Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing

Manistee River Trout Report

Upper Manistee Trout Fishing report for the middle of September has the late summer fishing transitioning hard into fall. Fishing has been pretty good overall, hoppers are still producing but small streamers have been getting some attention as the fall air is triggering movement. We had a water event at the beginning of the week and fish moved into ideal hunting spots. Currently water has dropped and clearing.

Fall Fishing

With some more seasonable weather in Northern Michigan, the water temps have been dropping into the upper 50s at night as we begin to transition into Fall fishing on the Upper Manistee River. Please use this link here for temp and flow data this fall to help you remotely monitor water levels before you even head out to the river. Understanding the water levels and being able to relate the Depth reading at the gauge to how wadable a section is, or understanding how high and dirty the water might be, is still a valuable tool that can be used when choosing the best section to fish as we move towards our fall streamer season.

Transitioning to Fall Hatches

The fall Isonychia hatch was in full effect this week. With the recent drop in water temps this bug has been hatching more consistently throughout the day and the fish were taking notice. This hatch isn’t as prolific on the Upper Manistee River as the earlier June hatches, but it can provide some good quality fishing at a time of the year where the hatches are very limited. Also had good Cahill’s this week in size 14. Look for best bugs from 12 to 5 pm, with flying ants in the evening hours.

Good cinnamon colored ants have been flying around from size 16 to micro. Not sure how small they were, but I mean small. Smaller than I want to fish and tie, fish didn’t seem to mind and we caught plenty on size 16 and 18 ants as well on those warmer less windy evenings.

Fall Streamer Fishing

This week the streamer bite was solid in the beginning of the week as fish liked that water event we had, Kean had us booked for a couple days and mangled to find a beautiful Manistee River rainbow trout, one of those fish we don’t see very often. Fish were on the hunt on insides and shallow kill spots. Or hunting spots, with water dropping focus on the deep pools.

We have been fishing a lot of floating lines and weighted streamers as of late on the Upper Manistee, but check out the New Sonar I/2/3 from SA. It has been fishing so well for smallmouth bass in the low-clear water that it will be getting a good run later this fall if low-clear water conditions persist into the late fall for trout. Check this line out at your local fly shop and put it in your arsenal this fall!

Trout Guide Trips

Looking to book a Northern Michigan Fishing trip? Please continue to check out this page as we update it, but we will be starting to spend a lot of time over the next 3-4 weeks persuing other fish species as we transition into October and our Fall Steelhead fishing on the Lower Manistee River for steelhead. You can reach us at 231-631-5701 (leave a message) or shoot us an email. We are booking well into October & November now, with streamer trips for trout and then Fall Steelhead starting in as well.

We have a few sweatshirts back in stock , this is a great weight for the fall season and is one of the coziest sweatshirts I own. New in the Mangled Fly Swag hamper we are working on a wax canvas fall steelhead head, a new beanie, and one last trucker hat for the 2020 season, so check back to see when they are added or follow Mangled Fly socially.

Tight Lines,

Jon Ray