OUR HALLOWED WATERS JOURNAL-PASSION FOR TROUT/STEELHEAD/SALMON

 

In case you haven't seen it yet, Laurie and I have been launching a cool new magazine concept.The new issue just came out Jan 15th- our second issue, and the accolades and subscripotions we atre recieveing have been truly amazing!- we hope you can come to this passion and journeyt for all things trout/steelhead /salmon fly fishing.

The winter issue has amazing pieces on winter spring creeks, cold weather steelheading, how to fish winter tailwaters and the snowbound early black stonefly hatch...plus 12 departmental columns on evry facet of the sport! 175 pages, 450 color images, 40 fly patterns and recipes and even my gourmey food and spirits column!

Hope you can join us on the passion and journey for what we all love!...to subscribe come to our website...https://hallowedwaters.com/

Hope to see you in a better and brighter 2021 at the Gray Drake!

Matt & Laurie

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Posted in: Cumberland Valley Limestone spring creeks , early black stones , gray , Great Lakes steelhead , hallowed waters journal , muskegon fly fishing , salmon , steelhead , trout , winter trout fishing on tail waters

More precipitation coming!- Steelhead, Atlantics and browns knocking on the door!

 For those that have waited with all this bizarre low water and heat wave of November, the best is yet to come!!! 

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , Michigan Atlantic salmon , michigan steelhead

Surfing Salmonids!-rivers are flooded, time to hit the beaches!

 (Salmo salar-born and raised in the Great Lakes.On a pelagic bait fish streamer)

With our rivers blown out and flooding ( highest level at this time of year recorded!). might be time to look for Coho, Kings, Browns , Steels and Atlantic's along the Great Lakes and large inland glacial lakes- surf. style!)

I started experimenting with Great Lakes surf fly casting for salmoinds back in the late 90's. I've written three major articles in magazines and my Steelhead Dreams/Selectivity/ Nexus books covered the topic. I have scanned and included one of the most comprehensions ones from back in 2008- no good sitting on the shelve gathering dust. Its a good place to start for all the lake/surf systems.You can open it and read on your pads/IPhones by enlarging or on your laptop with magnifying glass/macro zoom at the top of the page.

( This Capt. Ian Devlin 3-D Pelagic pattern ( imitates Alewives, Cisco, Rainbow Smelt )I use is the most deadly and realistic pattern I have ever used. It swims and looks so translucently amazing! Its materials/and full dressed streamer for mail order is available by contacting Capt. Ian in Connecticut- captain_ian@yahoo.com He is a cohort with the famous streamer /salt water/big brown guru:Mark Sedotti who I discuss in Chapter 9 of my Nexus book as a pioneer of the big fly/big brown gig.)

One skinny note: Look for pier heads/ river estuaries and tiny creeks that come into the cold lakes. They bring in warmer water in the spring and attract bait on a slight chop. Early mornings are the times to be there. No creek is too small to attract bait and salmonids.

Enjoy!

Final Note: I am very busy launching my online magazine which I think you are going to enjoy- stay tuned!

MS

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , great lakes salmon , Great Lakes steelhead , lake-run brown trout , Matt Supinski Brown trout-Atlantic Nexus book , Selectivity book , skamania steelhead , surf fly fishing

Awesome last week at the Gray Drake!...some beasts of Steel !

Was an awesome last 9 days with my boys from Indianapolis, Lansing, Traverse City, New York City and Chicago. The steelhead so far this March have been some massive beasts - probably the biggest I've seen in 9 years like the Chinooks last fall... Plus the river has plenty of fat plump browns and rainbows. Going to be an outstanding spring!...enjoy this weeks pics!

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Posted in: Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan steelhead , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon browns , Muskegon River steelhead , steelhead dreams

Black Stone game on!!!

It's early black stonefly time! (Tainy's and Allocaps) Bio-drift has started on warm sunny afternoons and the exotic predators are chowing down!!. The double red banded buck steelhead are chomping nymphs along with resident browns and bows ( bellies are loaded!)....

Hareline Dubbin Marcos Vergara has all the best materials you need, including JSON SWEDEN realistic materials. If you want a double whammy slam-dunk presentation ( give the water temps a few degrees warm-up to swing with confidence later), nymph a stonefly and a micro egg ( eggs are steelhead kryptoite anytime of year),

so...especially after brutal arctic weather like we just had up until last night and everyone needs a cabin fever hook-up!...or the streamer bite is on for buck steels and resident Truttasaurus brownies ( one buck steel pictured here slammed a #14 stone nymph on 5x and a 5 weight while indicator trout nymphing)...dont forget to jazz-up your stones and make them wiggle and dance! #selectivity #earlyblackstonefly #orvis #abelreels #harelinedubbin #graydrakelodge #browntroutatlanticsalmonnexus #stealthcraftboats

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Posted in: black stones , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan fly fishing , muskegon river fly fishing

It's starting!

