 Michigan, Muskegon River Fly Fishing: Nothing Bonds Better Than Steelhead
Posted by keith on January 03, 2007
(2386 reads)
Married men often get nervous about gaining acceptance from their wife’s father. I’ve always had an ace up my sleeve…fishing. My father-in-law grew up fishing all over the UK. Every time he calls we talk about fishing, when we are together he tells me about Scottish salmon and sea-trout, even his speech at my wedding was about fishing. However, up until last week we had never fished together. He hasn’t fly fished for quite a while due to various reasons. My wife and I settled on visiting her parents in MI for Christmas and the perfect gift came to mind. Winter Steelhead. I did some research and found a great guide running fly fishing trips for winter steelhead a few hours away. The Muskegon River is consistently rated as one of the top steelhead rivers in the country. There is a massive run of Lake Michigan steelhead from Oct. – May. The fish average around 8lbs and steelhead in the 20lb class are caught with regularity. Timing is everything when it comes to steelhead and I’d been nervously monitoring fishing reports, water conditions, and weather until we hit the road. We didn’t know what to expect and when we saw the river, we were amazed. The large, deep ribbon of water looked like the ultimate steelhead highway. After talking with the guide, it became apparent we were going to have to work for our fish. It was 24 degrees, water temps were dropping, the river was high, and the holiday angling pressure was heavy. We started high up river and were quickly drifting flies through slow, deep, slack water. Our guide Tim rigged us up with egg patterns and large sculpin streamers on the point. By lunch we hadn’t touched a fish and I started to think the steelhead gods were against us. We were fishing a long, slow pool when
suddenly a fish broke the surface upstream of us. Tim quickly got us above the fish and on my father-in-laws second drift a steelhead slammed his sculpin pattern just as his flies ended their swing. He fought this strong fish like an old pro and we quickly had pictures of a nicely colored winter steelhead. At that point I didn’t care about getting a fish. It was 4pm and the sun was low, one more pool and we were done. My flies were drifting through the pool and I was focused. I heard a boat coming from upstream and my mind wandered for a second. Just then my rod bucked with the weight of a solid fish. It made a hard run for the lake, but I wasn’t going to loose this fish. Luckily the gods smiled on me and after a few minutes we netted the steel. Our day was done. Despite tough conditions, we had a great time and each landed a nice Muskegon River steelhead, creating a bond that will last a lifetime. We talked about the river and its beautiful fish the entire way home. With any luck steelheading will be part of every trip to Michigan.
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Re: Muskegon River, Michigan: Nothing Bonds Like Steel
by jeremy on January 03, 2007 http://www.fliesandfins.com | | keith .. love it! you are always surprising me with some fish tale with some cool fish from somewhere new .... scotland, florida redfish etc... and now you so casually appear with steel from Michigan ... nice job!! that's cool that your wife's dad spent so much time fly fishing in the UK for salmon and sea trout ... and that the two of you were able to move from phone conversation about fly fishing .... to fly fishing for steelhead on the muskegon ... and both of you got of fish ... of course, better he got his first ... but then you got yours in the final witching hour ... great fish tale, keith. |
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Re: Muskegon River, Michigan: Nothing Bonds Like Steel
by waterwhippa on January 03, 2007 | | That is a great story Keith. What a fantastic venue, to spend the holidays at. It is really cool that you father in law shares a common passion for fish on the fly. I was just thinking how great it would be if my girlfriends parents lived on Andros Island. I would never complain about holiday traveling ever again. Nice work...Muskegon chrome...who would have thought. |
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Re: Muskegon River, Michigan: Nothing Bonds Like Steel
by jeremy on January 03, 2007 http://www.fliesandfins.com | keith ... one more thing ... looking for an honest/non-biased opinion and i think your just the man to give it ...
so - you have steelheaded the salmon river and a few other ontario tribs ... and now you did this trip on the muskegon .... how were those experiences different and similar? would you recommend one over the other? would a person who, let's say, has steelheaded alot in ontario or erie regions have a valid reason to travel the distance to fish the muskegon? just curious.... thanks. |
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Re: Muskegon River, Michigan: Nothing Bonds Like Steel
by flyfishmich on January 03, 2007 | | Great story, Keith! Living 35 minutes from the Muskegon, I guess I am a lucky guy. Despite what the guides will tell you, 20lb fish are very rare but quite frankly, I'll take an honest 15lb fish any day and be very happy that it wasn't any bigger. We have had a great fall out here with plenty of double digit days on less crowded and smaller rivers that allow you to fish floating lines and strike indicators, just like you would for trout. Get in touch with me the next time you visit...I would be happy to show you some "walk in" water. Tight lines! |
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Re: Muskegon River, Michigan: Nothing Bonds Like Steel
by laurenslegend on January 07, 2007 | Keith
Genius, pure genius. Does your wife have any sisters? |
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Re: Muskegon River, Michigan: Nothing Bonds Like Steel
by bonefisher on January 12, 2007 | | awesome story! really heartwarming, it's awesome that you got your father in law out on the river. Nice steelie! |
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