Salmon Run of 2015...looking real good so far!

Happy to report that the salmon run 2015 is pretty damn good with excellent large sized fish being picked up in the last few days!

One thing I particularly notice this year is the more aggressive nature of the fish - taking stripped and swung streamers and boss/comets more than usual and more consistently. Can this be a function of less prey in the lake making them more aggressive in behavior?...don't know. But my clients and I are loving it and the fish are spread out in the pools more this year....still have good dates open in October...cheers!

( Justin with a hefty from yesterday that hammered a Squatchy Bitch Leech)

Read more »

Posted in: California comet flies , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon salmon , swinging flies

West Coast Pacific Salmon in pools...Great Lakes style!

( For the past 12 years I have been experimenting and loving swinging classic west coast salmon wets for salmon staging in pools- if you are sick of the old Great Lakes 'snag -and drag' salmon fishing!-this is the only way to go!- get them while they still have a bit of an aggressive tendency) 

Sorry!...but Pacific Kings in the Great Lakes have gotten a bad rap from the 'snag-and drag' fiasco...word! People see me parked on 14 foot deep pools for weeks thinking I'm a dummy. Yeah I know..the 'money in the dummy' gig is easy coin for guides, but you owe it to your clients to make them appreciate these fish that when stacked by the hundreds in deep pools still have a fraction of aggressive/active tendency. Granted its much easier to 'floss fish' on gravel', but there really is not much sport in that eh?

Not trying to preach from the soap box cause I/ everyone in the GL has done the gravel gig at one time or another in our development- and done legally there is nothing wrong with it-'a fly in the mouth is a fly in the mouth...is a fly in the mouth-period!"

Because of all the down and across swinging wets I have done over the decades for Atlantic salmon and looking at the west coast gunslinger schools of Schaadt/Waller/Combs and the many , many California king boys comet/boss era, I took the same techniques and applied them to the Great Lakes- you wont catch me with a spinning rod and thunder stick just because that's me, my choice and I don't own or want to invest in spinning equipment. NOW, there is nothing wrong- actually its the most ethical way to go for these zip lock mouth fish, plus all the fly guy guides all over are doing it because it catches fish that actually strike and are aggressive !!!

 Yeah, many may think I might be gay putting that much time into a comet/boss fly: jungle cock, spey fly materials etc., BUT!!! I find it so much more rewarding to hook a salmon, watch it jump 8 times in 10 feet of water, run into hundreds of yards of backing and fight it for 20 minutes-EXHILARATING!

 Also, my clients have become addicted to this fishing which can be done long after salmon have gone to garvel- trust me!

Fish are still fresh, 'somewhat' aggressive and you stand the best game out of them!

It will be starting soon!- cohos on the St Joe, then kings on the Muskegon.

 If you want to try something new and exciting/different, I'd be happy to teach you the nuances of this very exciting pacific salmon fishing -Great Lakes style! Can be done with single or two handed rods-traditional lines or new age spey/intermediate lines- your call!

CHEERS!!!

Read more »

Posted in: California comet flies , chinook salmon , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , MICHIGAN SALMON , muskegon salmon , swinging flies

TIME FOR' KING ON THE SWING'...POOLED UP SALMON

Traditional comets and bosses, west coast California style like Bill Schaadt days and the Russian river gunslingers!...most exciting pool fishing in Great Lakes...like throwing thunder sticks on a fly rod!

AND!!!!..for those of you who wondered why I didnt cover Pacific salmon in my Selectivity book?...chapter would be one sentence ,"48 hours A/A...then all P/D downhill from there"

'RIVERS OF A LOST COAST'....sums it up!

http://vimeo.com/4499658 

Read more »

Posted in: Bill Schaadt , California comet flies , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , michigan fly fishing , MICHIGAN SALMON , muskegon salmon , Rivers of a Lost Coast

INSANE NUMBER OF GINORMOUS SALMON!

( grimacing and grunting to hold up Dr. Matt's fish- absolute beasts this year and "taking " flies in the pools- haven't had to resort to the gravel gig yet )

( copper killer bosses have been destroyed in pools by aggressive/active wild kings this year due to the special hierarchical turf dominance wars)

This could well be the largest salmon run I have witnessed as a guide for 18 years...as well as the largest size of the average fish I have ever seen!...no bull and anyone out there will attest to it. 20 to 30 pound wild kings are the norm rather than the exception. I have been swinging pools chocked full of fish and the gravel is staked up too...there simply is just no room in the river for more fish...insane! After dismal years of poor runs in numbers and size, the beast has been unleashed.

