Grand Traverse Bay Fishing Report for 6.9.20

Grand Traverse Bay Fishing Report

June 9, 2020

After a slow and cold start to the spring many fishing opportunities on Grand Traverse Bay are starting to materialize. The water is beginning to warm and Lake Trout and Cisco have moved into many of the rocky shallow shorelines of the bay. These fish are congregated in 10-20 feet of water and offer the a great fishing opportunity to either the fly or conventional angler. Both species are ferocious feeders and when found, can be caught regularly. Flies or lures in tan, gold, and silver imitating small baitfish and crayfish are the ticket at this point. We are using 7-8 weight fly rods and 250-300 grain 25′ sink tips to get down to these fish.
Surface temps in much of the bay are climbing into the upper 50’s. We are on the very front edge of Smallmouth Bass and Carp fishing. As the water continues to warm we are out every day looking for bass and carp to slide up into the shallow flats where they can be targeted with a fly.
I fished yesterday with a father and son from Grand Rapids. We started the morning fishing for Cisco and Lake Trout. We had great action throughout the morning, landing several nice fish of each species. As the day progressed we turned our efforts to Smallmouth Bass.  Grand Traverse Bay is well known as a world class smallmouth fishery, specifically for very large bass. Bass in the 5-6 pound range are not uncommon. The fishing was tough as the water is still a little cold. However, we did manage to land a very nice Northern Pike on the fly.
Check back for regular fishing reports on the bay. As the water warms we are looking forward to fantastic Smallmouth Bass and Carp opportunities in the coming weeks.
We are the only northern Michigan Fly Fishing outfitter to have  custom boats dedicated to fishing waters of the Great Lakes. We are running a custom 24 foot and a 20 foot Young Boats. Grand Traverse Bay is big water, having  boats of this caliber allows us the speed, comfort, and safety to be able to offer fishing opportunities others can not. Our boats are DNR inspected, USCG licensed and fully insured to operate on the waters of the Great Lakes. Captain David holds a U.S.C.G. 25 ton Master Captains license is very experienced running boats on the big water.  Chuck Hawkins is also a Coast Guard Captain and is a very experienced fly angler that lives overlooking the bay. Either of these Captains can put you in position to enjoy the world class misery of Grand Traverse Bay.
Give Cherie a call at 231-228-7135 to check availability!
Dave Tropf


Cold Weather Gear for Steelhead Fishing

 

The recent drop in temperatures has us fishing everyday in very cold temperatures. That’s the life of a fly fishing guide. We fish in all kinds of weather. Yesterday when we got in the boat it was 17 degrees, clear, and no wind. Cold indeed.

 

Last year my wife bought me a new base layer , Patagonia’s Capilene Air Crew Base layer. A combination of Capalene and Merino Wool. It is seamless, has a 3-D knit structure that produces the most amazing warmth and comfort. The fabric is stretchy and comfortable against the skin. It is truly an innovation!

 

At $129 retail it isn’t the least expensive base layer that you’ve bought but I’m telling you it is the the most comfortable and warmest I’ve worn.

 

Capt. Chuck Hawkins

King Salmon on Streamers

King Salmon, Caught on Streamers

For years most people believed that salmon could not be caught after they entered the rivers on anything but dead drift methods. When dead drifting using indicator rigs or chucking and ducking sometimes you get bit another times you are lining or flossing the fish. While fun to fight such large fish and a great way to get people interested in fishing it isn’t the most satisfying way to catch fish for many.

 

Due to our 23 years of fishing on the Garden River in Sault St Marie, Canada we have had a unique opportunity to fish for King Salmon that are pretty unmolested in smallish, private river. We tried many different streamers, both natural looking and bright, gaudy patterns. Nothing produced with any consistency. I remember one day many years ago when an olive wooly bugger got lots of interest, never happened again!

 

Slowly, very slowly, a pattern and some colors emerged. They were pioneered by Russ Maddin and his fly, the Flash Monkey. The Flash Monkey is a typical Maddin pattern, beautifully conceived and expertly tied. It’s very complicated. Far too complicated for me to produce enough of them to supply my Garden River and Michigan Rivers clients. However the basics of the fly, lots of flash creating lifelike movement gave me some ideas.

Dead Eye is born!

I started with a double hook rig, Owner 2-4/0 front hook and a smaller stinger hook at the back end of the tail. Kings often just nip the tail so you need the stinger. Colors came from our experience in Michigan, number one color for Thunder Sticks (hardware) is Fire Tiger, chartruese and orange. The next best is chartruese and white. There have been a couple of other combos that have produced like pink and purple.

