Late September: Return to Kodiak Island in Alaska

Sept 20 (Fri): The trip to Alaska started with rain in Springfield and we followed the rain on our flight path to Dallas. On the second leg of our journey, the skies cleared when we left the state of Texas. The mountainous terrain of New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California could be seen from our jet windows. We landed in Los Angeles before noon at LAX airport. I do not recommend LAX, it was very confusing, overcrowded and difficult to get from one terminal to another with the present layout; the airport has poor signage for directions and getting to other terminals requires the use of bus shuttles, with routes moving on the runway near the planes. Needless to say, we made it out with a four hour layover. The third leg of the journey was uneventful with the mountains north of Juneau covered in snow and glacier filled valleys. We made it to Anchorage under a cloudless sky and had a long enough layover to sit down for dinner. The forth leg of the journey was a hundred mile flight to Kodiak Island on ERA, which is a tube with two propellers. 

The sun was near the waters of the Pacific Ocean when we landed on Kodiak. While we waited for our luggage, Rod called Chris Fiala, the captain of U-Rascal and was told bad weather was moving in overnight and he canceled our deep sea fishing trip.

 Here is the web address to contact Chris (http://www.kodiakislandcharters.com/index.html), if you’re looking for a deep sea fishing adventure while visiting Kodiak.

This was our second year in a row that our deep sea excursion was canceled due to poor weather conditions; no halibut for the dinner table for another year. We checked in to the Best Western near the harbor, found our room and retired for the night.

 

Photo taken by Rod Pennington

Sept 21(Sat): Since the deep sea trip with Chris was canceled, we spent the day in the city of Kodiak. After breakfast at the motel, we took to walking the city and checked out Mack’s; a local outdoor and fishing retailer. The best buy of the trip was the purchase of Stream Trekkers™ cleats for our wading boots, secure foot traction for Rough Creek. 

Kodiak Island Brewery Co.- Photo by Rod Pennington

Then we stopped at Kodiak Island Brewery Company for a pint from the tap, a popular stop for locals. We made our way to Henry’s for lunch, ordering fish (cod) and chips and watched a college football game. After lunch, we walked around St. Paul Harbor to check out the many fish vessels and sea creatures. 

Just below the water line, the star fish populated the rocks around the harbor and several jelly fish could be seen in the water. I sorted some flies and rearranged by fly box. It was 9 PM when we called it a day.

Sept 22 (Sun): The wind became a factor overnight and Dave canceled our flight into the lodge. We found out that morning, a warning went out to the residents of Kodiak, forecasting high winds and ash blown from the Katmai volcano from the northwest. The volcano’s major blast was in 1912 and it covered Kodiak with a foot of ash. The 500 residents left the island and most of the wildlife perished during that event.

You can see the images from this web site from 9/22/2013:

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/130922_g15_vis_katmai_ash_AK_anim.gif

 

100 miles of paved road on the island- photo by Rod Pennington

So, the six (Dave, Rod, Jay, Dick, James and Me) of us with luggage had to make the 36 mile three hour trip to the lodge in a Lexus SUV. We left after ten AM with a few stops on the way. 

Volcanic ash in the air - photo by Rod Pennington

We stopped at the pass, which is nine miles from the lodge. There we could see the haze and smog air from the volcanic ash. There were a few comments made of the air quality. 

Note the road, as good as it gets; Bread Loaf Mt in veiw: photo by Rod Pennington

We made it to the Saltery Lake Lodge at 1:30 PM, Rod and I dropped our gear off in cabin # 5. Within a short time, we had our waders on and made it down to the nearby waters. We walked the familiar trails and paths to the upper hole, where Rod stopped for his first cast and I turned right to fish the waters of the lake cove. 

A short walk to favorite waters: photo by Rod Pennington

The wind did pick up with gust to 20 knots later in the day. The mountains to the north were hazy from the ash. 

Looking at Bread Loaf Mt with some ash in the air: photo by Rod Pennington

I had a close encounter with a beaver, with one passing in front of me to gather saplings for winter food stores. It caught sight of me and slapped its tail on the water to warn others. One of the first salmon I caught was a fish with two lures already in its mouth. My fly did not find flesh but was entangled in the line from the other lures. The salmon did come to hand with a photo to prove the tale. 

Two lures already in the mouth, can you find my fly?

