FRESH SUMMER SKAMANIA CHROME COMING IN!

All that needs to be said...they are a month and half late...but perfect cool...70F DAYS..50 degree nights..Polar Vortex left us a mulligan of cold air that wont quit!,,,,,very cool..still have some dates available for August...AUGUST IS THE NEW JULY!...Swing-heil dudes!...couldn't ask for better temps..Pink Turkey Tube

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Posted in: gray darke lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , Indiana Skamania , Skagit swinging , st.joe skamania , trout and eagle lodge , tube flies

THE P/D TO S/R- TO A/A SUMMERTIME SELECTIVITY SHUFFLE -TOPIC -FREESTONERS

( afternoon ant eater on a cow country spring /freestone mix) 

It's an amazing time of year! In decades past states would close their trout seasons in July (PA for example). But now with more tail waters and focus on mountain ice cold frestoners and spring creeks, this is actually the most challenging and rewarding time for the true troutsman to shine.

FREESTONERS

There are two main types....valley frestoners and high altitude mountain gradient freestoners. The first is usually a series of tributaries culminating into giant freestone rivers -the Catskill and Montana rivers can describe these waters. In teh summer there is strong trout migrations towards ice cold thermal brooks and refuge areas- Horton Brook on the Beaverkill is one example.

The later has very cold mountain spring caverns that keep its predominantly wild trout-mainly brookies, happy and cold all day.

SELECTIVITY SHUFFLE

The mornings usually see the tiny trico hatches couple with a few rusty Pseudocloeon spinners (bwo). Also a few very large leviathans are stirring from the night feeding foraging binge before they go P/D for an afternoon snooze.

Afternoons are the S/R mind game venues that trout play with terrestrials; ants, beetles, hoppers..etc. I say' mind games' because though they really relish these morsels, they somewhat always question the authenticity of their being...and make very complex/compound rises

  
Night and evening activity brings out the A/A behavior of the larger brown trout that go on the hunt for anything that moves: large pteronarcys stoneflies, mice, snakes...anything that will feed these 70 million year old modern dinosaurs...concentrate around bridge pools, and deep pools with wooded structure. 

Next...spring creeks !

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Posted in: freestone , gray drake lodge , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , Selectivity book , selectivity dvd , terrestrial insects , tricos , trout and eagle lodge

FINALLY!!! SUMMER RUNS...COLD SUMMER TROUT

After one of this 2014 most amazing weather year in history...100 year bitter cold winter...hundred year floods...coldest summer...(if this is global warming?...we better prepare for an ice age...ooops- word change, called climate change now- like it has been doing for past 100 million years), we are now starting to get to somewhat normal summer weather...not really!. I had polar fleece on last two nights guiding on the river..air temps in 40/50's...the hatches are all confused..but water temperatures are perfect for the trout!...unheard of cool waters at this time of year-TROUT ARE LOVIN IT! If you haven't followed my three Facebook pages on "Selectivity TSS...Gray Drake Lodge and Outfitters.....Matthew Supinski.......here is a summary update

SUMMER SKAMANIA STEELHEAD

Brian Breidert is the head of the Indiana Summer Steelhead program in Michigan City , IN. He was very frustrated when I called my good friend yesterday..aka" Doctor Skamania". He was hounded by phone calls all spring summer..."Where are the Skamania?'....YOU SAID THEY WOULD BE HERE BY JULY 4TH"!!!!...came one rude call after another.WELL!...the fish didn't get the memo that they had to come in then. One of the coldest most brutal ice freeze-up winters in the Great Lakes had the central lake buoy temperature gage stuck on freezing until a week ago. We had winter strain steelhead spawning in the Muskegon until the third week in June...unheard of ! Igloo brigade Charter boast had a tough time locating fish since the lake was cold everywhere. I took the high speed car ferries from Muskegon to Milwaukee ...and then the Badger from Manitowoc to Ludington in the end of June and it was like crossing the Arctic Ocean...water was ice...heavy fog...not a bump or wave to be found.

Summer Skamania are three salt steelhead that spend three years roaming the ocean. They love the deep cold, mysis/pelagic baitfish waters off the Manitou Islands and migrate the entire length of Lake Michigan down to the southern tier of MI/IN borders. They use the stratifying build up of warm/cold water thermoclines, increasing photoperiod daylight and their natural biological time clocks based on pineal/endocrine sexual development perfected over a million years on the Pacific rim. This year's very cold temperatures and the lack of photo light out in the lake due to almost constant fog/darkness from the air condensation and dewpoints negated the later development. It is just starting to happen now, slower then ever before! The lake temps have been the coldest recorded in decades .

SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?...August/September will be amazing months for summer steelhead. With river temperatures cool there will be a constant migration and the fish will not stall at the pier heads only to get slaughtered . In very hot summers , trollers win the game and river anglers suffer...the complete opposite this year even in a more drastic way.
One must also remember the incredibly HOT summers of 2012/2011/2010/....fish taking from Trail wiers, Berrien Fish ladders/St. Joe, didn't happen until early /late August when water temps in rivers finally cooled. Thus the parents of this year class of running fish were late run genetics-thus their photoperiod imprinting was for 'a late running model'. All being said, the fish should be bigger like last year which was epic in the size of the fish, since this year they will have had more time to chow down in the big lake etc.....MORE AND BEST YET TO COME!

MUSKEGON AND STREAM TROUT

The Muskegon has been running the coolest its been since 1991 when Mount Pinatubo blew and its ashes spread over the atmosphere blocking sun and giving MI and the Mo a cool summere with great trout fishing. A tremendous nutrient load of Daphnia/water fleas /plankton is keeping the stocked fish well fed along with crayfish and the few caddis that are hatching. The real good news is that the fish are growing large quickly and when the next big brood of little green and cinnamon caddis start up..( any day now in big numbers, since the rocks are covered with their larvae), the fat stocked and large holdovers will switch to the meaty pistachio nut morsels of caddis pupae. I predict August and September will be epic dry fly hatch  months, along with the white cahill hatches of the lower river and flying ants. Tricos and tiny pseudocloeon bwo olives will also be very important in the mix . Plus there is an ever increasing late summer Isonychia hatch , which bt fishing my Iso caine wiggle nymphs, has the trout looking up for a chewy piece. 

SMALL BACKWOODS/ FARM COUNTRY SPRING -FED TROUT CREEKS

It's amazing how many miles of small trout streams we have between Kent/Newaygo/Montcalm-Mecosta and Lake counties that we have with wild and Gilchrist wild strain browns stocked in them, that are totally not fished...bloody not at all!

 Tamarack creek alone received almost 15,000 wild brown strain stocked fish this spring, plus rainbows..plus has wild brookies with zero pressure. If you look at the fish stocking DNR reports for these counties its mind boggling how many trout are planted and wild!- with everyone concentrating on the larger rivers. The flooding in spring and constant storms have left them high, muddy and untouched all season and the trout spread everywhere...they are finally in fishable shape and will be for the rest of the year. These are perfect  for fishing terrestrials/hoppers etc. One could spend a whole season just exploring these creeks and its fat trout that haven't been touched! If you like strapping a back pack on and love small stream fishing, our western MI trout country is perhaps the most under explored creeks in the lower 48 !

( a wild brown from a stream just down your road !)

ALL FOR NOW!...hope this helps you find some exploring to do in the trout hunting game!

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , Indiana Skamania , muskegon river fly fishing , muskegon river hatches , Selectivity book , St. Joseph , summer skamania steelhead , trout and eagle lodge

THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY....SUMMER SKAMANIAS

July and August will be epic this year...lots of cool weather, lots of water and half a million stocked yearlings....last year saw some real donkeys approaching twenty with thick girths...IDNR trapped many twenty plus in their fish ladders

On Muskegon,  good numbers of gray drakes , isonychias, sulphers, caddis, cahills...fat  rugby  ball trout gorged to death...and lots of cool water and weather...love this global warming

rugby ball brownie taken by John and client

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , summer skamania steelhead , trout and eagle lodge

HATCHES, FAT TROUT .....TIME TO START THINKING ABOUT SKAMANIA SUMMER RUNS !

PLEASE CHECK OUT OUR CONSTANT UPDATES ON FACEBOOK AT;... SELECTIVITY TSS....GRAY DRAKE LODGE AND OUTFITTERS..... AND MATTHEW SUPINSKI

The gray drake hatches have been blizzard -like and trout feeding on their spinners all day. The size of the trout and their bellies are approaching bulging football shapes. Weather has been cool and today- downright COLD! Water has a deep tea stain and the trout love it! Isonychia, caddis and more sulpher action to come.
 Also time to start thinking about summer Skamania Steelhead. A cool summer should see one of the best runs on the St. Joe and Indiana Tribs we have seen in decades....last year beetles were the hot ticket fro summer runs

BREAKING NEWS :GILCHRIST CREEK WILD BROWNS COMING TO THE MUSKEGON!!!

