ICELAND 2019- SALMO NEXUS HOSTED TRIP WITH MATT SUPINSKI

ICELAND SALMO NEXUS TRIP- 2019-

WITH YOUR HOST -MATTHEW SUPINSKI- WE STILL HAVE TWO SPOTS LEFT!

COME JOIN US FOR AN AMAZING WEEK IN EARLY SEPTEMBER IN THE MAGNIFICANT NATURAL BEAUTY “WONDERLAND OF FIRE AND ICE”- THE ULTIMATE ATLANTIC SALMON AND BROWN TROUT NEXUS UTOPIA!

AN EPIC TRIP OF A LIFETIME TO FISH ON ONE OF THE  MOST  BEAUTIFUL RIVERS IN ICELAND- THE STORA LAXA ,IN A PRISTINE ATLANTIC SALMON/BROWN TROUT PARADISE !

                                  With your host/guide: Matthew Supinski   

Author of the newly released book/treatise on all things Salmo-Atlantic salmon and brown trout:

 DATES: SEPTEMBER 4^TH- 9^TH, 2019. 5 NIGHTS/ 4 DAYS FLY FISHING FOR ATLANTIC SALMON AND BROWN TROUT- GOURMET FOOD/NATURAL SCENIC TOURING /RUSTIC REMOTE LODGING /HOT SPRING MINERAL BATHS AND THE FISH OF DREAMS!

Your Destination hosts: Arni Baldursson &

https://www.lax-a.net/

If you’ve read my books “Selectivity-Trout/Salmon/Steelhead” and the newly released “Nexus”, you will have read and seen in images how much I have raved about Iceland and its Salmo Brown trout/Atlantic salmon magnificence!

The trip includes guiding/lodging/gourmet dining at these magnificent big salmon and brown trout waters where you will absorb a wild wilderness experience on this stunning river.

The Stora Laxa is an absolute gin-clear river where its vistas are spectacular. The landscape of the river is stunning where the river has dug its way deep into several million years of bedrock offering amazing scenic views. In early September there are massive numbers of “BIG” multi-sea salmon in the river at that time. The ability to take both Atlantic salmon and brown trout nearby on small surface dries and swung flies/riffle-hitched tubes is a thrilling reality.

Also, the brown trout fishing, which I enjoy equally as well as the Salmon (they are all Nexus Salmo!), can be spectacular on Iceland’s rivers/lakes and spring creeks

Hope you can join us on this “bucket list” fish of a lifetime trip!

Contact Matt Supinski at the Gray Drake Lodge for pricing/information etc.

We are looking forward to discussing this great opportunity trip of a lifetime. It is a great destination for couples/significant others who don’t fish since Iceland is such a world-class natural scenic wonderland.

Contact emails or thru our web site:

http://www.graydrake.com

matt@graydrake.com

msupin2583@aol.com

231-250-2846

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Posted in: atlantic salmon , Brown Atlantic Nexus , gray drake lodge , ICELAND NEXUS TRIP 2019 , Matt Supinski Brown trout-Atlantic Nexus book , monster brown trout

The Valentines Day Winter Hump has come..Big Red Banned Bucks and Ravenous Browns await !

( Massive red band buck above from the Valentine's day "hump" period - the dusk bite, awaits you in February and March- our TRUE TROPHY time of year!)

With a ton of snow that has fallen in the past few days and arctic cold temps, we are "so" over winter at this point!

The great news is Valentine's day and Lent start the trophy steelhead/ brown season. Our males are at their most aggressive and attack minded dispositions in the pre-spawn phase.

Fresh run chrome females and males guarding alpha dominant lies are at their finest sporting/attack minded quality.

Valentine's Day Mykiss Girls

                                                       ( Chris from Texas with a stunner February steelhead- Gray Drake in the background!)

( My Valentine's Girl- a stunning chrome/pastel hen !)

 Our large browns are now seeing the biological drift of black stoneflies and newly hatched chinook fry that spurs the interests of the smaller trout and bait fish, which in turn sparks the carnivore "Truttasaurus" leviathan brown killer hunt, in the big meat articulated streamer game!- plus the smorgasbord of all those delish stocked browns, rainbows and steelhead soon to come is big brown gluttony- " fat bastard" time

                                                      ( My Newly hatched chinook "Sacman" fry")

                                                           ( A sucker minnow came out of this browns mouth on the Muskegon, that was shared and caught by steelhead brown master- Dennis Bowens- look at those German Bachforelle red spots! )

SPRING BOOKINGS

Time to plan for spring! I still have a few choice slots open this spring with me/Matt, so would love to see you at the Gray Drake

NEW NEXUS BOOK OUT THIS SPRING!

