Your search returned 5 items (most recent reports for all waters in ) Now showing items: 1 - 5.
AuSable River - July 12th, 2010
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:80 °FISHING: Excellent
The tarpon spawn is over for this season. Singles and small groups of fish will be cruising the barrier islands off Venice for the next few weeks, as well as in the backcountry mangroves in Charlotte Harbor. Ten months from now we get to do it all over again! Capt. John and I had a very good time with tarpon. That means our clients caught a respectable number of fish, lost a bunch more, and had shots at hundreds! John and I took the day off Memorial Monday and I stuck an 80-pounder and another pig that we estimated at 160! He was one large freighter.I’m also extremely grateful to report that the BigPutrid oil spill had absolutely no impact on our corner of the world. Naturally, scientists and environmentalists will be studying Life After Deepwater Horizon for a long, long time. Fortunately, containment appears imminent. In fact, today the Feds re-opened the Texas coast to shrimp trawlers. And Thursday I re-open dry fly fishing on the Manistee River! Yep. I got home last Thursday and spent a couple of days getting reacquainted with Kate, Ghost, Heart and my classic Au Sable Longboat. The gear’s been re-checked, and I’m all set to take Dave White, from Cincinnati, on a wade trip in Deward Thursday evening. He’s staying at Treetops Resort in Gaylord for some sort of conference, and believes that an evening on the water would sooth his soul. I believe he’s absolutely right.The reason I believe that is because fishing has been outstanding on both the Manistee River and the Au Sable River, according to everyone I’ve talked with. With luck, we’ll hit a spinner fall of Blue Wing Olive mayflies (Baetis) in the evening hours just before dark. It’s a good thing I visited with my ophthalmologist, Dr. Mark Johnson, before I left Venice. My new prescription will come in damn handy for tying on those size 18 and 20 olives. Of course, the REAL challenge will be tying on the tiny Tricos that Tom Spence sent me from Minneapolis. Talk about dust motes! I guess I’d better get busy and tie some before I use and abuse Tom’s samples.The good news for those among us with less-than-perfect vision is that the hoppers are flitting about all over the place. That means mid-afternoon fishing for big browns. YES! My favorite trout fishing time of the year is here. Some Isonychia are in the air, and size 16 Cahills have been spotted on the Au Sable South Branch. I’m hearing of sporadic Hex popping up here and there, so if you plan to swim deerhair mice or toss streamers after dark, stick a few of them in your vest. You could be in for a real surprise! Don’t forget that it’s only about a month until the White Flies (E. lukon) begin to swarm over the Big Water below Mio. If you’ve never hit that hatch, let me tell you it’s one that you NEED to experience. How do YOU say “A bazillion bugs!” Those big brown trout set their fins like an anchor and simply inhale hundreds of bugs without even twitching a dorsal.Then it’ll be time for Chinook! But lemme let you in on a little secret. If you sneak over to the Little Manistee real quiet early one morning, you just might find some king salmon swimming around over there right now!Another little-known late-summer Michigan phenomenon involves gigantic stoneflies. Now I ain’t sayin’ they are Pteronarcys californica and I ain’t sayin’ they ain’t. But “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…” All I DO know is that a wise man would be in Michigan come mid-August with a whole bunch of big stonefly nymphs and dries in pale yellow, olive, and gray.WOW! That just carried us right into ants (make SURE to have flying ant patterns in black and cinnamon!), beetles, crickets, and smallish muddler minnows in September. Which then carries us right into TA DAH!!! Grouse Opener on September 15.My, my. This certainly is the finest time of year to be in Michigan!ENGLISH SETTER UPDATEGhost wakes up every morning asking if it’s time to go shoot some grouse and woodcock. She doesn’t care if it’s 42 degrees or 82 degrees. All she knows is that Life As She Knows It involves two things. Birds and Dad.And I thank God for it every day. Heart, who turned three in June, also has really dialed into the program. He’s punched out darn near all of the screens on my 36-foot-long porch trying to get at the mourning doves that eat the sunflower seeds that grosbeaks and jays scatter out of Kate’s feeders. I swear, he’s as excited as a 16-year-old boy on his first night at The Mustang Ranch. Between them, this should be a very interesting bird season!MONTANA Capt. John has been catching rainbows to 20 inches on the Madison with big stone nymphs, size 14 pheasant tail nymphs, and size 16 caddis (pick a color!). Salmonflies have been on the river from Eight-Mile Ford all the way up to Windy Point. Fish Pale Morning Duns in late morning and caddis in the evening. Look for brown drakes emerging on Henry’s Fork in the evening, and spinner falls in the morning. Tight Loops,Capt. Tony
Manistee River - October 6th, 2009
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:48 °FISHING: Excellent
OCTOBER 6, 2009
WOW! What a rollercoaster we’ve been on this past month! Between trout fishing, salmon fishing and upland bird hunting it’s been an absolute whirlwind.
So, lessee. Start with trout. Both the Au Sable River and upper Manistee River have been producing good rises of brown trout and brookies. Size 14 mahoganies seem to be the best, followed by size 18 olive and tan elk-hair caddis.
I’d have to say the most disappointing aspect to this summer was the absence of grasshoppers. August was cool and damp. I guess it simply shut them off, and that’s a shame because the Hopper Hatch is my favorite of the year.
Dennis Pace, who owns the advertising agency in Lansing for which Kate freelances, brought John Willy of Ferris University north a couple of weeks ago and we floated the Manistee.
There weren’t a lot of fish rising, but the guys “pounded-em-up” and caught a couple of very nice brookies and some respectable browns.
Last week, the Association of Great Lakes Outdoors Writers (AGLOW) held it’s annual meeting at Treetops Resort in Gaylord. I volunteered to take some of the fellows fishing and hunting, and Paul Beachnau, Executive Director of the Gaylord Convention and Tourism Burea readily accepted.
So, P.J. Perea, managing editor of the National Wild Turkey Federation magazine and Paul Smith, outdoors editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, went to the Boyne River in search of Chinook salmon.
Guess what? We found them! The run is still very fresh—which is understandable since the Boyne is only seven or eight miles long!—and both of them hooked up several times.
Since the Boyne is so small (Kate wades it in hip boots during the summer) actually landing these 15-to-30-pound salmon is a challenge. But the guys had a great time tangling with them in such a beautiful environment.
I was back on the Boyne last Friday with Dan Laczynski and his old high school pal Stan Matoska. Dan’s fished with before in Florida, and decided that both of them needed to get out of Chicago for a couple of days.
Dan’s a muckety-muck with Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, and Stan’s a SWAT Team cop. Talk about PRESSURE!
We had floated the Au Sable from Thendara to Wakely the previous day—absolutely gorgeous with blue sky, sunshine, and fall colors on most of the trees. The fish even co-operated. Sort of. They raised a respectable number, if not spectacular.
But they certainly got all they wanted on the Boyne. The grin on Stan’s face in the Featured Photo tells you all you need to know! Now they just have to work out the logistics for a trip to Florida. Winter Getaway? Summer tarpon migration?
Ah, so much to do, so many fish to catch, and such little “free time.” But, as I’ve mentioned before, Sparse Gray Hackle once wrote “The trout do not rise in Greenlawn Cemetery.”
The lower Manistee below Tippy Dam and the Pere Marquette River near Baldwin also are loaded with Chinook, and steelhead. It’s a great time to be fishing and hunting in Michigan.
Speaking of hunting…
ENGLISH SETTER UPDATE
I took Phil Larson, of Boone, Iowa, and Brian Smith upland gunning during the AGLOW week and Ghost and Heart showed off pretty well. They put up seven grouse and eight woodcock. All of them are still flying!
John Hamilton, Peter Burchfield, and Mark Bolish—all from Ligonier, PA-- fared even better last week. Sort of. Ghost and Heart “flew” 18 grouse and 9 woodcock during the day we spent together at several of my favorite coverts.
Alas, the only bird that fell was a woodcock by Peter.
Heart, who’s two years old, still needs some “training wheels,” so Bill Ross and I put him on the ground yesterday after Ghost had a bump on her leg looked at by Grayling vet Paul Mesak.
Little Guy was doing great. Then a grouse must have flushed out ahead of him. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS later, as we were finally leaving the cover after leaving my hunting coat on the ground, Ross stopped his Jeep and walked back to me cradling a very wet boy in his arms!
After we got home I took Ghost out front and she nailed four woodcock. Unfortunately, I performed miserably on the two at which I had shots.
So, with heavy rain in today’s forecast I took Heart out front. He worked very hard, stayed with me, and had one point on a grouse that got skittish and flew out of the alders before I could get into position.
We had one other woodcock go up—right in front of the house—but neither Heart nor I had anything to do with that. I think he’s just a wily bird who’s heard the beeper collar before!
We’ll see. I’ve got a lot of trips booked during the next two weeks. Let’s hope the weather—and Heart—co-operate!
Upper Manistee M72-CCC - October 11th, 2006
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:43 °FISHING: Excellent
October 11, 2006
MICHIGAN
This is absolutely the ULTIMATE time for a Cast & Blast getaway in northern Michigan. King salmon have filled the rivers, and the upland gunning for grouse and woodcock has been superb.
In fact, Steve Shihanian is driving north from Lexington, KY, even as I type, exactly for that purpose. He’s packing fly rods, shotguns and a couple of English setters for five days of blissful fishing and hunting.
The fact that the “S”-word is in our forecast daunts him not at all. “I need to get away from the horse country for a while,” he said earlier this morning. “I don’t mind a little snow on the ground.”
Great attitude!
Great conditions, too. We’re averaging more than seven birds per hour (grouse and woodcock combined), which has given my clients a lot of excitement.
Jo-Jo Dorian was with me last Saturday, and he experienced the best we have to offer. The sunshine turned the aspen leaves a brilliant gold, the maples were flaming red, and the oaks were a deep burgundy.
Ghost and Ben found plenty of birds for him, and he managed to take home one woodcock. “I am fulfilled,” he said, as we shook hands goodbye. “What a great day to be in the woods.”
Don Schulz echoed that comment Sunday evening and Monday morning after I squired him through several different coverts. He was especially happy that he could contribute a bird to the woodcock pate that he will help consume at my wild game dinner November 4.
Yesterday, Bob Benz (who’s heading back home to Houston next Tuesday) got a thorough walkabout and took a grouse home for his dinner. We saw eight grouse and nine woodcock throughout the day, but Bob had trouble picking them up in flight so his Beretta didn’t go “bang” very often.
He and Jo-Jo are planning on hitting the Hexagenia hatch with me next June. I just hope the weather NEXT year is better than last June.
Overall, I’d have to rate the fishing season as very good. Not excellent, since cold temps (down to 35 degrees at night in late June) mostly wiped out the Hex hatch and spinner fall.
But our Isonychia hatch was long and productive. Same for Dorotheas and Baetis. Caddis, of course, are always prevalent.
The other strange thing about this past fishing season was that the big browns took a looooong time to key in on grasshoppers. Normally, we’re sticking nice fish during the daytime beginning in late July. This year it was nearly September before the big guys started gulping hoppers.
John Jepkema certainly had a blast the day he fished the Manistee with me and nailed an extremely fat, hook-jawed brown just before our takeout at Yellowtrees Landing. It measured 18 inches, but was hefty enough for a 21-incher!
Best of all, Kate was pretty much back to normal after her bout with cancer! She didn’t fish quite as many days as she’d like, but much of that was due to her itch to plant a bunch of trees, flowers, and bushes this summer.
“NEXT year,” she vowed, “I’ll get out at least four evenings each week!”
FLORIDA
Thank goodness we were spared hurricanes this season! Conditions are excellent throughout southwest Florida, and most all of the species are eating flies very readily!
Look at your schedule and get with me to reserve some Winter Getaway days. I’m taking delivery of a brand new Hewes Redfisher 18 November 22, and it’s a real snazzy fishing platform!
I’ve also found a couple more spots that hold baby tarpon, so we’ll have even MORE fun this winter!
Pere Marquette River - February 27th, 2006
supplied by: Silverside Outfitters & Guide Service RECORDED:30 °FISHING: Fair
Steelhead fishing has slowed the last few days on the lower Pere Marquette. Went on a picture trip today with good friend Andy B. and floated a lower section of the P.M. Managed to land a couple steelhead on small Oregon cheese nuke eggs and hooked a few resident browns. Water levels are normal and clear with afternoon water temps. near 36. Stoneflies have been active and the first few salmon fry have been spotted close to shore. Look for fishing to pick up again with the next warm-up.
Patterns to try include:
Stoneflies- small black Tiny Dancer's, Pheasant Tails, Fuzzbusters, and sparrow nymphs. Salmon fry-B.T.S.(Better than spawn) Hex.-rabbit strip Hex., wiggle-Hex. Eggs-nuke eggs in grapefruit, Oregon cheese, and cream delight. Estaz eggs in peach, and orange.
Check out our site (www.silversideguide.com) for recent pictures, and the most updated, honest, fly- fishing reports on the Muskegon, Pere Marquette, and Manistee river systems. Tight Lines! Capt. Fred
Muskegon River - February 20th, 2006
supplied by: Silverside Outfitters & Guide Service RECORDED:20 °FISHING: Good
Rain, snow, hail, lightning & thunder along with single digit air temps. started this past weekend's weather and kept all but the hardcore(i.e. crazy) off the water. The lack of fishing pressure with decent numbers of fish thru-out the system, have made for overall good fishing lately.
The water temps. barely made it above freezing on Sunday but surprisingly the fish didn't seem to notice. The fish we hooked came right away or not at all in each new spot. The chartreuse clown egg hooked most of our fish but the B.T.S. also hooked a couple. The B.T.S.(Better than spawn) is a salmon fry imitation, originally developed by Feenstra, that can be very effective at this time of year. I'll have to admit I was a little skeptical the first time I saw this pattern in a friend's fly box, but have since become a believer in it's effectiveness. Fished dead-drift or on the swing, steelhead, trout and the occasional walleye all find the B.T.S. to there liking once the salmon fry start to hatch out.
Check out our site(www.silversideguide.com) for recent pictures, and the most updated, honest, fly-fishing reports on the Muskegon, Pere Marquette, and Manistee river systems. Tight Lines!
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