June is dry fly time! The sulfurs, the mahoganies, the gray, brown, and isolated green drakes will start to fire on northern Michigan rivers and lakes along with isonychias. This month also has the hex hatch, the largest of Michigan mayflies. Time to start hunting the risers. Most of these hatches run into the evening and well into the night so use caution when wading or boating after dark, please! Know your put-in and take-out. Tell someone where you will be or at least a location to concentrate the search efforts on if you don’t arrive back the next day! Bring an extra headlamp etc… These evening hatches can bring up the big ones, just be safe in the pursuit.
This month is also a great time of year to get in on the panfish action look for panfish of all types to load into the shallows. Poppers, spiders, slow sink girdle bugs and buggers are all great choices. It’s a great time of year to get a young one involved in fishing especially for feisty panfish. You can easily hit a local lake, get in on the evening rise and make a kids day in the process.
Both East and West Grand Traverse Bays have become famous for shallow water fly fishing for smallmouth bass and carp. Another great way to kill a few hours outside of hatch time. It may pay to bring an 8 wt along with you if you’re in the area. There are miles of shoreline to wade for both carp and bass. Small minnow imitations and crayfish patterns are about all you need, waders optional! Mornings will be better with a lot less boat and beach going traffic. Pick your poison this month. There’s a lot going on. Be safe and have fun!