The steelhead fishing on the Pere Marquette has picked up over the last few days. The steelhead have been transitioning from the deep winter water to some quicker pre spawn water. With the water temp in the 40s the steelhead have began sniffing around the gravel. Look for moving/biting fish in dark water below riffles and bubble lines in the deeper water.
Float fishing has been the best method for getting bite. Right now beads have been the goto. With the water staring to warm up the insects will start to hatch. Better have the nymph box on board. Stone fly, hex and caddis nymphs will get bites.
As the water continues to warm the drop back fishing should start picking up. What a great time to catch a steelhead on a streamer or lure! Nothing better than a rip the rod out of your hands kinda take!
Brown Trout
The brown trout have moved into the holding lies behind the spawning gravel. The feed bag is on. The eggs from the spawning steelhead is a great meal for the trout after winter. The spawn moves the trout out of there normal holding lies and into the buffet line. Now is the time. Get out and enjoy mother nature!
Throughout the year, the changing seasons play a significant role in smallmouth bass fishing. Seasonal change affects both the behavior of the fish and the strategies employed by anglers. In particular, the optimal month for Grand Traverse Bay smallmouth bass fishing can vary depending on the season. Spring often boasts a period of heightened activity as smallmouth bass feed aggressively coming out of winter. As the waters warm up in late spring to early summer, smallmouth bass move shallower for the spawn. Therefore, anglers may find the months of May and June to be particularly ideal for targeting smallmouth bass.
Summer
During the summer fishing for Grand Traverse Bay smallmouth bass can be an exciting and rewarding experience for anglers of all skill levels. With the warming temps Smallmouth in Grand Traverse Bay will tend to go deeper than they do in the Spring. However, this doesn’t mean they are too deep for topwater offerings, especially if you’re willing to get up early. Fishing smallmouth bass on topwater is truely an exciting approach to fishing the Grand Traverse Bay.
When targeting Grand Traverse Bay smallmouth bass in the summer it is important to focus on areas with structure. Rock structures such as rocky points, ledges, and rock piles, are all areas where these fish like to feed. Goby and Crayfish patterns are a key food source for smallmouth bass. The key to success here is to find the preferred bait which usually means you will find the smallmouth bass. One thing about smallmouth bass that translates well universally is no food = no smallmouth bass. These guys love to eat and will be found very close to their food source.
Invasive Gobies provide plenty of food for Smallmouth Bass
Fall Fishing
Fall is a prime season for smallmouth bass fishing in Northern Michigan. The Fall is particularly renowned for its abundance of trophy-sized smallmouth bass. As the temperatures begin to cool, these elusive and aggressive fish become more active. They can often be found moving into shallow waters in search of food to prepare for the upcoming winter. The crisp autumn air and vibrant colors of the changing leaves provide a picturesque backdrop for anglers seeking the thrill of battling these hard-fighting Grand Traverse Bay smallmouth bass.
Whether casting along rocky shorelines with Umbrella rigs, targeting submerged structure with swimbaits, or working shallow flats with the fly rod, the opportunities for landing a trophy smallmouth are plentiful during the Fall in Northern Michigan. With the combination of ideal weather conditions and the smallmouth’s voracious feeding habits before Winter, Fall smallmouth bass fishing offers anglers an unparalleled experience on the water.
With more anglers focused on King Salmon and Steelhead fishing many of the best inland lakes and Grand Traverse Bay can be barren of other anglers.
Fishing Techniques
Fishing methods for smallmouth bass can range from using gurgle bugs on a fly rod to drop-shotting deep rock piles off a point. While we primarily enjoy using a fly rod with various patterns such as Goby, Crayfish, and Topwater flies, we also recognize the importance of having a spinning rod as a backup. Windy conditions and the need to approach larger fish in clear water from a distance are conditions that at times are better managed with spin tackle.
In the clear waters of Grand Traverse Bay, smallmouth bass may not always be approachable with a fly rod thus prompting the need for spinning gear. Grand Traverse Bay is known for regularly yielding smallmouth bass weighing in excess of six pounds. These larger bass are old and wise and often require long casts to catch. Additionally, many anglers appreciate the exhilarating challenge of catching and fighting a smallmouth bass on light spinning gear.
