Trout Ponds and Lakes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: An Anglers Guide (Reviewed)

Trout Ponds and Lakes in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: An Anglers Guide
Christopher Deubler
Siskiwit Press, 1999, Soft Bound, 104 p.
0-9654303-2-4

Glacial retreat left the UP with an abundance of lakes and ponds. Intervention by man and beaver has added to this roster. Many because of depth, spring feed or cold stream drainage retain a stable year around population of trout. Others have been stocked. Christopher Deubler has chronicled the still water fishery in Northern Wisconsin and with this book extends his range to the UP of Michigan. Taken as a whole it is an unexploited fishery.
Unexploited does not mean unknown. John Volker often wrote about fishing beaver ponds and spring holes. It is a different style of trout fishing (see the review of the Morris & Chan book elsewhere in this issue) which has a strong following. There is water to be read and hatches to match that are every bit as challenging as fishing for stream born trout.
Physically, once you get there, it is a gentler form of trout fishing. Banksides are easier than wading, still water is easier than running water and any kind of water craft, even a belly boat can simplify otherwise unreachable lies. It is not all easy. You have to find the pond and then read the bottom to boost you chance of success beyond plain luck and random chance.
This book lists by name 161 Upper Peninsula ponds and lakes with trout. Seventeen of these are singled out for detailed treatment with maps. For the remainder you need to rely on an atlas. Heaven only knows how many secret, hidden ponds await. The sections on tackle and flies are fairly generic and there is no real discussion of hatches. This is a where to go book that opens a little used fishery with the potential for wide appeal. It offers a good start for anyone who wants to try the U. P. RWOL

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