5-21-09

Can’t come close to Captain Steve’s last post (Congratulations, Steve!), but any time I can spend time on the river with best friend and Riverquest guide, Captain Don Graham, it’s an opportunity I’ll snatch every time! So, off to the Muskegon we went for a quick morning-only trip. Both of us wanted to fish dry flies, and we were blessed with a steady and prolonged caddis hatch, with a few Gray Drakes fluttering about just to keep us on our toes. No “good” fish rose to our flies (though we saw some excellent rises), but we had a good time with the small trout. #16 caddis did the trick. We then switched to stripping streamers and took more small trout, though some ran larger than the ones we took on dry flies. The river has dropped and cleared so one has lots of choices of targets and techniques. When we spotted steelhead doing their late, late season thing, we broke out the indicator and C & D rigs. The challenge here was to avoid hooking the 4-7 lb. plus redhorse suckers that were all over the steelhead beds with the steelhead. Nonetheless, we both hooked steelhead—all this in mid to upper 70’s temps! Pictured is Don with a buck steelie. In short, what a great Spring morning on our beloved Muskegon!

As for the outlook for June, our dry fly fishing comes on big time as we move into our major hatches—Gray Drakes and Isonychia. If you’ve not tried the light rod for rising browns and rainbows or it’s been too long since you last tossed the fat lines, give us a call. We would love to show you how good it can be.

Captain Tom Kuieck