Epicurean Angler-Matthew Supinski's Selectivity/Nexus Blog- Everything Trout/Steelhead/Salmon

Epicurean Angler-Matthew Supinski's Selectivity/Nexus Blog- Everything Trout/Steelhead/Salmon
Showing posts with label summer steelhead. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer steelhead. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2012

got rain?...FINALLY!...SPRING CREEK SUMMER STEELHEAD....NEW YORK'S WILD TROUT MECCA

( Tom Terrry from Chicago with his fisrt summer run fun which jumped into a tree on its first leap from an Indiana spring creek on a pink scud last weekend)



( Client Dave Richardson from Virginia and his first summer Skamania steelhead- also...great to see water flowing again!)

So sorry!...for the long delay in posting. As you are well aware we have been in the grip of the worst drought and heat wave in a century.The whole country is dealing with it but I'm glad to say we are over the hump with the big storms we had the last two days and cooler weather coming.Laurie, Peter and I  spent the first two weeks of July at our family's summer home in the magnificant Catskill mountains of  of New York- a wild trout mecca! The ice cold tailwaters of the Delaware and Neversink, with their deep mountain ice cold reservoirs with several hundred feet deep bottom draws made these rivers ice cold. Air temps were hitting the 100 F  range and both the West and East Branch and the Neversink upper tailwaters were 42 degrees.
( view from our families place in the Catskills)
( The amazing Neversink River of New York- a fusion river: mountain freestoner, spring creek and ice cold tailwater all in one....PLUS!.... the birthplace of American Fly fishing....Theodore Gordon/Hewitt and La Branche...this is Americas 'ground zero' of fly fishing...above a wild Neversink brown, the spring creek like waters and the steep falls at Fallsburg)

I spent each day chest deep and chilly, watching wild brown trout sipping sulphers, olives and stenos in the middle of the afternoon as the waters warmed to the prefered low 50F range. Their fisheries are managed for wild brown, rainbow and brook trout which are splendidly colored and fight like mad....also ultra super selective .



( Angler chest deep on the West Branch....44F water...air temp 95F...tailwater fog)

( West Branch sulpher sipper..."drive by style".... only my guide/friend/sansai/trout coon dog, and Catskill trout master...Johnny"Miller Time" Miller can figure out...he has finally figured out how to crack these big selective/reflective sippers feed...incredible habituation behaviour is taking place here on these extremelly "hammered to death" fish...since this river was the only fishable place on the east coast!...except for spring creeks.)
 On the way back, I got to stop by my childhood wild trout classroom...the Wiscoy Creek in the
 southern tier Allegheny mountains. I fished here last 31 years ago when I lived in Niagara Falls and it is here I learned of the selective cunning nature of its exclusive wild brown trout.
( Wiscoy terrestrials..."da box")

( I love bohvines...if you talk to them like puppys they follow you all day...my pals!)
( New York does an amazing job of public access and wild trout management)

 It is a cow pasture spring creek/freestoner that runs through Wyoming County- "little Switzerland' of western New York. The water levels in all the New York streams were very low due to the drought but things gave changed with the rains.
( Pota mayfly shuck)
( Peter walking the Wiscoy Crekk Falls...we stayed at the Wiscoy Creek Lodge...a spectacular log cabin...go to their web site...big thumbs up!!!!!!... a true forest setting an hour and half south of Buffalo)
AND NOW!....after many prayers answered the rains have come and my pursuit of summer steelhead  with my clients from all over the nation could not have come at a better time. The "Skamania Alley' of Michigan/Indiana got anywhere between 2-4 inches of rain with the storms depending on location....the mother load of summer runs are yet to come!.
The St. Joseph remains too warm for fish yet but will change. I'm concentrating on smaller spring creeks and some private new water I've obtained. Those creeks are icy and have good flows now.
Muskegon Report. It got really brutal in early July- so did all the blue ribbon wild trout waters of Michigan's PM/Au Sable where water temps hit 70's...that's all changing.
The Muskegon bubbler only had so much cooler water and the cooler nights and lower daytime temps will gradually get things back to normal...if normal exists anymore! The trout are concentrated in the deeper pools andfast shallow riffles due to the river hitting a brutal low and hot 797 cfs...now 1,090 after it hit 1800 cfs after the storms. They are sipping #26 olive rusty spinners in the mornings and evenings and the tiny green caddis is starting up. The rocks are covered with cinnamon and green caddis larvae/pupae and the rest of the summer thru October should see massive caddis hatches. Their has been no trout die offs noticed and the trout that are caught are still fat and healthy despite the heat from the caddis pupae...please exercise extreme caution when fishing till temperatures cool further!!!
 Heard reports of summer king salmon coming in Litle and Big Man and PM Lake.
 I think we are over the heat hump and more storms and showers are predicted even though temps will climb again... the rain buffer is the key!....Cheers!
( high water Skamie box...some of Greg Senyo's masta egg eating minnows...and more master Senyo creations...a monument will be built to this Great Lakes steelhead flyt tyer....all of us are humbled next to him!...no blowing smoke!)

