Smallmouth
Mike floated yesterday and found some very active fish in shallow water, no question pre-spawn males. He also had some larger females in out in the creek eat and unfortunately some large fish were lost at the boat. The fishing has been good on Sugar Creek and the White both, unfortunately because of the rains yesterday and today we had to cancel two trips for today. We hope we can get back on later in the week.
White Bass
The Whities have continued to be pretty strong with some larger fish being caught and a few more females lately. Unfortunately we are seeing a rise in Yellow Bass the last couple of years and it may be having an effect on the White Bass population. I had a conversation with fisheries biologist Rhett Wisener about it today. If you want to know more about that conversation sign up for our newsletter, I will have more on this later in the week.
Marc and I floated Sugar today and have a pretty good idea of where the spawn is. With reports of fish on beds weeks ago it was clear at the time the spawning cycle was beginning early. With cooler temps over the last 3 weeks we wondered where that left the spawn.
We got an up close look at several beds that either had males on them or beds that were enpty. The empty beds had no eggs or fry on them. The beds we saw with males had no females in sight. We spotted several large fish out in the holes and in mid river runs. Amongst the large females mid river were more immature fish than maybe I have ever seen in Sugar. A really good sign for the future! Water temps never reached 60 today and it is clear after looking at all the info we collected we determined that the females are all pre-spawn and the males have proabably been off and on the beds for some time. There are areas that always have beds that have no beds yet.
I want to point out. Over the next few days if you fish please recognize that spawning fish are the future. Avoid walking around spawning beds and please avoid dropping flies on beds and pestering fish. These fish are trying to make our fishing better so let them.
Sugar Creek was pretty good up until the cold front of last night. Mike floated today and saw only one fish on a bed and caught only about a dozen fish. The colder water temps have prbably pushed the males off the beds and slowed things down a little. Water temps have been going down into the 40’s at night. With warm days this time of the year Sugar may have 12 degree swings in water temps. Water temps didn’t reach 60 today.
Marc and Chad will both be on Sugar on Tuesday and will see if a warmer night will help things. There is a chance some of the females are done. We have seen males on beds for 3 weeks now. Temps have moved them on and off a few times but with a couple of decent days I would think the remaining females will get it going and be off into the holes sulking soon. If you are catching a bunch of small fish and nothing bigger it is a very good indication the females are up with the males and the only thing left are small immature fish in the holes.
Today is April 17th. In a normal spring season the Spring run of Michigan Steelhead would be peaking this week. This is not a normal spring here or anywhere across North America. Mother nature brought warm temps and sunny skies early this year, way early. In all the time we have been recording temperatures this year broke all records.
So, what’s happening now?
Now, on the Manistee River is a happening place. Wave after wave of new Steelhead have moved in and are headed upriver to spawn. Reports on web sites that the run is over and put a fork in it a couple weeks ago was quite simply a voice of inexperience. Yesterday our guides reported and caught many, many new Steelhead.
I have said all along that Steelhead or any migratory fish species are motivated by several things, but one of the strongest motivators is “Solstice”, or season. Sure water temperatures and flow will and can trigger a a early run upriver but not all fish will respond to this. This year has proved this true. For 40 years I have studied and fly-fished Michigan Steelhead. What I have observed in these years is that instinct and genetics of this great fish continues to surprise and outsmart man.
The fact that most anglers and transient guides have listened to web reports and gone home has presented some rare April opportunities to fish Steelhead undisturbed by anglers.
The weather forecast for the coming week or so looks cold and should keep water temps optimum for Steelhead. My suggestion would be to pack a bag and head to the river.
Once again WCO will be the center piece to the Quite Sports section of the Indy Boat Sport and Travel Show. We will be there with 12 booths filled with the best fishing kayaks, fly fishing equipment, great deals on clothing and personalities. We are excited to announce that Blake Young founder of NuCanoe will be there to answer questions about NuCanoe the first weekend. The second weekend will feature Thomas Flemons of Diablo there to help us introduce Diablo kayaks to the masses. Ray Schmidt will also be there the first weekend to talk about fly fishing in Michigan. We look forward to seeing all of you at the show!!!
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