Spring is here finally !

Hi All

It was a long winter up here and very snowy. We still haven't lost all our snow. So our Steelhead run is off to a slower than normal start on all rivers. I walk-in steelhead fish, snowmobile and ice fish all winter so to me and my gear it's like no big deal, just a little cold no biggie. So the flows are above normal levels for the last week + as we slowly melt off. I had 4 days I cancelled/ moved trips March 15,16,17,18 to fast and flooded for my liking. Until this week I had canceled or moved more trips than I had done. The weather has really been rough at times this winter. One stretch I plowed/ shoveled 6 days strait. I would like to see our snow totals for the season.

We had a slow start to snowmobile season. Our first trip to the Keweenaw was almost a bust. The week before we got there they were thin snow wise. Lucky for us it snowed all week and we had great trails for my new sled. I splurged and bought a 2018 144" 800 Assault. That is the first premium sled I have bought with electric start and fancy gas shocks. All I can say is that 800cc Polaris is like a crotch rocket. You get it in deep snow and it rips the ski's up 2-3' all day and will carry that wheelie as long as you can hold it. Radical power. I like it! The part I don't like is it still gets stuck :( when the rider screws up. Bust out the shovel's.

Ice fishing was great as usual had good days and slow days but the ice was slow to form early season but in the end it got very thick and was able to fish areas of lakes we hadn't fished in years ! Lake Cadillac had almost 2 feet Grand Traverse Bay froze to rear record levels and friends were fishing the heck out of Grand Travers and Saginaw bays. I should have made it over to both but never got the ambition. To wore out from plowing, shoveling and ice fishing I guess. Sorry guys next year I'm going..

Adam has turned 22 and is graduating from Ferris State with a 4 year bachelors degree in Criminal Justice and currently finishing up there own inhouse police academy at Ferris. He is doing very well learning a lot and in the process of interviews and applying for jobs as a Policeman or Deputy. Very proud that he has almost finished college and ready for the job in the field he studied. To many goto college and they wind up in a job that has nothing to do with there education background. That's my favorite part about Ferris is they have a lot of studies that are ready for job placement there. Great job Ferris State. We have gotten out a few times this winter pistol shooting at Lake County Sportsman Club. You have to shoot and stay in practice even in the Winter.

Currently the river has went back into it's banks just in the last couple days but still just a inch below my cement slab. Rose our little dog can still get a drink easily from the cement on our a.m. walks to the river. Rose and Debi are doing good. They go for walks everyday and Rose is 11 and doing great. Being cute is a lot of work though..

Steelhead are in the system from top to bottom and there are a variety of ways to catch them. My favorite is fly fishing but I also like spin fishing with lures. With the fly rods I use chuck & duck and indicator rigs and when the water warms up some more streamers. Spin tackle I use a variety of lure brands and those fish that have a appetite for destruction apply here. The grab is out of no where and the Browns and Steelhead rips it.. fun fun fun...Same with a Streamer on a flyrod no fun'er way to fish. Lots more work and no guaranteed fish but very worth it !!

I have lots of open dates for rooms and guided trips thru April and May. I tied tons of flies this winter. So if your looking for a vacation give us a call. Seems like the weather is on a uptick, fingers crossed we have no late winter stuff left. Give us a call 231-745-6667

Thank You
Clint

Spring Steelhead

Hi All

It's time to start planning your Spring fishing trips. The snow is mostly gone, we have a few banks from the plows and a couple specks left in the woods and Ice on many of the lakes but it's not very safe ice is my guess. A few winter run Steelhead are on the beds and a few chrome Spring run fish are staging in the holes. Once again Spring came early this year.

We have lots of good days left to book rooms at the Lodge, Little South Branch Cabin, and at our 72nd. Street House. I also have plenty of good days left to guide too. My last day out on the Pere Marquette it was 55 deg. on February 28th. and not a cloud in the sky, felt like late March. The water needing to warm up a bit is the only thing holding the lid down. Great flow and stain to the water it just needs 5 deg. warmer.

