RIVERS NORTH UPPER PENINSULA FISHING REPORT!

Day to Day

May 30th, 2009

Fly fishing here in the U.P. right now i would rate as day to day- one day we have outstanding insect activity and Trout are very active, the next day it is 40 degrees and challenging!  If some consistent weather would ever set in Trout fishing would be outstanding, the upcoming week is looking quite promising for this.  More rainfall earlier this week caused non spring influenced Trout streams to rise very considerably to a very high level for this time of the year.  Rivers have crested and are currently dropping, the cold nights should have these rivers down quickly to a good level.  A mixed bag of insects have been coming off on a daily basis-Hendricksons, Caddis, a few Suphurs, and BWO’s have been present.  Still no heavy hatches of Mayflies, the highest concentration of insects have been Caddis.  Some bigger fish have been interested int the Caddis over the last few days.  Dry fly fishing season is upon us!  Pictured below if Jeff from Cin City, Oh with a variety of Yooper resident Trout!

A saying a good friend just told me rings very true- Enjoy life, go fishing!

Brookie Bonanza

May 26th, 2009

Memorial Day weekend for a change was some absolutely beautiful weather-daytime highs reached into the high 60’s and this sunshine provided some good insect activity.  A plethora of different aquatic insects were emerging making for a sort of bug buffet for the resident Trout to choose from!  The largest in numbers were Caddis-Trout have been seeing these bugs for a while now & some good fish are still coming up for them.  The Caddis is a stranger hatch due to the fact that they do not sit still on the surface like the Mayfly does.  Seems that many smaller Trout key into this hatch verses when a good emergence of mayflies are on the water lager Trout are more frequent to take advantage of the situation.  On the mayfly front- Hendricksons, Suplurs, BWO’s, and Mahoganies have been out; but none of which have been in significant numbers yet.  Water levels this season have been in a constant state of flux-they are high & then get normal & come up again.  If we could ever get a steady normal flow fishing would be outstanding.  Forecast is calling for more rain tomorrow, so expect rivers to be on the rise over the course of the next few days.

Fly Fishing in the U.P.-we live life slower up here!

Fire & Ice

May 20th, 2009

One day 39 degrees and freezing, the next day 92 degrees and boiling.  That pretty much sums up our weather over the last two days.  Can’t decide to fish Steelhead or go Trout fishing with those swings in temps! I do not like to see these high heat days this early in the year, it actually isn’t even supposed to get that hot up here in  the U.P. during August!  Trout fishing here in the Upper Peninsula has been fun lately with the weather roller coaster.  Some days strong emergences of Caddis, Stoneflies and a few BWO’s have fish looking up.  The last blast of heat should produce even more in the form of active aquatic insects providing for more dry fly fishing opps.  Streamers ans nymphs have been producing some very quality fish when dry fly fishing is not happening, if they aren’t feeding up top give them something to chew down below.

Memorial Day-The Beginning of Summer!

Wind Tunnel

May 16th, 2009

Seems like everyday extreme high winds have been present, it is very frustrating when good fishing conditions exist only to sidelined by 20 mph plus winds.  Some good Caddis, Stonefly and BWO’s have been present and for small periods of time some very good dry fly fishing opportunities have existed.  Float tubing for Brook Trout has produced some very memorable fish lately, ideal water temps currently exist making for some active fish.  Look for dry fly fishing to improve daily and best days have been warm sunny days that bump up water temperatures.  On these days the mid day hours have been the best fishing with the largest amount of insect activity.

Brook Trout-it doesn’t really get any better than this!

Snow in May

May 10th, 2009

After a week or beautiful Spring like weather, this weekend air temps plummeted & some snow flurries hit several areas of the U.P.!  The warm weather earlier in the week had water temps rising quickly & resident Trout started to react to the changes. Small windows of opportunity do exist for dry fly fishing on some days.  Sunny warm weather should get things going once again soon. Caddis and BWO’s have been making somewhat of an appearance & a few Trout have been feeding up top.  Steelhead are still present, but not in peak numbers.  Some fish are still actively spawning, but most fish that are present are now dropback fish.  As of now our efforts are focused towards resident Brook & Brown Trout fishing, in the upcoming weeks some excellent opportunities will exist for all types of fly fishing for Trout here in the Upper Peninsula.

Troutn’ in da Yoop-Game On!

Ya der- it’s fishing season, eh!

May 3rd, 2009

Currently here in Michigan’s U.P. there are some good opportunities for the fly fisherman-both Steelhead and resident Trout fishing has been productive.  Water temps are right on the verge of creating some good to great Trout fishing, we just need some warm sunny days to get temps up and aquatic insects active.  Steelhead ranging form drop back to fresh arrival in the river are present and some nice Trout are hanging around in the mix. Most rivers are still at a fair level with some color to them, water temps are hovering anywhere from the lower 40’s to lower 50’s.  Some dry fly fishing should be happening soon, a few Caddis and Blue Winged Olives are present.  After 6 months of feeding subsurface the Trout aren’t used to looking up top for a meal!

May-a month of many choices here in the Upper Peninsla for the fly fisherman!