The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.
Summer_doug on Jan 16, 2018January 16th, 2018, 11:45 pm EST
As a group of four, we spent the better part of the day swinging streamers and nymphing at the end of the flies-only section of the Pere Marquette.
The day started with temperatures in the single digits and climbed to a high of 21. The resulting warmth of the previous few days cleared out a lot of shelf ice and we witnessed loosening anchor ice; however, we had to battle ice build up the entire day resulting in one broken rod tip (my own when I was too careless).
The loosing anchor ice resulted in a few hits and landing ice trout, but no actual trout were caught. One fish was hooked by a friend using an egg pattern, but was lost almost immediately. The same friend sighted a steelhead, but some disagreement existed in the group. All in all, there were nibbles but the fish were sluggish. (So were we so I can't blame them!)
For two of the four of us, this was not only the first winter fishing experience, but also their first time fly fishing. The casts were looking sharp and it was one of the newbies who hooked the only fish of the day. Thankfully, they want to go again, but I think we will wait until Spring.
Partsman on Jan 17, 2018January 17th, 2018, 2:21 am EST
Doug, thanks for report and pics, I had hoped to do some fishing this winter, but its been way to cold for this old man! I used to steelhead fish all winter thru may usaually the lower ausable or the Muskegon below croton dam, but I will wait to things warm up a tad.