Black Friday
Anyone watching the news would likely surmise that the Friday after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. Television news depict all able bodied shoppers flocking to whichever mall or store opens earliest and offers the greatest bargain. Good for them, I hope you find the deal of the year. Good for me, because all those people will be at the malls and not cluttering my out-of-doors. You see, Black Friday is also the biggest day of the year for sportsmen, too.
Driving north on any state highway on this day, you’ll find every pulloff, access point, or two-track has some vehicle parked there. Smack dab in the middle of firearm deer season, and at the usual height of the steelhead run, there’s hardly a better time to be outside in Michigan. At one time, this day would mark the beginning of my steelhead season.
As an angler, this is not the ideal time of year to be wandering though the woods to an access spot. Too many guys with guns out there. And why interfere with their sport anyway? The woods and fields are theirs this time of year, and I am glad of that. Firearms deer season in Michigan deserves reverence. The easiest points are fresh at this time.
The trout stream regulations changes a few years back made Black Friday into a new ballgame. It was no longer a scramble to find the remaining open streams to fish, but a decision on which river to cast a fly. It really revolutionized trout fishing in Michigan, and along with it, my options for Black Friday. To be honest, the angling comes second to the chance to head to a nearby watering hole and savor tales from the local deer hunt.
This year will find me somewhere in the Lake Michigan watershed in a flies only stretch of river. I know the pillows I desperately need will be at 1/10th their normal cost at 5 A.M., but you’ll find me then at some gas station trying to pour a cup of coffee, and explaining to the cashier that I paid for the gas a the pump whose number I didn’t remember.