You can now pre-order the book online-link below:

http://skyhorsepublishing.com/titles/13262-9781510730298-brown-trout-atlantic-salmon-nexus

 More news coming along with the clinics/book signings and shows I'll be doing, including Scotland trip.

Cheers!

Matt 

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Posted in: atlantic salmon , gray drake lodge , great lakes winter steelhead , Matthew Supinski new books , michigan steelhead , monster brown trout , muskegon browns , muskegon steelhead , Nexus

WILD,WEIRD,WHACKY,WET...WTF!....THAT'S HOW TO DESCRIBE THE WEATHER AND HATCHES....BUT "GOT BIG TROUT! "

(Tom Terry's nice brown from Saturday)

In all the years of fly fishing....god embarrassed to say how many.....never seen more crazy weather/hatch patterns, and generally confused 'everything' ! Some nights the hatches are thick....most nights nothing!. This weekend, I had the pleasure of guiding Tom and Sue  from Chicago for three days. We caught a ton of nice trout nymphing/streamers with 5 hefty browns and a bow in the 19-21 inch range on the Muskegon, despite the gazillion tubers, canoes/kayaks etc.. Those smaller bows/smolt steelies and brownies are as fat as footballs and put a heavy bend in Tom and Sue's Sage ONE 4 weights- they were amazed by how hot these fish fought in the current.

(Isonychia adults have a a deep green/burgandy thick body)

( Tippy's nice brown on a Iso at the begging of June)

 We were surrounded by Doppler radar red and yellow all weekend but managed to escape till last night when we got hammered with storms and rain. BUT............ we needed it since it was gettin g dry and water levels were dropping.

( Iso wiggle and CDC dun with tailing shuck)

(Hex has been showing up in increasing numbers on the Muskegon by Croton dam...or lower river0

 So "WHAT'S UP WITH THE HATCHES?"....god I wish I had a clue....and for me that's embarrassing to say!. There are Hex's on the P.M. already. Our Muskegon has seen some great sulpher hatches....very sporadic gray drakes which makes no sense since we had a good year last year. Our Drakes did start around May 3rd...very early, but nothing consistent.Lats nights sporadic cahill stenonemas and a few Isonychias.
 Here is what I'm seeing. Still poking around the muck and lagoons near shore , I'm finding gray drake nymphs.One devestating theory I had was when we had those huge floods in early May, they pushed siphlonorus nymphs into the grassy banks which dried up quick when the water came down fast- mortality possible. The gravel in riffles and shorelines have tons of Isonychias, caddis larvae, blue wing olive nymphs.
 BUT......bugs don't like erratic and wild barometric pressure changes which we have been full of!....why?....Darwinian my friend,,,evolution. Aquatic insects that through the millenia that hatched on severe weather barometric changes didn't survive....they got blown away into oblivion and their seed found no purchase. The most successful aquatic mayflies hatched under satble conditions. Blue Winged Olives like overcast and rain....but stable lows and low light...not wild trends like we've had. Caddis don't care one way or the other!
 SO....now with our water level up to 2940 cfs...from 1800 yesterday....the PM/Manistee north waters high off-color and we are going back to 60 degree daytime highs and 37 F nights....after 88F yesterday, this is actually good for all mayflies except HEX.!
We should see good Isonychia emergence's and more gray drakes to follow in the next few weeks, which like somewhat cooler weather patterns and rising water.Caddis also like spikes in water levels to hatch.
 That's the latest from the bug world. The rivers are loaded to the brink with chinook salmon parr and the steelhead fry which just hatched are everywhere...plus you know what is still spawning...trout are "FAT"AND WILLING".....and I'm not going any further on that one...period.....Cheers!
COMING TO THE GREAT LAKES FLY FISHING THEATERS SOON- SKAMANIA SUMMER STEELHEAD....HAVE YOU CAUGHT ONE?....WANT TO?....TIME TO START PLANNING!

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Posted in: blue-winged-olive , chinook salmon , gray drake , isonychia , monster brown trout , selective trout , siphlonorus gray drakes , skamania steelhead , steelhead fry , super caddis hatches , trout and eagle

SULPHER CITY, SCULPINS....the "CEREBRAL GOURMET".....AND THE BROWN TROUT "TOAD" GALLERY!

( Guide Jeff Bacon with a "ginormous 'brown-it's good to know that gene pool contributor is still swimming for this fall if it can dodge the rapalas and worm dunkers. A perefect Ephemerella Invaria - sulpher- above by John Miller......you can click on images for clower detail )

Cold nights, cool nights, hot days, cool days, massive thunder storms....what a roll of the weather!.............BUT GOOD NEWS!....the trout are starting to look -up at the surface with a passion!

