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Mid-May Fly Fishing Report – Northwest Michigan

Posted by Ted Kraimer - May 12, 2016

Mid May fishing has anglers headed to their favorite trout stream and river with spring-like weather and good water conditions.

Hendricksons are still around but seem to be winding down; those armed with rusty spinners either late morning or in the evening might find themselves in a fun dry fly situation as the Hendricksons drop to the water to lay their eggs.  Other bugs to have with you include: tan caddis, black quills, mahoganies and with the season being off – one never knows when sulphurs might just start coming off so have some of those with you, too. This is an ideal time to have Borchers Drakes or Emergers with you as they imitate a number of different mayflies commonly found on the Manistee, AuSable and Boardman Rivers this time of year.

Without any surface activity, try fishing a streamer on a sink-tip or even a floating line if wade fishing. If fishing from a boat, try some of the larger streamers to get something big to come out and play, otherwise, if wading try some mid-sized streamers like my Brook Trout and Lamprey Leech patterns. There is no shortage of effective and innovative streamer patterns on the market today so be sure to mix them up if you aren’t having success. Don’t discount big wet flies that can be twitched and stripped just because everyone is fishing streamers – sometimes being different is good.

Bluegill/Panfish are just starting to hit the shallow water on some of the warmer lakes and ponds. This can be a lot of fun whether you are experienced or a beginner. It’s always more fun having them come up to the surface, but you might find large nymphs and small streamers fished sub-surface could be the ticket to a slab-sized bluegill and a bent rod.

Good luck!

Ted

May Fishing – It’s a great month for streamer and dry fly fishing for Trout.
Big Bugs – The month of June is the month of Big Bugs – Isonychias, Brown Drakes and the Hex – got dates?
2016 Dates – Now booking for the entire fishing season: trout, carp, bass, salmon and fall Steelhead.

ausable, bluegill, boardman, borchers drakes, hendricksons, manistee, mayflies, streamer
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Traverse City, MI 10 days weather forecast ▸

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Fighting Fish - Getting the Fish in the Net

Tips for Fighting and Landing Fish

Autumn Offender Streamer Pattern

Autumn Offender Streamer Pattern

Ted Kraimer • Current Works, LLC • PO Box 333 • Traverse City, Michigan 49685 • (231) 883-8156

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