Had the chance to guide the past couple days for spring steelhead. Felt so good to get back on the water and do what I love to do. Also I will not lie yesterday’s sun felt so so good. Bill pictured below with a very nice Michigan spring lake-run rainbow.
The video is 16 min long, but the Mr. Brown trout they catch at the 15min mark is worth the wait. Trout season is getting so close here in Michigan, hardest part is going to be getting creative around the boat launches with all our snow pack. Until then a little Oregon trout fishing video.
If you have heard me talk about smallmouth over the past couple years, then you know all about the crabbing technique we use to catch smallmouth bass when they become “neutral” in their feeding behavior. Well during the early spring we will often see similar trends with our steelhead and trout regarding their foraging behavior. Egg patterns are a staple for catching steelhead in the Great Lakes region. Every spring we experience a short window where steelhead tend to go off the egg bite and there are some commonalities associated with this phenomena.
Typically our steelhead population at this time of the year is skewed heavily towards fall and winter holdover fish that are getting ready to spawn and a few new or chrome fish entering our systems. Some of these holdover fish are in pre-spawn mode and/or actively beginning to spawn during the early warm-ups associated with late winter and early spring. As with most fish species, spawning activities will result in changing fish feeding behavior and consequently will induce periods of tougher fishing. Most of the chrome fish will still readily take and egg, but sometimes the holdover fish disappear in our catch rates even though they make up the bulk of the in-stream population. Over the years we have noticed some common themes associated with this trend and this article is only to offer some insight into how you can improve your success during this timeframe, keep in mind this is not meant to be “the answer”.
During the early spring the winter stonefly hatches and the annual spring salmon fly hatches occur with some overlap. As I type this our salmon fry have started to hatch on most of our western streams and we are starting to see some stonefly activity on the snowbanks and fluttering adults on the water during our more recent warmups. The result is our steelhead and trout are starting to take notice! When feeding fish are “hot”, using louder presentations like big flashy flies and brightly colored eggs are a great way to take advantage of the days when fish are feeding aggressively. However, when fish are “neutral” and not feeding aggressively, how do you make something out of nothing?
Sometimes it’s just as simple as fishing something totally different from what the majority of other anglers are using from day to day, but also understanding that there are a couple of things happening below the water’s surface at this time of year that fish may be keying in on. The stonefly hatches are the most obvious to me as you commonly see the insects above the water’s surface and on the snowbanks along the shoreline. The salmon fry hatch is a little less obvious, but equally as important! Most of the faster riffle sections of our western streams that have salmon runs are saturated with developing salmon eggs that begin hatching in early spring. The Pere Marquette being a great example. Have you ever wondered why the guys fishing jigs and waxworms do so good during late winter and early spring?
I can’t honestly say what a jig and waxworm combination represents to the fish, but it does have some resemblance to a young salmon fry or alevin to me. As fly anglers we are programmed to “Match the Hatch” and I would argue the early stone and salmon fry hatches are critical to our success during this period. Eggs will always make up a large part of your success fishing for steelhead in the Great Lakes, but they aren’t always the answer and on some days it becomes obvious. By using a similar technique that I have successfully used fishing for smallmouth, (outlined in chapter 3 of the Big Appetite Smallmouth DVD), replace the crayfish or hellgrammite pattern with a 1-2″ minnow pattern. Fishing weighted minnow patterns under a similar float (bobber) rig can bring you a couple of extra fish per outing. The key is to get your offering tight to the bottom, so heavily weighted patterns are more important than elaborate flies with lots of movement in the materials.
Jigs and tungsten beads offer the tier options for heavily weighting their patterns to achieve the proper fishing depths. One of the best sized steelhead jigs that I have found is made by Wapsi. I like the preformed jig head/hook combinations in the 1/32 ounce size 6 hook or the 1/16 ounce size 4hook. If you like to get creative, you can buy your own preformed jigs and paint to come up with your own color combinations. I powder paint mine to match the colors that I like. White, pink, light blue, and black are all good combinations for the waters that I am fishing on a regular basis.
During a recent outing we experienced the “Egg Blah” as I like to call it, so we switched our presentation to the minnow jigs and small heavily weighted stones which ultimately saved our day. Being observant and willing to change when things are slow are important aspects to any type of fishing. Having some prior experience fishing a body of water always helps too, but understanding what your options are can greatly improve your success. Fishing a small baitfish pattern near the bottom, dead drifting under a float, may not be the most logical solution in the winter or spring, but the rewards can be worth the little extra effort.
So I have to admit I probably could of gone farther out into the river, but I was a scaredy cat. I am pictured below at the boat ramp of rainbow bend standing out pasted the end of the ramp in about 4-5 foot of water. That was enough for me. To say the least the lower end of the Manistee River has some shelf ice.
DamNation – Official Film Trailer from Patagonia on Vimeo.
For more information, check out http://www.DamNationFilm.com
This powerful film odyssey across America explores the sea change in our national attitude from pride in big dams as engineering wonders to the growing awareness that our own future is bound to the life and health of our rivers. Dam removal has moved beyond the fictional Monkey Wrench Gang to go mainstream. Where obsolete dams come down, rivers bound back to life, giving salmon and other wild fish the right of return to primeval spawning grounds, after decades without access. DamNation’s majestic cinematography and unexpected discoveries move us through rivers and landscapes altered by dams, but also through a metamorphosis in values, from conquest of the natural world to knowing ourselves as part of nature.
Found a new material from Spirit River at The Northern Angler in Traverse City to play with on these cold Northern MI days and nights. It’s called Swamp Rat Zonker strips(SRZ). This material comes in Natural, Hot Pink, King Fisher Blue, Orange and Purple. I have been experimenting with the blue and orange for steelhead tubes. There is a sexy translucency to the fur that makes it shimmer in and out of the water.
When the weather breaks I will put in some more on the water R&D, but I fished these flies on the Big River with Jon Ray and Erik Rambo back when the weather co-operated in January and had 2 grabs on the swing, so the fish seem to like them too!
These flies are kind of a hybrid of old school streamer and “scandi style” tubes with few little twists. The first twist is that the SRZ has a hole punched into it and then is slid onto the tube so that it stands up nicely against the hackles as opposed to being lashed down flat on the tube. The other technique is that the front collar(s) are the SRZ spun in a dubbing loop with the skin cut away. It is then picked out with a needle. Speaking of the skin, it’s very thin and holds very little water making these flies very easy to cast. The wing also undulates, shimmies and shakes very freely.
This material is perfect for substituting in any fly that uses rabbit strips- Zuddlers, strip leaches etc.
Happy tying!
Check out the Podcast (15min) at MidCurrent with SA’s John Van Vleet. John breaks down the new Sharkwave. Excited to see this new line, sounds awesome can’t wait for trout season.
Patagonia’s Fly Fishing Blog has recognized our work and posted the latest trailer , the Midnight Creepr Tailer is getting some very nice positive feedback. We keep working hard in the editing room, on the full length version. Thanks for all the thumbs up and shares.
Grand Traverse Bay Smallmouth Bass