Pere Marquette Fishing Report

Pere Marquette Fishing Report

Good Day fishing friends!!! It’s been a long cold winter. We have finally had a winter, a real good one. The winter activities are coming to an end. Now it is time to put the sleds away and ramp up the gear for our spring fishing season.

We fished the Pere Marquette this past week and it really felt like spring was in the air. The birds were going ballistic chipping. Woodpeckers knocking the bugs out of the trees. Squirrels are running around happy to be out of their winter slumber. It is a fun time of the year to be outdoors. The fishing has been good. The river is in great shape! Slightly up and has a beautiful tea colored stain. It’s the kind of stain that makes you giddy when you get to the river and see it.

Float Fishing

We have been mostly float fishing using beads and nymphs. The bead bite has been most productive in the morning hours. As the weather warms throughout the day the nymph bite turned on. 8 and 10mm beads are the go. The stone fly and caddis nymphs got bit as the day moved on. We found the majority of our action in the tail outs of the gravel runs. It feels like the steelhead are in a pre-spawn mode. With the water temps in the low 40s this is typical for this time of the year. We did see some gravel turned in the classic early spawn areas. I would think that the browns will start to migrate towards the steelhead spawning grounds any day now. We didn’t find many browns in the fast water yet but it shouldn’t be long. The trout we did catch were still in the slower winter water.

Streamer and Lures

Good streamer and lure fishing water. With the salmon fry starting to leave the river the streamer/lure bite should pick up. If you are using the boat ramps be careful they are sloppy and slippery. Most launches are doable but please check them before you drive down those hills. Walking and wading could have its challenges as well. Due to the amount of snow we have had on the river banks getting in and out of the water could be a challenge. This next warm up should melt enough snow to make walking in much more user friendly. We still have a few open spring steelhead and trout days available. LET’S GO FISHING!!!!!!!

Jeff Topp