The BackCast Podcast

The BackCast Podcast episode 58 with guest Michigan Author Joe Heywood

Richard and John are joined by author Joe Heywood.  Joseph Heywood is the author of The Snowfly, Covered Waters, The Berkut, Taxi Dancer, The Domino Conspiracy, the ten previous Woods Cop Mysteries, Hard Ground: Woods Cop Stories, Harder Ground, and the Lute Bapcat Mysteries Red Jacket and Mountains of the Misbegotten. Featuring Grady Service, a contemporary detective in the Upper Peninsula for Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, and Lute Bapcat, a Rough Rider turned Michigan game warden in the 1910s, Heywood's mystery series have earned the author cult status among lovers of the outdoors, law enforcement officials, and mystery devotees. Heywood lives in Portage, Michigan.

The BackCast Podcast episode 57 with guest Joe Hemming of Anglers of the Au Sable

Richard and John are joined by Joe Hemming, President of Anglers of the Au Sable.  Joe practiced law in the Detroit area for 35 years, specializing in family law and mediation/arbitration in the area of business law. He received his J.D. degree from Wayne State University and his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University. He currently is pursuing a master’s degree in history.

 

Joe picked up fly fishing as part of his mid-life crisis in the late ‘90s and never looked back. He rapidly honed his skills through Trout Unlimited’s fly-fishing school, then found the perfect little place on the Au Sable River near Wakeley Bridge to lure his family into the fly-fishing fold. Joe, his wife Betsy, and daughters Erin and Caty, have enjoyed this slice of Heaven since 2001.

 

Joe joined the Anglers of the Au Sable several years ago and is honored to be part of this fine organization. Aside from being President, Joe is one of the attorneys who represented Anglers of the Au Sable in the fish farm fight involving the old Grayling Fish Hatchery. He had also been active in the efforts to halt oil and gas drilling along the Mason Tract. Having majored in history in college, Joe is an avid history buff and enjoys gaining historical knowledge about the Au Sable River and surrounding area. He also is a lifetime supporter of the Lovells Township Historical Society and member (and past board member) of the Au Sable River Property Owners Association. In addition, Joe is a member of Fly Fishers International and Trout Unlimited and a past member on the Board of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Alliance. Joe plans to stay actively involved in the protection and preservation of the Au Sable River for many years to come.

 

The BackCast Podcast episode 56 with guest Chris Wood of Trout Unlimited

For episode 56, Richard and John chat with Chris Wood the President and CEO of Trout Unlimited.  Founded on the banks of our very own Au Sable River; Chris now leads this organization in the endless quest to protect and promote cold-water conservation.  We enjoyed this chat and hope that you do, too!

Beyond being an avid outdoorsman, Chris is the author of numerous papers and books.  You may read some of Chris’ articles, here. 

 

The BackCast Podcast episode 55 with guest Richard Alexander

John and Richard sit down with Richard Alexander.  Richard is a Salt Lake City native who has spent a good portion of his adult life collecting and fishing with vintage fly rods and fly reels. Over the years he has joined and participated with online fly-fishing forums buying and selling rods and reels. He began photographing each item as it passed through his hands, creating a rich photo library of the rare and historical items he had grown to love. To share his passion for vintage fly tackle and insight of antique rods and reels, he created the Antique Rod & Reel Library website www.antiquerodandreels.com . The website was designed to help anyone identify the items in their possession by comparing them to the rods and reels in the online library. Richard is always excited about sharing his knowledge and experiences with anyone interested in vintage fly tackle.

 

Over time, Richard began to identify a niche in today’s fly-fishing market. There was a reason people loved these old fishing items, and he would often hear them say, “They just don’t make them like they used to.” Richard sought to fix that. Combining his love for flyfishing and passion for the sport, as well as almost forty years of experience in engineering design, machining and manufacturing, the RC Alexander Imperial 125 was born. The Alexander Imperial 125 is a modern evolution of Heddon’s Imperial 125 that gives the fisherman the classic look and balance of the vintage reel but the robustness of today’s modern materials and machining tolerances. The Alexander Imperial 125 is machined from solid aircraft grade aluminum bar stock with internal components being made from todays lighter stronger alloys. One characteristic of the Alexander Imperial 125 is an agate line guide as found on the original 1924 version of the reel, along with the three-position check adjustment added to the post WWII reels. The Alexander Imperial 125 reel can be ordered in left- or right-hand retrieve and in several Cerakote colors shown on the website https://rcalexanderreels.com .

