It’s mid-July and the major hatches have come and gone on the Manistee and Boardman Rivers. With the lack of rain the past two months, river levels are low, and so is the water table, resulting in significant daily river temperature fluctuations. Our spring-fed rivers need a supplied water table to moderate our water temps but since we didn’t have them, our hatches (and fishing) never quite got into the grove where hatches were dense and/or predictable. Thankfully we have mostly had cooler evenings to keep water temps safe for fishing as trout don’t like water north of 68 degrees and experience higher mortality after being caught in temps above that.

As we progress through summer, look for mornings to offer the best fishing with hatches of Tricos and some terrestrials bouncing around for feeding brook and brown trout. The number of deer flies swarming make imitations of them a good choice in fly patterns when the Tricos aren’t around. Grasshopper and beetles, too are around and are worthy of imitating the next time you hit the water. This time of year you always want some BWOs, Isonychias, Lt. Cahills and Little Yellow Sally Stoneflies in your box as they can show up sporadically.

<<More on trout fishing After the Hex Hatch>>

River smallmouth fishing continues to be good most days. These are fickle fish with weather systems that might be moving through, but typically they are only moody for short periods of time so keep fishing streamers and poppers and your fishing is likely to change without much notice. When they eat, they demonstrate why we use heavier rods; for their size the pull and fight of a smallmouth bass is impressive.

Fishing on the lakes and ponds has been good most of the spring and summer. The larger gills have mostly gone back to the depths after another round of spawning, but they will surprise you from time to time. Plenty of smaller fish are around to keep action happening if learning how to fish or just enjoying some low-key time on the water. The largemouth bass have been sassy and are eating both on the surface and below so mix it up.

Good luck.

Ted

Learn to Fly Fish – Book a half-day trip with the idea of learning the basics in how to cast and fly fish.
Tricos and Terrestrials – Start your day on a cool river fishing for trout with dry flies from July into September. 
Fall Steelhead – Although the Spring Season just ended, think fall steelhead. Good dates available in November.