Nov 20th, 2019 | Buck Fever
This past week has been quite good. Swing bite has been good, as well as the nymph program. Still have to work for them, but with the water temps stabilized, they have been pretty cooperative.
Fish numbers are good basically everywhere. The Grand, Muskegon, PM, White, and Manistee have plenty of fish. More are on the way in the coming weeks.
Egg patterns in Cream, Apricot, and McCheese are good this time of year as a lot of the dead eggs start to tumble. Clown eggs with these base colors, with a touch of bright orange or pink would also work. Hexes and wigglers are standard. Beads will also work great but some argue they are not flies, which they certainly are not.
The steel are now starting to pod up, and dwell in their winter spots. You may stumble upon a fish moving through those secondary corridors, but for the most part they are concentrated in the winter holes. Most of the rivers are quite clear now, since we haven't had any significant rain in the past week. Remember to downsize your tippet, flies, and shot accordingly and be stealthy as possible.
As we settle into winter, don't forget about chuck and duck. Even though it's not really fly fishing, it's super effective and actually really fun because it's all done by feel. Sometimes they really smack it. It's a great tool to have in the winter months when the fish are glued to the bottom of the deepest, darkest, slowest parts of the hole.
Tomorrow it's supposed to rain the better part of the day. They are forecasting about a half inch of rain, which is about perfect. Enough to raise the water and dirty it up slightly, but not enough to blow it out. This will be nice. Seems like a lot of the storms this season have brought several inches at a time, making the rivers very high and hard to wade. This little shot of rain will be perfect, and very timely. Should setup for a great weekend.
Looks like it's going to stay relatively warm for the next 10 days. Should be a great time to get out before it drops again. Remember to wear hunters orange so you don't get blasted by stray bullets. Lots of gunshots heard throughout the woods last weekend.
Not much else to add. Fish are there, more are on the way. Good numbers on most rivers we hit. Just have to be persistent and eventually you will find one. Weather will stay mild for the next 10 day window, but still not sure what the rest of the Winter has in store for us.
Here's a quick step by step tutorial on Feenstra's Bender. A simple little fly that works in cold clear water.
Thanks for the support, see you out there.