As we flip the calendar to November it is full-on steelhead season. Almost all of the salmon are gone in rivers like the Manistee, Betsie and Platte but there are a few remaining chinook and coho salmon around providing an egg drop to help keep the steelhead focused on eggs. Northwest Michigan hasn’t received significant rainfall in weeks leaving the rivers with fewer fish than we are used to for this time of year and the water low and extremely clear. Thankfully the sun hasn’t been out much giving us a chance at these hot fish.
With the clear water, water temps in the upper 40’s and well-informed anglers, the fish have scattered throughout the systems and where they are holding. Runs and holes directly below any last spawning salmon are a great places to focus on, but when those don’t produce, it might be time to look for fish hunkered in structure but still in position to collect the drifting eggs. Bottom bouncing rigs, fishing indicators and fishing flies on the swing are all ideal right now. Natural sized eggs and beads continue to take their fair share of fish but a nymph bite is starting to build. The leaves are at a minimum, the days are getting shorter, the sun is at a lower angle – it’s all about the deep-bodied steelhead of 2018.
Trout fishing on the upper Manistee is pretty much a streamer game as the brown trout are mostly in a post spawn pattern. As the salmon continue to drop off below Tippy Dam, look for the trout to not only look for eggs, but start to chase streamers as they have an appetite after gorging on a steady diet of eggs the past 5 weeks.
Good luck
Ted
Fall Steelhead – Fall colors include chrome Steelhead until Winter gets here.
Fall Trout Combo – Target both steelhead and trout (streamers) on the lower Manistee
2019 Fishing – It isn’t too early to get next year’s fishing dates secured – booking through October