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

New Friends, Michigan Natives, and Fishing Trips

Yeah yeah, it has been a long time since you all have heard from me. A really long time. That's the bad news. The good news is that I have been fishing a lot. From native Smallmouth Bass to Steelhead, we have been covering the gamut in the past three months. From the biggest wild Au Sable Brown I have ever seen, to a tough but fulfilling Steelhead trip to New York state, I have certainly been getting mine. Have you been getting yours?

Larry H, a very good friend and client landed a 27" Brown trout with me on a moonless night in September. It beat my personal best by a full inch, and it was a truly spectacular hook-jawed male. Three casts prior to landing this fish, he landed a 22". Not too bad for night that started rather slow.

John J, the "Pine River Jedi," has been showing me around the Smallmouth Bass waters in the tri-city area. Catching between 50 and 80 fish each time out sure is a tough job, but someone has to do it ; ) During the extreme heat of August this past year, his info was key when the northern trout waters became too warm to fish.

Jared M is a newer fishing buddy with whom I took several fishing trips with over the past three months. Originally addicted to the pursuit of catching a salmon via a legitimate hookup, it was hooking a Steelhead on the swing that eventually left him shaken and wild-eyed.

Blake H is another new fishing buddy. In fact, he is new to fly fishing. In our time together, he has described fly fishing as a "religion," and the river as his "church." Seems to me that he has the bug for sure.

Finally, my son Jack is doing great. We started him casting a fly rod this fall, and he took to it very quickly. A picture of our casting sessions can be seen below. It was great watching him cast the rod while laughing uncontrollably. In fact, it was priceless.

The fishing is good and the company is better. Steelhead are in the rivers, deer are in the woods, and there is definitely no better time of the year to be a Michigander than now. And again, I apologize for the time lapse in reports and stories. Please look forward to many more blog entries to come!


Larry's 22 incher, imagine his surprise when...


Three casts later he landed this 27 incher!


Lil' Jack casting with flare


Barr's Slump Buster with a twist


Zoar Valley, New York


Emerald Shiner imitation


This fish hit HARD!


She put up a great fight on a 5 weight Hydros


Myself with a Michigan native, the Smallmouth Bass


The Pine River Jedi

Small Streams, Big Fish

Most every diehard fly angler has an opinion about creeking. Some love it, others hate it, and some of you out there may say, "what the heck is creeking?" Personally, I consider creeking as fishing in a stream that flows at less than 100 cubic feet per second. In Michigan, it is most common across the northern lower and upper peninsulas for brook trout. In these environments, the further one walks from the access is directly proportional to how many fish one will have a chance of catching. Some small streams harbor brown or rainbow trout or other gamefish, and some hold steelhead.

Fishing a small stream can be frustrating. At times devoid of fish, and at times loaded with them. Figuring out the timing in these streams can be a daunting task. One day you think will be perfect turns out to be a bust. A day starting with low expectations ends with double digit hookups on steelhead. You just never know how the fishing will be, and this is the beauty of creeking.

Productive fishing in small streams requires stealth and adaptability, in that order. Stealth is required to stalk the fish in the shallower rivers, and good adaptability allows the fisherman to fish every spot properly. On any given creeking river, I will employ 3 tactics so as to fish every spot. The first is my go-to method, the bobber. The second my old go-to method, chuck and duck (except with split shot, not a sliding weight). The third is a method I learned from a regular on a river I used to fish. It involved, in his case, a large pyramid sinker and spawn. He would basically "glue" this rig to the bottom, and then wait for a steelhead to bite. It was very effective. I adopted his rig, and scaled it down for fly fishing. It too has turned out to be very effective.

Learning these methods is essential to creeking. Hiring a knowledgeable guide can help tremendously. More just a fish locater, a good guide can give a client knowledge they will employ for the rest of their fishing life. The ability to read water is a perfect example of also a quality a good guide will give you. Below you will find pictures and descriptions of 3 types of water one will find on any given great lakes stream. They are nowhere near all of the types of water a fisherman will encounter. But all of them, at certain points of the year, will hold fish.

THE SLIDE

This type of run is a "pinch point," explained as a point in the river that concentrates fish during heavy runs. Spots like this produce on both big and small rivers alike. In small streams however, they are very important.

POCKET WATER

This type of water holds fish before, during, and after the spawn. When you see long faces around shallow gravel, look to the pockets for fish

SLOW POOLS

Great winter time holding water. Take a long slow pool and dissect it piece by piece until you hookup or cover the hole. If you do hookup, let the hole rest and then fish it again...

These 3 types of water can hold fish both individually or consecutively during a run. Learning where steelhead are located and the techniques used to catch them will greatly enhance your time spent on the water. There is nothing like leaving the stream with a smile on your face.

Great Morning

Had a chance today to explore a small great lakes trib that I had not visited in a while. When I arrived the water was very stained, but the particular river I was fishing has a reputation for this. When I decided to fish despite the conditions, I had no idea what to expect. I soon found out however, that the steelhead and trout had absolutely no problems with the stained water. They bit well all morning, mostly on egg patterns. While the two steelhead I landed were skippers, I hooked 2 others that were each around 4 pounds or slightly larger. A lot of small, wild steelhead smolts around today, a very good sign for the future.

Small stream steelheading has a special allure to me. Hooking and fighting a raging steelhead in close quarters requires stealth, precise drifts, and good fish-fighting ability. I learned to salmon and steelhead fish north of the 45th parallel, where the rivers run cold and clean. For example, one of the rivers up north is so clear that a person can literally stand on the riverbank and count the stones on the river bottom in a 6 foot deep hole.

I took my early lessons learned from those northern steelhead rivers, and applied them to other small rivers in our state. Tight little roll casts, the kind you may not learn from a casting instructor, become normal on the stream. A 6-inch difference in a drift can make a world of difference. Holding water is different. In fact, fishing a small stream is just that, different.


20" hen skip


lil' smolt


19" male skip


bobber fishing a good run