B.C.'s DOUBLE-RED BANDER BUCK STEELHEAD IN YOUR GREAT LAKES WINTER WONDERLAND!......JANUARY'S CRIMSON KINGS!

(Matt's selective alpha buck!- waited to "0 dark hundred" to slam a sculpin- biggest buck of 2011/2012!)

The January's deep winter steelheading continues to roll on a wild ride! From last week's pre-snow storm mild winter, to my last three days of howling snow and bitter cold temps, the winter of 2012 is shaping up to be one of the finest I've seen in 20 years of Great Lakes winter steelhead....no shit!
Had the extreme pleasure of guiding Dr. Matt Zaccheo for a couple of days this week- this dude is a 'serious steelhead magnet"!....he could pluck out hog bucks out of a gold fish bowl!!... Armed with  Helios switch rod, he cracked untold big double red band bucks- his biggest was 39-40 inches as seen at the top. "This pool' ( which will go unnamed) was fished hard all Monday by several guides and boats since it was warm ( 40f) and a holiday. Matt hit a nice big 11-12 pound buck right off the crack of first light there in 33 F water, since air temps were around 18F. The buck came flying 2 feet in the air on first hook-up in 11 feet of water....amazing for that cold water temp. Matt loves red bucks, especially the bright deep red band strain of Michigan steelhead. He lived and went to medical school in Erie, PA, and fished Elk and those creeks hard. He thinks our Michigan fish have the most awesome coloration when compared with steelhead alley's......being a new Michigan transplant, he is totally addicted to our fishery! He spent three days with his Friend Todd from Pittsburgh  with me back in middle December and they both hit lots of big chrome hens, Matt wanted the big kyped red banders and boy did he get them this trip!

( Got a chance to get out with Laurie to get some awesome images of those gorgeous snow and ice covered trees and test out some new heads. Bumped a nice fish on the swing- the 600 grain Skagit froze solid, the fish was air born near the bank and 'gone"""- nice to know at 34 F WATER TEMP , a fish wanted Pantano's Hang Time leech!)

( Zaccheo was "out of control" hitting 4 big bucks in a day and a half- the bad nasty weather killed us yesterday! and we only got 6 hours in)

The first day when Matt cracked that nice buck in the a.m, I told him about 'the dusk bite". I knew where a few hog pens were but we are not touching them till 5:30 ish or so- dusk is at 6.

"Those really big selective /reflective alpha fish will lay there all day and watch all kinds of crap thrown at 'em...spawn bags, glo-bugs, you name it, they've seen it all', I said. "At dark, that is when they get on the hunt- they are looking for sculpins, dace, shiners- they ain't gonna hit an egg pattern!" At 6:05, couldn't see crap, Zaccheos rod went off and the water boiled. I took my sunglasses off and was blind!...so was Matt!!!. That big buck went into the backing twice and after a long battle - I had no idea how I got my net under that humongous pig- we landed it!....it crushed a Grim Reaper sculpin with a little sparse flash on the back- a small pattern which differs from the larger fall version. "HOW THE HELL DID THAT BUCK (around 18 on the boga) see that pattern in a deep 12 foot pool in the dark is beyond me", said Matt.That fish waited till all the knuckle heads- including us- were off the river- little did he know we lurked in silence rowing a jet sled! That is the beauty of these selective Steelhead in winter-our favorite time- it's a head game at this time of year- I LOVE IT!

( the grim reaper for selective winter alpha males)

( there has to be easier work - this winter steelhead guiding wasn't what my high school counselor told me to do....BRUTAL!)....NOT GREAT FOR ARTHRITIS!

Last week during the warm spell, I had the infamous Cahn Tran from Chicago who hit some nice chrome hens- he is becoming a steelhead addict needing a fix almost every month. Also had the pleasure of guiding Bob Moreland, a retired jumbo 747 pilot from IL. who flew his plane into Fremont airport and caught some nice steelhead- his first of 4 that day. Bob is an avid Atlantic salmon angler who owns a section of the Sandhill River in Labrador- he was impressed with our winter fish.

( Commodore Bob with his best hen of the day)

(Cahn Tran with a brace of nice hen steels)

Winter Steelhead Tactics: As I said , its a head game of persistence and patience- also timing of day is'huge". Look at winter runs and pools, but fish are moving around now that daylight photoperiod is really kicking their hormonal spawning development into full gear. Lots of alpha territorial behavior going on now. Water temp-34-36 F. Level- 1,780 CFS.....perfect for fussy steelhead! Believe it or not, Cahn hit a large spawned out hen already!....spring is coming fast!..that's way too early for me
WINTER AND SPRING STEELHEADING........ With all the fish in the river winter steelheading will continue to be impressive, seems the worse weather days have the best bites. We still have "A FEW CHOICE DATES", for spring and would love to have you fish with us! If you want "real trophies"- February and early March , before the "gravel rippers ascend", is when you want to target big alpha steelhead. Here is Mr. Gene Kelly from Boston last Valentine's weekend- his first steelhead ever!

 Given the fall and winter run we have already experienced, spring will come early and should be amazing....that ain't just Michigan guide talk....the pictures tell it all!
                                                            WHAT'S BEEN COOKING AT CHEZ MATEO'S
                                                                       DOCKSIDE CULINARY EMPORIUM?

                                                                                                 

( IT HAS BEEN A MONTH FOR STEWS/RAGUS....HOT EUROPEAN BOILING POTS ON THE GRILL WARM UP THE DAY- HERE IS CAHN WITH AN ALPINO ITALIAN CHICKEN RAGU OVER EGG NOODLES AND VEGETABLES IN A THICK TOMATO DILL STOCK WITH VEGGIES)

( Matt Zaccheo had a "delish " lunch of classic Perigord French Beef Burgundy- a bottle of red wine stock simmered the beef for 4 hours in the slow cooker and warmed up pot side on the river.....carrots, mushrooms, and an asparagus risotto......."a killer dish for winter" on a cold day!)

