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Safe in the air-conditioned, fireproof vaults of the Institute for Fisheries Research, Division of Fisheries, Michigan Department of Conservation, Ann Arbor, preserved for posterity, rests a set of the moL interesting books ever written about Grand Traverse county.These books were presented to the state by Mrs. Minnie Wait Nicholson, of this city, sister of the writer.Ed Wait was an enthusiastic trout fisherman during a period when local streams were filled with brook trout. Although one of the proprietors of the city’s oldest drug store, he spent day after day on the Boardraan or Platte or on some of the creeks of the area. •One of the interesting things he did was to map stretches of the Boardman river, marking in nearly every snag or log jam.He also sketched the entire Mitchell Creek watershed.A year or more ago, with Plarold Titus, who secured the diaries for the state, we took the Mitchell Creek map and went out to compare it with the present watershed, fifty years later. With the exception of a few feeder streams which ! had shortened a bit' during that ! half century, the map was as ac-j curate as could be, Ed had mapped every little rill which trickled into the creek.To a fisherman these diaries were extremely interesting.Apparently, at the end of each fishing trip, Ed sat down and chronicled ail the nappenings of the day, listing the number, kind and size of the fish he took. Most of these were caught in the Boardman, but he also had listed several days on the Platte and on Bear Creek.As we recall, he caught no brown trout or, the Boardman. He probably fished before the German trout was introduced here. But he caught a lot of brooks and rainbows. Oddly enough, not many of the fish he caught were of unusual size. Sure, he had a lot of brooks a foot long and some rainbows which went several pounds, but none of them were “tankers.1’It’s comforting to know that Ed’s diaries will be preserved.
Newspaper Details
Traverse City Record Eagle
Traverse City, Michigan, US
Wed, Mar 02, 1955
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Traverse A.
MI, USA 04 Jun 2024
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