I used sink tip line and the flies came back most of the time covered in aquatic plants. We saw no bears and fished until 6:30 PM and returned to the lodge for dinner. Rod and I managed to catch and bring to hand fourteen silver salmon. We had dinner at 7 PM and met the other guest. 

A fine dinner prepared by chef Rebecca

We had time to catch up with Matt and Geoff our guides for the week while sitting in the comforts of the lodge.R5K9

Very windy conditions... Dave guessed some of the gust exceeded 80 knots.
See the video below: photo and video by Rod Pennington

Sept 23 (Mon): The day was clear with bright blue skies. A high pressure front was moving through, resulting in very high winds. The winds blew through the pass from the north 50-60 knots. The winds would pick up water from the lake and create mini spouts and large water sails which moved rapidly across the lake moving 70 knots. 

This small one-hundred acre lake had three foot waves with white caps most of the day. This made for a tough day of fishing. It is important to use the wind to your advantage, keeping the wind to your back and knowing the best place to be in order to catch salmon. Rod was at the upper hole when a pair of eagles came into view. The eagles flew within 20 yards when they crashed into each other. One of the eagles fell into the river; it appeared dazed and confused. The other eagle spiraled to the ground near Rod. They both regained their composer and flew off.

I continued to have fun with the beavers; they made many passes in front of me. They have become less weary of my presence. I did take the opportunity to ambush one of the beavers. I saw him working his way back to the den with a sapling in his mouth. I moved into the grass, waiting for him to appear with a camera in hand. It all worked out great with a short video of my encounter. 

We finished the day at 6 PM and returned to the lodge for dinner. R9K8

Sept 24 (Tues): After breakfast, Rod and Geoff had talked about a trip to Rough Creek in the afternoon. I continued to find a few salmon; most of them had color, which indicated old fish. They may have made the trip from the ocean several weeks ago. Occasionally, I would find a bright silver fish, if a male came to hand; I would harvest it for the trip back to Missouri. Rod and I did go back to the lodge for lunch, to get the word from Geoff. We decided to delay the trip to Rough Creek until the next day. The trip is best when one takes a full day to hike and fish this outstanding stream. So we returned to Saltery Lake and river; Rod took a salmon out of the lower hole and brought it back to the truck, only to find a weasel eating the fleshy gill meat. Rod was impressed how much it ate. I took a floating line 8# to fish this day, the retrieve was left handed; usually not a problem for me. After several catches, I realized how weak I was fighting a salmon with that set up. So, when a salmon nailed the fly and took off for the lodge; it took all my fly line and into the primary backing. So, I decided to let the fish have all my line and reverse the reel. The salmon went up lake and I began to walk to the mouth of Saltery River taking all of the line out of the reel; at least 250 yards. I turned the reel over and started to retrieve the backing and line on the right side. In a very short time I had pressure back on the fish, and finally long line released him. All my fly line back on the reel and now it is on the right side. I took the reel off and tore it apart to change the gearings and the job was complete; it took about thirty minutes. It may sound like a crazy operation, but it proved to be effective. We finished fishing at 6 PM and returned to the lodge for dinner. R2K12

Sept 25 (Wed): It rain off and on throughout the night. The lake did not significantly come up. Geoff, Rod and I decided to go for a hike. We walked across Saltery Lake around the other side and passed the base of Bread Loaf Mountain to the Rough Creek watershed. We had the day to fish and hike upstream two miles. It was about 6.2 miles round trip for the day. I took the opportunity to place some of Sean's ash at a place where I video and record him catching a silver salmon two years ago. We found two eagle feathers on the walk and I place them in the gravel and disperse his ashes over them and then into the stream.

There were a few silver salmon found in the pools and we managed to bring five salmon to hand with a small rainbow and a dolly varden returned to the water. Rough Creek is a place were wild Alaska comes into view, I cannot say enough about the experience and opportunity to have left foot prints in the sand on the banks of this creek. We left the river at 4 PM and returned to Saltery Lake were we finished our last hour of fishing in the lake. Rod and I managed to catch a few more salmon before the end of the day; these were to go into the freezer. Rod had a beaver approach him in the lake; the beaver did not see him since he was carrying a stick back to the den. Rod stood his ground at the lake’s edge and the beaver came within a yard before stopping, slapping the water and swimming away. It was very funny to watch; unfortunately, no video of the incident with the beaver. We managed nine salmon for the day. R3K6

