ozark trout fisher

Well, I just returned from Northwest lower Michigan for the second straight year. While every trip has its own culture (and in this case, and entirely new set of rivers and lakes to fish) it still kind of felt like a re-run. The weather was still ridiculously cool for mid-summer (much, much cooler this time, to the tune of severe discomfort after wet-wading in 55-degree temps because I didn't bring waders) the northwoods country looked the same, and the same little wild trout that had roamed the Pine and Little Manistee were also present in the Pere Marquette and Big Sable, the rivers we ended up on this time around. (And just so ya know ahead, I'm exhausted right now. I plan to post pictures but not tonight. And yes, this will be pretty long) The first three days of the trip were largely planned (at least as much of a plan as you can have), the latter three with little idea of what we would do other than fishing whatever water looked appealing and seeing plenty of Lake Michigan. We started on the Pere Marquette River. We had permits to float the first two full days we had up there in the fly-fishing only section. The first day, however, saw a deluge of rain and temps in the mid to low 50s. We were quite worried about flash flooding , so we decided not to float. We did, however, resolve to wade-fish as much as the conditions would allow. We were camped just downstream of the lower boundary of the fly-only section. The regs, however, were still stringent enough for us to have confidence of a reasonable fishery. And it was that. The spring-fed Pere Marquette was a gentle thing, the antithesis of the brawling Pine we'd floated and fished the year before. But, despite the source of its water, it was no spring creek. The riffles and pools were maybe less defined than those on an Ozark stream, but they certainly were there. The river was about as wide as the Eleven Point, but as deep as the Current below Montauk Park, imminently wadeable in all but a few spots. A mixed forest of Hemlock, White Pine, and a a few Aspen, Oak, and Maple lined the river, and their dead versions provided most of the cover for the trout. I started with rather a large Hare's Ear Nymph under a little stick-on indicator. For multiple reasons, I hadn't been able to do the research I really should for the Pere Marquette's resident trout fishery, so I was just going with what I knew. It worked almost immediately. A little 7 inch rainbow ended any possibility of a skunk within the first 20 minutes, striking on the swing through a gentle riffle. I didn't know (and still don't) whether this fish,or any number of its cousins that I also caught, was a resident rainbow or an immature steelhead awaiting its venture to Lake Michigan. But I didn't (and still don't) really care. I did know that it was par-marked and as pretty as any little trout I'd brought to hand. About an hour later, the persistent rain and the ice-cold stream water became too much for me. I yearned for waders, but had none. So I went back to camp to warm up. Finally it did clear for a brief hour or two, and I went back out and catch a couple more rainbows just like him. The next day, the weather was just about the same. But though the river had risen a fair bit during another full night of rain (that little break hadn't lasted long) it was still quite clear. So we decided to put on the rain gear and float the fly-fishing only stretch. When we launched, it was but a small brook, deep enough to navigate but narrow and quick. The little rainbows were present up here, but not plentiful. The browns were, but they were tough customers. We passed quite a number of anglers. Not one we talked to had landed a fish that day. Neither did we. We tried everything, from Hare's Ears to big dries to. But it was all for naught. Finally, I resigned myself to just enjoy the float and set the fishing rod aside. Then I could enjoy the unrestrained beauty of a north-woods river on a cold, rainy summer afternoon, drips of water coming off the hemlocks than lined the stream. The next morning, I awoke to bright sun. I was tired from the previous days activities, and didn't awake until about 8. I spent a few hours wade-fishing near camp, and found the rainbows charitable. I tried switching to bigger fare to attempt to lure out a big brown. But it wasn't to be on this day, or on this trip at all, as I'd soon find out. But I found myself happy enough with the little rainbows, a small stream fisherman at heart after all. None of the next three days were dedicated solely to fishing, but we got plenty in nevertheless. First, we decided to take the canoe out on Hamlin Lake, a large reservoir quite near Lake Michigan. We simply found an access on our atlas that was near our camp and made the short drive. What we found was a vast wetland. At first glance you could mistake it for a large expanse of cattails and other grass. But channels cut through it in very direction, a maze that we knew would be easy to get lost in. Being late evening, we stayed close to the launch, never venturing more than a quarter mile. We found sizable northern pike, but what our party landed were largemouth bass, the largest about 15 inches. But this didn't have much to do with the admittedly marginal angling. This was wilderness in a maybe less attractive, but no less thrilling sense than a little mountain stream. It was actually a place so unattractive and unused that it was spectacularly beautiful. Myriad birds clearly found there home here. You could envision a moose wading out into its grassy waters, if they still lived in that part of Michigan. Our next fishing trip (and our last) was to a a mid-sized tributary of Lake Michigan that is little known. Salmon and steelhead migration being blocked by a dam near its mouth, this was a stream fishery with few visible signs of the lake element you get very used to up there. Access is tough on this river, flowing through a narrow strip of forest that intersects productive farm country. But we finally found a good bridge crossing reasonably far up the drainage. Downstream there was a deep, inviting pool that I fished thoroughly, but despite the narrowness of the stream (and its appearance of being a small creek) it was rather too deep to wade past there. In that pool I surprised myself by taking.....a yellow perch, a rather unusual find on a trout stream. I quickly decided to try upstream. Upstream, at first there was a shallow, quick flat. Yellow perch were holding there, but I didn't see trout, or really get the sense that it looked good. Still I tried dredging the water with sub-surface fare for awhile, with no effect except a couple missed takes from the resident perch. But upriver, a downed tree splitting the river during a little riffle upstream caught my eye. I quietly, slowly began wading upstream. Sure enough, native brookies were rising just downstream from there, in the oxygenated water. Though it was hardly noticeable in the slower water, a small mayfly hatch was occurring here. Seeing as how a solid portion of the fish were brookies, I made the determination that all I'd need would be a #14 Parachute Adams. I got one solid take on that but then they wouldn't have anything to do with it, still happily rising to the naturals. Finally I switched to a tiny Parachute, and it was a take on nearly every cast for a short while. There are few things finer than fishing over rising northwoods trout during a hatch, even if you are having rather a rough time getting them to stay on the hook, Since I asked multiple questions about the salmon fishing on here, I should explain why there's nothing in this report about them. First of all, we just got ensnared with the little wild trout as we tend to, as well as the fantastic scenery. Secondly, as far as we could find out, options were pretty limited for salmon short of a charter boat or at least a very good river guide that could put us on the few fish in the system. We didn't really want to do either one. It was another great trip. I love little wild trout, and Michigan has been good to us in that department. We are still looking for our first bruiser resident brown up there, but as long as I'm fishing over predominately wild fish, I'm pretty happy regardless of size. We're already trying to see when we can get up there again.

