Let's get outdoors, Northern Michigan! Moms, morels and Mancelona bass

Now that the trees are sprouting that incomparable olive green, other things are blossoming in the outdoors in our area. Here are some highlights:

Morel Madness: May is morel mushroom season and the woods are already filled with thousands of local and visiting Michiganders out hunting for the fabulous fungus.

If you have a hankering to go morel hunting the Michigan DNR has an interactive map at mi-morelsmushroomtracker.com. It features large burn sites in pine forest areas that are often optimum for morel growth. Up North places that they recommend include two Cheboygan County sites – one just southwest of Black Lake and another just northeast of Wolverine. Several burn sites are also found in Otsego County’s Pigeon River Country. Or, perhaps, you should disguise yourself as a cedar tree and follow that neighbor who always seems to know where to find the tasty toadstools!

For more information on these mouthwatering mushrooms visit the Midwest American Mycological site at midwestmycology.org.

Mancelona Bass Bonanza: Speaking of festivals, don’t miss the boat to the 63rd Annual Mancelona Bass Festival. The event takes place from May 31-June 3 and will showcase a wide variety of activities for all ages. Events include a carnival, entertainment tent, 5K run to benefit schools, classic car and bike show, ice cream social, chicken bar-b-queue, and water-ball and corn-hole tournaments! For specifics grab the free Weekly Choice newspaper supplement or visit mancelonabassfest.org. Tasty bass recipes are also featured.

Honoring Outdoor Moms: I have fond memories of my mother-who passed away 16 years ago this summer-describing her fishing trips with her mother, my Grandmother Maude McCleer, and her brother, my Uncle Jim. Essentially, as a young woman she was the official row boat oarsperson while the two more seasoned anglers barked orders as to which Williamsville Lake lily pad patch she should steer towards. My dear mother, always the optimist, said, “It was fine, it was good exercise and I got to spend time with my family!”

Another wonderful memory from our McCleer Farm near Pinckney was having fresh bluegill for breakfast, no less, which were always cleaned and gutted the old-fashioned way with bones in. I remember my grandmother, who fished well into her 80’s, being absolutely offended when I served her filleted pan fish one time!

A much more modern woman of the woods is my wife, Lydia, whom I’m immensely proud of. Lydia is a trailblazer for women in the outdoors. She was the first woman to host an outdoor television program in the nation (titled “Huntress” with co-host, chef Heidi Wilson), is a frequent free-lance outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press and USA Today newspapers, globe-trotting tourism writer, and mother of four. Lydia even dropped a Saskatchewan black bear with a bow from a tree stand while 7-months pregnant with daughter Natalya! We recently enjoyed a lovely Mother’s Day downstate with her strong matriarchal Ukrainian family including Grandmother Tamara, mother Alexandra, and aunt Olya. All of these ladies also live in harmony with the outdoors enjoying activities including skiing, biking, gardening, and yoga.

So, honor thy mother, mother-in-law, and grandmothers. After all, it’s because of them that you’re here to enjoy our utopic northern Michigan outdoors!

Outdoor Fun Fact: Speaking of ladies in the outdoors, the first mention of fly fishing was published in the Treatise on Fishing with an Angle in 1496 by English writer Dame Juliana Berners. More than 150 years later her work greatly influenced Sir Izaak Walton’s classic, The Compleat Angler.