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6 days ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
One of the topics I’ve repeatedly covered for Michigan Outdoor News is the ups and downs of the water levels in Michigan’s four Great Lakes (five if you include Lake St. Clair). Those water levels have fluctuated from extreme highs to extreme lows since MON began publishing in 2000. I remember over-zealous accounts of the damage high water levels were causing, including warnings that low-lying roads, piers, and buildings would soon be inundated by the rising waters.
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3 weeks ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
Most “fishing” boats are equipped with a livewell to keep the fish alive for one reason or another. Great idea. Catch a fish, unhook it, toss it in a livewell and they’ll be alive and well until the angler wants to do something with them. Or will they be alive? This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com. If you are already an OutdoorNews.com subscriber, you can log in here.
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1 month ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
My first fishing trip of the season was successful. The cohos were in southern Lake Michigan, right on schedule, and my friend and I caught our limits plus a bonus brown trout. This column isn’t about the baits, the place, or the other strategies that made a fun day on the lake. It’s about the work at the end of the trip. The marina we used has a fish cleaning station, but of course it wasn’t open. This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com.
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1 month ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
Once upon a time, Chuck, an employee at a company that manufactured Dacron fishing line, popped into his supervisor’s office on a Monday morning and said, “Hey boss, got a minute? I’ve got an idea for you.”“What’s up?” said the boss, tilting back in his desk chair. “You know how our Dacron line is hollow and how sometimes we set up the machines to braid the line around a slightly thicker strand of Dacron to make it stronger?
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2 months ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
The first time I attached a short fluorocarbon (FC) leader to the end of the nylon monofilament spooled on my reel was more than 25 years ago. I’ll admit, I was skeptical. The hype I’d read about fluorocarbon seemed to imply that fishing with it could be an almost magical experience. The advertising indicated fluorocarbon line was less visible to fish than clear monofilament line. I couldn’t see any difference – could the fish? Did it really make much difference to the fish?
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2 months ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
I was at an after-dinner gathering of fishermen hailing from several states recently. It was what many would call a “bull session” where fishing tales, opinions, jokes, and other more or less important discussions flowed freely. One of the participants, a resident of New York, said something about selling a bucket of perch. It wasn’t the point of his story, just a sidebar, but it caught my attention. “Back up,” I said. “You sold a bucket of perch… perch you’d caught yourself?
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2 months ago | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
I’m not a film critic or movie reviewer. Few of the great movies (as proclaimed by true motion picture pundits) are on my personal favorites list and few of my personal favorite films ever got rave reviews when they were released. Take this glowing column about a new film I’ve recently viewed titled “The Fish Thief – A Great Lakes Mystery” with skepticism. I liked it, but I’m not predicting the producers of the movie will walk the red carpet in Hollywood on Oscar night.
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Feb 1, 2025 | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
As I write this it’s cold and snowy outside and there’s little beyond my office window tempting me to head outdoors. To pass the time I surfed the Internet, wondering where the next click would lead. I came across a story about a river in British Columbia (the Cowitchan) where biologists found numerous hybrid salmon, the result of natural interbreeding between king and coho salmon. I named them “king-hos” in my mind. This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com.
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
Much of the world changed thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still living in its aftermath and will be for the foreseeable future. Decades ago, much of the Great Lakes fish populations changed due to invasive sea lampreys infesting the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes are still living in the aftermath of the “lamprey pandemic.”Granted, conflating these two pandemics may seem a stretch, but there is a connection between them.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
outdoornews.com | Mike Schoonveld
My son-in-law couldn’t get away to hunt in the early part of firearm deer season when the temperatures were warmer than normal. By the time he made time in his schedule it was the last few days of the season, and the temperatures had crashed to unseasonably cold levels. Not only were the temperatures in the lower teens but the wind was in the upper teens, creating wind chills down to below zero. This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com.
