Muskegon River Steelhead

Eric, Matt and Nate joined me on the Muskegon River today for some mid-winter Steelheading in the bright sunshine.  The bite was not too bad with 7 fish making it to the net, congrats to Nate on his first ever Steelhead, glad I could be the one to put you on it.

1/30/2011  Nate with his first ever Steelhead!

1/30/2011  Matt with a nice skipper.

1/30/2011  Eric with a nice winter buck.

1/30/2011  Eric with a nice hen.

Frigid Winter Steelheading!!

Craig and his son Daniel flew up from North Carolina for the Detroit auto show and had 1 day to fish the Muskegon River, of course it had to be the coldest day of the winter.  After driving the loop and finding there was heavy slush flow from somewhere above henning park down the only option was to dump in at Pine St.  All was well until I broke my shift cable taking the boat off the trailer, these are the days you find out if you have real friends and apparantly I do, Kris brought his boat for the rescue.  Things were looking up once again until we realized his batteries were dead!!  After switching batteries from my boat to his we were on our way.  The bite was pretty good considering the conditions but the fish were short biting and only 1 made it all the way to the net, not all bad for a day where I'm not sure the temp broke 10 degrees.  Daniel is pictured below with the only Steelhead that made the net today.

1/23/2011  A nice winter hen Steelhead from the upper Muskegon.

 

Winter Steelhead

1/16/2011  Chris with the big fish of the day.

1/16/2011  I took part in the action as well.

1/16/2011  Chris with a nicely colored buck.

Muskegon River Steelhead

While the Washington trip was a ton of fun and the fish were bigger, it was great to be back in Michigan on the Muskegon River today.  Did a short 4 hour trip this morning with Ed and found plenty of Steelhead willing to play. 

1/14/2011  Ed with a pretty Muskegon River hen.

1/14/2011  This buck had some great color.

1/14/2011  Ed with a dandy winter buck.

1/14/2011  A nice mid winter hen.

Sol Duc River Steelhead

Today was the last day of my Olympic Peninsula Steelhead trip, what a trip it has been!!  We caught fish each day out with two of those days being outstanding double digit days.  I had to extend my trip by two days after the rain had the river unfishable from thursday to sunday but it proved to be a very wise decision.  Below are a few pictures from today.


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West Coast Winter Steelhead

It has rained for the last day and a half here on the Olympic Peninsula and the Steelhead are on the move!  We decided to hit the Solduc again but for a short day from around 11:00 to 4:00 and were well into double digits floatfishing jigs and pink worms.  I did lose what looked like the biggest fish so far maybe in the mid teens but did land one around 12lbs. shortly thereafter.  Ryan had to guide today so I will take a day off and enjoy the metropolis of Forks, WA.

Ryan with a wild hen on the first cast of the day at the ramp!

Steelhead fishing in the rain in January is different.

This buck had a mishap with a seal.

Chrome!

These fish are aggressive straight out of the salt.

A colored buck from the Solduc.

Washington's Olympic Peninsula

Headed West for a little vacation/steelhead fishing on the Olympic Peninsula with good friend and guide Ryan.  While the drive from Michigan went less than perfect with a few unexpected delays we are here and catching fish.  Here are a few pictures from the Solduc River today, I fly back to Michigan on the 10th so hopefullt there will be plenty more pics between now and then.