Black River
"I'd rather be known as a great fly fisherman..." ~ Everett Kircher, Founder of Boyne Resorts
“This is the way forests were in the olden days. This is about the last good country there is left." This is how Ernest Hemingway described the eastern pine barrens of Pigeon River Country, home to Michigan's Black River, the only river in Michigan's Lower Peninsula exclusively managed for brook trout and one of the finest brook trout streams east of the Mississippi. A quaint river with big potential, you'll have to tangle with tag alders if you want to tangle with a quality brook trout, but sometimes the risks are worth the rewards. Much of the Upper Black River is located within Pigeon River Country State Forest, and when fishing for those late season brook trout in full spawning colors, it's not uncommon to hear a bull elk bugle in the distance.
In The Last Good Country, inspired by Hemingway's own experience, fictional protagonist Nick Adams made the perfect statement fitting of a brook trout... "He was strong and heavy in Nick's hands and he had a pleasant smell and Nick saw how dark his back was and how brilliant his spots were colored and how bright the edges of his fins were. They were white on the edge with a black line behind..."
