Smallmouth Bass Northern Michigan Smallmouth Bass season has officially kicked off this past week we had some extremely warm days for April. Melting away any remaining ice we had on our inland lakes and warming our river temps by almost 10 degrees. Smallmouth bass get really active to a variety of techniques when we can find 50 degree water temps. This week we saw the Big Manistee go from 41 to 50 in 5 days. So Ed McCoy went looking to see if the bass were active yet. Fly Fishing for Smallmouth BassEarly Season Smallmouth Even though we have water temps reaching 50 degrees on a variety of our ..read more

Yellow Trees Manistee River Update I recently had the opportunity to float below Yellow Trees and take a look at what impacts the tree drop had within that section. In September of 2022 Michigan Trout Unlimited helicoptered in almost 200 whole trees and placed them strategically throughout the river between Yellow Trees and Rogers Landing access sites. This was a prescribed woody debris addition through a collaborative habitat rehabilitation project lead by Michigan TU with assistance from several governmental agencies and private donors. I have been patiently waiting to see what the outcome o ..read more

As many of you already know, in 2019 I began selling my signature fly patterns through Montana Fly Company. This year I am excited to announce several new fly patterns that are available through Montana Fly Company in 2023! There will be two new dry flies, a Mouse, and Frog pattern to round out the new releases. The dry flies are an Isonychia Dun and Spinner variation. The Mayfly patterns have been some of my most productive searching and hatch matching patterns over the years. Probably the two flies I am the most excited about are the Mouse and Frog patterns. I have been tinkering with these ..read more

New Proposal There is a new proposal up for consideration by the NRC that would reduce Steelhead bag limits on several sections/streams in Michigan. Here is the NRC Proposal New Steelhead Limits being considered by the NRC. The current steelhead management plan for Michigan needs to be revised to reflect current trends, conditions, and annual adult spawning migrations. We are not opposed to people having the opportunity to harvest a fish even though we practice catch and release. This request for change has nothing to do with gear restrictions and by no means should we dictate how people can l ..read more

Manistee River Trout Report May 8, 2022 Upper Manistee River Trout Fishing report, has me very concerned and need this information shared please! Maybe it was just me and how I read the press release this past fall about Didymo on the Upper Manistee. I thought it was a small blob of this rock snot. I was wrong, it is a major problem. The amount of Didymo that I’m seeing our floats on the Upper Manistee below CCC Bridge is truly alarming. How did it get this bad without the DEQ, DNR, or any other agency warning us? As of May 7th still no new Signage. Why? Currently, there are no effective metho ..read more

Manistee River Below Tippy Dam April 29, 2022 The Manistee River below Tippy Dam steelhead fishing report for the end of April still has some fresh steelhead fishing entering the system right now. With the annual Trout Opener this Saturday April 30th, we have changed our focus this week. We are now specifically targeting trout, bass, and pike moving forward on the Manistee River below Tippy Dam. Right now the river has been running at/around 2110 CFS and water temps have been creeping up to 48.2 degrees. Water conditions really improved this past week. Streamer fishing for trout and bass has ..read more

Hendrickson Mayfly The Hendrickson Mayfly, Ephemerella subvaria, is one of the earliest and most abundant Mayfly Hatches on the Manistee River. This is the first major Mayfly Hatch we chase and it usually kicks off around the Michigan Trout Opener. The Hendrickson Hatch typically begins in late April and often extends well into the middle of May. This Hatch is unique as its entire life cycle plays out during the daylight hours. Typically the peak emergence happens during the late morning or early afternoon. Spinner flights mostly occur during the late evening hours or around dusk. The Hendrick ..read more

Pere Marquette Fishing Report Open Guide Dates Jeff Topp May 2,3, 17, 18 Contact us Spring is here and the Pere Marquette Fishing, with rain rain and more rain! That has been the way mother nature has treated us the last few days. The Pere Marquette was very high, over the banks high. With that being said the river stayed fairly clean and remained fishable.   Steelhead fishing has been pretty good. We have seen a mix of fresh steelhead, spawning steelhead and drop back steelhead. With that mixed bag in the river it has given us lots of angling options. Steelhead fishing With the ste ..read more