 

The body consists of a heavy dose of flashabou overlayed with a fair amount of Ice Wing followed by a head of Ice Dub. It is easy and quick to tie and as effective as anything I’ve found. The fly should be 4-6 inches long. Salmon are hard on flies. They are big and toothy! I like this pattern because it is a quick, easy tie that doesn’t leave me in tears if it only lasts for one fish.

 

The Secret Weapon

The pattern, Dead Eye, can be tied and fished two ways. The first is to keel weight the front hook and add lead eyes. That gets it deep and will help it run true when it’s stripped. That means it stays up right and doesn’t spin. This it time consuming but vey effective.

The second variation of the pattern has no keel weight or lead eyes. Instead you fish the fly behind spinner blades. The blades add weight, motion and vibration. They are very effective at getting strikes from king salmon.

I carry small and medium sized blades in silver and gold along with appropriate beads in colors that make sense with the fly. Vary size and color of the blades as there doesn’t appear to be any consistency with what will work.

 

Retrieves

When fishing salmon with a streamer using the Dead Eye without the blades, a very fast jerking retrieve works best. When fishing with the blade use a steady two handed retrieve. Retrieve it slowly, steadily, just fast enough to keep it off the bottom. With either variation make sure you strip strike, twice isn’t a bad idea. Cloudy days and smaller water will increase your success with either of these methods. Both flies are fished on sink tip lines. My favorite is the Scientific Anglers Cold Sink 25. On the Garden River I use a 250 grain, on the Manistee a 350 grain.

Conclusion

While fishing for salmon with a streamer isn’t classic upstream, hatch matching trout fishing it is an exciting, suspenseful way to fish. For those anglers that like to swing flies for steelhead or rip streamers looking for big browns fishing for salmon with streamers is right up your alle

I will post a step by step fly tying instruction for the Dead Eye this winter when I have time.

We are now actively booking the Garden River in 2020. This year we had an incredible increase in both numbers and size for both pinks and kings. Check out our website page for more info.

After I finalize reservations for this years customers I’ll post availability for 2020 on that page. Or just give us a call at 23-228-7135 for more info.

Have a great fall!

Capt. Chuck Hawkins

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Dorian Has Delivered a Devastating Blow to Grand Bahama and Abaco Islands in the Bahamas

These two islands have been virtually destroyed by the hurricane with large loss of property and life.

Below are a couple of links where you can donate to help rescue and rebuild these two beautiful places.

Please lend a hand!

Capt. Chuck Hawkins

River Temperature

River Temperature

River Temperature

Summer Trout Fishing

River Temperature and Trout, They Can Be In Danger

Hopefully  most anglers realize that when water temperatures get too warm in our trout streams it is best to leave the fish alone. The reason is that warmer water holds less oxygen and therefore stresses trout. When you add in being hooked and fought by an angler even after a proper release the trout maybe so stressed that it won’t survive. There is not a consensus at what temperature should anglers leave the trout alone but this article from Hatch  does the best job that I’ve read laying out the facts about warm water and trout. It seems to draw the line at 68-70 degrees as being the time we leave the fish alone.

How to respond to higher temperatures

When warm temperatures  are near these critical heights there are things we can do to protect our trout. First if you are fishing, fight a hooked fish very aggressively. Bring them to the net quickly and do not lift them out of the water for  photo. When releasing hold them in the current to help revive them. Do not release them until they swim away from you under their own power. Better yet, quit fishing in the streams and rivers that are warm and switch to colder locations.  Colder rivers like the Boardman and Pine Rivers  stay cooler than the Manistee and Ausable. Therefore they  are great warm weather hopper fisheries. Also be aware that some sections of the same rivers stay stay cooler than others. It’s a good idea to carry a thermometer, that will help you learn where you can and where you shouldn’t fish.

The Upper Manistee in some recent years has been warm enough that I quit fishing there, usually preferring to switch to smallmouth. They become even more plentiful as water gets warmer.

In conclusion, if you wish to have more and larger trout in our rivers we need to protect them when they are vulnerable. That way they can live to fight another day.

River Data on the Web

The following resources help you to learn river temperatures on the web

*USGS Current Conditions StreamFlow – Manistee River at Sherma

*App for your Phone – River Data

*Hawkins Outfitters is working  on a temperature monitoring station at CCC Bridge that will be available on our website. Thanks to the EDTU Chapter from downtown Chicago for funding this!

Capt. Chuck Hawkins

Hex hatch

Hexagenia Limbata

The Hex Hatch The most highly anticipated may fly hatch in Michigan is the hex hatch. These big mayflies bring the largest fish in the river up to the surface to feed. Hexagenia Limbata is a floating filet mignon to a trout. Therefore the Hex Hatch, whether duns or spinners probably produces more large trout […]