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3. Spring Fever 2018

This doesn't warrant its own thread, but I am making one nonetheless. I am incredibly anxious to hit the water here in Michigan, but a tight schedule has me currently poring over river reports and living vicariously through others.

I hope everyone enjoys the changing weather and that you find plenty of fish in gorgeous habitats.

On a side note, I have completed two lightweight fiberglass rods and am working quickly on a third graphite two-weight. Trying to get ready for those rising trout!

summer doug, I went up Saturday, wanted to camp at the Pine river campground but it was still closed. So over to Rose lake state game area and camped and fished till Tuesday. It was cold Saturday and sunday, water temp was 45 degrees in the rifle and a nearby creek, lots of water but fishable. further down river not so doable for my older legs. The pine was fairly clear up by the campground, still kind of high and mid forties for water temp, even on Tuesday. Mother nature really rearranged some things here. I only got one brown on the creek in the state game area, but had some much needed down time for my sanity. Hopefully some warm rain, and warmer temps will help out.

Mike.

Michigander report-

Doug and Mike (and any other MI fly angler still in recovery from winter in April, ice-storms and all)

I was able to get on the Rogue this past Monday, the bigger water below the dam; 3 small Rainbows for the 3 hours out. LOTS of drop-back Steelhead in the river which I hoped I wouldn't tangle with given the 4 wt and Caddis dries I was using. The Rogue was low, 25th percentile or so which is weird because the Muskegon is still fairly high and pushing near 3,400 cfs at Croton.

Temps in the 80's now will kick-start the real hatches...and I'm hoping to be on the water at least every Monday, easier said than done.

tight lines, all,

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Hey Mike, was wondering how you did. Yeah, I figured the water was just gonna be high and cold everywhere. For example, the lower Au Sable is up to the culverts at Three Pipes, which it is usually 1-2 feet below. Saw the very first wildflowers coming up, but they are only about 1-1/2" tall, tiny little white, blue, and purple liverleaf flowers (Hepatica americana & H. acutiloba). Marsh marigolds and bloodroot aren't even up yet, alders are barely starting to tassel...so things are happening pretty slowly around here. We do have three species of frogs calling now (spring peepers, wood frogs, and northern leopard frogs) and I kicked up a couple of wood ducks on my hike yesterday. But walking along the lower Au Sable and through Clark's Marsh, I couldn't see a single fish. Water clarity was pretty good, too.

Still getting there...I plan on commencing my trout fishing any day now, just need a halfway decent day without too much wind (which has been pretty strong around here lately, another reason I haven't made it out yet). Hennies and Red Quills any day now...

Tight lines guys!

Jonathon

P.S. I was supposed to go trolling for lakers again last night with my boss, but the winds were 20-30 mph...

Hey Rogue, good job, you got your first three fish of the season!

"LOTS of drop-back Steelhead in the river which I hoped I wouldn't tangle with given the 4 wt and Caddis dries I was using."

I often encounter steelhead in the Pine River at this time of year (though this year I think I can expect to be seeing them until June!) and I am always armed with my 7 1/2' 3-weight. I actually do throw flies at them sometimes, pretty much with the expectation that it will be a brief and spectacular fight, ending with a loud SNAP...guess if I had my 9' 8-weight I would stand a better chance, but that's waaaay too long of a rod for the Pine!

Jonathon

Jonathon-

Yeah, 3 fish but they were 8-10" and likely planted last year; still put a nice bend in the 4 wt and got my juices flowing for coming attractions!

I've seen Steel in the waters hereabouts into June although their numbers dwindle as they make their way back downriver. That's got to be a journey in itself, over the lowhead dams and all then the long swim out to Grand Haven and the Big Lake.
As an aside I'm becoming more and more intrigued with Trout Spey and want to buy a blank and wrap my own long 3 wt, see if I can hit the now-unreachable middle of the Muskegon...the fish are there and I've seen them rise, just can't huck a double-haul out to them. That and an eroding rotator cuff with its attendant pain have me looking at Spey a lot, lot more.

Yet another aside, I'm on a roll here...

A couple years back I met John Bueter while in Baldwin, MI; I was throwing a tennis ball for his dog Belle and told her "not much more of this, my rotator cuff can't take it'. John overheard the conversation and took a couple minutes to pull a rod out (a nice Temple Fork 5 wt, at that!), place a Hula Hoop at a decent distance and proceeded to give me a casting lesson that tucked my elbow to my side and reduced shoulder movement...not as
much of the upper arm involved. John's an FFF certified Casting Instructor and I took his lesson to heart, trying to preserve what's left of my shoulder. An all around Good Guy, we stay at his Resort every Spring and Fall and hit the PM and Big Man...



Back to work, now

Roguerat

'Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

I've been lucky in that my arms/shoulders work fairly well. My problems are typically in my back and my neck. In fact, back in 2012 I was having the most horrible pains in both of them right before the season opener, which pissed me off royally because it was too painful to tie flies! Then, on the second day of the season, I decided screw it, I am just going to fight my way though the pain and fish anyway! Well, a funny thing happened...once I started fishing, the pain went away! Don't know if it was the motions I was doing, or the fact that I was focusing on a beautiful little trout stream that had active hatches going on...but I ended up catching ten fish that day, including a couple of nice 10-11" brookies.

Fly fishing as physical therapy? I know it works as a mood-booster (unless you have a terrible day!) because there are five separate things about fly fishing that enhance the release of serotonin in your brain: fresh air, sunshine, exercise, rhythmic motion (that's why rocking chairs are so popular!), and being near water (negative ions). No wonder I love it so much! It also turned out that there is a bacterium in soil that produces a natural anti-depressant, which is why gardening is so enjoyable!

Hell, just being OUTSIDE after this awful long winter is pure joy!