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Posted in: aggressive steelhead and Atlantic salmon behavior , babine steelhead , French comfort food , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead , steelhead alley , trout and eagle

FIRST WINTER WEEKEND GETAWAY!............Brrrrrrr!.................SNOW AND ZERO TEMPS-BUT GOSH WAS IT FUN!

( when the sun came out, the 5 degrees felt like a heat wave!)

(Michael is an avid wildlife photographer)

( a bald eagle followed us around all day in the boat-image Todd Jensen)

( French winter comfort food!!!- 1st coarse- Alsatian Onion Tart, salad- mixed field greens with Anjou Pear, gorganzola cheese, dried cranberries and a balsamic vinaigrette- and here, Grilled Atlantic Salmon Provencale- Basil pesto, calamata olives,roasted red onions, baby chantrelle mushrooms, with roasted redskin potatoes and rosemary, along with asparagus and hollandaise
-Monsieur Pepin would have been proud of this!)

( Beckers cross-country skiing)

( Michael barring the cold)

( warming his toes on Mr. Heater- he burnt his socks!)

( Laurie couldn't wait to dig in- no smiles for the cameraman here-"let's eat!)

( stoking hot fireplace felt great after the cold day)

( January male steelhead are an absolute gorgeous fish!- perfect colors, spotting and kype forming)

Our first weekend culinary/winter steelheading was a real "deep winter" chiller! As the weather forecast loomed over the would be participants by Wedns., the first calls came in,"OMG, did you guys see the weather?", reluctantly I said,"YUP!-ain't looking good for even the hardened winter aficionados". Lake-effect snow, wind chills well below zero and day time high temps around the low teens-

dropping to well below zero at night were to make it a rough ride.

So needless to say, several couples cancelled, and I really couldn't blame them.Our winter policy is "book it, and if real bad weather comes we'll cancel with no obligation on any ones part- that is really the only way you could host January -February events in Michigan.

The weekend was to feature the chef's tribute to French fusion cuisine master, Jacques Pepin- who took french cuisine to a higher level at La Pavilion in N.Y.C, wrote many cookbooks and did a series of cooking videos with the famed Julia Child.

HOWEVER,the Beckers, Michael and Anne, love the winter, outdoors, photography and ,bird and wildlife watching and steelhead fly fishing."Of coarse we are coming!", they said when I talked to them on the phone,"it's winter at its finest!, they said."Now that's the spirit, cold -no matter how cold don't bother those who have invested in the Patagonia/OR lifestyle. It's actually a challenge we live for and enjoy!

After a breakfast of Laurie's famous Eggs Benedict with her award winning killer hollandaise sauce, Michael and I embarked on a winter special afternoon from noon till dark. When I saw the thermometer still hovering at "8 F", snow coming down and the wind kicking up, I the eternal optimist even had doubts starting to build in my mind. My jet , which was docked at the dock, was the first concern. Did the batteries get drained after a sub-zero night?.Is the jet impeller in the water not frozen?. Is the throttle frozen? First logistics that needed to be taken care of

I told Michael,"first I'm going down to the dock and see if we have the jet de-iced and ready for take off. I'll warm the engine up for at least 20 minutes". Miraculously, the Yamaha jet started up on the first crank, but the four-stoke 115 rebelled with a low disgruntled rumbling sound as the jet and impeller cleared whatever ice was in the system. Throttle- frozen solid, but with gentle prying not to break a throttle cable, I got it to go about two inches in each direction- that was it. After 20 minutes, the engine started to piss and we were ready for a very slow ride- a ride to go fishing never-the less.

I hit the 108 degree hot tub earlier to get the core body heat up, and Michael did the same before we left. 12:30 noon and the air temp was 10 F on the nose! We had Patagonia Das Parkas, Guide shells, every known under layer they have ever invented and my trusty Mr.Heater propane tank sizzler.

The first winter hole we hit, Michael hit two steelhead right of the bat."Damn, these guides are totally frozen shut",he said as he desperately tried to strip line -or let the fish take line-didn't and couldn't happen, thus the fish were gone.

We tried some indy nymphing for trout with the 5 weight and some size #16 scuds and midge larvae and # 14 olive and black stone nymphs that were drifting, but even the trout rebelled as the wind kicked up, the air temps fell back to 8 F, and we headed for water that had hill embankments to shield the wind.

We lasted till dark-6 P.M., by that time our body temps went real low. Air temp as I was docking the boat- 3 above zero!

The fire place was going full blast, and the warm libations never felt better as we sat around the roaring fireplace. Laurie and I were the hosts for the evening as we sat down and had a lovely French winter comfort cuisine dinner with the Beckers.It was a memorable meal to say the least.

The next day dawned at 2 below zero and a warm sun and windless day made it perfect for the Beckers to go for a nice long 5 mile cross country ski outing. Even though temps never got above 12 today, they broke out a good sweat given the sun and no wind chill.

Now that is the way to enjoy a Michigan winter weekend!-regardless of the weather!

Saturday, we had all kinds of wildlife on the desolate river. The bald eagle seemed to follow us around all day in the boat. We saw deer, turkeys, a fox ,swans, ducks- you name it!

Our next culinary weekend is Valentine's weekend , and we already have several couples signed up- we still have a few openings. Chef Frank will be doing Italian comfort cuisine and the steelhead and trout will be waitng and hungry!

Cheers!, Beckers!....... and Bon Appetite and Salute!

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Posted in: French comfort food , gray drake , Jacques Pepin , michigan steelhead , muskegon trout steelhead , trout eagle lodge and outfitters , winter steelhead fly fishing