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

HEAT WAVE!- PLEASE TAKE NOTE

(my image: dark blotches on the bottom of image are hundreds of wild Atlantic Salmon all pooled up on Quebec's Dartmouth River by a cold water spring during a nasty and unusual drought and heat wave years ago)

PLEASE TAKE NOTE!. We are going into a 9 day plus run of temperatures in the mid 90's F, A VERY RARE SUSTAINED HEAT WAVE FOR MICHIGAN! ( what else could possibly happen this year right? 😟)...PLEASE! refrain from trout fishing since most streams will heat up in mid/upper 70's F . I have worked a few days in a row this week with biologist Tonello of the DNR where he and his FERC staff have notified Consumers Power to turn on the bottom- draw bubbler at Croton and elsewhere ( Manistee/ Mio- don't know the situations there so you should inquire with your local DNR biologists) They (Consumers Power) don't always do it according to the rules and always need a strong nudge to get them up and running ) which we did and they had the thing up and running yesterday at Croton on the Muskegon ( notice the huge spike down in temperature on the graph when they turned it on!) It is mandated by FERC law from July 1- thru Sept. 1( Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) Keep in mind this is not a complete cure and fix but keeps water temps down to several degrees and adds dissolved oxygen .They run the things from late in the day through the night to provide a buffer thermal/oxygenated refugee the best they can. Keep in mind that when you are in the 70 F degree range, a matter of 1 or 2 degrees and dissolved oxygen content can make the difference between life and death for trout! The rainbows and browns in the system can tolerate a lot, and will actually feed aggressively when the water temps are in the low 70's as long as dissolved oxygen content is there ( its been going on for my 25 years of guiding). Its the fighting and release they cant handle.

If you must fish, bass. bluegill , carp , perch. musky etc ( even these fish will start to feel it!).....or fish very tiny ice cold groundwater spring creeks that sustain water temps in the mid-upper 50's F, ( they will heat up regardless in the hot sunny afternoons ) And ONLY fish from dawn to no later than 9 am.

We gave had an amazing spring with cold weather, lots of water and lots of thick hatches. The trout grew very large, and its your turn to give back to them and be responsible -PLEASE!!!! ( and don't fish near spring creek tributaries where the trout stack -up clinging to life) I have canceled guide trips for two weeks and ask all responsible ones to do the same, which many have already done!
Also, on another note, have a happy and safe socially distanced 4th of July! This thing ain't over with yet and being stupid is no way to end it! We didn't ask for this mess, but we sure as hell have total control in stopping it! Looking at what just happened down south/out west when arrogance and ignorance dominate behavior - enough said...cheers! ( sorry for the preach!, but if it saves an every human or trout life, those lives matter!)
 #troutunlimited #atlanticsalmonfederation #internationalfederationofflyfishers #michiganDNR Kirk Deeter Martin Silverstone #PMTU #Schremswesternmichigantroutunlimited Ross Purnell

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , michigan 4th July Heat Wave , michigan fly fishing , 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

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

Caddis and Isonychia hatches have been great!- the whole river is fishing very well/excellent conditions

With higher than normal flows (3,000cfs)-actually perfect flows and water releases for this time of year!... and cool water temps, the Muskegon has been fishing AWESOME!...caddis all day have the trout looking up, and Isonychias, Stenos and still have gray drakes at dusk, the browns and rainbows are fatter and healthy than I've seen in 20 years...

We have availability this week and next week, so come on out and enjoy it!...
For up to the minute posts from the river, view us on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter for "real time" river reports:
Facebook :Gray Drake/Trout Eagle page Matthew Supinski page/Selectivity TSS page
Instagram : Gray Drake Lodge page
Twitter @MattSupinski

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Posted in: Brown Trout-Atlantic Salmon Nexus , Eagle Lake Rainbows , gray drake lodge , isonychia , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon browns , Muskegon hatches , super caddis hatches

The Gray Drake Hatch 2019 has been insane!...without doubt the heaviest hatch I've witnessed in 20 years!

                                     

  ( A stunning Muskegon brown that destroyed my #NEXUS gray drake spinner- the spinner falls in the mornings and evenings have been tremendous- that is an understatement!)
Without doubt, the gray drake hatch of 2019 has been the most intense I have witnessed in 20 years. A very cold/cool damp moist spring, very heavy water flows all winter and spring and last nights 36F and cool days are favoring the mayflies and trout in a big way!

The perefect conditions are in palce in 2019 for amazing hatching by Siphlonurus. As you know, the nymphs emerge on land at night, thus full banks with lots of water and overhanging tree/sandy bank structure is ideal for them.

 Last year 2018 was one of the worst emergences since the river was dry, the heat went to 89-90 F in the middle of May when the bugs emerge and literally "burned up' the hatch before it was spinner bound ( enough eggs can replenish the hatch even when on minimul levels ) but total 100% hatch and spinner flight success takes place when all conditions -(moisture/cool/full river flows) takes place like now. 

The morning and evening spinner falls have been sawdust blanket spinner falls and often too heavy to imitate with fly. There are so many bugs that fly around all day by the gray drake lodge, land on you when you are outside...totally insane! The big browns have come out of the proverbial wood work and are chowing down on them at a venomous rate (15-22 inchers, plus the 80,000 stocked browns and 80,000 eagle lake rainbows are going feeding frenzy nuts!

Please not that the river is now a type III trophy brown river (15 inches from Croton to Lake Michigan- watch out what the year will bring in size and growth with a cool summer forecasted by National Weather Service :)

The hatch will wane and then be replaced by our big Isonychias which are less in ### and thus these pig filled browns will come to the fly with a vengance- the next few weeks and summer looks very promising!!!...we still have openings and would love to see you at the Gray Drake!...cheers!- Matt &Laurie- enjoy the images/even the Bald Eagles are on the hunt!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Matt Supinski Brown trout-Atlantic Nexus book , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , Michigan hatches , muskegon fly fishing , muskegon browns , Nexus , siphlonurus gray drakes