As I’m writing this, we’re finally getting the much-needed rain we need on the Pere Marquette River. Rain is a big deal for our steelhead and salmon rivers because the rain and the winds turn the Great Lakes over. These weather patterns are the recipe that brings fish into our rivers to spawn. Without higher-river levels, fish come in slowly and become much harder to catch. Especially steelhead, they are very spooky in low, clear water situations. Hopefully, by the time you’re reading this report, we have received some rain to bring up the rivers, and the king salmon are running. Look for the salmon season to be good through first part of October. Usually you will find salmon around gravel areas and in the deeper pools and runs. For flies, try streamers in colors and movements that imitate a lure in which a lot of anglers get these fish on. Or try giant yarn egg patterns to imitate skein. Salmon love a messy, sticky gob of eggs, so this method with giant egg flies works well slowly presented off the bottom under a strike indicator.
As the salmon start to fade into late September, steelhead, my favorite fish of all time starts to enter the Pere Marquette River to eat the eggs the king salmon have left behind. These migratory rainbow trout live out in Lake Michigan and start to run the rivers to gorge on salmon eggs, filling their bellies for winter and come spring they spawn and then head back out to the lake. Steelhead is one of the hardest fighting game fish in the world. To me they are one of the best river fish because they can be pursued with so many different tactics and techniques not only in fly fishing but also in conventional fishing. The one thing that makes these fish so special to me in the Pere Marquette River is they naturally spawn and are wild fish.
I will confess it makes me very angry when I see anglers dragging stringers of Pere Marquette steelhead around. The fishing pressure is at an all-time high no matter where we go on the river. Anglers should start thinking about the long-term resource. The DNR just doesn’t have the funds anymore to re-stock fish when we run out. So remember please practice catch and release. We can make a difference in the long run. Be sure to visit www.outfittersnorth.com for weekly up-to-date reports on river conditions and tactics.
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