The Fish Weren't Cooperating...

[krizzose]

so I took a break from the stream to fire up some Escudo in a Country Gent.
I was fishing for steelhead in Bear Creek, a tributary of the Manistee River, in northern Michigan.

 

[shaintiques]

Sweet, sounds awesome!

 

[docwatson]

You mean the fishing was that good . You needed a break??? LOL

I'm still waiting for the river to go down here after some heavy rain earlier. Today the winds are howling, the temp is only around 30 degrees and I'm sure the trout will be very lethargic in the frigid water. So I guess I'll give it another week before venturing out to see of I can luckily get some action on the fish here in MidCoast Maine.

Hope the steelies were cooperative, fishing for that species is fantastic.

 

[topd]

I was born to fly fish.... but never have actually. One of these days I'll go to north Arkansas

and try for the trout... the White River is one of the best, but I have a hard time with doing

all that for a three fish limit. Down here in the south, I go all fly rod when the bream and bass

go top water.

A real trick to swiggin' a fly rod and smokin' a pipe.... But I've got it!
Nice hat krizzose, I love it!

 

[mso489]

The cob is the perfect pipe. It will draw the largest fish, who will take it as an omen

of especially good conversation.

 

[krizzose]

Winter is hanging grimly on, and it'll be another week or a week and a half before the fish starting moving up from Lake Michigan in big numbers. Plus there was some snow melt and rain that led to low visibility in the water and high water. It was still nice to be out there, though. The fish weren't biting, but neither was the Escudo.

 

[krizzose]

Here are a few pics of the area I was in:

 

[austinxpipe]

It's beautiful up there. I'm from Michigan as well.

 

[weezell]

Should have been smokin some Anglers Dream in that cob,might have helped :wink:

 

[jonesee75]

Looks like an awesome place to just sit back and smoke enjoying everything nature has to offer.

 

[pstlpkr]

Winter is hanging grimly on,

Sad, but true.

 

[flyguy]

Looks like dry flies are out in that sort of weather. Time to tie on some sort of nymph...

 

[jeffboyrd]

Yooper here Kriz.. I'm still waiting on our Steely run, we've had a long winter. Shoot me a line if you ever make it up this way, we have some beautiful streams that don't get much attention.

 

[docwatson]

From the size of that river you could get by with a 7 1/2 foot 4 weight rod and really have a ball with a steelie. Drift some salmon egg sacks through the riffles and hold on!!! Sweet.

 

[krizzose]

Thanks Jeff, I'll certainly do so if I cross the bridge anytime soon. And I guess if a Yooper's around, I should rephrase to say I was in the northern lower peninsula.
I was using a 9'9" 7 weight, which is my standard steelhead rig. I'd consider a 6, but I wouldn't go much lighter than that. That's skinny water with a ton of wood, and sometimes there's no luxury to get fussy over fine tippets when fighting a 10 or 12 pound chromer. As you can see from the pic of the rod, there's a big old spawn bag on the hook eye. I wasn't even using fly line, just running line and split shot to chuck n' duck, as they say in the Great Lakes. Works equally well with flies.

 

[jeffboyrd]

When I first got in to it I was told to get an 8wt, 9ft. rod with a monster reel, which I did. It worked and helped me learn a few things, but looking back, it was way too much rod and reel for the streams and fish for that matter, UP here. I use an 8ft., 6wt now for steelies, which is a much better fit.
I hear ya on your tippets comments, I don't get too fussy about that either up this way.
Good luck, and remember that a tight line, patience and a cool, steady smoke, make for a pretty damn good day.