Winter Returns

This weekend winter returned to west Michigan. After alot of warmer than average temperatures and overall mild conditions this weekend felt alot more like what February is suppose to feel like. Saturday Jeff and I headed north to meet up with Joe for a late morning start. The farther north we drove the harder the snow fell and the worse the road conditions got. By the time we reached the parking lot where Joe was gearing up it was a winter wonderland.

The air temp was 24, and combined with the 9 inches of fresh snow we more or less had the whole river to ourselves. We bundled up, got the hand warmers started and walked up to the first run of the day. Joe went up to a little bucket he had hit a few fish out of earlier in the week and Jeff and I went for the main run. It has two pieces, a top and bottom, divided by a deep gravel bar, and I asked Jeff what piece he wanted. He said "whatever I pick, you'll step into the other piece and catch a fish right away." He then said he wanted the bottom. I started laughing when my fifth drift at the head of the run produced a hookup to a bright fish. The fish took us down around the corner but Jeff was able to tail this fine hen without too much trouble.

Pose.

That fish set the tone for a very memorable day. Upstream Joe hooked and lost 3 straight fish and was able to land a couple trout. This is the conversation between angler and net man of "what the hell just happened?"

A little later in the morning Jeff got on the board with this hex eating buck from some classic winter water.

Mugshot.

We tried alot of different types of water but for the most part the standard winter runs were still where the bulk of the fish seemed to be. As we moved downstream past where I caught the days first fish Joe decided to try a few casts and quickly hooked and lost his fourth of the day. After that we hit a lull for a few hours. We fished good water but couldnt find anymore fish except for this chunky brown Jeff hit on a hex nymph.

We made the decision to hike way downstream to two really good runs to close out the day. The first run looked excellent but came up a little short on expectations. We took turns throwing different bugs and I also took time to snap a few pictures.




Finally at the head of the run Joe had a hookup on a good fish that promptly took him down river and then, once again, got off. I felt bad for Joe, he was 0 for 5 and he wasn't doing anything wrong, the hooks were just pulling out. We've all had those days. With very little light left we hiked back up to the last run of the day. As we approaced I saw a fish boil mid-run, and then moments later it happened again. Jeff took the first pass through and had a fish on almost immediately. This fish was big and hot and ran and jumped wildly for a big submerged tree. Jeff did all he could but the fish busted him off. While Jeff re-tied I stepped in and on about the third drift my bobber dropped. Fish on! This fish went right for the wood too but I was barely able to steer him clear and down to open water. Joe came up with the net from below and was able to scoop up this really dark buck that ate a oregon cheese egg.

I decided to call it a night after that and watched Jeff and Joe fish for the last few minutes. Not to be outdone, Jeff hooked another fish right at dusk and this time kept it out of the wood and into Joe's net. A nice bright hen that also ate an egg.

Propeller.

That was the perfect way to end the day and we walked out in the near dark back to the truck. It was a shame that Joe wasn't able to land any, but everybody got multiple shots at fish and 4 were brought to hand along with 4 or 5 trout. Even better was we saw 1 other person all day and had a gorgeous backdrop all to ourselves!
The next day I fished with Jeff and my Dad and we headed to a different river, one I have not been on in several weeks. The fishing was much tougher today. We hooked up with 5 steelhead but due to some bad luck only 1 made it to the net, and even this one took a miracle to land. Luckily I made it count as this guy was a BEAST!


Despite a fairly tough steelhead bite the trout bit was better than it normally is for this river. I managed 4 to hand with one being a nice fat brown. Dad followed suite catching an almost identical brown about 10 minutes later.




Not a bad day, but a little slower than some of the days we've been having lately. Further proof that this year is spoiling us and we have lost sense of reality! Lots going on in the next few weeks....more steelhead this weekend, then some friends from Alabama are coming to try for their first steelhead the following weekend, and then hopefully the weekend after that will be our first streamer run of the season!

Solo Fishin'

The other day I was able to get out solo for a little while and had pretty good action in a short window of time. The fishing this winter continues to amaze me and I think its safe to say we are several weeks if not a full month ahead of schedule. I saw several fish spawning and there now seems to be a good mixture of fresh spring run fish and older winter fish. This was the day of the clown egg which was responsible for all 5 of my hookups. I brought 2 steelhead to hand along with a pair of browns, one of which being a solid 18'er with awesome coloration. The only fish I lost for the day stung the most.....it was a brown that looked at least a few inches larger than the one I landed. I wanted to cry when the hook pulled free, but if nothing else it shows that the browns are waking up from their winter nap and should be making more appearances as the year continues. It won't be too long before we break out the streamer rods and start targeting them specifically, but for now I am enjoying the heck out of the steelhead and the browns are a nice bonus. Being solo I just had the old point and shoot along and snapped a couple quick pictures before letting the fish go.......



Hopefully this weekend will provide more of the same. We are forecast to get up to 8 inches of snow overnight tonight into tomorrow so it should make for a more wintery scene! Life is good.........

