Manistee River Steelhead Report

Manistee River Steelhead Report below Tippy Dam

/2 Comments/in , , , , /by

Manistee River

Manistee River Steelhead Report

Steelhead fishing Below Tippy Dam

The Winter Steelhead Fishing Report for Below Tippy Dam.  The Fall season was great even with low water levels we had good numbers of fish around this year, the winter session has not disappointed especially now that the Manistee River below Tippy has settled into a more constant temperature.  December we had some tough conditions and had to cancel too many trips, but since we have been getting out in January fishing honestly has been really good. 

Today’s flow at Tippy Dam  are 2400 cfs and 36.0 F. The local area had a good mix of rain and snow this weekend. The has bumped up to the biggest number of the season so far.  I love it that we got this water right now, should set us up nicely for the next month.  With a bump in flows should shuffle the deck as we had some lower flows that we want for winter fishing.  

Winter Steelhead Fly Patterns

Manistee River Steelhead Report

Winter Steelhead fly patterns change slightly from  the good old egg fly or beads that we run day in and day out in the fall season.  Instead of matching the hatch, its no more about grabbing the attention.  As was the case this past week size 12mm beads in pink fished the best for us.  This was before the bump in water. We need to grab the attention of the steelhead and make them curious.  Try brighter hues and larger sizes during the wanter time are commonly the best choice.

Get Jiggy

Swinging flies still works but slows down in the winter, as cold water temps makes it the hardest time of year to get these fish to move.  But instead of swinging the fly, we start of thinking of jigging it.  Same type of patterns we swing in the fall we now start to downsize and try to fish them with a jiggy action.  Black, Olive, White and even pink marabou patterns fished with heavier heads to get them down fast and keep them in the zone. Been playing around with a bunch of balanced leeches, a balanced pink worm, and soon I’ll be throwing a balanced baitfish pattern for those alevins that should be hatching from the gravel.

We start fishing more of a floating line selection now, giving us better line control on the mend.  Look for the slowest part of the pool / run and get your flies as deep as possible.  

Booking a Trip

The Manistee River blow Tippy Dam is one of the best west side rivers in the state of Michigan.  We specialize in Steelhead and Trout fishing on this section of the Manistee River Watershed. Mangled Fly guides are available during the winter fishing for a Full or Half Day Trip. Now is a great time to book your Spring Fishing adventure as well, with Steelhead, Trout, and Pre-Spawn Smallmouth on the agenda.

If catching a Great Lakes Steelhead in on your wish list give us a call to join in the fun at (231-631-5701), you can also shoot us an email.  We are currently booking Winter and Spring Steelhead Trips.  

Jon Ray

Upper Manistee River trout fishing report

Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing

/5 Comments/in , , , /by

 

Manistee River Trout Report

Upper Manistee River trout fishing report

The Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing report for mid-October has us transitioning into the fall spawn. Fall is in the air, you could feel it this past week during the cool down. As we enter late October, we will see most of our Brown and Brook Trout enter the spawning period.  Streamer fishing this past week was pretty productive for us as most of the fish appear to be prespawn and still actively feeding. Despite the low water and bright sunny conditions we had decent activity as water temps dropped into the low 50s.

Read more

Pere Marquette Trout Fishing

Pere Marquette Fishing Report

/3 Comments/in , , , /by

Pere Marquette Fishing Report

Pere Marquette Trout Fishing

 

Hello fishing friends! I hope this spring season finds everyone healthy and finding fish! The spring season is in full swing. It has been great watching nature waking up after a long cold winter.

Steelhead Fishing

Steelhead fishing has been good. Our best fishing has been in the dark water down river of shallow water. The pre-spawn fish have been staging in the deeper runs close to the spawning gravel. There has been a good number of steelhead spawning. It is nice to see them making more for our future fishing. As the spawn continues the dropPere Marquette Trout Fishing back steelhead fishing should start to gain momentum. Fishing beads under floats has produced some good action. The stone flies are starting to hatch and the salmon fry are starting to show up in the slow water and eddies.

Minnow Patterns

With this starting look for the steelheads to start keying in on stonefly nymphs and minnow patterns. When this time of the year happens it is time to put the float rods away and get the streamer and lure rods out. Great fun watching the chase down your bait and punish it! With the water warming the brown trout fishing has been getting better everyday. At this point the best trout fishing has been behind the areas that steelhead are or have been spawning. But that being said this will be changing shortly. With the insects starting to wake up and the steelhead spawn slowing, the brown trout should start to transition into more of a classic holding water. Back into the log jams and bubble lines. This is a great time to catch a good brown on a dry fly, streamer or lure.

The river has dropped and is looking real good. Wading should be doable this week. Spring has sprung! Get out there and enjoy some therapy time in nature. We still have a couple open dates in April if you would like to float. May is the time to start chasing smallmouth bass and that is something to look forward to. If you haven’t fished bass with us yet you should! They pull hard! Be safe out there!

Captain Jeff