Salmon run has started

September 9 , 2013

Hi All

The Salmon run has been going for a couple weeks. It has been a slow start for hardware with the very little rain we have had. We have had a couple trickles but no real big pushes yet. The best thing going right now is the flyfishing program in the holes for staging fish. Every section from the M-37 to Walhalla has a couple holes with some nice stacks of Salmon.

The Bait and tackle program has been tough in the lower river.. I haven"t had a great day yet down stream lots of 1 or 2 fish to the boat days.There have been lots of days lower river the fish are rolling around but won't bite because the water conditions are poor. The water has been warm and the fish have been going right by lower river headed for the Trout stream protions where the holes are deeper, cooler, and extra current for some extra oxygen in there gills..So fewer fish hanging around lower river and super clear water down there also has forced me move up stream to flyfish for them with better #'s to cast to. I have casted some lures for a couple hours mid stream and had just as many bites as if I had been down river casting. Then switching over to flies for the rest of the day in big deep holes.

The fish are a larger average and very hard to land. snaping line, straiting hooks, and many lures lost to log jams as the fish weaves his way thru. Picking areas with room to fight fish is key to landing them. They are hot and big Salmon...

Good Luck and hope to see you on the river or around the lodge.

I have a few open dates September 16,18,22,23,24,25,29 if intrested in guided trip..

Tight Lines
Clint

Finaly some RAIN !

Hi All

We'll we have got some good down pours in the last 24 hours. I haven't had a chance to check the rain gauge but I'm guessing a inch. Which isn't a lot but it fell hard and fast. Lots of new trees down with the heavy winds but also the oaks I cut up going across the road at the cabin had good acorns on them. Which is making them heavy also. Bring a saw if you plan to float the river in a driftboat and even a come along if you have one with a sturdy rope.

This will kick off the season and get fish moving along up stream. There is decent pockets of fish in every section of river but the best is yet to come. The first 2 weeks of August was better weather than these last 2 weeks. It' has been hot and dry. There is more fish around these last 2 weeks but the bite is worse from all the heat and sun warming the water putting them in a down bite.. This rain is cooling the river down and adding oxygen. The flow prior was deathly warm , slow and little oxygen.

I've had a few trips but there is nothing to brag about #'s wise. Scott here with my largest king of the season at 28+ lbs. This fish would have been is about 5 th. place in the Ludington Tournament this summer. Big fish so far in the big lake is 35.9 lbs. last I herd. That fish was caught on Katch Me, most likely on a meat rig. That was the last week in July. Scotts 28 lber was on a stick bait with 30 lb. braid. I've had a few other in the Minnow my 165 FM this season that were 24, 22 lbs and those were nice fish. This is the year for a wall mounter. The taxidermist will be busy this Winter mounting big Kings Salmon.. Congrats Scott that is the biggest King I've ever had on a stick bait that hit the floor of my jet sled.

Well got to get to bed. Good luck this weekend it's the last weekend of summer. Drive safe and go hook some fish and have a GREAT SEASON this Fall...

If intrested is a guided trip this Fall my open dates are.

September 2,3,5,9,10,16,18,22,23,24,25,29..

October 6, 9-27th. Great Fly Fishing dates in October..

Tight Lines

Clint

Salmon are in..

August 18, 2013

Hi All

There are a few King Salmon around. Conditions are poor..Low clear, bright and sunny...The Salmon are trickling up the system and there isn't any huge #s around but if you want to give it a try, you can catch a few. I was 2 for 5 with Johnny Matson and Camron his daughter and  1 for 1 today with clients Tom and his wife. Biggest diffrence is it was 42 deg up to low 70's. on the 15th. in the a.m. and 52 deg this a.m. with highs in the mid 80's by noon today. Plus on the 15th. the peir head was 40 deg and more fish were on the move and around the harbor... So things change day to day....Some rain would be great, like 3-5" would be perfect..But here we are again waiting for rain to bring us a big push and better conditions for casting lures... The fish are big.. One of Johnny's fish was 22 lb. male and the hen we caught today was 20 lbs. Johnny had the last fish of the scout mission spool him removing all 300-400 ' of all his braid and backing. In other words these fish are very big on average.. Sorry no picture of Johnny's fish there are on his camera..Trout fishing is still good/ average..Pressure on the river is starting to increase but it isn't crazy by any means yet. Be nice and give people plenty of space to fish and we'll all have a great Salmon season. My Tue. ,Wed. cancelled so I'm open every day this week Mon. -Fri. if you get the itch to do a half day a.m. Salmon mission give me a call..

