Kids at Tippy Dam

[Pitt]

Late season salmon fishing on the Manistee. My twins had a blast

[sherman51]

my friends and family used to fish Manistee lake with me for many years starting all the way back to the year I got out of the Marine Corps in 1976. we caught many fish back then. snagging was legal back then and I got pretty good at getting fish. I looked forward to Labor Day weekend every year so we could go to Manistee Lake and have a blast. I loved going up there more than any other place I fished.

 

but after we got addicted to walleye fishing in Erie we started slacking off on how many trips we made each year. then most of the people that went with me had died or moved away so I stopped going. then about 3 years ago my oldest son and my favorite nephew made a trip with me but there wasn't as many fish around as they used to be. snagging wasn't allowed anymore so we tried bait fishing or as it's called up there line fishing but after spending 2 all-nighters we gave up and came back home to Indiana. It was really rough on me as I was 70 years old and not in great shape but it brought back so many great memories and flooded me with emotions. talked about making another trip but it hasn't happened and I don't believe it ever will. 

 

but my best trip I will remember even after my death. I had bought an old heavy aluminum 18' Cherokee boat and had it painted a bright blue with a huge vinal sticker that said OUTLAW on each side. that trip we made the mistake of using a gaff and left the net at home and every time we stuck a fish it bled like a stuck hog.

 

we had one side of the boat covered with blood. At about 8:00 am a boat came past us and gave us a hard look. some kids had stolen a boat and left it tied up to the bank. after the occupants looked everything over they got in their boat and took off. then made a beeline to our boat which was registered in Indiana. it was a deputy and a LEO the deputy started giving us heck about all the blood then had to see all 4 of our licenses then had to see all our safety equipment, we were good so far but then he wanted to see our vests. I kept them in the floor compartment. I started pulling them out 1 at a time. by the time I got to 8 he came unglued. he yelled you can stop now you have enough.

 

he was very peeved off at us and wanted to ticket us for anything but we were more than legal and even had 2 sets of flares and guns to fire the air flares. As he started to withdraw the LEO started cackling and that just peeved him off that much worse. he never checked another boat even though the south end was full of boats with more out of state boats than local boats and he went WOT until he was out of sight.