Springtime in the Mitt

Hey there folks,

I have been very busy around here the past couple months. Work, fishing, and watching little Jack grow up have pretty much consumed every waking moment for me lately, though it hasn't been at all bad ; ) In fact, it's been quite good.

Fishing has been VERY good. I can't remember ever having a steelhead run like this year. Maybe I'm just too young to remember the "good old days," but the numbers of fish have been impressive to say the least. Last week, the Pere Marquette looked to be in the peak of the salmon run, which, for those of you in the know, means INSANE numbers of fish. Only this time, they were STEELHEAD!

Though the hookup to landing ratio hasn't been great with hot spring fish, hookups have been plentiful and many have been giving us a full aerial display.

On the West side of the state, the steelhead run is winding down, but the East side is just heating up. I'll bet there will be fish around into June over there. I can only hope that the West side was only a precursor for what the East side has to offer this year.

I CAN'T WAIT for trout season this year! With all of the water in rivers across the state, the Brownies will be fat, sassy, and STRONG this spring. The first good dry fly day is something I look forward to every new year. There is nothing like watching a solid brown sipping a bug off the surface...

Whether it is steelhead, trout, Walleye, smallies, or muskies, our state has a ton to offer in the way of fishing. Pick your poison, and get after em', because there is no better place on earth for a fisherman than Michigan in springtime!


I see a reflection...


Chrome Hen


Ken with a nice Buck


Yours truly with a bruiser


Nice fish Paddy


EB Brown


Mike M. works a slot

Newbies

Had the chance to take good a good friend and fisherman "P," out this past weekend. New to the fly rod/steelhead game, but not new to fishing, we set out to hook (and hopefully land) his first steelhead. We accomplished the goal...twice. I also threw one in the mix and overall we had a very good day.

I just may get more satisfaction out of watching a person hook/land their first steelhead. The king of freshwater. The standout part of the day was when P hooked into a dime bright steelhead. It took him for a nice ride and soon parted ways, but it left an indelible impression on both of us. Very cool moment.

For those of you more experienced steelheaders, try and take someone out who is newer to the game. Challenge yourself. The results can be even more rewarding than hooking the fish yourself.

Long Winter

As I write this, I am looking out the window at one and a half feet plus of snow. There certainly is no lacking in the white stuff this year. No lacking in the cold department either. It has made things tough on the open water fisherman. Many of my favorite stretches of stream are frozen this time of year.

Icefishing "scratches the itch," but it certainly does not do the justice to cabin fever that a dancing steelhead will. This year has been slow on the hardwater front as well, with chub fattened Walleye that are reluctant to eat. We are catching dinks, but keepers are few and far between. Underwater camera pics show their presence but an overabundance of shad in Saginaw Bay this year has them fat and sassy.

Every "warm up," in the weather has harkened me back to the stream. On the west side of the state, we have been managing about 3 tangles with chrome a day. The east side rivers are frozen (some of the west side rivers are too).

Went fishing with new friends Matt and Paul this past Sunday. New to the PM, but not new to steelhead fishing, these guys are good fisherman. They approach a day of fishing like a puzzle to solve. Each drift can give you another piece to the puzzle.

Matt wraps some sweet rods. You can check em' out here. These really are some of the nicest looking rods I have ever seen. The guy wraps a great looking bug too...

Paul is a west coast fisherman. Not Michigan's west coast, the real west coast, Western Washington to be exact. Paul has the confidence and steelhead sense to be successful anywhere he fishes.

All three of us landed fish yesterday, going 3 for 4 total on chrome with about a half dozen trout thrown in. Not too shabby for a 32 degree day. We didn't even get to fish some of the more consistant producing spots as there were quite a number of folks out there as well.

This time of year can hold surprises. Pockets around heavily fished holes start holding fish as they disperse because of the commotion fishermen bring. Finding these spots can make or break your day.