Tight lines
Clint

Kings are coming SOON

July  31  2013

Hi All

Fall is just around the corner. It has a early Fall feel these days. Cool mornings and evenings, some light rain, dew levels increased, and King Salmon moving up the rivers and staging up in front of the peirheads. Yep we have been out fishing the big lake and catching fish in 29' FOW a short distance from the light house. A 27 lb. fish was caught in the harbor just this week..

My friends John, Brad,Chuck, and I all fished the Ludington Offshore Classic..We didn't win any cash or prizes but we showed up and had a good time. My friend Sean Mc Donald won the Pro division with his crew on Katch Me and a $8000 check..WOW great job Sean and crew.. Sean has won quite a few tournaments but this is the biggest award. He is wearing the King Crown for Ludington Charter boats.. Pole Dancer( that's our crew) came in 40th. for big fish at 22 lbs out of 105 entries.. Big Fish was tied at 29.9 lbs 1st. and 2nd had to split the money. Really what is great is 39 fish weight in over 22 lb. HUGE FISH is the theme for this year. Other notable fish were 2, 31 and 31.7 lb. Kings out of Manistee a 27.25 lb. Lake Trout out of Manistee, also a 35 lb. King from lake Michigan up Garden Peninsula, Delta County UP. I'm sure there are others that I haven't herd about too.

I was out in my 165 FM Lowe we call The Minnow and I had 4 kings to the boat between 18-24 lbs yesterday a.m. and 3 skippers we were 7 for 7 with 6 rods out in 4 hours..Those are the largest fish I've boated in my small craft. The waves were nice 1-3 footers and I picked up my handyman/ electrician Jim and went for a boat ride and it turned out very well..

I had some Trout Trips the last couple weeks. The water has remained low and clear even though we have had some showers it really hasn't piled up in the rain gage. The fishing has been average with the low clear water for us day time fishermen.The Trout have been hitting hoppers, ants and stimulator's also a few on nymphs and streamers. The night time guys mousing have been doing well and that goes hand and hand with the high canoe traffic, low clear water and bright sunny days. That will change as soon as we get a good heavy rain. Then I'll be in business scouting the lower river for Kings and Pike with hardware and flies. I could go casting down there now but we need a little more stain and a bunch more fish to be worth sniffing around..

Went out dirt biking after our good showers and had a few puddles around and everything was still good wet and cool. Just the way I like it. Hot sweaty,dirty, dusty no thanks..I pick my days I'm going to hit the trails just like when I ride snowmobiles. My brother, Jeff and I had a great ride putting on 80 or so miles..

Summer Fun

July 16th. 2013

Hi All

Summer is here!! It's 90 + deg. today and feels much hotter with the sun and humidity..I have been Smallmouth fishing with a friend and client Pete Hodgman the last couple days. Pete had a new boat built very similar to my power drifter by Headwater Boats..The hull is the exact same the inside is set up a little diffrent..Pete specilizes in Smallmouth and Carp flyfishing and guides Grand Travers Bay and Huron River down state goldenbonefish.com..If you want to get into some great warm water fishing he's got them diled in. I tied on 2 of his streamer patterns and caught 2 smallies at a time. I noticed almost every Smallmouth had another smallie chasing it while hooked up. The fish behind was looking for scraps so I gave them a scrap..hehe..It was a roaster both days on the water 85 -90 deg and full sun. Thank god for sunblock..

I had some Trout trips last week I took out Steve and Pete E.. There trip was timed perfectly with the weather. We had a 1.5" of rain the day before and they like to throw streamers. The fish were very happy about the fresh water and they had a good bite and chase with a little color with the extra flow. They landed 7 Brown Trout 12"-16" and had a 24" and a 20" on and both came unbuttoned..2 days later the bite was lack lustered for clients Tim and Ryan we tried streamers for half the day and then switched to dries and nymphing for the rest of the day and boated a Largemouth Bass on a streamer lost another 20" Brown on a streamer and landed 4 or 5 Browns on dries. Both days the weather was great but on Pete and Steve's trip we had clouds 1/2 the day which helps a bunch..

The rest of this week will be spent scouting on the big lake for the upcomming tournaments. The Ludington Offshore Classic is this weekend. I fish aboard Pole Dancer. 2 other friends fish it as well Dew Crew and Katch Me..It will be fun. We caught a few fish on Saturday scouting with the Dew Crew but failed to find any real honey hole. Some decient fishing is setting up offshore in  400 foot of water. Fish up north around Manistee and Frankfort have been big big. Reports of a 27.25 lb. Laker was caught last week and a 31 lb. King this week..Lots of Kings in the 24-26 lb. catagory have been caught out of Ludington. Looks like a good year for big fish shaping up.

