Posts tagged "fly-fishing guide"

Trout

Posted by Ted Kraimer - January 12, 2023

Traditionally Trout season begins the last Saturday of April and runs through September, but some sections of rivers like the Manistee remain open year-round. Within an hour’s drive of Traverse City we have a number of trout rivers/streams, good hatches, beautiful scenery and great fishing. Here is what you can expect throughout the year.

April – May

Hatches are going in earnest by the month of May and often start earlier in April which include: Hendricksons, Little Black Stone Flies and Caddis, offering some really good dry fly fishing. Later in the month of May, expect Sulphurs, March Browns, Black Quills/Borcher’s Drakes, and others extending into June. With water temperatures rising and angling pressure low, this is a great time to be on the water for the angler willing to mix up their fishing between streamers and dry flies.

These are the months to throw streamers for some trophy fish. Streamer fishing has become common the past few years and remains a great way to cover water when the bugs aren’t on the surface. Not necessarily for beginners, we cast some big flies on sink-tip lines for big fish. There is nothing like watching a 20-plus inch fish come out of nowhere and pounce on your fly.

June

The “bug month,” June has so many different aquatic insects hatching that it can sometimes be maddening trying to determine which bugs the fish are eating at a particular time. That’s why a lot of anglers like to fish Michigan in June. Sulphurs, March Browns, Mahoganies, Tan Caddis, Borchers Drakes, Isonychias, Yellow Sallies, Golden Stones, Big Stones, Brown Drakes, Grey Drakes and of course, the Hex (Hexagenia Limbata). Looking for dry fly fishing? Then this is a great month for you.

Note: The month of June books early for guided trips. Secure your dates »
Hex fishing is the time of the year that 2-1/2″ – plus mayflies hatch in the last minutes of light and into the dark hours of our longest days. With the dark comes those wary night-time roaming brown trout feeding on the surface, often making a noise hard to accept from a fish that is typically such a nocturnal recluse. While the West is known for its Salmonfly Hatch, we have the Hex as our claim to fly-fishing fame.

July – August

Coming off of a very busy month of hatches, we look for the small Trico hatches in the morning to bring fish up to the surface. Grasshoppers and other terrestrial patterns come out of the box and on the water making for some fun and exciting fishing. Evenings typically produce some bug activity including Isonychias and others like Light Cahills and Blue Wing Olives.

Night Time

“Mousing” — the casting of big surface flies resembling mice and other surface disruptions — can bring up those nocturnal brown trout which are out in the shallow flats looking to eat big without much work. Not necessarily for beginners, mouse fishing is for anglers who are looking for a unique opportunity to fish at night with glow-in-the-dark fly lines and big flies for big fish. Find out what the allure is to this fishing and remember to set the hook on the feel, not the sound!

September – November

With kids back in school, college football on TV and the salmon and steelhead in some rivers, trout rivers in the Traverse City and northern Michigan regions are yours to claim. Water temps have dropped and streamer fishing gets going again with some good terrestrial fishing on top. Enjoy the river and the fall colors with an opportunity to catch some trout that themselves are changing color and are as vivid as the foliage. The trout fishing below Tippy Dam at the end of October and in November can be some of the best fishing of the year on both nymphs and streamers as they are coming off a diet of eggs and looking to keep the feed bag on.

Off-Season

“Off-season” is considered fall, winter and early spring. When most anglers are in pursuit of steelhead or salmon, hit the extended season rivers and have the trout water to yourself. Both the Manistee and Boardman Rivers have sections that are open all year. Sometimes we experience warm-ups throughout the winter, and often a change of a couple degrees is enough to get some fish feeding. It’s always good to get out and get some fresh air, sunshine and hopefully fish. Streamer fishing during ideal conditions can bring out the hibernating browns that are looking to eat big — some of the largest fish of the year are taken at this time — well before the traditional trout opener arrives.

Obviously, being a fly fishing guide for trout in northern Michigan can be a year-round endeavor with each of our distinct four-weather seasons which offer unique conditions to all anglers. Simply put, we don’t get bored guiding just one species, one way. And we have lots of equipment to prove it.

