TROUT TIME...TIME TO START THINKING HATCHES/STREAMERS

We are in for an epic trout year. The winter holdover of browns and rainbows has been epic!....lots of fish throughout the entire system, More record sized catches if big browns this spring than ever before. They are chowing on salmon fry, sucker and steelhead eggs, stoneflies and getting ready for the first onslaught of hatches.

(Saw American March Browns Saturday(above)- caddis starting and sulphurs /drakes just around the corner!)

( lots of these sized browns in the system that have already been caught and released on streamers and spinners and are now shy and selective/reflective- they are waiting for the bug onslaught !)

With the cool spring and summer forecasted by NOAA, THE TROUT FISHING WILL BE EPIC !!

Plus excellent water levels on all rivers, cold water temps, and BINGO!!!!....hope to see you at the Gray Drake!

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , gray drake lodge , matt supinski , michigan fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , muskegon river fly fishing , Selectivity book , siphlonurus gray drakes , sulphers , super caddis hatches

FIRST BIG BUGS OF YEAR COMING..DRAKES/QUILLS /MARCH BROWNS

It is time for the first onslaught of big mayflies..Drakes and Black Quills ( Siphlonurus and Leptophlebia cupida)...here is my new articulated dry/emerger/sunken spent spinner I started playing with last year- greased up and moving water, it's deadly when there is or isn't bugs on the water...slightly swung below the film..down-and across/waked, it is explosive-especially at dusk!

Read more »

Posted in: aggressive steelhead and Atlantic salmon behavior , American March Browns , black quills , gray drake lodge , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , Muskegon trout , siphlonurus gray drakes

WOW!!...LOVING IT!...MEMORIAL WEEKEND AT ITS BEST

 

Not since the spring of 1994, one of the wettest on record, have I seen our Michigan rivers so full of that rich peat color stained water- healthy looking with the forests as green as Ireland and Scotland, and the air temp in the mid 50's F during the day,with a warm sun shinning..it feels so crisp and refreshing being outside with a layer of Patagonia Regulator....gosh I love it!!!...night temps near freezing..wow!..the trout, the bugs, the May steelhead are gonna love it!...dang...I'm so excited about June...it will be a trout heaven!

( ROMAN MOSER'S DEADLY 3-D PLUSH SCULPINS)

So despite all the rain, the Muskegon is at 5,250 cfs...not wadeable, but for wading anglers try the Bigalow .Tamarack Creek  under US 131 and the Little Muskegon- fish them with sculpins since the fish are Aggressive/Active and looking for a good meal on the high waters. Yes there are still steelhead coming in and I think we will have them until June 10 at least with the cold weather.The nesly stocked trout are getting fat, no pressure and will be hogs by this summer due to all the micro caddis, stelhead and salmon fry....last year we had no water and it was 100 F heat wave...you wont see too many tubers out this memeorial day weekend !

( ANYBODY WANT TO CATCH ONE OF THESE THIS SUMMER- YOU NEED TO GO TO ICELAND!...EMAIL ME !)

( THEY ARE STARTING!...jgmiller time mastery@)

( SALMON/STEELHEAD FRY ARE THE TICKET NOW!)

 

 

 

Hatches have mainly been cinnamon caddis, Steno Fuscums ( Grey Fox) and Epeorus Quill Gordons, Lepto cupida black quills...all in the afternoons in the warm sun...the Gray Drakes will be early around 6-8 pm since the cold air will get them going early and shut them down quick...check out the hatch cycle chart I posted earlier...everything is running late because of the cold weather,,,I LOVE THIS GLOBAL WARMING!!!!...HOPE IT LASTS ALL SUMMER!...:)

And a sincere thank you to all that served for peace and to fight evil so our country can be what it is today !!!!.. thanks Dad in heaven for fighting Nazi evil oppression in Poland during the war which is the reason why we ain't speaking German in the US!...you are and will always be my knight in shinning armour who taught me the beautiful ways of the world of trout!

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , amyflies of michigan , black quills , gray drake lodge , muskegon river hatches , Quill gordon , siphlonorus gray drakes , trout and eagle lodge

SULPHER CITY, SCULPINS....the "CEREBRAL GOURMET".....AND THE BROWN TROUT "TOAD" GALLERY!

