#7 Marquette, Michigan
Capital of the U.P.
Leading Appeals: Huge diversity of fish, from native brookies to rainbows and lake-run brown trout to steelhead, salmon, lake trout, walleye and pike.
Population: 20,488
Median Home Price: $112,200
Amenities: Upper Peninsula's largest medical center, Northern Michigan University and thriving retail and arts scene.
Bottom Line: Trout share space with smallmouth in the U.P.'s pristine streams, and more than 100 lakes are accessible within a half-hour of downtown Marquette. The deer opener is like a national holiday here.
Contact: marquettecountry.org
One of the best salmon and steelhead towns in the nation is hundreds of miles from the ocean. Just outside this thriving college town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, anglers cast to surly Chinooks, fight chrome-bright steelhead and play colorful lake-run brown trout.
Inland anglers prospect dozens of rivers for trophy brook trout and woodland lakes hold walleye, northern pike, whitefish and crappie.
But Marquetters save their vacation time for deer season, when the U.P.'s public land fills with downstaters looking for trophy bucks. Bear, ruffed grouse, ducks, coyotes, rabbits and a growing population of wild turkeys provide plenty of hunter days on the Hiawatha and Ottawa national forests and smaller state parks of the area.
"The coolest thing about living here is the public access," says fishing guide Brad Petzke. "I fish hundreds of miles of rivers every year and, because of our liberal stream laws, there are only a few spots you can't access."
Fishing is always good in the streams that feed Lake Superior and trophy lake trout are available in the big lake itself.
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Comments (5)
that is a trophy elk
Have lived in Marquette for 15 years but will relocate soon. Was a great town but now dominated by local university (with zero academic credentials) and too many students from urban areas (Chicago, etc.) that see us rural folks as "easy pickins." Sexual assaults and property crimes now exceed the national average. Still, though, a good area to visit and shop.
This is one of the great pieces you have done to facilitate the town's chamber of commerce in getting their town exposed for more growth and business expansion. I doubt that the local outdoorsmen were very excited to find you exposing their treasure and placing them on the map. Down the road they will be competing for rocks to stand on when the steelhead and salmon runs are in full swing. They'll also be looking for new places to hunt when they find their old haunt invaded by strangers. I know this from my own experience that this is a heavy personal price one pays for progress. Once the big money shows up, they'll buy your old haunts that you've hunted forever and privatize them. Then it's "Say-la-vee!"
Well written with a lot of good information for a sportsman to consider if he/she is looking to relocate.
Nice Pictures don't think i'll be moving anytime soon though
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This is one of the great pieces you have done to facilitate the town's chamber of commerce in getting their town exposed for more growth and business expansion. I doubt that the local outdoorsmen were very excited to find you exposing their treasure and placing them on the map. Down the road they will be competing for rocks to stand on when the steelhead and salmon runs are in full swing. They'll also be looking for new places to hunt when they find their old haunt invaded by strangers. I know this from my own experience that this is a heavy personal price one pays for progress. Once the big money shows up, they'll buy your old haunts that you've hunted forever and privatize them. Then it's "Say-la-vee!"
Well written with a lot of good information for a sportsman to consider if he/she is looking to relocate.
Nice Pictures don't think i'll be moving anytime soon though
Have lived in Marquette for 15 years but will relocate soon. Was a great town but now dominated by local university (with zero academic credentials) and too many students from urban areas (Chicago, etc.) that see us rural folks as "easy pickins." Sexual assaults and property crimes now exceed the national average. Still, though, a good area to visit and shop.
that is a trophy elk
Post a Comment (200 characters or less)