Our Services
Currently I’m fishing on the Big Manistee River and will be your guide on this river. Here’s some info about the “The Big Man…” From Tippy Dam to the M-55 Bridge is a designated National Recreation River. There are several river access sites, day use areas and campgrounds located along this section of river. During the Summer, the river is popular with canoers and kayakers. During the Fall, sites such as Suicide Bend and Sawdust Hole are popular with anglers during the salmon season.
When fishing the Manistee River, we commonly go after Chinook, Coho, Skamania, Steelhead and Trout during the fall months. The Big Manistee River is also one of the few rivers in the area where anglers can target Coho Salmon as well as Chinook and Steelhead. Much of the river is between two and six feet deep, but there are many pools up to 15 feet deep and at least one that is 21 feet deep.
What we offer:
Salmon Fishing Trips:
This trip has you fishing for monster salmon from mid-September through mid-October. Here in Michigan, the salmon range in size from 15lbs - 35lbs and occasionally up to 40lbs! Their lengths range from 23” up to 48”. It will take you five to 15 minutes of brute strength and determination to land one!
From fighting these amazing fishing you will need energy to keep going…I make you a hot, homemade shore lunch. I also provide snacks and drinks (NON-ALCOHLIC) to keep you going for the full 8 hours of the best fishing you will ever have.
You can choose to fight with a fly rod or spinning rod. I provide all the training you may need on the rods to get a fish on your line and in the boat. In mid-September while the salmon are just moving up the river, we will use thundersticks and hot-&-tots. During this time we only use spinning rods. As they eventually move on to gravel, we use double flies. At this time you can choose to use either a fly rod or spinner rod.
The Chinook are the largest of the Pacific salmon and have been established in the Great Lakes for more than 50 years. Because they generally prefer cooler temperatures, Chinooks begin their upstream migration in late summer and are usually present in catchable numbers by mid-August. These fish are often called “kings” and with good reason, with anything in excess of 20 pounds being considered a good-size fish. Popular spots to target Chinook in the fall streams along inland streams such as the Manistee (Tippy Dam), Pere Marquette and St. Joseph rivers.
Steelhead Fishing Trips:
This trip has you fishing for amazing Steelhead. They are the acrobats of the fish. Once you fight one, you’ll see they’re out of the water more than in the water compered to other fish. Since they’re very slim, it’s like trying to tame a bullet in the water.
The steelhead rage in size of 5lbs - 15lbs. I make you a hot, homemade shore lunch . I will provide snacks and drinks (NON-ALCOHLIC) to keep you going for the full 8 hours of the best fishing you will ever have.
You can choose to fight with a fly rod or spinning rod. Steelhead enter their spawning streams from late October to early May. Although many steelhead enter the rivers in the fall and overwinter there, spawning does not occur until spring. The fall-run fish are typically the first to spawn, often in March, followed by the spring run of fish in April. Spawning takes place in a bed of fine gravel, usually in a riffle above a pool. Steelhead don't necessarily die after spawning. They may live to reproduce several times.