, you said was a couple, two or three acres, something like that?

- Yeah, it's 1.2 acres.

- 1.2.

- Yep.

- Okay, so when you're gonna plant this, are you doing one thing, the whole field?

You got different sections?

How do you decide that?

- Yeah, so a little bit of that's, you know, like, what my neighbor's planting, what crops are around me, you know, networking with how big a parcel's beside me.

Little bit of that goes in there, too.

But I do mine in stages.

I do it for testing seeds.

Also, I'll do it for like what the deer are really attracted to in this area.

So I'll do like a section of clovers, which I'll show you.

We're gonna do brassicas in the middle and then I'm gonna put, like, a screen, like what we call the Trump Wall over the side.

- [Jimmy] Okay and having variety on there, that does what for the deer?

(engine rumbles) - Yeah, so deer, just like you and I, we don't eat the same thing every day.

They like a variety, they like a buffet, so I'm the guy that I wanna see a lot of brassicas in a brassica plot.

And it's just not like Eco-Till radish or you start rape or something like that.

I wanna see multiple varieties in there because the sugars will change in that plant as the season changes, and those deer will be attracted to it at different times of the year, too.

- [Jimmy] Okay, and then what, how often do you need to, like, today you're gonna, we're gonna put some fertilizer down, put some seed down.

You're hoping for some rain, obviously, but is there anything else you can control once that's kinda in the ground, or do you come back and, you know, drag it again or how does that work?

- Yeah, so once I get, you know, number one's pH, (engine rumbles) number two is fertility, seed selection.

Once I put my fertility down, I wanna rotate that in if I can, either disc it in or rototiller it in.

What I wanna do is mix that fertilizer in that zone.

Most of our roots are six inches.

You know, some of our Eco-Till will go a lot further than that, obviously, but I still wanna make sure that nutrient is around all of them little hair fibers in that root.

So I wanna rototiller the fertilizer in, then I'll put the seed on, and I'll drag it with a drag, or you can cultipack, too; either way is fine.

You just want seed to soil contact once you put the seed in, then you do your rain dance.

You hope it rains, right?

(Jimmy laughs) Because that is the difference at that point.

(engine rumbles) - [Jimmy] So tell me a little bit about your fertilizer and what makes yours kinda unique.

- Yeah, so the fertilizer we put together, they have Dairy Doo in there, humates, which is a organic material, carbon from North Dakota.

So we put things in here that's carbon based along with nutrient, and I tell guys all the time, urea, triple 19, triple 12, those are salt-based fertilizers.

Not pickin' on 'em, but when you take salt, and you put it with water it, you could drink the bottle accidentally because it'd just be pure water, right?

So when you take our products, and you put it in that water bottle, and you mix it up, it'd be like brown water with a thick layer of organic matter on the bottom, right?

So that is telling us that if you take that and you apply that on your fields, that will stick, and even though ours is a 8-4-4, and that's a triple 19, ours will actually stick and grow in that grow zone where the triple 19, the salt-based ureas, the salt-based fertilizers, they will get washed away because, typically, in all the soil samples seen, thousands of soil samples, and typically what I see is less than two percent organic matter.

And that organic matter is really the only thing that will hold that nutrient in that grow zone.

The rest of it's gonna get washed through, which that's concerning 'cause that's our grandchildren's problem, right; where is that going?

We gotta be conscious of that as growers.

We don't wanna wash that down, and we wanna utilize, stretch our dollar, to make sure it's in that grow zone.

So that's why we tied carbon with our fertilizer.

- Okay, now, we have a lotta sandy soil here in Michigan in some spots.

You know, where I live on the west side of the state, it's really sandy.

Can you do anything with sandy soil, or you're kinda just outta luck?

- Yeah, I've seen soil samples from guys, and I go, "Oh, my goodness, "are you gonna put a volleyball court here, or are you gonna "put a food plot", right?

(Jimmy laughs) Like, and they're like, "Ah, can I do anything?"

And I go, "You can," right?

This is a marathon.

Remember, like, this is property that we have.

We're investing into it all the time.

We're not afraid as hunters to invest in the property and grow great food plots and put more food out there for us, but remember, this isn't over the night.

We're, unfortunately, served up with maybe some really sandy ground in your area or all the way up to Kalkaska.

Really sandy ground, and that's okay because these products (gentle upbeat music plays) are designed to start building that organic matter in that soil and keeping the fertility there.

It's just gonna be patient, and it's gonna take some time to build that up.

- Okay.

Justin, tell me a little bit about the spreaders that we got here.

Good, bad with the hand spreaders?

What do you suggest?

- Yep, that's a question we get all the time is how we can spread this, and you can do the pull type spreader, which we showcased here today, which you can put behind anything, your lawnmower, your side-by-side, or even a three-wheeler if you got one kicking around.

And then also, I have this for my bigger plots, what we'll put on my tractor, and this will hold a lot more and it's designed so it flows through, and you can use any type of drop spreader.

- Okay, and talk to me a little bit about the minerals you were, that was a big part of what you were doing here today, too, right?

- Yeah, so a lot of times, like we talked earlier about the salt-based fertilizers, it's just NPK, and there's way more to soil than just NPK, and that's why we focus a little bit more on minerals.

Minerals for plants are really important like calcium, boron, zinc, (engine rumbles) copper, all that trace minerals we have in here.

But it's also more important is if we grow that up, and we put that nutrient dense in our plant, that's gonna help draw deer to our food plot, right?

And then also, that calcium that we load up in here will be good for, right, bone growth for, you know, obviously, the big bucks we're trying to hunt plus the does to produce milk and for our upcoming fawns.

- [Jimmy] So it's just a healthier product for 'em.

- [Justin] Yeah, it's like a total package of mineral and NPK.

- Okay, perfect.

Well, thanks to Justin for all the good tips and tactics on what we can do to maybe improve our food plots in hopes of drawing in those monster bucks this upcoming season.

Good luck to everyone putting seed in the ground.

(easy-going country music plays) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) (easy-going country music continues) - Thanks so much for joining us this week for Michigan Out of Doors.

Make sure you come back in the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully, we'll have some turkey footage to share with you.

We've had a couple of close calls in recent days, but no tags have been filled yet.

If you'd like to see us on a more daily basis, you can always check us out online.

- [Jimmy] Well, that's right, Jenny.

Online is a good way to kinda keep track of us.

You can do that through our website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all good ways to see what we're up to on a day-to-day basis.

We did have cameras rolling this past week for the turkey opener.

We did not have any success as of yet, but we're gonna be out there with cameras rolling again this week so, hopefully, we'll have a good turkey hunt for you soon.

And make sure you are getting out and enjoying everything our state has to offer.

The turkeys are gobbling, and the fish are biting.

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.

(gentle upbeat music plays) - Michigan Out of Doors is presented by, - Get away from it all (tires screech) to your own place.

(water splashes) (wind whooshes) 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 1] 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.

- [Announcer 2] Mid-Michigan Ponds has been building and maintaining ponds throughout Michigan for nearly 25 years.

By providing tailored solutions for pond management Mid-Michigan Ponds can help keep your pond healthy year round.

Find more information at midmichiganponds.com.

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

Closed captioning brought to you by Doubled D Ranch Foundation, a nonprofit 501 C3 foundation working to make hunting and fishing accessible for those with disabilities.

(gentle upbeat music plays) (upbeat music plays) ♪ 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 season ♪ (gentle music plays)