Close Up


Headshot, Matt's fish


Matt with chromer 2/6/11


Cold fishing 1/9/11


Hooked up in the slush 1/9/11


Doing the "Steelhead stab"


Paul's fish


2/6/11



Yours truly with a double stripe buck


Beat up buckeroo from December


Streamers designed to piss off a steelhead! (hopefully)


23 inch Wally




A rod that Matt wrapped, check em' out here

Some Days

Some days are better than others, or so goes the phrase, which seems to describe fishing to a tee sometimes. On Saturday, Jim and myself walked in on a fairly pressured piece of water and managed to hook 5 Steelhead between us. Jim went 2 for 3, I went 0 for 2. Got the big donut. It's only the second time its happened since December. Jim and I fished hard all day, and saw more people in boats then on foot. Friends I talked to faired well also. It has been a great winter over there, with good numbers of fish in most West Michigan rivers.


Jim with a nice hen


This fish was sweet. Notice the scar on its jaw. It provides good roof of catch and release regs working. It enables a single fish to be caught a number of times. In winter, the catch and release sections of any given steelhead river will almost always hold more fish.

Pressured Water

The Pere Marquette is a beauty of a river. A piece of water with countless tributaries, it also provides constant steelhead fishing during the wintertime, primarily because of its spring fed properties and the amount of regulation on the "flies only, catch and release" section of the river. These two items allow for a perfect mash up, where spring fed water decreases anchor ice, and strict regs keep fish in the river and off the grill. It gets fished a lot. Its been said that the fish here are Phd's in egg flies, nymphs, and streamers, having seen them all in the past couple of months. In fact, they have probably seen just about every variation of these bugs imaginable. In this type of situation, changing up your presentation can pay big rewards, and Saturday proved that big time.

As Kyle and I gloomily made our way through the hole we were fishing the third time through, my drift was approaching its end. As my bobber and fly began to swing in the current, a hard strike jolted me out of zombieland. A quick fight ensued, and soon ended after the fish managed to break me off while going in full bore towards some wood. Still, I began to figure out that it was going to take some out-of-the-box thinking to produce on that day.

Fishing for 45 minutes more, Kyle lands a really nice brown out of a very odd spot in the hole we were fishing. As I moved back to the top of the run, I thought in the back of my head that this will be the last time through. It was getting rather dark after all, and I definitely didn't feel like being there as night befell us. Plus, the fishing had seemed to drop off anyway. So, I decided to go against conventional wisdom and threw a large weighted streamer under the bobber. In the clear, pressured water, I thought that throwing a piece of meat might jolt them awake. A few drifts later with the streamer produced the fish pictured at the bottom of this entry. All together, we went 1 for 2 on steel with one awesome brown trout thrown in in about 4 hours of fishing. Another killer day on a memorable river.

Phil's Dish on Fish - The Introduction

Hey Folks,

Welcome to my web site. This site has been a long time coming because I have been busy, well, fishing. This site is dedicated to helping beginning anglers delve deeper into the sport, for novice anglers to understand why learning how to fish is a never ending process, and for expert anglers to compare notes. I will also be posting guide specials as well as interesting stories and insight as to fishing and all its wonders.

In particular, the species I target and guide for include large predatory brown trout, steelhead, brook and rainbow trout. I also fish and run guide trips for salmon and walleye as well. In general, I love to fish, whether it be for walleye through the ice or brown trout on mouse flies in the middle of the night. I grew up spending a large part of the summer, including most of May, June, and August, at our family's cabin on a prime section of the famed Au Sable in Northern Michigan. I still spend most of my summer there, running guide trips and fishing for my own personal enjoyment. I learned to night fish on the Au Sable at the impressionable age 9 and was "hooked". I caught my first Hex trout at age 10, and my first 20-incher at age 12. During these years I also learned to steelhead and salmon fish with my uncle on the Pere Marquette, or "PM" as it is affectionately known among flyfishers. He taught me the ways of "chuck & duck," and I learned to indicator fish shortly thereafter.

Simply put, I love fishing and guiding, and this is why I put up this site. So, make yourself at ease, check out my recent reports and pictures, look at my "how to" pages, and contact me at phils.dish@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Thank You,
Phil Cook