Before I hunted there, my only conception of the flats was when I glanced over at the sunrise on my way to work, latte in hand. Even then, I only noticed the mountains in the distance.

Once the sun crept over the horizon the fish started to go on the feed. We had a slack high tide and little to no wind to begin with. It was really easy fishing with 2 or 1 ½-ounce sinkers.

There are four easy access points along River Road, 10 minutes south of Traverse City: One at Garfield Road, two places on River Road where the road crosses the stream and at Shumsky’s Landing.