Last day of the month! Bob Striebel and his brother Jack joined me today for a very blustery day on the river. Fishing today in my boat was tough than yesterday with every bite being well earned! Small eggs and nymphs were key. Walleye filled the voids between steelhead bites. Pictured is Bob with a very nice fish from today!

Capt. Steven Kuieck

Troy De hoop owner of Celebrity Builders and his father Tim joined me today on the Muskegon River. The weather and the fishing was very good today. Tim let Troy catch steelhead and walleye all pretty much all day long and with two cast left in the day went 2/2 just to show him that he could… Egg patterns in pink, clown and chartreuse were most productive today. Fishing is really starting to heat up with many very chrome steelhead in the system! With rain in the forecast every other day we should hold our flow consistently! Pictured are Troy and Tim with a sampling from today.

Capt. Steven Kuieck

“Oh, what a difference a day makes!” What an absolutely gorgeous day to be on the river! Light winds, nearly 100 percent sunshine, clearing water, and some willing steelhead. I was privileged to host Kevin and his dad, Ray, for a second day, and Kevin got us off and running in grand fashion within minutes with a nice male steelhead. The bright, bright sunlight rendered action slower than yesterday in the snow, but the bite held up throughout the day. Ray finished the day off by making just the right cast and drift moments before I was going to call for his rod to end the day. His reward was feisty male skipper that fought well beyond his size. Toss in some more steelhead and a walleye, as well as some “never saw its,” and you have our day. Well not quite….

You see, Kevin’s Kentucky neighbor, Don, had been flashing his big fish Riverquest pictures for a couple of years and hence had urged (if not challenged) Kevin to book a float trip with us. Accordingly, Kevin did so, caught some nice steelhead—so end of story. Again, not quite. It seems that a particular gorgeous Muskegon river buck steelhead, weighing 13 lbs., had other ideas. The second steelhead of day for Kevin to break the surface of the river, this fish was in an entirely different year and size class from the 6-7 lb. fish the guys had been taking earlier. Kevin, who fly fishes all over the United States, including his beloved Ausable in Michigan, masterfully fought the big one, and when we swung it into the boat, Kevin proclaimed it the largest trout he had caught—ever. Needless to say, we were thrilled for him. The big boy took a chartreuse and cherise nuke egg, as did all of the other fish of the day, except for Ray’s afternoon fish, which perhaps on response to stone fies coming off the water, popped his sparkle stone fly, size 10. As for the ride back to Kentucky, I suspect that Kevin will run all sorts of “Let me tell you about my fly fishing trip” scenarios in his mind in preparation to his flashing 13 pounder photos past neighbor Don. Should be sweet, very sweet.

Thanks Kevin and Ray for a great two days; congratulations on a most successful steelhead adventure.

Pictured is Kevin with two of his steelhead. I especially like the shot of his releasing his teenager. Let his doing so stand as a reminder to us all about the importance of “Catch and Release” for our Muskegon River steelhead and trout. Researchers have established that Michigan steelhead will spawn multiple times over their lifetimes—if given the chance to do so. Kevin’s releasing a fish like this increases the probability of the genes of this fish and his progeny living for years to come for the benefit of us all.

Captain Tom Kuieck

Let’s see:  rain, wind, snow.  Sounds like March steelhead fishing to me!  Actually, the weather people got it wrong today:  yes, we had all of the above, but the wind held off till late in the day, and my guys, dad Ray and son Kevin, were dressed for the conditions so all was well.  The steelhead decided to give us some love today, munching away at our chartreuse and cherise nuke eggs and clown eggs throughout the day, even after the wind shifted strongly to the northwest.  A few fish are venturing on to gravel, but most seem content to hang in the comfort of the pools.  Ray and Kevin did a great job and were delightful company to boot.  Love the father/son trips.  Better yet, we’re together again tomorrow !

Captain Tom Kuieck

Yuck; what miserable day! Oh well can’t catch them if you stay home either! Dr. Shen and Dr. Vella decided after having such a wonderful day yesterday and not having brought quite enough clothes for today’s weather they would opt out for today and watch the spring snow flakes from the comfort of their chairs near the fireplace. I must say that my view from indoors is not all bad.

I would like to thank the fine individual in the Newaygo area that decided the propane tank in my boat was not being well utilized! I am sure that he or she is putting it to much better use than I ever could. Next time you need to go shopping I recommend the store – Jerk!

Capt. Steven Kuieck

Dr Vincent Shen and Dr. Jose Vella joined me today on the Muskegon for their first of two days of fishing. The weather cooperated and provided a very nice early spring day. Fishing pressure was high and knowing the exact locations of chrome proved mandatory. Chartreuse egg patterns, stone flies and my favorite pink eggs provide the all the action. With the dropping flows and clearing water a few redds are now visible; this is always the case with high spring water and a few winter fish that just couldn’t wait any longer. Deep slow holding water continues to be my game plan. Picture are the guys with a sampling of today’s fish.

Capt. Steven Kuieck

It was great to have Todd and Donna join me again for a day fishing on the Muskegon. This was Donna’s first walleye in many years. After hooking three walleye in the same run it was time to move on in search of steelhead, and the move paid off very nicely. Todd’s steelhead put up a great fight taking a good amount of line off his reel. Thanks Todd and Donna for a great day.

Capt. Don Graham

Well after a good week on the river with relatively light traffic; today’s date rang a few bells for the “calendar” fisherman. The river was busy today with secondary spots being the name of the game. We spent the day fishing deep indy rigs. Clown eggs, stone flies and hexes were all part of the action today. Steve O. from Midland made the drive over for what will likely be the nicest weather we see in the next 48hours. A winter storm watch has already been issued for Saturday evening through Sunday. Fishing today produced 2 steelhead to the boat which I will post the pictures as soon as I receive them tonight (forgot my camera).

Capt. Steven Kuieck

6:30pm….here are the pics!

Today, Captain Don Graham and I sneaked out for a guides’ day on the river. Although we two confess to having taken a more laid-back approach to our fly fishing today—frequent coffee breaks, tall tales, and fish remembered—we also spent the day probing some promising locations, which sometimes we pass up when we host clients in favor of our more tried and true lies. The Muskegon continues running high and off-color, though entirely fishable.  With the higher stained water providing more cover, the steelhead appear scattered about. So scattered were the fish, that even with all our checking, all our probing—fun as it was, it proved unfruitful. Fortunately, of course, we couldn’t pass up our proven sweet spots, and “Bingo!” they came through—for Don that is. Yep, he smoked me. Smoked me bad! Don boated all the fish he hooked—a 100 percent hooking and landing ratio. My score was perfect, too—perfectly pathetic, that is:  zero for zero, nada for nada, goose egg for goose egg! Just when I was thinking I was destined to live a charmed fishing life every time Captain Don would get into my boat, he brought me crashing back to reality. Sandbagged me totally!

Don’s top producing flies were clown egg patterns and stone flies, both tied by his own deft hands. Congrats, D! Hat’s off to you! Here’s Don with one of his lovely ladies from today.

Captain Tom

Jim and Bob from Schamburg, IL join me today for a blustery day on the river. The ever changing saga of the steelhead bite continued in my boat today. One day it is bang, bang, bang and move and today it was beat the water to a froth! Weird…so much for predictability?  Both Jim and Bob dedicated themselves to every drift- probing every rock and seam; this payed off in hook ups but the landing ratio remained skewed. We finished the day 2/8 with a third removed from the net (oops) by yours truly. Clown eggs, nuke eggs, stone flies and cross dressers produced fish today. Pictured is Jim with a great fish from this morning.

Capt. Steven Kuieck