 

The BackCast Podcast with guest Greg Corace episode 20 2022 season

For this episode; Richard and I have the pleasure of sitting down with Greg Corace.  Greg is a forestry and wildlife ecologist.  Greg began working at the Alpena-Montmorency Conservation District in 2019. Greg has a Bachelor's of Science (Zoology) and a Master's of Science (Biology) from Northern Michigan University and a Ph.D. (Forest Science) from Michigan Technological University. Greg was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana. Over the last 20+ years, Greg has conducted forest planning, applied research, management, and inventory and monitoring on public and private lands in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For more information on Greg and his past work, visit his ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Greg_Corace  You may also view some of Greg’s “non-academic articles here: http://www.alpenamontcd.org/articles-of-interest/germination-and-soil-scarification

 

The BackCast Podcast with guest Kristin Thomas ep 19 2022 season

This week, Richard & I are joined by Kristin Thomas.  Kristin is an aquatic biologist with Michigan TU.  Among a variety of impressive projects; Kristin has most recently been involved with the placement of large woody debris (big trees carefully placed in the river by a helicopter).  This map link shows the project area. 

The BackCast Podcast with guest Dell Whitman - episode 18 2022 season

This week, John and Richard sit down with expert gunsmith and gun fitter Dell Whitman. 

 

Dell is an upland bird hunting enthusiast, focusing mainly on grouse and woodcock, while also pursuing western and southwestern upland birds. He trains his own bird dogs and owns both flushing and pointing dogs, including a French Brittany and a field-bred English Cocker Spaniel. Dell is an Orvis pro staff member and a technical writer for Shooting Sportsman magazine. Dell enjoys camping, fishing, gardening, beekeeping and shooting 28 GA and 410 GA shotguns.

 

Want to learn more about Dell – search on… D. C. Whitman Custom Gunsmithing, 8455 Maple City Hwy., Lake Ann, MI 49650.  Dell does have a Facebook presence, but not a dedicated website.

 

The BackCast Podcast Michigan TU Youth Camp with Jon Chizmadia and Andy Pokorski

Our guests this week are Jon Chizmadia and Andy Pokorski.  Jon and Andy are two of the leaders involved with running the Michigan TU Youth Camp.  The camp is an amazing opportunity for young people to be exposed to all aspects of fly fishing and cold water conservation.  Amazingly, there are times when some of these spots go open.

 

Jon has offered his TU chapter email address so that interested parties (either as participants or volunteers) may contact him directly.  jonchizmadia@kvctu.org 

 

We hope you’ll find this conversation as enjoyable and inspiring as we did.  Learn more about the camp at this link: https://www.kvctu.org/2022/01/15/2022-michigan-youth-conservation-trout-camp/

The BackCast Podcast with guest Ethan Berger ep 16 2022 season

Greetings everyone.  While our museum season has closed for regular Saturday hours; we have about six more guests before The BackCast Podcast goes into hibernation.  We’re not going to show all of our cards, but suffice it to say we’ll be finishing in a very strong way.

Our guest, this week, is Ethan Berger.  Ethan is the owner/operator of Wing and Hook.  I’ll let Ethan best describe his perspective; “Though I thoroughly enjoy a day on the water by myself or in the woods walking behind my dogs, I have a love for getting other people in the outdoors and being able to share my passion with them.  Whether it's floating down one of the many rivers Northern Michigan has to offer or walking into a cover in search of upland birds, I love to see the excitement people show when they hook into a beautiful fish or get to experience a flush of a grouse or woodcock right from under their nose.”

Richard and I had a great time chatting with Ethan and we hope you’ll enjoy listening.

The BackCast Podcast with guest Robert Thompson episode 15 2022 season

Our guest this week is Robert Thompson, or RT.  We’ve had the pleasure of knowing RT for many years and we’re very excited to share this conversation with you.  RT is not only an angler, but also an exceptional film maker.  The title that many in the Au Sable watershed are familiar with is a film called The River. The film was shown in Grayling, at the Rialto, the night before Opener.  RT has also made some other great films including Spey Daze, The Brothers Brown, Summers (a very neat film about Robert Summers and more.  You may visit RT’s site to learn how you can view these amazing works!  You may also rent titles on his Vimeo site.

 

Thank you to everyone that stopped by last week.  We exceeded our funding goal and even got a little more, so Thank You!  We have a couple of pieces left which will be available this weekend and next, then they’ll be gone.  So, if you still have a desire to help fund future year’s scholarships; we’ll appreciate the help.  We did have a couple of supporters from out of town ask if we would be posting any “leftovers” on line.  We will, it won’t be everything, but a few nice pieces for your consideration.  Those will go up on Sunday (18^th) or Monday (19^th).  It’s kind of an experiment, so please bear with us.  Finally, we’ll close for the season on Saturday Oct 1^st.