STILL HAVE SOME OPEN DATES FOR SUMMER SKAMANIA STEELHEAD AND THE "SUMMER TROUT EVENING SIPPER SPECIALS" THAT WILL LAST TILL OCTOBER!....SEE YOU ON THE RIVER!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

THIS AIN'T BRITISH COLUMBIA OR WASHINGTON'S WASHOUGAL............JUST GOOD OLD GREAT LAKES CHROME SUMMER SKAMANIA STEELHEAD AT ITS FINEST!

( JAKE WITH HIS FIRST SUMMER STEEL!)
I ain't no Hugh Hefner judging chrome .sweet, center-fold voluptuous steelhead, but what happened yesterday was a once in a lifetime day! It was LOONG in coming, brothas and sistas................looong I tell you, after a heat wave from hell!
The stats and the beauty images are all I got to say..................and it didn't come with a  Dean River price tag!

( PURPLE HAZE............IS IN MY JAW!)
DATE: AUGUST 12TH

PLACE: A COLD, SMALL TRIBUTARY TO LAKE MICHIGAN.....( and it ain't where you are thinking!)

ANGLERS:..........TONY DOMBROWSKI, ACCOUNTANT- GAYLORD, MI,........ SONS JAKE DOMBROWSKI -21, KICKER /PUNTER FOR TOP IVY LEAGUE COLLEGE ON EAST COAST HEADED TO THE NFL- OTHER SON, ALEX, 16, TOP MIDWEST GOLFER HEADED FOR THE PGA- MICHIGAN STEELHEAD FANATICS THAT NEVER CAUGHT A SUMMER RUN SKAMANIA STEELHEAD

PURVEYOR OF STEELHEAD ECSTASY: MOI!

CONDITIONS: PERFECT- COLD 58 F NIGHT, POLAR FLEECE MORNING.........FINALLY!..........WATER CLEAR AND COOLER......THE PERFECT " WINDOW OF RUN" OPPORTUNITY

SPECIES; SUMMER SKAMANIA STEELHEAD THAT JUST CAME IN THAT NIGHT ON THE COOLER TEMPS AND FULL MOON FROM THE BIG LAKE

 DEMEANOR OF FISH: ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!!-SUICIDAL AGGRESSIVE/ACTIVE "BULLS IN A CHINA SHOP", AERIAL DISPLAYS UNPARALLELED!.............THESE FISH GAVE THE WARY AND" FISH OF A THOUSAND CAST!" REPUTATION A REAL BAD NAME!!!.......-THEY SMASHED OUR FLIES WITH A RECKLESS ABANDONMENT LIKE STRIPERS ON THE HUNT FOR BAITFISH!.........ABSOLUTELY INSANELY DUMB AND AGGRESSIVE FREAKS!

