A Ruby Van Road Trip Starts with Carp

Granny and I left Hayward about 6 pm last night in the Ruby Van starting a ten day road trip to take part in the Scientific Anglers 80^th Anniversary party which takes place Friday and then over the weekend we’ll travel somewhere near Pittsburgh to pick up a Clackacraft Drift Boat that’s being given to us by my Seychelles buddy T.J.  We’re taking the scenic route through the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan and made it as far as Bruce Crossing about 3 hours from the house before pulling over.  Its turtle nesting season and we saw one painted turtle, two snapping turtles and spotted what I believe is a wood turtle laying her eggs alongside the road.  Wood turtles are rare these days.  I hated the fact she’s digging next to the road but she was in the process so I didn’t interfere.  The road gets minimum traffic.

The UP is big and it was another four hours this morning before we got to the end and crossed the Mackinac Bridge to head south.  The bridge connects you from the UP to mainland MI crossing you over the Straits of Mackinac that connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.  Its and impressive bridge of the north that few people ever cross.

Not far from the south side of the bridge is a carp flat on Lake Michigan where Granny and I succeeded to catch many at this exact time in 2022.  It was a chilly 57° and there was strong westerly wind.  Conditions were less than ideal and despite a valiant effort, we suffered our first skunk of the trip.

I’ll add the carp flat was covered in tadpoles.  This is my second major tadpole event in the last week.  These ones were much smaller than last weeks and likely belonged to this fellow.  This is the extremely sharp looking northern leopard frog.  Definitely a critter worth stopping what your doing to check out!

Tonight we are camped on the Rudbeckia Farm Winery & Burnt Marshmallow Brewstillery on the outskirts of Petoskey.  It’s a camp you dream about during the winter months.  We just finished Granny’s homemade chili while enjoying a Cubs victory over the radio and now its time for some rest so we can throw our hat in the ring with the carp again tomorrow.  Life is good.

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing