Early August Fly Fishing

Posted by Ted Kraimer - August 1, 2024

July ended with some hot weather and it appears the start of August will continue with more of the same.

With this heat, the water temperatures in the trout rivers are getting too warm at mid-day and through the evening making for dangerous conditions for the fish. Until water temperatures drop (thanks to cooler night-time air temps) fish the early mornings for best conditions. Once the water temperature gets to 68 degrees, put the fly rod down or change species to target.

The Trico hatch has been taking place in the mornings. Clouds of spinners are falling to the water mid-morning on cooler days but when it’s warm to start the day, look for the bugs to be on the water closer to 8 a.m. With the lack of rain, the water is clear and the fish are spooky so make sure that 6 and 7 x tippet is fresh and you are light with your hook set.

Terrestrials and attractors are working most days and the small (less than 2 inch) “streamers” twitched rapidly are picking up some fish. Soft hackles swung in riffles keep fishing light and fun if you are looking to pick up some fish while keeping the technical aspects of dry fly fishing mostly out of the process.

Smallmouth bass fishing in the lower Manistee has been decent for those looking to cast some streamers for fish that mostly play by the rules. Smaller baitfish patterns seem to be out-fishing attractors and poppers, but we still have them in the box just in case.

Bass and bluegill fishing continues to be decent in the small lakes. With more weed growth, target the edges and lower light times of the day; cloudy days are best. Fishing big poppers for largemouth is always fun and seems perfect for August fishing when we get back to basics and enjoy the time on the water.

Good luck.

Ted

Trout, Tricos & Terrestrials – July & August offer fun dry fly fishing on the upper Manistee river.
Smallmouth Bass – Fish the lower Manistee with streamers & poppers this summer for fish that can pull.
Learn To Fly Fish – 1/2 Day trips are perfect for beginners! Learn how to cast before hitting the water to fish.

Late July Fly Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - July 21, 2024

Late July fishing finds us headed to the upper Manistee river in the mornings looking for hatches and spinner falls of Tricos for some trout. When those little flies aren’t on the water, we are using the larger, attractor/suggestive/imitative terrestrial patterns often tied with foam and rubber legs – its what I call the “Foam and Rubber” hatch.

Most of the larger, leery (and smart) brown trout have retired to the dark water and wood piles and don’t show up too often, but we are surprised from time to time – especially the overcast days. A mix of brook and brown trout keep it fun with surface activity and smaller streamers or twitch flies turn some good fish when the surface feeding is on pause.

Smallmouth bass fishing in the rivers is hitting its stride with the streamer bite being the best approach. Somedays we need to fish with a heavy sink tip but most days it’s fishing a clear intermediate sink-tip with baitfish and crayfish patterns. The bright attractor streamers seem to have lost their appeal to the fish but keep them in your box – smallmouth bass like trout and steelhead can be moody and change their preference without notice.

The smaller lakes and ponds continue to offer beginners an opportunity to learn how to fly fish with lots of action in an ideal skill building environment. Know someone that wants to get into the sport? This is a great way to introduce them.

Good luck,

Ted

Trout, Tricos & Terrestrials – July & August offer fun dry fly fishing on the upper Manistee river.
Smallmouth Bass – Fish the lower Manistee with streamers & poppers this summer for fish that can pull.
Learn To Fly Fish – 1/2 Day trips are perfect for beginners! Learn how to cast before hitting the water to fish.

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Mid July Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - July 13, 2024

Trout fishing on the local rivers continues but with a more casual approach as we aren’t matching hatches in low light to finicky fish. Instead head to the river with a mix of general dry flies that imitate mayflies since they have been eating them regularly for the past 10 weeks. Beyond fishing those natural dry flies, tie on attractors and some terrestrials.

Larger flying ants have been more noticeable lately than any other, but the deer fly and beetle imitations have been fooling fish reliably. Look for Tricos to start emerging and falling in the mid-mornings any day now. It’s also a great time to fish a swung wet fly as is a “micro streamer” – those subsurface flies that look more like a nymph, but fished with twitches and strips.

The smallmouth bass fishing on the lower Manistee has been varied – some days they play our game, other days it seems like they take their ball and go home. The softer streamer approach is the most productive most days fished on clear sink-tip lines. The popper and dry fly fishing hasn’t been as productive but I suspect with the dog-days of summer coming, that should change as it usually does this time of year.

