5/26/23 Fishing Report
As May is drawing to a close, the sulphur’s, mahoganies and caddis are all on the menu for the trout in the Upper Manistee River. The warm days have been great for afternoon into early evening fishing with fish rising to caddis starting in the early afternoons then progressing to sulphurs in the gravel sections and then as evening progresses, the mahoganies are going. Look for a spinner fall in the tail outs below the riffles and runs. Size 16 and 18 Sulphur patterns, rusty drakes patterns and tan caddis seem to be working the best. There are stoneflies popping off fairly regularly each day too. May is going out in style with some incredible weather to close out the month and kick off the ultimate mayfly month of June!
Caddis and some suphurs are going on the Boardman River as well. Nymphing and swinging soft hackles is very productive when you don’t see bugs or rising fish. Skunks and twitchy type streamers with rubber legs are fooling some nice fish this week.
Smallmouth fishing was inconsistent this week with some fish hitting beds and some still in a pre-spawn mode, depending on the water. Over all action was good, just some of the fish are in transition. The blue gills and rock bass are starting to look up and we have had some solid action this week on Boogle Bugs and similar popper and slider type patterns. Todd’s wiggle minnow fished with an intermediate tip were the absolute ticket on a couple occasions this week.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Get out and fish! June 3rd is the Cheese Cup and we are so excited for some great silent auction items from local restaurants, fishing gear, and we are going to have a very special sponsor which we will announce next week, so stay tuned! Thanks for taking the time to check out our fishing report and we hope to see you in the shop soon!