May 9th 2019 | Early Season Options

Still slow in transitioning to warmth, but it could always be worse! Bugs are hatching, fish are eating them, and chasing streamers nicely. 

Grand Rapids 10 day outlook. Not bad!

We spent last weekend up north, throwing streamers and hoping for some Hendricksons. Each day was bright, and the water was surprisingly clear (and cold), so the bite was pretty quiet. We got a few, and hooked a couple really nice ones. 

Mostly on yellow. Had some action on chartreuse as well. 

Didn't find the big one we were looking for, but gave it a solid effort. Bright sun is basically the kiss of death when streamer fishing. The trout are so disinterested in chasing stuff, and would rather stay concealed at the bottom. Weighted flies seemed to get them moving a bit, otherwise it was pretty tough all weekend.

Hennies were just starting, but not enough on the water to get any fish on top. Sounds like it was decent elsewhere, with bugs and fish rising to them. All we saw were a handful of duns on the water, and a couple isolated groups of spinners fluttering over riffles. Not much else. Think our problem was the overnight lows. Friday night got down to about the freezing mark, which sent the water temp into the mid forties. Not the best conditions. Reports from midweek were good, and improving as water temperatures are rising and fish are starting to feed on top more consistently. 

Scenery was spectacular last weekend though. Hanging out with buddies for a couple days was great.

Again, the Amplitude Infinity has been a really impressive line. Stealthy, durable, and ultra slick. Strong recommendation. 

Overall the past week has been good. Ryan got this chunk on a streamer. 

Joel got a good one too. Well done. 

Meanwhile Brad was down in Florida catching something entirely different.

Warm water fishing has been good, and steadily improving. Only got out once over the past week and it was not terrible, although slow early on. Sounds like people have been finding fish, but they are still fairly concentrated. Look for the semi deep slow stuff, and pause the fly for a good amount of time. They love that pause. An intermediate line is helpful in this regard, as it doesn't tug your fly down quickly like a conventional sink tip. The Sonar Titan Intermediate Clear Tip is legit.

CHECK OUT OUR NEW TYING TUTORIAL for an easy swim fly that is killer for smallmouth. The movement on these dragon tails is filthy and the flies are a breeze to tie. 

Get out and enjoy it! We are just getting started!