Manistee River Fishing Report
I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year. Welcome to 2015!
Are you on the hunt for that New Year’s steelhead? You’re not going to catch it sitting on the couch and thinking about fishing. Get out and break the New Year in right, with a Manistee steelhead! The Manistee is a wonderful place to be in January. It is typically a pretty quiet time of the year as far as traffic, but one of the prettiest places to find winter steelhead. The fishing in the winter months can be just as good as during the peak times. Yes, the weather can be brutal, but by watching weather systems and planning your fishing around warm ups, you can get it done.
A steelhead’s metabolism slows down this time of the year, so we try to do the same as in how we fish and what types of water we fish. Float fishing is the way of the winter for us. Whether it’s with a centerpin, fly rod or spinning gear, this time of year fishing a float is the most productive way to get it done. Fishing a float enables you to slow your offering down whether it is a trout bead, yarn fly, spawn bag, jig, or wax worm. It also lets you fish over the top of woody debris in slow current seams that the steelhead live in through the winter months. They get lazy and as an angler you have to slow things down. They are here and can be caught; it’s just a little different game. No reason to get out at the crack of dawn, let the sun come up and air temperatures start to rise. Most days the best bite is from late morning to early afternoon anyways.
If you are looking for something different to do or a new winter hobby, I think you would enjoy winter steelheading on the Big Manistee. We fish out of an enclosed and heated boat this time of the year to help your day be more enjoyable while fishing one of Michigan’s premier steelhead rivers. The fishing on the Manistee, like every other river in the area has been a game of patience so far this winter, due to high dirty water and water temperatures cooling a lot quicker than most years. We are still getting them, but it has taken a little more work, and you have to keep your head in the game. Things have started to settle down and get back to normal. So get out and enjoy one of the things that a Michigan winter has to offer. Bent sticks and tight strings.
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