Well Folks,
I am pleased to tell you the new website is up and running. It has been a long arduous process to get it the way I want it. We will also be adjusting a few things in the coming months to make navigation as easy and enjoyable as possible. A majority of you may have found this blog/river report via my website, if not give it a gander, www.riverninjaoutfitters.com. Now on to the all important River Report.
 |
| Andy's first Steelhead and first fish ever on a fly rod. |
The Pere Marquette River is low and clear. The Steelhead that are still remaining are almost all spawning. We have been finding a few fish in deep water. In my opinion it is more fun to fish deep water, it is the unknown, and you may be surprised. Being that the water is so low and clear, approach your fishing spots like a Ninja. Stealth is of the utmost importance. Splashing water, jumping in the water, or moving with anything but a snails pace is going to alert the fish to your presence. Make sure when fishing deep water to start with short casts and work your way over to the meat of the run or pocket. Don't just cast your fly line over the entire run to hit the best looking bubble line right against the bank. Work the water like a grid pattern, put your flies in every single section of that grid. I will elaborate on this grid more in future blogs.
Egging for trout has been decent, yielding some fun fishing to large brown trout. This opportunity will only hold on as long as we have steelhead spawning in the river. We will only have another week or so of steelhead in the river. Typical setup for sight fishing to brown trout eating eggs is a fast action 9' 5weight rod. I couple this with a Scientific Anglers 5 weight GPX or new MPX fly line, both of which are slightly overweighted for easier casting at short distance. Although I tie my own leaders, the store bought variety work great and are so much more convenient to use and change. I would recommend a 7.5' 2x leader. I then add a 20-22" section of fluorocarbon tippet in the 3x or 4x range depending on water clarity. This gives you a total of around a 9 foot leader from fly line to first fly. I fish tandem egg flies or an egg and a nymph. The most productive flies are size 10 to 12 nuke eggs and glo bugs. Bright orange, light orange, and cheese are my biggest producers for egg color. I also like to fish small black stones and frenchies or pheasant tails.
We are starting to see some aquatic insects hatching on the northern Michigan streams. Black stones, BWO's, and a few Hendrickson's are currently hatching among others. The Hendrickson hatch is on the verge of blowing up in the next week to week and a half. Although bugs are being seen, they are not in the numbers we like to see yet. The fish take a few days to realize the bugs are there before they start fishing. We always try to predict hatches and runs of fish, although very difficult we still attempt. My guess is we will have good numbers of Hendrickson's by Trout Opener and we will have good numbers of fish rising to bugs the first week of May. The Hendrickson hatch is the first large mayfly the fish see, and they go crazy for it. Some quality fish rise to these bugs and give you an opportunity to make a cast and tangle with these beasts.
If you have any questions about my style of working the water systematically, rigging, fishing or any of the tactics or tips referred to in this blog feel free to email me at riverninjaoutfitters@gmail.com.
I hope to see you out on the water in the near future.
Alex Forsberg
River Ninja Outfitters
(989)802-1125
riverninjaoutfitters@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment