Posts

Alaska Trip 2018

Alaska Trip 2018

/in /by

Alaska Trip 2018

Alaska, the last frontier!

I’ve just returned from two weeks in Alaska. The first week I spent chasing rainbows, Arctic char, silver, pink and chum salmon. We were  at Angry Eagle Lodge with Hawkins Guide, Jeff Topp, General Manager, Derek Boschma, and Owner, Andy Miller along with several long time Hawkins Outfitters friends.

The Fishing

We caught all of the above species on egg patterns, swung flies and top water wogs. My two best fish were a 25+ inch rainbow (think steelhead) that I caught on aAlaska Trip 2018 swung fly and had to wrestle out of a log jam! The second was actually multiple silver salmon that ate top water wogs (think poppers) with reckless abandon. It was epic! In addition to fantastic fishing we had great bear viewing! The bears were enjoying nature’s bounty and seemed to care less that we were around.

The Lodge

Read more

Manistee River Trout fishing

Fishing Foam Patterns

/in , /by

Fishing Foam Patterns Fishing Foam Patterns during the middle of the summer is pretty standard because there are less natural aquatic insects hatching.  Trout are keying in on terrestrials, like grasshoppers, ants, and beetles.  While simply throwing out a foam pattern into the river will work, there are a few techniques and tips that we […]

Read more
Pine River

Pine River

/in , , /by

 Pine River

Pine River

Pine River, the Lower Peninsula’s most unique river

 

 

 Pine River

The Pine River, near Cadillac, Michigan is a tributary of the Manisttee River. It joins the Manistee in Tippy Pond above Tippy dam. The rive is 53.5 miles long. Dominated by groundwater inflows, it is the coldest, fastest river in Lower Michigan. This groundwater keeps the Pine River temperatures always 69 degrees or colder.

The Pine River, like most northern Michigan Rivers, has been abused and neglected. The Pine River was dammed by an earthen dam in 1918. The dam was quickly rendered useless by the large sand load that built up behind it. Prior to the dam the river was used, to it’s great detriment, to move saw logs down stream.  It’s banks were torn up creating huge erosion problems.6px;”>

The dam remained until 1997 when it was slowly removed as part of a negotiation for the relicensing of Tippy Dam by The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Dam removal was completed in 2003. Since removal of the dam the stream channel is forming again, gravel substrate is increasing in quantity and size, and fish populations are spreading in the river. Fish populations, especially brown and rainbow trout have increased by more than 250%. Read more