( Guide Jeff Bacon with a "ginormous 'brown-it's good to know that gene pool contributor is still swimming for this fall if it can dodge the rapalas and worm dunkers. A perefect Ephemerella Invaria - sulpher- above by John Miller......you can click on images for clower detail )

Cold nights, cool nights, hot days, cool days, massive thunder storms....what a roll of the weather!.............BUT GOOD NEWS!....the trout are starting to look -up at the surface with a passion!

( Dr. Mike Davison with a pair of nice browns on the sulpher emerger Saturday)

 The suckers are pretty much all spawned out, so all the trout are cruising looking for chinook parr and steelhead fry that just hatched and the mayflies and caddis. Last 5 nights we had lots of sulphers, American March Browns, Blue wings, caddis and gray drakes trying to get going but the weather has been their detriment....early June like customary should be their peak along with Isonychias.

( The famed Roman Moser of Austria, who contributed to my "SELECTIVITY" book at the publishers Stackpole Books, here are his 3-D Plush Sculpins that are lethal on aggressive big trout!)

 Had the distinct pleasure of guiding Dr. Mike Davison, a trout'aholic, this weekend and Mike got some nice fat browns on the sulpher emergers. Jeff Bacon with clients hit an absolute "hog' brown like Jeff always does every May......he's a toad sniffer!

( another late night sulpher sipper and a rainbow parr chinook fry and Abel brown trout reel- below the river is loaded to the gills with chinook parr and an easy imitationn)

( The grouse hen is back terrorizing all that come- she builds her nest near our driveway and chases all the cars daily protecting her little ones)

( Boy did they stock the Muskegon this year.....just got the numbers from DNR Gary Whelan- head of hatcheries.........staggering #'s......90,000 Eagle Lake Rainbows, 60,000 Wild Rose Brown trout in Newaygo...........30,000 browns at Muskegon Harbor, and 66,000 steelhead at Pine St........plus all the natural reproduction we are having with the cold water bubbler....YIKES!....that's a ton of trout!)

( wild steelhead- 3-4 inchers Jeff and I picked up all spring....Bacon got one two days ago swinging wets...the stockers are 8-9 inches and silver-fin clipped some)

Swinging soft hackle wets and sculpins on sink-tips have been productive. Waiting for a good spinner fall of gray drakes with stable weather. Had a good spinner fall with Dr. Mike as we did split days on the water ....dawn to dusk , with break in the afternoon.
                                                             
CULINARY CORNER AND NEWS BITES!!!!

 Check out our NEW HATCH MATCHERS SPECIAL ON OUR MAIN PAGE TICKER TAPE!
Water at perfect dry fly level...1960 CFS and perfect hatch mayfly hatching temps......CHEERS!
So this week's cooking had to do with good old fashioned Polish cuisines, Spring Rack of Lamb, fresh clams and scallops and beef carpaccio.....raw beef with garlic and goat's cheese.....DELISH!

( BACK IN POLAND AGAIN!....Dr. Mike got fresh Frank's Market Polish sausage from Grand Rapids- grilled and basted in beer, Polish sweet and sour sauerkraut with caraway seeds and good old fashioned potato pancakes....add some hot Dusseldorf er mustard and you got a feast!

( don't forget all the great Michigan asparagus we have now....marinade them in olive oil, lightly crisp on grill, add balsamic vinegar and Swedish sea salt....awesome!

( and now.....an episode of the "CEREBRAL GOURMET".....lol. Last Wednesday I had the two big hitter Ford execs.- Ed and Randy. Ed is an aspiring chef and sometimes he would rather cook on the boat with the Weber than fish....he did an amazing Rack of Lamb chops on the grill.....Ed is not the most articulate guy or politically correct....excuse the crass use of a certain word....Ed did not know he was being filmed by my ever ready i phone which I'm having a blast with....GO ED!......you won't see the "Cerebral Gourmet" coming to the Cooking Channel anytime soon.....LOL!)

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , blue-winged-olive , caddis , gray drake , isonychia , michigan fly fishing , monster brown trout , muskegon river , sulphers , trout and eagle

ANOTHER AMAZING DAY!......AND WHAT A GUIDE DOES ON A 18 HOUR DAY!

Had the great pleasure guiding Todd  from the Anglers Club Of Chicago and Rob from G.R. this crack of dawn morning for steelhead( thanks Kevin W.!!). We hit some nice fish and had a great lunch.Only saw one boat the whole day- "that guide!"- who was "netting-killing and " winning" -as the the soon to be ex-Charlie Sheen would say...........hhh...mmm!

