SUMMER STEELHEAD EXTRA TERRESTRIAL FUN

Yep!...summer Skamania steelhead take the darndest things!- think of them as big chrome rainbows bored to tears. Driven by genetics in a 'fish out of water" scenario, its amazing what they become preoccupied with. Besides, twenty miles out in Lake Michigan on the off shore wind thermoclines, they are eating on the surface in 800 feet of water- sipping wasps, beetles, bees , corixa bugs...too cool for school!

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Posted in: dry fly steelhead , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , summer skamania steelhead

GOING TO BE A GREAT SUMMER STEELHEAD RUN!...COME AND JOIN US

Gonna be a great summer Skamania steelhead run...just started!... fish way bigger than last year, and many more to come...treat yourself to these amazing fish that are the most aggressive and opportunistic the Great Lakes steelhead experience has to offer!...Matt still has a few openings and yes the complete fly fishing experience....swinging, sight nymphing shrimp/scuds and even dry fly beetles on the surface!, all are the ticket- dry lines/unleaded/traditional/single and two handers- no chuck-and-lead duck here!. If winter /spring steelheading are your only barometers for "steelheading", this will change the way you think about them forever!

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Posted in: dry fly steelhead , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , Michigan Fly Girls , muskegon fly fishing , summer skamania steelhead

Lake Turnover!...Get Ready, the big Push is Finally Here

( Christine from N.J. with a massive beast summer steelhead from last year taken on a water beetle- will we finally see the 'mother load' come in?)

The next few weeks will tell the whole story. Finally prime conditions are setting up for a fast migration. Warmer waters/thermoclines/lake turnovers should set the stage. All my questions/doubts /concerns and hope will be answered now that the run is a month and a half late....stay tuned. After weeks of the fish staging in 80 feet of water, the pier anglers are finally seeing good numbers and the size of year class we saw last year which was epic! ( 8 fish in the 18/19 lb range landed). The run will last well though September.

 You owe it to yourself to hook one of these beasts on a classic floating line- no chucking lead, t-shirts, shorts sandals and no snow!...cheers!

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Posted in: dry fly steelhead , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , michigan steelhead , st.joe skamania , summer skamania steelhead

Summer Skamania Steelhead just starting!..Gonna be a Fantastic Summer!

Can't catch steelhead sitting around complaining about the weather...this could be the best year in twenty years for the famous summer Skamania steelhead...cool, lots of rain, cold water- what Great Lakes summers used to be 40 years ago!!- Ice age coming 2020!- trout, steelhead and salmon will only benefit!

Despite all the heavy rain, flooding, tornado watches ( saw some property devastation around Berrien- apocalyptic weather- everything is epic/apocalyptic today!...I think its just weather smile emoticon ,wonderful to visit with my good friend and client, Sultan Christopher Robert Bamford- Abu Dhabi/United Arab Emirates . We were able to pull off a couple of days of summer Skamania steelheading on the St Joseph and Indiana- even got a few steelhead on green foam beetles on the surface!!!- way too cool ! ....it was great seeing you again Sheikh Christopher Mohammed III !...( last time Chris was on St Joe he hit a beast 40 incher- 18/20lb range I'll never forget!) ... Thank you Ed Vandenack for your gracious hospitality at the Inn at Harbor Shores- if you never have seen or been to this world class 'Ritz Carlton style' property with perhaps the most amazing hospitality culture in the midwest, you owe it to yourself to visit this one of a kind Great Lakes freshwater resort/Spa/Gourmet cuisine destination located right on the banks of the greatest summer steelhead run in North America!...you can fly your plane right into South Bend or Michigan City which is a half hour away!

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Posted in: dry fly steelhead , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , Indiana Skamania , st.joe skamania , summer skamania steelhead

DRY FLY STEELHEAD?

22 inch steelhead on the gray drake spinner fall last night!...fish was smashing drakes with unusual enthusiasm...spraying water!...usually a good sign of s drop back steel chomping back down to the lake.....it was a spawned out hen that still had one egg in her when I picked it up for a shot...took me into the backing three times on 4x flouro and lifted anchor for a good chase...plus several nice 14-18 inch browns....if you want these dry line steels, they love to hang out in the deep troughs behind sucker beds and eat sucker caviar by day and drakes in the evening....the drakes are so thick that the ducks, geese and swans are scooping them up in their bills. Never really seen that before...cheers!

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Posted in: dry fly steelhead , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , Great Lakes summer steelhead , Muskegon hatches , muskegon trout steelhead , siphlonorus gray drakes , trout and eagle lodge

SUMMER SKAMANIA STEELHEAD ON A DRY?...AGAIN!

 

the more you get to know..... 
 summer steelhead...the less you know about them!, or underestimate them...they are bare none,,,the most amazing , hard fighting, jumping salmonid in the loop...chrome fall fish are a close equal ! 
 Here is Doug Komen from Chicago with his first steelhead on a fly rod... took the "Excavator Polish Skater"...long story behind that fly development...read about it in the new Steelhead Dreams...Cheers

 

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Posted in: dry fly steelhead , gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , trout and eagle lodge

SUMMER SKAMANIA STEELHEAD EATING TERRESTRIALS?,,,,,AND FINALLY!... COLD AND RAIN!

