NOW THE REALLY "BIG" STEELS ARE ON A ROLL PART II..!........TORCH LAKE ATLANTICS.....NEW STEELHEAD DREAMS.........AND DECEMBER HAS BEEN OUT OF CONTROL!

( BRYAN AND MURPHY'S BACK-TO-BACK HOG HENS!....)

Sorry for the delay in posting but we have been up to our asses in alligator- sized steelhead and happy camper clients!
 Honestly.........and no trick fish eye photography!!!...........I haven't seen this many 36-40 inch fall steelhead chrome hens since the fall of 2001!...IT'S BEEN UNBELIEVABLE!
It started around December 3rd when John Murphy......the quintessential steelhead master, hit an 18 lber in a favorite pool (Boga)......the fish was 7 times in the air and looked, with its massive girth, like a Gaspe Quebec fresh-run Atlantic out of the sea. This girl must have been chowing heavily on alewives since John could not even hold the big girl up for a photo...Shawn, a.ka. "steelhead queen" took the shot of me holding it up.

( JEFF FROM NASHVILLE WITH HIS TWO AWESOME CHROME HENS YESTERDAY AND TODAY!)

 The craziness continued the next day when  Bryan JurawicC, a former Defensive end with the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears..now a company software exec. from Chicago, hit a massive 40 inch fish from the same pool. We thought it was the same fish!......but on further notice with close marking and zoom analysis, it was a totally different fish......one had a pinker tone....the other chrome silver!. Brian never fished for steelhead and never fly fished..........so to hit a nice buck and this massive chromer of a lifetime in one morning was bizarre!
And yesterday and today, I have had Jeff and Dave from Nashville, TN.............once again Jeff hit his first of several steelheads on the fly rod with one pushing 17 lbs!

NEW MEDIA RELEASES

( 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY REVISED" STEELHEAD DREAMS" COVER.......COMING SOON!!!!................FINISHING THE NEW BOOK-"SELECTIVITY-THEORY AND METHOD FOR FLY FISHING FUSSY TROUT,STEELHEAD AND SALMON"-( STACKPOLE BOOKS- 2012)

                                                          
 So really in all candid retrospect.....its been a wild and unexpected ride......all big hens!
 It was the late fall of 2001. I had just gotten my first case of the new" Steelhead Dreams" hard copy. The river was crazy with big steelhead in early December at that time. Double hook-ups on double digit fish. 1999- thru-2001 saw tremendous explosion of year classes of alewives and the steelhead were chowing down heavily. It appears to be the same now. Usually the big hens come ....then the cautious and lazier males. If this is December!........., January, February are going to be on fire given the load of fish we have in the system now. I might finally get a day -off so I can play with one myself!........but my camera has been happy and so is this guide!

(DREW.....STEELHEAD/BROWN ZEN MASTER AND CLIENTS NICE HOG MUSKEGON BROWN ON THE SWING)

                                                      

( JOHN FRASER FROM NEW YORK WITH HIS FIRST STEELHEAD WITH ME (ABOVE)- AND DAD ROD FRASER FROM MINNEAPOLIS, WITH NICE BUCK MALE WITH GUIDE JEFF BACON)

TORCH LAKE UPDATE

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/12/michigan_resumes_stocking_atla.html

HERE IS A NICE ARTICLE RAN LAST SUNDAY IN THE GRAND RAPIDS/BOOTH MICHIGAN NEWSPAPERS ON THE LATEST MANAGEMENT OF TORCH LAKE ATLANTICS THAT HOWARD MEYERSON DID.......NICE JOB HOWARD!......... WENT TO TORCH OVER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS WITH LAURIE AND PETER...........HERE IS A NICE 18 LB KYPED MALE I CAUGHT ON A ICEMAN SMELT PATTERN WHILE WALKING THE BEACH SHORELINE "BONEFISH" STYLE.........LAURIE TOOK THE IMAGE

(HERE IS A PAIR OF SPAWNING ATLANTICS AT TORCH LAKE. I TOOK THEM FROM UP IN A TREE WITH A 300MM ZOOM NIKON LENS ON A GRAVEL SHORELINE ALONG A CREEK MOUTH. THE FEMALE IS IN THE TOP CENTER- THE MALE AT THE BOTTOM RIGHT POSITION. IF YOU WAIT ABOUT 30 SECONDS YOU WILL SEE THE FEMALE FAN AND DIG HER REDD....COOL STUFF!)

TACTICS; We  have been either Skagit swinging( 600 Grain compact Airflo heads with various T-14 set ups) , or'SWING-CHUCKING".........Helios 11/8 switch rods two-hand casts, clear intermediate Rio lines and egg/iceman minnow/leech patterns with a down-and across swing type drift......very effective!
Fish are in all types of lies.........shallow fall water, winter pools and guts....all depends how fresh the fish are and water temps and barometer for the day.......water at 2260cfs.....40F

 Can't wait for winter........its gonna be wild if this early December is any indicator
Many thanks to the great bunch of folks we had the pleasure of guiding recently.....The Rod Fraser party from Minneapolis, The Murphy's, Cahn Trans executives from Chicago and now Jeff and Dave from Nashville..........

( IF THAT AIN'T AN ALASKAN RAINBOW  IN MICHIGAN............!!!....this guy is a huge country music producer and avid world class fly angler!)

                                                           

                                                         
                                                          
Cheers! .......Happy Holidays!..........and Ciao for now!

Posted in: atlantic salmon , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead , Orvis Helios , Skagit swinging , spawning salmon , trout and eagle lodge , winter steelhead fly fishing