The last few months just have been drop back pluggen trips, fly fishing trips, fly tying and ice fishing.On the ice with friends mostly for Perch and Cisco. Made it out for Blue Gills and Crappy a couple times. Snowmobiled around here a time or two and made two snowmobile trips to the U.P. too. Lots of great fish fries with family and friends. Time to put away the Winter fun and bring out the Spring fun. I'm really glad Spring is here I was getting tired of cleaning Perch.

Give us a call and we will help get you in the books...231-745-6667

Have a great Steelhead season and enjoy every day on the river.

Tight Lines
Clint

Fall Steelhead

Hi All

Long time no write..Had a busy summer on Lake Michigan and around the lodge rentals. The big lake was fishing good this Summer with monster King Salmon caught in the 33lb. to 41 lb. range. The fish were eating good and so were the Lake Trout, many of the Lakers we caught were burping up Alewife's. Coho were present as well as Steelhead but harder to keep on, lots of them shake loose with violent head shakes and jumping. All in all a good season and my boat is winterized and tucked away in the barn.

The Fall Salmon run didn't disappoint. The fish were big and plenty were around. The Offspring of the 2013 run had good genetics and plenty of food. The stocking numbers have been light to let the Alewife's bounce back and they seem to be bouncing back in Lake Michigan after the Great lakes rose 4+ feet after 2 bad winters. So we still don't have the numbers of old school Lake Michigan Salmon fishing but it's not bad. I'd give the last 2 seasons a B- for a grade..

We had lots of fish in the river landed in the 20+ range and one stand out that was landed by the young man in the picture below that was over 30 lbs. He could not lift it right that's why half the fish is being supported by water. It filled the net and even I was kinda surprised. We landed a couple nice browns munching eggs while Salmon fishing also. Most of the good pictures are on customers cell phones per usual. So if you don't see your pictures it's because you didn't send me any..LOL..

Here we are current...It's Fall Steelhead season and winter is soon approaching. I went out fun fishing with Greg Dygert a regular customer with his own boat and we did well. We each caught Steelhead and plenty of skipper Steelhead as well..This last big rain that cooled and raised the water brought them up and there is a few to play with..The key is having the right eggs on and stick to the dark water. There are plenty of Kings and Coho around so fresh eggs are still plentiful. Then just make good drifts and wait for a biter.

I have lots of great dates open to guide after I get back from my Missouri Bowhunting trip. I actually prefer Fall Steelhead when it cools down more and there is a chance of snow. It thins the crowds out. Firearm Deer season helps with that as well.

I get back around November 10th.-11th. unless I shoot a big buck sooner than that..So my next report will be pictures of my monster buck or my tag sandwich. I shot a Doe last season and saw lots of smaller bucks. So hopefully everyone else let them walk as well...I lost the (4 point) Antler Point Restrictions in my county I hunt last year, so hopefully it dose not go back to "it's brown it's down hunting". Hopefully they have learned to let them grow up and see there potential greatness. Time will tell..

Lastly my friend Jeff Hubbard is slowly getting back into the saddle. He had a mechanical problem with a new dirt bike Mid August that laid him up for most of Salmon Season. He is getting range of motion back and rowed his raft with me for a scouting mission. He is on the mend and excited to catch Steelhead this Fall and Winter season so keep him busy and call Outfitter North Guide Service if you want to spend a day with Jeff.

Tight Lines and Shoot Strait
Clint

    

Peak Steelhead Season

Hi All

Have today off and would like to thank all our customers who have come up to fish with me and stay at our lodge..Thank You..

Well as most of you know we had a early start to Steelhead season about 6 weeks ago ,we melted off our snow and started with our Winter run Steelhead. Most of them are on there way back to the lake and new Spring run Steelhead are showing up primed and ready to go. These fish are HOT and the water temps are warming up giving them the need for speed. So let them BITE, set the hook good, then LET THEM RUN !!

Fishing has been slow on the bright sunny days and cloudy and overcast with rain are the best ! Temps have still been frosty in the a.m. like yesterdays 23 deg. a.m. start and I still had my winter gear on and we all pealed like a bananas for the afternoon..Water has a great stain that won't last for long then we will need more rain soon..