The Chiefs will be a lot better, I think. But going from 2 wins to 8 is just to much to ask in my opinion. Andy Reid is an excellent coach though. Alex Smith is very solid but not the kind of elite quarterback that has carried a team. The defense and O-line was just always such a huge help to him in San Fran. I'll go 7 wins, and either 2nd or 3rd in the West. I think they are pretty clearly ahead of the Raiders and neck and neck with the Chargers. If everything goes right they could be in the playoff chase, but I don't see it this year. Another reality, is at some point they'll have to find a long-term answer at QB. Not this year, or maybe even next. Smith is a good option for now. He can win games and maybe even get the Chiefs to the playoffs in a year or two. But to really be a contender (unless they can get their surrounding talent up to a San Fran or Baltimore level) they may well need someone more dynamic for Andy Reid's system. Like a Collin Kaepernick or Russell Wilson if they can find someone similar to that in the draft. I look forward to a couple of hopefully fun games against a much more competitive Chiefs team this year (Broncos fan here.....)

We won't be smallie fishing in the PM. Any smallie fishing we do will probably be on the Big Manistee, which is full of them. We found a pretty good stretch on that river last summer, we may well hit it again.

I agree with that!

Well, I'm planning to leave on Saturday morning. The plan is to spend a couple days floating and trout fishing on the Pere Marquette, and then hopefully find some salmon on the Little/Big Manistee after that. I hear there are some in those rivers but doing any good with them is far from a sure thing- especially for someone who knows essentially nothing about salmon fishing past what I've read/learned on this thread. If that doesn't pan out, it'll probably just be more trout/smallmouth fishing on those same rivers. I don't think I care too much either way. Thanks a ton for the help, and I intend to post a report!

I am interested to see how Beileima does in Fayetteville. He was very successful in the Big Ten. With that said, he relied heavily on GREAT offensive lines at Wisconsin. He'll still be able to recruit good lineman to Arkansas, but it will be harder now having to compete against Alabama and LSU and the like. And no matter how good his line is, he won't be able to dominate SEC D-lines like his teams could against middle and lower tier Big Ten teams. I think he'll keep Arkansas in bowl games most years, though, and every once in awhile challenge for a top 2-3 spot in the West. Not sure about next season. Consider that his Wisconsin teams didn't usually score a ton of points (at least except for Montee Ball), so the defense will probably have to be pretty good to win games-and that was an issue for Arkansas. But if you can beat Rutgers and all the other teams out of conference, a 6-6 or perhaps 7-5 record is at least a possibility. It should be a fun rivalry game when Mizzou starts playing ya'll in 2014. The only thing I don't' know is why it's gonna be our third year when we finally get that going. I say forget about another game against A&M and let's get it going.........