 

With dismal predictions by the DNR of :lack of fish, lack of alewives bait fish I cant wait to hear the conclusion by the experts. Cutting stocked fish was a good idea, but the natural reproduction has exploded!...especially on gravel ladend rivers like the Muskegon.

( a pinook king taken yesterday- big hump and red/purple blotches on lower belly

 

 

 

( client Dr Matt Zaccheo hit two kings swinging the pools with bosses and comets this weekend with me that were the 30 mark!..Matt is a big boy and we grimace because we could not hold these fish up!))

( loaded for bear!...don't forget that resident trout/steelhead behind salmon are also keying in on what the hens are digging up....caddis larvae and immature mayfly nymphs- not just eggs!)

 

SO!!!...with these numbers this fall the amount of eggs in the system will be extraordinary, giving the resident trout and migratory lake-run browns and steelhead plenty to munch on with the caviar explosion.Saw a chrome steelhead chasing a huge female in the pool and looking like it was poking her anal area like Pavlov's dog ready for the orange a..ss candy feast- bizarre! Water levels are finally rising with all the rain- the river was dried up until yesterday...now 1620 cfs...was as low as 900cfs

( otter egg buffet)

( time for the hopper/dropper- chicken or the egg rig for swinging)

 

 

 

We have already hit a few fall steelhead and hit lake run browns three weeks ago. With the numbers of salmon in the system, the last time we saw a run like this was Y2K-2000/2001 and the fall steelhead run was massive along with lake run browns- get ready for an exciting fall/winter to come! December is going to be insane this year like always and given the warm water temps that will be the peak of our steelhead and lake-runs in my prediction, which it has always been the case in the past.

( lake runs will peak in December)

We still have a few good dates this fall and early winter and look forward to seeing you!

 

 

 

 

  

Read more »

Posted in: California comet flies , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , Great Lakes steelhead , lake-run brown trout , michigan steelhead , muskegon river fly fishing , muskegon steelhead , Otter eggs , swinging flies

DR.MATT ZACCHEO PERFECTS POOL FISHING FOR KINGS....'CALIFORNIA STYLE"

After 3 days of heavy deep water pool swinging, Dr. Matt Zaccheo, a critical care specialist from Kalamazoo perfected the art of swinging clear intermediate Rio aqua-lux lines and boss/comet flies from the old California king days!

 I have just been perfecting this technique for the past 7 years and finally learning more nuances about the suspension, drift, timing of day and strikes etc. A
Also, the salmon's behavior (porpoising, etc.) greatly reveals if they are players or chasers!.

 Matt hit 10 salmon in our Gray Drake pool swinging all day Saturday and had a magnificent experience with these fish that are not given their full due title of being the 'KING" OF SALMON!"

CONGRATS DR. MATT !!!
 River still low, BUT...............NEVER have we seen as many salmon since 1999/2000- they are everywhere!!!!!!!!

Caddis are all but done, but blue-winged-olives are everywhere and some brownies are targeting them if they haven't been persuaded to the "salmon egg crack"!

Read more »

Posted in: Blue winged olives , California comet flies , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , trout and eagle

IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER!...........KINGS AND TROUT AND AUTUMN COLORS!

( Pool caught Chinook with orange comet-I added jungle cock wings)

Sorry for the long delay in posting!..........been doing trout trips, salmon trips and finishing my "Selectivity" book!

We are finally getting some rain., Got great cool autumn days and fresh king salmon are coming in every day..........and some "real brutes" this year mind you!

( The "BIG SWEDE".....Johnny Bloomgren with a huge female king)

We are predominantly pool fishing swinging flies: boss and comet styles. As I am writing a chapter on Salmon for my book, I have been intrigued with the Pacific salmon early developing fly fishery of California's gold coast back in the 40's and 50's. The legendary Bill Schaadt and others held a very intense school of salmon fishing that borders on a fanatical men's club atmosphere..........that's all these guys did would line up their skiff boats at the mouth and estuaries of California's Russian, Eel, and Smith rivers to catch cruising king and coho salmon. Johnny Ferenz, Grant King and a few others were credited with the development of the comet/boss style flies which I have found very effective for salmon in slow , deep pools on the swing!

