#14 Middle Branch River, Michigan

After a great night of fishing on the Hersey I traveled north to Cadillac, spending the night at the Days Inn on 115 just past the narrows between Lake Cadillac and Lake Mitchell. In the morning I headed to the Frosty Cup for breakfast and to consider my next move. Should I continue on toward Bear Creek or backtrack west on 115 to fish the Clam and Middle Branch rivers. I decided on the later, turning off 115 onto 20th and left again onto 50th where an access site is maintained at the Bridge. Before pulling in I crossed the bridge to check out the river. It was more of a creek than a river, and I was surprised to see what looked like a boat parked along the bank upstream. I turned around and pulled into the parking area alongside a van and suited up. My first stop would be the boat. I called down to the two people working on the bank asking if the river was really deep enough for a boat. They said they just walked the boat up and down the river. On closer inspection I saw the boat was rigged for shocking fish and that the two workers were busy measuring and weighing fish. I walked down and introduced myself and learned that the two were from the University of Michigan. The gal who seemed to be in charge said she was working on her dissertation, attempting to determine what impact decaying fish had on the ecosystem. They had apparently dumped some dead fish in the river last fall and were now measuring the impact. The removal of a dam which permitted previously blocked anadromous fish to spawn and die in upstream tributaries would, she believed, cause an impact on the native fishery. One of her concerns is the movement of Lake Michigan contaminants past the current barriers. Since the local fish would prefer to eat the nutrient rich eggs of the spawning salmon over their normal poor nutrient base, the contamination of the local fishery seemed likely. So here I am with my MSU hockey hat on talking to a UM grad student about the possible negative impact of dam removal when just the day before I had been fishing at a dam removal site. There is so much negative talk in the fishing journals about the negatives, it was at least interesting to consider a positive aspect of dams - as barriers to keep man made stuff at bay. Their buckets contained small fingerling trout, suckers, and loads of scalpin which must be the main source of feed. They had recorded only one brook trout. I headed on down the river to a location they said had some good holes but had no luck, so I ventured back to check on their progress. They had moved upstream as I could hear their generator running during the shocking operation. I entered the stream above them at what looked to be a sand trap which I fished in earnest unsuccessfully, fishing down to where they were recording their find. "How many tons of dead fish did you dump in the river," I asked. "Well, we only put 30 fish in, 10 salmon and 20 steelhead." This astounded me. They put just 30 dead fish in the river and were attempting to record the environmental impact a year later! She was dead serious in her work so I didn't question the effort. "How is your writing going," I asked. "I'm struggling to make it interesting, but this type of writing is intentionally boring." When I suggested she buck the trend and spice it up a bit, she thought it might not be well received. With that I headed back to the car to explore the Clam River. Two days in a row now I have encountered people concerned about the world we live in and trying to do something about it.

Weather: 70 degrees, sunny

Access: 50th avenue north of 20 mile road