Panfish

May Days – A Month of Fly Fishing

Posted by Ted Kraimer - March 12, 2014

May Fly Fishing - Streamer Fishing Michigan

Brown Trout caught in May

It is no secret that northern Michigan’s fly fishing is one of a kind when you consider the variety of species in our local waters. The first popular season of the year is Spring Steelhead from mid-March through April, and Trout fishing in June with its hatches of big bugs aren’t missed by many. But in between is the month of May – a great month to fly fish Michigan – filled with a number of choices for anglers of all skill levels at a productive and less populated time.

Below is a brief summary of the various species, time of month and common approaches we take to fishing through May.

Steelhead

Drop-back steelhead caught on the swing

Most years, the steelhead on rivers like the Manistee below Tippy Dam continue to migrate in early May although, typically not in the numbers found in April. Considering how few anglers are out there and with water and air temps much warmer, this can be an ideal time to target drop-back and up-stream bound steelhead with nymphs, swung flies and streamers. Just because the crowds are gone doesn’t mean the fish are.

Steelhead & Trout

May Fly Fishing - Late Season Steelhead in Michigan

Late season Steelhead hooked while trout fishing

Waters like the lower Manistee containing both steelhead and trout, can offer a great one-two approach. That is, focus on steelhead until the sun gets high, then target trout. Or spend the day targeting trout with nymphs and streamers and hold on tight should you hook onto a steelhead in the process. Streamer fishing is a good way to cover lots of water and focus on predatory trout and the drop-back steelhead looking to eat before heading back to the lake. During the second half of the month steelhead are usually gone and anglers focus on trout with all types of presentations – nymphs, streamers, wet flies/soft hackles and dries. Since trout are stocked in this water, it can be an ideal place for a beginner or kid to learn while making their trout fishing experience a positive one.

Trout

Depending on the length and severity of winter, the first part of May usually offers good hatches of mayflies and caddis and build throughout the month on local rivers making for great dry fly fishing. The upper Manistee and AuSable are known for their dry fly fishing for brown, rainbow and brook trout. Watching them eat your hendrickson or mother’s day caddis in daylight is what it is all about for a lot of us anglers. Water conditions can vary from year to year – it can be clear or it can be stained, but regardless, the fish are there and usually looking to eat. Hendricksons to sulphurs and lots in between, don’t miss out on hatching bugs and rising fish.

May Fly Fishing - Michigan Mayfly Hatches

Late afternoon mayfly hatch in Michigan

A well-rounded angler who can not only cast a dry fly when an emergence takes place but can fish below the surface with a sink-tip fly line and a streamer can really maximize May’s potential. May is – in my opinion – the best month to focus on the big trout with big flies. Since the trout haven’t been pressured, this is a good time to feed them a streamer pattern as they are not only hungry but also territorial.

On those first warm days of spring having your favorite dry fly rod strung-up with a dry in the boat as you cover the water with a streamer is great approach. May trout fishing often occurs during “Bankers Hours” – from late morning until early evening – which further appeals to anglers.

Additional Articles:

Tips for Better Streamer Presentations Dry Fly Fishing Do’s

Panfish/Bluegills

Nice Bluegill/Panfish caught on a small streamer

As the sun gets even higher, the days longer and warmer, so do the waters on the many local ponds and lakes. Mid-month, panfish (Bluegill) typically leave the depths and come in shallow to spawn providing a lot of fun for fly anglers. Ever catch a bluegill the size of your hand on a 3 or 4 wt. rod? You won’t forget it when you do. And you won’t forget it if a big bass or pike eats your bluegill as you bring it in. Rarely will you land both, but you will have a great fish story to tell!

Like most fishing – a versatile angler who can fish for bluegill on top with dries and subsurface with nymphs and small streamers will be the productive angler. Being visual, fishing on top is always fun but you can create your own luck and being able to swim a small nymph slowly near structure increases your luck as this usually gets you that larger fish. Big bluegills are smart and are trophies in their own right making them not only fun to target, but worthy of bragging about.

