My morel season has gotten off to a slow start. Last season, I was the lucky one. At the beginning of this season, I couldn’t find one on a white table cloth. My daughter Jourdan was barely speaking to me. She kept asking, “When will we be having morels for dinner?”

We had that dinner Monday evening, but not without some tense moments. About a month ago, I was a guest pie maker at Mrs. Cox’s Pendleton Heights Cooking Class. I promised to bring in some morels when the time was right. When Jourdan found out the morels were going to class, she gave me a stern warning. “You had better not fix those at school.”

I gave Mrs. Cox a few to show her classes. She offered her students extra credit if they brought morels to class. A field trip might be a possibility Friday morning.

I was on my way to North Christian Church in Markleville Sunday morning when I looked at the clock and decided that I would be 20 minutes late. I drove back home, changed clothes and headed for the woods.

Finally, I see this little 2-inch morel. My jinx was over. I found a few more small grays  scattered. My roaming led me to a favorite area. I looked over a spot the diameter of a wash tub and saw morels, and lots of them. I found four touching each other, then five in one tight bunch. There were 22 in that little nook..

I hurried to another woods and found more. This was the fastest I’ve ever hunted morels. Jourdan wanted me back home in time to change and take her to “The Bridge Church” at Highland High School.

This church is especially geared for youth, but I enjoy it as well. The Bridge features Christian rock music (well done) while serving doughnuts, bagels, coffee, juice, and other drinks. One can bring these delights into the service.

When I returned home there were 70 morels in my sack. “Cool” is all Jourdan could say.

I write this column on Tuesday mornings, but first was able to hunt morels for about an hour. Even though early morning temperatures were near freezing, a few fresh morels were up.

This weekend should be prime time to find morels, but from now on, I’ll be hunting them without my old friend, Jackie Baker. He died Monday at age 72. We spent many memorable times in the mushroom woods. He will be missed.

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My good friend Alan Muey sends along a fabulous fish story with directions. He, Sam Manghelli, Jerrod Taylor and Moe Manghelli experienced quite a trip to Michigan last week.

The guys were fishing for smallmouth bass. There is a closed season on bass in Michigan until after the spawn. However, you may practice catch-and-release.

“We fished three different lakes: Green, Platte, and Skegamog,” said Muey. “We all caught smallmouths over 4 pounds, but most were 2.5 to 3.5 pounds.” Largest smallmouth of the trip, 5 pounds, 12 ounces, was landed by Taylor.

The hot lures were jerk baits, crank baits and tubes.