A Fine Winter Day

Those of us who brave mother nature during her most inhospitable time of year have been called crazy, masochistic, and suicidal. Frozen fingers, icy rod guides, and alot of hours searching for a ghost like fish are all part of the quest. To those who don't share the sickness this seems like a waste of time. We know better, however, and every cast we can envision a silver bullet emerging from the inky black waters of the north woods. Last weekend I spent a few hours out on Saturday and Sunday and the wind chill was below zero both days. The rivers were vacant of other fisherman and for good reason.....the rod was icing so bad I could hardly cast. My beard was frozen and eyes watered and froze on my face. I finally gave up and already was looking forward to this weekend when temperatures would be a little more forgiving.
Yesterday was not warm by any means with a high around 28, but the week of warmer weather had the water temperature around 38 degrees and the fish were active. It was the kind of day we fish all winter for. Our first stop was probably the best winter run in the upper river. Despite multiple passes through with 3 guys and over a dozen flies donated to the wood we couldn't buy a hookup. Moving downriver we came to another favorite deep pinch and right away Jeff hooked and lost a nice sized brown. He then promptly hooked and lost 2 more big fish in a row. The first was a steelhead.....but the second is the one that will have us wondering for a long time. It looked like a BIG lake run brown but we will never know. Jeff was obviously pissed at loosing 3 straight fish and joked that I would probably hook one next and land it quickly. I didn't want to disappoint him, so a few casts later I hooked a bright fish and got it to hand without too much trouble.

The purple sheen of a winter hen is perhaps my favorite coloration of any fish I catch....

Not to be outdone, Jeff made 1 cast after landing that fish for me and came tight on another steelhead. This time we were able to give chase downriver and make use of Dad's net. This buck shows the male coloration in the winter.

We went back up to see if any other fish in that run wanted to play but that was it. We moved downstream aways to another run that we caught some fish from back in January. Dad went through first with his CND rig and just couldn't buy a fish. Thinking that he would have caught whatever was in there I fished it hard and after several minutes I had a very brief hookup with a steelhead at the tail of the pool. I roll casted back out and just a little farther downstream I hooked another fish, this time getting a good hookset. I got one good jump and a couple hard runs before walking her downstream 50 yards and Jeff scooping her up in the net.

Goin back....

That fish made my day and I pretty much just played around with the camera for the rest of the day. Took a few cool shots as we fished our way downstream back to the truck.



Not far from the truck Jeff caught two small trout in a row out of a fast chute and then dad broke his skunk for the day with a nice 14 inch brown. It scooted off before I could grab a pic. Thinking that was going to be it for the day dad moved downstream to a pool I have never fished for steelhead but he has done well in at other times of the year. Jeff and I were BS'ing up river when I heard him yell "FISH!" I looked downstream to see a fish cartwheeling out of the water. Jeff hopped on the video camera and I played net man. Dad did a nice job keeping this spunky hen out of the wood and soon I had her in the net.

Father and son shot to close out an awesome winter day....

Winter steelhead...ain't nothing else like em. Should be excellent for the next month or so and then we will be switching gears to some big brown trout. Be good.........

Spring....Is That You?

It seems absurd to be talking about spring during a time of year thats normally the coldest and snowiest, but that's just how it felt all weekend. Instead of dreary gray and stinging cold we had temps in the mid 40's and bright blue skies. Dave and I decided to head up north a little ways to one of the better early spring rivers I know of. I had gotten a pretty good report the day before and figured it was worth a shot. With water temps several degrees warmer than they should be this time of year we decided to see if any fish wanted to chase a swung fly. Switch rods and streamers......


I stuck to my trusty skagit head/sink tip/big streamer combo while Dave took the gentleman's approach fishing a scandi head/poly leader/and some more classic flies. We fished down through several of the better runs in this stretch and didn't get a single pull.

Finally after fishing through the best spot in the whole river with no love we decided to head back to the truck to grab some nymphing rods for the final hour and a half of fishing. This turned out to be a smart choice. I hooked up not 5minutes into the first deep run we fished. After a couple minute battle trying to keep the fish out of a logjam Dave tailed this cool looking winter fish that ate a clown egg.


We pounded that run for another 45 minutes but couldn't find another player even though I know it held many more fish than just that 1...such is winter steelheading. At the last stop of the day Dave took the head of the run and I took the bottom. Again it didn't take more than just a few casts and I had another fish on. This fish had alot more energy than the first and quickly had me scrambling downstream. I managed to keep the fish out of a downed tree somehow but moments later while diving for yet another log jam the hooks pulled out. I didn't really care, I had already landed a fish and just to get a good battle this time of year is well worth it. We fished for a little while longer and then it was time to head home. I spent the evening down at Bell's Brewery drinking Expedition Stout and listening to one of my favorite bands...GREENSKY BLUEGRASS! These guys had the place rocking until almost 2am and put a cap on one hell of a winter's day.....