Conclusion
Want to experience the thrill of smallmouth fishing in the pristine waters of Grand Traverse Bay where the breathtaking natural beauty meets unparalleled angling opportunities. Northern Michigan is home to some of the finest smallmouth bass fishing in the country. This picturesque bay offers the perfect setting for both seasoned anglers and beginners looking to hone their angling skills. Grand Traverse Bay promises a fishing experience like no other! So come and immerse yourself in the tranquility of Grand Traverse Bay, feel the excitement of each bite, and savor the joy of reeling in a prized smallmouth bass.
https://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/michigan-smallmouth-fishing-0722.jpg480640Jon Rayhttps://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/mangled-fly-northern-michigan-300x181.pngJon Ray2024-03-24 17:38:182024-03-24 17:38:18Grand Traverse Bay Smallmouth Bass Fishing
The Manistee River fishing report below Tippy Dam for the last part of March. With the apparent lack of snowpack, water levels started the week pretty low and clear. However, we received a substantial rain event a week ago Monday night that made the river rise considerably. Fishing the last week started out pretty good, but as the water bump moved through the system it started to change the Steelhead behavior and made the bite more inconsistent and difficult at times.
I strongly urge you to get your spring dates now! Water temps are already over 41 and this run feels like it will peak early this year. The next 20 day window could be the whole show for this spring. Give us a call 231-631-5701 leave a voicemail or drop us a text message and we will get right back with you.
Manistee River
Currently the Manistee River Water Levels are on a drop cycle after some heavy rains and the highest flows we have experienced this spring. Currently levels are 1660 cfs. This will more than likely be our peak runoff event for this spring barring any more heavy rains. Water temps have already exceded 41 degrees and are quickly approaching the 42 degree mark.
This week we saw mostly adults on the Manistee River and some rather large units that left us humbled. Our landing ratio suffered a bit this week as the fish were pretty fresh and more robust in appearance. Until the high water we were still seeing mostly wild fish, especially in the sections below Pine Creek. I suspect the high water will bring a significant number of our hatchery fish home. The hatchery fish tend to show up in larger numbers around our spring high flows with warmer water temps. The Spring Steelhead should be spawning here pretty quick as water temps will likely hit or exceed 42 degrees this week.
Egg Patterns
Once again Egg patterns this week had the highest success rates. With the bumping flows you had to find a pattern bright enough and big enough to grab their attention. I would expect the stones and fry patterns to take off this week as the water recedes. Usually new fish are pretty receptive to egg patterns and then we see a trend where pressured fish will key in on other food items such as the flies I mentioned.
10mm and 8mm beads in light orange with Nuke Eggs and smaller clown patterns doing the best for egg imitations.
Salmon Fry
March is here so bugs and salmon fry will be a main focus for the rest of this month. The river will continue to warm up this week and the stones and salmon fry will continue to become more active. After the Chinook Salmon run last fall, we should have a banner crop of salmon fry in the slack water this spring.
Booking a Trip
Manistee River below Tippy Dam is one of the best west side steelhead rivers in the state of Michigan. Mangled Fly guides are starting to book Spring Dates so please give us a call at (231-631-5701) or shoot us an email . Also not too early to get your Spring Trout trip or Smallmouth Trip on the books.
We have a new sticker too check out in the shop , this sticker is pretty cool so make sure to get yours today. Also have new this year hand tied Night Leaders for those of you that like the mousing for brown trout. We also put together a Night Fishing Assortment that saves you a few $$’s and comes with an easy box to store them in.
Jon Ray
https://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/manistee-river-steelhead-fishing-032124.jpg14401920Jon Rayhttps://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/mangled-fly-northern-michigan-300x181.pngJon Ray2024-03-21 05:03:002024-03-21 15:56:41Manistee River Steelhead Report below Tippy Dam
As we get into the dog days of the summer in Northern Michigan Smallmouth Bass on the big water of Grand Traverse bay I have to be honest got tough. I knew that my first year on the bay I would have periods of “learning”. I don’t mind these periods of learning as lessons will come about, and patterns of understanding these fishes behavior are processed.
The last few with smallmouth moving to some of the deepest water has made it hard to get them to play. Finding fish hasn’t been the problem. But getting them to interact with my presentation has been the challenge. While I’ll keep testing my skills over the next 6 weeks until Steelhead Season starts on the Lower Manistee, I did jump back into the river action the last few weeks. With really low water this summer, smallmouth are definitely grouped up. Lessons learned last year with low water prepared us for what to have ready in the fly box this year.
