EdB

Great start to your season.

That sure was a good morning in the water.

Way to go!

Nice catch Erik!

Thats was a good trip with your daughter. Way to go!

Nice catch!

Thats a big king, way to go! Welcome to the site.

Great catch, welcome to the site!

You have my reasoning wrong. I am not advocating any new pollution to the great lakes. When the Badger was put in commission, it met all EPA regulations. The EPA changed their standards and it became an issue. Why should that change impose millions of dollars of add'l cost to the business and put them out of business. That is what I disagree with. Even a 5 year timeline is unreasonable. The Badger is not some money machine making huge profits. It is not much better than a break even operation. They don't have millions of dollars laying around to completely change their engines. They are not like a utility company that can just raise rates with the blessing of regulators and recover all costs imposed by the EPA. In a case like a private business like the Badger, if the government wants to impose new regulations that negatively impact their finanacial position, they should subsidize those regulatory costs or grandfather the Badger and impose the rules to prevent other coal fired operations from starting up. If the Badger was leaving some scum line across the lake when she crossed, I'd be on my soapbox screaming it should be stopped but its impact is truly negligible. If the EPA decided gas powered engines should not be allowed on recreational fishing boats and told us we all had five years to spend our money changing our boats to natural gas, would you be happy and glad to do it? Keep in mind there are no natural gas engines made for rec fishing boats, just like there aren't any for ships like the Badger. Our cost would quadruple because we'd all have to pay to design and develop a natural gas engine for our boats. Or we could just scrap our investments. I'm not for more pollution to the great lakes and I do feel the Federal government does have a role in regulating industry to protect our resources. I just don't agree with how the EPA is handling this. I do respect your postion too. I know you speak with a passion for our Great Lakes. Probably just have to agree to disagree on this one. Tight lines and good fishing to you.

Private investors risked their own money to bring the Badger out of mothballs and launch this business. When they risked their money and launched the business, they were in full compliance and met all environemental regulations. The ship has been a huge boom to the economies on both sides of the lake. The local people who live around the Badger want it in their communities. Then the Feds change the rules forcing huge costs on this private enterprise that can put it out of buisness. It is perfect example of the current administrations war on private enterprise and why the economy is struggling. After 4 years of it, very few people can say they are better off now. If the Feds are going to change the rules and impose a huge cost on this business, than they should pay for some or all of it. The coal ash dumped from the Badger is not devastating our lakes. 1000's of ships powered this way plied the great lakes for over a century with no lasting damage or impact. You can't show me any evidence of problems caused by the Badger. There are many other sources of pollution that have a much larger impact on the lakes the Feds ignore. The city of Grand Rapids causes more annual pollution to the lakes than the Badger and there are dozens of other cities doing the same. If the cities want their pollution fixed, why aren't the Feds forcing this to happen. They can raise local taxes to fix it. It's Ok to allow that pollution to continue but the Feds are going to imposes regulations and cost and force a private enterprise out of business. The Feds ignore asian carp and they will be in our lakes soon due to no action. They will bring some true devastation. I'm all for converting the Badger to natural gas but it should not be done in a way that forces it out of business.

Thanks for the update.

If the EPA would get off their back, wouldn't need to spend taxpayer dollars. There is far more damage to the great lakes from agricultural run off and sewage overflows from cities but that is all OK.

Nice catch, would be nice if the fish came inshore for a while this spring.

That's a big steelie, nice job!

Nice job, the king fishing is sure off to a good early start this year.

The fish are going good at St Joe right now out front of the piers and a few miles either way. That might not last a lot longer but there is some good fishing close to port right now. Holland has been real good offshore. The hot ports change as the season moves on. Ludington, Manistee and Frankfort are generally real good in July and August but Grand Haven and Muskegon can get hot too. Ports like South Haven, Saugatuck, Whitehall and Onekama don't get a lot of press but they can be good with less crowds too. Use the info from the reports on this forum and be flexible, go where the fish are biting good.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info Mike, some good news for us indeed. Hope the fish have a great spawn this spring.

Nice catch at the slowest part of the day.

That is about the slowest time of the whole season on Lk Mich. Steelhead fishing can be good out of both ports if the lake sets up with temp breaks offshore. It doesn't set up good for this every year. At this point in time, I'd say it is coin toss between Frankfort and Manistee for mid June. If you have time to wait, hold off till a week before to finalize your trip and you'll have a better idea on what is going on at each port. If you are charter fishing, most of the fleet does not be booked solid in June so you should be able to get a boat on short notice.

Nice catch!

Nice catch!

Thanks for the report!

Nice job!

Great catch Terry!