# Michigan DNR has a message for fishermen and hunters during pandemic



## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

See this article in the Freep:
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/2020/03/26/dnr-fishers-social-distancing-outdoors/2921288001/

It has quotes both from Fisheries Division Chief Jim Dexter and Parks and Rec Chief Ron Olson about potentially closing sites where social distancing is not being practiced.


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## HillbillyDeluxe (Mar 12, 2018)

First the governor says go outside, now she's mad that everyone is outside.


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## FivesFull (Jan 29, 2017)

The thing I don’t get is half these people(not the sportsman) never go outside anyways. Then you tell them to stay inside and all the sudden they wanna jam every park and bike trail.


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## whitetail&walleye (Dec 13, 2017)

HillbillyDeluxe said:


> First the governor says go outside, now she's mad that everyone is outside.


That's not it. Packing 3 or 4 guys in a boat, riding to the launch together, handing off the net blah blah blah. 

Just be smart about it guys or we are going to start getting fines and lose the ability to use the launches.

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## bowhunter426 (Oct 20, 2010)

FivesFull said:


> The thing I don’t get is half these people(not the sportsman) never go outside anyways. Then you tell them to stay inside and all the sudden they wanna jam every park and bike trail.


I dont get it. I ride my mountain bike and fat bike year round. 3 to 4 days a week. Today on the mountain bike trail there were people that had no business being there. No proper safety gear, improper bikes. If it were not for the stay at home order they would have never been out. That said I also went fishing today. Solo, and not believe the number of boats with multiple people on them that were clearly not family


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## june bugger (Oct 28, 2015)

Alot of people are not taking this serious enough. I see in Wisconsin they have clarified it's ok to go fishing in your community not drive across the state to go where you want.


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## FivesFull (Jan 29, 2017)

june bugger said:


> Alot of people are not taking this serious enough. I see in Wisconsin they have clarified it's ok to go fishing in your community not drive across the state to go where you want.


I agree. It’s sad because now we have enough data to have an idea of what’s coming and nobody is doing anything to stop it. In a week Michigan will be New York 2.0


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## U D (Aug 1, 2012)

Stupid is as stupid does!!


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## june bugger (Oct 28, 2015)

I know this is not michigan but someone wanted to know where I seen the information, for what it's worth


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## jatc (Oct 24, 2008)

june bugger said:


> Alot of people are not taking this serious enough. I see in Wisconsin they have clarified it's ok to go fishing in your community not drive across the state to go where you want.


Ok. So what does community mean? 
Seriously. If there isn’t an actual mileage from home attached to being able to fish, this still is too ambiguous to be understood correctly.


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## whitetail&walleye (Dec 13, 2017)

jatc said:


> Ok. So what does community mean?
> Seriously. If there isn’t an actual mileage from home attached to being able to fish, this still is too ambiguous to be understood correctly.


Exactly why we cant rely on common sense.
Everyone knows exactly what community means. 

Which one makes sense? Driving 15 to 20 minutes to a local lake or someone driving from saginaw to detroit to fish the river or erie?

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## jatc (Oct 24, 2008)

whitetail&walleye said:


> Exactly why we cant rely on common sense.
> Everyone knows exactly what community means.
> 
> Which one makes sense? Driving 15 to 20 minutes to a local lake or someone driving from saginaw to detroit to fish the river or erie?
> ...


Ok I get it. I live in southwestern Saginaw County. There is not a decent fishing lake within 45 minutes of home. The local rivers are closed to walleye and the suckers haven’t shown up yet.

The closest decent steelhead stream is about two hours from home.

I’ve decided to just stay home because I think it is the best thing to do, but many guys around me are going to go fishing. So I ask again, what is the definitive mileage by law someone can travel to fish?

If the State were to define that, most of the guys around me would not go to Tippy, 6th Street, or the Detroit River.

No joke, most of the guys around me are used to driving to get to decent fishing, so to them any of those places are just their normal fishing spots and it isn’t considered “traveling” to get to them.


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Saturday trips to the dump yard have been uneventful here in Wellston...a ghost town, until this morning. Almost *every single weekender cabin *has 2, even as many as 3 cars in the driveways/yard. Off work? Let's go north and play.


