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!

 

 

 

 

  

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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

October steelhead....understanding transition time!

( top steel on a mini-me leech- also, considerable 'nose/lip bumping" of flies on the swing can result in outer mouth hook ups- happens often- let fish take the fly-don't hook set!)

Water levels are perfect after the much needed rain we prayed for!. 1900 cfs and rising on the Muskegon...that's a flood compared to last week's 870 cfs. Tons of salmon are still coming in and so are the chrome silver poaching nomads of fall....Autumn steelhead!
 Since their olfactory sensors are on overdrive from the sexual spawning attraction of salmon eggs and milt, they still have the aggressive/active bait fish 'kill and eat' drive firmly implanted in them.
 They are lovers of the 2-4 feet deep slack/shallow run lies behind Salmon redds. You can easily swing or nymph this water with spey or switch rods with long belly Delta taper floating lines and more traditional spey casting methods.

("mini-me" leech and otter translucent egg dropper- 'hopper /dropper for fall steel swinging")

 At this time of year, you don't have to dredge with heavy sink T-14/t-11 heads and Skagits....not necessary till water temps drop in the 40's and fish lie deeper. Its "skinny water' time and easy pickings for the steelheader and the steels themselves. Its amazing how far and high up in the water column steels will take your fly at this time....all Great Lakes swingers tend to place too muchg empahsis on 'deep dredging"...no need.
Enjoy this time of year and get the 'drug tug' you've been waiting for!
Be patient and work confident holding lies thoroughly.....some people give me crap fro how long I work these holding areas...but!...they produce in the long run!.
 Fall steelhead are preoccupied by a lot of issues at this time;avoiding large king salmon with teeth ready to take a chunk out of them!, for getting too close.......trying to find the rtight comfort zone of a lie, avoiding anglers and boat traffic during heavy salmon periods and always on the look out for a meal.
Also, the power of "green caddis' larvae is deadly at this time since steels see good numbers of dislodged nymphs from female salmon digging.

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Posted in: caddis , gray drake , Great Lakes steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead , Otter eggs , spey fishing , string leech , swinging flies , trout and eagle lodge

H20=CHROME AND FRESH FISH..NO BRAINER

(swith rod and swinging floater)

"what doesn't kill ya makes you stronger"....that about sums up this year!. Worst drought in a hundred years, worst heat ...and FINALLY!....RAIN!...OMG , thought we would never see it!
 River bumped finally up to 1700 cfs from a dismal 860 cfs. And guess what happens....fresh salmon, chrome steelhead, aggressive browns and last night in the 70 degree evening, a dot winged caddis hatch!
 It only can get better!.....let the good times roll!

                                                                   ( matching the salmon egg hatch- Otter soft milking egg style-pegged bead system-switch rod and floating delta taper line)

( Jerry " venus" Demailo - from Cleveland - a brown trout magnet- every time he comes up he hits a nice egg poaching brownie!)

 

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Posted in: caddis , gray drake , great lakes king salmon , Great Lakes steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead , Otter eggs , Sage One switch , swinging flies , trout and eagle lodge

STEELHEAD SUPER HIGHWAYS OF CHROME SILVER!!!!!!.............BEST RUN WE'VE SEEN IN A DECADE!

(Steelhead Paul with a nice chromer!)

( SCHWING-A-DING-DING!)

OK...........sorry for the delay, but this year will go down as one of the most massive fall steelhead runs I've seen since 1999/2001.............ITS OUT OF CONTROL FOLKS!........NO SHIT!
 After witnessing one of the hugest salmon runs "still going on!"......we are inundated with chrome steelhead in big numbers. Swinging and "matching the hatch".........even fly guys like me are racking up big numbers of gorgeous chrome fish!

( Big Roy hits chrome)

 Last week I had the pleasure of guiding Roy Parks, 78 years young financial person and commercial oyster and clam farmer from Rehobath, Maryland for 5 days. Roy has fished for Atlantic salmon and steelhead all over the world- mostly in Quebec/Matapedia/Gaspe and the Dean and Bulkley Rivers in B.C. I met Roy when I was the featured speaker at the National Trout Unlimited Show in Washington D.C. this spring. Roy took one of my master advanced casting classes and wanted to come to fish with me for a week to catch the Michigan "QUAD-FECTA'.........that is Pacific Salmon, Atlantic salmon, Steelhead and a Lake -run Brown. Roy hooked many steelhead and kings, had a nice Atlantic take his fly at a northern destination and just missed a nice brownie..So congrats!......ROY!.3 OUT OF 4 AIN'T BAD!

( Polish Mafia brother Krys from CHI-CAGO with a nice lake run taken swinging with Drew!)

( Northern Lake Atlantic Roy was chasing!)

 Just finished up with the "IRISH PRINCESS"- Sheela and husband Paul who cracked some good steelhead this morning and afternoon.

( Sheela- Irish princess chrome goddess!)

 It can't get any better folks.........November and December will be "ON FIRE" with all the fish we have in the river system already and still huge numbers coming!

( Todays client lunch at Chez Mateo's dock- Greek Lemon Chicken with Tarragon, roasted red and green peppers, mushrooms and vidalia onions in olive oil- Perfecto Senore!- Gordon Ramsey go "F" yourself...LOL!- I just love the guy and watch Kitchen Nightmares every day!)

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Posted in: Dean River , Gordon Ramsey , gray drake lodge , greek lemon chicken , michigan steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead , muskegon steelhead , Otter eggs , swinging flies , trout and eagle

THE CHROME HEN STEELHEAD HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST!........AND WHAT TO DO WITH LEFT OVER SALMON FILLETS!

As the swallows come home to Capistrano, the first new year arrivals of fresh chrome hen steelhead always happens around the third week of January aligned with the howling wolf full moon cycle. Despite below zero temperatures and near freezing and low water levels on the rivers, the power of steelhead migration perseveres.
The magic of the steelhead's neuroendocrine pineal gland( the transparent brain window in the dermis) which measures light photo-period of daylight length, is triggered by the ever increasing length of daylight as the sun is now setting longer and longer each day.Despite there being ice on Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan, this powerful gland which measures and synthesises melatonin through the enzyme hydroxyindole-o-methyltransperase (HIOMT),starts to trigger egg production and hormonal development. Steelhead and migrating salmonids are truly amazing organisms.

We are expecting a nice warm-up in the 30'sas the water levels continue to much appreciated rise-up to 1,610 cfs. Water temp anywhere from 34 to 36 Degree F depending on where you are at in the fishery.I posted a beautiful image of a hen steelhead taken  at last night's dusk. It took a cerise pink Matt's Great Lakes shrimp(Otter braid sucker spawn Tangerine with cerise and Krystal pearl flash-black mono eyes).Orvis Spey Rod, Airflo Delta floating line, Thill strike indicator and indy spey mending, This is very effective for very slow , near shore bubble line lies where this hen was found.
ALSO..........what to do with left over Atlantic/Pacific salmon pieces/end tails. Having our culinary weekend just passed, we did grilled farm-raised Chilean Atlantic salmon Provencale in my last blog. I had several end pieces of fillets left, so for something different, do a pasta dish!
Linguine with pesto, roasted red bell pepper, artichokes and olive, grill the salmon fillets and BHAM!......you got a great Mediterranean pasta! Flake off the salmon into the pasta, plenty of crushed black ground pepper and you have a killer dish----as Rach would say.........Delish!

 Or next Culinary weekend is the Valentine's Italian Amore with Chef Frank - we have 4 couples signed up and we have room for two more. It will be Tuscan cuisine at its finest and there should be more steelhead in the river- next full moon is a Valentine's moon and that's when the pretty lady steelhead really start their migration

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Posted in: atlantic salmon , cuisine/cooking , gray drake , michigan steelhead , muskegon river , Otter eggs , pasta , pineal gland , spey fishing , trout eagle lodge and outfitters , winter steelhead fly fishing