#16- Michigan: Trout Fishing with Hemingway
Our first day in Michigan we tried several different rivers in the Northern part of the state, but did not have many options. Most of the good brook trout streams were already closed for the season. We also had to deal with flooding. It had been raining/snowing for about a week up there and the water was running fast. We had no luck, and decided that the conditions were making it too difficult. That night we drove up across the I76 bridge through the Mackinac Strait separating Lakes Michigan and Huron and entered the Upper Peninsula - a part of America we really wanted to see.
There were more open options up there. We fished at trout pond our first day up there, but also had no luck. The water level was extremely low, and a dam that had been marked on the maps we looked at had been removed, making it much less ideal than we thought.
The next day we drove to the Two Hearted river, to a portion of it that was open year round, and found it was not nearly as flooded as the other places we had fished. A fishing trip here over a hundred years ago inspired author Ernest Hemingway to write his famous story "Big Two Hearted River" for his book, "In Our Time".
Hemingway was about the same age as us when he came. But he was smarter and came in the summer, We hiked and fish our way upstream in the half frozen river. This turned out to be difficult. I did not yet have waders and Daniel only had knee high ones. So we set off in my crocs in six inches of snow, and fished for about an hour and a half.
We had a few bites, and could see some showing interest, and finally I got one to bite in a little dammed up pool. At that point, I had to go back to the car because I could no longer feel my feet. Dan came back with me and was fishing some of the sections closest to the car. As I was defrosting in the car's heat, he walked up and tapped on the window. I looked out and he was holding up a small brook trout he had caught. And so Michigan was done. We left the beautiful upper peninsula and headed west towards Wisconsin that night where we slept in Green Bay.
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