Pere Marquette River, MI Fishing Report

Our spring fishery is starting turn to summer. Over the past couple weeks the steelhead have been making a lot of progress. Most steelhead have already run up river , spawned, and are turning around towards Lake Michigan. Although, we did see a decent number of new steelhead show up this week to refill some spots. I bet we are at about the 90% mark as far as completing spring steelhead run. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of steelhead showing themselves at the beginning of this week after not hearing about or seeing many over the weekend. Some of the older steelhead are hanging around the gravels, while most are starting to drop back. We have a few nice chrome fish that just got here but don’t be mistaken with the water in the 60’s they won’t stick around too long. If you are trying to catch another steelhead before the Spring 2013 run is over don’t wait!

Trout fishing has been really good with the water warming up a bit. We are taking trout all hours of the day on a variety of techniques. From now until early July we will have our peak dry fly fishing. The insect activity is already going strong with sightings of Hendrickson's, stones, quills, blue wing olives, and a few caddis. Fish have been looking up all day taking a few flies during the high sun and heat of the afternoon and taking advantage of the evenings. Most bugs this time of the year hatch while the weather is nicest. The warmer days have been producing better dry fly action. It’s time to start thinking about leaving the big guns behind for a 4wt or 5wt on these nice days.

Nymphs are a great way to get it done right now. The dry fly action has to start somewhere and right now there are a lot of bugs on the bottom of the river. They are ready to let loose of their rocks and logs to hatch making them more available to the trout. The water clearity has been good for nymphing. We had good flows with good visibility. The trout are biting the usual stuff like small black stones, olive and tan stones, green caddis, pheasant tails, zug bugs, princes, and anything else small dark and buggy. It is still worth your time to run an egg fly behind your nymph as well.

The river flows have been good to us this year. We have enough stain that the trout aren’t terribly spooky and the steelhead are tolerating the warm days. If you have been here since we recovered from the big flood you would know what I mean when I say the water just looks fishy. It still has enough clarity so that we can see fish good and they can see your flies but you can get away with a little more than usual. The Pere Marquette has receded back into its banks and is wadable through the fly water and other good wade spots down river.
The streamer fishing has been pretty consistent with the good flows and the warm days. They have been chasing about any color with the best being olive, green, black, white, and ginger. We have been getting a lot more action on small or medium size streamers. The big streamers have been producing fewer fish but we have had some good chases and a few willing to commit. The streamer game will be on when we get another shot of warm rain that washes a little more color into the river.

Summer is here and it is time to enjoy . Get out there and take advantage of the nice weather and all the trout water that is open through the end of September. The crowds have thinned out to the point where you should only see a few other fisherman all day in the easy spots and nobody if you go far enough.

Fishing on the PM was pretty good today with both streamers and nymphs. Mike and Jay joined me for the day to work on their nymphing skills and to try their hand at streamer fishing. Nymphing was pretty good first thing in the morning and as the temps warmed up (maybe by a couple of degrees, he he) the streamer bite picked up some momentum as well. With the recent rain the worms were crawling on the pavement this morning and a little "garden hackle" had a few fish on the bite. Smaller pheasant tails and prince nymphs also got took some fish. Several streamers worked well today, but smaller flies in white brought more fish to hand. Black, Yellow, and Olive streamers were also producing for us. We saw a couple of fish rise today and a few insects hatching, but with the cooler weather the bug activity was at a minimum. Overall it was a fun day on the water mixing it up with floats and sink tips.

I know it's still steelhead season and there are still steelhead in the river. But the Brown Trout Rule! I thought Joe, Drew and I were having a banner day. Only to find out Casey V. & Devon had beaten us by a couple of inches. Then Uber went out on Monday and topped us all with a giant brown. Nice job buddy.

Trout season is here!!!  We had fantastic weather for the trout opener and plenty of fish and smiles to go around.  There was an extremely high number of anglers on the waters this past weekend chasing the trout on the opening weekend.  With plenty of steelhead lurking the river, many anglers enjoyed both steelhead and trout fishing.  The weather couldn't have been any nicer and everyone at least got to enjoy being warm.

The trout fishing has been through the roof so far this spring and the past weekend was no exception.  With steelhead now taking a backseat to trout, many targeted our healthy population of brown trout.  We have been getting them with a variety of tactics.  Eggs and nymphs have been taking many big fish.  


