Manistee River Fishing Report RSS

Last week was a bit tough on the dry fly front. I was able to get out of the shop for a few days on the water up north. Unfortunately the weather did not really cooperate and it made for a tough couple of days of fishing.  Early in the week we had some cloudy weather which made for a good iso bite in between rain storms. The Iso is always one of my favorite hatches of the year. Fish love to chase these swimming mayflies down as they emerge. Blind fishing Isos can be some of the best daytime...

It’s been a while since the last report and quite honestly this has been the most difficult start to spring fishing that I’ve seen in a long time for trout. The flooding and worm flow events shuffled the deck and gorged the fish. I spent a significant amount of time searching water for rising fish while we had strong Hendrickson hatches to little avail. Along with the water conditions and weather clashing, boat traffic was off the charts on certain rivers. Combine that with tough fishing and it made for some pretty quiet weeks on what are typically productive fisheries...

Spring is here and so are the fish.  Warmer temperatures and a bump in river levels have pushed a lot of fish up the river systems. Most of our rivers have just returned to normal levels or slightly higher than normal depending on where you are at. There is rain in the forecast so I would expect water levels to stay on the higher side for the next week or so. Lately we have been fishing the Muskegon river and have found most of our fish in pocket water or runs near spawning gravel. I have yet to see any...

Summer is finally here and we are settling into our favorite month of the year for fly fishing in Michigan. Along with warm weather and long days, June brings some of the best fly fishing opportunities of the year. From smallmouth on top water to Trout sipping big bugs and everything in between June has it all.  Trout fishing takes center stage in June. As we transition from the weeks of bug soup into "Big Bugs" matching the hatch becomes less complex, but timing and tactics still play a roll. Northern rivers are fishing well, its been a slow start...

From Matt Re: Grand Rapids area The spring run of steelhead is here.  Warmer temperatures and a bump in river levels have pushed a lot of fish up the river systems. Most of our rivers still have a good amount of stain to the water from the recent snow runoff and rain. In these conditions using larger egg patterns or streamers have been the flies of choice. With the water clarity being less than favorable in some systems, using a fly a size or two bigger than what you would normally use seems to help the fish pick it out...