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## garyb (Jan 23, 2003)

whitetail&walleye said:


> That's not it. Packing 3 or 4 guys in a boat, riding to the launch together, handing off the net blah blah blah.
> 
> Just be smart about it guys or we are going to start getting fines and lose the ability to use the launches.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


i can see it is going to get worse, lets see now 3 or 4 guys travel in separet vehicles , i see a parking problem .


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## FivesFull (Jan 29, 2017)

JimP said:


> Saturday trips to the dump yard have been uneventful here in Wellston...a ghost town, until this morning. Almost *every single weekender cabin *has 2, even as many as 3 cars in the driveways/yard. Off work? Let's go north and play.


Prolly people escaping hot spots to bring the virus to your neighborhood


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## piketroller (Oct 24, 2016)

jatc said:


> Ok. So what does community mean?
> Seriously. If there isn’t an actual mileage from home attached to being able to fish, this still is too ambiguous to be understood correctly.


What community absolutely doesn’t mean to drive from from anywhere else in the state that isn’t in crisis mode like Detroit and the greater metro area to the boat ramps in the Detroit metro area, and then possibly take back more of the virus to your own community. It is downright awful that the best spring fishery in the entire Midwest is now the second worst hot zone in the country, second only to NYC.


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## whitetail&walleye (Dec 13, 2017)

garyb said:


> i can see it is going to get worse, lets see now 3 or 4 guys travel in separet vehicles , i see a parking problem .


Ok, if we can't follow the rules we wont have to worry about parking problems at the launch anyway lol

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## john warren (Jan 25, 2005)

I will go fishing tomorrow. alone in my boat in the middle of a lake,,, can't see how I can be anymore socialy distanced then that


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## The Mediocre Fisherman (Jan 22, 2020)

john warren said:


> I will go fishing tomorrow. alone in my boat in the middle of a lake,,, can't see how I can be anymore socialy distanced then that


Sounds like a dream come true, even when there isn’t a pandemic.


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## Splitshot (Nov 30, 2000)

I think the DNR should give people some time to get used to the new rules. Start writing a few tickets and people will get the message. I do worry about those writing the tickets being exposed. Threatening to take away someone's rights just adds stress. You already know the hot spots. Put up some signs explaining the importance of separation. Under the circumstances these seem like reasonable steps to take.


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## Wyandotte (Feb 15, 2016)

It's like others in the thread have said. Even if you try to fish by yourself, people want to get right by you. I went by myself to a little park with a boardwalk you can fish off. Fairly long boardwalk along the Huron River. Now could I stand there without some guy walking up on me wanting to talk? Nope. I moved away from him without saying a word before the lightbulb went off in his dim-witted head and he left me alone.


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## birdshooter (Jan 7, 2006)

I read on mlive they shut down tippy dam today.


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## woodie slayer (Feb 25, 2006)

yup just got a notice on my iphone 7-4 news app that they closed tippy.. people fishing too close
sad


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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

I heard there were several tickets given there yesterday as well as an arrest. Report i heard is they are eyeing another location in the state for a closure


The nice thing is they are addressing it in problem areas and not shutting all accesses down at once.....atleast as of yet.


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

I'll be out myself in my boat fishing tomorrow. Regardless if the virus is here or not, fishing inland lakes this time of year is just like fishing in October. Nobody on the lakes and social distancing isn't a problem. Even at the busiest times on lakes, social distancing is easy on lakes.


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## Wannabe Angler (Oct 21, 2019)

johnIV said:


> I'll be out myself in my boat fishing tomorrow. Regardless if the virus is here or not, fishing inland lakes this time of year is just like fishing in October. Nobody on the lakes and social distancing isn't a problem. Even at the busiest times on lakes, social distancing is easy on lakes.


Where you fishing at in Gladwin County?? Agree Inland Lakes this time of year, are not a problem. If you hit Pratt Lake by chance throw out a report! We have a place on the lake but haven't been there yet this year...(Not exactly a fishing mecca I know...)


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## 98885 (Jan 18, 2015)

Wannabe Angler said:


> Where you fishing at in Gladwin County?? Agree Inland Lakes this time of year, are not a problem. If you hit Pratt Lake by chance throw out a report! We have a place on the lake but haven't been there yet this year...(Not exactly a fishing mecca I know...)


