Not much has changed since the last report as a trickle of fresh fish move up the rivers as others spawn, while those that already have drop back to the lake.
We have had some rainfall but not as much as we were hoping for to really test the hypothesis that there are a bunch of steelhead ready to migrate once conditions ripened with warmer, higher and dirtier water. Temps on the Manistee are mid to upper 40s while the Betsie is hovering around 50 degrees.
While the Manistee hasn’t yet had the push of suckers to swim upstream, the Betsie has a lot of them below the old Homestead dam site. These help as indicators of the steelhead run. Typically (and this no typical year) a second, smaller run of steelhead occurs after the sucker run on both rivers.
Successful patterns have been smaller eggs, small caddis, fry and small black stones, however, the latter are starting to diminish in density when hatches do occur which should reduce the pattern’s effectiveness going forward. With water temperatures what they are, it isn’t a bad time to swing a small streamer looking for aggressive fish headed upstream or one putting some weight back on as they return to the lake.
Good luck.
Ted
Trout Season – Mid-May into July offers some of the best match-the-hatch dry fly fishing of the season.
Learn To Fly Fish – 1/2 Day trips are perfect for beginners! Learn how to cast before hitting the water to fish.
2024 Fishing – Get your dates secured to ensure your time on the water this year. Booking all seasons/species.