water temps mid 60's. fished from 4:30 – 8:00. weeds are finally starting to come up to the point you can see them. We saw 2 good fish, both flared are the boat , and a couple smaller great lakes muskies, one of which found the bottom of the net. pretty cool fish. we've been seeing a bunch of them this year, about 50/50 with northern muskies.
Good talking with you out there, Mike. Love fishing this lake in the spring as one can actually fish over and through the weeds. A lot of pondweed around the lake with some milfoil as well. The ornery swan was up to his usual tricks and moved me off one of my favorite spots. Someone needs to teach that thing a lesson lol. Had action on gliders and twitchbaits.
In surprised that son of a &@"*^ swan is still around!! I've been out with Joe (Pikerule2) twice and one time that thing charged the boat and the other time it challenged us enough to force us to leave our fishing spot. I wish someone would remove that thing!! I wish my APBT was still around cause I'd let him tear that swan apart. I'm surprised no lakefront owner has made a call to have it removed. It's obviously bothering everyone out there.
Mute Swans are invasive species as it is and there has been efforts in Barry county over the last few years to remove them from many lakes in hopes of helping bring back the native Trumpeter Swan population. I wouldn't be surprised if over the next few years you start to see less and less Mutes out on Thorn and a few Trumpeters start showing up.
When I lived on Gourdneck Lake in Portage, at certain times of the year many of the local mute swams would "flock-up" in huge numbers at a time on the lake. One fall we lost count at over 70 swans, and this was on a 200 acre lake. Most of the year there were around a dozen or so that hung around. They are mean and nasty birds that really don't have a predator. I doubt they are any good to eat but I think they need to open a season for them, at least similar to the way they have for Cranes, to curb their population some.
"Smada962" said:
I doubt they are any good to eat but I think they need to open a season for them
They might taste really good… all they eat is lake weeds and if they taste anything like a moose – YUM!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe they haven't opened a season to coincide with early goose. No limit on swans during that season would be great. The state can set the season if they want because the mute is not on the migratory list.
I'd gladly volunteer to take out ole "stumpy". Lol I nicknamed him, I had another name f***face but while filming this punk chasing me, but I decided to change incase my mom saw it. He takes up too many good spots and I'll fight again with him. I've actually thought about pulling up on land and bringing my mouth guard and a case of beer and working him over but I think he will win which would really make me mad and I'd be in trouble. I do have him on film chasing me multiple times lol. I made the mistake of casting somewhat near his lady last year and he hasn't liked me since. The wind is bad enough out there let alone ole stumpy. It won't be a good day when I lose a fish over him 👿
The reason we can't hunt swans is the same reason we cant hunt mourning doves in Michigan, too many tree hugging hipsters think they are "pretty". Instead the DNR has to use tax dollars to quietly do swan culls and bury them in mass where they are problems. One day there are hundreds of swans on the Muskegon river, the next they are all gone…..hmmmm 😈
Check this out
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Looks like if you call the right person that swan will be "taken care of"
“You get rid of the mute swans, and you won’t have any swans at all. Personally, I want to see more mute swans, not trumpeter swans.”
This comment makes me mad. This idiot doesn't understand that Trumpeter Swans are native to Michigan and Mute Swans aren't even native to North America. Trumpeters have pretty much been completely extirpated from Michigan from a breeding standpoint partially because of the mute swan population. They are finally making a comeback due to reintroductions coupled with habitat restoration and the control of the Mute population. It is good to see the DNR doing the right thing here in Barry. I have already seen several breeding pairs of Trumpeters in the area over the last year which is a good sign.
This situation is strangely familiar to a certain situation on Gun Lake with a native fish population being reintroduced where the local idiots are doing everything they can to stop it…hopefully the DNR gets it right in this situation too.
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