Sept 26 (Thurs): We started the morning in the lower hole of Saltery River. Rod did well taking three silvers right off. I found one right below him and moved mid-stream to another holding spot. Geoff came down a little later to help us out. I hooked another silver salmon but on the initial run it broke the tippet due to the slack line wrapping around the reel handle; it happens. We walked downstream to the next hole (bed springs) where we found three other fishermen. Geoff found a few Dolly Varden, but the stream was uniform and lacked any holding water. It was almost noon and we returned to the lodge. We decided to change rods and fish for Dolly Varden in Lake Creek. There had been little rain fall in the past week and the creek was very low. It was full of sockeye salmon but the Dolly Varden were far and few. Rod caught a few in the lower reaches. 

Rod and I returned to the mouth of the creek where I dispersed more ashes. Rod took the video and the ashes blew out over the lake.

It was almost 3 PM and we finished the day of fishing the lake where we found more silvers salmon and fished until 6 pm. R6K7

Sept 27 (Fri): The rain fell most of the night. The morning before sunrise had a patch of clear sky with more rain to follow. After, breakfast, I decided to stick with the lake the entire day. This was the first day I wore a raincoat (I always pack one just in case). By mid-morning the wind picked up blowing 20-30 knots with consistent rain. I favor these days for fishing; some of my best days at Saltery were windy with rain. I started in the lake and stayed there the entire day. Rod and Geoff came across later in the day. Several RV’s came in with float tubes and eight fishermen, probably from town. I found out later in the day they were from Utah, and did not enjoy the weather. The fishing was tough with winds very gusty at times. Rod and I brought to hand seventeen salmon. I finished at 5:30 PM and called it for another year. We returned to the lodge with steak and fried potatoes. The meals were excellent; the rooms were cleaned every day. The accommodations could not have been better. Dave has made several improvements with solar panels, to decrease the dependency on the diesel generator. He is making plans to build another cabin that will be self sufficient for the winter, if there is interest for people to stay late into October for the steelhead run.R6K11

Overall, it was a good week to fish. We totaled 84 salmon. Last year, Rod and I landed 93 and two years ago Bill, Sean, Rod and I landed 123 salmon with 173 dolly varden released. I cannot say enough good things about this place; with outstanding salmon runs, to experience Rough Creek a true Alaskan wilderness adventure that I have cherished in my thoughts and dreams. The lodge is operated with very professionally by Dave and his friendly staff. I want to thank Jay and Dick for sharing the water and enjoyed the stories by James Magoffin, Dave’s father. Huge thanks to Geoff Abramczyk, our guide for the week, for putting up with Rod and me and taking us to Rough Creek. R32K52

  

September: Des first fishing trip

Sept 22, 2013: Jennifer, Desmond and I made a trip to fish. This will be Desmond's first trip to fish. We have practiced and he is willing to give it a try.

Des showing the roll cast before we get a line wet

We had a late start from Springfield and when we arrived, Desmond wanted to check out the plat ground. So, after thirty minutes going down slides and swinging. We were ready to find some water to fish. Jenn had to get some photos before we started.

Des did a good on the water and had a good time. We fished for one and a half hours and he brought in two trout. His mom and he actually had dual hook ups and that is the reason for not having a picture of Des with his first trout.

Des waiting patiently for a take

After an hour we went to another spot, and Des caught another trout.

Here is a video of the release, of coarse I missed most of the action by forgetting to start the camera. Way to go Grandpa!

At the end of the fishing adventure, Des had time to play and nothing better than throwing rocks in the water. But be careful!

We finished the day by 1 PM, stopped at the Rocking Chair restaurant on the trip back to Springfield. We made this trip in memory of Sean, this day would have been his birthday. We wanted this day to remember him. Uncle Sean would have been proud of Des and his first trout.

May: Fishing OK and other places

Barron Fork river near Tahlequah OK

May 2, 2013: I was invited and attended the 2013 Small-mouth Rendezvous (SMR) in Tahlequah OK on May 2-3, 2013. 

On Thursday, I meet Jim Knight and Larry Stinnett at the rib crib for lunch. After lunch, I purchased my fishing license and Jim and I took to the back roads to fish Barron Fork a small tributary that flows into the Illinois River near Tahlequah. It was an overcast day with the air temperature in the high forties. Jim said the water was up with the water clear. We managed a few small-mouth, white crappie, line bass and blue-gill. We returned Tahlequah and checked out the facility were the event would be on Friday and Saturday. Later that evening we shared a pot luck at the at a RV camp on the Illinois River. There was a possibility to fish, but the cold rain damped spirits and the river was running high and dirty.

Jim Knight call it a day on the Barron Fork

May 3, 2013: I did not fish this day, instead I attended the SMR and chatted with a few folks. Lezley Chastain had a booth selling and demonstrating alpaca wool. Harvey Ragsdale spent the day tying flies; and the folks from OK. I stayed until 3 PM, before returning to Springfield to visit Jenn and Brent’s new house. I did experience some snow on the trip with enough snow to cover the ground with the roads wet. I did check the water conditions; Bull Shoals tail water 660 ft and the Little Sac at 5 ft; too much water to fish this weekend. I will look to next Friday to get out. 

April: Reflection and Healing

Sean fishing the Eleven Point River above the cave hole

April 2, 2013: It is this day my son, Sean was pronounced dead at St Mary Medical Center in St Louis after a fall at the Apple Store were he worked. His fall resulted in trauma to the brain, which ruptured an artery in the temple region as seen on CAT scan. He did go to surgery, but there was no procedure or surgery operation to reverse the damage.

He had expressed to be an organ donor by signing his driver license and discussions we had around campfires on outings and fishing trips to the Eleven Point River. His lost of life gave others hope by providing his gifts, so others may have a second chance to a better life due to their disease and organ failures. I will miss my son, fishing buddy and friend. Below is a link to his obituary written by his sister, Jenn.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/news-leader/obituary.aspx?pid=164038465

April 10, 2013: This was to be a scouting outing, with quick looks at Swan Creek, Beaver Creek and access points on Bull Shoals Lake. I made many stops to look over the water looking for signs of fish. Swan Creek there were a few boats below the bluff with low water, possible white bass run after sunset. Beaver Creek was at 3 feet and clear. There were a few spawning white bass in fisherman’s nose, the lake level was near the whistle bridge. I was able to fish and take a few white bass before a thunderstorm that was building in the east. At 5 PM the rain came in and I retreated to the Pot Hole to finish the evening. The lake level was at 653 feet with no generation and no wind. I made a pass wading the gravel bar to the three trees. 

A two foot drum taken on a fly

I caught a few more white bass, a short walleye and a chunky drum. I left at 8:30 PM, due to being cold and wet under the raincoat.

Jim Knight and Leonard Brown at Fisherman's Nose on Beaver Creek

April 11, 2013: I fished with Jim Knight and Leonard Brown from Oklahoma; we have met at their club’s event, the Small-mouth Rendezvous over the years in Tahlequah OK. We started out at 2 PM on Beaver Creek. The stream was up approximately a foot at 3.8 feet, it was dingy from the rain the night before. The sun broke out with the air temperatures in the mid-fifties. We started at the boulder hole. We found a few white bass with some fish moving up stream into the pockets. The ospreys were working the water near by with a bald eagle making his presence known. We stayed until 5 PM and moved to the mud slope near Swan Creek. There were a number of fishermen on the opposite shore. A small Clouser seem to work taking eight whites bass with one large female and one small line bass. We made the final move at 7 PM to the Pot Hole. Rod was already in the water when we arrived and reported no fish. There was no generation with a variable wind. There were more fish moving, especially along the western shore. The lake level was 653 with the gravel bar under water. Jim and Leonard decided to return to Springfield. Rod and I made our way to the gravel bar after seeing some white bass demonstrating some spawning activity over it. I managed two more white bass for the evening of fishing.

Jim and Leonard at the Bluff Hole

April 12, 2013: Jim, Leonard and I returned to Beaver Creek and fished it from 2Pm until 6 PM. We saw an eagle overhead flying just over the treetops. The creek dropped six inches after the foot rise. The white bass I expected to find up stream were not found, with the falling water level and cooler temperatures. My question, did they return to the lake? I did find six white bass below the boulders. Jim and Leonard left to return to Springfield. I fished the mud bank for 1.5 hours with limited success taking five white bass and a small blue gill near the walk in access. With the sun disappearing below the hills, I drove to the Pot Hole to fish until 09:30 PM. I managed one crappie and covered the gravel bar to the three trees. There was activity, especially along the west banks. I need to walk and fish that bank in future trips.

