Trout fishing has been decent lately with more fish looking up in the daytime hours now that hatches aren’t prolific and fish need to keep their eyes open for their food. Fishing on the Manistee and Boardman has been seeing some terrestrials on and in the water – this is a good time to fish […]
Now that summer is here with the warm daytime temps, the hex hatch has mostly caught up and is winding down on local rivers including the Manistee and Boardman. The upstream portions (think cooler water) of river systems are your better bets right now if you are still looking for those nocturnal bugs that bring […]
Trout fishing continues to be inconsistent with hatches/bugs thanks to fluctuations in the weather. Cloudy days have offered good fishing but those days have been limited where the sunny days have the fish under cover. Water levels on the upper Manistee are ideal despite over an inch of rain the other night and it’s temperatures […]
A week with little rain fall has left the local rivers in good shape. Clarity is ideal with a little stain, while temps are in the mid-60s and water levels are not too high and not too low. Hatch activity has been varied and inconsistent but has improved since my last report with more fish […]
Lots of rain has fallen over the past 10 days and the rivers look like it. The Upper Manistee river continues to be challenging with high water, sporadic bug emergences and fish that are mostly uncooperative. Finding times when both the bugs and fish are active has been rare with the occasional good day to […]
The bugs continue to be mixed and varied on the Upper Manistee, Au Sable and Boardman rivers. March Browns, Sulphurs, Black Quills, BWOs, and Mahoganies have been around with some Brown Drakes on the Au Sable and a few Isonychias just starting on the Manistee. And some nights, no bugs – much depends on the […]
With June here, anglers will find that the rivers are running full after some much needed rain throughout the week. The weather has been up and down, but the forecast is calling for stable and, well, fish like stable. On the upper Manistee there has been a smattering of bugs coming off – light Hendricksons, […]
As we approach late May the Mayflies are starting to become more prolific and varied on the upper Manistee, Boardman and Au Sauble Rivers. The next month offers our best match-the-hatch dry fly fishing of the year – make sure your boxes are filled and varied and your fly casting accurate – those selective risers only […]
It’s Mid-May and we are in the middle of Hendricksons which continue to emerge on certain days on local rivers including the Manistee, Boardman and AuSable. May mayfly emergences continue to baffle us and are occurring at times and in weather counter to what is typical which means the best time to be out is […]
It’s really feeling like spring around northwest Michigan – warm temps, blue skies and green showing up fast on both the ground and on trees. The transition from steelhead fishing to trout fishing has been kind of stuck with neither fishing extremely well right now but one gets the sense that it’s going to change […]
Trout opener has come and gone and apparently most of the steelhead run has too. Without any rain the past week or two, the water levels have really come down on the Manistee and Betsie Rivers as the water temps are around 50 degrees and have cleared up – not what you think of when […]
Fishing pretty much has remained the same – it’s been inconsistent. One day we find a bunch of fish, the next – a few, then fewer and back to a bunch again – you just don’t know. On both the Manistee and Betsie the steelhead have been coming and going pretty quickly. A few drop […]