(The red dot spotting so typical of Gilchrist browns)

BLOG NOTE: After lobbying the DNR for several years to get a better strain that will grow larger and last longer on the Muskegon,  I just received note that the Muskegon  River starting next week at Pine st and Thornapple will start getting brown trout stocking of the wild Gilchrist Creek strain Browns that do so well and grow large, but are very selective and take the dry fly regularly  and feed in winter at a great pace

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Posted in: gray darke lodge , Great Lakes summer steelhead , isonychia , siphlonorus gray drakes , summer skamania steelhead , super caddis hatches , trout and eagle lodge

EPIC HATCHES=BIG TROUT!

( The smaller creeks are running full and full of fat trout also...bring lots of  DEET!)

If our trout eat any more they are going to explode! - they already look like fat carp! The flood has brought us many blessings in disguise.
A deep tannin stain tea stain to the water from the near eradication of the zebra mussels have given the trout extreme security in surface feeding. Also plenty of deep shoreline ledges that created more gray drake emerging territory and moisture....the weather has been perfect cool 75-80 F days...cool nights. 
The hatches- particularly the gray drakes have been 24/7....morning to evening spinner falls with the waters so congested the fish are stuffed. Little windows of opportunity exsist if you catch them. The 12 inch fish are 14 inches in girth!. 

What remains for June is the onset of heavier Isonychia hatches, bwos, sulphur and large stoneflies. The caddis hatches have also been insane, not to mention the salmon and steelhead fry/parr, sucker spawn and YES1...I still guided for steelhead last weds/Thurs/Friday to anglers from all over the country that never seen a steelhead...had to do what I had to do!!!
Fish Cluster patterns when fish are giving you S/R refusals!!!

(Isos just started ...caddis thick...second brood coming August/September/October!)

NOW AVAILABLE AT YOUR STORE OR AMAZON

NOTE: If you are on Facebook, check out the three pages I consistently post information on..pages are

Selectivity TSS.....Gray Drake Lodge....Matthew Supinski

cheers!...na zdrowie !!!!!...hope to see you and check out my 'Hatch Matchers Special on my web site ticker tape...save a few $$$ in these strong economic times our scoundrel politicians are telling us we are having!)

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Posted in: caddis , gray drake lodge , isonychia , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , muskegon river fly fishing , Selectivity book , selectivity dvd , siphlonurus gray drakes , sulphers , trout and eagle lodge

THEY ARE BACK...FINALLY!...THE GRAY DRAKES

FINALLY!.....could be a very good year for them...they need lots of water and moisture...something we have plenty of....Tonto say,..." when mosquitoes  big like elephants and biting white man ass of kemosabe...gray drakes-siphlonurus -GOOD!"

HERE IS AN AMAZING EMERGENCE SEQUENCE SHOT BY THE BUG DOKTOR-JG MILLER AT 3 AM ISH....THE MOST PASSIONATE BUG CHASER NEXT TO TED F. I HAVE EVER MET...DUDE LISTENED TO HEAVY METAL ALL NIGHT TO STAY AWAKE AND GET THESE AMAZING TERRA FIRMA SHOTS...they don't emerge on the water thats why you will never see duns-only spinners 

AND IF YOUR TIMING IS RIGHT!...THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF MALE/FEMALE RATIO...RIGHT AIR TEMPS, RIGHT PATTERN, RIGHT DRAG FREE FLOAT......BINGO!...(NOTE:DON'T IGNORE THE MORNING SPINNER FALL..;)

DOUBLE PATTERN- THE GANG BANG DRAKES- BIG MEATY FLY

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Posted in: gray drake , gray drake lodge , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , siphlonurus gray drakes , trout and eagle lodge

WAITING FOR A LITTLE GLOBAL WARMING TO HEAT UP THE HATCHES...AND "DRUNK GROUSE?"....wtf

Need a few more warm days to heat up the nymphs to really get the hatches going. We had a few small isolated bursts of drakes/quills/caddis- but need lower and warmer water!

Yup...my girlfriend is back....mama with chicks has a nasty attitudinal problem..or she is hung over!..(Famous Grouse Scotch...note the berries in the logo- fermented berries make grouse 'drunk'.......anyways she attacked my big gas guzzling SUV white Ford Expedition at the end of our driveway...several years ago she attacked my pant leg when I walked at her...now you know why the high mortality rates grouse experience when guarding the nest

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , mayflies of Michigan , michigan fly fishing , muskegon fly fishing , Muskegon hatches , siphlonorus gray drakes , trout and eagle lodge

THE BEAUTY OF THIS MICHIGAN WINTER!...CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS!

