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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
hey — flyfishmich …. what i wouldn’t give for a day on the wall right now 🙂 … that was an awesome two days of albie fly fishin’ … hopefully, to be repeated next year … see you then!
Well J, I’m no expert on either river but I can make some comparisons.
SR = Shorter river with more classic riffle/pool/run features. Makes for much better wading and indicator style fishing.
Muskegon= Longer river with deeper water and more subtle pools. The river is really only fishable by boat. I think this river is more suited to swinging flies with singtle or double handed rods than the SR.
Both rivers have similar species – salmon, browns, and steelhead. The Muskegon may get more steelhead, but there is almost 3x as much steelhead water, so…
I would say that the most valid reason for someone who fishes the ontario tribs to check out this area is to fish new water. The west coast of MI is the steelhead mecca of the great lakes. There are so many steelhead rivers and some of them get huge numbers of fish! I guess if someone was a great lakes steelhead fanatic, then checking out a few different strains of fish is valid too. Most of the MI fish are manistee strain fish which is different from SR fish…but I wouldn’t know the difference!
Thanks flyfishmich! I think I met you on the “wall” this fall. I was with Jeremy on those two crazy days. Unfortunetly I am haunted by the fact I went 0 for 5. It was my first time after albies and I blew it. Oh well. Yeah, you are lucky!! So many rivers! I am actually looking for a job in the area. If I make it out again or move out there, I’ll look you up.
Keith
Well, I’ll get you out next time you make it to MI. I have been “centerpinning” a lot this fall, mostly to try something different and its a great way to present flies/bait/etc. Fishing should be good through at least March, then the fish will start spawning and it can get tough to find fish that are truly eating….plus the crowds are worse than you saw. You could spend a couple of weeks out here and fish a different river each day, all within a 3 hour radius of Grand Rapids. Good luck trying to find work…the best fishing is all on the western side of the state so that’s where I would concentrate on your job search. The housing is quite affordable compared to New England as well. I am already looking forward to my trip to RI next fall. Tight lines!
Keith…I’ll expand a bit on your observations. Yes, the Muskegon is big water but is wadeable and indicator fishable under normal flows (it has been about a foot above normal all Fall). You comment on swinging speys is right on. It is probably one of the best rivers in MI to take the steelhead to task with a spey rod. It also has a great summer trout fishery for resident browns and rainbows. As far a smaller riffle/pool rivers, within 45 minutes of the Muskegon there are at least three rivers that suit indicator fishing the best and usually the catch ratio is somewhat higher than the Muskegon, particularly if you know the river and can present a fly properly. Venture a coupel of hours north and you are into additional “indicator friendly” water. I personally despise the use of running lines as “fly-fishing” so when the water is “big” up on the Muskegon, its hard to beat bait under a float with the centerpin, for those that aren’t opposed to “non-flyfishing” activities.
Keith
Genius, pure genius. Does your wife have any sisters?
awesome story! really heartwarming, it’s awesome that you got your father in law out on the river. Nice steelie!