Despite the up-and-down weather , it's looking real good. The weak fall run due to Arctic weather is going to really pay-off this spring with larger well-fed steelhead starting to mount the spring run. Valentines day is the "flip the switch" time.
We still have a few slots available for our Muskegon three month long steelhead run (March-April-May) . Our river has the longest run of spring steelhead due to a perfect combination of reservoir/groundwater influences which gives us steelhead all the way to Memorial Day ( it was one of the truly remarkable things I had to fathom when I started here. Other states /lakes like Erie/Ontario etc. get a very short window)

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan steelhead , muskegon river fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead , steelhead dreams

Time to "flip the switch"

Valentine's week is the official "flip the switch" time for the start of the spring steelhead run!- time to start steelhead dreaming! Days are getting longer, pineal gland photo period light detection kicks in and sends the signal to the reproductive hormonal drive as it starts in full mode- the doldrums of winter dormancy is now officially over! Plus the very mild winter we have had and excellent flows signals 'all systems go!" ( keep in mind our fall run was non-existent due to our deep arctic winter taking place in November/December...gonna be one hell of a spring run with very fat and well fed fish that stayed out in the lake chowing down on bait rather than get slinked down in the river

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Posted in: gray darke lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead

2020 STEELHEAD RUN PREDICTIONS-LOOKS GOOD!

We are off to a good start amigos!!!..I'm predicting the winter/spring run of Steelhead/2020 will be one of the strongest runs of steelhead we have seen in the past 6 years..My predictions for epic fail or successes in the past 20 years have had a high degree of accuracy, since I base my predictions on biological factoids, not hopeful wishes and steelhead dreaming ( although if you read my Steelhead Dreams , especially the 12 year anniversary edition one that delves into the science, you will be able to make scientific predictions also!
1. We had the MOST dismal/worst fall 2019 steelhead runs in my 25 years of steelhead guiding, which I and my poor clients that had to endure have ever witnessed .This was climate change driven ( as you will see all dismal run roads lead and will point to climate change) We went from one of the largest sized runs of wild Chinook/king salmon Michigan has ever seen since the 70's- many 30 lb salmon were taken this fall, and I was totally blown away by the size and girth of these fish. My client caught on the swing a 21 pound /massive girth chrome steelhead at the end of October, which was one of the largest fall mykiss beasts I've ever witnessed . From a mild and warm fall, we went to total Arctic Ice Age/Polar shield drop lock-down ( single/teen digits Fahrenheit , feet of snow the first week in November, which I have never seen. It was deep winter hell almost two months before winter started- crazy! - and remained all the way until the Christmas warm-up ( total climate reversal in timeline progression!) If you read steelhead dreams and the "window-of run " opportunity, this totally shut down the migration from big lake to river window, when river and lake shore temps dropped 10-20 degrees almost overnight, thus pushing potential migration schools of steelhead and bait fish prey back out into deep water winter holding patterns where the waters are warmer and hold warmth from summer a lot longer- thus dismal fall returns. The only steelhead in the systems were from "on the heels of salmon egg eating" runs from Sept/Oct.
2.Thus the ecosystems are very healthy with a plethora of bait-fish prey which is indicative by the size of the salmon and steelhead we caught in fall.And given charter boat graphs of massive schools of bait fish, and the desire by Wisconsin to increase slamon stocking as a result ( bad idea!!!), the lake ecosystem is very healthy, at least in relative terms when comparing the last 6 years of prey declines. 3. Michigan steelhead run balance is approximately 40 % in fall-60% in spring. I would safely assume LESS THEN 10% of the year class run of 2019/2020 actually ran the rivers.( this was a Great Lakes ecosystem wide problem from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario BTW!- climate change) Remember: migratory salmonids run rivers on 4 main factors: water temperatures, water flows, diurnal sunlight variations and sexual maturity- water temps being the strongest component, which the weather effected.
4, Our water flows and levels have been above average and is an awesome omen for a good strong run and run-off once water temps become acceptable for the start of migration in earnest in early February once diurnal light levels get warmer and sexual maturity starts to tick-tock away at "get your butt upstream now!" as urgency kicks in with longer daylight hours- some of the largest Michigan steelhead are always caught in February and March since egg/sperm production weight is at highest levels 5. A mild winter warm-up/thaw has occurred , which adds to the spring run migration incentive 5. Given fall, the size of spring steelhead will be "massive", since they had three more months of overtime to pig-out on prey in the deep waters, rather than slink-out and conserve energy all winter in the holding pools
Thus👍....mix all these factors into the cocktail mixer, and I predict a very strong run just gathering fuel !...worst is over, good things to come! ( I'll revisit this at end of May and see how I did!)
Cheers and to many Steelhead Dreams in 2020 chrome chasers!- hope I'm right!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead , steelhead dreams

Great week in the books with the amazing anglers from Orvis U.K. Scotland- and loads of great rain!

An epic week catching massive King Salmon on the Muskegon, with some nice browns and steelhead from other rivers:P.M./White etc.

