T he Pere Marquette River is fishing well for steelhead. With a really cold winter and spring, the steelhead run was off to a slow start all over the state. You can find steelhead this time of year in pocket water along spawning areas. The key this month is cover a lot of water so stripping streamers can become a very effective way to target not only migratory steelhead in late spring. It’s also a great way to hook native browns and rainbows, as they will become very active when water temperatures warm. Trout target the millions of wild salmon fry that swim in the shallows, these become a key food source in the month of May. Try fishing them with a slow strip or swing on a sink-tip line for jolting strikes and trophy fish.
Towards the end of the month, we should start to see some great dry fly fishing for trout. Hendrickson’s, sulphurs and possibly even some gray drakes will start hatching as the weather warms. Key times to target trout feeding on these bugs will be early morning and evening. The month of May has a lot to offer a fly angler on the Pere Marquette. From steelhead to trout it’s a great time of year.