Pics and Videos of the Day – Jumping Steelhead

/in /by

Jumping Manistee River Steelhead

Todays post is a few hightlights from the past few days on Mangled Fly’s social media accounts if you haven’t followed us go check out the feed we have been updating a couple times a week on Instagram and our Facebook page. Video above was shot this week on my iPhone as we got an up close look at a steelhead from the Big Manistee River. These fish this year have been strong and full of power and giving us plenty of acrobatic displays. Enjoy the video

Big Colored Bucks

Jeff Topp again with an impressive colored up buck. We refer to male steelhead as bucks for those that don’t know. Males will color up the most and display some really intense red coloration the longer they are in the river. This male has been around since the beginning of the run we would guess. Awesome looking fish, and great work Jeff Topp.

Michigan Fall Steelhead

Pic of the Day – Jeff Topp Steelhead

/in , /by

Check out this great fish from Guide Jeff Topp’s boat. Client is Steve B. with a Big Manistee River steelhead

Fall Steelhead

Fall Steelhead 2019 Update

/in /by
  • Fall Steelhead
    Jerry age 77 with his first steelhead ever
  • Fall Steelhead
    Coho on a streamer
  • Fall Steelhead
    Brett enjoying the Fall Steelhead Season
  • Fall Steelhead
    Aaron’s first steelhead ever

Fall steelhead 2019 update. The Manistee River continues to fish pretty well for fall steelhead. The last few days fish numbers have slowed down as we haven’t received a push of fish in a few days, but with a good number of steelhead in the upper sections opportunity still prevails. While pressure remains high with other boats and anglers you have to have a good presentation to get the job done.

The egg bite has been the main tactic but the streamer rods have started to make it into the rotation as well. Craig had a exciting morning yesterday that I want to expand upon in the next blog. Working with a new single hand set up that I want to go into more details about. Craig as seen above in the picture gallery landed a nice Coho on a ESL (egg sucking leech) and wait to you hear about our other encounter. For those interested in the streamer / Swing bite, Steelhead have set up in the runs where we like them. At least I’ve been finding them in that type of water with the egg presentation. So I believe that the time is right to start hunting the fall steelhead run with both eggs and streamers.

Wish everyone the best of luck this fall, more updates coming. Hope to get to the single hand line combo blog this week as well

Jon Ray

Pic of the Day – Big Steelhead

/in , /by
Manistee River Steelhead

Well so far the Steelhead run of 2019 is very similar to 2018, they are big again. If you remember one of my posts from last year I have the same feeling for this year. The elusive 20 pound steelhead is going to make it’s entrance at some point. Yesterday we had a 15-16 pound steelhead give us everything we could handle with an extremely long run, where the backing knot sure was tested for a longer period in time than I’m comfortable with as a guide. That amount of line out of the rod on the Manistee River with all it’s log jams is never a good thing.

Jim my client did everything he could to just hold onto this beauty. After landing the steelhead everyone was in awe and a simple picture in the net is all Jim wanted. We revived this beauty and off she swam to continue on her journey.

As your headed out this fall be ready for some big battles. Good luck and continue to check back as we share a few pics and stories from the fall steelhead run.

Michigan Fall Steelhead

Fall Steelhead on the Big Manistee River

/in , /by

Back on the Big Manistee for the Fall Steelhead season, wanted to share some quick pics of the first few days back. First impressions are we have some big fish again this year. They are strong and hard to hold onto. Without a doubt these are my favorite fish to chase during the season, the speed and power of these Great Lakes strain of steelhead is truly impressive.

Check back through out the week as I will continue to post additional images and links. Also make sure to follow Mangled Fly on Instagram as we post additional pictures and videos on our Feed and Stories.

Still have a few open dates at the end of November as well and plenty of availability in December too. Open Nov dates are 26,27,29. Contact me if your interested. As reports from my charter lake captains is this run of 2019 Fall Steelhead should be special. Have a great fall!

  • Michigan Fall Steelhead
    Fall Steelhead on the Manistee River
  • Michigan Fall Steelhead
    First Fall Steelhead of 2019
  • Michigan Fall Steelhead
    Pete with a double digit brute of a Steelhead
  • Michigan Fall Steelhead
    Chrome Michigan Steelhead

Bulls and Muskie – Videos

/in /by

Might be a stretch but something similar about Big Bulls and Muskie Fishing. Here are two videos from this week that grabbed my attention. While watching first video their is a quote that really does rings home. The cowboy talks about how intimidating this certain Bull is. I feel the same way when releasing muskie. The power of these beasts is not always on display like Bull riding, but that 8 second ride has too many correlations to fishing a big Muskie.

The second video is about an absolute huge Muskie that wasn’t caught on a fly, but was a least caught casting. Even casting lures all day is a ton of work. So have respect for any method of Muskie fishing that deals with casting, even though I choose to do it on a fly. Give the muskie video a watch, and just imagine that size of fish coming in on your figure 8.

Check out the two videos, you might be asking yourself why the Bull riding clip, well this summer if you follow us on Social Media you saw that I went to my first rodeo, and it will not be my last. While the rodeo in McBain, Mi was a blast I have a desire to go so see a Western Rodeo and this rancher that is working with the PBR events has me fired up. I feel like as a muskie angler I am similar to a cowboy. Again probably a stretch, but I tip my hat to the ladies and work from sun-up to sun down.

Top Water Muskie

Pic of the Day – Muskie Topwater

/in /by

For those of you that know we have had an interesting learning curve when it comes to Muskie on Topwater. Have a future article in the bin that Ed and I are going to co-write going over some of the Do’s and Don’ts of Muskie on Topwater. With the help of some new foam products that we learned about on our Dorado trip, the flies (future YouTube video) we have found a fly that finally acts and hooks up the way we needed it too. Congrats to Ed McCoy for sticking with it and breaking our little curse.

View this post on Instagram

Chug….chug…. Topwater Muskie by Ed McCoy

A post shared by Jon Ray (@mangledfly) on

Muskie on the Fly

Muskie on the Fly

/2 Comments/in /by

Starting my 7th year of guiding in the fall for Muskie and with the help of Ed McCoy we got a great image of an Muskie on the Fly. If you have an interest in booking a trip for Muskie on the Fly in Northern Michigan send me an email. Ed and I both have openings and I’m happy to get you in contact with Ed. We can handle single anglers or multiple boat trips.

Muskie on the Fly
Fly Fishing for Muskie in Northern Michigan
Walleye on the FlyMangled Fly Media

Pic of the Day – Walleye on the Fly

/in /by
Walleye on the Fly
Walleye and a Mangled Fly

Mangled Fly Blog

So let the games begin again, Mangled Fly Blog is going to come alive once again. I here by promise to have more content once again on the Mangled Fly site. I am sorry for the lack of content over the past year, but the focus is back and more images, reviews, videos, and whatever creative stuff I can generate is coming back.

Thank you

Thank you to all those that kept coming back to the site and waiting for content. Again I promise over the next few months your time will not be wasted your click back will be worth it. If you have not followed us on Social Media, check Mangled Fly out on Instagram and Facebook as additional images and clips will be shared. Make sure to follow the stories section as some quick clips about the day on the river are shared there.

Jon Ray