Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing

Manistee River Trout Report

The Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing report for the third week of June has provided some great fishing. Our Isonychia hatch really got cranking this week and our Brown Drakes started just before the weekend.  The water levels are currently below average flows and water temps have been staying cool.  With the water temps mostly in the mid 50s to start the day, the Isonychia and Brown Drakes both went daytime on Thursday and Friday.  The Hatch progression is still a week behind last year, so we are still on an “Old School” Timing.

We are on a slow roll into summer this year. Currently, the river is running at below average flows and maintaining colder temps.  The water is pretty clear at this current time. The water temperatures peaked around 62 on Sunday, but with the colder nights we are still seeing water temps ranging from 54-57 degrees in the morning.  The forecast shows more seasonable weather heading our way early this week. 

Streamer Fishing

Right now our focus is strictly on the dry fly fishing. With water temps in the 50s the fish will still chase down a streamer, but most of the fish are looking up.  As the water temps get above 60 this bite will pretty much die off.  Any big storm events or high water periods will be your best bet fishing streamers moving forward.  Our main focus over the next few weeks will be chasing the hatches.  

Leachy streamers should provide the best action.  The Chestnut Lamprey are on all of our fish right now, so something smaller and leechy will work well right now.  Fly color has been pretty consistent lately with black, yellow, and tan all giving us plenty of chances this week.   Remember to change up your fly size and color if you’re not getting chases. 

Dry Fly Fishing

Overall the dry fly fishing has been solid this past week.  The Isonychia fired up the fish with some heavier daytime emergences.  The Brown Drakes added another option heading into the weekend.  We had some really good Isonychia events this week in the cooler weather.  The Brown Drakes started to show up mid week and will probably go pretty quick with the head heading our way.  The hatches are still backed up.  The stonefly activity this week really displays how far behind we are.  I have seen as many as 5-6 different species flying around at the same time.

The after dark fishing so far has been work as we really haven’t had a big bug event in the dark yet.  Our Drakes decided to hatch daytime in big numbers on Friday so it will take a few evening spinner falls to really fire up our night fishing.  I expect the Brown Drakes will go pretty quick in the heat heading our way.

In the meantime, we still have had good numbers of Mattress Thrasher Stones, Dark Sallies, Olive Stones, Yellow Sallies, Golden Stones, Pteronarcys Stones, Dobson Flies, a few waning Mahoganies, Yellow Cahills, Light Cahills, various Caddis, and Gray Drake Spinners. 

McCoys All Day Dun Brown Drake

Im hoping this week will get our water temps closer to where they should be for this time of year.  Now that our Drakes and Isonychia are hatching we should see more improvement in the fishing. Pay close attention to what the fish are keyed in on this week, there is still a trickle of everything on the water at times. 

Matching the Hatch

The hatch matching opportunities are pretty basic right now. We are still doing well fishing attractor patterns like the Chubby Chernobyl Ant, McCoy’s All Day Dun Iso, McCoy’s Boondoggle Iso, McCoy’s Iso Dun Gray, McCoy’s Cherry Bomb Spinner, Robert’s Yellow Drake, and Borcher’s Drake.  Now that the Brown Drakes are in the mix, the McCoy’s All Day Dun and Boondoggle Brown Drakes are doing some work.  Most of the Stones are very active on the surface so don’t be afraid to skitter and skate your presentation now and then.  

With the warmer weather this week look for the insect activity to peak again in the evenings.  I am starting to see a few Blue Flag Iris blooming but at this point were are still close to a week out from our Hex hatch.  So far water temps haven’t been an issue, but I would assume with the dropping water and additional heat things may speed up this week.  Time will tell!

Didymo

Didymo on the Upper Manistee continues to be a problem with a high level of concern.  I would consider the entire Upper Manistee River System to be contaminated with this Diatom. There hasn’t been any recent Didymo growth to my knowledge and we haven’t seen any blooming like during the 2022 season.  Didymo is considered a very resilient invasive species so you need to educate yourself on safe cleaning techniques.  River Users will need to clean their gear or anything that touches the water.  Didymo can easily be spread between watersheds and can be detrimental to our trout streams.

Consider the ENTIRE RIVER TO BE CONTAMINATED and treat it as such. Clean, Drain, Dry your gear before entering another Body of Water.  Currently, there are no known effective methods to eradicate didymo once it is established in a river.  To prevent spreading Didymo and other aquatic invasive species, it is critical to thoroughly Clean, Drain and Dry waders, equipment, and boats upon leaving a waterway.

• Clean by removing mud and debris from all surfaces.
• Use a 10% Solution of Dishwashing Soap with hot water for 10 minutes (Example 1 gallon of water is 12.8 oz of Dawn Soap). Then it must dry for 48 hours (mandatory if your fishing different water systems).

Trout Guide Trips 

We have very limited openings available during the peak hatch season. Make sure to book your dates now for 2025!  If you’re looking to book a Trout Guide Trip you can reach us at 231-631-5701 (leave a message) or shoot us an email. 

We are excited for the upcoming Trout Season.   Also make sure to follow along on our social pages and our online fishing report page  for more updates. 

Tight Lines,

Ed