Grand Traverse Bay Smallmouth
Grand Traverse Bay Smallmouth Fishing
Northern Michigan smallmouth bass the last few weeks on the bay has been a challenge. As learning the deep tactics has been a process. But knew this process was going to take years to learn. With a high percentage of the fish in deeper water than we have fished the majority of the season, getting them to interact with our presentation has been a struggle. With water temps at their warmest of the year, learning how to find colder water has been the challenge.
Like I said I have about 6 weeks until the river calls with steelhead trips, so still have some limited time to learn how to catch the late summer smallmouth. Do have a couple tricks I want to try here in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for updates.
River Smallmouth
River fishing for smallmouth bass
With the bay given me a few speed bumps we transitioned to some of my old beats, I guess you would say comfort zone. Bouncing around a few different river systems we found some good smallmouth bass fishing even with the low water. Food sources that have been working the best pre and post full moon were on two different spectrums. Pre full moon you couldn’t touch a fish on a baitfish pattern, it was all about the spicy crabs or crayfish patterns. But since the full moon, mega amounts of baitfish have bloomed and smallmouth are hunting these bait balls.
Continue to play with the Donkey Rig I talk about in this Northern Angler Fly Tying session , I need to get this tutorial done on our YouTube page. One of my favorite rigs to run late summer. Have another rig that is in it’s infancy phase, that I truly believe can work on the bay as well. Just need to dial the flies and leader setups. But fall baitfish is a key trigger on most of our lakes and rivers.
Booking a Smallmouth Trip
Interested in booking a Smallmouth Bass Trip or going for Lake Trout on light tackle, drop us a message via email, or text/call us directly 231-631-5701. We have open boats available this Summer and Early Fall for targeting Northern Michigan Smallmouth Bass.
I thought I would take a moment to reflect on a “best of our fishing images” collage from 2021 from our Instagram Feed. These are the highest liked images from 2021. If you’re not on Instagram or do not follow us via social media, here is a chance to see some of our best liked images. I thought I would go thru a couple of images and expand upon their meanings to us this year.
Also make sure to read until the end, as Ed McCoy goes into detail about a sea monster he has captured two years in a row on the Upper Manistee while mousing the last two years.
20 Pound Steelhead – top left image and I believe the most liked image from the whole year. First these don’t come along very often, actually for me personally I have never seen a 20 pounder in the boat. With 20+ years of guiding, and too many personal casts to count I’m still on the hunt. Read more about this awesome guide trip below as Steve Pels goes into more depth about this once in a lifetime fish.
Big Muskie – Always a great adventure is our month of Muskie fishing, this year was no different as Brian Pitser of The Northern Angler landed the biggest fish on the season, middle image on the top row. This fish was pretty cool, because it was a blind figure 8. Brian did an amazing job of making the big circles required to get this fish to eat his fly. Not only do these fish make great images, but the flies we throw are fun to photograph as well. As you can see on the middle bottom row. Chicken’ sized offerings are sometimes required, bring your big boy rods to this party.
Underwater Image – every year I always wish I shot more of these, well this year I made a small purchase of new equipment and so far so good. Top right was my first day using the Axis Go and even though a few of my other shots didn’t make the top 2021 images they are my personal favorites.
Middle Row – is all about the steelhead and for Best Fishing Images steelhead are some of the best images I can get for the likes on the Instagram. Middle row shows of a big spring buck, a true awesome winter specimen , and a big late fall buck that we recently just landed. We are lucky to have these fish in Michigan, and thank you to all that helped us with the new regs and let the DNR and NRC that these fish mean so much to us.
20 Pound Steelhead Highlights
20 pounder on the swing
One of the more memorable days in my boat occurred in mid November 2021. My clients were new to me and from our correspondence they have always wanted to try spey fishing but were unsure about it on this trip, thinking indicator fishing could be a good alternative. The night before our trip I double checked about spey fishing and told them that the conditions had been tough, with very low and clear water, not a huge amount of new fish coming in from the lake and a major temperature drop over night. After a short conversation about the challenges we were facing, they responded, ‘let’s go for it.”