More on Fly Fishing for Bluegill/Panfish

Carp and Smallmouth Bass

Carp fishing Grand Traverse Bay

May’s winds blow the warm surface water of Grand Traverse Bay into the shallows bringing the first of the carp and smallmouth into the flats to eat or sometimes just sun themselves. With carp steadily becoming more popular with fly fishers, the angler who finds the pre-spawn fish before others does well – especially because they aren’t preoccupied with spawning. It can be tricky, as water temps are influenced by wind direction, sunlight and night-time temperatures, but knowing when and where to go will make the difference between finding fish and not. Being able to cast and manipulate a fly and watch them eat brings a saltwater-like fishing experience closer to home.

Largemouth Bass on the Fly

Posted by Ted Kraimer - August 17, 2012

By the time July and August have arrived in northern Michigan, fly anglers have had months to fish for trout and other cold-water species. As the weather and water temperatures increase, it’s a great time to fly fish for largemouth bass in the local lakes.

While the Traverse City area does not have the huge bass found in the managed ponds of southern states, or as you might see on a Saturday morning bass fishing TV show, we do have good population — some over the 5-pound mark.

Being a versatile angler (fishing slowly retrieved nymphs, streamers on a sink-tip or casting bulky poppers) will not increase the odds of finding what the fish are in the mood for, but it will make you a better fly angler regardless of the species you pursue in the future — it’s a great way to improve while having fun.

Structure

Target Weed Beds, Wood & Drop-Offs

Structure is a great place to start looking for bass, as it is for just about any species of fish. The increased weed growth, swim platforms and docks found on most lake edges are a great place to start.

Large mats of lily pads and other aquatic weeds are a good place to focus. When the weeds are close or adjacent to drop-offs, another form of structure, it’s that much more likely you will find the bigger, more predatory bass. This cover not only provides safety from larger predators (osprey, eagles, loons, pike, anglers), it more importantly serves as a place where they can eat smaller fish, insects and other food sources. In low light, look for fish to become a little more bold, moving into shallower water and flats to eat minnow and other baitfish.

Flies for Largemouth Bass

Poppers and Chuggers = Surface Fun

Some like it on top, others like it down low. Both the bass and the bass angler have preferences, and it’s up to the angler to either figure out what the fish are in the mood for or how they, as anglers, want to fish that particular day. Personally, there is nothing better than chugging a popper near lily pads only to have it inhaled by a bass.

But like most fishing, bass may want a different presentation, and the versatile angler equipped with various fly styles will be able to adapt to the fish’s preference. Sliders and diving flies fished on either a floating line or clear sink-tip are a nice mix as long, slow strips swims the fly from the surface, down and back up covering more of the water column.

Classic streamers like weighted wooly buggers slowly retrieved do a great job of imitating leeches, and have taken their fair share of fish. So have larger, streamer patterns that look like natural baitfish stripped along the weed bed and/or drop off.

The big popper with rubber legs on the surface, Sneaky Pete’s, frogs, crawfish, small poppers, dragon and damsel flies (both nymph and adult) an assortment of streamers all deserve a place in your fly box.

Equipment

Casting Bulky Flies Requires the Right Equipment

The versatile angler will have both a floating and a sink-tip line to meet the demands of the fish. Specialty tapers for bass exist, but I have found some other lines that I feel perform better: Scientific Angler’s Magnum and Titan tapers and Rio’s Outbound fly lines are a joy to cast.

Reels don’t necessarily need to have the most advanced drag system, as the bass aren’t like a steelhead and we are not protecting light tippets — reels simply serve as line holders.

Leaders are more important than most anglers recognize — the tapper and stiffness of a leader trying to carry and turn over a large, wind-resistant fly is crucial; while we aren’t catching 12-pound bass, we often need that much stiffness and mass to cast the fly well and to muscle fish in and out of weed beds. Look for tapered leaders formulated for bass or even saltwater species.

Rod size varies, but most will find 6- and 7-weight rods, 9-feet in length, are ideal. Some anglers choose to have some fun with the smaller rods for a “ultra-light” approach, where the serious big-fly and heavy-cover angler might opt for the power and efficiency of an 8-weight. Manufacturers like Sage, Redington and Scott have developed rods specifically for warm-water fishing with unique lengths and tapers you might consider if you really get into this type of fishing. Just remember, the best rod is the rod you cast best.

