Sault St Marie

[rjsac09]

The wife and I are planning a trip for this summer (June) and are looking for some places. Naturally I sway my decision on where I might be able to get a fly wet for at least a morning guided trip. I have never fished outside of Indiana with a fly rod and have only trout fished a few times on the Little Elkhart. I am wanting to broaden my experience and thought combining a little fishing in with a family vacation.

Has anyone fished the Soo Rapids? I read a good article on it from The New Fly Fisher and was interested in heading up that way this year possibly.

Ryan

 

[rusty 54]

I cannot speak about the Soo, but as you come into Michigan on the west side, there is an abundance of trout fishing. Once you get north of Grand Rapids, nearly every river has fishing opportunities. If the wife is not a fisher, you might head towards Traverse City. You would be near the Boardman and Manistee and there are "wife friendly" activities, too.

Mackinac is not too far away either, and there are casinos throughout the north, if you are into that. I could steer you towards some guides, if you wish.

 

[riderfisher]

I recently had the pleasure of listening to Jerry Darkes speak about his book, Fly Fishing the Inland Oceans, which does have a several page section addressing the St Mary's river and the rapids therein. It was a great talk, and the book is incredible- absolutely chock full of practical advice and information. I haven't made it up there myself yet, but am looking forward to it - and this book makes it a no-brainer.

 

[rjsac09]

Thanks for your input guys. We are still working on some details to see where & when we will be going. We may be heading to Traverse City this spring to hopefully hit the smallmouth spawning for some action on the fly, but that would be for just a weekend.

 

[flyfishmich]

Sounds like a great trip. Glad to have you come through and enjoy Michigan


If you hit Traverse City for small mouth you are gonna want to go later in the spring like late June early July depending on the water temp. If the temp heats up early then the spawn will be a bit earlier. But, when you hit the timing just right you can have your day filled with 3-5 pound smalls and stripe/silver bass on the bay. Which are a blast on a fly rod

The Soo is great fishing. The rapids have to be accessed from the Canadien side. From there you can Wade in. If you get there in before June the Steelhead will still be moving through. Not sure about the Atlantics. If you can pin those guys down I hear there is a great run of Atlantics through there.
I used to live in the Soo I went there for college. I suggest taking in the Lock View Inn and Restaurant on a Friday and have the Whitefish Fry-don't have to get it fried as Cajun/baked is fabulous-it is right across from the locks.

If you want to travel a bit north of there then you can fish the Algoma region. Pike, smallmouth and walleye galore. There's lots of DIY day trips or even fly in caps where you can stay for days. Look into it. its pretty country on both sides of the border.

I am moving to Traverse city in a month and I will have a much better grasp of some nice spots if you want to shoot a message to me before you come out I may share. I've been up there dozens of times to fish but its hard to find a great spot when you are there for a day and with 3 friends that have other ideas of where to fish.

Best of luck and enjoy