Thanks for reading
Tight Lines
Clint

Lake St. Clare Musky Trip

June 23, 2013

Hi All

I had another great visit to the East side of Detroit in St. Clare Shores..Thanks to Robert James and family for letting me hang out with your family. Robert is a old friend I worked with from Wallside Windows. I'll be celebrating my 10 year anniversary here at the Red Moose Lodge on October 15th. and also 10 year of getting out of that line of work. I also was hanging out with Tom and Brett another couple guys I worked with down there.

On Tuesday I met up with Tim and Nick ( father & son) a couple of client's I have been fishing with for many years. Tim is a avid Musky fishing guy. So when I asked him if he wanted to go it didn't take long to get a "yes" back. It sound's like he's in for next year as well. Tim and Nick are Cubs fans as well. So we went to a Tigers game vs Baltimore. A friend Brett met us at the park and joined us for the game. Tim and Nick were impressed with the stadium. It had many better features than there Cubs ball park, nice cup holders,big screan scoreboard and over all just a way nicer ballpark. The Tigers lost but that's life sometimes they win sometimes they loose..They lost the series against Baltimore and finally fired Valverdie, he has been a aweful closer as of late for the Tigers, good ridence..

On Wednesday I met up with my dad and Tim & Nick for our Musky trip. The fishing was slower than we would have liked but I had a feeling it would be. Last year it was hot and the water was way warmer and that in turn fires up top water action for the Muskys. The cooler water had them feeding down deep and a slower bite.The 3-4 days of East and North East winds NEVER help. North cools the water and East puts a back spin on it. Prevaling winds are West and South West are best winds for warmer water..

We landed 4 Musky so we all got our hands on one and we also landed 2 Smallies and a Walleye. Captain Craig and first mate Gary of Heatwave Charters did a great job but the bad fishing weather had us beat. Super sunny as well which is unusual for a NE and E wind those usually have a big Low pressure and bring a rain with them. It was a bueatiful 3 days to be out on the water not to choppy and sunny..

On Thursday and Friday I went out on Tom's new boat a 2003 18' Boston Whaler to do some fly casting. Tom and Robert stuck with what was working soft plastics on the bottom bounce. I kept whaling away with flies and lures and got a few Smallies but no Musky or Pike which is what I was throwing for. With all the wacky wind had the Smallies glued to the bottom 2 feet of the lake. I had some smallies come up and stare down my huge flies but wouldn't bite. It could have something to do with all the fish flies or "Hex Flies" on the water may have had the fish full of bugs. They had room for a smaller soft plastic in there face but not a big bait like I was hauling out there and stripping back..

On Thursday we went for a cruise on Roberts boat 28' X 10' Forumla to Detroit and back with his family. We made it just past the Canada Bridge and went back. I never knew how many marinas there were from St. Clare Shores to Detroit area, tons of boats down there. The marinas are all full of big boats and small. Maybe I'll try to make it down there again when the weather looks better and the fish flies are all gone and the winds look favorable. I'll go down and fish with Tom and Robert again in July.

For now it's back to a busy lodge and lots of travlers coming up North enjoying there summer vacations in the Baldwin area. Canoe, Kayaking, Atv's and Dirt Bikes are some activities being enjoyed..As for the Trout fishing the Hex hatch is starting and big fish are eating right off the surface at night. Grey Drakes are also getting eaten right before dark as well..Mouse flies are producing almost every night skating a big fly that makes a wake or a gurgle noise produces big fish in the dark..During the day nymphing and dries catch little to medium size Trout with the occasional nice one during the day. The bigger fish are definitly favoring the evening and dark shift.

Till Next Time
Tight Lines
Clint

Saginaw Bay Walleye

June 17th. 2013

Hi All

Been just hanging out around here doing some dirt biking, a little Trout fishing. Went over to Saginaw Bay to fish Walleye with my friends John Robinson, Brad Duptner and Tom and we cleaned there clocks. Hands down the best Walleye fishing in the state. First night was a shake down and we hit 14 keepers and one throw back..The next a.m. we started at 8:30 setting lines and had a 4 man limit of 20 keepers by 1 p.m. and threw back 16+ fish and had a bunch of other hookups of missing or half chewed worms..Only one off species, 6 lb. catfish was caught. no Sheepheads,Bass,Pike or Perch...We'll have to make it back over there..Whata fishery 2 hours away..

The rest of this week is down state Detroit area Musky fishing and a Tiger game vs Baltimore on Tuesday..Musky fishing I'm going out trolling with Heatwave Charters and then 2 days of throwing BIG flies Eli Berant of Great Lakes Fly tied up for me for Musky and Pike..Can't wait to try his flies..Wish me luck..I'll post next week some Musky pictures from LSC..

Tight Lines
Clint