Rivers

Local trout waters that Current Works offers guided fly fishing trips on include both the Upper and Lower Manistee and the Boardman River, located close to Traverse City. For more information on these rivers, check out the Rivers / Hatches section of the website.

: Winter Fishing

: Brown Trout and Streamer

: Morning Trico Hatch

Check out the local Hatch Chart for additional bug details.

boardman, borchers, current works, flies, flies only manistee river, fly, fly-fishing guide, flyfishing, grasshopper, guided trip, hex, isonycias, kraimer, manistee river fly-fishing, mousing, season, streamer, ted, terrestrials, traverse city, trico, trip, trout

Salmon

Posted by Ted Kraimer - January 10, 2023

King / Chinook Salmon

Salmon start running upstream on our rivers as early as mid-August on the Betsie River and the season extends into October on the Big Manistee River.

Spending their “growing years” in the big water of Lake Michigan, the King (Chinook) and Coho (Silver) enter our rivers to spawn. After staging in holes and pools waiting for conditions to be ideal the fish move to gravel sections to spawn. In both pools and around gravel, salmon are often visible while fishing, which helps fuel an angler’s excitement.

Averaging 12 -16+ pounds (depending on the year), these fish do climb well into the 20-pound range making for more than a handful of fish. Landing these fish on fly rods is fun and often challenging at the same time in the smaller confines of a river. Angler’s love it so book early.

Methods

Double Header

Nymph fishing with either floating lines or the most effective “duck and chuck” method gets our flies to the river bottom, where the fish are typically holding.

Also known as drift fishing, this is an easy-to-learn technique for beginners; experienced anglers just get better and more efficient with this method.

When fresh fish move into the river, these salmon can be caught throwing big streamers with sink-tip lines on 9- and-10 weight fly rods. Much like trophy streamer fishing for trout, this can be exciting as you never know when a fish is going to materialize and try to pull the rod out of your hand on the take.

To realize success, anglers interested in fishing with this method must be able to cast a fly rod proficiently prior to booking a guide trip.

Spawning Salmon

Betsie River Coho Salmon Fly Fishing Northern Michigan

Coho / Silver Salmon

Rivers

Most of the rivers in the Traverse City and northern Michigan regions that flow into Lake Michigan have a “run” of salmon. Typically starting as early as mid-August, fish begin to school up at the river mouths and/or pier heads and swim upstream when ideal conditions occur, usually after a decent amount of rainfall. Join us on a guided fishing trip on the Betsie, Manistee or Platte Rivers.

To learn more about the rivers we fish salmon, click on the links below.

• Manistee River below Tippy Dam • • Betsie River •

–To preserve our fisheries all trips are catch and release —

: Coho Salmon on the Manistee

: Fly Fishing The Betsie

: Bright and Fresh Salmon

Betsie river salmon fishing, betsy, current works, drift boat, duck and chuck, fishing, fly-fishing guide, manistee fly-fishing guide, manistee river below tippy dam, platte, river, salmon, september, streamer, ted kraimer, tipy

Late July Fly Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - July 20, 2019

As we get deeper into July we can look back and claim this year’s hex hatch as a strange one. It started much later than normal and when the bugs did come off, they came off quite heavily. With a string of cool evenings, some days there was both a spinner fall and emergence at odd times of the day complete with daylight. Now instead of fishing until the early hours in the a.m. we start our day early in the morning. I personally like taking the head lamp out of the gear bag and starting the day on the water.

With recent temps and the bright sun, the morning fishing seems to be best for the brook and brown trout as the upper Manistee can cool off overnight a few crucial degrees. Not a whole lot has been hatching as the Tricos – like most of the other bugs this year – are behind schedule. Some smaller Isonychias, Cahills, Bat Flies and Summer Olives can be found on the water with some fishing looking up. Have a few hex in your box, you know, just in case. Terrestrials are starting to get active on land which makes fishing “foam and rubber” attractor/terrestrial patterns a good approach. Click here to read more on trout fishing after the hex hatch.

Rivers are running a little higher for this time of year after some showers and thunderstorms which have left a slight stain to them.