( my orange comet)

I am trying to tie traditional style flies with my own twist and have found them to be very effective! It is great when you could join -up a little history with our current"line-em and drag'em" Great Lakes mentality to Pacific's...( mind you not all "try" do this and I don't mean to insult anyone- including myself, an at times gravel fishing guide!)

( the new "salmon queen"- Eileen Ferguson with her first fish fly rod salmon on the Muskegon- up till that she had only caught a bluegill!)

Many thanks to Lee Miller and Amelia from Pittsburgh for some great caddis action for trout, Ron and his wife from Da "U.P.", Neil and Gary, the Bubbs, the Bloomgren party and Brian and the new "salmon queen", Eileen!

The caddis action for trout has been "remarkable", with lots of fat, pupae engorged browns and rainbows hitting the surface all day from the dam down to Carmichael flats- the water has never been richer with caddis since the demise of the zebra mussels. Don't forget to fish 'quad winged caddis' now that the numbers of egg laying adults are so enormous!

( the nice "cookie cutter' fat browns on the Muskegon that are packing on the weight  from the caddis explosion- also Emilia's cool Deyonge's Abel !)

( quad spent caddis- John Miller image@)

( Lee Miller of Pittsburgh, master of the "new Letort', and his better half, Emilia)

( my latest Asian concoction stream side- Szechuan sweet and sour Chicken with cilantro and Hoison and spicy hot Thai peanut noodles with chives......delish!)

River is still very low- 1223 cfs, and we need all the rain we can get-lots coming tonight!
For a great DVD story on the California Pacific salmon fishery , check out "RIVERS OF A LOST COAST"- remarkable story that will make you restore your interest in fly fishing for Pacific king salmon!
http://www.riversofalostcoast.com/index.php/trailer/viewing_options/
We still have a few dates left and would love to see you this fall!
Cheers!

Read more »

Posted in: Bill Schaadt , brown and rainbow trout , California comet flies , gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , muskegon salmon , Rivers of a Lost Coast , super caddis hatches , trout and eagle lodge

POOLED UP SALMON............AUTUMN BWOS AND CADDIS AND FAT BROWNS AND RAINBOWS..............YAOZZA!!!

( James Kuras from Glen Arbor with a HOG!!!)

( Dr. Grace Smith from Pittsburgh with her first fly rod pooled up king!)

( Baconator with my fraternity brother-Andy Stover- first fly rod king!)

( Dr. Matt with today's pooled-up king!)

Pacific Salmon in the Great Lakes have gotten a bad rap from fly fisherman from all the "snag-and drag", gravel raping............doesn't have to be so! The pool fishing- California style, with Bill Schaadt/Grant King comets and bosses is a pure and simple approach to fresh , aggressive kings! You have to have patience, and there will be long periods without hook-ups , but all these happy campers are a testimonial to its success!- plus the fish come in with the fly in their" inner mouth"- that's something most people won't believe!..... No" glass house here", just try it and enjoy!

The autumn blue -winged -olives are taking fat brownies on the surface and caddis are still in "super hatch" stage with hog browns and rainbows taking them every afternoon and evening in this 80 degree weather!...........its awesome stuff!!!



( The dry fly Murphy machine hit 6 browns between 15 and 18 inches on a cold wet Friday last week!)

( Murph's caddis brownie)

( a BWO brownie- fat little piglettes!)

( Phi Delt Bro from 32 years ago I haven't seen since then- Andrew Stover from Cleveland Heights- his first fly rod fish!)

( A real treat for shore lunch- Andy and his brothers shot a bunch of Pheasant at Shooting the Breeze hunt club- so I did  a Thai sweet and sour hot and spicy chilli glaze, with sweet and sour red cabbage and taters......DELISH!...THOSE BREASTS WERE SUCCULANT!)

Read more »

Posted in: Blue winged olives , brown and rainbow trout , California comet flies , gray drake lodge , great lakes king salmon , pheasant , super caddis hatches