Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing

Manistee River Trout Report

Upper Manistee Trout Fishing report for late March has us busting through some snow and ice to get into the ramps. But with some 4×4 and a little elbow grease we got the drift boat into the Manistee River once again. Have reports that most of the launches are open, except maybe Tree Farms still, but with the rain yesterday that snow bank blocking the access could be manageable now.

Spring Trout Fishing

One of the keys to Spring Trout fishing is water temperatures as you can see by the graph this past week we had our best success when temperature was on the rise. This week we hit 41 degrees on my temperature gun and that was the best day of activity we had.

River data for the Upper Manistee can also be looked at online at this link. They are still working on getting a good signal for all the data to load consistently but hoping by summer to fix all the problems. The probe is located downstream of the CCC Bridge a few bends. Giving you an idea for water temperature and level.

Streamer Fishing

With warm weather next week it will be a good week to get out again and chase trout, with streamer fishing being the main tactic. Early season patterns you can never go wrong with sculpin / goby imitations, take your favorite pattern and try a black head on it. As male sculpins and gobies when they spawn in the spring have very black / dark heads.

We noticed this week that we had to have lead on our patterns to get the most attention. With cool temps and dropping water most of our trout were located in deeper darker slots. Most of them would not come up for the flies, you had to get the fly deep to get them to chase.

Trout Guide Trips

With Steelhead hitting their prime on the Lower Manistee and Pere Marquette , we always welcome a change of pace and venturing to the trout water is a welcome adventure. If your looking to book a trout trip give us a call, 231-631-5701 or shoot us an email.

Stay Safe

Jon Ray