Trout fishing in Northern Michigan is a great way to explore the beauty and tranquility of our Northern Michigan streams. Michigan is blessed with over 20,000 miles of designated quality trout water. Our streams typically have Brown Trout, Brook Trout, and Rainbow trout or some combination of the three. There are current plans in place to reintroduce Arctic Grayling as well. Michigan harbors some famous rivers such as the Au Sable, Manistee, and the Pere Marquette River where Brown Trout were first introduced into the United States in 1883. Northern Michigan streams offer year round trout fishing opportunities and our peak hatch season occurs from late April through early September.

The Upper Manistee River holds a special place in our hearts. This river is considered our home water and the river changes tremendously from its head waters to the tailwater section below Hodenpyle Dam. The upper sections of the river resemble a typical spring creek and tend to have higher abundances of Brown and Brook Trout. The primary hatches we see annually include the Hendrickson, Sulphur, Mahogany, Isonychia, Brown Drake, and Hex hatches. These hatches give anglers great Dry Fly fishing opportunities throughout the hatch season. The larger trout in the Upper Manistee will often be found feeding during the mentioned hatches.

Brown Trout are our primary focus throughout most of the Upper Manistee River, but some sections will provide anglers opportunities to catch Brook and Rainbow trout as well. We target Trout with a variety of techniques and we base our approach upon current conditions for specific times of the year. Typical approaches commonly used to catch trout in Northern Michigan include Streamers, Dry Flies, Nymphing, and Night fishing. Having success while Trout fishing in Michigan relies heavily upon day to day conditions and seasonal changes.