A Touch of Gray

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I hope the holiday weekend treated everyone well. The weather was gorgeous and the fishing has been good. Traffic was about this weekend no matter where you found yourself. It is nice to see that kind of busy in northern. It means people are out enjoying are beautiful state. And yes the mayflies are out in full drake force and you should be too.

The gray drakes are here and the fish know it folks!! If you don’t know the program then you need to come see what all the buzz is about. The Grays are our first big hatch and fish know it. Usually between 7pm or 8pm the mating swarms start and hopefully a good spinner will follow. Grays can be a finicky fly and temp, winds or even light rains can disrupt the magic hour and they will disappear…fast. Sometimes one can get lucky and go out the next morning 8am between 10am and a delayed spinner fall.  Sometimes actually many times you need to be patient and hunt a little but a nice fish will be found with a little touch of Gray.

Blessing of the Bugs

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If you where in town this past weekend don’t be concerned. The thousands of motorcyclists you saw is an annual festival. Blessing of Bikes brings twenty to thirty thousand motorcyclists to Baldwin every third weekend in May. The town gets a little busy but the people watching is top notch and there is great food around all weekend. Very cool event and very needed event for a small town like Baldwin!! Sorry but I only have pics of fish though….cause it is just what I do.

 The sulphurs and gray drakes take the main stage on the Pere Marquette starting this week. If you are on the right riffle or bend you will find good hatch fishing on a consistent basis….finally the wait is over!! Not much to say without sounded repetitive folks. We have been waiting for the Bugs to pop and finally see our first serious hatch. Well the time is here. The first mega gray drake hatch probably won’t happen until later in the week but they are here. Don’t forget about your yellow stones and isonychias, we don’t see a ton of them but trout find them delicious. 

Streamer fishing and nymphing will still produce given the right circumstances but most people and fish are on the dry fly bite the next few months. Hairballs will also start getting a little more attention as our trout go even more nocturnal as the summer progresses. Remember salmo trutta are nocturnal by nature to begin with. Now get out there and knock the dust off your dry game and get ready cause it is about to be good!!

Go Fish!!

 Fish Fries

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I hope everyone had a great mother’s day weekend and enjoyed the family time. I also want to thank the moms of the world for keeping the river traffic free for those of us who could sneek out. Thanks Moms and mom!!! As the weather gets nicer and the days get longer the rivers in Michigan get busier….all sorts of busy. Fishermen, kayaks, canoes, rafts, and driftboats all are out. Fortunately as crazy as the traffic can get you can still catch trout folks!! 

Streamers still are the best producing method in my boat. Fry and stockers are all over the river, making a bite even with low and clear water conditions. It is a great time to see some epic strikes and everyone likes watching there streamer wiggle. Fish have had a very mild winter on the the Pere Marquette and have grown accustomed to feeding freely. Hopefully that attitude continues as they try to keep their bellies full. Nymph fishing has been good to those that venture that path. Bugs have been emerging sporadically most days all afternoon and nymphs are all over under the water doing there thing at this time. The dry fly fishing is close folks but not here just yet.

 The forecast is heating up this weekend and my guess is the dry fly fishing also will. Sulphurs then gray drakes should start to invade are evening skies soon…so get your dry game tuned up everyone.

Now get out and fish Michigan!!

Biggy Smalls

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The Pere Marquette looks good under the current conditions. With water levels up over the weekend the river held a good stain and hopefully fished well for all. We do need more rain soon though or we will see river levels dropping…by this weekend folks…so cross your fingers and do your rain dance.

 The streamer fishing continues to produce with the good weather we have had of late. Hopefully we get rain and that trend continues. Otherwise even with water levels dropping we should continue to hang on to our fry bite for the streamer crew. On the other front… cold weather over the past weekend has stalled are hatches and put things back on a more normal schedule… I hope. There are a hodge podge of stones, hennies, and some sulphurs emerging throughout the day to keep one busy. Are first real Pere Marquette hatch is generally  sulphurs and we should start to see more of them as soon as the day temps increase and more importantly are night temps increase. The third week in May at this rate is when we should see are dry fly fishing start to take flight a bit…bad pun intended.

  I would like to point something out here for second folks and hopefully you continue to read on. We are so extremely lucky to live in a state that gives so many opportunities as an angler. If you add up all the inland lakes,  the big lakes, and numerous rivers across the state it is staggering how much water and how many fish we get to have fun with and trophy fish at that. I was on the Muskegon watershed with my two good friends, an Irish asshole and a fellow Dutchman, fishing trout when McGriff the crimedog caught a beautiful smallmouth and… it was a by catch!! Just got me thinking how lucky we are in Michigan.

Get out explore and catch em where you thought you couldn’t!!

Mad Max

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The steelhead 2017 spring run is officially over folks and the real trout fishing officially begins. The river was busy with trout season opening across state, hopefully everyone had a good time and enjoyed the great outdoors of this beautiful state. The Pere Marquette looks wonderful under the current conditions but with more possible heavy rains in our forecast, very high water may also be in our forecast.

Streamers are fishing the strongest right now as are water conditions demand it. Bigger the better with white, chartreuse, and big Bird yellow being all great choices for your color selection. As long as are water stays high bigger flies are going to attract bigger targets. With all the salmon fry, steelhead par, and freshly stocked trout, pick your patterns accordingly. High dirty water = go bigger with large par or stocker patterns, low clear water = fry patterns or small par patterns.

If you haven’t done much streamer fishing a 200gr or 250gr will work under most conditions on a river like the Pere Marquette. I strongly recommend Airflo’s Streamer Max in a 200gr or 240gr.

 It is a great line for a beginner or an experienced angler. I have used many streamer lines over my 12 years of guiding and this one definitely stands out as one of the most friendly lines to throw. Trust me and go get yourself one if you are a streamer junkie. There is a huge selection of streamers lines out there with many good lines, a few bad lines, and a few absolutely amazing lines to chose from. Most these lines cost between 80 and 100 dollars and are well worth it if you get the correct line for your needs. I recommend going to a local shop you trust is educated in these matters or take advantage of Google, or you are welcome to leave  questions on my contact page.

Now get out and fish!!