MIGRATING NYMPH/EMERGER SUNKEN SPINNER..ALL PURPOSE DRAKE/QUILL/SIPHLOPECTON

Got out for an hour on my first day off after getting caught up in the office.. Yep!...in a global warming May, I had an ice/snow event for a few moments that caught me off guard. I targeted a riffle near a bog where swimming siphlonurus gray drake /siphlopecton nymphs are migrating..(P.S. : If you fish the Rogue near Rockford, there are Black Quills ( Leptophlebia cupida)....I got this trutta on the single handed rod- /down-and-across wet fly traditional swing -Orvis Helios II (10FT/5 wght) , with my new swimming/emerging nymph/sunken spinner-

 I know!, sounds complicated, but an AP (all purpose pattern that does drakes/quills/ Siphlo's), this is the money fly ...AND YES!!!... I always can't wait to have a day off so I can go "fishing!"- every day I get to go fishing is like my first day ever when I was six years old..its a passion I can't suppress ... but unfortunately many guides treat their job as " just another day at the office/or punching into the guide time clock and "cha-ching$$$ gig" ...Before you book a guide trip, ask your guide how many days he actually goes fishing?, does he or she branch out of their fish tank?.....you will be surprised on the varied comments...I'm not lecturing, but "just sayin"

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Posted in: black quills , brown and rainbow trout , gray drake lodge , muskegon browns , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , Muskegon trout , siphlonurus gray drakes , siphlopecton

FIRST BIG BUGS OF YEAR COMING..DRAKES/QUILLS /MARCH BROWNS

It is time for the first onslaught of big mayflies..Drakes and Black Quills ( Siphlonurus and Leptophlebia cupida)...here is my new articulated dry/emerger/sunken spent spinner I started playing with last year- greased up and moving water, it's deadly when there is or isn't bugs on the water...slightly swung below the film..down-and across/waked, it is explosive-especially at dusk!

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Posted in: aggressive steelhead and Atlantic salmon behavior , American March Browns , black quills , gray drake lodge , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , Muskegon trout , siphlonurus gray drakes

WOW!!...LOVING IT!...MEMORIAL WEEKEND AT ITS BEST

 

Not since the spring of 1994, one of the wettest on record, have I seen our Michigan rivers so full of that rich peat color stained water- healthy looking with the forests as green as Ireland and Scotland, and the air temp in the mid 50's F during the day,with a warm sun shinning..it feels so crisp and refreshing being outside with a layer of Patagonia Regulator....gosh I love it!!!...night temps near freezing..wow!..the trout, the bugs, the May steelhead are gonna love it!...dang...I'm so excited about June...it will be a trout heaven!

( ROMAN MOSER'S DEADLY 3-D PLUSH SCULPINS)

So despite all the rain, the Muskegon is at 5,250 cfs...not wadeable, but for wading anglers try the Bigalow .Tamarack Creek  under US 131 and the Little Muskegon- fish them with sculpins since the fish are Aggressive/Active and looking for a good meal on the high waters. Yes there are still steelhead coming in and I think we will have them until June 10 at least with the cold weather.The nesly stocked trout are getting fat, no pressure and will be hogs by this summer due to all the micro caddis, stelhead and salmon fry....last year we had no water and it was 100 F heat wave...you wont see too many tubers out this memeorial day weekend !

( ANYBODY WANT TO CATCH ONE OF THESE THIS SUMMER- YOU NEED TO GO TO ICELAND!...EMAIL ME !)

( THEY ARE STARTING!...jgmiller time mastery@)

( SALMON/STEELHEAD FRY ARE THE TICKET NOW!)

 

 

 

Hatches have mainly been cinnamon caddis, Steno Fuscums ( Grey Fox) and Epeorus Quill Gordons, Lepto cupida black quills...all in the afternoons in the warm sun...the Gray Drakes will be early around 6-8 pm since the cold air will get them going early and shut them down quick...check out the hatch cycle chart I posted earlier...everything is running late because of the cold weather,,,I LOVE THIS GLOBAL WARMING!!!!...HOPE IT LASTS ALL SUMMER!...:)

And a sincere thank you to all that served for peace and to fight evil so our country can be what it is today !!!!.. thanks Dad in heaven for fighting Nazi evil oppression in Poland during the war which is the reason why we ain't speaking German in the US!...you are and will always be my knight in shinning armour who taught me the beautiful ways of the world of trout!

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Posted in: American March Browns , amyflies of michigan , black quills , gray drake lodge , muskegon river hatches , Quill gordon , siphlonorus gray drakes , trout and eagle lodge

IT IS PURE MICHIGAN'S GREATEST TIME OF THE YEAR!

Ahhhh.........the middle of May in Michigan! To the fly fisher this is absolutely Nirvana!!!!
We FINALLY got some warmer weather after one of the coldest springs on record. The morel mushrooms have started and the river has so many great choices!
Water level is perfect- 3,300 cfs- nice clear peat stain, and just about everything happening!
 Hatches have started with lots of caddis, Quill Gordons, Black quills( Leptos) and American March Browns , sulphers and drakes soon to come. We still have good numbers of steelhead in the system and chinook parr are everywhere- browns and rainbows chowing down on them!
The beginning  of June will see a ton of hatches fusing together- drakes, isos, sulphers, BWOS,caddis etc. If it stays nice and wet and cool like two years ago( so far that is what National Weather service has predicted!)- BINGO- we will be on fire!

(Allison from New York with an enormous male this past week!- her first day steelheading!)

( big bugs just starting- Quills, march browns, drakes etc.)

( Trout and drop- back steels going GAGA for these guys!_)

( Drakes soon to come- watert temp is 54F- 59F is the magic #)

 Hope to see you !

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Posted in: American March Browns , black quills , brown trout , gray drake lodge , grouse , michigan fly fishing , morels , muskegon trout steelhead , salmon parr , streamer fishing , sulphers , trout and eagle