Lake fishing continues for both bass and gills. Weed growth has really developed recently and has given us more structure to fish, especially the bigger bass that like to lurk. The occasional pike can surprise you and your light tippet when fishing weeds near drop offs, but it’s all fun even if it is short lived.

Good luck.

Ted

Trout– Match-the-Hatch fishing through June including the big bugs. Terrestrial & Tricos in July and August.
Fall Fishing – Salmon begins in September which leads to Steelhead in October and November.
2020 Fishing Season – We are booking dates through July 2020 – don’t miss the prime times.

2020 fishing seasons, bass fishing, fly-fishing guide, hex, terrestrials, traverse city fishing guide, tricos, trout fishing

Mid-May Fly Fishing Report

Posted by Ted Kraimer - May 17, 2018

Mother nature seems to have caught up with the times after some warm and bright days. Leaves, blossoms, green grass and insect hatches on the river seem to be in synch with the calendar.

Trout fishing on the local rivers continues to be ideal for those armed to fish subsurface with streamers until the surface activity begins. Water levels are ideal on both the upper and lower Manistee and the AuSable is running a little higher than normal. With temps in the upper 50s the Hendricksons continue to emerge and spinner falls are a little more predictable in the evenings with the warmer weather. Black caddis are making an appearance and building in numbers and shouldn’t be ignored if you see “slashy rises.” Be sure to have March Browns, Black Quills even some sulphurs with you just in case they start showing up. This time a year a Borcher’s Drake in various sizes can help you match a lot of the mayflies you will come across.

Fishing has been tough with the recent bright sun and fishing a streamer in the deeper runs and along cover are your best bet. Mix up your streamer patterns and presentation until you find whatever their daily preference is but, keep a dry fly rod near by as a hatch can have you changing from ripping and stripping to mending and sending in no time.

The lakes are still warming up and the first of the bluegill/panfish are moving into shallow waters on the dark bottom lakes that seem to warm up first. Bass too are starting to move in shallow water and keep an eye out for big pike looking to feed on the aforementioned as they are now in the post-spawn feeding pattern.

Good luck.

Ted

Trout – Reliable hatches begin in May for surface activity. It’s also a great time to fish streamers for bigger trout.
Big Bugs – The big Bugs of June will be here before you know it…. Isos, Drakes and Hex – limited dates available.
Fall Steelhead – Spring Steelhead just finished up but it’s time to get your Fall Dates reserved – Oct. thru Dec.

borcher's drake, fishing report, fly-fishing guide, hendrickson, mayflies, streamer fishing, sulphurs, traverse city fly fishing, trout fishing

Cool-Down and Warm-Up Coming

Posted by Ted Kraimer - August 14, 2014

A bit of a cold front came through the region slowing the fishing a bit, but providing continued cool water temps and a bit of rain that the rivers and fish both liked. You will still find the rivers in good shape and fishable including the Manistee and Boardman.

Hatches have been pretty much limited to Tricos in mid-morning – with late morning being the case after a cold night. Attractor patterns and terrestrials (hoppers, Foam and Rubber) are bringing some fish up to the surface and more often than not they are looking for that bug to be chugging, twitching and skittering rather than dead-drifted. Below the surface, look for medium sized streamers fished on either floating lines or small sink-tip lines to tease some fish into playing our game.

Bass and bluegill fishing on the lakes is still a good bet with water temperatures staying cool. Some days are better than others and I suspect the forecast over the next 10 days will provide some stable and warm conditions ideal for getting these fish back on the feed. Surface and subsurface flies are working – it’s just a matter of which or what they want any particular day.

With the recent rains, cool down and northerly winds, a few salmon have staged at the river mouths and even a few have slipped into the local rivers. The warmer weather in store should put a hold on the migration until later but there is no doubt fall is right around the corner – what happened to summer?

Good luck,

Ted

Tricos and Terrestrials for Trout – July and August fly fishing for trout on the Upper Manistee River
Salmon– Fresh fish can enter rivers as early as mid-August and offer great fishing through September.
Fall Steelhead– From the end of September through November – this is the time of year for Steelhead.

attractors, boardman river, fishing, fly-fishing guide, manistee, salmon, steelhead, traverse city, trout

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