May is here and so is some weather to make up for such a cold April. Opening day of trout season took place over the weekend and greeted anglers with slightly high river levels and water temps lower than normal. It appears a few warm days are making a difference to get the mercury to rise when taking the water temp which is needed to bring on reliable hatches of Hendricksons and active trout. Unfortunately, there is rain in the forecast and while we need it, the rivers don’t need much of it as the upper Manistee, Boardman and Au Sable rivers are all running a bit high. The next month is the perfect time to fish streamers for big browns in the higher water but have a dry fly rod rigged for when some surface activity might present itself.

As the water continues to warm, the last of the steelhead have migrated into river systems and we are well beyond peak season. That big push of fish we were hoping for never came in but rather we experienced a good flow of fish throughout March and April.  Remaining fish in the rivers are actively spawning and quickly getting it done before returning to the lake. Despite the cold April, it was a really good spring for steelhead numbers in the Manistee and Betsie rivers.

If you are still fishing steelhead rivers where they have recently stocked fish, please handle the young fish carefully as these are the big silver steelhead of the future.

More than trout season has opened up – local lakes are now ice-free and ice-out is a great time for those looking to target pike and musky in those dark, silty bays of lakes as they warm themselves up and put their post-spawn feedbag on.

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 is just finishing up but it’s time to get your Fall Dates reserved – Oct. thru Dec.