We finally got what we prayed and wished for!....cool, cool rain. How the daytime highs go from the upper 90's to the upper 50's F is just the continued saga of the global bizarre climate change roller coaster....but we needed it bad!. It has poured rain in Michigan for the past 48 hours and much welcomed. Water levels are rising, river temps. are falling and the remaining summer steelhead and caddis hatches are poised and ready to roll!....next weeks highs are expected in the uppper 60's/70's...what a relief.
SO....what's this garbage about summer Skamania steelhead eating terrestrials?....YEP AND MORE .....YUP !....wouldn't have believed it myself to be honest.

 It all started weeks ago on Trail Creek in Indiana when guiding several clients in log overhanging pools and hot steamy weather. Crickets, beetles , inchworms and hoppers were all over in the sweltering hot heat. I saw an inch worm fall from the log jam and ...WHAM1... the swirl take of a huge summer run destroying it. With Doc Davison and that crazy YOU TUBE video we posted, the fish hammered a brown caterpillar off the bank.

 This week, guiding several clients from Chicago, Roger Nordy caught his first summer run on a beetle imitation that hit the water and his chrome beast went three feet to inhale the offering with a vengeance. If you want to try and catch 30-40 ich steelehead on a floating line and terrestrials....which by the way is way too cool!....that's what I've been up to and loving every minute of it. Trail Creek is a limestone spring creek and real cold water in its upper stretches in the 50'sF....those steelhead act like large spring creek rainbows with all their curiosity.
STATUS OF THE SUMMER STEELHEAD RUN:....Now that we are getting rain and colder temps , The St. Joseph, which had the hottest and driest conditions in a century, should start to see its summer steelhead run finally start up since it got a few fish in June.
Since the Indiana spring creeks are cold and ready for migration, the Lake turnover of temps. is all they will need to bring in the remaining steelhead which are still huge in number.
I will be guiding summer runs thru early September. The bonus at this time of year are the huge 300,000 stocking of Coho Silvers that take place there which bring in big runs of these perfect fighting beasts that readily take the fly if you've experienced them in in Alaska...hot fish!
MUSKEGON TROUT:...now that the waters are cooling , we should start to see the August thru October mega hatches of Green and Cinnamon caddis. The trout have survived well despite the heat and on my trout/smallie trip on Thursday morning with Dave Richardson we caught browns and rainbows  in the middle of the river targeting tricos and tiny olives- Cahills were also emerging all day in the rain...the insects are still on the rocks and cooler water will spur their emergence. Todd at the Trout & Eagle already saw a few salmon porpoising in the pools.
 We go from hell heat to freezing polar fleece fast and quick....crazy stuff.
NOTES: I still have a few dates open for summer steelhead if I've piqued your interest....it's a blast!...and the best of summer is yet to come my friends. Every body should experience the hottest fighting game fish in the Great Lakes....hands down no contest!
 Cheers!

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Posted in: beetles , dry fly steelhead , gray drake , Great Lakes summer steelhead , Indiana Skamania , Muskegon trout , summer skamania steelhead , terrestrial insects , Trail creek , trout and eagle

IT WAS A VERY GOOD FRIDAY!

( Bob with his first steelhead ever!)

( Bob with his second!)

( Bob with the hat-trick- dry fly steelie!)

( Bill from Lansing with a nice buck 4/1)

( John Hennell from Madison,WI with a nice buck 3/31)

Blessed by our Lord's ultimate sacrifice, we had a very good day. Despite the 80 degree heat, gazillions of boat traffic,, sun and very low water, my clients- Dr.Bob Furhman and Dr.Dave from Davenport, Iowa were on their first steelhead trip. They caught some nice kings with us last year and wanted a crack at "those big rainbows- the silver ones"!

Bob hit a very nice buck and hen, which gave us some explosive battles. BUT....the "creme de la creme", was a right pec skipper steelhead bow that eluded us , slashing at black stonefly egg layers on a gravel drop-off tight to an overhanging tree. On his 5 weight Sage and Abel reel, Bob fooled that fish with my Darth Vader Stone cdc and had one hell of a battle on the 5x!.......that was the "SWEET TRIFECTA" that made it a good day - dry fly steelhead!

Many of the Muskegon steelie smolts don't smolt- they linger around for an extra year and feed like pigs- a right pec clip is a good indicator that you got one. Thus the need for the 15 inch, class three regs to protect these late bloomers, eh!

OH......BTW, saw an Asian carp swimming up stream while sun bathing on the river at lunch- it had a sticker on its side that said"VOTE OBAMA FOR A SECOND TERM"...lol..lmao......omg!

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Posted in: asian carp , black stones , dry fly steelhead , matt supinski , michigan fly fishing , michigan steelhead , muskegon trout steelhead , Orvis Helios , sage , selective trout , trout eagle lodge and outfitters