Well, it’s kind of a fishing report…

And so, wife Judy’s and my 44th wedding anniversary (today) began—a cruise and lunch down the mighty MO.

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And, then…dinner served at the Muskegon River Lodge, our get-away for the event, with the incomparable Chef Heather Allen.

Appetizer:  Spinach artichoke dip;

Vegetable:  Grilled asparagus wrapped in bacaon

Salad: assorted greens, goat cheese; balsamic vinegarete dressing, topped with candied pecans

Main course:  Smoked Cornish hen stuffed with wild mushrooms and rice; Braised beef ribs, seared and slow cooked in a wine reduction topped and with baked baby onions and horseradish garnish

Dessert:  Chocolate and caramel cake topped with candied pecans; baked apple cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream

A post dinner chill-out on the deck overlooking the river.

A walk back up to the Lodge…

And, of course…

“Hey, honey.  I’m just going down to the river to check things out while you read.”

“What things?” she asked.

“Oh, I don’t know.  You know, bugs and stuff.”

“Oh, well, have a good time!”

A half dozen casts later during a fantastic grey drake emergence, and…drum roll please…there he was, fat and sassy rising to take my grey drake dry.  Wonderful day!  Extraordinary meal!  Amazing river! Awesome place, the Muskegon River Lodge!

Trout released and now believe it:  I left the drakes and rising trout, packed the rod, and returned to the lady I love.  Here’s to you, Judy:  Happy Anniversary!

Captain Tom Kuieck

The last two posts pretty much sum up the fishing right now on the Mo’–pretty awesome! Pictured is an magnificent brown that I was  fortunate enough to pose this morning.

Capt. Steven Kuieck

The Muskegon right now has it all:  trout on indicators behind the sucker beds, trout on streamers, trout on dry flies—caddis and grey drakes.  Fellow guide and best bud, Don Graham, and I were privileged to experience the best dry fly fishing we’ve had in a long, long time.  When both of us lose track of the number of carry-over trout brought to hand on dry flies, it’s a special, special time on the water.  Not only that: both of us lost multiple “memory fish”—surely, from the glimpses we caught of them,  trout 18+ inches on grey drake patterns.  5x tippets sheered on dry fly hookups?  In short, an absolutely incredible afternoon and evening on the MO.  Pictured is Don and a sampling of our happiness.  Something good is going on with the MO: healthy, fat trout, in greater numbers….  Can’t wait to get out again!

Captain Tom Kuieck

not bad for one of Ron’s first nice fish!

John kneading a nice bow

John + fly + water = fish on!

hold-over apparition

If big browns, organic french roast coffee,  and sunshine finished with a piece of blackberry cheesecake sounds good, today might have been for you.  The fish showing up on the MO this season make you wonder how good it could get.  Spent the afternoon with good friend John and new friend Ron poking at as many trout as we could get to oblige.  Weather was fantastic, fish furious, and company a pleasure(even factoring in the A++ knot).  Thanks guys for the great day.

Jay Allen, guide

with it’s looks, this brown could have easily been caught out of a spring creek

Gavin doing what he does best

I believe this was anchor up material

this is how a rainbow is supposed to look!

…and with an oink he splashed his tail and swam away

Today was a lot of fun.  Fishing several types of water with various techniques all of which produced nice trout.  Streamers, sucker eggs, and natural nymphs.  The only thing we were missing was a good emergence on the evening…but you can’t always have it all.   Thanks John and Gavin for another great day!

Jay Allen, guide

 

Dry-fly fishing on the MO has really picked up this week.  Cinnamon caddis started in a hurry and gray drakes are starting to swarm in the evenings which means some great fishing is about to take place.  Sulphurs and sulphur colored crane flies have also enticed some nice fish.  Based on some of the fish showing themselves the bubbler must have done a decent job carrying over trout last season!

River levels continue to drop and are running pretty clear at 2500 cfs. Summer is rolling back into town for the next 10 days or so and with it some excellent trout fishing. Suckers are staged and should really spawn heavily as sunny warm weather takes over. For those of you looking to capitalize on some outstanding site fishing for some of the Mo’s largest trout, this week should provide the opportunity. Drakes and sulphers should also kick off with earnest by mid-week. Trout is the name of the game and now is the time! If you’re looking for a short term guide trip–this week should be ideal!

Capt. Steven Kuieck

One could fly fish a lot of days and not top this one for fabulous weather, perfect river conditions, and eager trout. Long time customer Ben hosted friend and business colleague Steve for a day of streamer stripping, a totally new experience for Steve.  Ben pricked his share of lips, but Steve was the guy bending the rod most often.  Steve learned the cast very quickly and connected throughout the day.  He even rolled a truly, memorable river bow in the 2-3  lb. class only to lose it when it rushed the boat.  No matter, with minutes left in the day, Steve boated yet another beautiful bow.  Again today,  300 grain sinktips with streamers did the trick.  Suckers are moving onto gravel, though I didn’t see any spawning yet.  A few steelhead are still in the river, but they are very, very spooky.  At 9:30 AM, Grey Drakes were over the water, though no trout rose to them or the caddis that sporadically came off.  Some sulphers in the #16-18 range were also hatching. Again, only recently stocked fish were taking them. Look for next week to offer some tremendous fly fishing opportunities on top and under the surface for the larger carryover trout.

The day’s takeaway? When one experiences fly fishing of this quality on a day with such absolutely perfect weather and so little fishing pressure, it frankly puzzles and amazes me why more fly fishermen don’t take advantage of this extraordinary fishery. Yes, steelhead are wonderful, and sure, big fish are great, but the charm and challenge of taking trout such as we did today, is truly special.  Blessed we were, indeed, to enjoy it.  Pictured is Steve trying mightily to hold his first trout—a fat brown—taken on the fly rod as well as a sampling of the some of the trout Ben and Stave brought to hand today.  My heartfelt thanks go out to Ben and Stave for a terrific day.

Captain Tom Kuieck

With the river dropping and clearing, the trout went on the feed today as RiverQuest guide Don Graham and I enjoyed a day on the river.  We fished streamers on 300 grain sinktips with success all day, and closed it out by taking a crack at some late spawning steelhead, but with no success, I’m afraid.  The majority of the trout we took were browns with some carryover rainbows as well.  Some nymphing activity happened around lunch time, but few trout rose, a bit to our surprise.  The water is warming, though, and from the spirited contests we enjoyed with the trout, it’s evident their their metabolism is revving up, even as more mayflies and caddis are surely ready to pop.  The trout are well conditioned and chunky, as the brown I’m holding demonstrates.  Then, too, Baltimore Orioles, herons and more herons, wood ducks, a mink, a racoon, sundry hawks, woodpeckers, and songbirds of various types and sizes graced what proved a perfect spring day on the Muskegon.  The takeaway?  Do spend some time on the river during this most enjoyable time of the year; you’ll be glad—like us—that you did.

Captain Tom Kuieck

Megan brought in this sweet brown

cast,mend,hook set,fight….Megan worked hard for this feisty rainbow!

Megan scored three fish on one cast(one fell off before the photo)

While today looked ominous, John and Megan decided to take their chances and go forward with the scheduled trip.  After dodging a few rain storms we were rewarded with a beautiful afternoon and some nice fish as well.  Fishing all subsurface flies was the ticket, fishing wets and caddis larva.  Megan’s enthusiasm reminded me that it is never too early to start fly-fishing if you are into it.  Thanks for the great day guys!

Jay Allen, guide