The Mud bank looking at the 76/160 Bridge

April 13, 2013: Rod and I shared a ride and fished Bull Shoals. We drove by Powersite Dam and saw no generation and a few people fishing Swan Creek. There was a number of people bank fishing from the dam to Swan Creek in various locations. We started at the mud bank walking up the lake for some distance before retuning fishing our way back to Swan Creek. We caught a few with the fish scattered on the sandy/mud bottom. We caught ten white bass; two walleye (one was short and the other walleye was eighteen inches) and Rod released a carp.

April 14, 2013: Rod and I returned to the mud bank and fished for several hours. There were a number of fishermen near Swan Creek. We covered the water taking five white bass. After sunset, we moved to the Pot Hole and fished it until 9 PM. We caught three more white bass before calling it a night. We watched the moon in the western sky with Jupiter near by. I plan to move to the Little Sac River in the next couple of days to fish for white bass. The whites should be good until Mother’s day. It will depend on the weather, rainfall and rising water.

Rod fishing behind the three trees with rising water in Bull Shoals Lake

April 21, 2013: Rod Pennington and I drove to Bull Shoals to fish the pothole below the dam. There was water coming over the damn from Taneycomo with Table Rock Lake level at 915 ft. The water level in Bull Shoals tail water had been 653 ft. but on this day approached 657 ft. We were unable to fish the places will a normal pool level.  We fished until sunset before moving to Swan Creek.  We went up stream from Shadow Rock park to find the area where the lake and the stream can together. We were able to find a few white bass. The highlight for the night was the beaver. We had a beaver slap his tail in close proximity, which gave us a scared us fright. …Or a statement, what the hell was that. Swan creek was clear a little high probably got a good place to fish during the daylight

John Prugger and Charlie Erickson on the Little Sac River

April 22, 2013: Charlie Erickson, John Prugger and I drove to the Little Sac River to fish for white bass. The Little Sac River was up a half a foot and from the gage reading was at 3.5 feet, a good flow and colored water. Stockton Lake level was 871 ft., which was up two feet from the previous week.  We were able to get three limits white bass; plenty for the club fish fry (I did get a 17 inch walleye around 3 PM that went out with Charlie and John).

Charlie showing off his stringer of white bass

There was a threat of rain with in frequent thunder late in the afternoon.  John and Charlie left before 6 PM to start cleaning fish. I stayed until 7 PM. I drove back to Charlie’s residence to clean fish with John and Charlie and retrieve my walleye. It was a good day to catch fish.

April 23, 2013: it rain throughout the night with my rain gauge reading half an inch. I watched the rain gauges for the Little Sac River and the James River waiting to see if there would be a stream rise. There was a bump for the Little Sac but not enough to deter us from fishing. Connie and Charlie Erickson and I returned to the Little Sac at 1 PM. The day was cold with the air temperature dropping to the low forties. It rained throughout the entire fish trip. Charlie picked up the first white, with Connie showing us how to catch them for the first hour. Connie and Charlie fished for several hours before calling it a day. I stayed until 6 PM to fill my stringer with a limit. This day was hard for me as I thought of Sean and the many times we fished together on the in these waters. 

March: Fly Fishing the Ozarks then on to Michigan

New handicap access addition to Bennett Spring SP

March 7, 2013: Sean and I made plans to fish a long weekend. I met Sean at Bennett Spring State Park a little after 10 AM. We stayed with the dry fly working the waters above the dam in zone 1. The water was up a little with a slight chalky color. The day was sunny with a light breeze blowing downstream. The fishermen were spaced throughout zone 1, with fewer fishermen seen than late winter catch and release days in February. I found a few cooperative trout before noon but found the trout to be finicky, refusing my fly many times. I could get their attention and they would move to the fly only to nose it and turn away. Actually, it was fun watching them size up the fly; I wish to know what it was that turn them off to it. We saw more stone flies and took a photo opportunity. 

The stone fly hatch continues for another week

Sean did much better catching, releasing nine trout to my three with his dry flies. We finished the day below the stone bridge with Sean taking a few out of the discharge flow. We finished at 4 PM; I had return to Springfield for a MTFA meeting that evening with Craig Fuller (MDC) providing the program.