( JAKE WITH HIS SECOND-  A KICK ASS FISH THAT WAS IN THE AIR MORE THAN IN THE WATER)
TACKLE: ORVIS HELIOS  AND T-3, 8 AND 9 WEIGHTS, ......LOOP AND MIRAGE LA REELS,.......... FLOATING WONDER LINES ,1X TIPPETS , TINY FOAM INDICATOR AND MY "Purple Haze Skamania Crack" FLY

HOOK-UPS/LANDINGS: WON'T SAY!!!!! AND BE GROSS ABOUT IT!- DAYS LIKE THIS HAPPEN ONCE EVERY 10 YEARS AND I BASICALLY CUT THE GUYS OFF TO PROTECT THE FISH, EVEN THOUGH WATER TEMPS. WHERE UPPER 50'S AND FISH COULD BARELY BE HELD FOR IMAGES SINCE YOU COULDN'T HOLD THEM  BEING  SO HOT WITH PISS AND VINEGAR!.........(ONE BROKE A WHOLE IN MY NET AT LANDING!)

( ALEX WITH HIS FIRST SKAM!)
( ENTREE DE RESITANCE: LE PURPLE HAZE!)

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

RECORD HEAT!!!................BUT THE FLY OPTIONS ARE STILL MANY!

( Chunky brown full of caddis pupae)
Sorry for the long delay in posts. It has been a heat inferno and we have been managing the best possible. A big cooling trend is starting tonight with temps around 80 F as opposed to the mid-90's..................yahooo!
( another fatso at dark on caddis!)
( caddis images by John Miller @)---the importance of a tiny dark tungstun bead when fishing a dead drifting caddis pupa- just look at the head shape!)
Despite all the bad weather, the Muskegon has been holding up just fine. The cool water bubbler has been giving us dissolved oxygen and the trout are fat and healthy. Sure they would like it colder, but several reasons are helping them and they are in a growth spurt which was totally different than last year.
 Here is a re-cap of what is going on :

  • the cold water bubbler at Croton has been going full steam with two aerators every night ,cooling the water the best it could and giving lots of dissolved oxygen
  • the zebra mussels are all but"FINISHED"............you just have to go above the dam and look at the rocks. Once they were totally encrusted in zebras- now you are lucky to find a live healthy one. Great Lakes EducatioanlResearch biologists and Grand Valley students have been  surveying  the river for steelhead fry, insects etc. and have confirmed the lack of zebras
  • the caddis population has 'exploded' their are nets and cases of cinnamon and green caddis in astronomical numbers along the rocks- the"canary in the coal mine" sign that zebras are done- in the past we lost the caddis hatch to the mussels due to the zebras heavy filtering of plankton from the reservoirs
  • Dave Cole at Consumers says they are rarely finding mussels in Croton and Hardy
  • the deep ,tannin tea stain of the river is a sign that water filtering( as mush as several quarts per day) by one mussel is not occurring- thus the old tannic stain
  • the stain also prevents light penetration in the reserviors and river holding down the temps as much as physically possible
SO...............the trout are eating their butts off with the caddis. Jeff, Bob and I were fortunate to guide the Simms Group of 6 guys fro 4 days last week , and we had somne excellent caddis activity at night with several browns in the 14-19 inch range on pupae at dark. All the activity- except Sunday- which started around 7:00 pm , has been mainly at dusk. But that will change as the air temp/water temps cool. The browns-they have been mainly browns getting fat and tolerating the heat, are very healthy and fat!
( big skams on the Joe are yet to come!)
    Summer Skamania Steelheading will only improve with the cooler spell coming. The St.Joe will cool off and bring in more fresh fish. Indiana's spring -fed creeks have been holding some enormous sized steelhead and has fared better with its colder water.
 Mike has been doing well fishing hooppers/stoneflies on the Pere Marquette and Pine, and there are nice browns at Tippy on the Big Manistee which Jeff and Bob got into on Saturday with the Simms group.
 That is the latest for now!
Cooler times are coming and July of 2011 will burn in hell in the history books- good riddens!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

THEY'RE BACK!!!.........AND BIGGER-SUMMER CHROME IS COMING HOME!

