The pristine Pine gave us a gift today - the best daytime dry fly fishing for trout you could expect to have in Michigan on any river. Dad and I had steady action the entire nine hour float from Peterson's bridge at M37 down to Low Bridge at M55 thanks to the expert guide service of Brian Pitser of Schmidt Outfitters. I recall hearing Ray Schmidt speak a few years back at a TU meeting about the unappreciated fishery of the Manistee below Hodenpyl dam and have since had many a happy trip down that beautiful stretch of river after a flotilla of Dry Fly Float boaters took a group excursion down the river one glorious fall afternoon. Now I am wondering if that wasn't a diversionary tactic by Ray to have the Pine all to himself. It has been years since I fished the Pine and it seemed somehow different but I couldn't tell why until Brian told us that a small dam had been removed above low bridge that significantly altered the flow. Apparently for the better. We casted rubber legged hoppers to the logs and run outs with frequent strikes and hookups by the resident Browns and Rainbows, natives all as the Pine has not been planted in many years. These feisty fish have a healthy appearance owing to the cold rapid flow of the pine and an adequate nutrient base. There is also plenty of cover with lots of large log jams, undercut banks, and very deep holes carved into clay shelves. We did not keep a fish count, but suffice it to say that it was as good as it gets, especially considering that you are as likely to catch (at least on this day) a mid teens fish as the usual daytime 7 incher. We lost several very big fish to log jams, and of course to our own incompetence. And we had dozens of missed opportunities that must have frustrated Brian no end. Surprisingly, the fish were hard to put down. They behaved more like night feeders. Many times we had two or three hits from the same fish. The bows look like lake run steelhead and Brian believes that they in fact come from the same brood stock. There were only two cottages on this entire float and the clear cold water, undulating topography, and diverse plant life make this a first rate scenic river. Thankfully, we had very little canoe traffic. This is a must do trip I hope to do annually. It was a great way to send my dad off packing to Florida.
Access: Peterson Bridge at M37
Weather: mid 70s and partly cloudy
1 comment:
“I’ve been haunting quiet waters, now that I look back on it, ever since my boyhood bait-plunking days-which means a powerful lot of quiet water over the dam. But in recent years has it swept over me that what I long regarded as a harmless predilection is really a hopeless progressive disease and that I am deeply mired in its terminal stages.”
Robert Traver
Trout Magic (1974)
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