Thank you Graeme Ferguson and John Hood from Orvis U.K. -Edinburgh, Scotland, and his band of great fly fishing competition  anglers:Ian, Eddie, Brian, you guys were all great me chaps!

7 inches of rain in 48 hours blew the rivers out by end of the week, but we found the "grand slam" trifecta of Pacific salmon, browns, steelhead in easier to fish rivers that were still at 150 year record highs!!!

Water is down now to perfect levels and bringing in chrome steelhead, more salmon, and lots of lake-run browns

Cheers guys!!!!...you were awesome!!!...see you next year in Scotland and back in Michigan!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , lake-run brown trout , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead , muskegon salmon

LATEST FALL/WINTER UPDATE!...BIG IS THE WORD!

( look for this "cover girl", Jess Delorenzo , from PA  to be on the cover of the new issue of Fly Fisherman that will be out this week! Jess caught this beauty with me guiding her last December in the pool right in front of the lodge, and my "Icy Steel" (winter steelhead article feature) is in the issue...Congrats Jess!

Back from Iceland and another vision of Salmo utopia. But the Great Lakes are among the next best places on earth for all things trout, steelhead, and salmon....tough to beat all the options. Here is a update and breakdown of what is to come...NOW!, and fall/ winter!, ( see my latest post on Fall trout fishing on Facebook last few days)...fresh salmon in our pools on the Muskegon!, trout fishing has been fantastic-caddis and bwo hatches, and steelhead and coho are on the St. Joe.

PACIFIC SALMON-KINGS AND COHO

Father and Son - Gene and Justin Kelly from pool swinging kings with west coast patterns last year- pool fishing has started and will get better once cooler weather sets in

The prey/predator balance in Lake Michigan is now excellent and the king and coho salmon this year are running even larger than last year!!!!( last year was the biggest salmon I've ever witnessed on the Muskegon- fish at 30 lbs!) The pooled up fish in the system are very large, and as the rest of September and October unfolds, we will see fish sizes continue to grow with cooler weather and more water flows. We will start seeing coho skippers show up this year as result of recent plants. We specialized in pool fishing west coast style swinging comets and bosses California/Russian River style.

STEELHEAD

                            One fly dis all this damage!-Some awesome early fall steel taken by the Chris and Katie Coggins from Texas, Norm Price from NJ, and Paul Dolbec's massive beast that smashed the Hang time leech

Given that winter-run steelhead will predate on available bait fish schools, if the salmon are the tell-tale sign that things are getting big and bigger!, steelhead this fall should be trophy sized and aggressive on the swing take. Also the large sized salmon will infuse many eggs into the system for "match-the hatch"steelheading  ( for more on winter steelheading, see the new issue of FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE (Fall/Winter 2019-out Sept. 30th) for my client and amazing photographer/angler Jessica Delorenzo on the cover with her masive Muskegon steelhead taken with me on the swing in mid-December last year, I also have the feature article on winter steelhead entitled "Icy Steel")
The first steelhead will trickle in on the heels of the salmon egg barrage, and then prime swinging thru December, with deep nymphing/swing/chucking through the winter where the Muskegon is prime for deep cold winter steel!

ATLANTIC SALMON

                                            (this IGFA landlocked Atlantic salmon record 27lb female we caught 9 years ago still stands as the all-world record landlocked Atlantic my client Tom caught while I guided him in Michigan....they are stunning Grand Lake Stream fish from Maine Michigan/LSSU has been experimenting with since the 60's

I am expecting a much better year for our inland and Great Lakes Atlantic salmon since the massive hot to cold weather caused many salmon to stay out in the deep waters rather than transition ( Salmo salar has that capacity due to their migratory ocean regime life-style) The fact that we have the opportunity to catch world class Atlantic salmon in the Midwest heartland is an amazing thing!!!, considering the dollars one must spend to travel the world for them. We must thank the excellent work of Lake Superior State University and the Michigan. I still have a few dates left for these amazing and beautiful brown trout cousins( see my new book for more details  #browntroutatlanticsalmonnexus) Also my Atlantic salmon trips have the great potential for hooking large lake-run browns

TROUT FISHING-HATCHES. EGGING AND STREAMERS

(Autumn tiny Pseudo bwo's- a massive hatch in Michigan-JG Miller image)

Fall/winter is an amazing time for a trophy brown trout since they are migrating for the spawn and will eat ravenously after they are quickly done. Fall hatches are thick on the Muskegon of caddis and blue -winged olives, with white Cahills. Stripping giant articulated drunk/disorderlies and double D's, also matching the egg game is trophy brown trout time!...our tailwater fat rainbows are also active all fall and winter and foraging big time before winter comes and through the winter

Call or email us to reserve your much deserved time on the water!
cheers!...humbly yours!
Matt & Laurie Supinski

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes atlantic salmon , great lakes king salmon , Great Lakes steelhead , Michigan brown trout , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing