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

STEEL CHROME IS HERE!

 

Finally we have rain!...and fresh chrome fall steelhead are here!

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Posted in: fall steelhead , gray drake lodge , michigan steelhead , muskegon 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

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

BEEN A GREAT FALL OF STEELHEADING SO FAR-ONE MASSIVE BEAST!!- JUST STARTING

                                           ( Master steelheader Chris Desmond from Chicago, with one of two absolute beasts of mint chrome fall steelhead I've seen in 24 years of guiding ( hitting upper teens/20 lbs/38-39 inches, massive girth)
It has been an excellent and early start to our fall steelheading winter Michigan strain steelhead runs of the Muskegon 2019/2020. With the best  high water levels I've seen in decades, and a massive size (20-30 lbers) of spawning wild Chinook salmon fish unleashing a barrage of eggs into the river system, streelhead have been responding to the pheremonal lure of all the egg caviar and are on the poaching hunt for eggs. They are also slamming a well presented intruder on the two handed swing.

The steelhead run starts to peak in November and December on the Muskegon, with a hopeful bunch of large lake-run browns also to follow. That is when swinging flies really gets into its prime element....see you this fall and winter!

    ( Roy from CT yesterday 10/21 with one of the most beautiful female fall steelhead I've seen!, look at those gorgeous colors!)

NOTE: check out my client from last December as the true cover girl on this issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine, with her Muskegon steelhead, the very adorable and talented photographer: Jesssica DeLorenzo from PA, with a beast of a Muskegon December steelhead, also my very concise article on getting to know winter steelhead, called "Icy Steel"

( coming next: Lake-Run Browns and fall Great Lakes Atlantic Salmon!)

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Posted in: Brown trout-Atlantic Nexus book , gray darke lodge , hatch , matching the egg , michigan steelhead , muskegon river fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead , spey fishing , steelhead dreams , swinging flies

They're back!!!...the Savage Summer Skamania Steelhead-Tarpon of the Great Lakes

All I can say, is that these savage beasts are back!!!!!Could be a massive year for them since last year's drought and heat wave left a ton of  steelhead in the lake that didn't return. With rivers running full and a very cool spring ( bit of a heat wave now, but breaking by tomorrow to normal temps), this could be an amazing year!

We have dates available. Check out our blog archives from July/August/September and facebook pages from past summers for all the excitement...hope to see you! We constantly update our facebook/Instagram posts from the river!

                                                      The amazing salt water/slamon/steel guru-Chis Bamford, with one of the largest summer run beasts we have seen-20 plus club!)- taken on a Procopious Mysis

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , michigan steelhead , selective steelhead. selective atlantic salmon , st.joe skamania , steelhead dreams , summer skamania steelhead

Finally things are starting to heat up on the MO!

Great day with Joe and Mike Doria from Chicago...lost two chrome silver/dime bright females right by the boat...finally things are busting loose!

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

Things are getting better and starting to literally heat up!

Just a quick update: After a brutally tough steelhead run so far things are fianlly changing!-THANK GOD!. I have never seen a start to the spring run so slow and dismal in 23 years because of the epic all-time record breaking crazy fall/winter weather that has plumeted river temps for 6 months. The White River north of us just got a massive run of steelhead last two days, and they are now knocking on our door on the Muskegon as we speak as water temps are finally hitting 38 F-that is still low for April but we have had ice cold run-off for three weeks now, So if your outing is just coming up- you are in big luck! The good news is the rest of April, May and even early June will be full of steelhead as each day it only gets better- Black buggers/leeches and more black stones are the colors, Salmon fry have not hatched yet which is really odd - climate change ( which I talk so much about in my NEXUS book is a real game changer now so we better get used to it and learn to adjust and think with science not just with our calendars. Also note the Muskegon from Croton Dam to Lake Michigan is a TYPE III regulation- all brown trout must be 15 inches or larger to be harvested -FYI- that will be a trophy brown trout game changer for sure! ( bait bucket brigaders can still keep 10 inch rainbows for the pan- leave the browns for a trophy fishery eh!- and please release your steelhead. I think 2019 will give the "one and done" steelhead limit a much needed boost , since we were inches close to getting it passed two years ago. Eat suckers or river rainbows- suckers actually aren't bad tasting from cold water ( my dad and I ate them from small trout streams in the spring when I was a kid) sort of like monk fish/ catfish tasting 😋, Panko crust them or bake and put my dijon/dill beurre blanc sauce on them and "delish!"...good luck this spring!

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

Temps going to 60F this week!- Alleluia!-done with the winter from hell!

After dealing with below zero F temps/ice and snow storms/blizzards and wind gusts up to 60 mph for the past week, it finally changes this week as temps are approaching 60F -AMEN!
Time to get out and enjoy spring steelheading( 80% of the 18/19 run is yet to come), and big browns!
 NOTE: Our great brown trout fishery finally gets the trophy regulations it deserves. Starting April 1 we go to a Type III designation of 15 inches for brown trout from Croton Dam to Lake Michigan. With 100,000 Wild Rose/Gilchrist/Sturgeon River strain browns stocked in the Muskegon 2018 at 6-7 inches/and fingerling, the trophy brown trout fishery will become epic!. 
Also still have a few openings left for this spring's steelheading, but they are going fast!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , Michigan brown trout , michigan steelhead , muskegon browns , muskegon river fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead

Valentine's Chrome Home

Ice storms last two days and power outages, then back to arctic air/wind this weekend won't help our cause this week!... But, Valentine's Day is just around the corner and is always the turning point/flip the switch for fresh steelhead from winter to spring.For all those lazy steelhead ( 75% of them) that never ran the rivers last fall beacuse of the arctic switch from a hot fall to brutal winter in November, and caused them to chow down on all those bait fish piles the now dead kings left behind, its "time for mykiss to phone home"- and get back upstream. Their hormones are exploding at this point, their pineal gland clocks picking up those extra minutes of daylight hours, and a full moon coming shortly- all systems go for "chrome home!

