Your search returned 5 items (most recent reports for all waters in ) Now showing items: 1 - 5.
Manistee River - July 8th, 2008
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:87 °FISHING: Excellent
JULY 8, 2008
I’m BAAAAAAAAAACK! Nearly two months to the day after I left Kate, Ghost and Heart in Michigan to guide tarpon anglers in Florida I’m BAAAAAACK!!!!!!
So are Hex. But I’ll get to that in a coupla minutes.
Gotta admit that Michigan’s weather during May and June was pretty awful. “No guiding today! not in this weather,” Kate would tell me time after time. Meanwhile, I was booked solid in Venice. Whew!
We saw lots of tarpon. The “hooking” part was below-average because I had a lot of first-timers who were so awed/mesmerized/intimidated by those huge fish they sometimes forgot to cast!
Oh, well. It happens. That’s all part of the learning curve. Next time, they’ll be much better!
Snook, trout, and redfish were wonderful playmates, however. Lots of fish and big smiles from happy anglers.
Anyway, I got back to Deward at 7:30 last night after a gratefully uneventful drive. No flat tires. No near-misses with other drivers. Just some heavy rain south of Atlanta.
The dogs were absolutely THRILLED when I pulled up next to the house. I think Kate was, too, but you never know about wives. Especially as long as WE’VE been married! Just kidding Red. That was a great big hug and kiss you laid on me in the driveway!
Heart has grown tremendously in the two months I was gone. He’s getting to be quite the big, handsome, young man.
Ghost, of course, is perfect in every way. Except fort that left eye she diced and sliced several times over her years of crashing through heavy brush and blackberry thickets. She’s seeing canine ophthalmologist Dan Lorimer on Friday to get THAT handled!
OK, OK. About the Hex!
They’re still popping on the upper Manistee River. Talked with Steve Sendek, fisheries biologist for this area, a few hours ago and he told me the Au Sable’s finished for the hatch, but the upper Manistee is still getting duns and spinners.
Nobody knows how long that will LAST, of course. So, get here quickquickquick if you want to try and hit them this season!
Hoppers will be starting soon, so keep that in mind. White Flies (Ephron lukon) will be covering the Au Sable below Mio in a month and that’s as spectacular a sight as any you’ll ever see in your angling career!
It’s also only TWO months till Grouse Opener. I still have some prime days open in October! If you’re into pheasant, Capt. John has a magnificent lease in central Montana near Great Falls. We (Ghost and I) hunted there a few years ago and it was crawling with roosters.
I’ve got a casting lesson tomorrow (a woman who’s new to the sport and has a float booked with me later this month), but I’ll be dropping the Longboat in the water realquick.
AuSable River - October 7th, 2007
supplied by: Tight Loops Flyfishing RECORDED:80 °FISHING: Excellent
OCTOBER 7, 2007
I had an awful lot of fun last Friday with John Paton and his son-in-law, Gary Cottone. Fortunately, they said they did, too!
John’s daughter, Patty, called me in early July and wanted to know what my schedule was like in late September or early October. “My dad fished the Au Sable River 50 years ago,” she said, “and he keeps talking about it. He’s turning 83 in August, and we decided to give him a guided trip as his birthday present.”
“Does he fly fish much?” I asked.
“No. Never,” she replied. “Is that a problem?”
“Nope. I’m a Certified Casting Instructor for the Federation of Fly Fishers, so I can handle brushing him up on his technique.”
“Great,” she said. “Because they don’t have any equipment at all.”
“They?” I said.
“Yeah,” Patty replied. “My husband will be coming along. And my mom and I wondered if we could maybe take some pictures from the riverbank while they’re fishing?”
And so it occurred on October 5, 2007, that the Paton/Cottone Family Group met me at The Fly Factory in downtown Grayling at 10:30 in the morning.
After the obligatory exchange, everybody bundled back into their respective vehicles and we headed for Guide’s Rest on the Au Sable, a mile upstream of Stephan’s Bridge.
I set out camp chairs for everyone to sit upon and they struggled into the unfamiliar armor of the fly angler. I’d gotten their measurements from Gary several days before, and dang if I didn’t hit it pretty darn close!
That’s the benefit of having been a manufacturer’s representative in the fly fishing industry for 20 years (I sold my territory about 18 months ago). I have LOTS of waders and boots stored inside old refrigerators in my garage. That’s the ONLY way to keep the mice from chewing them up!
So, we got John and Gary outfitted and headed to the river. It was one of those Perfect October Days. Sunny. Warm. Perfect.
Except the fish really weren’t hungry even when John and/or Gary put a streamer pattern in approximately the right spot. John DID get two rises, but I have a sneaking suspicion that neither of those fish had mouths large enough to enclose the bend of the hook.
We spent nearly four hours poking around the Au Sable, and then I could see it was time for John to head in.
It was great talking with him on the river, though. “I was born in Canada,” he told me,” but Dad brought the family to Detroit after my mother died. Her sister lived here in the States, and Dad thought it would be good to have her help raise the kids.
“He never naturalized, though, so I served in the Canadian Air Force during the war. I was a tail gunner on Lancasters. Flew 36 missions in Europe, some with the American Air Corps. I never saw so many planes in the air in one place in my life!”
After mustering out in 1945, John Paton came back to Detroit “and told Dad I was going to get my citizenship papers. It just seemed like I should.”
I asked John how he had come to fish the Au Sable so many years ago.
“I was an apprentice with Ford before working for Borg-Warner,” he said, “and we guys would come up for a couple of weeks in the summer. Threw our canvas (tent) out and got as brown as Indians before we finally headed home.”
“Why did you go so long before coming back?” I asked.
A shrug. “Busy, I guess. Too much to do and raising a family. Three girls. Eleven grandchildren. But this is wonderful. A really grand day.”
And, it was!
Just like today, with Dan Schoeck, Jeff Townsend, and his son, Scott.
I had struck up a conversation with Dick Ritter earlier this summer in the parking lot of McLean’s Hardware store in Grayling. The hatch of his jeep was open, and Dick was sitting next to his English setter.
“I’m a setter guy,” I said, and the conversation was launched.
Well, yesterday Dick called me. “You said you guide in Florida. One of my pals just bought a house in Venice, where you told me you live part of the year. Could you maybe come over this evening and talk with us about the fishing down there? If you’re not guiding, or busy, I mean!
“We’re having rib-eye, and we’d love to have you join us for dinner. Maybe a beer or soda, or cocktail?”
As it turned out, Kate was planning to work way-late on a copyediting job and so she shooed me off with the admonition that “if you turn down a rib-eye roast dinner I’ll KNOW you’re certifiably nuts! All I expect to eat tonight is leftovers.”
OK!
Over dinner, since Dick & Co. also are devout Setter Guys, the talk turned to grouse and woodcock. I casually offered to take some of the guys out hunting this morning, and Brother, they jumped on that point like Ghost on a woodcock!
Speaking of which, she found five of those PLUS four grouse in just under an hour. Eight of the nine are still flying, but one of the woodcock is destined to join 12 more to create the pate’ recipe I gave to them during dinner.
That makes an even 100 birds we’ve seen this season in 13 hours of hunting! Which averages our to 7.7 points/flushes per hour.
It’s been so dad-blamed HOT this season that we can only work the dogs for an hour or two in the mornings—sometimes only 20 or 30 minutes--for fear of heatstroke. BUT the forecast is for daytime highs around 60 starting Tuesday.
Which is precisely why I encouraged Pat Griffith, from Frankfort, to delay our hunt by a day. “Yeah,” he said, “waiting until the temperature drops sounds like a VERY good idea.” Yep. Sure does!
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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