I'm about 20 minutes from Wiggins and Pratt. Near Wixom actually. Haven't been to Pratt since mid Winter. Not even sure it's open yet. Heading to Secord or Sanford. I'll do some research or recon and post what I find out about Pratt. Don't usually fish it much by boat. I typically stick to Wixom or Secord locally.


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## Wannabe Angler (Oct 21, 2019)

johnIV said:


> I'm about 20 minutes from Wiggins and Pratt. Near Wixom actually. Haven't been to Pratt since mid Winter. Not even sure it's open yet. Heading to Secord or Sanford. I'll do some research or recon and post what I find out about Pratt. Don't usually fish it much by boat. I typically stick to Wixom or Secord locally.


Sounds good, appreciate the reports!


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## FivesFull (Jan 29, 2017)

baywulf said:


> All hype. Go fish
> 
> Sent from my SM-G965U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


I fished almost everyday this week... people who still don’t believe we have a serious problem well they won’t until it’s them needing a ventilator


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## Big Hoss (Sep 4, 2018)

I've been fishing most days by myself. Today, went to my land, sighted in a gun. Maybe next week a few tree stand changes, some shed hunting etc...

I look at this virous like a deers nose. What I touch is critical to my success or failure. 

Anyone that uses a scent free regimen successfully, can apply that skill set to this imo, in a weird way, it's a fun challenge. 

Home of the brave. Remember that people!

Be safe






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## wolf76 (Apr 1, 2015)

I try not to comment on these threads much. So, let me remind folks that social distancing doesn't prevent infection. It slows or delays the rate of infection, to help hospitals. It is very ignorant to think you won't be exposed to this disease.
I work in the OR for a living and have been fully trained in communicable diseases.
IMO the best thing you can do is wash your hands a lot and don't touch your face.
This virus can be airborne for 3 hours and is easily transferred. No amount of cleaning will change this.
Also, if you remember correctly, the "reason" for the baiting ban was something to the extent that bait caused deer to congregate and transfer bodily fluids (spread disease). This effectively is the same thing grocery stores/gas stations are doing. 

Also keep in mind that we have anywhere from 15-50 thousand that die each year from the flu. That doesn't seem to bother the public very much - even though we have a vaccine.

Covid 19 is a credible disease. Time will tell if the measures we took were appropriate.

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## sledman (Mar 26, 2014)

Wyandotte said:


> It's like others in the thread have said. Even if you try to fish by yourself, people want to get right by you. I went by myself to a little park with a boardwalk you can fish off. Fairly long boardwalk along the Huron River. Now could I stand there without some guy walking up on me wanting to talk? Nope. I moved away from him without saying a word before the lightbulb went off in his dim-witted head and he left me alone.


So true


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## Captain Jeff Parker (Jan 5, 2003)

Buddy of mine talked to St. Clair County Sheriff. They are ticketing at $100/head anybody in a boat with different address than boat owner. They are patrolling the boat launch


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## eyedhitit (Oct 27, 2018)

Captain Jeff Parker said:


> Buddy of mine talked to St. Clair County Sheriff. They are ticketing at $100/head anybody in a boat with different address than boat owner. They are patrolling the boat launch


Lol that’ll getm! I’m all for keeping it safe but this bull/;;; is no worse than the press


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## eyedhitit (Oct 27, 2018)

So a friend of yours got ticket? Facebook?or a real thing 

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## crossneyes (Sep 26, 2005)

What's crazy is most people traveling to fish are going to the hotspot area .


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## rsgohl (Jan 31, 2016)

https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/dnr-closing-boat-launches-across-the-state

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## DirtySteve (Apr 9, 2006)

rsgohl said:


> https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/dnr-closing-boat-launches-across-the-state
> 
> Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk


These are all river accesses like tippy arent they?


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## The Fishing Pollock (May 9, 2006)

DirtySteve said:


> These are all river accesses like tippy arent they?


They are boat launches with parks that access the West bay of Gt bay. Probably shut them down because someone pushed in the loading dock with a truck at the suttons bay site without permission. Was on the local news up here last week and they were not happy at all about it.


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## Scout 2 (Dec 31, 2004)

Captain Jeff Parker said:


> Buddy of mine talked to St. Clair County Sheriff. They are ticketing at $100/head anybody in a boat with different address than boat owner. They are patrolling the boat launch


I thought you said it was cars with trailers on them not from the same address


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