Missouri does did draw great crowds last season.....but that was the first in the SEC. it will be telling if we can keep that up, even if things don't go well. The spring game attendance didn't scream fan enthusiasm. I expect good crowds early on......but if we start to struggle interest could be lost rather quickly. Take care of business and start 4-0 (VERY likely with this schedule) and the stands should be full all season long. Mizzou basketball fans will fill the arena even when our team is only mediocre (why we basically never lose at home in that sport) but it can definitely go down if we start losing in football. Many of our fans just start looking forward to basketball season as soon as football starts struggling. With that said I cheer for Mizzou about as hard whether they're 2-10 or 10-2. We do have a core of really good fans that don't jump ship as soon as things get rough. There are two kinds of fans......those who live in Central MO, graduated, or otherwise have a connection to the school, and will always cheer really hard.....and people with no connection across the state that only care when the team is good, and just start cheering for the Rams or Chiefs as soon as things aren't perfect. Honestly I'm fine if the fairweather fans just get off the bandwagon now and stay it, but I know they'll come back as soon as we start getting back into bowl games. The problem in my opinion is the popularity of pro sports. Until college sports are considered #1 here we can't compete with schools in states like Alabama and Mississippi where their SEC team is the only game in town.

Dry flies can be pretty good on those creeks. I like to run a dry-dropper with some kind of attractor dry and a little beaded pheasant tail or Hare's Ear below. I'm partial to Para Adams and Ausable Wulffs but any number of those types of flies will get the job done. But you will (in all likelihood) catch more fish on the nymph that's dropped below anyway.I do prefer weighted nymphs myself, but to each their own. Probably doesn't matter much now with the water reasonably low. I have to say, I don't think indicators are a big problem on small creeks. But I use the tiny stick-on kind that just aren't big enough to scare fish as a rule, and are also really sensitive to strikes. The big cork bobbers that some use while nymph fishing are a completely different story. I've never spent much time using those, but I could definitely see how those could turn fish off. More than anything, it's just remembering that those trout are really opportunistic and easy going, not that different from fishing a little mountain stream. It's a lot of fun to fish for them, but much in the way of forethought is kinda over-thinking it in my opinion. Just go out there, try not to be too ridiculously noisy in the stream, toss some dries and small nymphs and you'll catch fish 95% time. There are a couple wild trout creeks in MO that can be moody as heck (yes BSC, I'm talking about you), but that's true in the majority of cases.

I find the smallie fishing to usually be quite good all day long during the summer. There are some exceptions on the less spring-fed rivers, but honestly you can usually do fine right in the heat of a 95 degree day. It can just be kinda miserable from our perspective. You gotta get out and wade as much as possible in those conditions.

Yep-used to think this was true only with trout. Then I gave smallies the time of day, and honestly it's rendered my username on here a little silly at this point......I still like fishing for trout but to me, nothing can compare with smallmouth fishing on some of our rivers here.

Smallmouth, for whatever reason, are just not as "respected" as they probably should be based on their value as a sportfish. It isn't just in the Ozarks.....In the foothills of the Adirondacks, a place I've done a lot of smallie fishing-there is some absolutely fantastic habitat. But the locals up there mostly see them as a trash fish, at least in the rivers (the lakes are a different story.) There is one stream that I'm thinking of in particular....it connects two massive lakes, both of them fantastic smallmouth fisheries. This stream has nearly picture perfect smallmouth habitat....but since they are competing with the stocked rainbow trout, landlocked salmon, etc, which is what the majority of people care about, nearly everyone basically keeps every one they catch over the length limit (which is even less restrictive than ours.) And so you have a river with excellent habitat full of 7-10 inch smallies with a 12 incher being a "trophy." And then you find a nearby river off the beaten path that doesn't see as much pressure (with habitat that is likely worse), and you are into more 17-20 inch fish than you know what to do with. Just such a stark difference. Which makes it hurt even more to see those rivers being beaten down, when you have a good idea of the amazing fishing they're capable of producing. Until people treat smallies the same way they do trout or largemouth bass, they are largely not going to reach their potential anywhere. I know there are exceptions in some northern states as well as the Tennessee River valley, but mostly smallmouth are just disregarded, and it shows. If this was just a Missouri problem, or an Ozark problem it would be easier. But I don't think it is.

