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> A Float Down the Manistee and a little extra...

Oldredbarn	June 13th, 2017, 10:05 am
Novi, MI Posts: 2608	June 3rd on the Manistee
	"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Crepuscular	June 13th, 2017, 10:30 am
Boiling Springs, PA Posts: 923	nice. so are all those wild fish or do they stock the Manistee?
Oldredbarn	June 13th, 2017, 10:38 am
Novi, MI Posts: 2608	June 4th we floated again...We fished down the river targeting good spots and catching fish. We paused for lunch and decided to play "Nods" from then on out... Each guy gets a turn at a rising fish...We go head hunting...Stopping at nice feeders only. We hear this baritone rise and saw it moving water and it was my turn up to bat. I sat my Iso spinner down in the bubble stream above the fish and we were off to the races! He basically ran every where he could with me making attempts to keep him out of the brush. I had to stand up in the boat as the fish ran to hide under it. Twice I had it alongside only to have it run again when it saw the boat. Finally I pulled the fish back towards the rear of the boat and lifted my arm up and the fish surfaced, all 22"+ of it, only to have it see the boat, me, and the net, and it shook its head no! and spit out my fly! We stood there stunned and I let out a shout, "Nooooooo!!!!! It was wonderful really. All I missed was the grip and grin... That evening was beyond belief beautiful. I sat in the back of the boat as we drifted along with me thinking of and thanking my grandfather for showing me the woods. We had a partial moon, a few puff clouds, and a pleasant temp...We had a few different species of frogs singing to us. We had a Barred Owl fly over the rive ahead of us and started to call..."Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all" and Eddie called back. A few bends down we heard the pair "caterwauling" with each other...Loudly. It sounded like they were fighting. It was an evening I won't soon forget. I could of floated all night. As it was I had to drive us home after and we rolled into the yard around 4:00am. I used to be able to do that stuff standing on my hands, but now I will admit it was a tad rough...I slept like a rock!
	"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Oldredbarn	June 13th, 2017, 10:41 am
Novi, MI Posts: 2608	Eric...They are wild fish. If I can ever tempt you away from your PA trout...You would love it here...Special guide on a special river...It has you written all over it, sir... Spence
	"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Jmd123	June 13th, 2017, 11:33 am
Oscoda, MI Posts: 2611	Very nice Spence! Especially love that big brookie, but they're all beautiful. Good birding too, you can't beat that! Meanwhile, I sit here watching the trees in my backyard whip around...gonna wait until this evening to see if it calms down. We just had a really good soaker too, 1-2" last night, good thing as my grass is turning brown. See many wildflowers while drifting? Jonathon
	No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
TimCat	June 13th, 2017, 11:55 am
Alanson, MI Posts: 121	Whoah! Nice fish, but you got to chat it up with Joe Humphreys too? Looks like you had a nice outing. Cheers
	"If I'm not going to catch anything, then I 'd rather not catch anything on flies" - Bob Lawless
Oldredbarn	June 13th, 2017, 12:22 pm
Novi, MI Posts: 2608	Brandon. The Humphrey's pick was from mid-May at my club's annual banquet. He was our guest speaker. Spence
	"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Partsman	June 13th, 2017, 1:35 pm
bancroft michigan Posts: 420	Thanks for the beautiful pics and wonderful description of your trip, I'm feeling that same age thing. Mike.
Martinlf	June 19th, 2017, 2:52 am
Moderator Palmyra PA Posts: 3233	Nice work, Spence. Beautiful pics and fish.
	"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'" --Fred Chappell
TNEAL	June 23rd, 2017, 10:20 am
GRAYLING. MICHIGAN Posts: 278	nice pics; nice trip. Spence, you sure you didn't photo that same fish twice?
Oldredbarn	June 24th, 2017, 11:40 am
Novi, MI Posts: 2608	Tim...You know, I can't really tell. One is definitely clearer...I caught two fish rather close to each other and one seemed a tad larger than the other, but those could be the same fish? Or its twin ;). Went further downstream, below Croton Dan, with Kevin Feenstra last Monday. I didn't catch any monsters, but we caught fish all day save for a little lull before we stopped for lunch. Most of the day was trout, but we fished for smallies as well. I had never been down below Croton. Big water down that way. An interesting fishery. Open 40+ miles from Lake Michigan to the dam and it gets just about anything in it...We saw Gar Pike, there is Pike, Steelies and Salmon from Fall-Spring. Perch and walleye runs...Up that way it is mostly spawning gravel. Had a great time...My head is spinning a bit with some "new" helpful stuff I learned. Also...Great watching down from the boat when fishing for small mouth. You can really watch the action of the fly and the fish as it chases it. It was cool tossing the streamer up into dark places and watch as it was attacked! Also interesting how other small mouth will follow when another fish is hooked and fighting. Would like to hear from Paul Roberts along these lines...Was told that the hooked fish sometimes will cough up its meal and they follow to snag it, but there seemed like something else was going on there. As you know I'm fond of dry fly fishing, but the visual of watching the whole process from the boat was great. Sometimes they smashed it, and at other times they would pursue and stop...Close to hopper fishing out west when you can spot the fish and cast to them... Any way... Spence
	"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Roguerat	June 24th, 2017, 12:33 pm
Posts: 472	Spence, Good to hear you were near the 'west coast' of MI, on my second-favorite stream no less (after the Rogue, of course...). I've spent a fair amount time 'trout driving' the roads and 2-tracks of the stretch you were on, looking for DNR accesses and wadeable water...lots of these spots to get in to fish, then out to drive to the next one minutes away. You're spot-on saying its big water and a really varied fishery. We usually hit the Smallies by mid-July when the hatches are pretty much done, raking the rock piles south and west of Newaygo with poppers and divers, whatever they'll hit. If you're ever on the 'Mo again keep an eye out for a whiskered character flogging the water...I'm prone to fish Mondays since I figure most everybody else should be working or doing something else! Tight lines, and again, good to hear you were out and about 'over here'! Roguerat "Less is more...' Ludwig Mies Vande Rohe

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