Trout and Grouse Camp 9/24-9/26

With grouse season open, woodcock opening up on the 25th, and the seasonal trout waters nearing their close we decided to head north and spend three days chasing browns and birds. Dad and I met up with Jeff at the launch around 1:30 on Friday and we started getting the streamer rods rigged up.

The weather was pretty nuts all weekend with Friday being the worst. Temps in the 70's dropped like a stone to reach the low 50's be early evening, it rained on and off all day, and we had sustained winds of 35-40 mph. The water, despite heavy rains the past few days, looked perfect, flowing high with a slight stain. Time to break out the big streamers and hope for the best....

As Jeff and Dad went downstream to spot the trailer I waded around the launch and fished for a few minutes. Such pretty water and I river I really want to fish more next season.

We finally shoved off around 2pm and really started to feel the wrath of the wind. This is big open water and when that wind gets up rowing and casting can become a nightmare. As I've stated before in previous entries, you float this water for one reason.....for the chance to tag a huge brown! While fish numbers are lower here than many other rivers the size of the fish makes it an exciting time. I moved a mid teener and few smaller fish early on and then things slowed a bit. A little later in the day I was picking my fly up off the water to cast and a monster brown rolled on it, pulled my rod tip down, and then popped off...leaving me shaking and wondering what needs to happen for me to connect on this water? Of course a short while later I did hookup....with a 9 incher, haha! After a quick break it was my turn on the sticks and Dad demonstrated how a big brown looks when crushing a streamer.

As we rolled on down river we came to some nice broken water with some nice staggered boulders for cover. It was at this time, from the front of the boat, that I heard Jeff yell the best words you could ever hope to hear...."big fish!" His 7wt bent double and it was complete chaos. I tried to keep the boat straight in the wind while Dad grabbed the net. After a tense minute or two dad scooped him up and everyone looked in awe at the beauty of this big male brown. I got the boat into some shallow water and got the camera out. What a perfect specimen and exactly why this water is loved by those who have the big fish bug. Just under 22 inches long, 11 inch girth, full on spawning colors, and a head like an alligator make this one of the prettiest trout I've ever seen.

6 inches of conrad sculpin inside the monsters mouth...

And finally, Jeff releasing his trophy to swim another day...

What a great way to kick off the trip! Unfortunately, that was pretty much the end of the action for the rest of the float. A few more small fish were moved but nothing to hand. By the time we got to the campsite that evening it was nearly dark and lightly raining. We all got to work on setting up tents and getting a fire going.

Once everything was setup we got to work on dinner.....sausages, beans, bourbon, and beer!


Jeff's lab Lucy wondering when she was gonna get some of the good stuff?

Around midnight we turned in looking forward to a hunt in the AM and then an afternoon/evening float. The wind that night was insane and rain fell on and off. After a breakfast at the local diner it was off to the grouse woods. Gearing up....

Conditions were a little tough as it was still windy and drizzling. We flushed quite a few grouse early on but nobody even saw them. Halfway through the day we were all following up a bird that Jeff had flushed and Dad saw fly into a big pine tree. After several minutes of talking and trying to figure out of the bird was in the tree or not we gave up....and thats right when it busted loose and gave me a great crossing shot. Flying high over the aspens I squeezed off a good shot and saw the bird fold and go down. It was hard earned but worth it.....my first Michigan grouse!

And one with Dad..

We hunted for another hour or two and flushed a few more grouse but couldn't capitalize. I had one more decent shot but missed....thats why they call it hunting and not shooting. The weird thing is, despite flushing around a dozen grouse we never saw a single woodcock? Jeff and Lucy walking the two track back to the truck.....

After changing clothes, hooking the boat up, and grabbing lunch we headed down river for our second float. It was downright cold and windy making it feel more like steelheading than a streamer trip. Kicking the float off with a good beer is always a good way to start....

There was less action than on the first day....but once again Jeff got the big fish hookup. He casted under a log, let it sink, and on the first strip out got crushed by a bruiser brown. After a 30 second fight and a good look at the fish the hook pulled! Honest estimates put it in the 22-24 inch class...a real heartbreaker! That was more or less it, we moved a handful of small to low teener fish but couldnt tempt any other quality fish to eat. This is the only other pic I took on the float...dad working some nice water not far from the takeout.

Back at camp that evening it was cold and wet and everyone was looking forward to some hot food and a roaring fire. Grouse was the appetizer and Dad played chef.

Hard work to get this bird made it taste that much better...

We then settled in for ribs, texas toast, potato salad, and coleslaw. Camp food around a fire is always delicious....

We turned in a little earlier after a long day and morning seemed to come quicker than ever. After breaking down camp and hitting up the diner for breakfast we set out for another hunt. Unfortunately we didn't really know the area well and spent alot of time driving two tracks looking for decent cover. With time running out we settled on a piece of land near the river.

This proved to be pretty frustrating as the cover was less than ideal and the birds were few and far between. We put on many miles and by the time we got back to the trucks we were all exhausted. We flushed just one grouse and three woodcock....with Jeff getting the only bird.

Dad had to get home so Jeff and I had decided to float that afternoon. After the long morning however we decided to get home a little earlier to see the wives and get some rest. It was a fun weekend that involved alot of hardwork and a few rewards. I'll be sad to see this water close as I'm now dying to get out again and try for a big brown on the streamer before the steelhead show up.....