( nice fatty tonight on the 'kill bill")

 Came home, tied flies between sets of free-weights in the garage (Yes Polish people can multi-task!), and went streamer stripping for trout.........WHAT ELSE DOES A GUIDE DO IN A 18 HOUR DAY!

                                ( my  new "KILL BILL " pattern!)

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , brown trout , gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead , streamer fishing , trout and eagle

IT IS PURE MICHIGAN'S GREATEST TIME OF THE YEAR!

Ahhhh.........the middle of May in Michigan! To the fly fisher this is absolutely Nirvana!!!!
We FINALLY got some warmer weather after one of the coldest springs on record. The morel mushrooms have started and the river has so many great choices!
Water level is perfect- 3,300 cfs- nice clear peat stain, and just about everything happening!
 Hatches have started with lots of caddis, Quill Gordons, Black quills( Leptos) and American March Browns , sulphers and drakes soon to come. We still have good numbers of steelhead in the system and chinook parr are everywhere- browns and rainbows chowing down on them!
The beginning  of June will see a ton of hatches fusing together- drakes, isos, sulphers, BWOS,caddis etc. If it stays nice and wet and cool like two years ago( so far that is what National Weather service has predicted!)- BINGO- we will be on fire!

(Allison from New York with an enormous male this past week!- her first day steelheading!)

( big bugs just starting- Quills, march browns, drakes etc.)

( Trout and drop- back steels going GAGA for these guys!_)

( Drakes soon to come- watert temp is 54F- 59F is the magic #)

 Hope to see you !

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , black quills , brown trout , gray drake lodge , grouse , michigan fly fishing , morels , muskegon trout steelhead , salmon parr , streamer fishing , sulphers , trout and eagle

HATCH BOX IS OPEN FOR DRY FLY MANIA.........THE MAGIC 58F IS HERE

( Organza wing-curved drake spinner)

( emerging drake dun-one of a kind image in the world shot by the one and only 'bug doctor"-West Branch Johnny Miller!)

(Baconator with a fat pig on the drake)

YUP...........THEY'RE BACK! The entire cycle of hatches are in full swing.Caddis, Drunella b-w-o's,sulphers,March Browns, Quill Gordons,Gray Drakes-THIS WEEK WITH THE WARM TEMPS WILL SEE SOME SIGNIFICANT HATCHES!

Water level-1890-cfs.

We still have some prime hatch matcher's dates and also our new Hatch Matcher's special-250.00-one or two anglers from 5:00p.m. till O'dark hundred!

Like to thank Blair and Jim at Orvis Cleveland for having me this weekend- they have an amazing store in Chagrin Falls,OH!

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , blue-winged-olive , gray drake , hatches , sulphers

FINDING MR. FATTY.........AND THE PERFECT SPRING MICHIGAN GOURMET DINNER

( watched this fatty feed for close to a half hour before I could determine it was a good fish-fed like a hatchery dink sipping sulphers)

( The real deal-Purple-blue tip Michigan Asparagus- glaze with extra virgin olive oil,drizzle sea salt and Balsamic vinegar,grill lightly -serve crispy-delish!!!)

Last evening saw excellent hatching of sulphers and American March Browns from Carmichael flats to New Bridge. Finally found a few"fatties" that eventually found their way up to the surface sulpher buffet!

KEY TO CATCHING THE BIGUNS!-WAIT.....WAIT...WAIT AND OBSERVE SOME MORE! Look at all long flat pools below gentle riffles. Don't think the little risers are just hatchery dinks....some are...BUT, then others are the real deal.Seriously, some of the most dainty rise forms turn out to be the big boys....trust me!

Water level dropping again, but excellent to get more fish looking on top-water temp 55F-THAT IS THE MAGIC NUMBER FOR SULPHERS-FLOW-2,100.

Now for the Michigan Spring Gourmet dinner you'll absolutely love!

Grilled Fresh Lake Michigan Coho Salmon- topped with a Dill Dijon Beurre Blanc sauce and Sauteed Morels, with Roasted Red Potatoes and Rosemary, along with Crispy Grilled Michigan Asparagus.............ehmmm!

Take 3-5 pound fresh caught Coho Salmon( can be found right now off of any Michigan port from New Buffalo to Leland-hire a charter captain -they need business bad-bring your big Igloo)- the smaller fish have the red/orange delicate fillets-remove pin bones. Brush with extra virgin olive oil and cracked black pepper, grill medium-don't over grill and dry out1

Dijon beurre blanc topped with fresh dill( you can find recipe on-line-lots of them!-Wolfgang Puck has a good one)

Sautee Morels in butter,minced garlic, white wine-dash of sweet vermouth if you desire.

