River Ninja: November Chrome

Steelhead are here!

There is nothing sweeter than the first few seconds of hooking a dime-bright steelhead in November. It is a euphoric, exhilarating, adrenaline rush. Whether it is indicator fishing, swinging or stripping a streamer, bottom bouncing, or some other tactic that hasn't been invented yet, the pursuit of these fish is magical. That moment when you realize there is an 8+ pound steelhead on the end of your line, there are an innumerous amount of things that can go wrong. Many times one of these things does go wrong, and the wild animal prevails over man. It is indeed that fraction of the time, that we are hoping for. The chance that the angler does everything right, or rather doesn't do much wrong. These steelhead are in the infancy of their journey upstream to spawn; they are full of energy from the high protein meals eaten in the great lakes. With water temperatures at the warmest these fish will see, plus the energy level, these fish are very tough to contain. It is merely that feeling of trying to catch up the entire fight that is so crazy and exhilarating.

There are Steelhead spread out, throughout the Pere Marquette River system. Fish are from top to bottom. There are concentrations of fish that continue to change, shift, and evolve as they move upstream. Although these fish are on the move, there are still runs that should and do typically hold steelhead this time of year.