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

The best week of Fall Steelhead 2018 was this past week!!!- fall steelheading waited until winter to start!

Finally !!!!!!- fresh fish!...full moon and a respite thaw from the brutal cold/snow of fall 2018 ( I'll never forget this hell of a fall!), ...is finally bringing fresh chrome and browns on the hunt!
Merry Christmas- pictures tell the story!

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

Jessica DeLorenzo's Steelhead- stunning speciman and more stunning Outdoors Lady !

( Jessica in the first pool of the day with me and her husband took this stunning chrome steelhead last week!-by far our best steelhead of this fall 2018!)

Not only is she an amazing photographer, she is a stunning young lady outdoors woman. Her passion for fly fishing and big game hunting is amazing!- she can spey cast and is intense on the river- the 'REAL DEAL!" See her amazing images from Tierra Del Fuego of their magnificent sea-run browns in my Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus!
You will be seeing much, much more from this amazing talent!!!

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Posted in: Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , Jessica DeLorenzo , michigan steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead

Big Thaw coming...fresh chrome and brownies on their way!

The cold weather is finally over!!!- warming trend for the next two weeks will trigger fresh chrome steelhead and get big post-spawn truttasaurus browns hungry- Chris Robert Bamford from yesterday's deep chill which I cant wait to see get the hell out of here-I'm done with winter!
Here is a nice chromer by Joe Piller last week in the deep chill!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , Michigan brown trout , michigan steelhead , Muskegon River steelhead

Why got STEEL!!!!

  My new steelhead queen -Katie Sloan Goggins from Dallas Texas just a few days ago.

WE GOT STEEL!- and more on their way...all I can say, gonna be a great fall/winter run.

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , great lakes winter steelhead , michigan steelhead , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon steelhead , steelhead dreams

The Best is yet to come...Pure Michigan Salmonid Mecca

Despite the hot and dry summer, our rivers and the Great Lakes have held up remarkably well! 
Given the low flows from lack of rain, that has actually allowed more cold water underground spring influences on our smaller rivers and even Muskegon tailwater. Lots of summer rain run-off is usually warm water- thus our vast underground cold spring aquifer Michigan is planted on with its sand/chalk down soil, allows more spring flow influence.
We are very excited of what is yet to come for 2018- an amazing array of trout, salmon and steelhead possibilities unlike nowhere on the planet, and all in one state- #PureMichigan at its finest, and we can bring it all to you!
SUMMER STEELHEAD AND CHROME SILVER COHO SALMON ON ST. JOSEPH RIVER

                  ( Gene Kelly with a beauty two weeks ago)
Despite our first push of fresh fish two weeks ago, we are now waiting for the Lake to turnover from the 74F that it is now and will cool down to the low 50F water beach temps when we get the next wave of Nor'easterly winds. That will bring in the rest of the bulk of summer Skamania and chrome silver coho salmon we should get an excellent run this year ( Indiana plants close to 400,000 coho -wild Michigan Platte River strain) We are waiting for the next wave and bulk of the run to come in for the rest of August and September, since June and July was so hot with lake and river temps soaring back then. It has cooled off considerably. I still have a few dates left for these exciting fish as the best is yet to come!

                            ( The coho of the St. Joe come in chrome silver with a tad of pink- stunning fish on the fly rod!)

OUR DIVERSE TROUT FISHERIES

DRY FLY HEAVEN TIME!!!!....From the Muskegon and Manistee tailwaters , to all the small jewel spring creeks we have all around us, the best fishing for the year is on right now, Fishing early mornings when the flows are the coolest, we have wild browns,and brookies in the small spring creeks, and rainbows and browns in the tailwaters that can get to trophy size. Tricos in the morning, followed by the caddis hatches which are just starting and will peak in the next 8 weeks, along with terrestrial hoppers/beetles and ants The massive midges,  tiny Pseudo Blue -winged Olives and flying ants are an August thru October gig and can litter the water in massive amounts and bring every fish up to the surface.

FALL CHINOOK KINGS AND STEELHEAD

( here are two epic fish from 2017- Gene from Boston with his massive Wild king salmon on Muskegon September 2017- and Norm from Connecticut with his stunning winter run swung up on his Burky spey-December 2017)

All indications are the big lake is loaded with very large Kings and much larger than average steelhead ( they are hitting the alewives and exotic shrimp populations) They will start hitting our rivers from September through December. A few have already been spotted to rivers up north ( Betsie,Manistee, PM)

Judging by the massive size of summer steelhead this year, our fall/winter run steels are packing on the weight and should be game on this fall!

OUR UNIQUE ATLANTIC SALMON FISHERY

Our Michigan Atlantic salmon fishery has been world class and it continues to get better!  My client and I still hold the world IGFA record at 27 pounds taken in 2011. Last year we saw some amazing fish in the mid 20 lb class, especially this Brutus caught by Brett Howard on my electric Green Butt Candy Cane above. The run so far on the St. Mary's is strong and we are looking to crack a new world IGFA record this fall- I have very few dates left so treat yourself to this magnificent "bucket list" fish of a lifetime

Cheers!- na zdrowie, more good things to come !

Matt

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Michigan Atlantic salmon , Michigan brown trout , michigan fly fishing , michigan steelhead , muskegon river fly fishing , muskegon river hatches , Muskegon River steelhead