Jonathon

I love a good rocking chair, but I never really thought about why. This is quickly becoming my favorite forum to consort.

Best of both worlds-

A rocker-recliner, oversized and it'll fit me and the spoiled Boxer-Lab comfortably...

I tried sitting in it and tie at a home-brewed laptop tying bench but it was too awkward (no, the mutt wasn't there too).

Moving water is therapeutic, I've got a white-noise thing that (plays?) 'Mountain stream' overnight and it is really, really nice.


Roguerat

"Less is more...'

Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

Oh yeah, nothing like the sounds of water...incredibly soothing and relaxing. One sound I am hearing right now are the frogs, and occasional birdsong. Unfortunately, I also had to put up with a godawful lot of noise pollution today when our yard crew came around with their incredibly loud machines. I suppose I can understand the leaf blowers, though they are so loud that my windows rattle, but they mowed our (almost all still brown) grass!! It's not growing yet, you morons!!! "Well, we have a contract..." Yeah, apparently to waste fuel, pollute the air, and scare the crap out of my cat, not to mention the rattling windows...


Tomorrow I am taking my students to Clark's Marsh for our once-a-semester field trip (there's LOTS more in Field Bio). I warned them to bring boots!!! Last fall one kid wore shorts and flip-flops - needless to say, he wasn't very happy about the water or the prickly-ash!

Jonathon

P.S. Doug, found out about that stuff in a book called "Beyond Prozac", written by an MD about ways besides antidepressant drugs to fight depression, essentially by doing activities that cause serotonin release in your brain. When you exercise and your body heats up, it releases serotonin to dilate the capillaries under your skin to help you shed excess heat. Well, it ends up in your brain, too and makes you happier, which is what folks are really referring to as a "runner's high". No, it's not endorphins like everyone always says. Break your leg, or run a 26-mile marathon and end up pissing blood, and yeah, your endorphins kick in to block the pain, hitting your body's opiate receptors. But not a 5 or 10 k run! That's the serotonin flowing through your arteries making you feel that good. BTW my endorphins don't work for shit - the two times I came close to breaking something I got horribly nauseous (opiates do that to me too) and I could still feel all the pain (and opiates don't work all that well for me, either). Pardon the change of subject from fishing, but I have worked in a few pharmaceutical labs...

I went out Tuesday to a small stocked creek. Water level was fine, but this is my go to creek for stable water flows. Many mid Michigan creeks are in line though.

You ever have one of those days you're all thumbs. My leader had more memory than an elephant, casts were finding trees, almost dropped a fly box. I was lining fish and spooking trout with my steps. It was hard not to, there were little trout everywhere. Move a couple steps to target a nice rise and send a couple small fish racing up the creek. Waders have got a significant leak in left boot seam, which I've tried to fix twice now.

I believe it was grannom caddis coming off the water, at a fairly good rate. I haven't done any fly tying over the winter months and didn't have a good imitation.

Got back to the vehicle and misplaced my keys long enough to get me in a little panic mode.

Didn't wear my hat and furthered the burn on my bald spot from the day before, luckily wasn't too bad. And found my first tick ever on me, of course on my hair.

All that being said, after doing some tying, a trip to cabelas for a back up set of waders, I'm ready to get back out there enjoying it again :).

Plan on hitting northern streams in a couple weeks. I feel these stocked streams early in the year are good practice, brush the webs off and set-up for a great spring/early summer of trout fishing.

It's finally here. Good fishing everyone.

Damn ticks, I sprayed my hat and bandanna with permithin and then sprayed myself with 40 % deet, still had a tick on me! My vet told me Alcona and Shiawassee counties are the two worst for ticks, the one I love to fish in and the other I live in.

Mike

Picked three ticks off myself (none attached) after my walk on Tuesday. Then again, I was kneeling down to take pictures of tiny little wildflowers, so I gave them an invitation and easy access...but yes, they are out. Ran into a few blackflies yesterday at Clark's Marsh too, but it was cool enough to keep their numbers down.

I feel for you Strmanglr, sounds like a downright awful day! If you don't have one of those once in a while you aren't flyfishing enough! I was just looking at a story about a fly-line bird's-nest, complete with a photo of the travesty, that I created for myself one night at the pond...could have held a good-sized robin. And I clearly remember one fateful night in which, thankfully after some good success, I found myself wound up in my loose net, net cord, fly line, and leader like a spiderweb...How the HELL did this happen?? Took me a while to extricate myself too, especially as it was pretty dark by this time. Oh well, it makes those perfect victorious days when you can't miss all the sweeter. At least it sounds like you had both fish and bug action, which is what we all want, so you got that part kicked off at least. Next time will be better (I hope!).

Oh yeah, then there was the time I was waaaaaay up in Klacking Creek on the Rifle looking for beaver ponds and my waders blew out in the crotch...shortly before one of my wading boots lost it's entire sole...I had to slice my waders to let 50 lbs of water out of each leg as I stumbled over gravel, cobble, logs, etc...wishing a helicopter could come rescue me...I posted a story with pics on here back in 2014, I'll try to find it so you guys can have a good belly laugh. It also involves an interaction (not a happy one) about a kayak and a garage door (with photo).

Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny and beautiful, but our trout streams are blown by the latest rain (this morning) with some thunder overnight. So, heading to the Marsh (took the class there yesterday) for some fly-rodding there, and see if the bass and sunfish are awake yet. They're getting bigger as they keep getting thrown back in, and last spring I was pulling 9"+ bluegills out of there...and all it takes is a #10 black Woolly Bugger. LOTS of dragonfly nymphs in there, just scooped some out to show the class yesterday...

Jonathon

Found the link:

http://www.troutnut.com/topic/9127/Oh-boywhat-a-week#46370

Chuckle away boys and girls...

Jonathon