With the first day of Spring, we are reminded that it’s a transition into the new season, not the flip of a switch. Since last week’s report a lot of snow has melted which brought the river levels up and added some color to it. The water temps are still in the low to mid […]
To say it was a long, cold winter would be to misrepresent that past few months and the multiple polar vortexes, hours of shoveling snow and time spent indoors thinking about fishing. With mid-March, thankfully, comes some sunshine, longer days, warmer temperatures, and opportunities to shake cabin fever by fishing for steelhead. There is still […]
It’s the back half of January and winter has set in with some really cold temps, periodic snow and full-on winter conditions on the rivers. Fishing is limited right now – those needing to shake cabin fever are finding the occasional steelhead on the Betsie and Manistee river. Water levels and clarity are fine, it’s […]
As we cross the mid-point of December anglers are finding fishing conditions to be in step with the season. Cold temps for a month and some snow have the fish in a winter mode and sitting in the slower water and eating a little less aggressively than we got accustomed to the previous months. A […]
With November coming to an end, it is apparent that fall itself ended a few weeks ago. Winter temps and some snow have been the norm with air temps below freezing as water temperatures hover around 40 degrees on the local rivers. There are steelhead in all the rivers, but they are spread throughout the […]
What happened to Fall? The last five days have been sub-freezing with some snow each day helping to drop the water temps and put the fish into a little bit of a funk. Once temps stabilize, the steelhead will do the same and begin to eat again as they have been a little grumpy lately. […]
The low clear water of October is behind us as November brings cooler and higher water. Significant recent rains has the river levels up on the local rivers including the Manistee, Betsie, Boardman and others. And with it should be another push of steelhead. Water levels are going to get a bit stained but that […]
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 […]
It definitely feels like Fall on and off the river. The recent winds have really put a lot of leaves into the river leaving a number of trees bare and anglers putting on an extra layer. Cooler temperatures have dropped the water temps significantly the past week as they hover around 50 degrees. Between the […]
With a week of October behind us it’s looking and feeling like fall. Trees have started to turn color and so have the salmon. There are still a number of salmon in the local rivers – Betsie, Manistee, Platte, but its safe to say we are past the stage of bright, fresh fish. Most of […]
As we approach the end of September the weather is transitioning to what we should have had the past few weeks – cooler nights, some precipitation and some color in the trees to let us know that fall is here. More fish, too. The extension of summer has kept a trickle of chinook/king salmon moving […]
At the mid-point of September, it has felt more like the middle of summer. After a lot of rain the first part of the month the rivers came up and have since come down. The Betsie still has the “Betsie Stain” to it but reveals that there just aren’t as many salmon around as we […]
