1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing
›
3. Shiawassee River (Michigan)

I hear the Shiawassee between Linden and Byron is flyfish-able. A 20 year old map book I have says there are panfish and pike in there but no trout. Has anyone here fished it in that area ????

Brian314, I live about 2 mi. from the Shiawassee near Bancroft. I don't know much about the Linden to Byron stretch, from Bancroft to Vernon is a nice looking piece of water. There are pike, smallmouth, rockbass, lots of redhorse suckers and of course carp. Im becoming increasingly interested in the smallmouth fishing. Shiawassee county is doing a really good job cleaning up the river and improving the local parks. Check out Shiatown park, used to be a dam there but know anymore. Its a nice float down threw there.
Mike.

Mike, my dad, one of the old schoolers, uses to snag redhorse in the spring in Tennessee. He'd dredge them in cornmeal and cook them up. Delicious.

Waded and fished the Shiawassee w a friend by Vernon. We each took a few smallmouth. The water was low and clear that time of the year. Thinking if the water was up a little it might have been better.

I think wading for river smallmouth is a hidden gem in Michigan.

Lots of work going on the Shiawassee, the dam in corunna has been removed and a rapids is being created for the kayak and canoe folks. But more importantly this means migratory fish or fish the spawn in streams from the great lakes aka Saginaw Bay have a very clear shot upstream to just about anywhere they want to go. A 29 inch walleye was caught 2 years ago at shiatown, and I know a person who is now catching walleye reliabley near Bancroft. The one last big hurdle is the dam at Cheasing, but I think fish can get by that. Many years ago salmon were making there way up to downtown flint, when I worked at Chevy in the hole you could watch them hanging around in that area of the river. Crazy stuff, but still pretty cool.
Mike

Thanks for the info guys !!!
That 20 yro book I was talking about : Flyfisher's Guide to Michigan (John Osborn) was updated less than a year ago and I just got a copy from Amazon - I highly recommend it if you're looking to fish in newunfamiliar streams. I will check out Shiatown etc...this spring ! :-)
PS - have been tying SMB streamers for a week now, can't wait to try 'em !!

Interesting, I bought Flyfisher's Guide To Michigan by Jim Bedford about ten years ago. I made an old school paper bag book cover for it because I knew how much I'd be using it for reference.

It's all about trout/salmon/steelhead rivers in Michigan.

Yes, that was the older one I had - the newer one (author Jon Osborn) is a completely new book w plenty of full color maps and updated info. I actually threw the old one out....LOL
(no disrespect intended to Mr.Bedford).
:-) Brian