     
Streamer season is in full gear now and the fish are ready to take a shot at a quick meal.  We have also been throwing some hardware around.  Regardless of the technique, there is nothing better than the sight of a giant trout setting his sights on your offering and absolutely hammering it!  Seeing is believing.


    
Dry fly fishing is available too.  BWO's, black stones and Hendrickson's are all flying in the air throughout the day.  Hatches will only increase in frequency and duration.  Fish are starting to look up and it's not to soon to grab your favorite dry fly rod.  Look for fish to be feeding along the shore in seams and eddy's.   


    
May is a great month to hit the river.  With much of the traffic diminishing during the week, you can find yourself at peace with nature and the river.  Much of our trout fishing will start to focus more on the evenings.  We have many techniques in our arsenal to ensure you a shot at a trophy no matter your preference.



Please practice catch and release on our resident brown trout.  With some of the richest brown trout brood stock and heritage here, it's a shame to only enjoy our fish once.  With a lineage dating back to the late 1800's the Pere Marquette is home to the first brown trout ever planted in North America.  Our fish take some time to put size on, and the only way we can sustain our healthy large fish population is through careful catch and release of our resource.

    

For those of you looking to sharpen your trout game we will be offering an entire series of classes throughout the next few months.  We also offer fly fishing lessons on weekends at the shop.  Please stop in and see us, or call the shop today to book and upcoming class.

Like father like son. Nice job Noah, Congratulations on graduation and best of luck in the future.

Way to take the shop boys out and show'em how to get it done.

I look forward to seeing you on the water.  Chris "Uber" Raines.

My Beautiful Sami, I have had such a great time fishing with you the past two Saturdays in a row. I love you Dad.

Owen, you ROCK. For eleven years old You fish better and harder than most adults I fish with.

I know it's not from the PM but I just had to show off Owen's 42" Pike. I'm telling you this kid can fish!

Spring steelhead season is in full swing. Fresh fish are moving in, and many fish are moving throughout the entire river system. We have had a mixed bag of hole fishing and some sight fishing. Our weather is beginning to warm, and the water is still low and clear. With the warmer sunny days, the water temps are starting to warm and the fish are responding. We still have a fair amount of snow on the ground and have yet to receive our first real big Spring rains. We have had steady and consistent fishing for the past week.

The PM steelhead fishing has been pretty good on most days. This river is known for big, natural Steelhead.

Here they come! The ten day forecast looks better than it has in the past three months. We are going to be in the mid-30's to low 40's for daytime highs and the nights will barely be dropping below freezing. This weather pattern spells one thing S-P-R-I-N-G steelhead. That's right spring is just around the corner, the days are getting longer and fish are getting frisky.

Here's some food for thought for all of you who ask the question, when is the best time to come. As far as an exact date, I can't help you there, but here is some useful info and general guide lines that tend to hold true.

Spring runs of steelhead are based on several natural events; water level, water temps, and time of year. Both water level and water temps are related to winter snow levels and number of melt offs during the winter. Air temp greatly affects these factors as well.

I have seen several sources including The Weather Channel announce that the Midwest should experience warmer than usual March temps. This combined with the fact that we have a lower than normal snow pack should contribute to an "earlier" spring steelhead run. Remember without the weir in place our runs of steelhead are no longer hindered by this artificial barrier and the fish have been reacting to this with runs returning to there pre-weir timings.

Additionally with the amount of water in the river at this point (early Feb), most of the fish have already made their way up near their spawning grounds. On a normal cold winter the fish hold in the lower river. This year we have had multiple high water events drawing these same fish upstream.

With this in mind and knowing that we have some great March dates left in the books, call the shop today and book your Spring Steelhead trip!

We are at flood stages on the Pere Marquette. There was a nice warm up and a bunch of rain. About half of our snow melted and the river is blown out right now. Temps are going to fall and we will once again have fish moving through out the system. With the high and dirty water, I expect some of the early fall run to start spawning. Water temps bumped up a bit and these late winter high water events always trigger a few fish to hit the rocks.

Winter is kicking into full gear around there. We once again have snow covering the ground and cold nights (and days) are building ice on some parts of the river. Winter steelhead are the target, but trout fishing has remained good. I guess the poor little fellas didn't get to stock up on enough salmon eggs before the cold weather got here.