I have April 10,11,12,19,20,21,24,25,26 open for guided trips give us a call 231-745-6667

Tight Lines
Clint

The rest of my pictures are on our Facebook page Red Moose Lodge or Clint Anderson..
Thank You For reading...

Fooled Us Again

Hi All

The weather has been playing tricks and fooling us. Couple days it's nice and just when you think Spring is here we go back into a deep freeze. Crazy stuff...Lucky for me my clients have been hanging tough..Thank You..

The key is buying and showing up with the right gear like Cabelas 5 mil.neoprene 1600mg bootfoots and yes it's heavy not so fashionable stuff but it keeps you warm, dry and alive for 8-9 hours on the water. Wading sweat pants and 1 pair of heavy socks Simms or Cabelas extreme. My Ice Armor gloves with the big wrist cuff, Waterproof Bomber style Crown-cap from Winnipeg Canada, Patagonia Arctic Puff coat with the hood. This is mostly what I wear to survive the really cold ones and fun fish all Winter November --March..The waders cover 75% of you and are a must and the best $225 you ever spent, everything else is personal preference.

On the really really nice days I hear the fish were littering the gravels. On those days I was either in the office or throwing streamers trying to get my big fly stolen by a big fish with friends. Water temps needed to be warmer to get those fish off the bottom and to chase better. We caught fish and moved some but it was never really on fire bite wise, just very enjoyable days to be on the water fun fishing..

My Open Guide days left in March are 19,20,22--26..The Spring Steelhead run is here with a great mix of new chrome fish, winter fish, and dropback hens..Brown and Rainbow Trout too.

Tight Lines
Clint

 

Early Spring

Hi All

Survived another Winter in Northern Michigan and still have all my fingers and toes. Been doing the usual stuff since my last blog which is snowmobiling, ice fishing, tieing flies, and walk in fly fishing around the upper fly water in the winter months. No big vacations, just plowing, shoveling snow and doing my usual Michigan Winter hobbies. I did a bunch of road trip ice fishing stuff on, PM Lake, Portage Lake, Hamilin Lake and Saginaw Bay, lots of local lakes too.. Froze up a bunch of nice Perch and Blue Gills for fish fry's. Good stuff...

 I did a bunch of grease monkey stuff in the pole barn also this Winter. I fixed my driveshaft bearing in my Polaris 500 carb and a wheel bearing hub on my big lake boat trailer. I had never done either before so it was a slow go getting them tore down and back together. Just lots of time, grease, shop rags, and propane. Also I put in 106 kold kutter ice screws on my Polaris 136" 600 IQ Shift track and new ski runners for running on bare ice and to help improve steering on the trails and lakes. So I put some hours in the ole barn wrenching on stuff..

Lately I have been Trout & Steelhead fishing with friends and clients. On Wednesday Russ Maddin and Jon Stefanciw came down from Traverse City fun fishing and we fished streamers. It was a ok bite we got one to hand and had lots of looks, misses and short strikes, pretty normal stuff. Water temps needed to be another 5 deg. warmer and the chase and bite would have been better but we all enjoyed the 60+ deg. weather and a perfect stain to the water while it lasted...

This weekend I had clients and friend Pete and his vet practice partner Perry here for some early Spring run Steelhead. Perry invited a bunch of his family (total of 8 guys) for Steelhead Camp to learn and enjoy our Pere Marquette river fly fishing. Some had been here before others were new fishermen. Unfortunately mother nature rained like crazy and threw us a cold front curve ball on Friday the rain starting at 12 a.m. and ending around 4 p.m. our 3 boat 2 day float trip caught some fish but it wasn't warm friendly stuff, it was cold ! The water was at it's banks and just barely came out of the banks Saturday night. Today Sunday it was already dropping 4" to 5" and clearing some as well. On Saturday the fishing wasn't to shabby but Sunday the water had cooled off a bunch and it was a little tougher bite.. All and all it was a great long weekend for there group and I just got back from the pizza party over at the cabin.. Great group of guys !!

The Steelhead run is just getting fired up and if you don't want to miss out get your rooms / cabins  and guide trips booked. I have lots of good dates open..call 231-745-6667


Tight Lines
Clint