Yes my friends, the summer Skamania run is looking "real good" so far this year! After a dismal run in 2010 with extreme heat, almost non- existent water flows and a boiling hot lake with what was feared to have few bait fish, man how things can change in a year.
 Summer runs have been showing up in the St. Joseph for about 3 weeks now, and after this heat spell, temperatures are going to rebound to more cooler, seasonal weather.
 And the fish are running really big- on the huge size! My sources have confirmed bruiser steelhead and Brian Breidert of the Indiana DNR is really impressed with the size of fish so far. He told me he has heard and seen reports of fish from 17-22 lbs-( like the old days-99'-2001) when alewife bait fish populations were at a high. Fish have already been taken in South Bend which is very impressive for this time of year! A cool spring with lots of rain and water has accelerated things and brought the run somewhat back to normal like the 90's. 
Over the past four years we've seen some smaller Skamania- but not this year.
This link at Michigan Live may be telling the 'good news"- tons of bait fish in the big lake which as we all know is extremely cyclical. But for now, there are a shit load of bait and the steelhead have been chowing down on them. On the Muskegon at Croton Dam, the bait and hardware guys have been picking up stray summer run steelhead also at the 6th street Dam in Grand Rapids. This usually is a good sign of a diversity of strong year classes in the fish and good precipitation and flows.

 This is a great sign for the rest of the summer and what fall will bring. Brian has said he is seeing Coho salmon up to 13 lbs!........can't wait for late summer/ fall!
 We still have some dates available for summer steelhead and you owe it to yourself to hook into these massive chrome "great lakes tarpon"- they are one of the hardest fighting fish we have in the Great Lakes and absolutely spectacular raw beauty!thttp://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/07/alewives_show_up_in_force_alon.html

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

CEO MEETS ELVIS!

( keep an eye out for this pattern in the new issue of FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE)
( Cahn meets "Elvis")

His first hook-up this morning was a huge chrome steelhead!- it had to be a stray summer run- chrome silver, pink cheek and gray back and as long as a torpedo.Four 3-4 foot massive leaps and a 5 minute battle took the fish into the huge weed beds currently being washed down the Muskegon after a hot and low water summer. On very warm years, when the the St. Joe is slow and void of Skamania , we always attract pods of stray summer runs- happened in 2008.
I had the pleasure of guiding Cahn Tran, great client and CEO of Patern Recognition Inc., a nationwide high- tech software company he founded.He hit several nice Chinook salmon swinging orange and black rubber legged comets.


Congrats Cahn!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

THAT'S A "BINGO" FOR BILLY!




As Col. Hans Landa from "Inglorious Bastards",the SS hunter put it in the Caption above, Bill Benson , CEO, Investment Banker/Real Estate Mogul from Rochester, MI, had the best day so far for Summer runs-he went 5 for 5 on fish between 12 and 15 lbs.


Today , we could not find a fish!!!!!!!


The Joe is cooler and fish are moving fast. We have great Olive /caddis and flying ant hatches on the Muskegon to the browns and rainbows that had no problem holding over"thanks to the bubblier" - and YES!.....good numbers of salmon are coming in with the cold nights and rain Thurs.

The good news! My late dad was in the Polish Army -1939- and killed hundreds of Nazis- my mother was in Auschwitz, had to deal with the Bastards and survived it.
So Brad Pitt- (a.k.a Aldo Raines- who said" Nazi kill'in is my business, and business has been pretty good lately)you're my Idol!
GRACIE!-- Thanks Q.TARANTINO- for a stunning and brilliant movie-BINGO!
How I went from summer steelhead to Nazis is bizarre- just deal with it!- that's how my mind works- what the heck-eh!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

FINALLY...........HOPE AND CHANGE!!!!!!!!

