Steelhead Archives - Wolf Creek Angler

Back on the Pere Marquette

PM Steel – photo by Brad Turner

I spent Monday floating the Pere Marquette River with my friend and fellow fly fishing guide Brad Turner. Brad taught me much of what I know about fly fishing many years ago and inspired me to pursue guiding which eventually led to career 2.0 at Wolf Creek Angler. We try to get together and fish whenever we can so following a great couple of days on the MO late last summer this time it was back to my home waters of the Pere Marquette for steelhead and streamer fishing.

We floated the fly water on what turned out to be a gorgeous spring day with near perfect water conditions. The first hours were spent trying to find a streamer the fish were interested in which proved to be quite a challenge. We didn’t move a fish for the first two hours. Though I’ve had some EPIC streamer days on the PM over the years I’ve also had plenty of days like the way this one was starting out where it’s just not happening. I ran through my tried and true PM favorite patterns unsuccessfully and finally found something that worked with a Wilson’s Articulated Sparkle Minnow. We moved a few, hooked a few and landed a few over the next miles including a couple of 20″+ fish following right to the boat but opting out of the eat. A frustrating scenario but definitely what has kept me throwing streamers all of these years. The visual aspect of streamer fishing a river like the PM is something we miss on the MO. Streamer fishing on the Missouri is still a blast but there’s something about bombing the banks and the structure on small water like the PM and seeing those big browns emerge from their hidden lies to chase down a streamer that gets your heart racing and makes you throw until you are too sore to throw anymore which was definitely the case yesterday.

It was after lunch time before we decided to try some steelhead fishing and as is usually the case with Brad he had us fishing some spots I never even noticed in my years on the PM, the second of which yielded a couple of hookups and one bright small female to hand (though not to hand long enough to get a picture). It’s been a long cold winter in Michigan and the new fish are just starting to move into the system so we were excited to see this fresh chrome beauty.

It was back to the streamer for a few miles, working a few steelhead spots along the way. The action definitely slowed towards evening though I did hook a steelhead on the streamer which resulted in a screaming reel battle which I lost.

As night began to fall we did find a couple more fish willing to play and it was near dark when I landed the biggest steelhead of my career after an epic battle which included plenty of coaching from Brad. I’ve had some great fights on the MO with some sizeable rainbows and coached clients through many a fight but I had forgotten just how powerful these fish are. What a rush and what a great day on the Pere Marquette!

Thinking Steel

Days Away from Pere Marquette Steelhead!

Michigan bound at the end of the week and starting to think about Great Lakes Steelhead. It’s been a few years since I’ve had the opportunity and I can’t wait to step back into the home waters of the Pere Marquette and give it a go. It’s been long enough that the chrome seems a little exotic and I’m not sure I remember exactly how to set up a steelhead rig but I’m sure it will all come back to me once I’m there.
This week will be spent splitting time between digging out and assembling old gear to prepare for the journey and tending to spring projects in the shop. We’ve got all kinds of cool new gear arriving daily so we’re in the process of rearranging things in the shop and Fred has been busy tending to projects around the property which aren’t as fun and exciting as new gear but which are equally as if not more important to making your stay with us this season a great one.
Join us tonight at the Blackfoot River Brewing Company in Helena for Community Pint Night where $1.00 of every glass of beer sold will go to benefit the Pat Barnes Missouri River Chapter of Trout Unlimited. I can’t think of a better way to raise money or a better way to contribute to a great cause. And speaking of Pat Barnes TU – the 34th Annual Banquet will be held on Saturday April 25th at 6 PM at The Gateway Center in Helena. Stop by Wolf Creek Angler and purchase your banquet tickets ($40 single, $75 couple) and while your at it purchase a raffle ticket or two for a 14′ NRS Otter Raft Package. Raffle tickets are $25.
If we get a spare minute this week we’ll be on the Missouri hopefully throwing streamers under cloudy skies with a chance for rain today and tomorrow and partly cloudy skies Wednesday and Thursday with temps in the 50’s and low 60’s. The weekend looks like beach weather with sunny skies and highs in the low 70’s – perfect weather for driving back to cold weather, steelhead weather, in Michigan.