Roast new Potatoes in oven with olive oil and fresh rosemary

Michigan Asparagus(cooking instructions below picture above)

BON APPETIT- or as Michiganders say"GOOD EATS!!

Serve with a chilled Fenn Valley Chardonnay Reserve

All components of the meal are proud produce of Michigan!!!

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , brown trout , coho salmon , gray drake lodge , Michigan Asparagus , michigan fly fishing , morels , muskegon river , sulphers , trout eagle lodge and outfitters

IT IS STARTING!!!!!

( picked this critter off last night-YUP!- AMERICAN MARCH BROWN

Last night saw the first "super hatch" of sulphers(#16 Epherella Invaria)and American March Browns( # 12 Stenonema Vicarium). Given the numbers of bugs on the water , the trout were slow to respond- but eventually started to rise. This happens in the first few nights of a major emergence. The trout just need to find their way to the buffet line! Also, zillions of tiny black micro caddis(# 22's)

Saw a few Gray Drakes and some very large stone flies.

This is a very exciting time of year!

We just started our spring and summer Hatch Matchers Special from 5 P.M. till o'dark hundred-250.00!- see the ticker tape at the top of our web site.

Also have a few prime full day hatch chaser dates available in the upcoming weeks.ONLY A FEW SPOTS LEFT FOR OUR jUNE 4TH-6TH SELECTIVE TROUT SCHOOL!

We will post the "skinny" every morning from the previous nights action.

See you on the water!

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , caddis , hatches , muskegon river , selective trout , sulphers , trout eagle lodge and outfitters

RAIN, BIG STEELHEAD AND A COUPLE OF "HOT FLY" PATTERNS I PROMISED!

(PETER LOVIS WITH HIS HOG BUCK-4/29/10)

( MY "CHINOOKIE CHARLIE"- WHEN WET LOOKS LIKE THE REAL DEAL)

( my "steelhead sulpher soft hackle- steels and trout can't stay way from it on the swing or dead drifted)

Finally got some much needed rain- water bumped up to 2,200 cfs. Had a nice push of fresh steels late last week and the mayflies(March Browns,Quill Gordons) and caddis are going- trout are noticing them. They and the steels are on the hunt for Chinook fry- busting water for them!

Peter Lovis from Cambridge , Mass got a 'HUGE' 15 LB Boga tested male on his final 5 th day with Peter Basta. Lovis always hits his biggest fish on that last Morning-it is prophecy mind you!

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , chinook salmon , muskegon river , muskegon trout steelhead , Quill gordon , sulphers , trout eagle lodge and outfitters

MAY STEELHEAD,TROUT,AMERICAN MARCH BROWNS,CADDIS........THE WHOLE KITCHEN SINK!

( Steelhead studs Tom, Scott and Gerry with nice bucks!)

Sorry for the long delay in posting my fellow brethren- been a busy week. Just when we thought the steelhead run and river was literally "drying up!"- BINGO!- our first batch of May steels showed up.WHY???- a full week of full moon(photo period-pineal gland thing), ice cold 20 degree nights and the steelhead's "gotta get'er done spawning drive , brought some fresh steelhead in. Guys off the piers are still getting spring spawn steelhead, so a second wave is due in the next couple of weeks.

Water levels very low and clear- 1,700 cfs- rain tonight and Sunday-PLEASE LORDY!

A big thanks to this past weeks clients. Peter Lovis from Cambridge, Mass., Dr. Tom Harmon from Minneapolis and the Mayo clinic, Dr. Scott and Phil from Michigan State Univ. and Gerald and Jesse from Solutions/Emerson from Indiana- all caught steel and had a great time. Peter is now an addicted spey caster- good job!

Saw Hydropsyche cinnamon caddis and American March Browns on the water in the aftrenonns- still good numbers of black egg laying stoneflies- some good sized browns and rainbows-lots of stockers- targeting them. Don't forget Chinook salmon fry patterns- drop back steels and trout are targeting them"BIG TIME"(HINT). I have a new pattern-the "chinnie charlie"- will post it on the blog next entry- killer pattern!

All for now- looking for an Indian chief to do a rain dance at the Thornapple landing- got any leads??????

Read more »

Posted in: American March Browns , black stones , caddis , michigan steelhead , muskegon trout steelhead