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Late April Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - April 25, 2025

With April coming to an end, so does our Spring Steelhead season. The run for this spring was a strong one the past 8 weeks and despite a week of high water in early April that made fishing tough – if not unsafe to get out, it provided a lot of fish and was a remarkable improvement over 2024 Spring Season’s fish numbers which was concerning.

There are still fish in the rivers, but in a week’s time, it went from a lot of fish to, not so many. Smaller rivers will have a few fish in them for a bit while larger rivers and their volume of water will continue to tease fish into the system, just as they have for years, resulting in late spawners which contributes to a longer season in years ahead.

Water temps are in the upper 40s and levels are about right for the time of year, but still running a bit stained which is still from the high water even we had over three weeks ago. Small natural eggs are catching more fish as they imitate the natural eggs drifting downstream and the salmon fry bite has been our best performing nymph over the past week.

Saturday is the traditional trout opener (walleye, pike and other species, too) and has a lot of folks swapping the heavy steelhead rods for their favorite trout rods. The timing of this year’s opener and the weather the past 2 months has been ideal. And because we had a “real” winter, it seems that conditions are now just building with only better days ahead as water temperatures climb into the 50s and create consistent conditions for hatches. In other words, after the hard winter and slow start of spring, the season is just starting where in recent years it has already been on and off again by the time opener arrived.

Hendricksons have started emerging and will only build in numbers especially with the forecast of warmer days ahead. BWO’s are always a staple in your fly box but this is a time of year you should expect to use them. Small stones are also fluttering on the surface some days when the sun is out, but most of the time a respectable sized trout won’t chase them on the surface unless there are a lot of them.

There are more hours on the water when bugs aren’t out than when they are emerging making an alternative presentation like streamer fishing a good way to cover water until bugs and rising fish present themselves. The fish haven’t been overly pressured but the water is still cold, so slow your presentation/retrieve and enjoy the start of a new trout season.

Good luck.

Ted

 

Fall Steelhead – Spring season is all booked, but a few dates remain available for the Fall Steelhead.
Trout Fishing – May and June offer some of the best technical dry fly fishing as we chase bugs and browns.
2025 Season – Now booking the entire season for trout, bass, steelhead and salmon – get your dates planned

fishing guide, hendricksons, manistee river, steelhead, steelhead fishing, streamer fishing, trout fishing michigan
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Ted Kraimer • Current Works, LLC • PO Box 333 • Traverse City, Michigan 49685 • (231) 883-8156

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