cameron mortonson from the fiberglass manifesto

Big Pere Marquette brown

The fishing on the Pere Marquette river is in full swing,lots of fish are around right now,hopefully things will slow down a bit but I doubt it. Fishing pockets and runs behind spawning steelhead has been producing real well and with the high dirty water the fish are all but hidden.Expect to see a fair amount of drop backs as the water drops . The stained water has made fishing a challenge but not impossible,bright colored eggs are the way to go and colors like orange dot/ cream halo, pink dot white halo and fry patterns have been my top producers.Swinging streamers has still been productive,fishing the same pockets and runs around spawners.Black leach patterns with copper flash, purple leech patterns with Christmas flash and Sculpins style streamers took fish this week.

Matt Dunn and and a pere marquette steelhead

Man its cold out there! and steelhead are there if your willing to tough it out,that being said fishing mid day on cold days and planning the trip to fish the warmer days will get you into fish.

we have been fishing egg nymph combos and catching fish but when the water doesn’t warm at all fishing gets tough, try hairs ears nymphs,nuke eggs in bright chartreuse and orange colors ,trout beads in natural colors as well as smaller black woolly buggers. Streamer selection has been about the same leech patters and olive sculpins type flys. good luck out there and be safe! swimming in the winter is the worst.

Julie with a pre snow steelhead

Pere Marquette streamer eater

Winter weather showed up a couple of days ago but the air temp isnt really all that bad. steelhead fishing on the Perte Marquette river has been good and there are still a good number of fish around. I walked in the other day for a hour or so and hooked one briefly on the swing so that made me plenty happy, the flie patters are bpretty standard, hairs ears , hex nymphs and nuke eggs or halo eggs. Streamers theat have been working for me are basicly leach type patterns tyed with a little flash and in olive or black.

We have plenty of winter dates open and are offering our off season rate of 280.00 for a full day of fishing. Drop me a e-mail or give me a call if you want to get out on the river ,there is no better way to spend a winter day!

Steve

The swamp Donkey

This weeks fly of the week is actually a hybrid fly , meaning its a custom tied jig from Hill brand tackle. they are really tying some fantastic jigs and they look great and better yet they work great!! everything from steelhead,salmon,carp smallmouth and the list goes on these jigs are a fishes worse nightmare!

Hot head leech

Here is another great pattern for swinging fall and winter steelhead.This pattern has alot of movement in the water and when its held on the full down stream swing it literally will swim in the current. give it a try .  my favorite way to tie this pattern is tube style and using your favorite short shank steelhead hook, my favorites are the bead hooks that you can purchase from troutbeads.com ,there strong ,extremely sharp and hold there point when bouncing of rocks.

Hot head leech

eumer tube

Black marabou tail

multi colored flashabou

blue marabou palmered two wraps

hot pink tube bead

black marabou palmered two wraps

Steelhead fishing here on the pere Marquette continues to be good with swinging streamers being a solid choice for excitement! we received some good rains the other day and that will move the fish around a bit but there are still a lot of fish in the system and steelhead are staying hungry,late this week we are expecting some cold weather and that will put these fish into winter mode. egg patterns in clown and chartreuse and cream were good producers as for streamers blacks and any variation of leech pattern were good producers.

give us a call if you want to get your steehead fix this winter,you got to love these winter steelhead!

Steve

Rabbit strip hex

This weeks fly is a killer in the winter months here in Michigan, the rabbit strip hex is a easy to tie pattern that steelhead and brown trout love to eat ,as the fall season raps up so do the amount of salmon eggs that have been pouring down the river,the nymph stage of our giant mayfly the hexagenions limbata lives in the mud and soft bottom here on the pere Marquette river and as the steelhead and browns start to use the” streamy” water in the ice cold water these nymphs are there. give it a try you wont be dissapointed!

recipe

Hook-tmc 105 sz #6

Tail/body-light tan zonker rabbit

abdomen-dark brown or rust dubbing

legs- grouse hackle

shelback-brown swiss straw

eyes-black mono or small bead chain

marissa with her first pere marquette steelhead

Cheers!

Steve

Basic Bucktail

This weeks fly of the week is the basic bucktail , a classic fly with modern upgrades . Its a old standard that still catches fish but seldom gets fished and with the new material on the market these days this fly fishes even better now. I have been swinging this fly for a few seasons now and i never can get over its effectiveness in all conditions, stripped or swung it is a great fall pattern.

Recipe

eumer tube

targus fox fur wing

flashabou flash

angel hair flash

senyo laser dub body