Despite the financial ruin, no propane, feelings of despair and depression....and despite what will now go down as the coldest and snowiest winter on record in weather history in MI- right during the peak of our fantastic December, January and February winter steelhead runs and guiding which we have done for 20 years without interruption until this year, coupled with the Great Lakes being 100% frozen over from Ontario to Superior, our amazing and resilient Michigan spring -fed rivers and tail waters like the Muskegon River,  still remains open from bank to bank.  Regardless of - 20 F nights and single digit temp days...not even shelve ice!. This is a true testimonial to the hundreds if not a thousand tiny underground spring seeps that come out of the rocky morainal cliffs even 8 miles downstream from the spill gates at the dam. Michigan's ground is sandy glacial till, like the chalkstream downs in England that trap every drop of water and stores them in subterranean caverns releasing them as little spring creeks- pushing out water between 48 and 59F all year long.

You could see these areas along the river like the one pictured above with the watercress/duckwort alkaline loving weeds...these springs save trout in brutal hot summers, keep steelhead cozy in brutal cold winters...the MO is getting fresh fish despite all the polar vortex. All is gonna rip loose soon and warm days ahead- with all the lack of winter pressure, the spring run will be amazing imho.....the agony has to come to an end...cant afford the Prozac anymore.......On the positive side, the river has been quiet...rested, fish not harassed....peacefulness is a nice part of brutal winters...nature in its magnificent full circle..last year Europe had the brutal blob of arctic air mass of the Polar Vortex- Alaska and the west are part of the flip flop of that warm air mass over Europe...this year its our turn!...c'est la vie!...natural cycles not the political crap!..BTW two days ago we broke the cold record set in the late 1880's....was it global whatever back then?....peace , cheers..and acceptance

WE ARE READY AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS...THE WORST IS BEHIND US...LETS PRAY!.....NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I APPRECIATED THE HONOR OF GUIDING AS MUCH AS I DO NOW AFTER THIS WINTER....WHEN SOMETHING IS TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU WITH NO CONTROL, THE DESIRE BURNS EVER SO STRONGER  TO GO OUT AND DO WHAT I SO LOVE!....THIS WINTER'S EXILE, AKIN TO JAIL TIME, LETS YOU REFLECT AND APPRECIATE ON WHAT YOU HAVE LOST, WHAT YOU HAVE...AND WHAT CAN AND HOPEFULLY WILL BE TO COME!

EVENTS/MEDIA...........Special thanks to all!...Rich, Jason and Shawn- Royal Oak Orvis, Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s Alden Hoksbergen and to the great crowd of hearty souls that endured the -10 F below temperatures and the western blizzard to come out last Thursday night to buy my books , enjoy the outstanding micro brews of GL Brewing Co. so  kindly offered by Alden and hear my presentation and see my DVD on Selectivity...hope you survive the next blizzard and stay warm and enjoy the books! 

I will see you at the Detroit Expo this weekend at the author's booth and at Great Lakes Fly Fishing's booth signing books for Glenn Blackwood. They did not ask me to speak this year , but I hope to do so next year. 

March 12th--I will  be at the rescheduled Nomad "Tie One On" fly tying event, at Schmotz Brewery in Grand Rapids tying some new cool fusion flies featuring some great realistic products from Hareline and J;son Sweden.

March 15th- I will be doing a daylong presentation on Selectivity and Steelhead Dreams at Orvis Cleveland with the noted Jim Lampros. We again are fortunate to have Great Lakes Brewing CO. of Cleveland be there to offer free a unique micro brew beer tasting during my presentation.

And finally...thanks so much Ross at Fly Fisherman for the kind review you did on 'Selectivity'.....it is a great issue with awesome articles by Vokey, Rosenbauer, Bright, Mallard..much more...good stuff!

...

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Great Lakes steelhead , michigan fly fishing , muskegon river fly fishing , Muskegon River steelhead , Selectivity book , selectivity dvd , steelhead dreams , trout and eagle lodge

LITTLE FORKS OUTFITTERS AND WARM UP

Hope to see you this Thursday , Feb 13 at Bo's Little Forks Outfitters in Midland, MI for a Selectivity book signing and power point and DVD presentation- 6 PM. Warming trend coming !!!...could this be the end of winter's Siberian hell?

https://www.facebook.com/events/605152386234237/

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Posted in: gray drake lodge , Selectivity book , selectivity dvd , trout and eagle lodge