Bass and bluegill fishing on the local lakes continues to be our favorite venue for those trying / learning to fly fish with all their eagerness to come to the fly and provide action as the skills are developing. Those more experienced can fish a streamer or diving bug near the weed beds and drop offs for those bigger largemouth bass.

Good luck!

Ted

Trout, Tricos & Terrestrials – July & August offer fun dry fly fishing on the upper Manistee river.
Smallmouth Bass – Fish the lower Manistee with streamers & poppers this summer for fish that can pull.
Learn To Fly Fish – 1/2 Day trips are perfect for beginners! Learn how to cast before hitting the water to fish.

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Early July Fly Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - July 2, 2024

The Hex flies have mostly finished a really heavy hatch period this year on the local rivers including the Manistee. This steady stream of bugs has left the trout fat and happy and like many of us after Thanksgiving dinner – second guessing that last serving.

The rivers are in good shape: height, clarity and temperature are all where they should be. After a significant hatch, the fish usually sulk for a little bit and wait for digestion to take place, but they’ve been known to eat a hex fly as a few late bloomers either hatch or spinners fall. Isonychias on the cloudy days can make for some fun fishing, but mostly it’s time to think about attractors, wets and small streamers as most of our hatches are over. It also means you can take some fly boxes out of the gear bag/vest since there isn’t as much match-the-hatch fishing going on.

You can read more about fishing following the Hex Hatch here.

The really good lake fishing for bluegill/panfish has slowed some with the fish going deep again after another round of spawning. Look for them in the drops near weeds and other structure. The largemouth bass fishing is ramping up as they are starting to look up at diving bugs, poppers and attractors that get their attention. Small streamers, too, fished on a floating line can also bring some fish to the net.

The smallmouth bass fishing in rivers continues to offer some good streamer fishing for those looking to change gears from the evening and night trout fishing we seemed to have been doing for the past 6 weeks. Once temperatures warm back up, I suspect the surface/popper bite might begin.

Good luck.

Ted

Trout, Tricos & Terrestrials – July & August offer fun dry fly fishing on the upper Manistee river.
Smallmouth Bass – Fish the lower Manistee with streamers & poppers this summer for fish that can pull.
Learn To Fly Fish – 1/2 Day trips are perfect for beginners! Learn how to cast before hitting the water to fish.

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Late June Fly Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - June 25, 2024

The warm weather of last week made for some hot and heavy hex fly action on local rivers that has tapered off due to cooler (not cool) temps and significant rainfall.

While water temperatures in rivers like the Manistee and Au Sable were reaching the high 60s and in some sections – into the 70’s, they have moderated as air temps and sunlight have eased. A significant rain on Saturday has left us with a lot of water in the rivers and most of them running high and remarkably stained. Levels have begun dropping however the clarity is taking a little longer to take affect.

In addition to the hex flies coming off at dark, look for Bat Flies in the evening hours as well as some Isonychias on the cloudy, cooler days. When surface activity isn’t happening, try going sub surface with some smaller streamers or twitch flies. A lot of the fish have been gorging themselves on one of the densest hex hatches we’ve experienced in recent history so they aren’t overly eager to chase down too much. Kind of like us after eating a big meal.

Smallmouth bass fishing on rivers is starting up again, but there, too, the water is stained (which isn’t a bad thing). Fishing smaller streamers on intermediate sink tips or slow sinking lines has been the approach, but with the recent molting of crayfish, fishing weighted crayfish patterns on a floating line near rocks has yielded some good fishing.

The lake fishing has been good for bigger bluegill and panfish as they finish up their second round of spawning. The largemouth bass offer a nice blend of what we are catching and it’s not uncommon for the bigger bass to eat the bluegill we hooked with the fly really putting a bend into the rod.

Good luck.

Ted

Trout, Tricos & Terrestrials – July & August offer fun dry fly fishing on the upper Manistee river.
Smallmouth Bass – Fish the lower Manistee with streamers & poppers this summer for fish that can pull.
Learn To Fly Fish – 1/2 Day trips are perfect for beginners! Learn how to cast before hitting the water to fish.

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Northern Michigan Fly Fishing Report

Early August Fly Fishing

Late July Fly Fishing Report

Mid July Fishing Report

Early July Fly Fishing Report

Late June Fly Fishing Report

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