March 26, 2008

 

Hi All

 

I hate to say this too loud but the river could use a shot of water. It has been kind of on the low side. This means we have been having a slow melt off. The fish in the upper river are starting to get busy on the beds. Along with that I notice from others fish pictures are starting to get darker and darker in color.

 

Spring is here in theory, according to the calender, but yesterday A.M. we had 2 inches of wet snow hit the ground. The snow was all soaked in and melted off by the end of the day. It gave us a little shot of water. It looked nasty first thing in the morning. We still went fishing anyways and it turned out to be a fine day on the water.

 

March 25 th. Chris Reins and I went for a little plugging in the lower river to guage how the run is going down there. We landed 3 Steelies and a Pike with a couple other slap hits. Nice fishing with you Chris. I'm really liking the new boat. It has a couple new slimy spots on the floor. I thought about cleaning it but why wash off the good luck.

 

March  24th, John Robinson and I went for a little lower river trip. We landed 3 Steelies and had about 9 slaps. It was a very nice day to be out there until the wind would slap you in the face. Burr that wind was cold.

 

March 19th,  Greg and I went for a adventure on a mid section of river. Greg had just gotten back from out West in the Washington rivers where he was spey casting for Steelhead. He came to Michigan to see some of our Great Lakes style of fishing. He figured out quickly this river wouldn't be to spey friendly. I told him that some people use them here but the are over gunned and he would be better off with a rod under 11 feet. I assured him there are plenty of other rivers close by were spey rods are used and make perfect sense there.

 

We worked on casting the indy rig and getting the indicator to ride strait and long drag free drifts. Once again we worked all the likely spots and changed our flies many times but no fish to reward our efforts. The fish weren't in the feeding lanes or in the feeding mode.

 

The adventure part begins with trying to get the boat out at Sulack. I unhooked the trailer up top then took the truck down the hill. I Dropped the air down to 12 lbs. in all 4 tires locked in the front hubs. I pulled the boat out first. Now I had to make it up the hill. We both knew we could make it down the hill but gave our self's less than a 40 % shot on the up hill side.

 

 The truck started off walking up the hill and it looked like a cinch. 50 feet from the top my rear tires kicked out of the ruts and slid with the slope of the hill and there I sat in a foot + of wet snow. A couple calls to a towing company and I was out and a little lighter in the wallet. 50 feet might as well been 50 miles. I called a friend or 2 but no one was around to help but Jason at BBT. Thanks Jason for sending the tow truck out. Next time I try that one will be with new tires and a wench on the front of truck.

 

On the 20th, we went up high were there wasn't much of a chance of getting stuck. Right off the bat in the first spot the bobber dropped and it was Fish- on, Fish - off a few cast later he landed his first 16" Brown Trout. Then the Ball of Fire made it's way over the trees and made it warm and cozy day on the river but the bite was very lack lustered. We heard reports of a few Steelies that day making it to the net but not many were hooking much of anything. Nice spending a few day on the water with you Greg. Come back after winter is over.

 

March 17th and 18th, John Robinson and I went on a couple scouting missions and we wound up mostly running into trees and shelf ice at launches not to many fish were around. I'm pretty sure we would have hit a few if they were around we're pretty darn effective with plug's and spawn.

 

As you can tell by the reports the fishing is hit or miss but getting better everyday. I have to cut this short just made a river trip plan with my friend John R. and it's off to the river in a hour from now to do some more sore mouthing. I have a few rooms left open here at the Lodge and some good dates open to go fishing as well. Give us a call and let 's make a plan of our own.

 

Tight Lines

Clint