( Dr. Mike Davison with a pair of nice browns on the sulpher emerger Saturday)

 The suckers are pretty much all spawned out, so all the trout are cruising looking for chinook parr and steelhead fry that just hatched and the mayflies and caddis. Last 5 nights we had lots of sulphers, American March Browns, Blue wings, caddis and gray drakes trying to get going but the weather has been their detriment....early June like customary should be their peak along with Isonychias.

( The famed Roman Moser of Austria, who contributed to my "SELECTIVITY" book at the publishers Stackpole Books, here are his 3-D Plush Sculpins that are lethal on aggressive big trout!)

 Had the distinct pleasure of guiding Dr. Mike Davison, a trout'aholic, this weekend and Mike got some nice fat browns on the sulpher emergers. Jeff Bacon with clients hit an absolute "hog' brown like Jeff always does every May......he's a toad sniffer!

( another late night sulpher sipper and a rainbow parr chinook fry and Abel brown trout reel- below the river is loaded to the gills with chinook parr and an easy imitationn)

( The grouse hen is back terrorizing all that come- she builds her nest near our driveway and chases all the cars daily protecting her little ones)

( Boy did they stock the Muskegon this year.....just got the numbers from DNR Gary Whelan- head of hatcheries.........staggering #'s......90,000 Eagle Lake Rainbows, 60,000 Wild Rose Brown trout in Newaygo...........30,000 browns at Muskegon Harbor, and 66,000 steelhead at Pine St........plus all the natural reproduction we are having with the cold water bubbler....YIKES!....that's a ton of trout!)

( wild steelhead- 3-4 inchers Jeff and I picked up all spring....Bacon got one two days ago swinging wets...the stockers are 8-9 inches and silver-fin clipped some)

Swinging soft hackle wets and sculpins on sink-tips have been productive. Waiting for a good spinner fall of gray drakes with stable weather. Had a good spinner fall with Dr. Mike as we did split days on the water ....dawn to dusk , with break in the afternoon.
                                                             
CULINARY CORNER AND NEWS BITES!!!!

 Check out our NEW HATCH MATCHERS SPECIAL ON OUR MAIN PAGE TICKER TAPE!
Water at perfect dry fly level...1960 CFS and perfect hatch mayfly hatching temps......CHEERS!
So this week's cooking had to do with good old fashioned Polish cuisines, Spring Rack of Lamb, fresh clams and scallops and beef carpaccio.....raw beef with garlic and goat's cheese.....DELISH!

( BACK IN POLAND AGAIN!....Dr. Mike got fresh Frank's Market Polish sausage from Grand Rapids- grilled and basted in beer, Polish sweet and sour sauerkraut with caraway seeds and good old fashioned potato pancakes....add some hot Dusseldorf er mustard and you got a feast!

( don't forget all the great Michigan asparagus we have now....marinade them in olive oil, lightly crisp on grill, add balsamic vinegar and Swedish sea salt....awesome!

( and now.....an episode of the "CEREBRAL GOURMET".....lol. Last Wednesday I had the two big hitter Ford execs.- Ed and Randy. Ed is an aspiring chef and sometimes he would rather cook on the boat with the Weber than fish....he did an amazing Rack of Lamb chops on the grill.....Ed is not the most articulate guy or politically correct....excuse the crass use of a certain word....Ed did not know he was being filmed by my ever ready i phone which I'm having a blast with....GO ED!......you won't see the "Cerebral Gourmet" coming to the Cooking Channel anytime soon.....LOL!)

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Posted in: American March Browns , blue-winged-olive , caddis , gray drake , isonychia , michigan fly fishing , monster brown trout , muskegon river , sulphers , trout and eagle

BIG BROWNS, LEAPING CHROME STEELHEAD....AND THE RUN IS OVER?

(Cahn Tran from Chicago with a fat Muskegon brown from yesterday)

So sorry for the long delay- been a busy spring. It has been a bizarre April and March to say the least- weather up and down- water levels up and down...carzy!
 Anyways, there are still chrome steelhead coming in, the water level is at 2,238 cfs -49F and more rain coming which we need.

(Bob from Rhode Island with his first steelhead yesterday)

 The good news is the large brown trout running around on the Muskegon eating steelhead and sucker eggs and crashing Chinook salmon fry/parr. Today Larry Marsiello and Alan from New York City and I watched several large browns target the the salmon fry near shore with a ferocious appetite. Black stones are waning but still saw two fish targeting egg layers yesterday.

( Cahn Tran from Chicago with yesterday's chrome leaper!)

