Michigan Fly Fishing Report | Nomad Anglers RSS

Things are really ramping up here in our lovely state of Michigan! Spring is on the horizon, and the sun arcs higher in the sky each day. Very exciting times! Fish numbers are strong pretty much everywhere right now. Standard flies are doing most of the damage, with eggs and large nymphs still being the best choice. Watch for those tiny little stones to appear on warm days. Lots of sz 18-16s lately, and soon the larger ones will become more active. Drift an orange egg with a small stonefly or similar nymph below it, and you are golden.  ...

Well folks, our spring steelhead season is underway. Maybe it's the cabin fever reaching a tipping point, but either way, there are new fish swimming upriver on a regular basis. We are not even close to being done with the cold, but the short term forecast actually looks pretty darn good.   Some of the guys got out over the weekend, and had pretty good success. Lots of hours devoted for a few hookups, but the overall consensus is positive. Fish were taken on hex nymphs, stoneflies, nuke eggs, clown eggs, etc. If you can stay focused all day and keep...

Most rivers are still icy and slushy. There are some steelhead around for those of you willing to go and chase them. The only thing we need right now is a break in the weather. The cold temps and precipitation have made conditions less than favorable. Our forecast looks to be pretty cold, but nothing compared to what we endured a couple weeks ago.  Normally, this is the week where we start to transition into Spring Steelhead season. Valentines Day has always been the unofficial season switch date. Obviously, it's all weather dependent, so it doesn't always correlate with the...

What a crazy week that was. The entire state was essentially shut down for several days, with bone chilling temps and insane amounts of snow. The total snowfall for GR last week was somewhere in the 17" range. Much of it melted over the last couple days, causing the rivers to rise a bit. Most rivers are starting to thaw, but shelf ice and slush are still preventing easy access. High, dirty, cold water makes fishing tough, but not impossible. Here's the river yesterday morning. Water is decently high, and very dirty and cold. Haven't heard much on the fishing front, since...

We are officially buried in snow. There is currently about 12 inches on the ground in Grand Rapids, with another few inches throughout the day, and more tomorrow. Wind chills tomorrow are going to be in the -30 range. Should be interesting. This was the river on Sunday afternoon. This was my back deck this morning. Yes, I forgot to bring in our furniture... Our governor has declared a state of emergency this morning, anticipating the cold weather tomorrow. This weekend looks to be fairly warm, with temps in the upper 30s and 40s and rain. Fly tying is about...