Salmon Fishing Garden River Garden River 2017 Recap Fly fishing on the Garden River First Nation for King, Pink and Coho salmon, along with steelhead is the best in the Midwest. The reason is privacy, this section is private,owned by the Garden River First Nation, a band of Ojibway Natives. No one is fishing where […]
Summer Fly Fishing in Northern Michigan In Northern Michigan, the larger mayfly hatches are done around July fourth. That begins one of our favorite pastimes, summer fly fishing in Northern Michigan. Many anglers put away their rods when the Hex hatch is over thinking that the best fly fishing of the year is behind us. […]
New CCC Boat Launch Access….critical to our use and enjoyment of Michigan’s many rivers. Kayaks, canoes, river boats, drift boats and humans all need safe and reliable access to the river. In addition we need access that does not harm the river by allowing sand in the stream or damaging streamside vegetation. Last year long […]
A Life Well Lived! Last Sunday morning Steve Ladd, longtime friend, client and world traveling angler passed away from a heart attack in the kitchen of our river house. In the last 25 years Steve and I fished together very often, some years as many as 50 days. Ladd was gruff and opinionated on the […]
Gray Drake Gray drakes are a very important hatch in some area rivers. Most notably the Pere Marquette and Muskegon Rivers though they occur in most of our trout streams. Starting as early as mid May these size 10 or 12 mayflies are the first really big bug to show up. Gray Drakes spin at […]
Dorado I’ve recently returned from three weeks of fishing in Argentina, my favorite place in the world to fish. Due to adding 8 days of fishing in northern Argentina, I’ve added another reason to spend time in Argentina with a fly rod, Dorado!! They are beautiful, ferocious jumpers that take a fly readily. Consequently dorado […]
Isonychias, are the best mayfly for anglers in Michigan! In Michigan, and elsewhere, the Isonychia mayfly provides the best dry fly opportunities of the year. That’s heresy to many in fly anglers in Michigan, who would argue vehemently that the mighty Hex beats Isonychias hands down. Isonychias are the best mayfly in Michigan for many […]
Do you have Fishing Memories of 2016? We do! Hawkins Outfitters is fortunate to have a very large repeat angler business. Most of these repeat anglers are friends, we’ve spent many days together in the boat. I often get asked “why did you and the guys on your team choose such a difficult job”? There are […]
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has received a request to permit the placement of an anchoring system of a temporary resistance board weir (RBW) on National Forest System lands in the Manistee River. The seasonal weir is intended to aid in the Adult Lake Sturgeon Monitoring Project being conducted by the Little River Band of […]
Manistee River steelhead fishing is some of the best steelhead fly fishing in the Great Lakes, maybe even the lower 48 states. Anglers from all over the country travel to Michigan for Manistee River steelhead fishing. The Manistee and other northwest lower Michigan rivers have steelhead in them from late September to well into May.