 Once the hatches start we are going to have amazing dry fly fishing!
 Streamer fishing has been up and down since the browns are so well fed and fat from the zillions of salmon fry.

( Alan Miller from New York city with his first steelhead)

 The run ain't over.,..you just have to work harder and be more patient. We will still get another push of fish if history has any bearing on the nature of things. There is a ton of water in Muskegon Lake that these late running steels get caught up in. Also the cold nights are keeping water temps down.

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , may fly hatches , monster brown trout , newaygo stream chinook salmon sac fry , trout and eagle

IT WAS AN AMAZING APOCALYPTIC DAY!...........UNVBELIEVABLE BROWN TROUT, FRESH CHROME STEELHEAD AND CADDIS............AND A STURGEON NO LESS!

(Chris with a Muskegon  brown of a lifetime!)

With the rapture of earthquakes and doom only hours away, Jeff Bacon and I had the extreme pleasure of guiding two gret bunches of guys. Jeff guided Mark and Chris Courtney- both medical doctors from Chicago and Arizona. Mark has never fly fished and Chris is an avid trout chaser on the Rocky Mountains.

( Dark tan caddis now hatching on Muskegon-#14-16-image by the "Le bug Doktor-Johnny "bugsy" Miller)

 I had my yearly visit from that good 'ole Polack- Grandpa Alex Michalowski from Saginaw, his grand son Johnny from Big Rapids and his son-in law David from Washington, D.C.
The day started out hot and humid. Jeff and his guys hit some nice male steelhead and a "chromer then chrome" fresh female steelie in the morning. I taught my guys the finer art of fishing caddis dries on the surface and we caught a nice 18 inch brown after many dozen presentations to this very snooty selective wise guy!
Later , I tried to get Johnny -age 14- his first steelhead, but he lost three or four after some fierce jumps by the fish.

(Nice fat selective brown David got on the surface!)

 After we had our lunch of Beef Shish-kabobs with basil pesto Potatoes, we saw this "ginormous" grayish olive 7 foot pointed head log swimming right next to the boat."OMG----IT'S A HUGE STURGEON!- I screamed and all three guys were amazed at its sight. It vanished before I could get my camera out.......way too cool!

( AND "STEELHEAD JOHNNY"- FINALLY GOT ONE IN THE NET-WAY TO GO DUDE!!)

Finally around 4:45 pm after a long day, Johnny put a nice chrome male steelhead in the boat to his elation! Johnny kept saying," an hour and 15 minutes till its over!"- the 14 yer old lad was fascinated by the whole doomsday thing! Just then , Jeff and the Courtneys came by us and said" You are not going to believe the brown we got stripping Chinook Parr streamers- it was an absolute beast of a river brown at 29 inches-8-9 pounds!!!!( the pictures and video below tell the story!!)
 SO..................6:00 p.m came and went, I was still on earth ( I was a little concerned but my faith teaches me differently) and I sat down and poured a single-malt scotch and lite up a cigar( being the good Jesuit raised Catholic I am), said a prayer and toasted to a "GREAT ALOCALYPTICAL DAY!"

RIVER CONDITIONS-  Muskegon water level perfect-wow!...... where did that new very deep peat color stain come from?- I think the floods really put another big dent into the river's zebra mussels thus the discoloration, which means lots of plankton/ nutrient load and excellent for rising trout to camouflage themselves. One thing zebra mussels-( or as the late Carl Richard's put it" those damn clams!) don't like is fast flows and cold water- we had both this winter and spring for the "double whammy punch! Water at 2,570 cfs- 56 F

( The birthday boy- master Cole Jensen-or otherwise known as "The steelhead slaying Cole-amani"- this dude can really fish!!!Todd-you should be proud of this superstar!)

P.S.........God bless that preacher Camping from California!........poor guy ( SHIT NO!,  I take that back-"rich guy" that radio Evangelist has made multi-millions off his fool hearty followers!) has a lot of time on his hands to make such crack-pot prophecies. I pity all the idiots who left their jobs , drained their bank accounts and destroyed their families over this nut-job's predictions.
"Be very careful what you wish for" as the saying goes.
For it is written, "Behold, for I come like a thief in the night!"- nobody knows the time other than the "real big guy" upstairs-period!

Peter Gabriel and Genesis wrote a great tune back on their "Foxtrot" album in the 70's entitled"Supper's Ready'- if you've never listened to it- its time you downloaded it from I-tunes- Pretty cool stuff!

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Posted in: apocalyptic , caddis , chinook salmon , doomsday , gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , monster brown trout , muskegon trout steelhead , Peter Gabriel/Genesis Foxtrot , sturgeon , trout and eagle