On the run upriver in the morning my motor was acting up so I decided to stop sooner than I would have liked at a new run that I had not fished very much. I knew from conversations with my peers that the spot had major swing potential. After arriving to our first spot, we rigged up the spey rods and I began going through the basic mechanics of the cast, how we rig our rods and I jokingly explained rules numbers one, two and three if your fly gets grabbed. Rule 1: “Don’t do anything.” Rule number 2: “Don’t do anything.” Rule number 3: “Only do something when Steve tells you to.” We were getting into a good rhythm of cast, swing and step. My clients caught on quick and were getting their casts and swings dialed in. On our 8th anchor drop, the morning silence was broken by the most gratifying sound of short reel bursts, “ZZZzztt, ZZZzzt, ZZZzzt.” My first response is always, “leave it, leave it, leave it” but at this point, the fish was most likely already hooked. After a few more solid pulls and one sustained scream of the reel, I said, “go ahead and give me a light lift, it’s on!” The fish was clearly not pleased with its situation and proceeded to take multiple runs, jump 7 times and once we thought we had it beat, gator rolled and threw the hook.
Again silence filled the boat. We remained positive throughout the remainder of the day and had a lot of fun telling jokes and getting to know each other. Runs number two through four produced no action and I knew we were losing time. Run number five was a confidence spot and on our 3rd anchor drop my client fishing from the bow gets a promising rip. Then nothing. We worked that spot thoroughly, while thinking that was our last chance. Our time was up for the day but on the way out I thought, we have to hit one more, another confidence spot. We fished another hour after quitting time and I announced “two more casts guys.” On the last casts we were letting the flies hang down a little longer than normal and we admitted that it turned out to be a good swing day – they were pleased they learned how to cast and both got to feel the raw power of a swung fly take. Out of nowhere, the client fishing from the stern froze, his reel was screaming, I said nothing and he confidently lifted the rod, knowing that fish was on.
Its first run took us nearly to backing and each time it neared the boat, ran downriver like it was headed back to the big lake. The fish was tiring, never jumped, but as we were winning the battle, it would make large boils on the surface with its attempt to flee. Finally, the fish neared the boat and I saw a massive silver flash of its flank, I said “big lift!” and with a swift scoop of the net, we had it. This was not an average steelhead, I thought to myself, easy 16-18 pounds. But after lifting it out of the water for a quick photo and measurements, it turned out to be a 36.25” by 20 pound gorgeous wild female. A personal guide/client best in my boat and one that my client and I will never forget.
Two Years in a Row, same trout
Robert P. From 2021
Tim O. From 2020
2021 posed a lot of “interesting” scenarios on our local Trout water. Low water, big cold fronts in May, intense heat in early June, then followed by a wet and warm late season. Robert P. Joined me for a couple of nights mousing in August and he landed a personal best and the season’s best Brown Trout on our second night. This fish was truly a treasure, but after further inspection and a gut instinct, it occurred to me that Tim O. landed this same fish in 2020! So what’s the big deal? You knew the exact location where this fish lived, right? The cool part of the story is this fish was caught about 13 miles upstream from her 2020 location!
Kind of a cool story and it makes you think, why the big move? There are lots of factors that play into fish movement, but my best guess is this fish is just nomadic by nature. It also illustrates the importance of catch and release angling allowing future anglers to enjoy the opportunity at a fish of a lifetime!
https://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/twenty-pound-steelhead.jpg480640Jon Rayhttps://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/mangled-fly-northern-michigan-300x181.pngJon Ray2021-12-31 08:21:002021-12-31 19:38:19Best Fishing Images of 2021
First let me start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year from Mangled Fly! Secondly, I would like to take this opportunity to make an exciting new announcement. Mangled Fly would like to welcome two new members to the team! Allow me to introduce fellow guides and new team members; Capt. Ed McCoy and Capt. Jeff Topp. With the addition of Ed and Jeff, Mangled Fly will be expanding its guide services to include an expanded diversity of angling experiences, more capacity to facilitate multiple boat trips, and more importantly two additional guides with a wealth of experience and knowledge of our local waters.
These are exciting times for us with the New Year and a new outlook heading into 2020! We encourage everyone to continually check out the Mangled Fly website and especially the updated guide pages to familiarize yourselves with Ed and Jeff. We are very excited about the new additions to the team and we are looking forward to the upcoming fishing season. Follow the Mangled Fly fishing reports and our fellow team members on their social media platforms to stay up to date with all of the local fishing conditions in our area. Mangled Fly wishes everyone a Fishy 2020 and Tight Lines as we continue to pursue our passion for teaching the art of angling!
https://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/mangled-fly-fishing.jpg194340Jon Rayhttps://mangledfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/mangled-fly-northern-michigan-300x181.pngJon Ray2020-01-08 10:17:232020-01-08 10:18:40Mangled Fly Guide Service is growing