( I showed Dr. Ian my "T-REX", and that amazing brilliant English chap went crazy!!!- these are his "Thunderschtyk wanna bees" for early kings!)
( Chi-town Dr. Jack with a faithful Muskegon May warrior that took a swinging Senyo's "SUPER RUBBER-LEGGED ICE MAN- featured in the next issue of FLY FISHERMAN)

( Dr. Jack with a 25 lber on the Babine last fall with the Moi candy cane)


( a new and improved Babine Candy Cane I tied today for Jack when he returns in Sept. & Oct. to B.C.- they worked for me on the Big B back in the 80's- they are still hot now!- it is perfect and a little more laborious to do them Intruder style- string leech- HULL STYLE-KUDOS TO HULL!!!- which we have now replaced shoe lace string from your favorite shoe master with Power - pro and Dacron-trivia ?- what is the material used for the fl. red tags that originated this historic west coast fly?)- river starts with a "D"
Really, I can't believe I'm using those words- but- I think the disastrous 12 weeks of heat/drought and downright"shit" conditions could be over. Chasing the non- exsistent summer steelhead, and non- exsistent caddis hatches on the Muskegon has taken a brutal toll on this guide!

BUT..........IT WILL FINALLY END? We have a great cold front coming which has already dumped rain and the temps for the daytime highs on Friday will be in the 60's !!!!!- yahoo.
SO, think big flies for the summer runs that are still there in the lake and will come with the cohos and our beloved kings with a vengeance once the rivers cool off. The past three nights on the Muskegon , I actually had an hour of fishable caddis hatch- sparse as it was- just befor dark..........and the Gray Drake lights this morning were coated with blue-winged-olives.

I'm chill'in /wait'in for that" hope and change"- Barak O'man, those words can never be more prefect for what we are wish'in for! It's kinda scary when you are watching the weather channel and radar on your Blackberry hoping Hurricane Earl will make a visit to Michigan and Indiana!

"Be careful what you wish for!!!

Monday, August 23, 2010

TIME TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!!!!

( Sean with one of the big"Skeena' looking Skam dawgs from the ole days- can it happen again?-I saw some massive sized fish in late July- but you could count them on your left hand- is 95 % 0f the run yet to come?-stay tuned brothas and sistas!)

YUP.............NORT/NORTH EAST WIND- FIRST TIME SINCE LATE JUNE- BEACH TEMPS STARTING TO HIT LOW 60'S

FULL MOON!!!!!!!!!

LOVE SICK SKAMANIAS DYING LITERALLY TO GET UP RIVER.

COLD NIGHTS -COOL DAYS!!!

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER- IT IS JUST A MATTER OF QUICK TIME.

WHEN IT DOES, THE MOTHER LODE WILL COME IN- COHO AND SUMMER STEELS.

GOTTA GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

WHAT HAS COME IN IN JULY , HAVE BEEN VERY BIG FISH- SO WHAT IS TO COME WILL BE EVEN BIGGER- MORE LAKE CHOW TIME!

Monday, August 16, 2010

AT LAST........THE HELLISH HEAT IS OVER............ONLY GOOD THINGS TO COME AND WHAT'S NEW AT THE GRAY DRAKE/TROUT&EAGLE!!!

( SEQUENCE OF TROUT TAKING TRICOS ON OUR NEW DVD SERIES TO BE RELEASED THIS FALL-Dr. Tom Harman of Harmony Video Productions of Minnesota images through HD video)
( Grouse season just a month away- check out our new affiliation with the new Orvis Endorsed Wing Shooting facility- Shooting The Breeze Hunt Club)








OMG..........IT IS OVER! 11 weeks of putrid heat and humidity like we've never seen 2010!!!-could and most likely go down as the hottest summer on record- with 1916,1938-39,1903,1994-95,2003! Brutal , but looks like its behind us.

The Muskegon got hot-damn near every river in the U.S. got hot- blue-ribbon trout streams all over got hot, except for the real icy spring-fed and spring creeks, and the deepest tailwaters( Delaware etc.) Our bubbler did the best job it could on the Muskegon, but both Croton and Hardy impoundments heated up to record levels, along with Lake Michigan being the warmest on record in a century!

SO.........the trout fishing and caddis hatches will only get better with the 50 degree nights. There are tons of summer Skamania steelhead yet to come in( probably 90% of them) and the fishing in the next month should be great. GOOD NEWS IS!, there are a lot of healthy big King salmon in the lake and the fall run should be better than it has been for years!