Great fish, my friend! If I even have an opportunity to catch one like that I'll be pretty happy.

Thanks you guys are awesome! Honestly I get more information about those rivers here than most forums that are actually centered towards Michigan.

Thanks. It's all good if we do end up missing it, which is starting to look like a very possible scenario. Still a couple weeks for them to move into those rivers but it's not looking great at this point. So we are shifting our focus a little more to trout fishing, though I plan to bring some salmon gear just in case......supposedly the hopper/dropper bite is good right now for the browns and is likely to continue to get better. Hopefully no need for the #24 trico imitations you often need on Missouri streams in late July/ early August:) Can't wait for that, salmon or not. We're probably going to try some night fishing as well near our camp, which is apparently the preferred summertime method on the Pere Marquette. Need to buy/tie more big streamers.......

The rain this spring/ summer is good for the little trout creeks. Much needed break after last year. They may well fish decent for the whole summer and fall if things break right from here on.

When you say it's photo-shopped, I could recognize it.....but for my purposes you probably could have gotten away with it if you hadn't said anything.Some others surely would have picked up on it though. I don't even have a clue how to use that program so all my pictures are real LOL.

Thanks a lot. Apparently the reports I had read of salmon being in the rivers already were.....less than accurate. So we'll just have to see how it goes. It will be close, I think, whether we hit the run at all.

24 inches is awful big. I'll go 20" as purely a (somewhat) educated guess, but great fish regardless.

Cool, this is very helpful. Now we just need the salmon to hopefully show up.......

One thing that I would like to correct about this is we do have "world class" smallmouth fishing here in every way that matters to me. I've fished plenty of places with bigger fish (places where 17-19 inchers barely warrant a nod) but I'd take an Ozark stream and their smaller fish over any of them. The grass ain't always greener on the other side of the fence....LOL You all know I'm very much in support of tighter regs, but I still think that bears saying. We have it really, really good here. Otherwise I'm in agreement with most everything that's been posted here.

1. Rebel Craw 2. Rebel Craw 3. Rebel Craw 4. Rebel Craw 5. Rebel Craw LOL, that's not really true for me. But not far off. Throw in some topwater and a few soft plastics and you're pretty much there.

Very nice. To smalliebigs and others who helped to see this one through.....good work fellas. We need more like you.

If it gets around 200-250 cubic feet per second or so at Union, it should be good to go (but not perfect.) You could give it a go reasonably anywhere up to 500 cfs but you'll have to plan for somewhat muddy water. I'm trying to plan a trip for next week so if that works out I'll let folks know what it's looking like. Low/clear seems best for that river, but when it gets too low like it did last summer, it can begin to work the other way. The areas just below the riffles are usually the best holding areas for smallies, but those areas can get too shallow, and the fish can kind of go off their feed, or at least spread out some and can be harder to find. Also the Bourb isn't very spring-fed, so it's prone to warming up if the conditions are like last summer, which can be hard on smallies. The largemouth and spots don't seem quite as effected when it gets dead low. I like it right around 100 cubic feet per second as the happy medium, anywhere within 50 of that is usually great. You can certainly do well outside of that range, but that's when it seems to be really good.

Just as long as you tell every fisherman you know the same thing, you are doing me and others who like to fish it a great service:) Please talk up all the snakes and how much you drag during the summer-and how muddy and nasty it is when it's high enough not to have to drag. And that all the kentucky bass have displaced all the decent smallmouth. All of it is based in some fact, but some of us largely don't care just as long as we can have a river to ourselves. Well, I do care deeply about the spotted bass issue, but all I can do is keep the ones I catch...And yes, I also enjoy catching them along with the native smallies and largemouth even if I know they probably shouldn't be there. As for the muddy water and the dragging during the summer and all that-who honestly cares? Apparently a lot of people which is more than fine but I don't understand. Now what I wouldn't recommend is floating it at 2500 CFS, if you like to be able to see an inch into the water.........

I have caught fish in those conditions before on the Bourbeuse, but I can't say I've ever done well. There may be ways to catch lots of fish when the river is running 2-3000 CFS but I haven't found them LOL. You spend more time trying to avoid strainers. It's great when it's about 50-300 cubic feet per second at the gauge in Union. Get too much above or below that and the fishing kinda sucks, honestly.