Enjoying a personal day on the river, trying to find some different angles to capture the release of a great fish, the Great Lakes Rainbow.
Great Lakes Steelhead Sticker available for a holiday stocking stuffer.
Early season (late Sept – Novemeber) is all about the chrome, but now as winter sets in. This year especially with mother nature giving us plenty of snow and cold so far, the red-strips are making a strong appearance. Big bucks with single and double strips are starting to show up in our catches. Yesterday in the snow this big buck gave us his best, and his rosy checks just plain stood out.
Winter steelhead fishing is truly in full effect and plenty of fish around for a great day. Check out the fishing reports at hawkinsflyfishing.com as we play through out the winter. Give me a call or shoot me an email if your interested in a full or half day.
Kevin Feenstra and I decided to get in the holiday spirit and offer the Smallmouth DVD at a new Holiday Special price of $22.99. A perfect gift for under the tree or in your stocking. Order now and I promise to get it to you for Christmas.
Another upper teens Lake-Run Rainbow (low sodium) scored on the Big River. Jay Turner holding a 15 – 16 pound brute. Great fish Jay. Nice job. This winter when they fish turn into double strippers, maybe triple strips???? I can’t wait to photograph them then.
While most the recent press on midwest swinging flies talks about using two hands, single hand rods or switch rods work just as well. One of my personal favorites is the Scott L2H 1158/4. Pictured below is Ralph from MA enjoying MI steelhead and putting the Scott L2H to the test.
Nice part about battling the big boyz of the 2013 fall steelhead with the streamer rod, is that you can battling them with 12-15 pound test tippet. Pictured below is Robert from OK with the largest steelhead landed so far with a streamer. Great fish Robert. Would guess the fish to be 14-15 pounds.
The rain had finally stopped, I had the camera set up with the proper ISO, rapid fire was engaged, and my 70-200 with IS was ready. But this steelhead just would not leave the comforts of the river. As water temps have dropped into the 40’s now (48 yesterday). My season of capturing the ultimate jump shot is shrinking. Oh well.
On a positive note last weeks swing game was great. This week I’m looking forward to the challenge of high water. Yesterday with water levels going from 1700 to 2500 cfs we still found a handful of players. Once water levels maintain for a few days and I dial in the color combo’s, I expect a good week on the streamer game again.
With everything about perfect right now to swing flies. Perfect river temperature, plenty of steelhead around, and the desire of anglers and guide. The fly tying bench has been getting some serious use the past couple days. Shot this photo with the use of a UV light to bright up the egg sucking head of this leech pattern. More photo’s of patterns and successful steelhead trips coming soon.
Kean O. with a great fall brown trout in epic colors. Great day on the river yesterday, seeing the old trout water one more time before old man winter locks her in. Streamer fishing was pretty consistent, while not too many would actually put the streamer in there mouth, plenty came out and played with it. Great job Kean getting the couple when you had the chance.
Better get ready to rumble this year, as fish are bigger than normal on the West side. Pictured is Jon with a big boy from the Manistee River from this Friday, Oct 11th. Two-Handed rods are start to come out, as heavy angling pressure is pushing the fish off of the gravy train and into the spots I call home.
Grand Traverse Bay Smallmouth Bass