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Posts tagged "alevin"

Mid-March Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - March 13, 2019

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 a lot of snow on land, but warmer temps, sunshine and rain will help reduce things, hopefully gradually. As the melt hits the water, look for the water temps to actually remain or even get cooler. Sunshine really helps warm the water up and help to get fish active and feed. If wade fishing, be careful of icy paths and river banks.

We are in pre-spawn mode and anglers will find steelhead in most of the local rivers and throughout the watersheds including the Manistee below Tippy Dam and the Betsie River.  There is a mix of winter fish and fresh fish with the hold-over fall (winter) fish mostly sitting in the deeper holes to avoid the stronger currents. Fresh fish encouraged by additional sunlight and an increase in water flow are trickling upstream and can be found in seams as they ascend upstream.

River levels are holding steady and have a slight stain to them – look for more color to the water as more run off occurs and levels rise. Water temps are in the mid-30s and the fish are favoring a drag-free presentation often on the slower side of the current seam.

This time of year larger eggs and beads are preferred over realistic sizes and colors since there are no natural eggs we are trying to imitate. Other flies that are proven winners this time of year include hex nymphs, caddis, black stonefly and alevin.

Good luck.

Ted

Spring Steelhead – Now through April. Start the fishing seasons with some chrome! Some dates still available.
Trout – May and June offers some of the best trout fishing of the year matching the hatch and fishing streamers.
Booking 2019 – Reserve your date(s) and schedule life around fishing rather than trying to fit fishing into life.

alevin, betsie river, black stonefly, caddis, egg patterns, fly fishing guide service, hex nymphs, manistee river, spring steelhead, steelhead fishing, tippy dam, traverse city

End of Winter? Fly Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - March 11, 2015

Winter has finally loosened its death grip on us as warmer and longer days, sunshine, and daylight savings time all converged having us feeling like Spring isn’t that far away.

Often when the weather gets warm and the snow melts at this time of year, many of us head to the river looking to shake the cabin fever and find some fish. While there are some, there aren’t many steelhead in the Manistee and Betsie rivers right now. The less than average fall run didn’t provide a lot of fish to winter-over and with many of the rivers iced over in the lower sections, the typical trickle of migrating fish throughout winter didn’t happen.  So, while you still have a chance to catch fish right now, look for the runs to build as river ice disappears and water temps continue to warm up and pre-spawn fish migrate upstream.

The forecast calls for most nights to be below freezing which will help keep the run-off manageable. Water levels have increased and has a little stain to it which is common for this time of year. Regardless of whether you are wading or in a boat right now, keep an eye out for large chunks of ice drifting downstream. Waiting until the sun is out to warm up the water can make a difference this time of year let alone eliminate the black ice in parking lots and on boat ramps.

Look for fish to be in the slower water/holes and also tail-outs where they sun themselves if fishing pressure isn’t too high. It’s a good time of year to fish attractor egg patterns and larger nymphs like hex patterns. With fall’s salmon’s eggs hatching into fish, alevin and fry patterns should be a given time as we wait for the first black stonefly activity which should begin any day.

Good luck.

Ted

The MI-DNR is conducting an inland trout angler survey. This is a great opportunity to provide some
information that might be considered in development of their management plan. Click here to take the survey.

Spring Steelhead –  From mid-March through early May on the Manistee and Betsie. Some dates available.
September Salmon – Dates are limited for fishing the Betsie River in early Sept. and later on the Manistee.
2015 Fishing – It isn’t too early to get your fishing trips planned for the year. Booking all species/seasons.

alevin, betsie river, black stonefly, egg patterns, flly fishing report, fry patterns, guide, guide trips, manistee river, steelhead, steelhead fishing

Fonzi Fry

Posted by Ted Kraimer - April 5, 2012
Fonzi Fry

Fonzi Fry

Each year as millions of salmon eggs turn into salmon, both steelhead and trout take notice and advantage of these naive, freshly hatched “minnows.” I originally developed this fry pattern for steelhead, but it didn’t take long for the trout to convince me they like it too, making it a staple in my fly box from March through June.

In rivers like the Manistee, Betsie, Bear Creek and the Pere Marquette, where natural reproduction of salmon is prolific, have some fry patterns with you. After the salmon eggs develop into alevins in February and March, the egg sack disappears and small fish/fry swim in much of the same gravel section of water that steelhead have recently migrated to.

Fonzi - Steelhead

Fry Eating Steelhead

While these small fish are a protein source, they are also future competition for the steelheads’ offspring. As nature and instinct takes over, the salmon fry is eaten. Trout recognize these naive fish as a food source, too, and are often the reason you see trout breaking the surface when no hatch seems to be taking place — they are chasing these fry to the surface to eat them.

When fishing for steelhead, I fish this fly like any other nymph — typically below an egg pattern — and I tend to swing the fly at the end of the drift, even as it rises off the bottom. These slack-less drifts/presentations are unrecognizable as you feel the tug from a fish immediately. Look for the take to be anywhere through the drift with this pattern.

Fonzi - Brown Trout

Brown Trout Love “Minnows”

Both fry and trout tend to move to the edges of the river— especially in higher water — which makes it a great place to target trout. Fishing the Fonzi Fry on a floating line with either a mono leader or sinking leader with a down-and-across swing (think soft-hackle fishing) works well. At the end of your drift (the “hang-down”), twitch the fly and strip it back in to add movement and possibly elicit a fish.  This pattern can also be fished on a smaller sink-tip line to get a little deeper or it can be fished as a tandem rig behind a much larger streamer pattern.

The Fonzi Fry is available from Rainy’s Flies and can be bought in stocking fly shops. Below are tying instructions for you fly tiers.

Fonzi - Wet

Wet Fonzi Fly

 

Recipe

Hook:           TMC 2457 #8
Thread:         Gray Uni 6/0
Tail:              Grizzly Marabou
Body:            Ice Dub – UV pearl
Thorax:        Ice Dub- UV pearl
Collar:           Teal Feather
Eyes:              Bead Chain – Black, Small
Back:            Ice Dub – peacock

Tying Instructions

Fonzi - Step 1Step 1. Wrap base layer of thread to above hook barb.

Fonzi - Step 2Step 2. Tie in tail – length to be as long as hook itself. Tie off

Fonzi - Step 3Step 3. Dub ice dub body, loosely, 2/3rds up shank towards hook eye.

Fonzi - Step 4Step 4. Tie in Eyes just behind hook eye on underside of the hook

Fonzi - Step 5Fonzi - Step 5.5

Step 5. Tie in teal collar by the tip and fold, wrapping at least once just in front of the dubbed body.

Fonzi - Step 6Step 6. Dub in front of the teal and around the hook eye (figure-8)

Fonzi - Step 7Fonzi - Step 7.5

 

Step 7. Prepare some peacock ice dub and tie in so it extends forward,
over eye, wrap down behind hook eye, then move thread behind eyes.

Fonzi - Step 8Step 8. Pull Ice Dub back towards hook bend and tie down. Whip Finish.

Notes:

Pick out some of the body dubbing to give the fly a minnow like appearance but be careful it doesn’t extend beyond the marabou tail.

Be sure to use water-based head cement on this fly as other types will ruin the synthetic ice dub back. I have found Fish Pimp – Hard Headed head cement to be a very good product.

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alevin, Bear Creek, Betsie, fonzi fry, fry pattern, manistee, Pere Marquette, rainys flies, steelhead, trout

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