Michigan Steel

[myt1]

A buddy and I just returned from four days of guided steelhead fishing in Michigan.

We spent two days on the Muskegon River fishing with Feenstra Guide Service, highly recommended; and we spent two days fishing the Mannistee River with D-Loop Guide Service.

The weather was perfect steelhead weather, which is to say we froze our respective asses off, particularly me, seeing how I'm from friggin' Phoenix.

Although the weather cooperated there were other factors conspiring against us.

Two to three weeks before we arrived northern Michigan received 7-8 inches of rain, which brought the river levels up and brought in a ton of fish...they call this "the magic carpet ride".

So, immediately after the rains the fishing was stupid good. People who never steelhead fished before in their lives were catching multiple fish during half-day fishing trips.

By the time we arrived, however, the fish were so fat, dumb, and happy from gorging themselves the previous week they really weren't biting that well, even though the weather was pretty much perfect. At least this is what the guides told us.

This is a long lead in to me saying we really didn't catch that many fish on our trip.

Four days of skagit casting yielded three fish. My buddy and I each caught one in the low double digits and I caught an additional fish not much bigger than a decent sized trout. It was a steelhead making it's first trip back up the river.

It was a great trip and our casting skills greatly improved, both guides were great instructors.

I just wish we would've caught a few more fish. It was a classic "you should've been here last week" trip.

The first picture is my buddies 10 pounder, and the fly is the one I was using when I caught my large fish.

Cheers, Rick

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[Ard]

Hi Rick,

Still sounds like a good trip to me, that's the way it goes so many times when we're after fish who are on the move. Of course it's better to get 4 a day but if you onnly get one in 4 that's way better than zero. I find that unless there is a reason for fish like steelhead trout to put up camp and stay in one specific area they can be difficult to find. I'm happy to hear that you had a good time.

Ard

 

[jr spey]

I fished the Muskegon the week after the extreme high water. While a lot of fish were being caught, most were not caught swinging flies. In fact, a lot of them were not caught using any method of flyfishing. The two of us landed eight fish over ten days and considered it excellent fishing. It's not common to catch dozens a fish a day while swinging. In fact, in almost twenty years of fishing the MO by swinging it's never happened to me. If you want numbers you'll want to indi fish or chuck 'n duck, especially in late October or early November. I'd say you had a fine four days of fishing, especially since the fish were quite large this year. Four of our eight fish were over 10# and biggest was 15# (all weighed.)

 

[myt1]

I really didn't mean to sound like I was complaining.

Last year the conditions were quite a bit worse than this year...cloudless, warm, gin clear water, and no one could even remember the last time it rained...and we managed only one fish in four days of swinging.

We did quite a bit better than that this year.

 

[mcnerney]

Rick
Thanks for sharing the great trip report and photos!

 

[flytie09]

Sounds like a similar trip to the one I just had on a LO trib. Record high flows and rainfall the day before my arrival had me very concerned. 350 CFS -> 4000 CFS.

I get it, when a guide is hired and it's a yearly planned trip, one expects to catch fish.... you caught some which is always a great thing. I had success as well, not boat loads of numbers.... but that's not what I'm after. Expecting huge numbers for steelhead is a dangerous thing for the sport. These fish are not easy to catch. They are one of the most difficult game fish to target. It's not for everyone. The cold, the long hours, the wind, leaves, the 4:00 AM wakeups, light tippets, rain....this is perfect steelhead conditions and what one must perservere through to catch them. Now, my goal is to land one..... doing so to me is a successful trip. It took me at least 10 years of fishing up there before I actually landed a steelhead.

Just remember to enjoy the times and memories that were made, the fish you had a chance to connect with and the beautiful surroundings.

There's always next year. Thanks for sharing.

ft09

 

[jjc155]

Who did you fish with out of D-loop. I have a good friend that guides for them.

J-

 

[myt1]

Who did you fish with out of D-loop. I have a good friend that guides for them.

J-

Nick.

He really helped me with my casting skills.