March 8, 2013: We had lunch at Pizza House in Springfield. After lunch, Sean and I drove south and took a look at Beaver Creek below fisherman’s nose and down past the maiden hole. We were checking water levels and watching for signs of shad. There were a few other fishermen downstream close to the state park. After an hour, we released one blue-gill. We retreated to look at Barker Hole and again fished above Swan Creek without a bite. We covered 100 yards of beach and decided to try water farther upstream. There we found a walleye, 21-inch female about an hour before sunset.

21-inch walleye taken out of Bull Shoals

 We covered this water and decided since night fall was near to fish the pot hole on the east side. There was no flow from the power house the time we fished with the lake level 649 ft. Sean picked up a line-bass and I released two rainbow trout for our night fishing. We called it a night of fishing at 9 PM.

March 9, 2013: There was a state MTFA meeting at Bennett Spring SP. The meeting was to start at noon. Sean and I left Springfield at 10 AM. Sean decided to fish zone 1 and had success with the dry fly taking trout when a cloud passed in front of the sun, diminishing the light on the water and allowing the trout to see the fly. The meeting lasted until 1:30 PM, I found Sean still stalking the waters above the dam. We decided to drive to Rolla and fish the blue ribbon waters of the Little Piney River at Lane Spring Federal camp grounds.

Little Piney River - blue ribbon water

The Little Piney is a small stream with gravel bars, eroded banks and down trees to provide cover for wild trout. It is one of three blue ribbons streams in the area: Mill Creek, Spring Creek and Little Piney.

Sean and I split up, Sean started to fish as soon as seeing the stream. I took a walk up stream looking for promising water. It was near sunset, and a few small trout came to the top and were taken with dry flies. I saw one other person up stream of me and soon he retreated and went out of sight. The small streams are places many come to find solitude and we respect other’s space on the water.

Sean walked upstream to find me. Since this was our first trip to this area, we figured it was best to leave before dark. We drove back to Rolla for a meal at Bandana’s BBQ. After dinner, Sean returned to St. Louis and I drove back to Springfield. I did hit rain at Lebanon and it continued to rain to Springfield. I plan to return to the Little Piney again, a fine blue water stream.

March 10, 2013: This was my final day to fish for a long weekend. It rained most of the night with 1.5 inches measured in Springfield. It was after 2 PM when I left for the Pot Hole, the rain had stopped but the forecast was windy and colder into the night. As I was getting ready to fish, a 35 mpr wind blew through followed by dark clouds. There was some generation through the powerhouse with the lake level 650.5 ft. Since there was a current, I decided to fish the pot hole hard. I covered the area above the three trees and worked my way down stream. It was near sunset when I hooked a 23-inch male walleye. Just before that I had decided to try farther down, but that changed with this fine catch. I stayed until 9 PM, without another bite. So it goes… needless to say I was very satisfied with the single fish.

23-inch walleye taken out of Bull Shoals 

My next time to fish will be later this week. I checked the lake levels and Bull Shoals continues to be and is at 650 ft. As the water warms, the shad will move up with white bass and walleye to follow. Good fishing to come.

March 14, 2013: I made another trip to Bull Shoals Lake to look for walleye and white bass. My first stop was Beaver Creek below maiden hole. A normal level for Beaver Creek is three feet according to the USGS web site and it rose 3.5 feet after last weekend’s rain. It was at 3.5 feet; up 0.5 feet from last Friday. I figured a few fish moved up into the holes. The water was clear with the edges muddy due to the westerly wind blowing up stream against the banks. Again, I saw no shad movement with the water possibility too cold. The bite will probably happen after this weekend with the general warm up and more rain predicted for the first of the week. Some fellow stopped to talk while I was on Beaver Creek and he reported white bass taken last week.

Beaver Creek 

At 4:30 PM, I drove to the Pot Hole; very few people fishing at the time. I made a pass through familiar waters before Rod and Keith pulled in. We chatted for a bit, while they geared up for an evening of fishing. They started where I was fishing and I fished below the three trees. A short time later, Ty Ingram drove in with a friend and we talked for a bit. The sun was about to slip behind the hill and the east side of the pot hole was filling up with fishermen with little room to move in that stretch of water.

It was getting near sun set and I took off for Silver Creek hoping to fish with less people and find better fishing. The water in Bull Shoals at dusk was covered in dimple rings made by trout. I manage to take a few with a streamer. Forty minutes later, all activity stopped. 

