Story and photos by Stewart A. McFerran
Trout Madness has a history of infecting the minds of Michigan anglers. Robert Traver wrote about it in a novel by that name. Whether a dry fly is tied to the end of a $1,500 fly rod by a wine sipper, or a worm is hooked to a $19 spinning rod by a beer drinker, all fishers are subject to Trout Madness – even salmon fishers.
The evidence is clear that a virulent strain of Trout Madness has been running rampant at the Homestead Dam in Benzonia. Michigan’s DNR just decreed that no one can fish within 300 feet of the dam until November 15. There are also new restrictions on camping and campfires.
They had to do it. Just last year DNR officers issued 54 civil infractions and made 349 misdemeanor arrests at the Homestead Dam site. The banks of the Betsie River were packed with anglers not leaving the site for days.
MDNR’s Scott Heintzelman said visitors “leave enormous amounts of garbage and accumulations of human waste” at their campsites.
“Additionally, campers process their daily catch and leave the remains of processed fish,” he said. “Roadways routinely become clogged by parked vehicles.”
This writer recently detected a heavy stench as he came within the vicinity of the Homestead Dam site. The heavy boots of fishermen from near and far grind the vegetation into oblivion as erosion widens the river.
Heintzelman said that groups of fishermen camping on the riverbank were laying claim to sections of water. He explained that when others attempted to fish in that section, the claimers would object … and fights broke out.
A notice by the Natural Resources Commission on the DNR’s Michigan.gov website states:
SUBJECT: Order to Regulate Camping on State Forest Lands in Benzie County. Land Use Order of the Director, Amendment No. 04 of 2020. Betsie River is regulated under the Natural Rivers Program, which prohibits camping near the river under R 299.922(u), The purpose of this proposed amendment is to update LUOD 4.10 to also prohibit camping and tending fires due to extensive resource damage occurring at these locations.
The cure for Trout Madness is elusive but may be found on the pages of Robert Traver’s book.
