Happy New Year

No this isn't an April fool joke it's fact. It seems the record keepers would use April 1st as the start of the new year. It made sense back before the 1500's if you survived the winter and made it to spring you could celebrate a new year. Somewhere along the 16th century a pope or king agreed with some high thinkers and changed the start of the new year to January 1st like we do today. Well some don't like change and refused to do it and in the largest case of peer pressure at the time backers of the change played tricks on the disbelievers on April 1st each year. Even though we all consider the first of the year January 1st some still wish to tease on this day but don't fall for it. From alligators in Traverse City to Great White Sharks in the Detroit River don't believe them.
What you should believe and already know is that this is the first day of a new year, the fishing year. As of April 1st you must have a new license to fish in Michigan. With this walleye run it can be very easy to focus on the fish and forget about the license but don't. There are many bait shops in the area to get your license and that info is on my bait shop link. If you wish you can buy five licenses for the year and receive a 15% discount for doing so. It may be wise to consult the hunting rule book before buying a license for the fall. Particularly deer hunting which can have hunting laws change from spring to fall. If you forget to buy your license before you go fishing and you have a cell phone you may buy a 24 hour license in order to be able to fish legally without having to go back to shore.
Here's a pic of a new year deer. Not a good pic but you can get an idea. I saw this traveling down Biddle on my way to the tax preparer. At first I thought elk but it was a shaggy light brown deer eating corn cobs out of the water. Very skittish so only the long distance photo. Has anyone seen the first cormorant of the year? I can't believe this warm weather hasn't drove them north.

Get Outdoors Downriver.