Released a trout near Silver Creek

It was 8 PM; I made my way back to the Pot Hole. Most of the people had already left. Rod was fishing in front of the three trees when we crossed paths. He reported catching a 13-inch male white bass and Keith picked up a trout. They said no one else caught a fish. A short time later they left and I stayed to fish another hour. The water through the powerhouse completely shut off and the water went flat. I called it quits at 9:30 PM. I did look for the comet and did not see it, hoping for better results in late November.

On to Michigan to fish the Pere Marquette River

Access to the Pere Marquette River

March 24, 2013: My brother (Kirk), his three sons (Trevor, Trent and Turner), Mike, a friend of Trent and me fished the Pere Marquette River (PM) near Walhalla MI. We fished three days for Steelhead trout moving into the stream from Lake Michigan for their annual spring spawn.

The Pere Marquette River was designated a National Wild and Scenic River in July 1978. This river is the longest river without dams or impoundments in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The Pere Marquette was the first stream in the United States to acquire German brown trout in 1884. The stream has return from near disaster from logging operations that clear cut most of the Jack Pines at the turn of the twentieth century, which were sent down the river to mills near Ludington with the lumber rebuilding Chicago. Since designated as a national park, the river has returned to a gentle wandering and flowing stream. There are spawn runs of King Salmon in August and September, Coho (Silver Salmon) later in the fall and steelhead trout in March and April.  There is a healthy population of brown trout year round that can be taken with dry flies during the late spring and summer (note there is a season to creel brown trout).

This area near Walhalla has several accesses. We fished the Maple leaf access and worked our way up to Ackerson’s cabin. On the first day of fishing Kirk caught eleven browns and skippers and lost two Steelhead trout. Trevor lost three Steelhead trout, caught seven browns and skippers. Trent released five small trout (skippers), Turner caught two skippers. Mike had one brown and I released a 16-inch rainbow. There is about a foot of snow on the ground. The stream was clear, normal level and cold. The river flow was 880 cfs with visibility to three feet and the level was 2.5 feet. The sun came out late afternoon, which made wading in the river comfortable. We left at 5 PM, to get a cabin and dine at Emerson Lake Inn.

March 25, 2013: We started at 9:30 AM with the air temperature just above freezing. We drove in at the Ackerson access. The area changed by ten years of tree growth (this area was clear cut in the 1980’s). I started my day with a slip and fall on an icy hill and broke the tip of my 10’ 6# fly rod. I fished with it using 3 out of 4 pieces and struggled to get good cast. I called Kirk at 11 AM and we returned to the Alpine Motel to get another rod. Kirk dropped me off at the Ackerson access and he went back to the Maple leave access. The day was overcast with occasional snow seen in the air. I made my way down stream fishing behind gravel runs and along down trees. I finally took a three brown trout near the island, which proved to be good fishing for others in our party. For the day, Kirk released six brown trout, two skippers, and one steelhead trout (25-inches). Trevor released eleven brown trout, three skippers and had two fish that broke-off. Trent released one brown and had two fish that broke off. Turner had one skipper and Mike released five brown trout. Most of the action was after 5 PM and we fished until 7:30 PM.

 

Turner with 27-inch Steelhead trout

March 26, 2013: The day was overcast with snow flurries throughout the morning. No ice in the guides for the morning of fishing, but it was above freezing with any wind. We made our way to the riverbanks by 8:30 AM. Kirk started at the hangman. Turner and I walked to the Birch tree. I saw a pair of trout on a redd. My approach sent them into deeper water. I went above to the next gravel depression to run the fly through deeper water. An hour later Turner and Kirk, gave it some attention and Turner connected with a 27-inch female Steelhead trout. We finished at 11 AM, packed out of the Alpine Motel and on the road to get back to Battle Creek. For the morning, Kirk released one Steelhead trout and a Brown trout. Trent released a dozen brown trout, one of the brown trout measured nineteen inches. Trevor released four brown trout.

This was a short trip, but it was great to back to the PM. The walking through a foot of snow and trekking the hills wore my knees out; it felt like gravel pellets under the kneecaps. I forgot how strenuous fishing the PM was in years past. I did not hook-up with a Steelhead with a fly rod. The water was cold at 34°F most of the time leaving the trout in deep holes and sluggish. The ideal water temperature is 42-45°F with tea stained water, usually after a rain and slight rise in the river to get these trout active and chasing flies. Hopefully, I will be able to return the waters of the Pere Marquette River in the near future.

For more information and history: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/greatrivers/pm/