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3. In search of early steelhead I caught my largest LARGEMOUTH BASS of the year - ????????

Here's a wacky one for ya, guys. My search for some decent trout fishing in southeast Michigan continues unabated yet unsuccessful, though this time I can't really say I'm all that unhappy about it. While trying to find some fall run steelies in the Belle River, a designated trout stream according to the MI DNR maps and open year-round for what I can only assume is a steelhead run, I caught a 17" largemouth - my biggest of the year!! (In freaking NOVEMBER no less!) In a pool beneath a culvert, with plenty of fast-flowing water, perfect place for a big bronwnie or steelie to sit and grab nymphs as they go by. I can't say that I am disappointed, exactly, but it was NOT what I was expecting! But, it gets wackier - the next fish was a 7" bluegill! Then I found a dead bass resting on the stream bottom, and shortly after that a 6" GOLDFISH (yes, you heard right, a goldfish) swam past me. After a protracted period of no action, I caught a good 9-10" creek chub in a pool where a tributary joined the main flow, then quit because of darkness.

You know, the chub wasn't all that unexpected, but bass (I could understand a smallie, but a largemouth??), bluegill, and goldfish were species I wasn't expecting to find in designated trout water. I've seen it in Missouri and Georgia but NEVER in Michigan. I am beginning to wonder if there are ANY trout in this part of the world, at least more than a couple of weeks after the hatchery truck arrives...

However, I will take a 17" bass on a fly rod ANY DAY of the year! All fish hit on a #8 Killer Bass Fly (big surprise) in original silver/grey with red dumbell eyes, tied on a steelhead hook.

Just thought you might get a kick out of this.

Jonathon

Hi All
Jonathon, sounds like you had a wonderful time fishing.
I would say the fish are feeding up, for the winter in your area. I have caught all in your post except the Gold fish, where is this spot again.:)

Congratulations
jad

Jon,

We are just messing with ya! There are no trout in southeast Michigan. The DNR is just having some fun with the tourists. We knew where you were heading and we dumped those fish in there just to play with your head. The goldfish is actually my pet and we had a hell-of-a-time getting him back in the goldfish bowl! The bass was a mistake...We didn't know he was there either, and when the goldfish spotted him he jumped right back in to his bowl...I was afraid that the bass might get him, but he was nursing a sore lip and not in the mood to chase him down. That was close!

Spence the "Merry Prankster"...

Spence, I must admit I got a good chuckle out of this. So, what is your goldfish's name? No, wait, you're going to respond like that baseball player, Ichiro Suzuki: "My goldfish has not given me permission to share his (her?) name with you."

Jonathon

P.S. True or false: the chub had a spinal deformity - if you really planted it, you'll know...

Jon,

My gold-fish's name is Goldie. I can't get her to actually come to that name, but hey...She's a fish.

I'm not sure about spinal problems, but a couple of my bluegill have Heron slashes just in front of their dorsal fin. It looks almost like they have been slit with a straight edge. You would think it would have killed them by now but they are one tough fish.

Next time you hook one of them chubs drag them in front of some structure or an under cut bank...I know that's cheating, but you have to get the hook out of them anyways.

I have never been on the Belle...I have a secret spot near my place, but it's a secret. You would need a small rod, it's a skinny stream, and you would have to fish with a blindfold on...There are a few fish that have grown up, but with the stream being so small they have the advantage. They know you are there before you are actually there!

As a smallboy I fished a stream near Marion Michigan. It was within walking distance of my grandma's place. It is the only river where I have fallen in. You cast in a tunnel of tag alders and stream shrubs and if you don't get snagged on your backcast the brookies always co-operated. They never saw a fly since the locals toss worms.

I have caught brooks on that stream that were puking up caddis pupae. They were the darkest brookies I have ever seen and wild as hell! I really can't believe I was trying to fly fish it. It does open up a bit just upstream of the impoundment in Marion. There is a bridge there and a really old relative of my grandmothers use to live there and she would laugh at me and my "get-up". She would load a gob of worms on a hook and drag brooks out every couple evenings for dinner.

Why is it that your relatives call you using your middle name? The old lady would see me at a family reunion and say, "Now Spencer Lee, you know you are welcome to fish "my stream" anytime you wish...The coffee is always on at our place."

Years back I actually saw a DNR report that was concerned with the resident brown trout population in the PM. They were of the opinion that the steelies and salmon were putting some sort of pressure on them. The report said that there were actually more brown trout in my little stream (The Middle Branch of the Muskegon) than in the PM. This may be true but they are not so easy to catch.

I can't remember how I got off on this thread!? I think it's because of the little stream near my house reminds me a bit of fishing the one up near Marion. Sorry!

One last thing about that river up north. My grandfather was born in 1908 and lived on a farm on the west side of 115 before 115 existed. He told me that he and his friends, when they were boys, use to pull huge browns out off "the Creek"...They would wade upstream, in the middle of the night, with kerosene laterns and spears...Lovely, eh!?

Every time I read Schwiebert's, "Portrait of the Pere Marquette" I tear up. There is a part of that wonderful story where some locals come up to their camp and ask about the fishing. It was some guy with a slew of kids and they trick him in to fishing elsewhere...I like to think, though it's not true, that this local could of been my grandfather and my dad and his two brothers...They lived just down 10 aways near Evart.

It's a must read, especially for someone from Michigan, along with Hazen Miller's "The Old Au Sable"...We have such wonderful state forests in Michigan due to the hardships that "homesteaders" went through. They talked them in to trying to farm in land that's only good for Jack Pine. They were dirt poor to begin with and when the depression hit it was over for them. The land ended up in the hands of the state and we benefit from it all now.

Spence

Spence, an acquaintence of mine many years ago told me a story about seeing a "submarine-sized" brown come after a little brookie he had on the line. He said that he later went back to this same spot, caught a little brookie, and stuck it on a big treble hook and used it for bait! He told me the brown was in the 30-inch range, but I don't remember if he actually landed said fish or not. Apparently, however, HE did not land in JAIL for an obviously illegal act. If I remember correctly, he was out west somewhere hiking up in the mountains well away from any kind of regulatory personnel...

While I have not (and WILL not) try this myself, I have made attempts to tie 4"+ streamers that imitate dumb little brookies. Some folks have told me that during Hex hatches, the biggest brownies actually cruise beneath the little guys who are distracted by all of the flies and pick them off while they're not paying attention. I can certainly attest to fish that are NOT paying attention during these hatches as it isn't all that unusual to have them run into my legs! In fact, I think I saw a big fat largemouth doing the same to little bluegills who were feeding on midges in my local lake - in amongst the little rises there was an occasional explosion and much thrashing about. I couldn't get him to hit, even through a popper at him, but I know where he is and I will try him again in the next couple of days. Gotta take advantage of these last few days of nice weather...

Jonathon

P.S. When the hell are we going fishing? And no, you don't have to show me your secret spot... :oD

P.P.S. I fished the Belle River east of Dryden (east from 24) and a couple of miles north of Dryden Road, off a gravel road - I can get you the name if you wish, that largemouth is still in there. Steelhead? Who knows if they come in now or wait until spring?

Jon,

I think I told you about the guide out in Montana in 1995 on the Madison that told me his theory that the larger a brown trout becomes the more like a smallmouth bass he is. Predators are opportunists for sure. There are some great stories about Muskies out in Lake St Clair following pike up from the deep as someone was reeling them in...Wow! Duck eaters...

Spence

You and I maybe sitting in a shanty on the ice soon instead of wetting a fly line.

Spence, you're on - I haven't done enough ice fishing in a long while.

Jonathon