Warmwater on Summer Days

With the dog days of summer upon us, there are pretty much a couple things you can do right now when it comes to fishing in Michigan. 1) Trout fishing with hoppers and furballs, 2) Warm-water species i.e. smallmouth and largemouth or 3) count the days until steelhead start showing up. I for one love my steelhead but also love the pursuit for the warm-water species. I personally think that smallmouth are the hardest fighting fish that we have in the great lakes area, pound for pound. They are also the most aggressive fish that we have, their curious nature usually gets the best of them when it comes to fishing with a fly. Big flashy flies both streamers and poppers get these fish to smash your offering. Also I believe that smallmouth are the best cross training fish that we have, that we need to use them as an angler to better ourselves as casters and fish fighters. It may seem simple but little techniques can be perfected on a smallmouth river that you can use later when fishing for trout, steelhead, or salmon. When opportunities might not be as plentiful (i.e. swinging flies for steelhead), but the practice of smallmouth has prepared you and your ready to cash in. The next 8 weeks are prime with July, Aug, and September being the best months. September is becoming one of my favorites as most anglers are hitting river mouths looking for Kings, Tippy Dam reservoir can be flooded with large smallmouth with the feed bag on. Make sure to take advantage of the warmwater season and cross train your angling skills.