The  river is flowing 2500CFS and the fishing as well as the weather should be great this weekend. For those nymphing with fly rods, float fishing with conventional gear or chunk-n-ducking/bottom bouncing, the usual tactics and presentations should work well: egg flies, trout beads, stoneflies, green caddis larvae, buggers, hex nymphs, etc are all good choices.

For those swinging streamers for steelhead with the big fly rods sculpins and leeches in blue/silver and black/copper.

Those targeting trout have had good luck with midges

Enjoy the weekend

Trout fishing has been quite good. Although we are yet to see any real significant hatches so far, there are some march browns, stoneflies and caddis hatching for those who would like to try. Streamer fishing has been very good, with shots at some very nice browns. Both trying to match the salmon fry with small baitfish patterns and hucking big articulated bugs can produce nice trout (and the occasional smallmouth or big redhorse sucker). Yellow, white,and chartreuse are best on bright sunny days.Try black, brown or olive during times with cloud cover. Nymphing behind the spawning suckers is very productive for the resident trout and the drop back steelhead. Although there are still a decent amount of steelhead present, it seems to be winding down and we are seeing less steelhead and more suckers than last week.

White River @ Whitehall: 479cfs and dropping.

• Reports of good trout fishing in the middle and upper stretches of the river. Some bug activity has been reported. Steelhead fishing is just about done with.

Manistee River @ Tippy Dam: 1970cfs, water temperature is 62F

• Reports of great trout fishing in all 3 stretches. Some bugs reported but nothing really significant as of yet.

Pere Marquette River @ Scottville: 844cfs and dropping.

• Trout fishing has been good all throughout the system.  Some bugs reported but nothing really significant as of yet.

There have been good reports from the nearby lakes as well. Pike, Carp, Smallmouth and Panfish are in shallower water making it as good of a time as there is for pursuing them with fly rods.

• WATER TEMP 54 DEGREES
• FLOW RATE 3600CFS
• GAGE HEIGHT 6.71FT

Steelhead fishing continues to remain very productive for late in the season with eggs, stoneflies, fry patterns, and streamers all producing fish. There’s still a mix off fresh fish, spawning fish and dropbacks available in good numbers.

We’ve also started to see some really nice trout getting caught stripping and swinging streamers. The water level is somewhat high so it takes a heavy sinking line to get to the fish but those willing to put in the work can get some monster browns this time of year.

Smallmouth fishing continues to produce. Larger streamers, crayfish patterns, goby patterns and poppers (during lower light times of day) can all produce fish. We are starting to see a few salmon scattered around and as the water temps drop we should start to see good pushes of them showing up.

As the water temperature creeps over 70F and the river lowers down to normal summer levels, this is the time of year where we start transistioning from trout to smallmouth bass as the main target species. So far this year the smallmouth fishing has been excellent, with many large fish being caught already.

Focus on the softer edges away from the main current for bass. Baitfish patterns resembling Shiner minnows in various sizes, crayfish patterns, and surface poppers are all great fly choices.

Lots of fish in river now, Salmon, Steelhead and lake run Browns are all hot now, with this rain it will only get better.

Most fish are keying on the eggs, both flies and beads.

Salmon are starting to show up in system and are beginning to hit the reds. The usual egg flies and wooly buggers are working best.

Hopefully the Steelhead will be following soon.

The water is still low so be careful in your travels up and down the river.

Give the shop a call if you have any questions

About the class:

As is the case with fly fishing for trout, most anglers would probably say they prefer a topwater method that allows them to witness an explosive strike rather than fishing flies subsurface. Although it’s a hard fact that less oppurtunity comes when fishing topwater, its also hard to argue that that watching a bass explode on a popper and come right iut of the water isnt enough to make it worth catching less fish.

The best bet when smaillie fishing is to rig up to fish both ways. Usually poppers and other surface flies are best used in the early and late parts of the day, before and then after the hot summer sun gets too high. Often times you may have a stellar morning tossing poppers only to have it die off in the late morning, so its great to have your streamer set up along to extend the day.

HERE IS A LIST OF SURFACE FLIES WITH LINKS TO INSTRUCTIONAL TYING VIDEOS TO SOME OF THOSE THAT WOULD BE EFFECTIVE ON THE MUSKEGON (AND REALLY ANYWHERE ELSE).

Note: I AM A BIT BIASED BUT IN MY OPINION THE TOP FIVE ARE

1. ZUDBUBBLER
2. ZUDBUBBLER
3. ZUDBUBBLER
4. ZUDBUBBLER
5. ZUDBUBBLER

IN MY OPINION IT IS THE GREATEST POPPER EVER DESIGNED. ITS EASY TO TIE, IT ALWAYS POPS LIKE IT SHOULD, IT’s SUPER EASY TO CAST,  AND IT CAN BE TIED A MILLION WAYS TO SUITE ANYTHING THE ANGLER NEED.

HERE IS A LIST OF SURFACE FLIES WITH LINKS TO INSTRUCTIONAL TYING VIDEOS TO SOME OF THOSE THAT WOULD BE EFFECTIVE ON THE MUSKEGON (AND REALLY ANYWHERE ELSE).

MATT ZUDWEG’S ZUDBUBBLER

The First Flies we are going to focus on are minnow patterns.

In my opinion they are as effective as any other patterns on our river and compared to fishing crayfish streamers, much for easy to use. Since the Smallies are looking up it is not necessary to sink a baitfish fly very deep. Although tradition sink tip lines (eg those for stripping to large browns) can work BEST AT CERTAIN TIMES (Think dredging the bottom with a crawdad pattern) more often or not these flies are best fished better without one, using the 4 following options:

• A LONG LEADER ON A FLOATING LINE:
  • AIRFLO’S GALLOUP’S STREAMER FLOAT, GALLOUP NYMPH, 40+ FLOATIONG, RIDGE STRIPER FLT, OR PIKE MUSKY
  • RIO BIG NASTY AND OUTBOUND SHORT FLT
  • SA FLOATING TITAN, FQEQUENCY MAGNUM
• ADDING A RIO VERSILEADER OR AIRFLO POLYLEADER TO A FLOATING LINE SUCH AS THOSE LISTED ABOVE.
• AN INTERMEDIATE (OR INTERMEDIATE HEAD/TIP) LINE MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR STREAMER FISHING. GREAT EXAMPLES:
  • RIO’S InTOUCH STRIPER INTERMEDIATE, InTOUCH PIKE/MUSKYF/I, InTOUCH OUTBOUND SHORT F/I, InTOUCH OUTBOUND SHORT INT
  • AIRFLO’s  STRIPER fast int., FORTY PLUS fast int.
• DEAD DRIFTING CRAYFISH PATTERNS ALONG THE BOTTOM (AS WELL AS OTHERS: THINK HELLGRAMMITES, MINNOWS, AND MORE). Using A fly rod set up as an indicator rig or a conventional one set to bobber fish, dead drifting can be  deadly technique