Timing

Morning, Noon or Night - Catch Largemouth Anytime

Some times are better to fish for bass than others, but anytime you can get out and fish is a good time. One of the advantages to fishing largemouth is that they are typically accessible and eager to eat at all times of the day.

Some days the best surface fishing is twilight — the time when the sun has gone over the tree line. Other days, after a cool front has moved through, the sun brings them out and gets them active. Often early mornings are good, too, for the same reason as twilight. During the summer, the daytime temperature forecast is usually what helps me and my customers decide when is best to fish — after all — it’s about getting on the water to fish, having some fun and catching.

Seasonally the bass move from the deep water into shallower, more “fly-angler-friendly” depths in May and can be caught through September. To me, anytime you can catch fish is a good time, but when the trout fishing has slowed or you are looking to mix it up, give bass on a fly rod a chance.

Spending my formative angling years using spinning rod chasing bass, I see July and August as time to reconnect with those early fishing memories of northern Michigan lakes using a fly rod – try it yourself if you haven’t yet.

bass, fishing, fly fishing, fly rod, largemouth bass fishing, traverse city

Flashtail Clouser Minnow

Posted by Ted Kraimer - July 3, 2012

Flashtail Clouser

Most anglers are familiar with the Clouser Minnow — a highly effective fly created by smallmouth bass angler and guru Bob Clouser. With its lead eyes and streamlined bucktail construction, the fly acts similar to a bucktail jig and can effectively be fished in a variety of colors for a variety of species, making it one of the most versatile patterns for both fresh and saltwater fish.

The Flashtail Clouser was influenced by the original Clouser Minnow pattern and Dan Blanton’s rendition — the Flashtail Deep Minnow. Notable differences in this pattern include a tail of reflective Flashabou, a body of synthetic dubbing to add some bulk and transparency, and a belly and wing made from soft, natural materials that have more movement in the water. The result is more durable than bucktail.

Smallmouth Bass caught on a Flashtail Clouser

You can fish the Flashtail Clouser in both rivers and lakes with both floating lines and sink-tips. I suggest tying these flies using various sized eyes from bead-chain to a few different sizes of painted dumbbell to allow fishing various depths and current flows.

With floating lines, use leaders around 9 feet in length to allow the fly to sink. When stripped, the jig-style hook and a floating line create a fleeing “hop” while moving forward, imitating a spooked and fleeing baitfish — something predatory fish often key-in on.

Fish this pattern with varying speeds and pauses on sink-tip lines when you need to get the fly deeper and/or in swift moving currents.

Flashtail Clouser – Wet

Easy to tie, highly effective and very versatile, tie this pattern in sizes that range from a few inches up to 8 inches in length. You can change the color profile to match any particular baitfish that is prevalent to your favorite fishery or even in attractor color schemes.

Trout • Pike • Salmon • Smallmouth Bass • Bluegill • Largemouth Bass • Walleye • Steelhead

Flashtail Clouser Minnow Recipe

Hook: U555 Jig 6, or TFS 5440 1/0 – 6
Thread: Gray Uni 6/0
Tail: 50/50 mix of Mirage Opal/silver and Flashabou Pearl
Body: Hareline Polar Dub – White
Eyes: S.S. Bead Chain or painted dumbbell – sized accordingly
Belly: Sheep Hair/Sculpin Wool – White
Wing: Silver Fox Tail

Step 1. After wrapping a base layer of thread from behind the angled hook shank to above
the hook barb, tie eyes using figure-8 wraps, leaving room to tie in the belly and wing.
Some people prefer to add a drop of Zap-A-Gap to the wraps at this point (optional).

Step 2. Tie in the tail material so it extends backwards twice the length of the hook shank.

Step 3. Very loosely dub clumps of Polar Dub from the tail tie in area to just
behind the eyes. Pick out with scissor point or bodkin.

Step 4. Tie in a sparse clump of sheep hair behind the eyes so the tips extend halfway down the tail.
After secure, wind your thread between the eye and hook eye. Pull sheep hair over the eyes and tie down.

Step 5. On the opposite side of the white belly hair, tie in a clump of Silver Fox tail for
a wing that is slightly longer than the belly. Trim, tie off and apply two coats of head cement.

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