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