Fishing Report 9/2/23
September 2, 2023 Northern Angler Fishing Report
It is September and I am wondering, where did the summer go? What a whirlwind few months. The shop has been busy and we have been getting the shop ready for our fall migratory fish season and chasing trout. The northwoods finally received some much needed rain over the past couple of weeks and we could still use more. It was a dry summer and with the Canadian wildfires we are starting to see some of the trees change color a bit early. I floated the Upper Manistee today with a client from Australia and it felt like mid September with a chili morning and some of the leaves taking on their fall colors. The trout were happy and we had a fine day fishing dry flies. While I love fall, it appears that we have some warm days ahead that will still feel like August in the short range forecast.
Upper Manistee Trout Fishing
Trout fishing has been picking up a bit with water temperatures in the upper 50’s and an assortment of bugs around for the trout to forage on while they get ready for their fall spawning season. Flying ants, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles have been working well and in the afternoons and early evenings we are seeing a smattering of Isonychias, blue winged olives, and spruce moths. Rubber legged patterns, fished with a twitch have been producing bites. Most days we don’t see another angler and it is such a pleasant time of year to catch the tail end of trout season for us before we really start targeting migratory fish. No need to worry about water temperatures and fishing super early or super late into the evening. Small streamers have also been fun to get the fish active when they are not looking up,
Boardman River
The Boardman has been fishing well with terrestrials, small streamers, nymphs and soft hackles. The consistency of this river is pretty amazing. Water temperatures have been conducive to fishing all last month and should remain the same until the upper reaches close on the last Saturday in September.
Lower Manistee
The lower Manistee below Tippy has a fishable number of Kings and more rain and wind will help drive that run over the next several weeks. The reports from Lake Michigan are good as far as the number of Kings and Cohos, so we should have a good fall steelhead season in the making.
Betsie River
The Betsie River is seeing more salmon show up daily and this is a fun time to get out on the river and battle a large fish in a small stream. One of the best wild runs of salmon we have in the area and although it does get crazy busy, there are still places you can explore and get away from the crowds.