Had clients up nymphing by the dam Saturday and the browns and rainbows we got were fat and healthy looking. I'm sure there was mortality down to Newaygo with the temps- but lots of cool springs provide refuge down from Thornapple down. My clients caught a few nice rainbows in the riffles below the Gray Drake/Trout & Eagle sunday at dawn and they said they looked good and healthy- so that is good news!

Check out our web site, we just updated it with new information, salmon and trout specials and we are pleased to have our affiliation with the new Orvis Endorsed Wing- Shooting Grounds, Shooting The Breeze Hunt Club, in nearby Mecosta county. We will be doing events with them this fall and combining "cast-an-blast" programs to tie in with salmon, steelhead and trout fishing.( check our newly revamped web site for more info)

Also, we have partnered with owner Frank Zamarripa of Latitudes Restaurant where we will be doing culinary events this fall and winter at the Gray Drake/Trout & Eagle Lodges- gonna have some exciting stuff going on!

Also, check out the "what's New! section for published material release of mine in both periodicals and books coming out.

SO-GOOD NEWS IT WILL ONLY GET BETTER!-WEATHER, FISHING, GOT NEW ELECTIONS COMING THIS FALL............YAH HOOOO!!!!

We still have good dates available for fall salmon , steelhead and don't forget Lake- Run Browns- we got some hogs last year!

Also, caddis and trout will be spiking in the coming months.

Hope to see you soon!

Cheers!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

FINALLY JULY IS OVER!




Sorry for the long delay in posting!!!- Been chasing summer steelhead with clients for the past 11 days and boy!,it was hotter than hell and tough-tried to avoid getting heat stroke for the most part. The pods of fish we did however find were "massive " in size and we landed a few and lost some hogs! In all earnest , the fish we are seeing this year are huge in comparison to the last 4 years-largest I've seen since 2006- saw two fish in the 40'inch range. Brian at the IDNR confirmed that the few fish that have come in thus far have been very large- he thinks they could be some 4 year olds that are carrying the big shoulders.


But, we need this absolutely abominable heat wave to cease and conditions to change. Probably 90% of the run is still out at the thermoclines in the lake up to 150 feet of water.


Despite the recent full moon period( a magnet for fresh run steelhead), the river temps were too warm for a strong migration. This has to break soon and I predict from the middle of August thru mid September will bring in the mother lode of Skamanias. Seen this happen in 2002, 2008 and many hot El Nino summers.


Fished the Muskegon near the dam last night with clients Walt Zimmerman and Tom from Youngstown , OH. Indy nymphing tiny scuds and caddis larvae/pupae he caught a dozens of rainbows and browns that were fat and in good shape- they are obviously eating well despite the warm temps. The bubbler is trying to get those nigh time temps down to 21 C- which it did last night- but the reservoirs heated up at an ungodly rate with having one of the hottest June and July temps on record( 1916 saw more 90/100 degree F days- that was pre-global warming I think Mr. Gore?)Yes , Moscow in Russia had its first 100 degree day ever on record yesterday!


So, relax cause I think the worst is over. Muskegon at good flows for the summer -1,600 cfs, and their are a ton of case ready caddis pupae ready to pop once temps stabilize cooler- so we are hopefully "over the hump and headed down to cooler nigh time lows.


BTW..........check out the next issue of FLY FISHERMAN MAGAZINE( out on new stands Sept. 12th) for my feature article on Giant Great Lakes lake-run browns!


Cheers!- and think cool-and most importantly, act and look the same!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

RIDERS ON THE STORM!!!!!!!!


After sweltering heat waves, droughts and what seemed like the end of days for trout and summer steelhead........alas laddies!-THE PERFECT STORM!

Last few days torrential downpours, tornadic activity and a good cooling trend- coupled with an easterly wind-THANK YA JESUS!- will now bring in the chrome purple riders of the purple sage.

Skamaniacs!- get ready!. The time of jubilee hath finally come.